Arol Wright

New Android versions are released around the tail end of every year, but that's usually preceded by months of developer previews and beta releases. That's being no different with Android 15. The very first developer preview of the operating system was released back in February, while the first proper beta arrived just last month. Right on schedule, Android 15 Beta is now available.

The release of Wear OS 3 marked a big change in Google's smartwatch strategy. Wear OS watches were now actually good, something which couldn't be said of most products on the market before that point. It also helped the OS grow its userbase much further, with many people buying the improved product. Like Android, Wear OS is seeing yearly major releases, and now, the next big version of Wear OS is here—say hello to Wear OS 5.

With both Apple and Google relaxing their grip on their respective platforms, the field is more open for other companies to put out their own app stores on smartphones. The most common theme, of course, is gaming. And now, Microsoft is leading the charge with an Xbox app store.

No one likes missing their alarm, especially when it's the clock's fault. If you have an iPhone and you've missed some alarms over the past few days, you're not alone. In fact, Apple is aware of the issue and it's currently working on a fix.

Google's Pixel phones still don't sell all that well, but they are popular with people looking for a solid Android smartphone without the sometimes-overwhelming software features on Samsung Galaxy devices. The Pixel 8 arrived last year, and now Google has revealed the Pixel 8a as a budget-friendly alternative.

It's hard to get emulators completely right with intrincate hardware designs and protections. The first version of Dolphin was released in 2003, but even after 21 years of development, there are still improvements to be made. Dolphin has now published a new progress report outlining all the new features and changes from the past few months, and there's a lot to talk about.

Controllers that can be mounted to your phone are nothing new, and Razer's Kishi gamepads have been a popular option for mobile games, cloud gaming, and playing emulators. Now, Razer has launched its most premium product in this range, the Kishi Ultra.

Perhaps the biggest addition to Samsung's Galaxy S24 series was the inclusion of AI features. Galaxy AI is a suite of generative-AI-fueled features that will help you throughout the daily tasks you might perform on your smartphone. This quickly went from a selling point to something Samsung began rolling out to everyone as well, including those with older phones. Now, a new batch of older phones is getting Galaxy AI features.

There used to be a time, several years ago, when a lot of us would actually turn off Bluetooth if we weren't using it. Bluetooth wasn't as essential of a tool as it is today, and some users assumed that it would drain their phone's battery. Nowadays, though, most people keep Bluetooth on all the time. And as Bluetooth becomes even more essential, Google is making it harder to turn off.

The battery is usually the first component to wear down on smartphones, and as new phones keep getting released, battery repairs are still usually eexpensive. Insurance plans like AppleCare+ and Samsung's own Samsung Care+ can make that more affordable in the long term, and now Samsung's service is adding unlimited battery repairs, in exchange for a slight price bump.

The next version of Android is closer than we think. Android 14 was just released late last year, but Google is already working on what's next, with Android 15 now being in an early stage of testing. If you don't mind very broken software, you can install the next OS on your Android phone and see how it fares. Now, Google has just released the second developer preview of Android 15, and it'll be a bigger release than we initially thought.

Android has a huge, huge problem with platform segmentation, which is made even worse by some apps. Some app developers don't really care that much about targeting newer Android versions, or at least not immediately, thinking that it's not a priority. The problem is even worse considering there's a lot of apps being used today that still target ancient Android versions, with Google doing little to nothing to prevent it. Now, with Android 15, Google is going to tighten up things for developers.

One of the reasons why a lot of people prefer PCs over consoles is how relatively easy it is to share your games with friends and family. On consoles, digital games you own are (mostly) yours only, but with Steam, it's actually possible to share your purchases with others. Now, Steam game sharing is getting better, with Valve revamping the whole experience with a new collection of features called Steam Families.

Google I/O started off primarily as a developer conference, but over the years it has become Google's main yearly event for announcements around Android, Chrome, AI, and everything else. The company has now confirmed a date for Google I/O 2024, which is likely when we'll see more of Android 15 and Google's future AI ambitions.

Steam is one of the largest game storefronts, and any opportunity we have to save money on our favorite games is always appreciated. The platform's seasonal sales are always a great time to stock up on games. Now, Steam's Spring Sale is finally here to welcome the arrival of spring, and there's a lot of deals that you might want to check out.

Simple Mobile Tools was a collection of basic, free, open-source apps for Android devices, including a file manager, calendar, and photo gallery. The apps were popular alternatives to paid apps and services, but the developer sold out the app suite to ZipApps recently, which then proceeded to ruin the apps with subscriptions and ads. The Fossify project has picked up where Simple Mobile Tools left off, so you can keep using the excellent app suite on your phone or tablet.

Samsung released the Galaxy S24 series earlier this year, but the company doesn't just sell premium flagship phones. Samsung has a few budget smartphones under the Galaxy A lineup, and now the Galaxy A35 and A55 phones are on the way.

Apple has been slowly opening up its hardware and software in response to new legislation in the European Union. The iPhone 15's switch to USB Type-C was partially due to new EU laws about phone chargers, and more recently, the company created support for installing third-party app stores for phones in the EU. However, most of the changes are still blocked from working outside of the EU, and now more region-locked features are on the way.

Android-based operating systems pushing aside core Android features is nothing new. Huawei is going down that route with HarmonyOS, but Amazon did it first with its Fire OS ecosystem. The operating system is used by Amazon's Fire TV streaming sticks and TVs, as well as Amazon's Fire tablets—the company even attempted to make a Fire Phone at one point, but that was a disastrous failure and we don't talk about it. The latest "improvement" to the OS seems to be restricting basic Android app functionality.

Optical character recognition, or OCR for short, is nothing new. We've had it for years, and aside from the occasional accuracy improvement, how we use it has mostly remained the same. We can identify text from photos, translate it, or use it to kick off a web search. Gboard, the default keyboard on many Android phones and tablets, is adding a handy new feature that takes advantage of OCR.

The Samsung Galaxy S24 lineup might not have as many hardware changes as previous generations, but there are AI features that are supposed to make your experience better, all under the "Galaxy AI" umbrella. We weren't expecting Samsung to roll those features out to its older phones, at least for the time being, but that is now starting with the release of the One UI 6.1 update.

The best way to supercharge a PC game, especially after you're mostly done with it, is to install some mods. They can be a great way to make a game fun again. They're usually unofficial, which is why a lot of people stray from them, but what if you could have sanctioned, official "mods" that aren't made by the game developers, but otherwise have an official stamp of approval? This is exactly the concept Minecraft is currently trying out, with "add-ons" coming soon to players.

Circle to search is one of the most useful recent additions to Android phones. With it, you can circle a designated area of your screen to search one specific thing that you can't type down in your browser bar. It's a feature that can greatly improve your screen searching experience and, frankly, we wonder how it wasn't a thing before. If you were hoping to use it with other search engines, though, it looks like this option is closed off.

Xbox controllers are great. Not only are they the best choice for an Xbox console, they also happen to work great on many other gaming platforms, whether that's your phone, your PC, or even other other consoles with the use of unofficial adapters. Microsoft also likes to release them in several different colorways. These new options, however, are perhaps among the best-looking ones if you're not completely convinced by previous designs.

Enemy number one of GPS and navigation apps might be tunnels. When you're driving through what's basically a deep cave, your location isn't always accurate until you get to the other side—we still haven't found a way to make those pesky radio waves bend the laws of physics. Google, however, might have just come up with the perfect way to keep navigation alive inside tunnels, and it's coming to a Google Maps app near you.