This week, we can't help ourselves. A billionaire who's in way too deep with a $44 billion waste of time has once again proven that he can't handle a little heat from journalists. Will he get out of the kitchen anytime soon? Preferably without burning the house down? That plus our first look at what features Pixel phones might get this spring, our picks for the Best of 2022, and so much more! It's the Android Police podcast.

04:15 | Where's Elon?

• Free Speech On Twitter Doesn’t Apply To Journalists Who Cover Elon Musk (screenrant.com)

13:04 | QPR2 Start

• All you need to know about what's new in Android 13 QPR2 Beta 1

23:09 | Medley

• The inevitable Moto ThinkPhone leaks with all the fake carbon fiber you'd expect
• Matter is rolling out to Android phones and the Google Home ecosystem
• Google Wallet lets you add digital IDs in beta, if you're lucky

33:55 | Creme of the Crop

• Android Police Awards 2022: our favorite phone, smartwatch, tablet, and more

Extracts:

• The search for the saddest punt in the world | Chart Party
• Matter: Making the smart home a more connected, comfortable, and helpful place.

Find the team on Twitter - @journeydan @AraWagco @Will_Sattelberg @PointJules

Reach out to us - [email protected]

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

This week on the Android Police Podcast, a case of artificial intelligence-induced Seasonal Affective Disorder and yet another cold have stricken at least one member of the team. It'll make talking about the latest Pixel Feature Drop, some Pixel Fold rumors, and those crazy Lensa profile pics a lot more interesting. Best enjoyed with a recommended dose of DayQuil or NyQuil.

03:01 | Drop the Feats

• December Pixel Feature Drop has Clear Calling, a free VPN, and new Recorder tools for Google's latest phones
• Google Pixel Fold animations offer best look at the foldable yet

37:00 | Machine Lightning Round

• How To Turn Your Selfies Into ‘Magic Avatars’ With Viral App Lensa AI (screenrant.com)
• OpenAI's New Conversational Chatbot Is Free To Use (For Now) (screenrant.com)

Find the team on Twitter - @journeydan @AraWagco @Will_Sattelberg @PointJules

Reach out to us - [email protected]

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

December has come and we're on a merry-go-round here in Androidland with plenty to keep us busy. Whether we're bringing out our spectrometers for color critiques, needlessly bashing OnePlus (more than we have to) for its software updates, and rightfully bashing Elon Musk for using his favorite hammer to bash all his Twitter problems into shape, we invite you to come along with the Android Police podcast as we head into the last month of 2022 together!

01:16 | Radio Violence

• Spotify Wrapped 2022 is finally here for you to show off how cool your listening tastes were this year
• YouTube Music is back with your 2022 Recap, highlighting all the songs that kept you going this year

05:31 | Under the (Table) Influence

• The FTC wants to fine Google nearly $10m over deceptive Pixel 4 ads aired three years ago

15:36 | Pixel Pix

• Here's your first look at the Google Pixel 7a

23:08 | Upping the Updates

• OnePlus trumps Google with its new Android update schedule, but it's not perfect

31:28 | Oh, Elon...

• Elon Musk should not make the Twitter Phone — for his own sake

41:23 | Color Theory

• Samsung Galaxy S23's official cases and color options detailed

Find the team on Twitter - @journeydan @AraWagco @Will_Sattelberg @PointJules

Reach out to us - [email protected]

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

Yes, we're dropping this episode early this week — happy Turkey Day from the Android Police podcast. Don't mess with the bad birds.

In this episode, Will gets back from Hawaii safely and has more Snapdragon stuff to share. Also, we catch a ride on the struggle bus through Silicon Valley as the world tells Elon Musk to "soak their deck" and Amazon tries to whisper about Alexa being a failure without them hearing.

01:59 | Mahalo for the trip, Qualcomm

• Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 has got what 2023 flagships crave
• Qualcomm's plans for persistent machine vision feel very Google — in the best way possible
• The Razer Edge is a powerful Android tablet designed for cloud gaming
• Qualcomm has a name for its custom Windows on Arm silicon: Oryon (xda-developers.com)

25:00 | What now, Alexa?

• Amazon's Alexa is in trouble

Find the team on Twitter - @journeydan @AraWagco @Will_Sattelberg @PointJules

Reach out to us - [email protected]

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

But will it be Dragon-ier? Maybe. Our own Will Sattelberg was at Qualcomm's Tech Summit in Hawaii this week for the debut of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset. We're taking a quick run-through with SVP of Engineering Chris Patrick of all the things you need to know about it on this week's episode of the Android Police podcast.

• Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 has got what 2023 flagships crave
• Oppo is first to announce a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 phone, with a whole lot of collaborative swagger
• OnePlus 11 is coming, featuring the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
• Samsung Galaxy S23 could go all-in with Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
• Qualcomm's plans for persistent machine vision feel very Google — in the best way possible

Find the team on Twitter - @journeydan @AraWagco @Will_Sattelberg @PointJules

Reach out to us - [email protected]

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

Surprising SFX from the start! This was the title that the team played around with during the recording of this episode and it turned by the end of the session that this was not even true. You'll learn more about it from Android Police coverage later on. In the meantime, we've got old Google business, new Google business, and also our dip on the new MediaTek chip. Welcome to the Android Police podcast.

03:09 | Political birdball

• Twitter ruined blue verified checks so Dbrand's like: screw it, stickers

08:09 | Pixel Ate

• Google Pixel 8 leak tells us codenames, new Tensor chip, and more RAM

15:47 | Why Is All the Stadia Gone?

• Google has started refunding your Stadia purchases

23:49 | YouTube Money

• YouTube Music and Premium now have over 80 million paid subscribers

34:17 | Immense Dimensity

• MediaTek’s new Dimensity 9200 chip is the flagship Snapdragon competitor we’ve been waiting for

Find the team on Twitter - @journeydan @AraWagco @Will_Sattelberg @PointJules

Reach out to us - [email protected]

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

This week, we're settling down in our smart homes with the announcement of a bunch of gear supporting Matter, the new protocol that's supposed to unify the disparate Amazon, Apple, and Google ecosystems. Plus, a heaping side helping of Steam talk from the ChromeOS tests to our favorite games. It's the Android Police podcast.

06:18 | It's Matter Time

• New smart home standard Matter is finally officially official with 190 certified devices
• Using Matter across multiple smart home ecosystems is a little complicated, but it will get better
• Long-awaited Matter support is coming to 17 Amazon smart speakers and displays next month
• Nanoleaf announces its first Matter-enabled lighting products, launching 2023
• What is Matter: The new smart home standard explained

27:24 | Steamy Chrome

• ChromeOS gets serious about gaming as Steam support enters beta
• The redesigned Steam app is live, complete with a new login flow

42:11 | Shower thoughts

• Valve's Steam Deck is the latest attempt to make portable PC gaming a thing
• Niagara Launcher Pro decouples from Google Play, now on all Android phones

Find the team on Twitter - @journeydan @AraWagco @Will_Sattelberg @PointJules

Reach out to us - [email protected]

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

In that it's kinda bad. That's it.

Daniel may have a cold (or something), but that won't stop him from taking down the Pixel Watch, the $449 iPad, and the massive financial wreck that is the tech sector these days. Also, Ara and Will are in there, too. And we get to talk about Android. I mean, Andor. This is what we're calling the jazz hands version of the Android Police podcast.

07:37 | Google

• Google’s latest earnings confirm new hardware focus, fewer moonshots, and economic downturn
• Google needs to release a budget Pixel Watch a to be competitive
• The Google Store's got a big problem with trade-ins
• The Pixel Watch has a calorie problem

33:29 | Apple

• Apple confirms it will create a USB-C iPhone, but the Lightning port may not completely disappear
• Apple flexes its control over the App Store - The Verge
• I am stuck on MagSafe, because MagSafe isn't stuck on my phone

Andor (2022) | ScreenRant

The Leftovers' Season 2 Overhaul Made It Must-See TV (screenrant.com)

Prometheus (2012) | ScreenRant

The Last Duel (2021) | ScreenRant

Kingdom of Heaven Director's Cut Changes: Why It's Better (screenrant.com)

Find the team on Twitter - @journeydan @AraWagco @Will_Sattelberg @PointJules

Reach out to us - [email protected]

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

The Android Police podcast is now available to own on DVD.

Sound the "pivot" klaxon as we cover Google's turning on the entire ship from YouTube to Pixel to cloud gaming and more. We might not survive the first 20 minutes of the episode.

03:16 | Down the YouTubes

• YouTube Premium subscribers just got a massive surprise price hike
• YouTube Music’s redesigned playlist view is rolling out widely

28:20 | Message Me This

• Google is making Messages even more like iMessage, but still won't get you that blue bubble
• New Google Messages and Contacts app icons rolling out in beta
• Signal is dropping SMS support — and that's a good thing

38:38 | Post-Stadia Blues?

• Gaming Chromebooks are real and going on sale from Acer, Asus, and Lenovo soon

47:43 | The Ultimate Pivot

• Google is going all-in on Pixel hardware to fight Apple, de-emphasizing Assistant

• The wild, wonderful world of North Korean smartphones

Find the team on Twitter - @journeydan @AraWagco @Will_Sattelberg @PointJules

Reach out to us - [email protected]

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

After barely a week to review the phones and watch, we're all Pixel-pooped out. But hey, we're still more than ready to deliver you what we're thinking about the Pixel 7, the Pixel 7 Pro, and the Pixel Watch — the stuff that actually didn't make it into our articles. All that plus some "breaking news" from Netflix (it was fresh on a Thursday) on this episode of the Android Police podcast!

03:47 | Pros talking Pro

• Google Pixel 7 Review: The Most Refined Pixel Yet
• Google Pixel 7 Pro review: A showcase for Google
• The Google Pixel 7 Pro’s display draws an obscene amount of power

33:39 | Netflix goes AD hoc

• Netflix's ad-supported tier is here, and it's got some major restrictions

48:19 | A Palatable Watch?

• Google Pixel Watch review: Fashion over fitness
• The Google Pixel Watch's health and fitness features spell trouble for Apple Watch
• Google makes solid hardware, so why aren't more people buying its products?

Find the team on Twitter - @journeydan @AraWagco @Will_Sattelberg @PointJules

Reach out to us - [email protected]

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