The service is available in over 100 countries, but we didn’t want to overload you with numbers. We looked up the prices from 36 of the most significant nations in terms of market share, representing most regions where Apple TV Plus is available. We’ve also stuck to the flat monthly fee to simplify the comparison rather than getting into the various deals and packages available.

QUICK ANSWER

Apple’s Emergency SOS feature is meant to save critical time reaching emergency services and contacts — devices in the iPhone 15 and iPhone 14 lineups can even send alerts via satellite. But if the feature is being triggered accidentally, say via Crash Detection, children, or your pocket, you can disable it (almost) entirely. Here’s how.

QUICK ANSWER

When it comes to foldables, Samsung dominates the market, and for good reason too. While its foldable may not be packing the best specifications, Samsung has nailed down the marketing and distribution channels, alongside creating a familiar identity in the space. With the Galaxy Z Fold 5 now a few months old, early leaks have begun surfacing for the Galaxy Z Fold 6, and we could finally be in for some significant changes.

Leaker Chun VN has shared a bunch of early specifications for what we could see on the Galaxy Z Fold 6.

Google Lens is one of the more useful apps on a smartphone, using your mobile camera for text recognition, object searches, and more. Now, one of the best Lens features is coming to Gboard.

9to5Google reports that Google is now bringing a so-called Scan Text feature to Gboard. We can indeed confirm seeing this feature in the beta version of Gboard.

The OnePlus Watch 2 is getting ready to make its debut at MWC 2024. While OnePlus has already shown us what the smartwatch looks like, and an FCC listing has revealed some of its features, we still don’t know details about its availability.

Update: February 22, 2024 (2 AM ET): We’ve updated the Pixel Fold 2 rumor hub with newly leaked renders of the phone. Read on for all the latest.

Original article: There was a long trail of rumors and leaks before the Google Pixel Fold launched. By this time last year, we had already seen renders of Google’s first foldable phone and were aware of many other aspects of the phone. However, the Pixel Fold 2 has mostly remained an enigma — until now. Thanks to our sources, we finally have some details to share about Google’s second foldy boi. We’ve got the low down on the Pixel Fold 2’s specs, design, and other hardware. Read on for all the latest.

The Xiaomi 14 Ultra is launching in a few hours in China, and the phone is also expected to be launched globally in a few days. Xiaomi has made great progress with the cameras on its phone, and the Ultra series specifically really leans into the photography angle, with a Leica partnership and camera grip accessories. Even with the Xiaomi 14 Ultra, Xiaomi could be launching a camera grip accessory, and this time, it could be launched globally too.

Leaker Ishan Agarwal has shared some new information about the Xiaomi 14 Ultra. Most excitingly, he has shared official renders of the Leica Pro Kit/Case, mentioning that it will be available globally too. Past iterations of this accessory made it easier to hold the phone in landscape orientation and added a dedicated shutter button and zoom slider.

We all know that free Android games aren’t always free these days, but many of them are very close if you have a little patience. Most free-to-play bottlenecks occur when players get impatient. Waiting it out can usually get around those pitfalls. What we have here are the best free Android games that you should be able to play comfortably without spending a dime, and we hope you enjoy them. 

For anyone who can’t handle free-to-play mechanics, check out our list of the best Android games, which includes paid titles. If you have a Netflix subscription, check out our list of the best Netflix games, which include some excellent titles without ads or additional fees.

The Samsung Galaxy Fit 3 has been the subject of a ton of leaks, most prominently via Samsung itself. Now, the company has finally revealed its new wearable.

True to the leaks, the Galaxy Fit 3 brings an aluminum case and a larger, wider 1.6-inch display. In fact, Samsung says this screen is 45% wider than the previous model. The wearable also brings 5ATM and IP68 ratings.

If you’re thinking of splashing the cash on Apple’s most premium Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max smartphone, you’ll want to protect your investment. Here are the best Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max cases you can buy, from thin cases to rugged cases with everything in between!

Want to learn more? Check out our in-depth guides to the best phone cases and the best phone accessories you can buy! Wrong phone? Check out our guides to the best cases for the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro.

The iPhone 15 Pro might be the first to use actual titanium in its housing, but don’t count on that to keep it safe from drops. To protect your investment you’ll want to slap a case on it. To help you find the right one for you, we’ve rounded up the best iPhone 15 Pro cases you can currently buy.

Want to learn more? Check out our in-depth guides to the best phone cases and the best phone accessories you can buy! Wrong phone? Check out our favorite cases for the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro Max.

Around the time of the Samsung Galaxy S24 launch, Samsung assured us that One UI 6.1 — the software debuting with those phones — would be available on other devices. Now, the company is giving a timeline for when that rollout will begin.

Per Samsung, One UI 6.1 will start rolling out to the Galaxy S23 series (including the Galaxy S23 FE), the Galaxy Z Fold 5, the Galaxy Z Flip 5, and the Galaxy Tab S9 series starting in “late March.” Unfortunately, the company wasn’t more specific than that. We had previously heard this timeline through a leak, but seeing the company confirm it is nice.

Despite Android introducing seamless updates years ago, Samsung has stubbornly avoided the option. Although the phone maker has made it this far without adopting the update method, it may prove to be too difficult for Samsung to keep denying it in the near future.

If you have a Pixel phone, you’ll be familiar with seamless updates. It’s a feature that allows you to continue using your phone as your update downloads and installs. This is done by running an active partition while an inactive partition is updated in the background. When it’s time to reboot, your phone then switches to the updated partition.

If you recently signed in to your Google account and noticed something looked a little different, you’re not alone. Google has rolled out a new design for the sign-in page.

On its help page, Google announced it has changed the page you typically see when signing into your account. According to the tech giant, it has adjusted the layout so it will be better suited for all types of screens, whether big, small, or wide. Additionally, the page will now automatically adjust to the size of the screen.

Earlier this month, we shared an exclusive image of what appeared to be an early engineering sample of the Google Pixel Fold 2. Now, we have some leaked renders of the unannounced smartphone, and they seem to line up with our earlier leak.

Thanks to trusted leaker Steve Hemmerstoffer (aka @OnLeaks) and partner SmartPrix, we can see that these renders match up nearly exactly with the leaked engineering sample. The camera module on the back looks incredibly similar, and the change in display aspect ratio appears present, too.

Major League Soccer fans waving the T-Mobile magenta flag may feel like they’ve been dealt a yellow card today. The carrier, which generously gifted its customers with a free year of MLS Season Pass in 2023, has confirmed it won’t be repeating the offer for the 2024 season.

Last year, T-Mobile made waves by offering its customers a one-year subscription to Apple’s MLS Season Pass, which debuted in February 2023 within the Apple TV app. The promotion was part of T-Mobile’s efforts to enhance its customer experience, providing unparalleled access to MLS games for its subscribers. However, as the 2024 MLS season kicks off today, T-Mobile has confirmed to CNET that free access to the MLS Season Pass will not be offered this year.

Today’s encryption is good enough to defend against most encryption cracking attempts. But will today’s encryption hold up when pitted against more powerful computers in the future? Apple is not waiting to find out and is updating the security protocol for its messaging app to handle attacks from quantum computers.

According to Bloomberg, Apple is introducing a new form of encryption meant for iMessage called PQ3 cryptographic protocol. This new encryption layer will work alongside the company’s existing encryption tools.

Prepaid carriers are having a moment. Not only are there more MVNOs available than before, but they are also gaining in popularity. More consumers are learning you don’t need to stick with AT&T, T-Mobile, or Verizon to get quality phone service. If you’re looking to say money, Tello and Mint Mobile are both great T-Mobile MVNOs. In this guide, we compare Mint Mobile vs Tello to help you decide which carrier is right for you. 

Mint Mobile vs Visible: Pricing and value

• Winner: Tie

Although imperfect, generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini are improving faster than many of us can keep up. However, this progress stands to threaten some of the most skilled jobs out there, including many tech industry-adjacent roles. Some would argue this transition has already kicked in, given the persistent rounds of layoffs that have resonated throughout 2023 and 2024. So on that somber note, let’s take a clear-eyed look at the specific tech jobs most likely to be disrupted by AI, and what skills will be essential in this evolving landscape.

Will AI replace tech jobs and which ones are at risk?

Contrary to popular belief, artificial intelligence isn’t going to replace all of us or our jobs overnight. History has proven that automation tends to create new opportunities rather than causing mass unemployment. More importantly, though, the AI of today often requires human intervention to correct obvious mistakes. All of this suggests that generative AI is more likely to augment existing jobs than replace them altogether.

The iPhone 15 arrived late last year. If you haven’t picked it up yet it will set you back quite a chunk of change, depending on the model and storage size. Is there a way to get a free iPhone 15? Actually yes. There is a catch, though.

Where can you get a free iPhone 15?

So back to that catch we mentioned. No one is going to give you a free iPhone for nothing. The only way to get it is through your carrier and there might be a few hoops to jump. Also, be aware you’ll typically see these ‘free phones’ in the form of credit discounts over a long period of months. If you cancel your plan or change up phones sooner than expected, you may end up owing back some money.

There are a few things holding Gemini back from being a true replacement for Google Assistant on Android. This includes absent features like routines, media service provider support, and more. But it looks like Gemini is now getting at least one of the functions it was sorely missing.

According to 9to5Google, the Gemini app on Android now has the ability to set reminders with the help of Google Assistant integration and Google Tasks. This means the app can now accept commands like “remind me to turn off lights tonight” or “remind me to grab the mail tomorrow morning.” Whereas before, you would be greeted by an error message or fake acknowledgment when attempting to set reminders.

Formerly known as Google Bard, Google’s AI chatbot boasts a new name and a host of new capabilities. More significantly, a new Gemini app can now replace Google Assistant on your Android phone, assuming your phone is set to US English. I won’t spend too much time diving into the confusing nuances of Google’s AI strategy (or seemingly lack thereof). Instead, I’ve left that scrambled chaos to more eloquent voices, and simply go hands-on with the Gemini app.

According to Google

The OnePlus Watch 2 is only days away from its February 26, 2024, launch. As expected, the device dropped by the FCC ahead of the release. That FCC filing, however, reveals some new interesting details about the smartwatch.

In the FCC listing, we see the OPWWE231 model number, confirming this is the OnePlus-branded global variant. We first learned about this model number back in October last year via a leak. In addition to the model number, we learn that OnePlus’s next wearable will sport a 500mAh battery.

To quote our sister site and audio experts, SoundGuys, “At $129, the Edifier NeoBuds Pro 2 are a steal.” Today’s record price drop on Amazon to just $99.98 makes the wireless earbuds an even more tempting prospect, although it’s hard to say what’s better than a steal.

Edifier NeoBuds Pro 2 for $99.98 ($30 off)

The Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2 made out best Chromebooks list as the best-looking entry, but it has the performance to match its stunning design. Amazon just slashed 50% off the price for the first time ever, giving you the chance to pick it up for just $349.

Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2 (128GB/8GB)

Despite all the recent Gemini-related news, Google isn’t slowing down on AI development for even a second. The latest from Google involves an open-source spinoff of Gemini called Gemma.

Today, Google announced it launched a family of lightweight open-source AI models built off the same technical and infrastructure components as Gemini. This family of open models is known as Gemma and comes in two sizes: Gemma 2B (2 billion parameters) and Gemma 7B (7 billion parameters).

Google’s massive rebranding campaign turned all its AI products into Google Gemini. The rebranding is currently in progress, and starting today, Duet AI for Google Workspace will transition into Gemini for Google Workspace. As part of the move, Google has released a standalone “chat with Gemini” experience for Workspace customers while opening up Gemini access to all consumers through the Google One AI Premium subscription.

Gemini through Google One AI Premium across Google apps

Starting today, Google One subscribers who subscribe to the new $19.99 per month Google One AI Premium plan can access Gemini across their personal Gmail, Docs, Slides, Sheets, and Meet apps. This is rolling out to English language users in more than 150 countries.

WhatsApp has long offered the same set of formatting options (bold, strikethrough, italics, monospace). Now, the company has announced that it’s finally offering four more options.

Welcome to Wallpaper Wednesday! In this weekly roundup, we’ll give you a handful of Android wallpapers you can download and use on your phone, tablet, or even your laptop/PC. The images will come from folks here at Android Authority as well as our readers. All are free to use and come without watermarks. File formats are JPG and PNG, and we’ll provide images in both landscape and portrait modes, so they’ll be optimized for various screens.

For the newest walls as well as all the ones from previous weeks, check out this Drive link. Want to submit your own? Head to the bottom of this article.

Wallpaper Wednesday: February 21, 2024

Another week, another set of awesome Android wallpapers for you to share! Remember that we are always looking for submissions from our readers. Head to the bottom of this article to find out how you could have one of your images featured in an upcoming Wallpaper Wednesday!

We’ve got three awesome images from our readers that would look great on your phone, tablet, or PC. As usual, we also have some images from the Android Authority team.

First, we have an impressive photo of a statue of Shiva from reader Sanjana Kadwadkar. Next, we have a beautiful shot of dunes in Dubai from Shantanu Chodankar. Shantanu shot that on a OnePlus 7T! Finally, we have a stunning capture of some purple flowers by reader Rohan Nayek. Rohan shot that on a OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite! Thanks so much for your submissions, all!

From the Android Authority team, we have a cute little butterfly from Adam Birney. Next, we have some Gaudi architecture by Rita El Khoury. Finally, we have a pretty sunset by Hadlee Simons.

Be sure to download these photos in their high resolutions from this Drive link!

How to submit your own Android wallpapers

We are very excited to see your own contributions to our Wallpaper Wednesdays project. Before submitting, here are the rules:

• Your submissions should be your own creation. That means photos you took, digital art you created, etc. Please don’t submit other people’s work — that’s just not cool. Also, please avoid sending images purely created with AI. Images you created and then augmented with AI tools are OK.
• You must agree to let Android Authority share your Android wallpapers for free with anyone who wants them.
• We will not accept watermarked images. You will, however, get a credit and a link in the article itself. We can link to your website, your Instagram, etc.

Ready to submit? Send us an email by clicking here. You’ll need to include the highest-resolution version of the image you can provide, your name, and a brief description of what the image is. If you want us to link to a page you own in your credit, please provide that, too, but that’s optional.

We love our Android flagships, and in many ways, they are better than Apple’s flagship iPhone. However, consumers around the world do not necessarily agree. Consumers have overwhelmingly chosen iPhones when it comes to voting with their wallets, as seven of the top 10 best smartphones globally were all iPhones.

According to Counterpoint‘s latest report, the top seven best sellers in 2023 were all iPhones, primarily spread across the iPhone 14 series and iPhone 15 series, with the iPhone 13 also scoring a seat. The top 10 smartphones in all of 2023 captured a combined market share of 20%, up from 19% in 2022.

The iPhone 14 was the best-selling smartphone of 2023. It managed to capture 19% of total iPhone sales in 2023, which the report notes isn’t as impressive as 2022’s bestseller iPhone 13’s erstwhile 28% share. Apple’s total sales remained flat in 2023, which is positive when you consider that sales of major Android competitors declined. The iPhone 15 series took the top three spots for Q4 2023, so there’s a chance we see them extending their good run even into 2024.

If you were looking for Android phones in the list, you will only find budget Android smartphones, and that too, only from Samsung. The Galaxy A14 5G, Galaxy A04e, and Galaxy A14 4G occupied the bottom three spots in the top 10 list for December 2023.

Earlier in the month, a report from Canalys also put together a similar yearly trend in an infographic.

Even through a different analyst source, the top five smartphones globally were iPhones. Samsung’s presence was limited to three of the bottom five spots, though this report does assign good success to the mid-range Galaxy A54 5G. Android flagships like the Samsung Galaxy S23 series are nowhere to be found on the bestsellers list, and that’s not good.

For 2024, we can expect Apple’s momentum to continue for the beginning of the year, at least, since the iPhone 15 series sits solidly as a good iPhone to upgrade to. Chinese brands could also enter the list with newer launches at the beginning of the year. Still, we’d love to see more Android phones sold worldwide throughout the year, which is supremely important for the longer-term health of the Android platform and the broader smartphone ecosystem.

If you’ve ever interacted with the Linux command line, you’re likely familiar with the sudo command, short for “super user do.” This command allows you to execute actions with elevated privileges, essentially running it as root. This is necessary for system administration tasks inaccessible to regular users without the required privileges. As an administrator, you can configure sudo to be accessible only to you, preventing others from using it.

Excitingly, Microsoft has recently announced the introduction of sudo for Windows. This isn’t a third-party addition; it’s built directly into the Windows operating system. At the time of writing, you’ll need an insider build starting with build 26052 to access this feature. Over time, this will gradually roll out to the beta channel and eventually to mainstream users. The version of Windows you’ll need to enable this feature will depend on when you’re reading this article.

But what does sudo for Windows allow? In this post, I’ll guide you through enabling sudo and using it to run commands with elevated privileges. Also feel free to check out the video on the topic above.

How to enable sudo for Windows

Sudo for Windows isn’t operational by default. Here’s how to enable sudo for Windows:

1. Navigate to the Start Menu.
2. Select Settings.
3. Select System.
4. Scroll down to For developers.
5. Find the option to Enable sudo and toggle it on.

Be aware that running the sudo command could potentially expose your device and personal data to security risks.

Once sudo is enabled, you must open a PowerShell window using the Windows Terminal. Now, if you entersudo dir, this will execute the dir command with elevated privileges.

How to adjust sudo for Windows configuration

By default, when you run sudo, it launches in a separate window. To change this, return to the Settings where you enabled sudo and adjust the configuration under Configure how sudo runs applications in a new window. There are three options available. The first means there’s no input coming into it, and the second runs it inline, which I prefer. Once you’ve adjusted this setting to inline, you can return to the terminal and try again. Now, when you run sudo dir, it will execute within the window, similar to the experience on Linux.

Interestingly, you can also adjust this configuration using the command line. To force a new window, you’ll need to enter sudo config --enable force New Window. It’s essential that “New Window” is capitalized. To execute this command, you must be an administrator. You’ll need to enter sudo before the command, making it sudo sudo. To revert to the inline setting, simply type sudo sudo normal.

What can sudo for Windows do?

Let’s explore a couple of examples. Using sudo for Windows, you can now run applications with elevated privileges. For instance, if you want to run Notepad with these privileges, you can do so. This can be particularly useful when you need to edit a configuration file that requires administrator rights.

Another practical example is creating a directory in a location that requires elevated privileges. For instance, if you navigate to cd\ cd "program files" and attempt to create a directory named zob, you’ll be denied access. However, if you enter sudo mkdir zob you’ll be able to create the directory. The same applies to removing the directory with rmdir zob. Any task requiring administrative rights or elevated privileges can now be executed from the command line using sudo.

Qualcomm switched to a clean naming scheme a few years ago, using numbers like 4, 6, 7, and 8 to indicate the positioning of the SoC lineup and a generational suffix to indicate yearly releases. This clean naming scheme worked for a while, but the company is back on track to cluttering it with more confusing placements. A new leak suggests that Qualcomm is working on a Snapdragon 8s Gen 3, and from the looks of it, it won’t be better than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 used on high-end Android flagships.

Leaker Digital Chat Station has shared the clock speeds of an upcoming Qualcomm SoC with the codename SM8635 and tentative marketing name Snapdragon 8s Gen 3.

This leak for the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 suggests it could come with a Cortex-X4 prime core clocked at 3.01GHz, four Cortex-A720 performance cores clocked at 2.61GHz, and three Cortex-A520 efficiency cores clocked at 1.84GHz. The SoC could also come with the Adreno 735 SoC.

While these clock speeds are also new information, what grinds our gears is that the new SoC isn’t better than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, as per the leaked information available so far. The clock speeds are lower, the codename is placed lower (SM8635 vs 8 Gen 3’s SM8650), and the GPU is also placed lower (Adreno 735 vs 8 Gen 3’s Adreno 750).

Thus, the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 could be placed between the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, which goes against the usual convention when using “S” as a suffix (as popularized by Apple to indicate an incremental upgrade). Keep in mind that Qualcomm also has a “for Galaxy“/”Plus” version that sits above the flagship SoC, and you can see the flagship lineup getting clogged with a “simplified” branding that is unfortunately all over the place.

Once the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 launches, this is how Qualcomm’s lineup could appear, going from most powerful to less powerful:

• Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy
• Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
• Snapdragon 8s Gen 3
• Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy / Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 2
• Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
• Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1
• Snapdragon 8 Gen 1

There is a chance that Qualcomm will end up branding this SoC differently at release. But there is also precedence to indicate that Qualcomm embraces confusion. Go one level below the flagship SoC lineup, and you can see the inconsistency and lack of foresight in branding. There is a Snapdragon 7 Gen 3, which slots between the Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 and the Snapdragon 7 Plus Gen 2, but no Snapdragon 7 Gen 2 is to be found. Going from most powerful to less powerful, the premium mid-range lineup looks like this:

• Snapdragon 7 Plus Gen 2
• Snapdragon 7 Gen 3
• Snapdragon 7s Gen 2
• Snapdragon 7 Gen 1

We hope Qualcomm considers another branding cleanup for its SoCs when it releases the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3, as it has become challenging to keep track of where its SoCs place against each other.

Nothing revealed chipset details regarding the upcoming Nothing Phone 2a yesterday, confirming a Dimensity 7200 Pro SoC. The company also claimed that the new handset will be more powerful and efficient than the Nothing Phone 1.

Now, company co-founder Carl Pei has elaborated on these claims in an interview with Digital Trends.

“The Phone 2a is a clear upgrade from Phone 1, particularly in terms of performance. Phone 2a is 18% more powerful than Phone 1 and 16% more efficient in terms of battery consumption compared to Phone 1,” the executive asserted.

The comparisons suggest that Nothing wants Phone 1 owners to upgrade to the Phone 2a. But Pei didn’t clarify whether the Phone 2a would replace the Phone 1 in its portfolio.

What makes the Nothing Phone 2a better?

This disparity isn’t a surprise as the Nothing Phone 1’s Snapdragon 778G Plus chipset was a mid-range chipset back then. It’s been almost two years since the Phone 1 was launched, so that processor will have undoubtedly been surpassed by other mid-range chips.

The Snapdragon 778G Plus has a 6nm design compared to the Dimensity 7200 Pro’s smaller, more efficient 4nm process. So that partly accounts for the battery life claims.

The MediaTek chip also brings a more modern CPU, featuring two heavy Cortex-A715 cores and six little Cortex-A510 cores. In saying so, the older Snapdragon chip has four heavy CPU cores and four little cores. So we’re curious to see how the Nothing Phone 2a fares against the Phone 1 when it comes to multi-core workloads. It does, however, stand to reason that more little cores will result in a more power-efficient processor.

Nothing will launch the Phone 2a on March 5. So we’ll be sure to put the phone through its paces to see if it indeed eclipses the original handset as far as performance and battery life are concerned.

The iPhone 15 series has been one of the bigger changes to the iPhone in recent years, even though the phones may appear to have improved only incrementally. Plenty of small changes have added to a better year-on-year upgrade experience, and surprisingly, more are being found. Apple has just updated its guidance on the battery health of the iPhone 15, and it claims the battery on these phones can last twice as long before deteriorating.

Apple’s support document on battery health was recently updated to state that the batteries of the iPhone 15 models are designed to retain 80% of their original capacity at 1000 complete charge cycles under ideal conditions. In comparison, the batteries of iPhone 14 and previous models are designed to retain 80% of their original capacity at 500 complete charge cycles under ideal conditions.

The company mentions to 9to5Mac that its testing involved “charging and discharging the battery 1000 times under specific circumstances representing common use cases.” The improvement is said to be due to Apple’s continued updates to battery components and power management systems over the years.

Apple also makes it very easy to check an iPhone’s battery health. Simply go to Settings > Battery > Battery Health & Charging to know how much of its original capacity your battery can currently hold. If it is below 80%, you would benefit from a battery replacement.

Android does not make it easy to check battery health, but we hope to see some improvements with Android 15 on newer hardware. However, Apple’s claims on battery health are just about catching up with some of the improvements we have seen on Android devices.

For instance, OPPO’s Battery Health Engine tech that we see on OPPO, OnePlus, and Realme phones claims that these newer battery tech smartphones can maintain 80% of their original battery capacity after as many as 1,600 cycles. To our knowledge, Samsung and Google do not make any such claims officially, so Apple’s claims were widely considered the industry standard. Note that no company has detailed its exact testing procedure to reach its claimed number.

Samsung announced a variety of Galaxy AI features alongside the Galaxy S24 series. Now, the company is making it easier to activate these features if you use its venerable Bixby assistant.

Samsung confirmed that you can now use Bixby to activate these brand-new Galaxy AI features. The manufacturer’s voice assistant supports the activation of Note Assist, Call Assist, Transcript Assist, Browsing Assist, and Interpreter.

This means you can ask Bixby to do things like summarize a page, translate a file, and more. The Galaxy maker outlined some of these commands as seen in the graphic below.

Samsung confirmed that not all Galaxy AI features are supported via Bixby. One notable absentee is Chat Assist for translating messages and adjusting your message’s tone. The Generative Edit feature isn’t mentioned, either, although this would be an understandable omission.

Bixby’s support for Galaxy AI features is available in all the assistant’s supported languages, including English, Chinese, French, German, Korean, and Spanish.

Google is adding a small but handy new feature to Android TV devices in the US. Over the next few weeks, the Google TV interface will show a quick access row to help users discover new TV shows and movies to watch in a faster way.

The new quick access row will feature buttons like “Play next,” “Free Live TV,” “Top Selling Movies,” “Popular Movies and Shows,” and “Trending on Google.” These buttons will allow users to jump to new content without having to switch between multiple apps.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like the new quick access row in Google TV will be available outside of the US just yet. If you’re in the US and don’t see the new feature, you’ll have to wait for a few more days before Google completes its nationwide rollout.

Google introduced the Gemini Android app recently. It gives Android users an option to switch from Google Assistant to Gemini and make it the default AI helper on their phones. However, it looks like Google is getting ready to phase out Assistant completely and replace it entirely with Gemini.

If you don’t already have the Google Assistant app on Android and download it now from the Play Store, you get Gemini AI by default. Even the app icon says Gemini instead of Google Assistant. What’s strange is that if you also downloaded the standalone Gemini Android app, you’ll now see two instances of Gemini on your apps list.

Samsung launched the Galaxy S24 series with several AI smarts on board. All the AI capabilities of the phone come under the Galaxy AI umbrella. We already know that Samsung plans to extend Galaxy AI support to older phones, but the company just confirmed that it’s now looking to add Galaxy AI smarts to its wearables.

In an editorial published by Samsung’s President & Head of MX Business, TM Roh, the company revealed that it’s optimizing Galaxy AI for various categories of devices across different services.

“In the near future, the select Galaxy wearables will use AI to enhance digital health and unlock a whole new era of expanded intelligent health experiences. Samsung will keep enriching and expanding Galaxy AI experiences across categories through collaborations with more industry-leading AI partners,” Roh explained.

We’ve already seen Galaxy AI features expand to the Galaxy Buds for things like Live Translations and Interpreter mode. However, the mention of new AI-powered health features suggests it is ready to step onto the Galaxy Watch lineup. We could also possibly see AI-powered experiences on the upcoming Galaxy Ring — a new category of wearables Samsung is entering.

Roh’s editorial also suggests we’ll be seeing a lot from Galaxy AI in the future. “We’re only getting started. While developing the Galaxy S24 series, we had many ideas and concepts that we wanted to bring to life. Galaxy users will be able to enjoy more Galaxy AI features that build on these ideas and concepts over time as Samsung continuously enhances and grows the mobile AI experiences,” he wrote.

Although Telegram is a niche messaging service in the US and Canada, it’s absolutely gigantic worldwide, with over 104 million users in India alone. If you’re new to the service, stats like that can be a little intimidating — but they shouldn’t be, at least not on their own. Here’s what you need to know about Telegram’s security, including how to stay safe day-to-day.

Is Telegram safe and secure?

Mostly, if we’re going to boil things down. All calls and chats are encrypted to some degree, and that escalates to end-to-end encryption for calls or Secret Chats between two people, effectively preventing interception in those situations — even by Telegram. You can also require that messages, photos, videos, and other files sent in Secret Chats “self-destruct” a fixed amount of time after they’ve been seen.

Group conversations (i.e. between three or more people) don’t enjoy end-to-end encryption or self-destruction features, but they’re nevertheless one of the app’s selling points. People regularly set up permanent groups as well as Channels, the latter of which can be used to broadcast messages to hundreds, thousands, or even millions of people.

Both groups and Channels pose some unique safety issues. They can be used to spread scams, porn, and misinformation, and they’ve been implicated as fueling violence or even genocide in places like India, Pakistan, and Myanmar. Telegram does have rules and algorithms to guard against these things, including promoting any kind of violence, but it doesn’t seem to be able to enforce them consistently. Ultimately, it’s up to end users to be skeptical about other people and the messages they spread, and report anything problematic.

For those reasons you should probably steer kids towards alternative platforms. If that’s impractical, you still can go to Settings > Privacy and Security in the app and toggle on options like group controls and Restricted Mode, the latter of which censors content like nudity and violence.

An option you should probably leave disabled is People Nearby. This lets you see other Telegram users in your area, but in the past it’s been demonstrated that a hacker could exploit this to find a person’s exact location. You can make sure your location is hidden by going to Contacts > Find People Nearby and choosing Stop Showing Me.

One last point is that while Telegram is sometimes labeled open-source, that only applies to the client software. On the server side, Telegram uses a proprietary protocol called MTProto for message encryption. As a rule, security experts prefer standardized encryption libraries where all of the potential vulnerabilities are known and being addressed.

Does Telegram collect data?

Yes. By necessity, the company stores data like your username, device info, usage habits, and connecting IP address. If applicable it also records other Telegram apps you’ve used, along with your history of username changes. This metadata is stored for up to 12 months, but it’s not used for advertising or other commercial purposes.

Be aware that law enforcement and spy agencies could potentially ask Telegram to turn over server-side data, or else directly target you by seizing your phone or launching phishing and surveillance attacks. These things are true with any online service, but real-world incidents have previously occurred involving Iranian dissidents.

How to stay safe on Telegram

Generally speaking, you should have no problems on Telegram as long as you follow these principles:

• Use two-step verification. You can find the option under Settings > Privacy and Security. This makes it much harder for someone to hijack your account.
• Limit the amount of information you share. Hide your phone number, and if people don’t need to know what you look like, you can use an artistic profile image instead or set separate public and private photos. In public conversations, resist the temptation to share details that could identify you, other accounts, or your specific location.
• Stick to one-on-one calls and Secret Chats whenever possible. Friends and family may often be in the same groups, but going private ensures both end-to-end encryption and fewer chances of accidentally sharing private info.
• Think skeptically about the groups and Channels you participate in. It’s easier than it should be to get swept up in a mob mentality, especially when friends or family are pressuring you to participate, or you’re being tempted with rewards. The popularity or fervor of a group doesn’t necessarily say anything about the truth of its beliefs — always demand logic and evidence, especially if money, sex, politics, religion, and/or violence are involved.
• Don’t exchange money or account details with people you don’t know personally. Scammers may try to impersonate tech support, a bank representative, or anyone else they can think of that holds a position of trust, but no one of that status is going to ask for money or account details out of the blue using Telegram. If there’s reason for doubt, check details like a person’s username and their available contact info. You might even call a known phone number and ask them to verify the conversation.
• Don’t get emotionally attached to people you haven’t met in person. Romance/catfishing scams are all-too common. These involve a scammer flirting with you long enough to build up the illusion of a “relationship,” but then suddenly manufacturing a crisis that demands money, such as a visa or missed rent. There are even worse threats too, such as sexual predators or human trafficking. If a relationship is genuine, the person won’t object to a real-world meeting in a public place you agree to. Consider bringing one or more friends for extra safety.
• Avoid tapping on links from strangers. If someone you don’t know urges you to tap on a web link, especially in the guise of something like tech support or a giveaway, it could easily be intended to infect your device with malware or spyware, or trick you into sharing private info through a fake (a.k.a. “phishing”) website.
• If it’s too good to be true, it probably is. You’re not going to luck into lottery wins, the love of your life, luxury discounts, or once-in-a-lifetime investment opportunities through random encounters on Telegram. Stay skeptical at all times when dealing with new people.

FAQs

As the saying goes, fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. Apple has once again fallen victim to a repair scam where fake handsets were switched with real models, like the iPhone 15.

According to a press release from the US Attorney’s Office, two residents of Maryland — both Chinese nationals — were found guilty by a federal jury in the District of Columbia of attempting to defraud Apple. Haotian Sun, 33, and Pengfei Xue, 33, were charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and mail fraud, which comes with a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

The two were said to be engaged in a “sophisticated scheme” that involved sending fake iPhones to Apple for repair. Apple would then replace these counterfeits with genuine iPhones. Over a span of two and a half years, the duo reportedly submitted over 5,000 handsets with the intention of causing “a loss of more than $3 million.”

In an attempt to keep anyone from catching on, the two used various aliases. However, they were caught and arrested on December 5, 2019. Sentencing is set to begin on June 21, 2024.

As mentioned earlier, this isn’t the first time Apple has fallen for this. The tech giant has experienced this scam at least three other times. You would think one of the biggest companies in the world would have ways of telling real from fake.

We’ve all been there: a beloved phone takes an unexpected dip in the pool, the sink, or even the dreaded toilet. In a moment of panic, we turn to the age-old “phone-in-rice” trick because that’s the best water damage prevention technique, right? Well, brace yourself for a splash of reality because that trusty method might be doing more harm than good.

Macworld has unearthed a 2024 support document from Apple that explicitly advises against the rice-drying method, cautioning that it could potentially worsen the damage to iPhones. The official support page states that “doing so could allow small particles of rice to damage your iPhone.” In fact, this revelation reinforces findings from previous research, which have debunked the efficacy of rice in drying out water-damaged phones.

Is rice good for your phone?

Surprisingly, there’s enough evidence available advising against the rice method, pointing out that it can trap moisture inside the phone and even introduce starch and dust particles that could further harm the device. Craig Beinecke, co-founder of TekDry, a company specializing in electronics drying, confirms this, stating in a study that “rice was slower to work than just leaving the phone out on the counter. And neither worked fast enough.” Beinecke’s research revealed that after 48 hours in rice, only 13% of the water was extracted from the phone. This contradicts the widespread belief that rice absorbs moisture, rescuing your phone’s delicate internals.

How to save a wet phone?

Even though the best phones come with an IP68 rating for dust and water protection, they’re still not waterproof. The most crucial thing to remember when your phone takes an unexpected dip is that electricity and water don’t mix, and even if your phone seems functional, it’s advisable to unplug and turn it off immediately. Let it air dry, or consider silica gel packets for quicker moisture absorption.

Investing in a waterproof phone pouch can be your first line of defense against water disasters. If the damage seems severe, professional drying services offered by companies like TekDry can potentially help. Just remember, rice isn’t your friend, a piece of advice I wish I’d taken when I was trying to lose weight.

Another day, another class action lawsuit for the tech giant known as Google. The latest legal problem for Google alleges the company knew the Pixel 6 Pro had a defect that caused it to become too hot to hold.

According to Law360, plaintiff Jennifer Hyatt filed a class action lawsuit against Google over the Pixel 6 Pro. The lawsuit claims that Hyatt went through “numerous” replacement Pixel 6 Pros only to discover that each one had an overheating defect. Hyatt believes this was not just some coincidence.

The lawsuit alleges that Google was aware of this defect before it started selling the handset. However, the firm went on to sell the devices anyway without providing any warning to consumers.

Hyatt argues that Google should be required to create an advertisement that informs consumers about this issue. In addition, the plaintiff wants the company to recall the smartphone and issue refunds to those who purchased the device.

This lawsuit was filed in California and Hyatt reportedly wants to represent a California class of consumers. If the lawsuit goes forward, it will claim that Google in violation of California’s Consumers Legal Remedies Act, False Advertising Law, Unfair Competition Law, and the Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act.

It’s important to note that filing is just the beginning phase of a class action lawsuit. Hyatt’s lawsuit will need to cross a variety of hurdles before anything happens. There’s even a possibility this won’t get past the filing stage.

Update, February 20, 2024 (02:50 PM ET): We’ve updated this PlayStation 5 Pro rumor hub with more speculation that it could launch this year.

Original article: On November 15, 2013, Sony launched the PlayStation 4. Three years later, almost to the day, Sony launched an upgraded version known as the PlayStation 4 Pro. Meanwhile, the PlayStation 5 launched on November 12, 2020. If you do the math, that means it’s been over three years since we saw the PS5 console launch. Does that mean we can expect a Sony PS5 Pro to launch soon?

The PS4 Pro was only a slight iteration of the PS4. It used the same controller, played the same games, and had all the same features. Its main reason for existing was to allow for smoother gameplay, 4K support across various games, and a few other quality-of-life upgrades. If a PlayStation 5 Pro exists, what will it offer?

In this article, we have rounded up all the credible rumors we’ve seen so far related to a PS5 Pro. We’ve also compiled a wishlist of features we hope to see, even if we haven’t seen any evidence for them yet.

Will there be a PS5 Pro?

Much like the mythical Nintendo Switch Pro, Sony has not confirmed a PS5 Pro is on the way or even in the works. Believe it or not, Sony launching a “Pro” version of its home game console has only happened once. The original PlayStation, the PlayStation 2, and the PlayStation 3 never saw Pro-level models. That means we are banking a lot on the existence of the PlayStation 4 Pro in our assumption that there could be a PlayStation 5 Pro.

That being said, there is plenty of evidence to support a PS5 Pro is likely to happen.

The CEO of Take-Two Interactive — the studio behind the Grand Theft Auto franchise — went on the record to say he thinks a PS5 Pro will happen. Meanwhile, leaker Tom Henderson said, “with a 100% degree of certainty,” that the PlayStation 5 Pro is “currently in development.” Prominent games insider Jeff Grubb of GamesBeat and Giant Bomb also joined in and claimed on his Game Mess podcast that industry insiders have confirmed a mid-gen upgrade is happening. When leakers and gaming industry CEOs are in agreement, it seems a foregone conclusion that we’ll see a Sony PlayStation 5 Pro at some point soon.

We’ve also seen the supposed codename of the device leak: “Trinity.” This is, without a doubt, a reference to The Matrix film series. Previously, Sony has used Matrix-themed codenames, such as for the PlayStation 4 Pro (“Neo”) and the PlayStation VR (“Morpheus”).

Most recently, a leak from Im A Hero Too claims Square and Sega both have new PS5 devkits. It’s pretty reasonable to believe this is further confirmation of the PS5 Pro on its way in 2024.

When is the PS5 Pro likely to be released?

Since Sony hasn’t confirmed the existence of a PS5 Pro, we can’t say with any certainty when it will come out. Based on the launch cycle of the PlayStation 4 series, we would’ve assumed we’d see it in November 2023. An early November 2023 launch would have allowed Sony to capitalize on the lucrative holiday shopping season. Also, November is when Sony launched most of its recent consoles.

Case in point, in November 2023, Sony confirmed it will launch a “new” PS5 console. Although it would be easy to call it a PlayStation 5 Slim, Sony is not calling it that. Either way, the two versions of the console have been trimmed down a bit, storage has been upgraded to 1TB, the disc drive is now a modular accessory, and the Digital Edition has increased in price by $50. These new designs will replace the original designs as stock diminishes.

Considering Sony launched these refreshed consoles, we will almost certainly need to wait until late 2024 to see the PS5 Pro — if it is even coming. One leaker, in a since-deleted tweet, said that the PS5 Pro and a second-gen Nintendo Switch would likely launch around the same time. Rumors heavily suggest Nintendo is at least aiming to release a new Switch model in 2024, so it would seem this year would be the time for a new PS5 Pro, too.

In the Game Mess podcast mentioned earlier, Grubb initially said that he had heard that the PS5 Pro is scheduled for September 2025. Shortly after, he corrected himself, stating that he wrote down 2025, but is fairly confident the system is supposed to be out in 2024.

Most recently, Serkan Toto, CEO of games consultancy company Kantan Games, told CNBC:

There seems to be a broad consensus in the game industry that Sony is indeed preparing a launch of a PS5 Pro in the second half of 2024. Sony will want to make sure to have a great piece of hardware ready when GTA VI hits in 2025, a launch that will be a shot in the arm for the entire gaming industry.

To summarize, we’d expect the PlayStation 5 Pro to launch in the fall of 2024. It could be earlier, but that’s unlikely. If anything, it would be later.

What features and specs could the PS5 Pro have?

As mentioned earlier, the star feature of the PlayStation 4 Pro was 4K support. As it stands today, the PlayStation 5 already supports 4K on a huge selection of titles. Technically, it even supports 8K. However, 8K support is limited to just one game — and it’s not a very popular one. It’s possible the PlayStation 5 Pro could support 8K natively on more titles or even 8K upscaling on games that don’t have that resolution natively.

This would necessitate an upgrade in hardware. The PS5 runs on a custom processor based on an AMD Zen 2 build combined with a custom RDNA 2 GPU. One theory, originating from RedGamingTech on YouTube, is that the new PlayStation could have a new Ryzen APU, which would also be customized significantly.

The Sony PlayStation 5 Pro would likely feature slightly upgraded hardware, but it certainly would not be a PS6.

Later, in December 2023, a full set of specs for this supposed processor leaked. Allegedly, the processor comes with the codename “viola” and is still based on the AMD Zen 2 architecture. This makes sense, as the PS5 Pro getting a whole new processor would make it more like a PS6, so there are no surprises there. Check out the rest of the leaked specs below:

Based on this leak, the Sony PlayStation 5 Pro could be capable of smoother refresh rates and better graphics processing. Many PlayStation games give you the option of prioritizing graphics or performance. It’s possible Sony could lean into this more, with the PS5 Pro capable of rock-solid 120fps gameplay at higher resolutions or rock-solid 4K graphics at variable refresh rates.

Once again, Jeff Grubb mentioned on his podcast that the specs being reported by sources span a range right now because Sony has yet to nail the details down. However, Grubb added that the PS5 Pro could have its own proprietary upscaling technology similar to NVIDIA’s Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) technology. A patent discovered by GameRant confirms Sony is at least thinking about proprietary hardware-driven upscaling that uses machine learning to improve a game’s performance and visuals.

Another thing that could see improvement is ray tracing. The PlayStation 5 supports ray tracing, but it requires the system to work pretty hard and requires some performance trade-offs. Upscaling hardware could give the system what it needs to support ray tracing more efficiently and on more titles.

The important thing to remember, though, is that this will not be a PS6. The PS5 Pro would be a better iteration of the current console, not some wild leap forward. Only the most demanding gamers would feel the need to upgrade from a PlayStation 5, but it could be the nudge needed for people still using a PS4.

Another patent from the console maker hints toward a feature capable of dynamically adjusting a game’s difficulty. The feature appears in a patent called “Adaptive Difficulty Calibration For Skills-Based Activities In Virtual Environments,” and aims to keep games engaged by lowering or raising difficulty according to the player’s skill.

What might the PS5 Pro price be?

Up until October 2023, the PlayStation 5 had two versions: a disc-less Digital Edition that cost $399 and a disc-based standard edition for $499. In November 2023, the refreshed versions of these consoles hit store shelves, with the Digital Edition jumping from $399 to $449 and the standard edition sticking with the same $499 price. One would assume that a Pro-level model would need to be more expensive than these two. However, that might not be the case.

For context, the PlayStation 4 cost $399 when it launched in 2013. In September 2016, the PlayStation 4 Slim landed, and it only cost $299. In November 2016, the PlayStation 4 Pro launched at $399. Therefore, there is a precedent that Sony could drop the price of the regular PlayStation 5 and launch the Pro model at the $499 price we see today. However, with Sony launching “new” PS5 consoles in November 2023 with the same or higher prices as we saw in 2020, it is possible the Pro model — if it even comes out — could be much more expensive.

The final PS5 Pro-related reveal Grubb had on his podcast was the potential price. According to the GamesBeat journalist, he expects the system to be on the more expensive side, possibly selling for $600.

We hope the PlayStation 5 Pro doesn’t cost more than $500, though. The last time Sony went over that mark with the upgraded 60GB PlayStation 3, it was not well-received, to say the least. With inflation rates soaring, we could see it hit ~$550, but fingers crossed that doesn’t happen.

Should you wait for the PS5 Pro?

The answer to this depends. Early on, there were almost zero exclusives to the PS5, with most games also arriving on the PS4 and PS4 Pro. That’s less true now; we’re seeing more PS5 exclusives. If there’s a game you absolutely want this year or early next year, you should just grab a PlayStation 5 now, especially if you can still find the original Digital Edition model at its $399 price.

That said, if you have a backlog of PS4 titles (or another console) and don’t mind waiting until at least the middle of 2024 to learn more about the PS5 Pro, it could possibly be worth the wait for some.

Sony PS5 Pro: What we want to see

Better thermals

The PlayStation 5 doesn’t sound like a jet engine when it’s operating at a heavy load. This is a welcome change from the PS4, PS4 Slim, and even PS4 Pro, which all had crazy-loud fan noise. However, the downside to quieter fans is higher temperatures, and the PlayStation 5 can get pretty toasty under heavy load.

It would be great to see the Sony PlayStation 5 Pro have a better grip on thermals. Even if it ran a few degrees cooler at heavy loads, that would be nice. This would likely require some redesign of the internals and possibly even a new type of case. Still, a classy redesign could add to the appeal of upgrading to the Pro model, so that would be a win-win.

More storage

There has been a lot of discussion about the limited storage space on the PlayStation 5. The SSD available with the original models has around 667GB of available space, and the refreshed versions for 2023 have about 842GB. The problem, though, is that all PS5 games must be fully loaded into that storage — even if you put in a game disc. This causes that storage to fill up pretty rapidly, especially considering that the PS5 versions of F1: 2021, Ghost of Tsushima: Director’s Cut, WWE 2K23, and Metro Exodus all have filesize larger than 100GB each. A limit of eight AAA games installed at any one time just isn’t a lot.

That’s why we hope the PlayStation 5 Pro comes with more storage. Thankfully, it’s fairly easy to upgrade a PS5’s SSD if Sony skips this and sticks to the 1TB capacity, but it would be nice if folks who fork out for the Pro model don’t need to do that.

Quick-swapping of games

If you are playing a game and put the PS5 into rest mode, when you come back, you can pick up right where you left off. This feature is excellent, especially for folks with kids or busy social lives. It’s always been a pain to hold off on doing something because you need to get an in-game save point.

The problem, though, is that you can only do this for one game at a time. It would be nice if the PlayStation 5 Pro enabled this feature for multiple games. That way, you could stop playing one game, jump into another, and then go back and forth between the two without losing your spots. We’re not sure why you can’t do this already — possibly there’s insufficient RAM? — but we hope Sony finds a way to do this with the PS5 Pro.

Have any Sony PlayStation 5 Pro leaks to share with us? Send us a tip, and we’ll check it out.

As Google continues to find ways to put AI into everything it does, it’s a little surprising we haven’t seen more AI features in the Play Store. But that could soon change as Google appears to be testing a new AI-powered summary feature in the marketplace.

According to Android expert AssembleDebug on X (formerly Twitter), Google is in the midst of testing an AI feature called “App Highlights.” It appears the purpose of App Highlights is to highlight key aspects of an app to provide a quick summary of what it is about.

Since this feature is being tested in a server-side rollout, only select users are being given access to it. If you’re one of the users who was selected, you’ll see the feature on the details page of whatever app you tap on, right below the install button.

Google Play Store testing AI based App Highlights features

This new addition – App Highlights using AI provides users the highlights of the app on the details page. This is similar to the AI based FAQ’s feature which I shared about back in January.#Google #Ai #Android pic.twitter.com/77RuyT41Mi

— AssembleDebug (@AssembleDebug) February 19, 2024

Earlier this year, Google tested a similar AI-powered FAQ section in the Play Store. However, that FAQ feature was located near the bottom of the details page and offered lengthy descriptions.

It’s clear that Google believes it can use AI to give you the information you need before downloading an app. We’ll have to wait and see if Google decides to make either of these AI tools available to everyone.

Last week, Google announced the rollout of Android 15 Developer Preview 1 (DP1). However, that initial rollout has been cut short as the tech giant has “temporarily disabled downloads.”

On the Android Developers website, Google announced that it is briefly halting downloads of Android 15 DP1. According to the Mountain View-based firm, the reason is linked to a known issue with sideloading OTA images. It appears that when sideloading the DP1 build, this sometimes triggers a “Device is corrupted” message after the download is completed.

Although Google has temporarily stopped downloads of Android 15 DP1 OTA images, there is a workaround you can still use. Google recommends that instead of sideloading OTA images, developers should flash a factory image to test devices.

There’s currently no word on how long it will take Google to fix the problem and unpause downloads. As this is an early build of Android 15, this news mostly only affects developers. It will only affect average users if this problem delays the stable launch. We’ll have to wait and see if and how this issue will affect the Android 15 release timeline.

The Galaxy S24 family has landed with super-long update support and Galaxy AI in tow. The Galaxy S24 Ultra might get the lion’s share of attention in Samsung’s marketing, but you would do well to remember Samsung’s oft-forgotten middle child before buying a new smartphone. It has much more screen real estate than the baby S24, but it’s not as heavy or expensive as the monstrous S24 Ultra, offering a competent middle ground. Sure, it’s missing some Ultra-tier features like the S Pen and dual telephoto camera lenses, but the Galaxy S24 Plus has a lot to offer the right buyer.

What I like about the Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus

If you were to draw the world’s most generic phone in 2024, it would look something like the Galaxy S24 Plus. That’s not necessarily bad, but there isn’t much to the design here if you’re after something new and exciting. There’s a flat panel of Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on the front and back, a flat aluminum frame between them, and three camera cutouts on the back. The phone is almost all display from the front — the OLED takes up 92% of the footprint, with a narrow, symmetrical bezel running all the way around. It is the flat slab smartphone, distilled to its most essential elements.

To me, though, a phone that looks a little boring isn’t a problem when most people slap them in cases, anyway. If you choose to fondle the S24 Plus caseless, you’ll be impressed with the build quality. The frame is extremely rigid, and the buttons are clicky and wobble-free. The iPhone-y flat edges don’t feel much different than the Galaxy S23’s rounded shape. Samsung did round off the edge where the frame meets the back, making it more comfortable to hold.

The Galaxy S24 Plus is the flat slab smartphone, distilled to its most essential elements. But the build quality is sublime.

The centerpiece of the Galaxy S24 Plus is the 6.7-inch OLED screen, which has been upgraded this year from 1,080p to 1,440 x 3,120. That’s the same resolution as the S24 Ultra, and the panel itself is only a tenth of an inch smaller. It’s still a 120Hz display with a great peak brightness of 2,600 nits, so it’s still a little off Samsung’s top dog in the specs race, but even phones with half as much luminance are pretty readable in direct sunlight, so you can bet this one is, too. The S24 Plus gives you an option if you want a larger screen than the baby S24’s (6.2-inch) but without going all the way to the S24 Ultra.

The Galaxy S24 Plus runs Android 14 out of the box with One UI 6.1 on top, and while we always like to see the latest version of Android, that’s not what makes this phone’s software special. Samsung and Google have been going back and forth as they strive to offer the longest Android software support, and Samsung has set a new milestone. All members of the Galaxy S24 family get a whopping seven years of OS and security updates. That means the Galaxy S24 Plus could be running Android 21 in 2031, putting it in line with the Pixel 8 series as the best update policy in the game.

While it’s not Ultra-expensive, I’m sure buyers will appreciate knowing that their $1,000 investment could theoretically still be safe to use into the next decade. Whether or not the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 will still be fast enough to run the show in seven years is uncertain. As it currently stands, this phone is ludicrously fast. Apps open immediately, multitasking is a breeze, and games render at the highest quality. Samsung phones have great speed in short bursts, but they (Galaxy S24 Plus included) tend to heat up quickly.

If you’re playing a high-end game for longer than a few minutes, you’ll lose some of your performance from thermal throttling. The graph above shows the worst-case scenario, keeping the SoC cranked to the max for 20 minutes. In some of these tests, the chip drops 30-40%. Luckily, Samsung’s overclocked version of Qualcomm’s 2024 flagship chip — dubbed the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy — has speed to spare. Even when it gets warm, the phone can handle the basics.

Of course, the elephant in the room on performance is that not everyone will get to enjoy the power of Snapdragon. In various global markets, including the UK and across Europe, the Galaxy S24 Plus is instead powered by the Exynos 2400. Thankfully, our testing has shown that unlike the darker years of the Snapdragon vs Exynos battle, Samsung’s own silicon actually holds up pretty well this time. Check out our Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 vs Exynos 2400 deep dive or watch the video below for all the nerdy data.

The battery life is not objectively amazing, but it’s improved from 2023’s Samsung flagships. I consider that a victory with the increase in display resolution from 1080p to 1440p. The battery growing from 4,700mAh on the S23 Plus to 4,900mAh on the S24 Plus helps there. You shouldn’t have any trouble making it through a day with the Galaxy S24 Plus. With a mix of browsing, messaging, games, and video, the S24 Plus has lasted roughly a day and a half with 7-8 hours of screen time during my testing. Two full days without a recharge was also possible, but only with careful battery management. That gives you some leeway as the battery loses capacity over the years, but you’ll probably need at least one battery swap if you use this device for the full seven years.

The tech sector’s growing obsession with generative AI has finally come to Samsung’s mobile operation in the form of Galaxy AI. These features fall into established AI boxes like text composers and image generators. For example, Chat Assist can rewrite your messages with different tones, and Live Translate can instantly translate to and from other languages on a phone call. These features work in the way most generative AI products do — they’re competent but far from perfect. We appreciate the AI photo editing, which allows you to move or remove objects, and the automatic summarizing and formatting in Samsung Notes can be a real time saver.

What I don’t like about the Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus

Samsung caught up with Apple this year, moving beyond aluminum for the Galaxy S24 Ultra and embracing a titanium build for enhanced durability. However, that’s the only titanium phone in the S24 family. The Galaxy S24 Plus still has Samsung’s Armor Aluminum, a somewhat harder alloy than the aluminum on most phones. To me, it feels like Samsung is just making the S24 Ultra more distinct to justify the inflated price. At $1,000, the S24 Plus really ought to have titanium, too. After all, Apple’s titanium iPhones start at $1,000.

Qualcomm’s latest ARM chip sports an upgraded NPU for machine learning and AI processing, and Samsung has baked all those new Galaxy AI features into the OS. A match made in heaven? Not as much as you’d think. Most Galaxy AI features bypass the NPU to run workloads in the cloud. Samsung says it won’t store your data, but there’s a toggle deep in the settings to only use local processing if you want. If you limit Galaxy AI to use your local hardware, some of the features (e.g. Chat Assist) continue to work, but they take longer to produce worse results. Most don’t work at all. There’s also the looming threat of Galaxy AI features only being guaranteed to be free until the end of 2025. After that, we may be looking at a subscription-based model.

While the battery life is solid, I’m a bit disappointed that Samsung hasn’t improved charging speed. You’re still limited to 45W wired, and the phone doesn’t come with a plug. You’ll need a high-power USB PD charger with PPS to reach the highest speeds, which are tolerable. You will have to plan ahead before you step out, but an hour or so is enough to fill the S24 Plus’ battery when it’s almost dead. If you don’t have a proper fast-charging plug, though, it takes entirely too long.

One UI 6.1 has all the same features as the S24 Ultra, save for the S Pen options. The S24 Plus does a lot, so there are probably going to be pre-loaded apps and features you don’t want. It can be a little overwhelming and claustrophobic to see page after page of buttons and toggles. With the addition of all these new AI features, Samsung is in danger of repeating the feature overload that made its older phones such a pain to use.

With the addition of all these new AI features, Samsung is in danger of repeating its old mistakes of software bloat.

Samsung also continues to set bizarre defaults all over the phone, like three-button navigation and launching Bixby with the power button. So, that’ll probably require some tweaking, and if you decide to ditch Samsung’s preloaded software like the keyboard, gallery, Samsung Notes, you’ll also lose the corresponding Galaxy AI features. These features are tied to Samsung’s apps, sometimes in counterintuitive ways. You can’t just invoke Galaxy AI and tell it to reformat the notes in Google Keep, for example. And why do I need to have Samsung’s keyboard selected to change the tone of text that’s already been typed out in Gmail or Messages? One UI in 2024 really could do with a bit of streamlining, especially if Samsung’s going to cram more generative AI into it. I’m hesitant to even speak its name, but we don’t want another TouchWiz situation on our hands.

The display, as mentioned above, has been bumped to the same resolution as the S24 Ultra. That’s nice, but even Samsung’s 1,080p OLEDs look great. A better screen upgrade would have been Gorilla Glass Armor, which you do get on the S24 Ultra. The latest Gorilla Glass has an anti-reflective coating that makes a huge difference outdoors and under bright lights. The S24 Plus is just as reflective as other smartphones, which can be annoying even with the high brightness.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus camera review

The Galaxy S24 Plus camera setup has not seen any updates this year, so we’re still working with a 50MP primary, a 10MP 3x telephoto, and a 12MP ultrawide, just like the Galaxy S23 Plus. On the front, there’s a 12MP selfie camera. The Galaxy S24 Ultra adds a 5x telephoto lens, which is 50MP and can sensor crop for even more reach, as well as a 200MP primary camera. The base Galaxy S24 has the same camera setup as the S24 Plus.

Most of the photos I took with the S24 Plus looked great. The phone evens out highlights and shadows reasonably well, and there’s very little noise. But if you didn’t like Samsung’s photo processing before AI came to town, you won’t like it now. The camera leans toward longer exposures with higher brightness and more vibrant colors. The resulting photos really pop (especially if you use Samsung’s new Ultra HDR option), but they can look a bit unnatural. The longer exposures make motion harder to capture, too. In fact, Samsung’s issues with moving targets is yet again a general issue, just like it was with the Galaxy S24 Ultra.

The lack of a second telephoto camera makes sense, but limiting the optical zoom to 3x feels lacking in 2024 when 5x is more common. That sensor will get you closer to your subject, but it’s not ideal for shooting from long distances, and digital zoom doesn’t look great when you only have 10 megapixels to work with.

Samsung made a few tweaks to the camera software. For example, portrait mode snapshots now have foreground blur, which can make the subject stand out even more. There are also AI-assisted editing and remastering features. The edits usually look nice, but we wouldn’t say they’re objective improvements. More often than not, the “remastered” images are just a bit brighter. We’ve got full-resolution versions of all these photos in this Drive folder.

The Galaxy S24 Plus might improve its standing if you are more interested in video. This phone supports the same maximum 8K resolution as the $1,300 S24 Ultra, and Samsung’s super-steady option makes it easier to capture motion.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus specs

Should you buy the Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus?

There are no major surprises in the Galaxy S24 Plus. The only physical change of note is the redesigned flat frame, and whether or not you consider that an improvement is largely a question of personal preference. I do, however, appreciate the upgraded OLED with a corresponding battery boost, and the phone is a lot lighter than the S24 Ultra (by 36g), even with a screen that’s almost as large.

If you want a Samsung flagship with a balance of size and price, the Galaxy S24 Plus might be the right choice.

Galaxy AI is nice to have, but don’t expect it to change the way you use your phone just yet. Most of the tools are integrated with Samsung’s apps, so you won’t get as much benefit if you prefer to install other apps, and Galaxy AI barely works without the cloud. Maybe Galaxy AI will improve over time, and you’ll be able to find out with the S24 Plus —Samsung’s decision to extend support to seven years is a win.

The $1,000 price tag is reasonable for a high-end Samsung phone, but your wallet might be happier with a cheaper phone like the Pixel 8 ( ), which takes better photos and has cleaner software. There’s also the OnePlus 12 ( ), which is just as fast and costs $200 less, and I actually like its camera a bit more in some instances.

Still, if you’re one of the Samsung faithful or you just can’t pass up that seven-year update guarantee, the S24 Plus might be the right choice. It’s smaller and cheaper than the Ultra ( ), with a much bigger screen than the base Galaxy S24 ( ), and you get all the same software goodies.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus review: FAQs

As companies like Samsung and Google go all-in on AI for smartphones, OPPO is following suit. The firm plans to start working on new generative AI tools and eventually bring them to its Reno 11 series later this year.

Today, OPPO announced it is taking a serious step into generative AI with the creation of a dedicated AI center. According to the press release, this AI department will focus on the research and development of AI and its applications to deliver user-centric AI features and products.

The company appears to believe AI smartphones will transform the industry. Chief Product Officer of OPPO, Pete Lou, states:

Following feature phones and smartphones, next-gen AI Smartphones will represent the third major transformative stage in the mobile phone industry. In the era of AI Smartphones, both the mobile phone industry and user experience will witness revolutionary changes. OPPO is dedicated to becoming a contributor and promoter of AI Smartphones

If you’re an owner of a Reno 11 series smartphone, you won’t have to wait that long to start using some of OPPO’s AI features. The Chinese phone maker says that it will roll out an array of generative AI features, like OPPO AI Eraser and more, to the Reno 11 series in the second quarter of 2024. These features will reportedly come to all owners around the globe.

You expect the first deal on a new laptop to be modest, but that’s not Amazon’s approach on the new ASUS Vivobook 16. Despite only launching late last year, the impressive machine today got a massive 25% price drop on Amazon, reducing the price to only $599.99.

ASUS Vivobook 16 for $599.99 ($200 off)

OnePlus recently began teasing its next smartwatch, the OnePlus Watch 2, aiming to compete against other top smartwatches. The company has now practically announced the new smartwatch, revealing its design in official renders alongside several key details.

The OnePlus Watch 2 will launch on February 26, 2024, at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. OnePlus is claiming the “best-ever battery life” with up to 100 hours offered through a full Smart Mode. The Watch 2 claims to come with a design that “epitomizes both elegance and durability,” using a stainless steel chassis and a sapphire crystal watch face.

Interestingly, the OnePlus Watch 2 has a design language similar to the OnePlus 12, and we can see the resemblance between the watch’s protruding chassis and the phone’s camera island.

As we can see, the Watch 2 will come in two colors: Black Steel and Radiant Steel. The Radiant Steel variant has a green strap that complements the OnePlus 12’s Flowy Emerald color.

The OnePlus Watch 2 could run on Wear OS. OnePlus does not mention this explicitly, but the company does say that it is “returning to the high-stakes flagship smartwatch market,” which to us is very clearly aiming to compete against the likes of the Galaxy Watch 6 and the Pixel Watch 2. The watch is expected to come with the Snapdragon W5 Gen 1 chip, so it is already shaping up to be a decent competitor.

Walmart is already a significant player in the TV business, offering its cheap in-house Onn TVs and its own TV boxes. Now, the company has stepped up its game in a big way as it’s just announced the acquisition of TV brand Vizio.

Walmart announced the acquisition of Vizio in a joint press release, confirming that this was a deal worth $2.3 billion.

“The acquisition of Vizio and its SmartCast Operating System (OS) would enable Walmart to connect with and serve its customers in new ways including innovative television and in-home entertainment and media experiences,” the company explained in the release.

Walmart also noted that it expects this acquisition to provide a major boost for its advertising business. The company explained that the deal merges “Vizio’s advertising solutions business with Walmart’s reach and capabilities.”

The deal is subject to regulatory approval and Vizio also reserves the right to terminate the agreement “within a 45-day period” if it receives a “superior offer.”

What does this mean for consumers, though?

It’s not immediately clear what Walmart’s purchase of Vizio means for customers. But the deal does mean the supermarket giant now has its own in-house operating system for TVs, much like Amazon has Fire OS. Walmart already offers its Onn range of Roku-equipped TVs, so we can speculate that the company could switch from Roku to Vizio’s operating system for these products.

Walmart also offers a range of Onn streaming gadgets running the Google TV platform. We’re not so sure about the prospect of the retail chain bringing the SmartCast OS to its streaming boxes. On the one hand, offering this OS on its TV streaming gadgets could theoretically give Walmart a bigger slice of any advertising pie compared to sharing revenue with Google. Then again, it might entail some work to get SmartCast running on a TV box in the first place.

Interestingly, the joint press release also mentions Vizio letting users stream content for free by watching ads. So it stands to reason that the combined Vizio and Walmart could double down on this ad-supported approach to streaming.