I am the former Editor-in-chief of XDA. In addition to breaking news on the Android OS and mobile devices, I used to manage all editorial and reviews content on the Portal.
Personal Safety is a preinstalled app on Pixel phones that adds features like car crash detection, location sharing during an emergency, and nearby crisis alerts. The latest update to the app adds a new feature called "emergency SOS" that lets Pixel users tap the power button 5 times to quickly call emergency services, share info...
At Search On 2021, Google today announced new features aimed at tackling the effects of climate change. For governments, Google announced that it will expand its Tree Canopy insights to more than 100 cities globally next year, which will help them prioritize which areas need tree shade the most. For users, Google is launching a...
Google's biggest developer conference of the year is Google I/O, where the company unveils a plethora of new services and upgrades to existing ones. Given the sheer size of Google as a company and the limited amount of time available, it's impossible for some of the larger teams within the company to unveil everything they've...
Last year, Amazon unveiled one of its most bizarre products, the Halo Band. It's a screen-less fitness band that has a microphone that can be used to track the wearer's emotional state through the tone of their voice through an opt-in feature called "Tone". While it had some other features commonly found in other fitness...
Last year, Ring, a home security brand owned by Amazon, unveiled a new security camera that garnered a lot of skepticism. Called the Ring Always Home Cam, this security camera is affixed to what's essentially a drone, allowing it to fly indoors and capture what's going on in your home from multiple perspectives. The idea...
Amazon today unveiled a plethora of new hardware, including a new entry to its Echo Show lineup of smart displays. The Echo Show 15 is Amazon's biggest-ever smart display — so big, in fact, that it's meant to hang on your wall (though you're still free to make it the centerpiece of a countertop.) Inside...
Upgrading your home with Internet-connected devices can be an expensive endeavor, not to mention daunting considering how many brands and ecosystems are out there. Out of all the smart home brands on the market, Amazon is arguably at the top, with its wide range of first-party Alexa-enabled products and vast ecosystem of partners. Today, the...
Google is expected to release the next major update to Android, Android 12, next week, but ahead of its release, we're already hearing about Google's plans for a follow-up update. Earlier this month, XDA first reported that Google is planning to release an interim update before 2022's Android 13, which we're tentatively calling Android 12.1...
For many consumers, the camera is the most important piece of hardware in a smartphone. It's no surprise, then, that Google made the camera the marquee feature of the Pixel. While Pixel phones have never featured top-of-the-line camera hardware, Google's image processing pipeline and Google Camera app have consistently elevated the Pixel to a spot...
We're only a couple of weeks away from the release of Android 12, but it's important to remember that the rumored October 4th launch date is only for Google's own Pixel phones. It'll take weeks, or more likely months, for the update to reach other devices, and when it does, it won't include every new...
With millions of apps to oversee on the Play Store, Google faces an uphill battle as it tries to police what goes on in its app store. Of course, it's Google's responsibility to ensure the Play Store is free of spam and malicious apps, so people aren't interested in hearing an excuse when a highly-ranked...
Apart from having a great camera, Google's Pixel lineup also offer many useful software features. Take 'Hold For Me' as an example: This feature lets the Google Assistant take your place on a phone call while you're waiting on hold for a business to get back to you. When Google makes a new feature that...
