Articles by Michael Allison

Amazon Music HD is now available at no additional cost to Amazon Music subscribers.

What you need to know

Amazon just made HD streaming the default for its music streaming service.
The company will no longer charge $5 extra for access to HD and Ultra HD quality audio.
It’s rolling this change out today to subscribers in U.S., UK, Germany, Canada, France, Italy, and Spain.

Amazon today announced an upgrade to its Amazon Music streaming service, expanding its main Amazon Music HD service to all Amazon Music subscribers at no extra cost. The update will go live from today and bring in more than 70 million lossless HD songs, which Amazon says are streamed at CD quality. Of those 70 million-plus songs, Amazon says 7 million of them are available in Ultra HD, or better than CD quality. Aside from these improvements in quality, the company will also offer songs in 3D Audio formats like Doby Atmos and Sony360RA. Amazon did not expand on how many songs were available under this format bu…

After blowing up on the iPhone, Clubhouse is now on Android.

Update, May 13 (11:30 pm ET) Clubhouse today announced an expansion to Canada and other English speaking countries

Update, May 18 (02:30 pm ET) Clubhouse today confirmed that it would expand worldwide by the end of the week

What you need to know

Clubhouse is now available in beta on Android.
It’s only available in the U.S. at the moment, with a UK release in the coming days.
The invite-only system will remain for the near future.

After an earlier private beta teased last week, Clubhouse today announced that it would be making its debut on Android after an earlier announcement this year. The app had taken off in the heyday of the pandemic and spawned many imitators, but had neglected the Android market for a while. There are a few caveats. This is still a beta, it’s still invite-only, and you’ll need to be in the U.S. to use it (though an expansion to other English-speaking markets has been promised.)

Writing over o…

Google I/O starts on Tuesday, May 18.

What you need to know

Just days from Google I/O, Android 12’s new looks and privacy features have leaked.
Google will allegedly focus on Android 12’s design, privacy, and how it works better with your devices.
Another leaked live promo shows off this new design in motion.

Android has looked pretty much the same since version 5 Lollipop debuted, with a slight change mostly driven by Material Theme launching alongside Pie. Google has tweaked a few things and rounded off a few rough edges (literally in many cases), but Android 12 is going to take all this to a whole new level, according to a new leak from Jon Prosser on his FPT YouTube channel.

Prosser has shared a video showcasing parts of the Google I/O 2021 presentation. Google is said to be highlighting Android’s radical new design, its new cross-device functionality, and a newfound focus on privacy and security. Sadly, while we don’t get a lot about the last two, we do have quite a bit …

It’s easier to disconnect with this little one.

What you need to know

The Nokia 2720 is coming to Verizon before the end of this month.
Once available, it’ll set you back $80.
It’s a flip phone with some extras like WhatsApp and Google Assistant.

Nokia’s Android phones may not be the best Android phones on the block, but the HMD Global’s been dabbling in reviving old form factor. It’s relaunching the Nokia 2720 Flip 4G with Verizon by the end of this month. As with all Nokia and Verizon phones, the name will be tweaked a bit. It’ll be the Nokia 2720 V Flip 4G.

The Nokia 2720 is a fairly old phone at this point; it was initially announced alongside the Nokia 7.2 back in 2019, but one of the benefits of flip phones is a certain timelessness. You’re not buying this to keep up with Mr. and Mrs. Jones, you’re making a deliberate choice to be retro and restrained, or you just long for simpler times. Whatever the reason, a market still exists for these kinds of phones.

That’s also p…

You shouldn’t expect to find any message content yet, however.

What you need to know

Twitter is adding a search bar to messaging on Android.
This follows a similar feature added to iOS back in 2019.
Today’s update will let you find message threads, but a future update will add in message content search.

Twitter is making a small improvement to how direct messaging works on Android phones. It’ll now allow users to search their message threads with a new search bar that lives at the top of the direct messaging screen. The same bar came to its iOS app and the web a couple of years back, but the company is finally bringing it to its Android app.

Once this rolls out, you’ll be able to find any conversation in your direct messages inbox, as long as you know the name of the other party. If you’d chatted with Jeff from the bar two years ago, you’d normally have to scroll all the way down. This time, you can type in “Jeff”, and watch the search bar do the rest of the work. The previous …

After blowing up on the iPhone, Clubhouse is now on Android.

Update, May 13 (11:30 pm ET) Clubhouse today announced an expansion to Canada and other English speaking countries

What you need to know

Clubhouse is now available in beta on Android.
It’s only available in the U.S. at the moment, with a UK release in the coming days.
The invite-only system will remain for the near future.

After an earlier private beta teased last week, Clubhouse today announced that it would be making its debut on Android after an earlier announcement this year. The app had taken off in the heyday of the pandemic and spawned many imitators, but had neglected the Android market for a while. There are a few caveats. This is still a beta, it’s still invite-only, and you’ll need to be in the U.S. to use it (though an expansion to other English-speaking markets has been promised.)

Writing over on the Clubhouse blog, the team said:

Our plan over the next few weeks is to collect feedback from the comm…

Xiaomi and other Chinese manufacturers have touted this feature.

What you need to know

Motorola wants to join the remote wireless charging wave with its new partnership.
It’s teaming up with GuRu, a leader in the field.
Other Chinese companies such as Xiaomi and Oppo have also dabbled in bringing remote wireless charging to their devices.

Forget wireless charging and wireless charging pads, the future is in charging your devices from a distance. You’d be sitting next to a wireless charging hub, and your phone would be charging passively in without you needing to really do much. At least, that’s what Motorola believes. The company has partnered with GuRu Wireless, Inc., a global leader in customizable, over-the-air power solutions to bring over-the-air wireless charging to its future smartphones.

Dan Dery, VP of Product at Motorola, delivered the following comment:

At Motorola we are constantly working to bring innovations to the market that can improve our consumers’ lives….

Walmart’s Android TV listing goes up ahead of a proper release.

What you need to know

Walmart’s Android TV stick is getting ready to launch.
A listing for the upcoming device has shown up on the retailer’s site.
This confirms many of the earlier leaked specs.

Walmart’s Android TV stick is available on the company’s website and has been for almost a week at this point, but it’s not truly on sale (courtesy of our friends over at 9to5Google.)

The streaming stick was first spotted earlier this year via its FCC listing, revealing its design and some of its specifications. This new Walmart listing confirms pretty much everything, from the 4K UHD support to its Dolby Audio. It’ll be dubbed the rather laborious “onn. Android TV UHD Streaming Device”, and it’ll set you back $29.88. The box will get you the UHD TV streaming device, remote control with included batteries, and AC adapter, and a quick start guide.

Separately, Walmart’s listing touts the following key specs:

4K resolutio…

Tracking just got a lot easier.

What you need to know

Amazon’s Sidewalk will soon integrate with Tile trackers.
This newfound support will roll out from June 14.
Amazon also announced additional integration with Level.

Keeping track of your things is about to get easier than ever with a collaboration between Amazon and Tile. From June 14th, Tile trackers will now work with Amazon’s Sidewalk, extending the Tile network’s coverage to include even Amazon Echo devices.

Last year, Amazon Echos gained support for Sidewalk, adding to the pre-existing Ring support, but this is the first major non-Amazon tracker network to integrate with Tile.

CJ Prober, CEO of Tile, said:

Tile helps millions of people every day find their things, and we’re always looking for opportunities to enhance the finding experience for our customers. To that end, working with Amazon to extend our finding network by securely connecting to Amazon Sidewalk devices like Echo smart speakers was an obvious choice…

A new YouTube update wants to make streaming music better.

What you need to know

YouTube is testing a new ‘listening controls’ feature that’ll make playing music better on its mobile app.
Previously, the app would prompt users to open the dedicated YouTube Music app when streaming music.
It’s currently only available to YouTube Premium subscribers.

Google is testing out a new feature for the YouTube app that’ll make playing music without switching to YouTube Music more elegant. Currently, it’s possible to play both music and videos on the YouTube app. While playing music, the app often prompts users to switch to YouTube Music for a dedicated music experience. Not all users may have warmed up to this context switching, so Google’s bringing the metaphorical mountain to those customers who refuse to switch.

With this new experience (spotted by 9to5Google), YouTube will now display a different interface for music that’s more akin to music streaming apps than it is to a video app….