What is your least favorite smartphone you’ve owned?

I, for one, usually run my phones free of cases, but after a recent drop that obliterated my Redmagic 9s Pro, I decided to pick up a Pixel 9 as a replacement. With that new purchase came a strong sense that I should probably splurge on a case this time around. So I went all out. I wanted something that looked good, made of leather, so a Bellroy case is what I purchased. It wasn’t cheap, but I’m pretty happy with it, so feel my money was spent well. 

But what about you? What kind of case do you normally go for when you purchase a new phone? What’s your go-to? Is it leather, plastic, rubber, colorful, muted, expensive, or cheap?

Our reviews of the Pixel 9 trio might be live, but we’re far from done with talking about new Google hardware. Next up, we’re focusing our attention on Google’s second-gen foldable, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold. New name, new design, same overwhelming focus on AI that wound up receiving some mixed feelings from all three of our previous Pixel 9 reviews. We’ll have plenty more to say about the Pixel 9 Pro Fold in the weeks to come — including a full review — but in the meantime, let us know what you’re most curious about, and we’ll be sure to address it just as soon as we can say more.

Google’s released a boatload of new products this summer, including four phones, two watches, and a smart thermostat. But we’ve still got more look forward to. The Google TV Streamer, heir apparent to the Chromecast legacy, is set to hit store shelves next week. Judging by what we know about the $100 set-top box so far, it’s essentially a souped up Chromecast with Google TV, featuring updated hardware and a new form factor, more storage space, and a built-in Thread radio for smart home hub functionality. 

But with the release date less than a week away, we wanted to ask: what do you want to know about the Google TV Streamer? Drop your questions in the comments here, and we’ll do our best to answer them over the coming weeks.

We’ve had ample time with Google’s latest Pixel phones, and the general consensus here at AP is that they’re all quite good, but Google hardware season isn’t over yet. Personally, I’m pretty excited about the Pixel Watch 3, which is set to hit store shelves next week. It’s the first Pixel Watch to come in two sizes (the 41mm we’re used to and a new, larger 45mm variant), and both sizes feature brighter displays with slimmer bezels than previous generations. So far, it’s looking like Google’s newest wearable is going to tick a lot of our boxes.

We’ll be writing all about it in the coming weeks and months, but I wanted to ask: what do you want to know about the Pixel Watch 3? Drop your questions in the comments and we’ll start answering them as soon as we’re able. 

Did you know the latest Pixel 9s support video out over USB? Neither did I, but not that I know I am eager to get my hands on Google’s USB-C to HDMI cable so I can output video from my phone. As a matter of fact, the cable come from Cable Matters, and is also available on Amazon for less than Google’s pricing, which looks to be the place to snag one (read more about this in the linked coverage).

So here comes the big question. Have you ever needed to output video from your phone to the point you’ll go out of your way to buy a USB-C to HDMI cable? Hit the comments to let us know, as I can confidently say I’ll be ordering one shortly. After all, you may not need to output video from your phone frequently, but the one time you need to, it sure would be handy to have a cable on hand to do so.

Let’s imagine for a second that you can only choose one type of secondary camera lens for your phone. The choices are either a telephoto lens or an ultrawide lens; you can’t have both. Which do you choose?

For me, I’d go with telephoto, as I have pets and enjoy taking pictures of them from a distance so that I can capture their excitement without interrupting their fun. Of course, ultrawide is handy if you enjoy taking images of landscapes and the like. So it’s a tough call all around. Still, you can only choose one, so which will it be? Hit the comments to let us know, as I have a feeling one will be more popular than the other.

We recently learned that the new Google TV Streamer remote works with older Chromecasts (read more about this in the linked article). So now that it is clear the new remote will work with older 4th gen devices, do you plan on picking up a replacement for your aging Chromecast? Sure, the Chromecast 4K and HD came with a remote, but perhaps it stopped working or is showing its age.

But this got me thinking: how many Chromecast owners actually want a replacement remote? So, hit the comments to let us know if you are planning to purchase the Google TV Streamer remote for your 4th gen Chromecast.

The Google Pixel camera visor has become a staple of Google’s design language since the Pixel 6. Unfortunately, it has some durability issues. Such a large, flat surface housing the cameras makes it susceptible to micro scratches, which can cause unsightly blemishes and potentially cloudy photos. 

In addition, whatever materials Google uses to construct the visor show wear within days. My Pixel 8 Pro’s visor looked like I ran it through my dryer after only two or three days in my pocket, and that was with being careful. I don’t abuse my phones, but that doesn’t matter. Drop a photo of your battered Pixel visor if you’re similarly frustrated with Google’s lack of build quality and how it makes your shiny new phone look beat up in the first days of ownership.

This week has been an absolute whirlwind. After flying across the country to experience Made By Google in-person, I’m back home and ready to hunker down for the incoming storm that is the Pixel review period. With the Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro XL set to launch in just a week — and with the Pixel 9 Pro and 9 Pro Fold following soon after — we want to know what you want our reviewers to focus on by leaving a comment on this very post.

Our Pixel reviews tend to be some of the longest on the site — and considering I tend to write long reviews as it is, that’s saying something. Google’s focus on rolling out countless new software features can make it a real challenge to hit every change in-depth, though I’m always aiming to make sure our readers are as familiar with the experience as possible before they decide to upgrade. After all, the best reviews can help make up your mind for you.

Whether you’re curious about Gemini

The Pixel line is certainly known for taking great pictures, and the latest models are assuredly some of the best yet. This is why we wanted to ask everyone to share their favorite images taken with a Pixel 9, from the base model to the Pro and the Fold. So fire up Google Photos, grab your favorite shots, and slap them into the comments below. Let’s see what everyone has been shooting to inspire us all to take even better shots in the future.

I’ll go first. Below, you can see a shot of my Boston Terrier Eva rolling around like the maniac she is.

Everyone remembers their first phone. It’s the first time you can call your friends from wherever you are, take pics on the go, and play Angry Birds (depending on your era). What was your first phone and what do you remember about it? Do you remember it fondly? Share your memories about your first cellular experience!

I only recently switched to a Pixel 9, and I have to say I love the experience. Android feels more polished, the user experience more cohesive, and I appreciate that. But Pixel’s don’t always have the best reputation, with bugs and other issues typically cropping up after release. But this year seems different, partly because Google has held Android 15 back, which means Pixel 9 users are on a more stable and tested system, at least for the time being. This has certainly worked in Google’s favor, but for some, I’m sure the reputation remains lacking.

So, I have a question for all you Pixel users out there. Why did you choose to buy a Pixel over any of the other OEMs? Is it brand loyalty, do you simply prefer the experience Google offers, or is there another factor why you choose Pixel over the competition?

Now that Apple is starting to offer more and more of the features that made Android unique, like the recent addition of RCS messaging, it’s getting harder and harder to tell the two systems apart. Where using one operating system over another is becoming less about features and more about looks and branding. Still, there are some areas where Android excels and others where iOS comes out on top. For me, I choose Android because it is still more open than iOS, allowing me to easily sideload whatever I want, and I can even dip into ADB if I really need to change something, like remove a default app. I’ve used iOS plenty, but overall, it just feels locked down, and most workarounds often cost money.

But what about you, what is the major dealbreaker that holds you back from mainlining iOS? Hit the comments to let us know.

Today is a monumental day when it comes to Android. Way back in 2008, on September 23rd, HTC officially announced the Dream. For those of you unsure which phone the Dream was, it was the very first commercially available Android phone, and it launched a month later, in October, on the T-Mobile network, known as the T-Mobile G1. Europe didn’t get the phone until November. While the HTC Dream had a short life, discontinued in July of 2010 to be replaced in the US with the G2, the two years it was available enshrined the phone in the history books, not only as the first Android phone, but one with a wicked chin and navigation ball that easily set it apart from anything Apple was doing at the time.

Did you get a chance to use the HTC Dream all those years ago, or did you jump into the Android ecosystem much later? For me, I wanted the Dream but didn’t want to switch carriers to get one. So my first Android was the HTC Hero on Sprint, which also rocked a chin and nav ball. Good times indee

Okay, so Nubia isn’t the biggest name in the smartphone space. But its new Z60 Ultra Leading Version makes up for that with a solid play for longest name in the smartphone space, and that has to count for something, right?

More importantly, according to our reviewer Jon Gilbert, this is Nubia’s best phone yet. It packs an overclocked ‘Leading Version’ take on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, with that extra oomph directed at improving output from the phone’s high-end camera hardware, including a 64MP telephoto. It’s not perfect (MyOS can, frankly, get in the sea) but there’s a lot of power for the price.

I know what mine is; it is the Pixel 5. Perhaps an obvious answer, but it truly is the phone that stands out to me the most over my many years of buying and using smartphones. Sure, HTC offered some very slick devices back in the Windows Mobile days, but if I were hard-pressed to name the one phone that stands above all others, at least in my opinion, the Pixel 5 is it. It was incredibly affordable while offering stock Android, which was a big deal at the time of bloated UIs from the competition, and frankly, it was the perfect size, pocketable yet useable, something I truly miss even in 2024. 

But after all of these years, what phone stood out to you as your favorite? What still sticks in your memory as the phone no one has been able to beat?

In a world of fast charging, where it seems like every phone offers some sort of incredibly fast charging speed, is 25w enough in this day and age? Considering we are talking about the Fan Edition line of Galaxy phones, you’d think fast charging would be part and parcel with being some type of super-fan, and yet it isn’t, or at least hasn’t been up to this point. The Galaxy S23FE shipped with 25w charging, so it seems there is a chance the S24 FE could offer the same (click through to read more).

So, is 25w charging fast enough for your needs, or do you require more from your smartphone? Hit the comments to let us know, as I have a feeling most will not be happy if 25w is what we get.

Thanks to Unpacked this week, both Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 6 and Motorola’s Razr+ have been unveiled. The Razr+ packs a bigger cover screen, the Z Flip 6 a faster chipset, but which flip phone would get your hard-earned money this year?

It was inevitable. Now that folding phones are part of many brands’ smartphone lines, it makes sense that we are now entering an age that goes beyond a single fold. That’s right, Huawei is already teasing a tri-fold phone (click through to read more on that), and it’ll be here this month on September 10th, which is only six days away. But before it drops, we have some time to hypothesize what we’ll get.

So, are you excited to see folds go beyond one? If so, exactly how do you see so many folds working? I’d imagine size will be a factor in that three folds will surely mean this device is very large when unfolded and very thick when folded. Will this hold you back, or are you more concerned about experiencing the newest tech, no matter the downsides it may bring?

I know I do, and I don’t even use my phone as an alarm; I let my internal clock take care of that. I also know I’m not alone; I’m sure plenty of people sleep with their phones charging on their nightstands. I keep mine there for easy access so that when I wake up in the middle of the night, I can reach for my phone and ensure I won’t get back to sleep. It’s a sick pattern, I admit, so I can totally sympathize with anyone who keeps their smartphone in a separate room while catching some Zs. So hit the comments below and let us know: am I ridiculous for letting my phone control my life, or is it totally normal to want to stay connected by sleeping next to one’s phone?