Android tablets are finally, kind of, getting a little exciting again. But I’m tired of the same stupid asterisk on all of them. Android tablets need to stop “cheaping” out on biometrics and using insecure, effectively pointless face unlock.

There’s still time to enter our giveaway of Google’s Pixel 9 and Yaber’s T2 Projector. This month we’ve teamed up with our friends at Yaber to celebrate the launch of its newest smart projector models, including the K300s, L2 Plus, and T2 Series. You can head below now to enter the giveaway and check out Yaber’s new projectors the K300s, L2 Plus.

Welcome to episode 39 of Pixelated, a podcast by 9to5Google. This week, we talk about our long-term Pixel 9 Pro XL review.

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• 9to5Rewards: Win a Google Pixel 9 from Yaber [Giveaway]

As Gemini is now readily available to Google Workspace subscribers, admins have found that the ability to disable the new AI features is hidden behind a conversation with Google support.

Friday’s best deals on Android games and apps are now ready to go down below. Alongside the Google Play offers we are also tracking Galaxy Watch Ultra at $200 off for today only (or much less with an S25 preorder), as well rare deals on Samsung Galaxy Arc Pulse Bumper cases at up to 50% off, this 3-in-1 charging station at $37, and today’s deals on the Nest indoor smart cams starting from $65. As for the apps, highlights include titles like Majesty: The Fantasy Kingdom, Tokaido, Homo Machina, Nerd Survivors,  Charterstone, and more. Head below for a closer look. 

Google Prompt is a pretty good 2-factor authentication (2FA) option for the vast majority of users, with Google now adding fingerprint or PIN authentication to the process.

The Lenovo Legion Tab is finally available in the US, but we missed out on a white variant that’s sold in China. At the very least, though, you can still import the case.

Galaxy AI is one of Samsung’s biggest draws on its flagship phones, and writing assist is a huge part of that. While most of Samsung’s Galaxy AI features are locked into its own apps, that’s no longer the case for Writing Assist, which is now available outside of Samsung Keyboard

LineageOS 22 is already bringing Android 15 to a host of ordinarily unsupported hardware, but does flashing this custom ROM in 2025 make sense? Here’s everything you need to know.

Friday’s best deals across the Androidverse are now up for grabs. While you can score a huge deal on Galaxy Watch Ultra with your S25 pre-order, we are also now tracking straight up $200 price drops on all three colors even without preordering. Next up is a solid $350 discount on HP’s Snapdragon X Plus OmniBook Copilot+ PC as well as a chance to expand your Google smart home with Nest indoor smart cams starting from $65 shipped. We also have some rare Valentine’s Day deals on the S23/24 metal Arc Pulse Bumper iPhone cases. Everything else is waiting for you down below. 

In its first update in the better part of a year, Samsung is rolling out a new Good Lock app with an updated design that’s ready for One UI 7’s rollout, and a major improvement over what was available before.

Google might be working on a Find My Device app for Wear OS as revealed months ago in the Pixel Watch 3’s intro video.

YouTube already has a 2x speed multiplier for videos that seem to go on a little too long. The company is furthering that with an experimental 4x speed multiplier, available only to YouTube Premium subscribers for the time being.

Months after bringing the update to iPhone and iPad hardware, Blackmagic Camera 2.0 is now available for Android phones and, for the first time, selected Android tablets.

It’s been almost a year since Eufy committed to releasing versions of its SmartTrack trackers for Android’s Find My Device network, but they’re still not here. Now, Eufy is providing an update, saying that “testing is ongoing” for its Find My Device trackers and promising further updates next month.

The Pebble is the smartwatch that started it all and, in many ways, nothing has truly replaced it nearly a decade later. Now, a new generation of the Pebble smartwatch is coming, and this is what you should expect to see from it.

Google today widely rolled out version 9.7.047.702121536.18 of Pixel Camera, but it’s just a smaller patch update.

Compared to Android, only some of Google’s iOS apps use the latest version of Material Design. Gmail for iPhone and iPad was finally updated with a Material 3 redesign today.

Update: Google has revised the Gemini release notes (to 2025.01.30) and removed the “2.0 Pro Experimental” announcement. In releasing 2.0 Flash today, it looks like a previous/earlier version (2025.01.28) of the changelog was used. Nevertheless, it seems like Google is continuing its “Flash” and “Pro” branding this generation.

After Drive and Calendar in recent months, Google Photos on the web now has a dark theme.