Android Central Podcast

This week, we examine Ukraine's role in the tech industry and how Big Tech is responding to Russia's invasion of the country. We also talk about Qualcomm partnering with ByteDance in the VR space. The Nothing phone could be coming in April, Pixel Watch vs. Galaxy Watch 4, and more.

Links:

• Ukraine has helped the tech industry, but Big Tech hasn't helped Ukraine | Android Central
• Big tech’s response to Russia likely to set precedent, experts say - The Globe and Mail
• Qualcomm and ByteDance prove time is TikToking away for the Oculus Quest | Android Central
• Samsung grabbed 96% of the global foldable smartphone market in Q4 2021 | Android Central
• Carl Pei’s Nothing phone could launch as soon as April | Android Central
• Pixel Watch leak suggests it could outmatch the Galaxy Watch 4 in one key area | Android Central

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Jerry, Michael, and Nick are joined by Tom Meyer as they hold a wake for the not-dead-but-not-very-lively Google Stadia. They also check in on some different VR tech, the value of the new Motorola Edge+, and more.

Links:

• Stadia: Everything you need to know about Google's cloud gaming service | Android Central
• Stadia Games and Entertainment shutting down, changing focus to partnering with third-party teams | Android Central
• Stadia year in review 2021: Lives to see 2022, but limps into the future | Android Central
• Google Project Iris is a new AR/VR headset powered by the cloud | Android Central
• Google reportedly in talks with Peloton, Bungie, and more over Stadia tech under new brand called 'Google Stream' | Android Central
• PS VR2 (PS5 VR) official headset design revealed | Android Central
• The new Motorola Edge+ (2022) comes for the Galaxy S22 Ultra with its own stylus | Android Central
• Tom Meyer (@tomeyerz) / Twitter

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Shruti Shekar and Michael Hicks have entered the chat! Please welcome them into the fold along with Nick Sutrich and Jerry Hildenbrand. This week, we offer up a podcast review of the Samsung Galaxy S22 Plus and Ultra models. Links:

• Samsung Galaxy S22 Plus review: Avoiding the Ultra Note trap | Android Central
• Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra review: Reintroducing the Galaxy Note | Android Central
• Shruti Shekar (@shruti_shekar) / Twitter
• Nicholas Sutrich (@Gwanatu) / Twitter
• Michael Hicks (@MichaelLHicks) / Twitter
• Jerry Hildenbrand (@gbhil) / Twitter

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This week, we deliver a special edition of the show as Jerry, Nick, Ara, and Michael Fisher share their thoughts on everything released at Samsung's latest Galaxy Unpacked event.

Links:

• Samsung Galaxy S22 hands-on: Smaller, flatter, and very Note-worthy | Android Central
• The Galaxy S22 and S22 Plus are official with an eco-conscious design, better cameras | Android Central
• Samsung's new Galaxy S22 Ultra takes a Note from the past to bring the S series into the future | Android Central
• Samsung Galaxy S22 gets more guaranteed Android updates than Google's Pixel 6 | Android Central
• Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 series is here with an Ultra model to take on the iPad Pro | Android Central
• Why the Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra's notch isn't a big deal | Android Central
• Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 gets a big update, but Google Assistant is still months away | Android Central

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Smartphone season is nearly upon us, which means we have a metric boatload of leaks and rumors to share. Tune in and learn what's coming this year along with other news for Google and Android fans. Links:

• Lenovo, Sony will skip in-person MWC 2022 while other Android brands commit to stay | Android Central
• Qualcomm's SoundHound partnership keeps your voice searches off the cloud | Android Central
• Huawei P50 Pro and P50 Pocket launch globally with insane cameras | Android Central
• Massive Samsung Galaxy S22 specs leak leaves nothing to the imagination | Android Central
• Samsung confirms Galaxy Unpacked date and time for Galaxy S22 reveal | Android Central
• Leaked Galaxy S22 renders show off the different colors, models, and angles | Android Central
• Samsung's Galaxy Home Mini successor could be right around the corner | Android Central
• The PS VR2 display will be more than twice as pixel-dense as the Quest 2 | Android Central
• OnePlus Nord 2T leak reveals a Dimensity 1300 chipset and 80W fast charging | Android Central
• The original Microsoft Surface Duo finally receives the Android 11 update | Android Central
• Google Pixel 6a could launch earlier this year alongside the Pixel Watch | Android Central
• Google may be preparing to launch affordable 'Chromecast HD with Google TV' | Android Central
• You can now tell Google Assistant to shut up on Nest devices in a snap | Android Central
• Can Topics finally be the thing that kills third-party cookies? | Android Central
• Olympians, and burner phones, and online safety — oh my! | Android Central

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The January 2022 update is available now for Pixel 6 phones. It brings some quality of life improvements for their users. But the the news isn't so good for NVIDIA Shield TV after an Android 11 update. However, NVIDIA says fixes for Plex, Kodi, and more are on the way. The crew also dig into a lot of other news, such as why Airlines have such a bee in their bonnet about 5G, YouTube Premium discounts, scaling back on original content, and lousy trade-in values from Apple for Android phones. Links:

• How does 5G pose a threat to the airline industry? | Android Central
• AT&T and Verizon 5G upgrades delayed as airlines warn of 'major disruption' | Android Central
• AT&T and Dish outspend T-Mobile in mid-band 5G spectrum auction, Verizon sits this one out | Android Central
• January 2022 update for Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro is finally available | Android Central
• NVIDIA promises fixes for broken Plex, Kodi, and more on NVIDIA Shield TV after Android 11 update | Android Central
• Google Pay may add crypto cards to attract its 'Next Billion Users' | Android Central
• YouTube Premium gets a nice discount with new annual subscription plan | Android Central
• YouTube scales back original content following executive departure | Android Central
• Google Project Iris is a new AR/VR headset powered by the cloud | Android Central
• Google, Apple warn of 'harmful consequences' from proposed Senate bills | Android Central
• Apple lowers the trade-in value for some of the best Android phones | Android Central
• Logitech Pen review: The best Chromebook stylus ever | Android Central
• 3 reasons you should buy a Chromebook tablet instead of Android | Android Central

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This week, Ara, Nick, Jeramy, and Chris Wedel survey the smartwatch landscape and offer suggestions on the best ones for fitness. They also talk about Samsung's blown Exynos 2200 launch schedule, Spotify's blown lossless streaming, and how a judge has dealt a blow to Meta regarding an FTC lawsuit.

Links:

• Samsung misses its initial Exynos 2200 launch schedule — here's why | Android Central
• Spotify delays its long-awaited feature for premium users indefinitely | Android Central
• Judge deals a blow to Meta, allows FTC antitrust lawsuit to move forward | Android Central
• Google Nest speakers are losing this handy feature due to Sonos ruling | Android Central
• Population: One developers roll out the fix to the communications issue | Android Central
• New Android 13 features could make your lock screen more useful | Android Central
• Future Wear OS smartwatches will finally cater to the lefties of the world | Android Central
• Here's what Google and Fitbit need to do to keep pace with Samsung and Apple in the wearables space | Android Central
• What fitness tech and apps do the Android Central staff actually use? | Android Central
• How I'm using fitness tech to train for my marathon | Android Central
• Fitness trackers keep ditching buttons for touchscreens, and it's terrible | Android Central

Sponsors:

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We're back! Ara, Nick, and Jeramy check out the first two new phones of 2022: Samsung's Galaxy S21 FE, and the OnePlus 10 Pro. There's also a ton of smartwatch news to explore from CES 2022, plus Chromebook and VR goodness.

Links:

• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE review: Better phone, worse price | Android Central
• Samsung's new Home Hub wants to be the ultimate smart home controller | Android Central
• Samsung's foldable concepts show how it could evolve beyond the Galaxy Z Fold 3 | Android Central
• OnePlus 10 Pro is already shaping up to be one of the best phones of the 2022 | Android Central
• OnePlus reveals more details on the OnePlus 10 Pro's second-gen Hasselblad camera system | Android Central
• Razer gets its own limited-edition Fossil Gen 6 smartwatch for gamers | Android Central
• Garmin Vivomove Sport debuts with a 'hidden' display and an affordable price tag | Android Central
• You'll soon be able to use your Wear OS watch to unlock your Android phone or Chromebook | Android Central
• CES 2022's Chromebooks kick off a bright new trend | Android Central
• ASUS stuns CES 2022 with a 16-inch ASUS Chromebook Flip CX5 | Android Central
• Qualcomm and Microsoft are working together on new chips for the metaverse | Android Central
• Oculus Quest Pro and Quest 3 release dates and new display tech leaked | Android Central
• PS5 VR (PSVR 2): Release date, price, and everything we know so far | Android Central
• Chromecast volume controls return on Android 12 — but there's a catch | Android Central
• Google products face import ban following Sonos patent infringement ruling | Android Central

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Harish, Nick, Jerry, and Ara check in on the announcements from the Qualcomm Snapdragon Summit. Pixel Watch inches closer to reality, and OPPO is sent to release their first foldable phone.

The gang also investigate a week's worth of outages and bugs, including AWS downtime and the inability to dial emergency services.

Links:

• Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 mobile platform ushers in a new generation for Qualcomm | Android Central
• Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 is coming to these phones in 2022 | Android Central
• Qualcomm takes the fight to Intel with new 5nm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 ARM chip | Android Central
• Qualcomm teams up with Razer for the next evolution of mobile gaming | Android Central
• This could be our first look at official Google Pixel Watch images | Android Central
• Google's Pixel Watch looks like the Moto 360 successor I've been waiting for | Android Central
• OPPO's first foldable phone goes after Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 3 | Android Central
• Samsung's late Galaxy S21 FE launch could actually be a good thing | Android Central
• The AWS outage that took down Ring, Alexa, and Disney+ is finally over | Android Central
• This unbelievable bug is keeping Android phones from calling 911 | Android Central
• First Android 12L beta is here with better user experience and bug fixes | Android Central
• Samsung could halt the stable One UI 4 rollout for its foldable phones | Android Central
• Chromecast with Google TV update fixes some of its worst lingering issues | Android Central
• The Chromecast with Google TV has a fatal flaw — but it's still my favorite | Android Central

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Nick and Jerry spend the episode chatting with fellow Android Central-ites Chris Wedel and Andrew Myrick. Chris shares his unpleasant experience with the Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro, plus the gang discuss Motorola's rise to number three smartphone vendor in the U.S. And that's just the tip of the iceberg of everything they cover — check it out!

Links:

• Chris Wedel (@chris_wedel) / Twitter
• Andrew Myrick (@andymyrick) / Twitter
• Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro are infectious in all the wrong ways | Android Central
• How Motorola became number 3 against all odds | Android Central
• Samsung publishes official One UI 4 (Android 12) update schedule in the US | Android Central
• Foldables may be the future but Samsung is betting big on regular phones in 2022 | Android Central
• Qualcomm hints at a strong Snapdragon presence in the Galaxy S22 series | Android Central
• The Pixel 6 Pro falls short on 5G speeds when compared to the Galaxy S21 | Android Central
• The Pixel 6 mid-November patch could finally fix the fingerprint scanner | Android Central
• Google confirms the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro don't actually charge at 30W | Android Central
• New Google Camera update brings some Pixel 6 features to its predecessors | Android Central
• Samsung is bringing some of Galaxy Watch 4's best features to older Galaxy watches | Android Central
• Apple does the bare minimum to get in front of right to repair laws and the internet loves it | Android Central
• History repeats itself as Meta accused of stealing tech for new VR gloves | Android Central
• You can now pick up a pair of Nreal Light AR glasses at Verizon stores | Android Central

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