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All manufacturers are required by the GPL to release the kernel source code whenever there's a change to it, which usually happens when a major update is pushed. The Moto G5S Plus, codenamed 'sanders,' has been waiting for its Oreo update for quite a while now, but with news of a soak test occurring in Brazil and this source code's release, it looks like it may be coming soon.
The Moto G5S Plus is the Moto G5 Plus's successor, offering a dual rear camera setup, metal body, and a 5.5" 1080p display.
Read MoreMoto G5S Plus kernel source code for Android 8.1 Oreo is out was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
It's no secret that plenty of apps/services take your usage data and personalize your experience with it, but Facebook is trying something new with that information. The company is preparing to personalize its app's navigation bar with nav bar icons depending on how much it deems you need each one.
If you go to your Facebook app right now, you'll see five icons (in this order): News Feed, Watch, Marketplace, Notifications, and Menu.
Read MoreFacebook adapting its app's navigation icons to your personalized usage was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
Right now, Amazon is selling the LG G7 ThinQ for $649.99, or $100 off MSRP. It sounds like a decent discount until you see what seller never-msrp on eBay has to offer: the upgraded G7+ ThinQ, which isn't offered here in the US, for $20 less at $629.99.
So how does the G7+ ThinQ differ from the standard G7, you ask? Well, it gets an extra 2GB of RAM, upping the total to 6GB, and an additional 64GB of storage, making the total 128GB.
Read More[Deal Alert] LG G7+ ThinQ (6GB/128GB) down to $630 on eBay was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
Sony seems to finally be making somewhat of an effort stateside, having put the Xperia XZ2 and XZ2 Compact up for pre-order here around three months ago. Now that it's ditched the side-mounted fingerprint sensor design, there are even functional fingerprint sensors here in the US! B&H is currently offering the XZ2 for $649.99 and the XZ2 Compact for $569.99, equating to a $150 and $80 discount, respectively.
If there's one thing Sony should be applauded for, it's for releasing small phones with nearly identical specs to their larger counterparts.
Read More[Deal Alert] Sony Xperia XZ2 down to $650 ($150 off), XZ2 Compact $570 ($80 off) at B&H was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
Amazon's line of Prime Exclusive smartphones is continuing to grow. Most recently, the LG V35 ThinQ unexpectedly joined the lineup. The latest phone to become available in Prime Exclusive flavor is another LG phone, the Stylo 4, though it's much more budget-oriented and a lot cheaper at $249.99.
The Stylo 4 became available at T-Mobile earlier this month, so this isn't its first introduction to the US market. As a recap, it sports a 6.2" 1080p display, a Snapdragon 450, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of storage with microSD expansion, a 13MP rear camera, a 5MP selfie-shooter, and a 3,300mAh battery.
Read MoreLG Stylo 4 joins Amazon's Prime Exclusive lineup, priced at $250 was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
The Nexus devices of old were some of the best phones when it came to custom ROMs, and while the Pixels are still popular options for software mods, CyanogenMod/LineageOS has never offered official builds. I'm not sure the exact reason why, but I assume it had something to do with the A/B partitioning scheme, or perhaps there was not a maintainer available to work on it.
Regardless of why it wasn't available before, official LineageOS 15.1 (Android 8.1) builds are now live for the 2016 Google Pixel (sailfish) and Pixel XL (marlin).
Read MoreLineageOS 15.1 now available for the 2016 Pixel and Pixel XL was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
It might be an understatement to say that MoviePass isn't doing too well these days. Many of the service's subscribers (including myself) have stuck aboard the sinking ship anyway to save a bit of cash. But now that the company is imposing new restrictions on use—as well as a 50% price increase to $15 a month—it might be time to head to those lifeboats. Since you cancel service online and there are restrictions on app access/authorization, here's a complete and detailed walkthrough on how to cancel your MoviePass subscription.
Read MoreHow to cancel your MoviePass subscription, because now you’ll probably want to was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
HTC isn't doing particularly well these days, and the few people out there who purchased a U12+ likely weren't too pleased with the last bit of news about their devices announced: 'CryptoKitties.' Luckily, HTC is releasing an update for the U12+, starting with the Taiwanese dual-SIM model and coming soon to US and European versions.
Read More[Update: Now hitting US] HTC U12+ update with smoother video auto zoom and more rolling out in Taiwan, coming soon to US and Europe was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
Google Family Link, a way for parents to create supervised/limited accounts for their children, has been slowly rolling out to more regions over the past year. It's largely feature-complete at this point, but there's still one pressing issue - it doesn't work with Google Play Games at all. Child accounts are unable to log into Play Games, which prevents many titles from saving progress - and some from working at all.
Read MoreGoogle Play Games still doesn't work with Family Link was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
There was a time not that many years ago when Sony was trusted implicitly by consumers all over the world. You knew if you bought a Sony product, you were getting the best, and people were willing to pay more for that peace of mind. However, Sony has struggled to find its place in today's hyper-competitive world, particularly when it comes to smartphones. Sony makes phones that are good in some ways, but the issues often outweigh the strengths.
Read MoreSony Xperia XZ2 Premium review: A Sony vanity project and nothing more was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
Most people don't like to wake up to the grating whine of a regular alarm clock, and a lot of the "alarm" sounds on phones are scarcely better. Now, the Google Clock app offers an alternative. In the latest version, you can use music from Spotify for your alarms. Play Music and YouTube Music? Nope, because Google.
You can connect the Clock app to a free or premium Spotify account, and then search for songs, playlists, or access your recently played tracks.
Read MoreGoogle Clock app now supports Spotify for alarms was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
The situation at MoviePass is bad. Very bad. With the value of the company having plummeted tremendously after a disastrous reverse stock split last week, MoviePass's owners are doing anything they can to stem the bleeding at the popular all-you-can-eat theater subscription service, and it looks like "anything" means making the service much, much worse.
I won't leave you waiting on the big changes: monthly pricing is going up 50% (to $14.95) and you won't be able to see most movies (anything opening on over 1000 screens) until they've been out for two weeks.
Read MoreMoviePass attempts to put out dumpster fire by shooting self in foot was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
If you haven't yet heard about Pocket City, boy are you in for a treat. It's a premium single purchase simulation city-builder from Codebrew Games - a one-person indie studio from Toronto, Canada. It's your job as a new city mayor to strategically erect residential, commercial, and industrial zones, all while completing quests to gain XP and level up. If you are a fan of the classic SimCity PC games and are tired of all the nickel and diming free-to-play antics of the mobile gaming industry, you are going to want to give Pocket City a proper look as soon as possible.
Read MorePremium SimCity-like 'Pocket City' is out for Android was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
2016's LG V20 was basically the last flagship to ship with a removable battery, so it's no surprise that plenty of people are still using it. Its Android 8.0 Oreo update started rolling out in South Korea last week, and it's now hitting the Sprint model here in the states.
The last time we heard about the V20's Oreo update was back in late April, when LG simply said that it would come later.
Read MoreSprint LG V20 now receiving Android 8.0 Oreo update was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
Mozilla started messing around with a pared down version of its Firefox browser specifically for Indonesia late last year. It's got the data-saving features you'd come to expect in a bare-bones mobile browser, like options to not load images or save web pages to read offline. Now, the project has a new name: Firefox Lite.
What Lite's new handle lacks in uniqueness, it makes up for in practicality. Rocket didn't really let on what the app was all about; with Lite, you know what you're getting into.
Read MoreMozilla's Indonesia-exclusive Firefox Rocket browser is now Firefox Lite was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
Samsung has posted its financial results for the second quarter of 2018. Following two glowing quarters, Q2 2018 was relatively cool, with sales and profits falling compared to both last quarter and Q2 2017. The Korean electronics manufacturer said that "softer sales" of both the Galaxy S9 line and display panels were largely to blame.
Slower sales don't necessarily mean slow sales, though. In the quarter ending July 30, Samsung posted KRW 58.48 trillion ($52.26 billion) in revenue, with KRW 14.87 trillion ($13.29 billion) in operating profit — both lower than last quarter, but the company isn't exactly in trouble.
Read MoreSamsung's Q2 2018 financial results show lower profits following 'soft' Galaxy S9 sales was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Google Calendar is a pretty good way to manage your time, but since it's a core app in G Suite, "pretty good" isn't good enough. One of the many things potential meeting attendees might expect to be able to do in a business calendar app is suggest a different time, due to a conflict perhaps, but that hasn't been possible in Google Calendar up to now.
Thankfully, Google is finally adding an option to meetings that will allow you to 'Propose a new time.' It's nestled behind the little expansion arrow that sits next to the "Yes, No, or Maybe" attendance selector, alongside side the option to add a note.
Read MoreGoogle Calendar adds 'Propose a new time' option to meetings was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
The Nokia 3.1 is one of HMD Global's newest budget phones, positioned between the Android Go-equipped Nokia 2.1 and the mid-range Nokia 5.1. The phone was announced in May of this year, and went on sale in the United States earlier this month.
All the hallmarks of recent Nokia devices are present, including great build quality, a stock Android experience, and good specifications for the price. HMD Global had to make some cuts to reach the sub-$160 price point, like dropping the fingerprint sensor, but I think the Nokia 3.1 is still a solid device.
Read MoreNokia 3.1 review: In a league of its own was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
According to several reports we've received over the past couple of weeks, a bug appears to be happening for Chrome 68 Beta users that transforms their neat card-based tab switcher into a super basic list of open tabs. If you're affected, you only need to give it some time, it should revert back to the regular switcher after a day or two.
The layout these users are seeing is nothing out of the ordinary.
Read MoreChrome 68 Beta bug gives the tab switcher a very basic look, but it should be temporary was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
Every month or so, an update to AR Core rolls out with support for a whole new set of phones, tablets... and now Chromebooks? Yes, the first Chrome OS device has been found among the list of profiles included in the AR Core APK, and that is the recently released Acer Chromebook Tab 10. Also joining the list are the codenames associated with the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL, blueline and crosshatch, which are due out this Fall.
Read MoreARCore v1.4 adds support for its first Chromebook, Google Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL, and many more [APK Teardown] was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
Not to be outdone by Telegram's new "Mark as read" button on notifications, WhatsApp is rolling the same feature out to some users now. Not everyone is able to see this shortcut, even those of us on the latest beta, so it appears the function is enabled via a server-side switch.
We've received several reports from users on the most recent beta v2.18.232 who are seeing this new "Mark as read" option on WhatsApp notifications.
Read MoreWhatsApp starts showing a 'Mark as read' button on notifications for some users was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
Yesterday, Google and Lenovo formally announced the unimaginatively named Lenovo Smart Display after teasing us with it for months. The assistant-powered screen and speaker combo was set to go on sale today, with pricing revealed to be $199 for the 8" model and $250 for the 10".
Read More[Update: Working again] Deal alert: Lenovo's 10" Smart Display is already $200 at Costco ($50 off) was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
Developer previews aren't always the most stable, and they aren't meant to be. They are the process by which a stable is created. Because of that, sometimes it's possible to run into a few issues when using them, and it appears many are seeing a repeated force close problem with the latest version of the Google app beta (v8.14.12).
Read More[Update: Pulled] Latest Google app beta (v8.14.12) repeatedly crashing for many was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
LG announced a new range of budget phones back in May - the Q7, Q7+, and Q7α. They all have 5.5-inch 18:9 displays, with a curved glass front and metal back. None of them are available in the United States right now, but it looks like that will change in a few days. Support pages for the T-Mobile variant of the Q7+ have just been published and point to a release date of August 3.
Read MoreLG Q7+ coming to T-Mobile on August 3, no Android One version in sight was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
We talk a lot about cord-cutting — "skinny bundles" and the like — but there are still plenty of cable holdouts. Cable boxes are largely terrible, though, so any opportunity to not use them is a boon. To that end, AMC has just released an Android TV app.
AMC has had an Android app for years, but this one is specifically for Android TV. The app requires a cable provider login, but provides ad-supported full episodes of AMC's hits like "The Walking Dead," "Preacher," and, er, the other "Walking Dead." There's also a movies tab (if you'll recall, AMC stands for "American Movie Classics") and the option to watch live programming. If you want to pay an extra five bucks a month, you can get AMC Premiere, which unlocks additional content and removes most ads.
Read MoreAMC TV now has its own Android TV app was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
After leaks and teardown revelations aplenty, WhatsApp group calls were finally formally revealed at Facebook's F8 developer conference in early May. By the end of the month, the feature had started showing up for some. Now, WhatsApp has announced that group audio and video calls are rolling out to all users.
The functionality is pretty straightforward: you and up to three other users can all talk to each other at once, with or without accompanying split-screen video.
Read MoreWhatsApp group audio and video calls are now rolling out to everyone was written by the awesome team at Android Police.