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Facebook doesn't exactly have a pristine reputation, but on a certain level it's surprising nonetheless when a new scandal concerning the social media giant breaks out - after all, just how many more surprises can it manage? The answer, it turns out, is many. A new report put out by campaign group Privacy International found that 20 out of 34 popular Android apps send data to Facebook without asking for permission.
Read MoreReport: Android apps like Trip Advisor, Kayak, and Indeed shared data with Facebook without explicit consent was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
As we inch closer to 2019, you might be one of the many looking to ring in the new year with some new fitness goals. T-Mobile might be able to help with that. The carrier will start a buy one get one (BOGO) deal on the Samsung Galaxy Watch on January 2nd. You have to sign up for LTE service on the watches, but free is free.
The Galaxy Watch is a Tizen-based wearable that we found to be pretty solid.
Read MoreT-Mobile offering BOGO deal on Samsung Galaxy Watch starting January 2nd was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
The holiday shopping season itself may be over, but between returns, gift cards, and spending the cash you got in that card from grandma, it seems that we just can't fully shake the pull of retail. If your end-of-year shopping has you headed online, Google Express is ready with a pile of new storefronts, adding 157 retailers over the course of the past month.
When we last checked in with Google Express, it was adding new partners like Eastern Mountain Sports and Anker.
Read MoreGoogle Express picks up over 150 new store partners in December was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
If you're heavily invested into Amazon's Alexa-based ecosystem, odds are you eschew a Chromecast in favor of a Fire TV device. So if you'be been looking into picking up one of the more advanced Fire TV Cubes, you're in luck. Woot is slinging them today for a mere $60, which is half-off the original $120 price tag.
Based on Woot's listing, the version being sold isn't the latest model, so it skips out on the redesigned Alexa Voice Remote, but it should otherwise be the same.
Read MoreAmazon Fire TV Cube is $60 (half off) on Woot, today only was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
It seems like every luxury brand has a Wear OS watch offering these days, and Louis Vuitton is one of them. According to Engadget, the designer has updated its Tambour Horizon watch with Qualcomm's new Snapdragon Wear 3100, as well as a handful of other improvements for the new year.
The highlight here is the Wear 3100, which puts battery life as its number-one priority. Louis Vuitton claims that the watch can now last for a full day (wow!) and six days in total if it's just being used to show time.
Read MoreLouis Vuitton's Tambour Horizon watch receives a Snapdragon Wear 3100 and an upgraded screen was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
While 5G has massive potential, the only major effect it has achieved so far in the US is confusing the general public. That's due in large part to ill-advised marketing strategies and questionable 5G "launches" by the four major wireless carriers. In the latest addition to this frustrating saga, we're finally seeing speed tests of AT&T's fledgling 5G network, and the results are far from impressive.
The results were posted to Reddit and reported on by PCMag's Sascha Segan.
Read MoreAT&T's first 5G speed tests are here, and they're not great was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
Flagship phones with just one rear camera are becoming rare, and apparently two sensors on the back isn't enough either. Nokia's upcoming flagship, the Nokia 9 PureView, has previously been rendered with a whopping five cameras on the back, and this latest leak from Evan Blass confirms the camera setup.
Nokia 9 PureView "Beholder." HNY pic.twitter.com/x4Kh3anP46
— Evan Blass (@evleaks) December 31, 2018
This is the first press render we've seen - previous leaks have included live prototype shots and 3D renders.
Read MoreNokia 9 PureView and its five rear cameras leak once again was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
Facebook has been experimenting with (and subsequently reverting) changes to its Messenger UI over the last few months. All throughout this testing, the most vocal demand we've seen from our own readers was for a dark mode to better supplement the blinding white design. Now, according to famed social app teardown expert Jane Manchun Wong, Facebook Messenger is finally starting to test a dark mode — but only in some countries, and it's still incomplete.
Facebook Messenger, seemingly due to prolonged external nagging, has started public testing Dark Mode in certain countries
They have put up a fair warning that Dark Mode isn't everywhere yet so don't complain when some UI burns your eyes off
previously: https://t.co/9fCvbYXS5Z pic.twitter.com/wF3w5hsHfh
— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) December 31, 2018
We don't know the list of supported countries, so YMMV.
Read MoreFacebook Messenger is testing dark mode, but only in some countries was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
Google’s hardware division is a rare success story inside a remarkably successful company - and one that has taken the better part of a decade to meet that definition. Its ambitions in the physical product space have grown from a geeky internet sideshow into a full-scale retail assault, and 2018 saw that ascendance continue. For all the naysayers it’s had - and there have been many - Google continues to position its hardware portfolio exactly where it needs to be: in stores.
Read MoreGoogle hardware year in review: What worked, what didn't, and what we want in 2019 was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
LG's history when it comes to updating phones is not great — so much so, in fact, that the company went out of its way to announce a whole new Software Upgrade Center earlier this year to combat the problem. It's too early to tell if it's making much of a difference, but the company has just announced that the Korean G7 ThinQ will be getting upgraded to Android 9 Pie in Q1 2019.
Read MoreLG to start bringing Android 9 Pie to G7 ThinQ with South Korea in Q1 2019 was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
Now that Christmas is over and the new year is almost upon us I thought it would be prudent to compile the best apps of 2018 into a roundup before the year is officially over. So if you happened to have received a new phone, tablet, or Chromebook that runs Android OS, you may be looking for a few quality apps to push your new device to its limit. Every application in this list has been painstakingly hand-picked by yours truly, and they're all arranged by price for easy navigation.
Read MoreBest Android apps of 2018 for your new phone, tablet, or Chromebook was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
Group calling and a low light mode in Google Duo have been rumored for some time, but we now have our first glimpse of the features in action. Cody found evidence for groups in a teardown back in March, with hints of low light mode appearing in November. Thanks to an anonymous source, we have screens of both.
One of the most requested Duo features since launch has been group calling, something Apple's FaceTime now supports for up to 32 users at once.
Read MoreFirst look: Google Duo tests group calling feature and low light mode was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
We've seen some great sales on Sony phones lately, but if you missed out on those, here's another opportunity. Four of Sony's 2018 phones are currently discounted, including the XA2 ($100 off), XA2 Ultra ($150 off), XZ2 ($200 off), and XZ3 ($100 off).
The Xperia XA2, a budget phone that Sony launched earlier this year, is $199.99 right now ($100 off). It has a Snapdragon 630 processor, 3GB RAM, 32GB of storage (with microSD card support), a 5.2-inch 1080p screen, and a headphone jack.
Read MoreThe Sony Xperia XA2, XA2 Ultra, XZ2, and XZ3 are $100-$200 off right now was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
Wine, the popular cross-platform Windows compatibility layer, has been officially available for Android since early 2018. However, it only translates API calls; there's no built-in emulator to convert x86 instructions for ARM processors. ExaGear is a paid emulator for Android that attempts to solve this problem, by adding an x86 emulator to a modified version of Wine.
ExaGear's current price of $29.99 doesn't seem unreasonable to me, especially considering its the only Windows emulator on the Play Store with anything close to decent performance (CrossOver aside, which only works on x86 devices).
Read MoreExaGear app review: A Windows emulator with questionable utility was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
Some of you may remember as far back as three weeks ago when we announced selecting the OnePlus 6T as our phone of the year. This was after a long and bitter struggle following an internal nomination and selection process. But although the OnePlus 6T topped our own list this year, we're curious to see what you, our collective readers, consider the best phone of the year.
Not to toot our or your horns too hard, but we think our readers have a more sophisticated taste than most when it comes to Android phones, as the elaborate and specific discussions in our comments sections (sometimes) reflect.
Read MoreWeekend poll: Pick our Android Police Readers' Choice phone of the year was written by the awesome team at Android Police.