Articles by Joe Maring

Such a good deal

Google Pixel 4a 5G

$499 at Amazon

Pros

Excellent performance for the price
Consistently great cameras
Reliable battery life
Has a 3.5mm headphone jack
Much more affordable

Cons

No water resistance
Doesn’t have wireless charging

The Pixel 4a 5G has an odd existence between the regular Pixel 4a and Pixel 5, but there’s no denying how much value it brings to the table. Its Snapdragon 765G is a very capable chipset, battery life is great, and you get the same excellent Pixel camera experience you’ve come to expect. At just $499, it’s a fantastic value.

Tiny powerhouse

iPhone 12 mini

From $699 at Apple

Pros

It’s so small!
A14 Bionic chip is insanely powerful
Very capable cameras
IP68 dust/water resistance
Qi and MagSafe charging

Cons

Still uses proprietary Lightning charging
Higher price

If you want the newest iPhone while spending as little as possible, this year’s “affordable” model is the iPhone 12 mini. It’s considerably more expensive…

Affordable flagship

Google Pixel 5

$700 at Amazon

Pros

Aluminum unibody
90Hz refresh rate
Qi wireless charging
More compact size
Slightly larger battery

Cons

More expensive for similar internals

The Pixel 5 is Google’s latest high-end flagship, and it’s a lot different from its predecessors. Rather than chasing the highest-end specs, Google focused on delivering a great user experience and all the features you could ask for at a compelling price. Between its snappy processor, dual cameras, and big battery, there’s a lot to like.

Tons of value

Google Pixel 4a 5G

$499 at Amazon

Pros

Very competitive price
Larger screen for content consumption
Same processor and storage
OLED display
5G connectivity

Cons

No wireless charging
Plastic construction
Only 60Hz refresh rate

If you want the core Pixel 5 experience but have less cash to spend, the Pixel 4a 5G fits the bill perfectly. You’re getting a lower refresh rate for the display, a plastic build instead of …

Best Pixel ever

Google Pixel 5

$700 at Amazon

Pros

Compact size with a big screen
90Hz refresh rate
Excellent battery life
Top-notch camera quality
Three years of software updates

Cons

Weak stereo speakers
Doesn’t have Wi-Fi 6

Google’s Pixel phones have always been good, but the Pixel 5 is the first one to be amazing in just about every way. The 6-inch display looks great, and thanks to slim bezels, the Pixel 5 remains very compact. The Snapdragon 765G allows for great performance, camera quality is among the best you can find, and battery life is fantastic. It’s also the better deal, offering twice the storage for the same price as the iPhone.

Tiny treasure

iPhone 12 mini

From $699 at Apple

Pros

One of the smallest phones in years
Crisp OLED display
Blazing-fast performance
Unmatched video recording
Updates for 5+ years

Cons

Same price for less storage
Just OK battery life

This year’s cheapest iPhone is the iPhone 12 mini, touting a seriously small 5…

Google’s latest flagship is here (and green).

Following last year’s controversial Pixel 4, Google is ready to right some wrongs with the all-new Pixel 5. The Pixel 4 introduced new ideas like a telephoto camera, face unlock system, and unique gestures, but it did so at the expense of battery life. This time around, Google’s trying something a bit different.

Rather than be concerned about having the highest-end processor or five cameras, Google designed the Pixel 5 to be a meat and potatoes Android phone that does everything you need it to do, has all of the core features you could ask for, and comes in at a much lower price than the latest flagships from Samsung and Apple.

Whether you want to learn more about its price, release date, specs, or anything else, here’s everything you need to know about the Google Pixel 5!

Buy the Pixel 5

Google Pixel 5

$700 at Amazon
$700 at Best Buy
$699 at B&H

The newest Pixel has arrived

Google packed a lot into the Pixel 5, including …

Grab a snack, a drink, and come hang out with us ?.

500 episodes. That’s a huge milestone for any podcast to reach, and somehow, that’s exactly what’s about to happen with the Android Central Podcast. We’re getting ready to record our 500th episode today, November 13, 2020, and we want you to join in on the celebration.

In honor of 500 episodes, we’re going to be recording the podcast live for everyone to join in and watch as it happens. Yes, we’re doing a video podcast again. No, it won’t be a regular thing (sorry!)

The show kicks off at 12:30 PM ET / 9:30am PT on November 13 and should run about 1.5 hours. If you miss it, don’t worry; we’ll have a recording for you afterwards, as always.

It’s also going to be a pretty packed house. Instead of the usual three people that get together, you’ll be hearing from everyone: Daniel Bader, Alex Dobie, Jerry Hildenbrand, Harish Jonnalagadda, and even the legend himself, Phil Nickinson (along with a few others).

There will also be ampl…

I had the opportunity to use a lot of stellar Android devices throughout the year, ranging from top-of-the-line flagships to more affordable budget options. Among all of the ones I tested, the Motorola Edge stuck out as something special. It has a stunning design, is incredibly fast, and is now on sale for 43% off thanks to early Black Friday savings.

You normally have to spend $700 to get your hands on the Edge, and while that’s a fair price considering everything it brings to the table, it’s since been outdone by fierce competition from Samsung and Google. With this new sale, however, you can buy the Motorola Edge for just $400.

In other words, it’s one of the best Android phone deals you’ll see throughout all of Black Friday.

Don’t miss this

Motorola Edge | $300 off at Amazon

$400 at Amazon

There were a lot of excellent Android phones released in 2020, one of which is the Motorola Edge. This biggest thing holding the phone back when it launched was its price, but for B…

Chatting with the AC forums.

If you’re an avid Google Photos user, this week certainly wasn’t a great one. On November 11, Google announced that it’s getting rid of free unlimited backups as of June 2021. Once that time comes, any and all files you upload to Google Photos will count towards your regular storage quota.

All of the photos you have backed up already are just fine, and if you want to keep taking advantage of the free unlimited space right up until June 1, you can do that too. Even so, there’s no denying this is a massive change from the Google Photos experience we’ve been used to for the past few years.

As you might expect from an announcement like this, it’s gotten a lot of people talking in the AC forums.

B. Diddy
11-11-2020 02:51 PM

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Read here: https://blog.google/products/photos/storage-changes/

A bummer, but I always wondered when this was going to go away. I imagine part o…

Samsung’s Galaxy brand is home to a wide array of various gadgets. Whether you’re shopping for a new Android phone, smartwatch, or wireless earbuds, there’s something in the Samsung Galaxy ecosystem that can fit the bill perfectly. If you’re looking to up your Galaxy game without going broke this holiday season, check out the top Black Friday deals that are available right now!

Samsung Galaxy S20 | $200 off at Amazon

$800 at Amazon

One of the best Android phones released this year, the Samsung Galaxy S20 has so much to offer. It has a compact design, a stunning 120Hz display, incredible performance, and great cameras. It’s about as premium of a smartphone as you can buy, and for Black Friday, you can pick it up at a $200 discount.

Best Black Friday Samsung Galaxy deals:

Smartphones
Tablets
Smartwatches
Earbuds

The Galaxy S20 is a highlight among all the Samsung Galaxy deals currently available, but of course, it’s far from the only thing that’s on sale. Just about eve…

There’s a lot to dig into once you get your PS5. From checking out all the new games to experiencing the DualSense controller for the first time, you’ll be busy for quite a while. Before you dive too deep into Miles Morales or Demon’s Souls, however, you may want to consider adding an extra layer of security to your PS5 by enabling a login passcode.

How to set a login passcode on PS5

Ready to get a passcode added to your PS5? Lucky for you, doing so is incredibly simple and can be completed with just a few steps.

On the PS5 home screen, select Settings (the gear icon in the upper-right).

Scroll down and select Users and Accounts.

Scroll down to Login Settings.
Select Set a PS5 Login Passcode.

Enter your four-digit code.

That’s literally all there is to it! With this done, you’ll now need to enter that four-digit passcode every time you try logging into your PS5. Doing this probably isn’t necessary if you live by yourself, but if you share your home with others and want …

The PS5 is a powerful and robust console that’s filled with tons of features to help elevate that experience. One of those is something called “Voice Data Collection,” which allows the PS5 to analyze voice data while you’re using the system to improve certain aspects of it. However, if you’d rather not let Sony have that information, there’s a quick and easy way to turn it off.

How to turn off Voice Data Collection on PS5

Setting up your PS5 for the first time can be a bit of hassle, and if you’re like most people, you probably just zipped through all of the setup screens as quickly as possible in order to start gaming. During that process, one of the things you can agree to is Voice Data Collection.

Per the PS5, Voice Data Collection works as follows:

To improve the voice features (Chat Transcription and Voice Input to On-screen keyboard), Sony Interactive Entertainment analyzes voice data (excluding voice chat) from your console activity.

Any information gathered will b…