Thanks to an exclusive Teenage Engineering freebie and Koala Sampler, a Google Pixel 10 is one of the best Android music making phones you can buy, and it'll cost you loads less than the latest iPhone this Black Friday

The iPhone might be the de facto ‘music making phone’, but if you don’t want to go down the Apple route, Google’s Pixel is now a solid option, too. Yep, you heard me right - I’m recommending an Android phone for making beats, and it’s currently available at a massive Black Friday discount.

I’m talking about the Google Pixel 10, a phone that was launched a matter of months ago but is already down to £599 in the UK (regular price £799) and $599 in the US (regular price $799).

But why, as a musician, would you actually want it? Aren’t Android phones terrible for techy on-the-go tunesmiths? Well, they used to be, but the Pixel in particular now has plenty going for it, not least an exclusive music-making app from Teenage Engineering, which has the added advantage of being completely free.

That app is PO Pixel - released in 2022, this is akin to a pumped-up version of one of Teenage Engineering’s Pocket Operator devices, and can perform the clever trick of extracting samples from any video you feed it so that they can be triggered on sequenced on a 4x4 grid of pads. There are four tracks, you can use up to 16 patterns per project, and things can be spiced up considerably with a suite of funky real-time effects. Honestly, it’s great fun.

This is a Pixel exclusive (Pixel 5 onwards), but certainly doesn’t represent the only way you can make music on an Android phone. The superb Koala Sampler is also compatible, and I’ve also enjoyed playing with Meteaure’s Polaris, which has both sampler and synth engines, and Sequence Groovebox.

In fact, the list of potential options goes on. Steinberg’s Cubasis 3, FL Studio Mobile, Roland Zenbeats - they all work on Android.

As for the Pixel 10, our colleagues at TechRadar call it “the closest Google has come to hitting the iPhone bullseye,” which is a pretty strong recommendation. Both its camera and looks are super-sharp, it has some amazing/terrifying AI features and will get seven years of OS and security updates - good to know if you plan on keeping your device for a long time, whether that’s for financial or environmental reasons (or both).

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Google Pixel 10: was £799 now £599 at Amazon

Here it is, then - the Amazon UK Black Friday deal on Google's all-new Pixel 10. Buy it, marvel at the quality of the camera and be amazed by all the fancy AI features, then settle down with your favourite music-making app and make some beats. And, if you want even more power, the Pro and Pro XL versions are on sale, too. Bargain hunters, meanwhile, should consider the also-reduced Pixel 9a.

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Google Pixel 10: was $799 now $599 at Best Buy

If you're in the US, head to Best Buy for probably the best buy you'll make this Black Friday: a Google Pixel 10 for just $599. As in the UK, the Pro and Pro XL versions of the phone have received hefty price cuts as well, or you could grab yourself a bargain in the shape of the Pixel 9a.

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