You can now use your voice to add context to searches in Google Lens!

Press and hold on the shutter button in Lens, and it'll say "speak now to ask about this image." After speaking your question, let go of the button and Google Gemini will attempt to provide an answer.

Android 15 is supposed to force apps to go edge-to-edge, but Google quietly added an API to opt out.

This API isn't mentioned in the developer docs, blog posts, codelabs, etc., though, and it's set to be deprecated in the future.

More details can be found in this article on Android Authority.

Google Fast Pair may soon add support for keyboards, making it easier to pair them with your Chromebook or Android device

A new flag suggests that Google is prototyping support for Fast Pair for keyboards.

More details on what this means can be found in this article on Android Authority.

Finally, Android 15 could minimize heads-up notifications when you're watching videos!

Google is working on a new compact layout for heads-up notifications that makes them less obtrusive.

More details + screenshots can be found in this article on Android Authority.

First look: Android's tablet taskbar could be coming to phones!

I spotted and enabled a new "tiny taskbar" feature in the latest Android 15 beta that makes the taskbar work on small screen devices.

More details + a video can be found in my latest article for Android Authority.

The Google TV Streamer is a 4K streaming box that doubles as a smart home hub. It's got beefier hardware, new connectivity options, a revamped remote, and the latest version of Google TV.

Here's EVERYTHING you need to know about it!

Exclusive: This is the chipset used in the new Google TV Streamer: MT8696.

Google is surprisingly using a chipset from MediaTek instead of Amlogic.

More details on this processor can be found in my latest article for Android Authority.

Samsung DeX can run directly on Galaxy tablets... so why wouldn't Android 15's revamped desktop mode be able to run directly on the Pixel Tablet?

It turns out, it can. Here's a first look at Android 15's desktop mode running on-device.

I'm back with another look at Android 15's hidden lock screen widgets feature!

This time, it isn't nearly as buggy as when I last enabled it in April👀

You can find my video embedded in this article.

Lock screen widget support will only be available on tablets running Android 15, but what would happen if you enabled the feature anyway on a phone?

Surprisingly, it actually looks and works pretty well!

A video of this feature on phones can be found in this article I wrote for Android Authority.

The Google TV Streamer is the first device to run Android 14 for TVs.

Android 14 for TV, ie. Android TV 14, brings improvements to power efficiency, accessibility, performance, multitasking, remote control, and networking.

More details can be found in my latest article for Android Authority.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Flip 6 support Google's Gemini Nano LLM, but what is it actually used for? It turns out, it's only used for a single feature right now, and it's not any of the Galaxy AI ones.

Samsung still presumably uses Gemini for some of the cloud-based Galaxy AI features, but I was surprised to find out that none of the on-device Galaxy AI features rely on Gemini Nano. I don't know exactly what model they use, but it's possibly Gauss Language.

Of course, Google is likely working on more features that rely on Gemini Nano, and those could come to Samsung devices. Then there are third-party apps like Adobe Acrobat, Patreon, and Grammarly, too, that will integrate Gemini Nano.

More details can be found in this article on Android Authority.

So...this is interesting. Google is testing new Wear OS 5.1 builds out on the Pixel Watch 2, and they're surprisingly based on Android 15 rather than Android 14.

More details on what this could mean can be found in this article on Android Authority.

Microsoft did it: They fixed Link to Windows on Android!

You no longer have to tap the "start now" button every time you want to stream an app from your phone to your PC.

In One UI 6.1.1, Link to Windows now uses Android's native app streaming APIs.

Google says the Neural Networks API (NNAPI) will be deprecated in Android 15.

NNAPI was introduced in Android 8.1 to "provide a unified interface for hardware accelerated inference for on-device machine learning." Google cites the rapid pace of on-device machine learning breakthroughs as the reason for deprecating NNAPI, which was updated along with new Android version releases.

Google is recommending developers migrate from NNAPI to either TensorFlow Lite in Google Play Services, which provides an updatable TF runtime for custom on-device ML models, or to the new AICore service in Android 14+, which provides updatable GenAI foundation models like Gemini Nano.

The Google Play Store is starting to give users the option of whether they want to update an app installed from another source (ie. apps they sideloaded).

User Ayan on Telegram noticed this new "update from Play" button while they were on a listing for an app they sideloaded outside the Play Store.

"The app installed on your device didn't come from Google Play. You can update the app from the original source or from Google Play," the message below reads.

Android 14 introduced an update ownership API that lets app stores claim ownership over future updates for an app. This could be a way for the Play Store to reclaim update ownership, with the user's consent of course.

Let me know if you also see this in the Play Store!

Edit: To clarify, this seemingly gives you the choice of whether you want to update a sideloaded app from the Play Store.

Before, it would just do it, especially if said app's updates weren't claimed ownership over by another app store.