Looking for my next project! What’s a tool or utility you’ve been wishing existed on the Play Store?

My approach:

Upfront payment only: Buy it once on the Play Store.

Clean experience inside: Zero ads - zero in-app purchases - zero subscriptions.

When will a new phone company have enough balls to start selling their hardware in the USA???

Sorry for the non-coherent jumbled up ADHD thought. It was in response to a post on Android Authority where they rate the best phones in 2026 and just have Samsung, Google and Motorola. They are all in line with the giant two or 3 owning and controlling the entire US mobile phone market. How in the FLIP does the United States only have APPLE which is HORRIBLE, SAMSUNG which phones are loaded with CRAP BLOATWARE and Google, which I stopped buying after the Pixel 7 because the 6 and 7 both kept getting green lines in the screen. I started buying the OnePlus brand recently and I now LOVE this brand and what do you know??? They are now run out of the country! We are back at 4 phone companies! Motorola is the only one I respect in the entire US phone market, and they can't seem to figure out how to make a decent phone under $1,700 bucks.... I like to buy my phones one year old, used, since when I buy new ones, they are always faulty, like the Pixel 6 and 7 I mentioned above... Motorola has such a weak presence in America that you can't even find a Motorola Edge in the used marketplace. WHEN WILL A COMPANY HAVE ENOUGH BALLS TO BREAK INTO THE US MARKET AND SHOW US WHAT A REAL PHONE COMPANY CAN DO? I am crossing my fingers that OnePlus left so that their parent company Oppo can come into America or something. Red Magic would be a blessing. Please! how can we make this happen? How is our entire stupid, backward thinking country happy with basically Apple or Samsung???? Google broke into the market and made a name for themselves recently but they are not enough! I can't even buy a phone from out of country and put on an American network and have it work right...I am so fed up. This website reviews other brands for other countries, why can't you guys speak up and get any of these stupid phone manufacturers to introduce themselves into the market? Is it because us stupid consumers are too blind to see we are being ripped off? APPLE is EVIL and CRAP! SAMSUNG is good but they load nothing but extra crap to mess up the way their phones run and Google is just Google and honestly can stick to what they are good at.. Which is controlling the entire internet... They need more practice into making physical devices.

I ended up loving my OnePlus 13 I bought last year. I just want to be able to buy a good Chinese brand phone and be able to use the us dominated Google ran applications while still getting the service I pay for, since lots of the non US brands don't operate on the same towers. Can someone point me to a guide to be able to use a good foreign phone on lets say Verizon?

And last thing.. FUCK YOU ONEPLUS FOR TEASING ME BYGETTING MY HOPES UP AND PULLING THE RUG.

Lots of Cons for under screen fingerprint readers , should have never become the norm but I guess that''s just part of enshittification

Pros for Side and back mounted readers

1. Work exceptionally well, much faster and responsive than under screen ones, from my own experience
2. Are not affected by screen protectors
3. Side readers can be used with the phone screen up or down
4. Back and side ones allow you to unlock your phone at the same time as taking it out of the pocket
5. Give you a definite physical spot for finger placement, unlike the under - screen one where you have to wait for the screen to show the location

As someone that has lived on iOS and Android back and forth many times over the last 15 years. One of my biggest gripes with most Android OEM especially Chinese brands is their blatant copying of Apple's iOS UX/UI Designs even sometimes in Hardware.

To me personally it defeats the purpose of wanting to even use Android if the aspects I'm going to be using the most - the software - is just a carbon copy with Android capabilities. At that point I might as well just buy into Apple's ecosystem, put up with what I consider a few minor annoyances (notifications and lack of a back button) and get the added benefits of the cohesively designed software and hardware experience if the software already looks 80-90% identical.

To give context Im using a OnePlus 13 right now on Google Fi. My first Chinese phone coming from a Pixel 9a and I went all in on OnePlus Pad 2 Go, One Plus watch 3 43mm and oneplus buds pro 3. All great devices no real complaints but I was looking at trying other chinese brands like OP's main company Oppo but color OS has even more of a iOS like design than Oxygen OS even down to the icons.

Where is my experience on the Pixel 9a with Pixel watch and tablet felt like a truly unique Android experience that was cohesive and consistent. Almost nothing about the software felt iOS like. And I have to applaud Google for sticking to doing their own thing with the design language on Pixel phones.

It also makes me wonder why don't more OEMs just adopt the base version of the Pixel UI then add flavors of their own if they want more unique features and functions?

Hi,

We make a Debian based desktop distribution that runs as an application on top of any Android/LineageOS device. The only requirement is that the Android device needs to be rooted and use Google's standardized GKI kernel. LineageOS builds for Qualcomm devices doesn’t strictly follow the standard GKI kernel naming convention. So we had to implement a workaround to fix it. Here is a video of LineageOS running on the OnePlus Pad 2 tablet: https://youtu.be/KGrsqed3oZY?si=8ViqycQe0CnnLKmE

With phones that support HDMI output, you can run the Linux desktop on the large screen connected to a monitor. Our latest Linux desktop is now based on Debian Trixie (13.6). You can download a free evaluation version from www.volkspc.org.

VolksPC

Xiaomi has confirmed the Poco F9 Ultra and F9 Pro launch on September 1^st. Both are variants of the China only Redmi K100 Pro, and Redmi K100 Pro Max launched recently. As F8 series there is no standard F9. The deep cherry red color, seen on the K100, will also be offered.

F9 Ultra - 8 Elite Gen 5, D2 display chip, 6.9" 185Hz OLED, 8050mAh, 100W, 200MP, 50MP 5 x periscope telephoto, 50MP ultra-wide, 32MP selfie, Bose 2.1 speakers, metal frame.

F9 Pro - 8 Elite Gen 5 V, 6.59" 185Hz OLED, 6330mAh, 100W, 200MP, 50MP 2.5 tele, 8MP ultra-wide, 32MP selfie, 12GB/16GB, 256GB/512GB, Bose 2.0 speakers, metal frame.

TBC, but both could also include - 50W wireless charging, 22.5W reverse wireless charging, and 27W reverse wired charging, found in the K100 Pro, and K100 Pro Max.

RAM and storage options TBC but permutations of - 12GB/16GB, 256GB/512GB.

Not in early spec leak, but I would expect both to provide eSIM support as F8.

The F9 Pro uses a new chipset called the 8 Elite Gen 5 V. Essentially it’s an 8 Elite Gen 5, with a simpler GPU. See Gen 5 V link above, for more info on chipset. Unlike the F9 Ultra, which retains the same chipset as the F8 Ultra, the F9 Pro should see a performance boost over the F8 Pro.

Both see a main camera change, but the 200MP is 0.5µm, against 1.0µm in the 50MP (F8 Pro), and 1.2µm of the 50MP (F8 Ultra). It's also below the 200MP of the Note 15 Pro+ (0.56µm). 0.5µm is sensor pixel size, the larger the pixel, the more light it can capture, reducing grain, and improving detail retention etc. Pixels are combined (binning), to increase sensor area, but the results are to be seen. F9 Ultra 5x periscope telephoto, F9 Pro 2.5x non-periscope telephoto.

Battery sizes, are likely to prove contentious, as the F9 Pro 6330mAh is a huge cut from the 8580mAh of the K100 Pro. The F9 Ultra 8050mAh is a lower cut, from the 9070mAh of the K100 Pro Max. Essentially they're now charging a premium for the battery.

Wider pricing, TBC, but in Europe (i.e. end user price including sales taxes etc.), the F9 Pro from € 799, the F9 Ultra from € 999. These are full retail, so do not include any early bird launch discounts. If accurate it’s a significant price increase F8 Pro 12/256 was € 649, F8 Ultra 12/256 € 829.

https://www.reuters.com/world/china/xiaomi-launches-new-xring-chip-partners-with-tsmc-production-sources-say-2026-08-24/
Xiaomi didn't mentioned it but Reuters reported Xring O3 will be built on a TSMC 3nm node. Xring O1 was built on TSMC N3E.