A tough, Google-free Android phone with a swappable battery? Sign me up!
Volla
German smartphone maker Volla has launched two new mid-range phones that go against the grain. The Volla Phone Plinius and Plinius Plus are built to last, ship without Google, and let you swap the battery yourself. That last part alone makes them stand out from almost every other smartphone on the market.
Both phones share the same core design: a flat frame, slim bezels, and a 6.67-inch OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and 1,000 nits of peak brightness. It even works with wet hands and gloves, which is a nice touch if you spend time outdoors.
Despite allowing for a user-replaceable battery, the phone features IP68 water and dust resistance. Also, in the age when companies are not even shipping chargers in the box, Volla ships the phone with a screen protector and a replaceable back cover right in the box.
Is the thick body a dealbreaker?
The Plinius is 10.5mm thick and weighs 230 grams, so it is not a phone for people who want something feather-light like an iPhone Air. That said, the chunky build is what makes the replaceable 5,300 mAh battery possible. You can swap it yourself with a standard screwdriver.
Under the hood, you get a MediaTek Dimensity 7300 chip, a 64MP main camera, an 8MP ultra-wide, and 32MP selfie camera. Volla has also added on-device AI for photo optimization, which processes everything locally without sending your data anywhere.
The standout feature is that the phones ship with Volla OS, which is an open-source Android operating system without Google services. You can also choose the Linux-powered Ubuntu Touch operating system.
If you wanted to de-Google your phone for privacy and trying different operating systems like GrapheneOS, the Volla Plinius phones might be worth taking a look.
Which version should you buy?
The standard Plinius comes with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage for €598 and is available now. The Plinius Plus bumps that up to 12GB RAM and 256GB storage, adds a reinforced back with pogo pins for future modular accessories, and launches in June 2026 for €698.
Seeing the price difference is only €100, and you get double the storage and an extra 4GB of RAM, I would suggest waiting for the Plus model if you can afford it. It will ensure that you can use the phone for a long time without feeling RAM constraints.
Rachit is a seasoned tech journalist with over seven years of experience covering the consumer technology landscape.
Just like the MacBook Neo, Apple might serve another pricing slam with the iPhone 18 Pro
Aggressive doesn’t necessarily mean expensive.
Apple’s pricing strategy might be about to get… interesting again. Because after surprising everyone with the aggressively priced MacBook Neo, the company could be gearing up to pull a similar move with its next flagship iPhone. And this time, it’s the Pro models in focus.
Apple reportedly going aggressive with iPhone 18 Pro pricing?
Read more
The 6,000 mAh battery on the Razr Fold should worry Samsung and Google: Here’s why
With silicon-carbon technology and 80W TurboPower charging, Motorola’s first book-style foldable has the specs. Now it just has to prove them.
If there’s something that stands between foldables and the mainstream smartphone market, it’s their battery life, and Motorola has taken it upon itself to fix that. Almost all smartphone giants have their own book-style foldable available in the U.S., and all of them justify the premium with intricate hinges, flexible displays, and other engineering marvels, but somehow, that doesn’t extend to their batteries.
You can unfold a foldable to double its screen size; that’s its entire pitch. But does the battery life also double? Unfortunately, it doesn’t. Among the two widely available book-style foldables in the U.S. — Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Google’s Pixel 10 Pro Fold — the average battery life remains less than that of regular handsets.
Read more
Motorola’s new Edge 70 Pro packs an extremely bright screen and goes all in on styling
Motorola Edge 70 Pro has the kind of finish you look at twice
Motorola’s Edge 70 Pro has now made its global debut after launching in India last week. The hardware is impressive, though the first thing most people will probably notice is the way it looks.
The phone has a slim quad-curved body, textured finishes, and Pantone-curated colors that give it a polished look. Motorola has also paired that styling with a very bright 5200 nits 6.8-inch AMOLED screen, which should make the phone easy to use outdoors.
Read more
English