Android Police

Fresh ep. Time to jump the crevasse. This Android Police podcast, we're shooting down the Rabbit R1 and its ilk for good. We're also measuring up the stakes in TikTok's fight for survival in America. In the Google realms, the Pixel 8a is set for a cakewalk, Android 15 is firming up nicely (hopefully no odd ice crystals in the vanilla ice cream), and Will needs to cool down from all that screen time. Big and busy, that's how we like these shows.

02:35 | AI Gadgetry

• Here’s the real story of the Rabbit R1's reported Android roots

32:26 | Social Strife

• US TikTok ban: How we got here and what happens next
• ByteDance would rather pull TikTok from the US if its legal efforts fail
• Meta’s upgraded AI comes to WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook

40:39 | In Android

• The Pixel 8a will reportedly cost the same as the Pixel 7a
• Samsung’s most powerful customization app comes to the Play Store

52:00 | A Clean Fifteen

• Android 15 may finally allow you to force dark mode in any app
• Android 15 could stop you from leaking sensitive content while screen sharing
• Android 15 might have a less awkward landscape UI on phones
• Android 15 is working on a clever solution for spammy notifications

Check out XDA's video on the legacy of the HTC One M8, ten years on!

Excerpt from CH Media (Dropout).

Our regular hosts are Daniel Bader and Will Sattelberg. Our editor is Jules Wang.

Android Police lives here. Reach out to us at [email protected]

Music - "18" and "34" by HOME licensed under CC BY 3.0

Yes, time for another Android Police podcast clipshow and this one's all about Apple. Settle down, we're talking about how its iMessage platform has been made to conform with Android users one way or another. We'll cover the RCS adoption saga and then follow up with the federal antitrust suit Apple faces which is entailed in part by iMessage user capture. We'll see you on the other side with a fresh show next week.

• Apple is adding RCS support to the iPhone next year
• Why Apple finally decided to adopt RCS on iPhone
• Google turns up the spice by bragging that RCS is coming to iPhones this fall
• Beeper Mini is the iMessage client Android's been waiting for
• RIP Beeper Mini: iMessage on Android app removed from the Play Store
• Apple's war on Beeper may be catching users in the banhammer crossfire
• Beeper pulls the plug on iMessage in response to Apple banning users
• Beeper Mini’s saga continues with possible FCC investigation
• Beeper is back on Android, but it's missing one major feature
• US launches iPhone monopoly lawsuit over Apple's iMessage exclusivity and other tactics
• Apple was bound to be sued for its monopoly. Beeper's CEO explains why
• 6 ways the Apple monopoly case could affect Android
• Beeper has a new owner, and its app is leaving beta

Our regular hosts are Daniel Bader and Will Sattelberg. Our editor is Jules Wang.

Android Police lives here. Reach out to us at [email protected]

Music - "5," "6," "7," "18," and "34" by HOME licensed under CC BY 3.0

Imminence is our word of the week on the Android Police podcast as we hit on some new Pixel lewks, watch emulation on iOS thrive with bated breath, and see if Google really has what it takes to have Android, Pixel, Chrome, and its various other platform teams operating as one AI-led family — "happy" being the optimal fashion.

04:07 | The Reorg

• Google is making huge changes to its Android and Pixel teams in the name of AI

21:02 | Android Others

• Live Pixel 9 Pro photos show controversial design changes
• Please Google, don't name your next foldable the Pixel 9 Pro Fold
• Feast your eyes on these Google Pixel 8a renders

29:14 | The Other Others

• iOS inches closer to Android with new third-party app store and Nintendo emulator

Excerpt from ABC News (via rockcityfilms3).

Our regular hosts are Daniel Bader and Will Sattelberg. Our editor is Jules Wang.

Android Police lives here. Reach out to us at [email protected]

Music - "18" and "34" by HOME licensed under CC BY 3.0

Humane's AI Pin hit the reviewers' rounds this week. Now it's time for the meta cut. Join the Android Police podcast as we rack the dominoes back from execution to concept and see if there's any salvation to be had from the fall. Also, loads of Android news, an e-reader to best the Kindle perhaps, and a Vampire Weekend album review. Hit the decks.

01:36 | This Our Future?

• Google I/O 2024: What to expect and when it’s happening
• Humane reviews are out, and they are bad

27:54 | Droidy

• Google finally launches its Find My Device network
• Dbrand just spent 24 hours doubling down on racist remarks before apologizing
• YouTube has a new design on desktop and everyone is mad about it
• Apple may not end up beating Android at the emulation game after all
• Google’s AI Magic Editor is coming to all devices for free, but there's a catch

47:54 | Read This

• Android 15 Beta 1 is here, but many details are still under wraps
• Kobo's new color e-readers add some saturation to your reading
• Only God Was Above Us by Vampire Weekend Reviews and Tracks - Metacritic
• The Pixel 8 Pro was all I needed to create my solar eclipse memories

Excerpts from The Verge, Pornhub, The Punisher (Netflix via Shabeebstyle), Cyberpunk 2077 (CD: Projekt Red), and Infraction and Aim To Head.

Our regular hosts are Daniel Bader and Will Sattelberg. Our editor is Jules Wang.

Android Police lives here. Reach out to us at [email protected]

Music - "18" and "34" by HOME licensed under CC BY 3.0

The 100th Android Police podcast is everything you've wanted it to be. Google this, Android that, Samsung's broken, OnePlus's broken, and we finally see what's inside The Hatch from Lost. Gemini takes a page from a BAFTA vote that has gone completely insane and the streaming industry makes money on top of showbuilding practices that are incredibly destructive to viewer habits (and, thus, their revenue), but at least Skynet's incompetent intelligence means we get to live another day, folks. Nothing gets cut. Everything's here.

This is the show you've been waiting for.

01:54 | Spatially Aware

• Filterworld by Kyle Chayka: Penguin Random House
• Testing the New Apple Vision Pro Spatial Persona - MacRumors

07:49 | I've Paid Money For Worse AI

• Google may charge you for generative AI search in the future
• Lara Croft Crowned Most Iconic Video Games Character of All Time, According to BAFTA Poll | BAFTA
• Sonic the Hedgehog Chia Pet® - Chia.com

27:05 | How Many Ways Can Google Piss People Off?

• Google Podcasts is dead but Google’s own podcast isn't on YouTube Music
• Google Podcasts is gone — and YouTube Music can’t replace it - The Verge

41:16 | Update Downgrade

• Some Pixel owners are experiencing network issues after Google's March 2024 update
• Google's premium Pixel 9 plans feel too big, too soon
• Samsung's latest update is causing headaches for Galaxy S23 users
• OnePlus just launched a worse version of Magic Eraser for its phones

1:02:32 | Get Lost

• Striking numbers: writers work less with streaming TV (axios.com)

Excerpts from Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (New Line Cinema), hbomberguy (via Sven Bender), retsupurae, Top15s, Blizzard Entertainment (via vannero).

Our regular hosts are Daniel Bader and Will Sattelberg. Our editor is Jules Wang.

Android Police lives here. Reach out to us at [email protected]

Music - "1," "18" and "34" by HOME licensed under CC BY 3.0

Google's had it out for the Android Police podcast all this time. No, not in the ways in which it's made it difficult for us to write the stories we talk about on the show, but with how its grown its phones. Android. Nexus. Pixel. All of it. The bulk of this 99th episode — which does not contain four minutes of cut-out frolicking midshow banter between our hosts — will cover the latest we're hearing about the Pixel 9 very big triple threat XL with a cherry on top. Man, it's like we've been an Android podcast, right?

01:19 | Pixel Pursuit

• New Pixel 9 renders point to 3 Google flagships coming this fall
• Gemini Nano is coming to the Pixel 8 after all

33:09 | SUX (Stupid User Experience)

• The Disney Plus-Hulu merger is way more than a streaming bundle

42:10 | Heady Stuff

• Transformed by AI: How generative artificial intelligence could affect work in the UK – and how to manage it | IPPR
• Ontario school boards sue Snapchat, TikTok and Meta for $4.5 billion, alleging they're deliberately hurting students (thestar.com)
• (NEW) Apple Vision Pro - 256GB (woot.com)

Our regular hosts are Daniel Bader and Will Sattelberg. Our editor is Jules Wang.

Android Police lives here. Reach out to us at [email protected]

Music - "18" and "34" by HOME licensed under CC BY 3.0

The Department of Justice serves Apple a whopper of an antitrust suit, the consequences of which will take years to suss out and reverberate with impacts on competitors, developers, and consumers. So, what do we see from the shores of Android? The Android Police podcast is all about insights this week, some of them from our interview with Eric Migicovsky of Beeper and Pebble fame. And then we get broken down by a hilariously bad Moto G that should've been kept back in the dusty drawers of 2015.

02:03 | US v. Apple

• US sues Apple for iPhone monopoly, points to iMessage and Apple Watch dominance, among other tactics
• The US v. Apple monopoly case was inevitable, Beeper's CEO explains
• Five takeaways from the huge US antitrust lawsuit against Apple - The Verge

38:21 | Didn't Moto Have a Good Year?

• Moto G Power 5G (2024) review: Simply not good enough

Our regular hosts are Daniel Bader and Will Sattelberg. Our editor is Jules Wang.

Android Police lives here. Reach out to us at [email protected]

Music - "18" and "34" by HOME licensed under CC BY 3.0

Marques Brownlee commissions a tiny little coffin into which he places the ZenFone 10 and we're over here trying to trigger the next wave of tiny little phones. As people keep saying, time is a flat circle. That conversation plus another notch in the epoch that is Samsung's management in mobile decline, the big TikTok sovereignty debate, and a couple of tangents on the artist formerly known as Twitter, late-90's MMOs, and tin rooves on this Android Police podcast!

01:19 | TikTok

• The House has taken a key step toward banning TikTok in the US
• Is TikTok safe to use?
• Montana's statewide TikTok ban awaits governor's signature (from April 2023)
• Chances of a national TikTok ban grow with upcoming bill in Senate (from March 2023)
• TikTok is now banned from devices used in the US House of Representatives (from December 2022)

20:50 | Subspace

• Continuum - Meet people from all over the world...then kill them

25:56 | Beeg and Leetle

• The Pixel 8 feels small after the Galaxy S24 Ultra, but I want a truly tiny phone
• Asus Zenfone 11 Ultra review: just another big phone - The Verge

42:41 | eX-popular

• Twitter is becoming a 'ghost town' of bots as AI-generated spam content floods the internet - ABC News (Australia)

47:11 | Last Call

• Samsung isn't bringing its Pixel 8a competitor to the US this year
• The Google I/O 2024 puzzle has been solved, and now we have a date

Our regular hosts are Daniel Bader and Will Sattelberg. Our editor is Jules Wang.

Android Police lives here. Reach out to us at [email protected]

Music - "18" and "34" by HOME licensed under CC BY 3.0

Man, since when did Google's pre-release tracks of Android return to just utter garbage? And how much longer can Apple sustain its flat-footed outrage against the Digital Markets Act? We're firing some quick shots on the Android Police podcast this week to tackle some touchstones that are carrying the conversation in our mobile sphere for the days and weeks ahead.

02:56 | Scatterdroid

• Google's March Feature Drop is here, but not for you
• Android 14 QPR3 Beta 2 is here, but you should be careful sideloading

17:03 | Acid Apple

• Epic Games just got unbanned by Apple — again - The Verge
• I tested Apple’s EU-only iOS 17.4, and it doesn't feel any closer to Android (yet)
• Switching from iPhone to Android will get much easier next year

32:28 | Flash Fry

• The Pixel 8a might cost nearly as much as Google's 2022 flagship
• Another Nintendo DS emulator bites the dust following the folding of Yuzu

Will was on the Android Faithful podcast this week if you want more!

Our regular hosts are Daniel Bader and Will Sattelberg. Our editor is Jules Wang.

Android Police lives here. Reach out to us at [email protected]

Music - "18" and "34" by HOME licensed under CC BY 3.0

Mobile World Congress has adjourned for another year and the Android Police podcast is here to run through the minutes as trapsed from hall to hall looking for what tech companies are saying is their best for 2024. Is the Galaxy Ring going to deliver on its hype? How many times can Motorola do a bendy wristphone before it gets old? And what's with all these 5G flip phones that aren't foldables? Will joins Manuel Vonau and Dominic Preston this week to sort it out.

05:30 | The Show

• Best of MWC 2024: Android Police’s awards for the world’s biggest mobile show
• The world's biggest mobile show is more concept than ever
• Energizer just slapped a phone into a powerbank
• Motorola's bendy smartphone is a futuristic dead end
• Xiaomi 14 Ultra changes the camera but not much else
• The OnePlus Watch 2 was just practically announced
• OnePlus Watch 2 review: Worth it for the battery alone
• 7 new things we've learned about the Samsung Galaxy Ring
• A Barbie flip phone is coming later this year
• This phone was made for the worst person you know

Our hosts this week are Will Sattelberg, Manuel Vonau, and Dominic Preston (check out his Substack for Barcelona foodie picks!). Our editor is Jules Wang.

Android Police lives here. Reach out to us at [email protected]

Music - "18" and "34" by HOME licensed under CC BY 3.0