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Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses’ new update triples recording time limit

 

  • The Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses now allow video recording for up to three minutes.
  • The latest update includes support for Amazon Music and Calm.
  • These features can only be accessed by iOS users; Android support is expected soon.

A number of companies, from Amazon to Google, offer smart glasses or have them in the works. But the Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses are still one of the top options in this competitive market. 

It’s not just the US: Galaxy Z Flip 6 will reportedly see a price increase in Europe as well

samsung galaxy z flip 5 flex window on wood
Credit: Ryan Haines / Android Authority
  • The Galaxy Z Flip 6 will see a price increase in Europe, lending further credence to a previous report suggesting the phone would see an $100 increase.
  • The 256GB version will reportedly cost €1,339.99, while the 512GB model is listed at €1,466.99. This is a price increase that’s roughly similar to what has been suggested for the US.
  • The new pricing information comes from a European retail database, so there are no guarantees of its legitimacy.

The Galaxy Z Flip 6 is less than a month away from being unveiled at Samsung’s next Unpacked event. At this stage, we know almost every major detail about the phone and even final details like pricing are finally starting to trickle in. Earlier this month, a report from prolific tipster OnLeaks suggested that the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 will be more expensive than its predecessor, increasing its pricing by $100 for all configurations in the United States. Now we have learned Samsung may be raising prices in more regions than just the states, as corroborated by a new discovery from SamInsider.

The Galaxy Z Flip 6 has been discovered in a European database with pricing listed for both models. Samsung has been slowly raising prices for years, so we aren’t too surprised to see that the Flip 6 will cost more in multiple markets. The 256GB version will reportedly cost €1,339.99, while the 512GB model is listed at €1,466.99. That’s an increase of €140 and €148 respectively (roughly $150). On paper, this seems like a bigger increase than you’d pay in the US, but it’s important to remember that Europe includes taxes in the pricing, whereas the United States does not. After adjusting for taxes and currency conversions, the gap might still remain, but it’s relatively small.

One UI 7 could give you another way to lock apps, thanks to Apple

samsung galaxy s22 ultra themed apps
Credit: Ryan Haines / Android Authority
  • One UI 7 /6.1.1 could bring a new feature called “App Lock” to Galaxy devices.
  • This would add yet another way for Galaxy owners to lock their apps.

Galaxy devices offer plenty of privacy and security features, such as Auto Blocker, Samsung Pass, Private Share, and more. That list could soon get a little longer with the addition of a new way to lock your apps.

First spotted by Tarun Vats on X (formerly Twitter), it appears the upcoming One UI 7 update could introduce a built-in app locking feature. According to the screenshot, the feature would matter of factly be called App Lock.

Apple is holding back no punches with its AI partnerships for iOS 18

Siri on Apple iPhone 12 Mini stock photo 3
Credit: Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
  • Apple is reportedly considering integrating more generative AI services, including Meta AI, Perplexity, and Anthropic, into iOS 18.
  • The company could also be looking into AI services permitted in China, as OpenAI’s ChatGPT is banned there.
  • Apple’s new AI features will roll out to compatible iPhones, iPads, and Macs this fall through the upcoming OS updates.

With iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia, Apple is integrating ChatGPT into its latest devices. While the company has developed its own Apple Intelligence features, users will get to rely on OpenAI’s smarts when the first-party ones are insufficient. However, Apple won’t stop there; it’s reportedly considering more AI partnerships with companies like Meta, Perplexity, and Anthropic.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Apple has been discussing potential AI partnerships with Meta, Perplexity, and Anthropic. Additionally, the firm is trying to find an OpenAI alternative for its China-based users, as ChatGPT is banned there. If any of these potential partnerships materialize, iOS 18 users could have more AI provider options — beyond ChatGPT and Apple’s own model.

Retailer confirms the date for Samsung’s next Galaxy Unpacked event

samsung logo stock photo
Credit: Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
  • Dutch retailer mobiel.nl has prematurely confirmed that Samsung will host its next big Unpacked event on July 10.
  • The retailer accidentally shared a banner highlighting the launch date and an early bird offer.
  • We expect Samsung to unveil its next-gen foldables, tablets, smartwatches, and the highly anticipated Galaxy Ring at the event.

Samsung is gearing up for the second big Galaxy Unpacked event of the year, where it will likely unveil its next-gen foldables, tablets, and wearables. Although the company has yet to announce the event, a retailer has accidentally confirmed that it will take place on July 10, 2024.

According to a recent report from Tweakers (via Sammobile), Dutch retailer mobiel.nl updated its website with a new banner earlier today, confirming that Samsung will host its next Galaxy Unpacked event on July 10. The banner includes a graphic that alludes to the upcoming foldables and features the stars from the Galaxy AI logo, suggesting that the company could announce new AI features at the event.

OnePlus reveals why some phones have different battery variants

OnePlus Nord CE 4 Lite 2
Credit: Aamir Siddiqui / Android Authority
  • OnePlus has explained why the newly launched Nord CE 4 Lite has a smaller battery in Europe.
  • The company blamed shipping laws in the EU governing the size of an individual battery cell.
  • The OnePlus 12 and 12R bring large battery capacities to Europe, albeit via two individual battery cells.

OnePlus has just launched the Nord CE 4 Lite in global markets, but one major difference between the European model and other variants is the battery capacity. Other models, such as the Indian device, have a 5,500mAh battery, but the European variant brings a 5,110mAh battery instead.

Now, OnePlus has explained this disparity in an emailed statement, and it turns out that European regulations are to blame:

OnePlus’s cheapest phone line gets major display, battery and charging upgrades

OnePlus Nord CE 4 Lite 5
Credit: Aamir Siddiqui / Android Authority
  • OnePlus has launched the OnePlus Nord CE 4 Lite 5G in Europe and India, sporting the Qualcomm Snapdragon 685 SoC.
  • The Nord CE 4 Lite jumps up to an AMOLED display, alongside 80W charging and a big battery.
  • This phone’s predecessor, the Nord CE 3 Lite 5G, was rebranded into the OnePlus Nord N30 for the US market. Rebranding plans for the Nord CE 4 Lite are yet unknown.

OnePlus is known for its impressive flagships and foldables, but it also makes some pretty good budget Android phones. The company is refreshing its budget phone lineup with the launch of the OnePlus Nord CE 4 Lite 5G, packing in an even bigger battery and faster charging than before. Previous devices, like the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite, have entered the US market as the OnePlus Nord N30. While we don’t know of such rebranding plans for the Nord CE 4 Lite, it’s still a device worth looking at.

The processor on the OnePlus Nord CE 4 Lite is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 695, which was also used on the CE 3 Lite and even the CE 2 Lite. Qualcomm itself has rebranded the Snapdragon 695 into the Snapdragon 6s Gen 3, so there is nothing fundamentally flawed here by OnePlus. A newer SoC (one that is not merely a rebrand) would have been better, but that would have messed around with the pricing and value proposition. Customers looking for more performance can climb higher up OnePlus’s product lineup to devices like the Nord CE 4 and even the main Nord series.

Surprise, surprise: Apple’s App Store changes continue to really bother the EU

Apple Logo Apple Store BKC 2
Credit: Aamir Siddiqui / Android Authority
  • The EU Commission has notified Apple about its preliminary findings, which indicate it has breached the Digital Markets Act (DMA) with its anti-steering rules.
  • The EU Commission has also opened new investigations to determine whether Apple’s Core Technology Fee (CTF) complies with the DMA.
  • If the preliminary findings are confirmed, the EU could charge Apple up to 10% of its annual global revenue.

Earlier this year, Apple rolled out an iOS update with EU-exclusive features to comply with the DMA. These include support for third-party app stores and allowing developers to reference in-app digital services that users can buy from external websites. Now that the EU Commission has investigated some of Apple’s changes, its preliminary findings indicate that the iPhone maker has breached the DMA.

The EU Commission announced today that Apple’s new iPhone rules continue to prevent developers from steering users to external websites, which violates its DMA. For reference, Apple now allows app developers to link to digital purchases beyond its own IAP system. However, the company still restricts how developers implement the links in their apps, such as prohibiting them from listing their pricing.

Google is bringing Gemini to teens with school accounts

Google Gemini logo on smartphone stock photo (7)
Credit: Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
  • Google says Gemini is coming to teens with educational accounts in the coming months.
  • The chatbot will be available in English to teens with school accounts in over 100 countries.

Google already offers Gemini to teenagers using their personal accounts, but teens weren’t able to use the chatbot with their educational accounts.

Now, Google has announced that Gemini is coming to teenagers via their school-issued accounts in the “coming months.” The company added that this option will be available in English in over 100 countries.

Blackmagic Camera app with pro video controls lands on Android

Person filming a snowboarderusing the Blackmagic Camera app on a smartphone with mountains in the background.
Credit: Blackmagic
  • The Blackmagic Camera app offers manual controls to help you capture professional-level videos on your Android device.
  • It features a detailed heads-up display (HUD) that allows quick access to essential controls, such as frame rate, ISO, white balance, shutter speed, lens selection, and more.
  • The app is currently compatible with select Samsung and Google devices.

After debuting the Blackmagic Camera app on iOS last year, Blackmagic Design has finally brought its highly acclaimed professional video camera app to Android. The free app features complete manual controls to help you capture cinematic videos and packs a ton of useful features.

In a press release highlighting the launch, Blackmagic Design says the app is based on the same “operating system” as the company’s digital film cameras and gives Android users access to a wide range of professional tools. The app has a feature-rich HUD with quick access to important controls, along with status and record parameters, a histogram, focus peaking, levels, and frame guides.

Has Google done anything unethical? Gemini changes its answer mid-sentence

Google Gemini logo on smartphone stock photo (5)
Credit: Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
  • Gemini on mobile changes its answer mid-sentence when asked whether Google is unethical.
  • The chatbot begins to answer affirmatively before it replaces this response with a non-answer.
  • Gemini on the web gives a more comprehensive response about Google’s ethical concerns, though.

There’s no shortage of concerns about Google’s ethics, ranging from its privacy issues to YouTube’s promotion of toxic videos. However, it looks like Google might be barring Gemini on mobile from answering questions about its parent company’s ethics.

Athenil noticed that Gemini on mobile abruptly changed its answer when asked whether Google had done anything unethical. We were able to reproduce this on our own phone — check out our video below.

iPhones and iPads will soon give you one less reason to use your Mac

iPad Air 5th gen with stage manager 1
Credit: Dhruv Bhutani / Android Authority
  • The first betas of iOS and iPadOS 18 include a new option in the Files app that allows users to reformat external drives when erasing them.
  • Beta testers can currently pick between the APFS, ExFAT, and MS-DOS (FAT) formats, which serve different purposes.
  • Picking the APFS format allows users to encrypt the external drive using a password of their choice and opt for case sensitivity.

Apple has been gradually boosting its latest iPhones and iPads by introducing fresh power-user features with every annual OS update, and this year is no different. The first betas of iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 pack a new functionality that allows testers to reformat external drives when erasing them.

The ability to erase connected external drives using the Files app on iPhones and iPads has existed for a while. As Kaleb Cadle discovered, though, iOS and iPadOS 18 upgrade this feature by allowing users to pick between three formats instead of being limited to a default one.

The YouTube app could finally get a sleep timer (APK teardown)

YouTube TV logo on smartphone stock photo (2)
Credit: Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
  • YouTube is working on implementing a sleep timer for the Android app, according to our teardown.
  • This would allow playback to automatically stop after a specified period of time.
  • The app’s code suggests you can skip the timer and continue playback too.

Sleep timers are a common feature on podcast and music streaming apps, letting you specify when playback stops. This is handy for bedtime, as the name implies, automatically stopping playback after you’ve fallen asleep. YouTube lacks this feature, but our teardown reveals that the option is in the works.

Android app expert AssembleDebug, in conjunction with Android Authority, dug into a beta version of the YouTube app for Android (version 19.25.33). We discovered references to sleep timer functionality — check them out below.

Google Pixel 8a problems and how to fix them

The Pixel 8a is one of the best cheap Android phones available, borrowing plenty of the best features from its flagship counterparts. An updated processor, the continuous addition of AI smarts, an impressive camera, and a seven-year software commitment make this sub-$500 phone a solid buy. Of course, there have been some compromises along the way, and like any new release, Google’s mid-range offering is not without its issues. We take a look at some common Pixel 8a problems and potential solutions on how to fix them!

Is a Mint Mobile family plan worth the switch?

Stock photo of Mint Mobile fox on phone with money 2
Credit: Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority

Mint Mobile prides itself on offering cheap phone plans for as little as $15 a month, making it a great deal for someone looking to save money on their phone bill.  In 2023 the carrier widened its target to families as well. Is the Mint Mobile family plan worth it? Let’s dive right in and discuss.

What is included in the Mint Mobile family plan?

Like all of Mint’s plans, the Mint Mobile family plan runs on the T-Mobile network and is paid at least three months in advance.

Apple is stepping up its work on AR glasses, but don’t expect them soon

Xreal Air 2 Ultra AR glasses (3)
Credit: Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
  • Apple has reportedly “renewed” efforts to develop its own augmented reality glasses.
  • Unfortunately, it sounds like they’ll only be ready by 2027 at the soonest.

Several companies have offered augmented reality (AR) glasses in recent years, featuring a display, smart features, or other tricks. It now sounds like Apple is stepping up its efforts to enter this segment, but we could be in for an extremely long wait.

Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman reported in his Power On newsletter that Apple has “renewed” efforts to develop its own AR glasses. The journalist added that these would be “lightweight” glasses that could be worn all day.

Apple could pull a Samsung Gear VR with its cheaper Vision headset

Apple Vision Pro EyeSight Visual Indicator for capturing photos
Credit: Apple
  • Apple is reportedly thinking about requiring a tethered iPhone or Mac for its cheaper Vision headset.
  • This echoes the Samsung Gear VR headset, which requires users to slide their phone into the device.

Apple launched the Vision Pro XR headset earlier this year, and it’s not exactly set cash registers on fire. The company is apparently pushing ahead with a cheaper headset, but it sounds like Apple could take a cue from the Samsung Gear VR by requiring a tethered companion device.

Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman reported in his Power On newsletter that Apple’s cheaper Vision headset is codenamed N107. The device will apparently cost $1,500 to $2,000 and was originally slated to launch as soon as late 2025.

Here’s why the iPhone 15, 15 Plus won’t have new AI tricks (it’s not the chip)

apple iphone 15 home screen leaning

Credit: Ryan Haines / Android Authority
  • Apple’s new AI features won’t come to the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus as they lack enough RAM, according to a trusted journalist.
  • The iPhone maker purportedly decided that 8GB of RAM was the minimum needed for its Apple Intelligence features.
  • By contrast, the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus only pack 6GB of RAM.

Apple announced a variety of new AI tricks for its iPhones earlier this month, dubbed Apple Intelligence. Unfortunately, most iPhone owners are left in the lurch as only the iPhone 15 Pro series will get these features.

I’ve spent 48 hours with a Copilot Plus PC and I’m already worried

I was very excited when my Surface Laptop pre-order arrived two days ago, as I’ve been itching to try out these Arm-based, Snapdragon X-powered, Copilot Plus PCs (or whatever you want to call them) since the chipset was first announced in late 2023. Taking the battery-friendly, AI-ready, and ultra-connected benefits of the best smartphones and pairing it with performance that rivals best-in-class laptops sounds too good to be true. Unfortunately, after just 48 hours with the new Surface Laptop, I’m starting to feel that might be accurate.

I should caveat this by stating that the office use element of the Copilot Plus PC experience is perfectly fine, great even. It’s flawlessly powering through writing this article with me, and the battery stats state that I’ve enjoyed two hours and 36 minutes of screen-on time since its last charge, and I still have 76% to go. The battery life on this thing seems pretty rock solid, so at least that’s one promise ticked off the list.

That said, several hiccups in the past 48 hours are undoubtedly pivoting my eventual review in a more negative direction. Namely, app emulation is hit-and-miss, and I don’t really see what all the AI fuss is about, given that Recall is on hiatus until later in the year.

Battery life is great for office workloads, but everything else is less convincing.

But before we get to that, let’s wrestle with this whole running Windows on Arm malarky. Yes, the battery-life benefits seem to be there (though more testing will tell), and the performance of native Arm applications is sublime if you can find them. And that’s the problem: I’m relying a whole lot on Microsoft’s Prism emulator layer to run x64 applications that aren’t yet natively built for Arm processors. Honestly, I’m surprised by how few of the apps I use on a daily basis don’t have native versions. Libre Office, Lightroom Classic, Discord, Asana, and any Steam game (of course) all rely on emulation. I knew my more niche apps from smaller developers, including Feishin and Jellyfin for media, would rely on emulation, but it’s surprising that so few big projects aren’t onboard by this stage. It’s not like Windows on Arm is new.

As for native support, I’ve used Photoshop, Slack, Spotify, Zoom, and the big three web browsers. The latter is where Microsoft gets its “90% of user minutes are running on Arm native” nonsense, but they all run great. Still, I’ve suffered a number of black screen glitches when running GPU-heavy pages in Edge with an external monitor that doesn’t appear with Firefox. Even native apps aren’t immune from issues, it seems.

Let’s be generous and say I have a 50/50 split of Arm and x64 apps installed. The problem remains that emulation performance feels so hit-and-miss. For instance, Lightroom Classic (just update it already, Adobe!) runs flawlessly when editing photos, but exporting JPEGs can bring it and other applications to their knees. On the other hand, Asana and Discord run like an egg and spoon race — stopping, starting, pausing, and loading. This is where Prism’s performance is a letdown; UI elements can temporarily freeze, sometimes system-wide, and I’ve even had music playback cut out for a split second. These issues don’t crop up very often, but when they do, you’re instantly reminded you’re not receiving the best Windows experience out there.

Microsoft Surface 7th gen Snapdragon X Elite CPU taskmanager

Credit: Robert Triggs / Android Authority

But that’s not the cardinal sin. No, the fact that most VPN apps don’t work because they don’t yet have native Arm versions might be an absolute deal breaker for some. I often need a VPN to check out regional website versions, and thankfully, I can still do that in my browser. However, many others have steeper requirements, including those in the enterprise space. Thankfully, VPNs are the only apps I’ve encountered that outright refuse to work.

Now, I’d cut Microsoft and developers some slack if Windows on Arm was a brand-new initiative, but Windows on Arm and Microsoft’s emulator have been around for seven freakin’ years, and we’ve had commercial products for six of them. How are we still discussing app development and emulation problems that Apple has eliminated in about half that time? It’s borderline ridiculous.

Windows has been emulating Arm for seven years, and it's still far from perfect.

OK, enough of the emulator bashing — the Snapdragon X Elite is powerful enough to brute-force its way through (most) of the minor issues. Let’s talk AI — it’s the key marketing material with these Copilot Plus PCs, after all. So what’s the Plus fuss all about? It’s a bit hard to tell. Windows Recall felt like the flagship feature, but that’s put on ice while Microsoft irons out some very warranted privacy concerns.

Without Recall, Copilot takes center stage as the most obvious user-facing AI feature, but the experience feels much the same as on regular PCs. Yes, the dedicated Copilot button to bring up a web app window is a nice touch (if you use AI a lot), but I still don’t trust Copilot (or any other text generator) for anything above mundane questions or reformatting the odd paragraph. With Copilot icons plastered across the toolbar and Edge browser, I’ve probably pressed the physical key three or four times in a couple of days. It hardly seems worth sacrificing good old right ctrl for.

Windows CoPilot Key

Credit: Robert Triggs / Android Authority

Other AI features are onboard, but they’re more niche. I haven’t yet found a use for the admittedly impressive Live Captions feature (yet), and asking Cocreator to draw anything with people in it is often horrifying. Still, I found Studio Effects more useful for a couple of Discord calls. Eye Contact looks a bit creepy, but auto-framing and the bokeh portrait feature work very well. That said, pretty much all conferencing apps have background options baked in without needing an NPU, so it hardly feels new and exciting.

The other AI feature I encountered was purely by accident. While benchmarking some AAA games, I noticed a popup in a couple of titles informing me that AI Super Resolution was activated. If you can live with a measly 1,152 x 768 resolution, AI upscaling pushes several games from sub-30fps to a much more comfortable 50-60fps. Snapdragon X’s ability to play AAA PC games is, surprisingly, not terrible and is probably the best showcase of the built-in NPU elevating the user experience meaningfully. Again, though, the list of supported titles is far from comprehensive, and the settings menu to manually configure .exes is tucked away well out of reach.

Hopefully, Copilot Plus PCs kickstart more meaningful app development for Arm.

And I think that sums up my whole experience with this Copilit Plus PC so far — it doesn’t feel finished. Are incomplete AI features and unpolished emulation acceptable trade-offs for better-than-average battery life? I’m not so sure at prices well over $1,000. I have a feeling that’s my eventual review summed up right there.

Still, perhaps we’re at the tipping point in this chicken-and-egg scenario: more powerful and interesting laptops mean that developers pay attention, kickstarting more native Arm builds, and the whole ecosystem quickly improves. Here’s hoping, but that’s no consolation for the bitter taste of disappointment I’m currently experiencing. The last two days don’t feel all that different from the last seven years of trying to justify the compromises.

Moto Tag certified: Motorola’s first tracker to support Google’s network?

The Motorola logo at MWC 2023.

Credit: Ryan McLeod / Android Authority

  • A filing for the Motorola Moto Tag has appeared on the FCC database.
  • This tracker could be Motorola’s first to support Google’s Find My Device network.
  • The tag supports Bluetooth and UWB, while running on a standard watch battery.


Google launched its Find My Device network earlier this year, and several brands have already chipped in with tracking tags. It looks like Motorola’s offering is a step closer to release with a new regulatory filing.

The Motorola Moto Tag was listed by the FCC today (h/t: IT Home), and it supports Bluetooth LE and UWB connectivity. The latter feature means that you can expect more fine-tuned, granular tracking support compared to a Bluetooth-only tracker.

Moto Tag FCC connectivity features

Credit: FCC

This filing also reveals that the tracker, which has the model number XT2445-1, runs on a standard watch battery (CR2032). That means sourcing replacement batteries shouldn’t be a problem.

Moto Tag FCC filing battery

Credit: FCC

The listing doesn’t confirm whether this device will support Google’s Find My Device network. However, the search colossus previously noted that Motorola would offer a compatible tracker later this year. So it stands to reason that the Moto Tag is the product in question.

There’s no official word on a launch date just yet, but the company is holding a launch event on June 25. Motorola is expected to unveil its Razr 2024 foldable phones, but we’re guessing it could also reveal the Moto Tag on the day.

This is our first look at the Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra, and the notch is here to stay

Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra Android Headlines 3

  • Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra renders have leaked online.
  • The images show a premium tablet that looks virtually identical to the Tab S9 Ultra.
  • Expect a display notch and thin design once again, but there’s no word on other specs or a launch date.


We’ve already seen the first Galaxy Tab S10 series leaks and rumors appearing online, and a trusted source has now posted renders for the Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra.

Steve ‘OnLeaks’ Hemmerstoffer and Android Headlines posted apparent Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra renders online. Check the image above and the gallery below to get a look.

The renders show a tablet with a similar design as the Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra, featuring the same display notch that hosts two selfie cameras. The Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra also retains the previous tablet’s magnetic S Pen holder on the back and the same dual rear camera design.

Other design-related details include what appears to be a metal design, quad speakers (two on each side), and power and volume keys at the top.

The outlet also posted dimensions, claiming that the new tablet measures 326.4 x 208.6 x 5.45mm. That makes it virtually identical to the Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra (326.4 x 208.6 x 5.5mm).

There’s no word on other specs, but we’re expecting a flagship processor, an OLED screen, and Galaxy AI features. The launch date is another mystery as it doesn’t seem like Samsung is gearing up for a tablet launch next month at its Unpacked event.

I’m excited for a large Pixel Watch XL, but it’d better have a bigger battery

A charging Pixel Watch 2 displays the device's battery status at zero percent.

Credit: Kaitlyn Cimino / Android Authority

From persistent rumors to leaked images, an XL variant of the Google Pixel Watch 3 is all but confirmed to be heading to shelves this fall. Though I’m not usually one to put the cart before the horse, I’m already emotionally committed to the larger build. However, I don’t just want a bigger screen; I want a bigger battery.

Third time’s the charm

google pixel watch wear os watch face material stack 1

Credit: Rita El Khoury / Android Authority

Compared to the Apple Watch line on its tenth entry and the Galaxy Watch line about to introduce its seventh, Google’s smartwatch lineup is fairly fresh. In fact, it existed as rumors for more years than it has existed on wrists. It finally debuted in 2022, and though the OG model had a lot of first-generation quirks, we were all largely gracious and willing to patiently see how Google would improve over time. When the Pixel Watch 2 landed a year later, I was happy to see a few key improvements and dubbed the device a “solid second draft.”

Google's smartwatch is moving in the right direction, but battery life is the single biggest factor holding the lineup back.

However, I’ve yet to adopt the line as my daily driver, and to be honest I wouldn’t even rank it as my top Wear OS pick. Like all smartwatches, there are a range of minor tweaks I’d love to see on the line, but the single factor holding the Pixel Watch back the most is battery life. The Pixel Watch 2 claims 24 hours of battery life and, in practice, just barely makes that mark.

That means a disciplined charging schedule if you don’t want to find yourself with a dead device (and missed sleep tracking stats if you slack off too close to bedtime). The second generation introduced fast charging, alleviating some of the first generation’s battery woes, but a single day of use between charges still feels like a major hindrance compared to other Wear OS options. If Google wants to earn a permanent place on my wrist, it will need to keep up with the competition this year.

Power-packed Wear OS competition

A variety of Pixel Watch 2 alternatives offer better battery life.

Credit: Kaitlyn Cimino / Android Authority

Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 6 series devices, arguably the most popular Wear OS watches, offer up to 30 hours between charges, allowing for a lot more wiggle room. The suped-up Galaxy Watch 5 Pro stretches even further with a 490mAH cell to power up to 80 hours between charges. Each of these devices is set to be replaced by newer models in the coming weeks, which may offer even better power efficiency and charge times. If the Galaxy Watch 7 and 7 Pro raise the bar, I hope the Pixel Watch 3 XL can rise to the occasion.

Battery life claim
Pixel Watch 2Up to 24 hours
Apple Watch Series 9Up to 18 hours
Apple Watch Ultra 2Up to 36 hours
Galaxy Watch 5 ProUp to 80 hours
Galaxy Watch 6 Up to 30 hours
OnePlus Watch 2Up to 100 hours
Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 5 Up to 80 hours
Garmin Venu 3Up to 14 days

Meanwhile, Wear OS players like the TicWatch Pro 5 and the OnePlus Watch 2 are already pushing battery limits even further than Samsung. Utilizing a unique dual-chip architecture to house two distinct operating systems, the OnePlus Watch 2 boasts highly effective power efficiency, resulting in up to 100 hours of use between charges. The watch can last even longer in its pared down low power mode. Likewise, the TicWatch Pro 5 leverages the power of two with a dual-display design that I can’t say enough about. This secondary low-power display offers access to key stats, useful heart rate zones during workouts, and the ability to stretch usage to up to 80 hours in smartwatch mode. In short, both these watches blew me away when it came to convenient wear.

Competitors within the Wear OS family offer much better battery life, as does Garmin and, to an extent, Apple.

Of course, I’d be remiss not to mention devices outside of the Wear OS bubble. Apple has been consistently offering an 18-hour claim for years, though the watches easily stretch to more than 24 hours in real-world experience. The Apple Watch Ultra line elevated the company’s efforts some with a 36-hour claim, but that comes at a much higher price tag. Garmin’s top smartwatch, the Venu 3, offers multi-day battery life but lacks the robust app support found on most of the devices mentioned thus far. Fitbit’s ghost of a smartwatch stable traditionally delivered multi-day battery life as well, which is what originally made the Pixel Watch line’s specs so disappointing. However, those options are no longer real contenders in the arena; the Pixel Watch line is the company’s golden child.

Big is better and also… bigger

Google Pixel Watch 3 XL (4)

The 41mm Pixel Watch 2 is on the smaller side and, for some users, is genuinely too small. Blessed with scrawny wrists, the device works fine as is, but my preference is always maximum display space. Not only do I want my wearable to make a statement, I want it to be as useful as possible, and that means more room for text, menus, maps, and apps. To this end, I am excited for the Pixel Watch 3 to be less dainty, but most importantly, I hope the extra cargo space is packing a bigger battery.

Rumors suggest the device will have a larger thumbprint, leaping to 45mm, or the same size as Apple’s large model. It will also reportedly be thicker, landing on wrists at 13.89mm. In my humble opinion, this should leave plenty of room for beefed-up battery life.

Ringke Onyx for Google Pixel 8a review: Should you buy it?

Should you buy the Ringke Onyx for the Pixel 8a?

Ringke Onyx Google Pixel 8a in hand

Credit: Nick Fernandez / Android Authority

There are a lot of cheap TPU case for the Google Pixel 8a, but the Ringke Onyx stands out from the crowd. It doesn’t have a flashy design or any gimmicks — it’s just a really solid case that ticks all the right boxes.

The case arrives in a simple, eco-friendly package, although I couldn’t find any indication that the case itself uses any recycled materials. Regardless, the flexible TPU material slips very easily onto the Pixel 8a, so it’s ideal if you remove your case often.

I really liked the rough texture on the back of the case, which looks great and adds just a hint of extra grip. The camera bar is completely covered, but it’s still slightly raised so you can still appreciate the key design element of the Pixel 8a.

Ringke Onyx Google Pixel 8a camera bar

Credit: Nick Fernandez / Android Authority

The sides of the case have a nice microdot pattern that adds even more grip, making the Ringke Onyx very comfortable to hold. The buttons are raised and have a nice click to them, and there are even holes on both bottom corners for a lanyard. I really appreciate this small detail, since most cases have only one set for a strap or none at all.

The lip just barely peeks over the edge of the screen, but there was extra care taken here too. The area in the middle, which is where you will swipe with your thumb for navigation, is lower than the corners, top, and bottom. That made it very easy to use swipe gestures while still keeping the vulnerable Gorilla Glass 3 screen safe.

However, due to its thin design, the Ringke Onyx offers only basic protection. There are air pockets in the corners, but that’s about it. Ringke says it meets military-grade drop protection standards, but if you’re rough on your phones I’d recommend a thicker case.

Small details like the lanyard holes, curved lip, and grippy texture put this case over the top.

The Ringke Onyx is available in three colors for the Pixel 8a: Black, Navy, and Dark Green. The original color of your Pixel 8a barely peeks through the camera bar and charging port, so there’s no need to worry about color matching.

Priced at just $15, the Ringke Onyx for the Pixel 8a is right in the middle of the pack when it comes to thin TPU cases. Still, I think it’s a much better pick than most, even from other reputable brands like Spigen. It’s not the most innovative design, but it really does nail the basics in a way that’s surprisingly difficult to find.

What are the best Ringke Onyx for Pixel 8a alternatives?

Ringke Onyx Spigen Rugged Armor Caseology Parallax Google Pixel 8a

Credit: Nick Fernandez / Android Authority

The Ringke Onyx is a solid budget case for the Google Pixel 8a, but if you’re looking for something with a more interesting design, check out these alternatives.

  • Spigen Rugged Armor ( ): The Rugged Armor is another fairly simple TPU case for the Pixel 8a, with a touch of carbon fiber on the back to add some much-needed character.
  • Caseology Parallax ( ): For a more interesting design and drop protection check out the Caseology Parallax. It’s quite a bit thicker, but the hexa-cube pattern on the back looks and feels great.
  • Spigen Liquid Air ( ): The Liquid Air is another thin, affordable option from Spigen, this time with a textured back. Like the Ringke Onyx, it’s a simple design that (mostly) nails the basics.

Snapdragon X-plained: What you need to know about the chip in CoPilot Plus PCs

Microsoft Surface 7th gen app drawer

Credit: Robert Triggs / Android Authority

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X series of processors are designed for PCs — well, Windows on Arm, Copilot Plus laptops, to be precise.  They take some of the Snapdragon sauce we are familiar with from high-end smartphones and blends it with the high-performance requirements of the PC space. The aim is to provide a chip with performance that rivals Intel and Apple, with the energy efficiency we’ve become accustomed to in smartphones.

The core ingredients common to all Snapdragon X series chips are Qualcomm’s custom Arm- rather than x86-based Oryon CPU (no Intel or AMD here), a bigger version of its Adreno GPU taken from mobile, Hexagon NPU smarts for AI, and top-tier networking that enables the latest Wi-Fi and 5G standards. Microsoft chips in, providing the emulation layer in Windows on Arm to run x64 applications that haven’t yet been ported to run natively on Arm processors.

Here’s everything you need to know about the Snapdragon X series inside the latest Windows laptops.

Snapdragon X Elite vs X Plus explained

Snapdragon X comes in two major flavors — X Elite, which powers the first wave of top-tier CoPilot Plus PCs, and X Plus, destined for more affordable laptops later in 2024. In total, Qualcomm has four Snapdragon X SKUs (and one unofficial model we leaked) — three under the X Elite branding and one more affordable X Plus unit. There is reportedly an additional low-end X Plus model (X1P-42-100), but we haven’t heard anything official about it yet.

So what’s the difference between Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus, besides their intended price points? Well, Elite boasts 12 Oryon CPU cores versus 10 cores for the Plus. There’s also a smaller eight-core Plus model, which Qualcomm didn’t officially announce. Furthermore, Elite models have higher all-core and two-core turbo clock speeds, up to 4.2GHz, compared to the Plus’ 3.4GHz. This varies by specific model, but the top-tier Elite models pack the Apple M-series rivaling performance with higher power consumption to boot.

Snapdragon X Elite and Plus Comparison Table

Credit: Qualcomm

The top-tier X1E-84-100 SKU also has a more powerful GPU than all the other models, hitting 4.6 TFLOPS vs 3.8 TFLOPS for the standard Ardreno GPU setup. This is thanks to a higher GPU frequency of 1.5GHz, up from 1.2GHz.

Fortunately, all of the Snapdragon X models sport the same 45TOPS Neural Processing Unit (NPU), ensuring they’re all capable of running the same AI features. If you’re unfamiliar, an NPU augments traditional CPU capabilities with machine learning (AI) specific number crunching capabilities. Not only is an NPU faster, but it’s more power efficient too.

NPUs are purpose-built to handle machine learning workloads for CoPilot Plus. Every Snapdragon X chip has the same one.

The series all support LDRR5X memory at 8448MT/s too, 4K120 video decoding, and 8+4 lanes of PCIe 4.0 for storage and the like. All except the unofficial X1P-42-100, which supposedly drops to 4K60 decode and 4+4 PCIe 4.0 lanes. The range is manufactured using TSMC’s N4 process and supports Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4, and 5G networking, with a discrete modem attached.

The bottom line is that CPU performance is the big differentiator between the Snapdragon X line. There’s a showcase X Elite chip that pushes performance on the CPU and GPU front (no doubt the model the benchmarkers will want), but without knowing the TDP, this might not be the most interesting chip in the range. The other Elite chips are more conservative on clocks and power, whilst the Plus steps performance down just a little with a smaller CPU configuration.

Snapdragon X – Oryon CPU deep dive

Speaking of CPUs, perhaps the most interesting aspect of the Snapdragon X series is Qualcomm’s in-house Oryon CPU. I say Qualcomm’s CPU, but the company bought Nuvia for $1.4 billion in 2021, which had started work on a custom Arm CPU for data centers called Phoenix. That work would quickly become Oryon for Windows on Arm devices.

The most interesting thing about Oryon is that it’s not based on the x86/x64 architecture that PC stalwarts AMD and Intel use. Instead, Oryon is built on the Arm architecture (Armv8.7-A, to be precise) found in smartphone processors and Apple’s M-series of laptop chips. However, the latter are now on Armv9, which introduces additional important features.

Oryon is an Arm-based CPU, rather than x86/x64 like rivals Intel and AMD.

Anyway, let’s start with the high-end topology. Snapdragon X uses three clusters of up to four cores (though it can technically support eight cores in a cluster). Unlike smartphones, there aren’t separate performance-optimized and efficiency-optimized CPU cores. There’s no Arm-style big.LITTLE or Intel-type low-power E-cores; every Oryon core is the same micro-architecture-wise. However, it’s likely that different clusters have different peak frequencies to balance power consumption. For instance, we know that two CPU cores in different clusters can push the peak boost clocks.

Each cluster shares its L2 cache, which is 12MB in size. This means that four cores share access to a large pool of local memory for multi-threaded performance. Cluster-to-cluster snooping is implemented when a CPU group needs to grab data from another. There’s also a smaller 6MB L3 cache as part of the shared memory subsystem across clusters, GPU, and NPU, with a minimal 6-29 nanoseconds of latency for fast access. Altogether, that’s a hefty memory footprint in the vein of the Apple M series (Apple is estimated to use even bigger caches) and is likely key to Qualcomm reaching a similar level of performance.

Qualcomm Oryon CPU core

Credit: Qualcomm

Peeking inside each core, Oryon provides six integer number crunching units, four floating point units (two with multiply-accumulate for machine learning workloads), and four load/store units. Importantly, each FP unit supports 128-bit NEON for number crunching on smaller data sizes right down to INT8, but not as small as INT4 used by some highly compressed smartphone machine-learning models. This helps mitigate the lack of SVE (introduced in Armv9) and the wider pipelines that we see in modern AMD and Intel chips. Still, that’s a pretty big CPU that’s a smidgen larger (execution-wise) than the latest Arm Cortex-A925 destined for 2025 smartphones.

No efficiency-cores here, Snapdragon X goes all in with up to 12 big CPU cores.

Keeping that CPU core fed is a major task. Qualcomm accomplishes this with a large 192Kb L1 instruction and 96KB data cache, paired with 8 instructions per cycle decoding. The re-order buffer hits a huge 650 micro-ops (or larger), allowing for a frankly huge out-of-order execution window (think of this as a queue of little instructions the processor could run).

Jargon aside, keeping a big core running with things to do and powering off when it’s not in use is the key to robust power consumption. You want to avoid situations where the core is on but suffers a “bubble” without instruction to process. The aim of having so many instructions sitting around within easy reach is that there’s always something it could be doing. However, historically, there’s been a diminishing return for storing so many instructions that are simply waiting, but this doesn’t seem to apply for modern Arm chips. For comparison, the Cortex-X925 has a 750 micro-op re-order buffer for a 1,500 out-of-order window, but Intel’s Lunar Lake stores just 416 entries.

Anyway, the TLDR is that the Snapdragon X’s Oryon CPU has a pretty big core paired up with tons of memory to keep it running at full tilt when needed. That’s likely to produce solid performance, but all that memory costs a small fortune in silicon area, hence why this is a premium-tier product.

Adreno graphics explained (finally)

Those familiar with Snapdragon will recognize the X-series’ GPU — the Adreno X1 is a bigger version of Qualcomm’s mobile GPU. Usually, Qualcomm doesn’t spill the beans on its graphics architecture but has opened up a lot more about the Adreno X1 as it dukes it out with bigger GPU names in the PC space.

At a high level, the Adreno X1 supports many key desktop-class GPU features, including DirectX 12.1 (not 12.2), DirectX 11, OpenCL 3.0, and Vulkan 1.3 feature sets. This includes ray tracing (via Vulkan) and variable rate shading, which are essential in modern PC titles and are slowly gaining traction in mobile.

Qualcomm levels up its Adreno GPU from mobile, making it a solid competitor for Intel's integrated graphics.

The Adreno X1 is built for both tile-based rendering (binned mode), typically seen in smartphones, and direct rendering that is more associated with the PC space. The difference is that a tile-based approach splits up the scene into smaller sections, keeping local data in the local cache to reduce power consumption. A binned-direct mode also attempts to leverage the best of both, leveraging a local high-bandwidth 3MB SRAM. The mode of operation is determined by the graphics driver and Qualcomm calls this rather unique setup FlexRender. The idea here is that the X1 can benefit from mobile-style power consumption or PC-class performance, depending on what best suites.

Regardless of the mode of operation, the Adreno X1 features six shader processors with 256 32-bit floating point units each, for a total of 1536 FP32 units. Peering deeper into each shader processor, one can see two micro-shader/texture pipelines with their own scheduler and power domain. Each comprises a 192KB L1 cache, a texture unit running at eight texels per clock, 16 elementary functional units (EFUs) for advanced math functions, 128 32-bit ALUs, and 256 16-bit ALUs.

Adreno X1 Shader Processor Explained

Credit: Qualcomm

That latter part is important; the core can run FP32 and FP16 operations concurrently, and the FP32 ALUs can pitch in for even more 16-bit data crunching if required. Speaking of number formats, the 32-bit ALU supports INT32/16, BF16, and INT8 dot products, making it adept at matching learning workloads. The 16-bit ALUs also support BF16, which is handy for ML.

Another interesting point is that Qualcomm uses a large wavefront (parallel operations) size compared to rivals AMD and NVIDIA. 32-bit operations arrive in groups of 64, while 16-bit operations stream in 128 at a time. Very wide designs typically suffer from bubbles where the core runs out of things to compute (rivals AMD and NVIDIA use 32 wide wavefronts for 32-bit operations), which is bad for power efficiency. Perhaps Qualcomm mitigates this intelligently, powering down its micro-shader cores.

In terms of performance, we ran Crysis on the Snapdragon X Elite but had to comprise with a 720p  resolution and medium graphics to achieve semi-decent frame rates. Other titles can leverage Microsoft’s new Automatic Super Resolution technology to improve frame rates in supported titles, including  The Witcher 3 and Hitman 3. The trade-off is you’re limited to a very low 1,152 x 768 pixels. This certainly isn’t a gamer’s chipset, but you can achieve decent frame rates with some heavy compromises.

For a quick comparison, an entry-level laptop gaming GPU like the NVIDIA GTX4050 packs 13.5TLOPS of FP32 computing, which is almost three times the performance of the Adreno X1. Instead, the X1 looks more competitive with Intel’s latest integrated graphics parts, which range between 2 and 8 TFLOPS. However, Snapdragon X1 has the added complication of emulating games compiled for x64. Speaking of…

What you need to know about Windows on Arm emulation

Windows logo on laptop stock photo (16)

Credit: Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority

While Arm CPUs can deliver high performance and remarkable energy efficiency, this transition brings new problems in the form of supporting legacy applications.

Windows has historically run on x86 and x64 platforms of AMD and Intel, meaning the low-level CPU instructions that OS applications run on a CPU aren’t supported by Arm. Microsoft rebuilt Windows on Arm to support the core OS on Arm CPUs and has released developer tools to help developers compile native Arm applications more easily.

Running older apps that aren't Arm-native? You'll take a (small) emulation performance penalty.

This has paid off somewhat over the past seven years of the project; Microsoft says that about 90% of “app minutes” a user spends time with daily has a native Arm application (likely because of web browsers). However, there are still swathes of modern and legacy Windows applications that aren’t yet Arm-native.

Windows on Arm has long run an emulator that converts code in real-time to support these apps. That ensures that software works but comes with a hit to performance, particularly for demanding real-time applications, like video conversion and gaming, and those requiring specific instructions like AVX2. Microsoft calls this hit “minor,” but previous Snapdragon chips have suffered. We’ll have to see if it’s much improved with the more powerful X-series of chips.

Fortunately, just before CoPilot PCs arrived, Microsoft’s updated emulation layer (now called Prism) claimed 10% to 20% additional performance for existing Arm chips (like the older Snapdragon 8cx). We tested the emulator’s performance on the 8cx before and after the update; here are the results:

  • Firefox (Speedometer 3): +10%
  • Cinebench r23 (Single-core): +8%
  • Cinebench r23 (Multi-core): +4.5%
  • HandBrake (h.264 software encoding time in seconds): +8%

Lofty claims of 20% improved performance are clearly the outliers, but these are still pretty decent gains for applications that still rely on emulation.

While the software emulation problem is more in Microsoft’s hands than Qualcomm’s, the latter has built features into its Oryon CPU to assist with memory store and floating-point architectures for x86 that should further boost emulation performance. If Qualcomm moves to Armv9 with its next-gen laptop CPU, SVE support will also help improve performance for instructions that require wider vector widths. We expect emulation performance to be pretty OK and will likely improve in the coming years.

Should you buy a Snapdragon X / CoPilot Plus PC?

Microsoft Surface 7th gen homescreen

Credit: Robert Triggs / Android Authority

In addition to pure specifications, there are many features to consider when looking up the first wave of CoPilot Plus PCs. First and foremost, the addition of an NPU means these laptops benefit from exclusive Windows features but will have to wait a while before Recall re-debuts.

As we’ve seen, Snapdragon X promises competitive performance with Intel’s latest chips and the powerhouse Apple M3 (though perhaps not quite the newer M4). On top of that, battery life should last well in excess of a busy workday, setting these laptops up as true MacBook competitors. Perhaps the biggest unknown, though, is just how well x64 applications will hold up under emulation.

The first reviews are rolling in as we speak, so it won’t hurt to wait a few more weeks to see if the Snapdragon X Elite and CoPilot Plus PC are worth your hard-earned cash.

Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 rumors: Everything we know and want to see

Update: June 22, 2024 (4:00 AM ET): We’ve updated our Galaxy Watch 7 rumor hub with apparently leaked pricing, confirmation of the Galaxy Watch Ultra name, and more.


Original article: The Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 is easily one of the best smartwatches you can buy, though it’s not a dramatic improvement from its predecessor. We’re eagerly awaiting the release of the next iteration of Samsung’s smartwatches in the form of the Galaxy Watch 7 series, and we hope to see a lot more dramatic changes that catch it up to the competition, like the OnePlus Watch 2 and even the Apple Watch Series 9. But how is the Galaxy Watch 7 shaping up so far? Here’s what we know about the Galaxy Watch 7, what we can expect, and what we want it to be!

Will there be a Samsung Galaxy Watch 7?

samsung galaxy watch 6

Credit: Rita El Khoury / Android Authority

The Samsung Galaxy Watch series is one of the premier smartwatch lineups for Android devices. While competitors like the OnePlus Watch 2 and the Pixel Watch 2 exist in the Android space, the Galaxy Watch series (like the Galaxy Watch 6 and Galaxy Watch 6 Classic) dominates the charts thanks to Samsung’s popularity and marketing and distribution channels.

Samsung has also been very invested in smartwatches, with a lot of notable smartwatches over the years, like those on Tizen OS. Samsung has immense goodwill in this space, and it is unlikely that the company will give up this advantage any time soon, at least not without a good fight.

So even though Samsung has not officially announced anything yet, we’re very confident that the company will release a Galaxy Watch 7. Based on past trends and current leaks, this could take the form of the Galaxy Watch 7 series with multiple products.

A leak from Kro on X suggests that Samsung is planning three smartwatches: a Classic, a Pro, and a “new one.” SamMobile followed up on this by revealing that the Galaxy Watch 7 series will have the following model numbers:

  • SM-L300 and SM-L305
  • SM-L310 and SM-L315
  • SM-L700 and SM-L705

Here, the xx0 models could represent the Wi-Fi-only variants, while the xx5 models could represent the Wi-Fi plus eSIM variants. These variants were also spotted in an official FCC listing, further confirming the existence of the Galaxy Watch 7 lineup.

To sum it all up, Samsung seems to be well underway in the Galaxy Watch 7 development cycle.

We also know that an Ultra watch is in the works. Samsung itself accidentally confirmed the “Galaxy Watch Ultra” name on its own regional websites in June 2024. This comes after regulatory filings mentioned the “Galaxy Watch Ultra” too.

What is the most likely Galaxy Watch 7 release date?

Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 review

Samsung Galaxy Watch 6
Credit: Kaitlyn Cimino / Android Authority
  • Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 series — Announced August 11, 2021; released August 27, 2021
  • Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 series — Announced August 10, 2022; released August 26, 2022
  • Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 series — Announced July 26, 2023; released August 11, 2023

Samsung has maintained a fairly predictable release cycle for its smartwatches in recent years, choosing to launch them alongside its foldables around August. So you can expect the Galaxy Watch 7 series to be released at the same Galaxy Unpacked event where Samsung will launch the Galaxy Z series fold and flip phones.

According to SamMobile, Samsung could launch the Galaxy foldables in early July 2024, possibly in the second week. Since Samsung usually launches its devices on a Wednesday, that would give us a date of July 10, 2024, as the possible launch date for the Galaxy Z foldables. This is supported by a leak from tipster Evan Blass who shared a GIF of an official countdown clock with the event scheduled for July 10 at 10 PM Korean Standard Time (KST). By extension, this could also be the day and event where Samsung launches the Galaxy Watch 7 series.

Chosun corroborates an early release rumor, suggesting that Samsung wants to take advantage of marketing around the 2024 Summer Olympics, which are scheduled to be held in Paris, France, on July 26, 2024. Consequently, the launch could be held in Paris, France.

What will the Galaxy Watch 7 look like?

So far we had very little to go on about what the Galaxy Watch 7 would look like, but we do have a new leak courtesy of Onleaks that gives us our first look at what’s supposedly Samsung’s first “Ultra” smartwatch.

Based on the leaked render, the Galaxy Watch Ultra is set to feature a distinctive squircle design, combining a circular display with a square frame. This peculiar choice creates a visually jarring appearance, as the circular display seems awkwardly placed atop the square base. Despite the unconventional shape, the round 1.5-inch display means the watch would retain the familiar user interface seen in previous models.

A standout feature visible here is the third button (or Quick Button, per Android Headlines), which may function similarly to the Apple Watch Ultra’s Action Button. With dimensions slightly larger than the Galaxy Watch 6 Classic, the Galaxy Watch Ultra also seems to sport a redesigned watch band mechanism and larger speaker grilles. Its rumored colorways include Titanium Gray, Titanium Silver, and Titanium Beige.

A Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 rests among competitors from the wearables market.

Credit: Kaitlyn Cimino / Android Authority

While Samsung is clearly venturing into new and somewhat questionable design territory with its first “Ultra” smartwatch, we can expect the rest of the lineup to not stray too far away from last year’s Galaxy Watch 6 in terms of design. We don’t have officially confirmed information from Samsung yet, nor do we have any leaked renders that give us any idea of what the standard Galaxy Watch 7 would look like.

Speculatively from our end, some of the variants in the Galaxy Watch 7 (most likely the base variant) could continue on with the looks of the Galaxy Watch 6, which has also largely carried forward the look of its predecessor. Further, the middle Galaxy Watch 7 variant could look like a Galaxy Watch 6 Classic successor with a rotating bezel, as this feature has been loved by fans, and we don’t imagine Samsung would like to remove it again.

What rumored specs and features could the Galaxy Watch 7 series have?

A Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 Classic displays the Stretched Time watch face.

Credit: Kaitlyn Cimino / Android Authority

A new Samsung wearable with the model number SM-L305U was recently spotted on the Bluetooth SIG database. When analyzed alongside earlier leaks, it appears that this device could be the LTE-enabled 40mm version of the upcoming Galaxy Watch 7, geared towards the US market. The Bluetooth certification confirms the Galaxy Watch 7 will retain the same Bluetooth 5.3 with LE technology as the Galaxy Watch 6, but the exciting upgrades likely lie beyond connectivity.

According to TheGalox on X, the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Watch series could feature a new Exynos SoC that promises 50% better efficiency and 30% faster performance. While initial reports hinted at this chip being called the Exynos W940, a recent report from SamInsider points towards the W1000 designation instead. This aligns with Samsung’s recent trend of simplifying the naming schemes for its flagship mobile CPUs as well.

A report from the Korean website New Daily suggests that Samsung could be using Samsung Foundry’s 3nm process for its SoC on the Galaxy Watch 7 series. Connecting the dots, it could mean that the Exynos W940/W1000 could be a 3nm SoC powering the Galaxy Watch 7 series. If correct, this would be a decent upgrade over the 5nm Exynos W930 that is present on the Galaxy Watch 6 series. The switchover to a 3nm process would also explain the claimed efficiency improvements.

Galaxy Watch 6 Classic Photo Sticker2

Credit: Kaitlyn Cimino / Android Authority

A report from SamMobile suggests that Samsung could also increase the internal storage of the watch. The Galaxy Watch 6 series has 16GB internal storage, while the Galaxy Watch 7 series could double it to 32GB.

Galaxy Club reported in early April that one of the watches (model number SM-L70x) has a battery with a rated capacity of 578mAh. The outlet suggested that this would translate into a typical capacity of 590mAh, which would be in line with the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro.

The FCC listing of the Galaxy Watch 7 series suggests Samsung might increase wireless charging speeds by 50% this year. The listing mentions 15W wireless charging on the smartwatch, up from 10W on the Galaxy Watch 6. As far as the new Galaxy Watch Ultra model is concerned, we don’t have any specific information about its features.

Leaked specs from Android Headlines corroborated the info above but offered additional details surrounding the watches’ displays and materials. The Galaxy Watch Ultra may offer a panel capable of 3,000 nits, with the Galaxy Watch 7 peaking at 2,000 nits. Both may come slathered in sapphire crystal. Other details included the use of titanium for the Ultra’s shell and aluminum for the Galaxy Watch 7. Both watches reportedly pack IP68 water and dust resistance with a MIL-STD-810H durability rating, while the Ultra offers a 10ATM rating, too.

Galaxy AI on Galaxy Watches

In terms of software features, Samsung has now confirmed that Galaxy AI (as part of One UI 6 Watch) is coming to “the next Galaxy Watch line-up,” which obviously means the Galaxy Watch 7 and Watch Ultra should be launching with Galaxy AI. The AI features confirmed as of now include an “Energy Score” providing daily insights into your overall condition, personalized “Workout Routines” for seamless exercise transitions, and a “Race” feature allowing runners and cyclists to compare performance on the same routes.

Additionally, users can anticipate tailored “Wellness tips,” more comprehensive sleep analytics with detailed “Sleep Score” metrics, and advanced running metrics like “Aerobic Threshold (AT) / Anaerobic Threshold (AnT) Heart Rate Zone.” While these are the currently confirmed features, Samsung may introduce additional AI capabilities when One UI 6 Watch is officially released.

What might the Galaxy Watch 7 price be?

A Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 Classic on users wrist displays the a watch face.

Credit: Kaitlyn Cimino / Android Authority
  • Samsung Galaxy Watch 6, 40mm: Wi-Fi-only: $299.99 / 4G: $349.99
  • Samsung Galaxy Watch 6, 44mm: Wi-Fi-only: $329.99 / 4G: $379.99
  • Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 Classic, 43mm: Wi-Fi-only: $399.99 / 4G: $449.99
  • Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 Classic, 47mm: Wi-Fi-only: $429.99 / 4G: $479.99

We can draw some reasonable conclusions about the Galaxy Watch 7 series pricing by looking at the predecessor, the Galaxy Watch 6 series.

The Galaxy Watch 6 series started at $300 in the US for its smallest 40mm and Wi-Fi-only variant (though it is often discounted below this these days). One can presume that Samsung would like to stick close to this price tag for the entry-level Galaxy Watch 7. Upgrading to the 4G LTE eSIM variant adds a $50 bump to the price, and we presume this will continue with the Galaxy Watch 7 series.

The Galaxy Watch 6 Classic starts at $400 in the US for its smallest 43mm Wi-Fi-only variant. You can expect one of the other two Galaxy Watch 7 variants to target this price band.

It looks like the Galaxy Watch 7 could share the same price as the Galaxy Watch 6. But what about the Watch Ultra model?

91mobiles reported in June 2024 that the Galaxy Watch 7 will apparently cost $299 to $310. That would put it on par with the Watch 6 in the US.

A European retailer leak from June 2024 also gives us purported price details. It mentions a €314.49 (~$336) price for the 40mm Galaxy Watch 7 Bluetooth model. Meanwhile, the 44mm model is said to cost €344.99 (~$369). This is apparently a slightly discounted price by the retailer compared to the recommended price. European prices tend to be more expensive than US prices though, so it’s worth keeping this fact in mind.

Now that it’s likely that Samsung is also releasing a brand-new Galaxy Watch Ultra, it’s highly likely that the company will also follow Apple’s strategy and price the Galaxy Watch Ultra much higher than the rest of its smartwatch series. We are expecting a starting price well above $500, to say the very least.

The aforementioned 91mobiles leak revealed that the Galaxy Watch Ultra could actually retail for $699 to $710. Meanwhile, that European retailer leak pegs the price at €688.99 (~$737). That’s way above our $500+ expectation but cheaper than the Apple Watch Ultra.

Should you wait for the Samsung Galaxy Watch 7?

Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 Wear OS 4

Credit: Kaitlyn Cimino / Android Authority

If you’re looking for a great smartwatch right now, the Galaxy Watch 6 still remains a solid choice. However, if you can hold out for a couple of months, the Galaxy Watch 7 might offer significant upgrades that make the wait worthwhile. Plus, even if you decide the Watch 6 is perfect for you, the Watch 7’s release will likely bring tempting price drops on the older model.

Alternatively, if you’re open to exploring beyond the Galaxy ecosystem, there are several impressive smartwatches to consider, such as the Google Pixel Watch 2 ( ), the OnePlus Watch 2 ( ), or the Garmin Venu 3 ( ). While the latest Apple Watch ( ) is a top recommendation, it’s worth noting that it’s only a feasible option if you’re contemplating a switch to an iPhone, as Apple’s smartwatch does not support Android.

Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 wishlist

While there’s still more than a month before we get newer watch hardware, we’d love to see Samsung make a few bolder moves in 2024 with the next Galaxy Watch. There are certainly more than a few things on our Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 wishlist, so let’s jump right in.

The sensor data needs big improvement

A Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 face down displays its sensor package.

Credit: Kaitlyn Cimino / Android Authority

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 is a good smartwatch, but its health and fitness features could use some work. Specifically, we’re focused on the accuracy of its sensors. As noted in our Galaxy Watch 6 review, the heart rate data on the Watch 6 is extremely inconsistent. The same applies to GPS accuracy in runs and other activities. While it can be reasonably accurate in many neighborhoods, it sometimes produces wonky and unexpected results.

Samsung needs to focus on improving its sensor accuracy. A bigger Health feature push could attract fans who are interested in Samsung’s watch but find its health features lacking compared to Garmin watches, Fitbit, or the Apple Watch. Hopefully, the newly confirmed Galaxy AI features will help bridge the gap for health enthusiasts.

Improve support for Android phones that aren’t made by Samsung

A Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 displays the new Sleep Mode screen.

Credit: Kaitlyn Cimino / Android Authority

Samsung prioritizes its Galaxy phones over other Android devices, which isn’t too surprising, but it’s something we’d like to see change. The Galaxy Watch is easily one of the best, if not the very best, Android watches for generalist users, so Samsung shouldn’t limit its appeal.

What kind of features are currently unavailable to non-Samsung phone owners? There are three main features that are only for Samsung phone owners: on-demand ECG readings, blood pressure detection, and irregular heart rate notifications. To use these advanced features, you need the Samsung Health Monitor app, which isn’t available outside of the Galaxy Store on Samsung phones and tablets.

Samsung should embrace more styling options

Pixel Watch 2 vs Galaxy Watch 6

Credit: Kaitlyn Cimino / Android Authority

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 and Pixel Watch 2 are basically the gold standard products for Wear OS, largely thanks to their decent features and mainstream appeal. While the Galaxy Watch 6 comes in a few fun colorways, there’s always scope to add more colors or band options. We’d like to see that change with the Galaxy Watch 7 series. This is especially needed for the new Pro model, which is the Galaxy Watch 7 Ultra. Instead of just offering black or silver, give us a splash of color in the watch body itself. Or at least throw in a few new funky watch band options for the entire series.


Galaxy Buds 3 Pro, Watch 7, Watch Ultra prices may have leaked

Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 series devices rest on a gray surface.

Credit: Kaitlyn Cimino / Android Authority

  • An apparent retail leak has revealed European pricing for several upcoming Galaxy products.
  • Prices for the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro, Watch 7, and Watch Ultra were all listed.


Samsung’s Unpacked event is a few weeks away, but the leak train continues to steam ahead. Now, European pricing for the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro, Galaxy Watch 7, and Galaxy Watch Ultra may have been revealed.

YTechB reported that a European retailer has listed the aforementioned gadgets on its website, along with pricing. The news outlet shared screenshots too (seen below), but didn’t specify the retailer. The outlet also claimed that these prices were slightly discounted compared to the full recommended prices. Either way, you’ll want to take this report with some caution.

The retailer apparently lists the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro at €313.49 (~$335), which would be a steep increase over the Buds 2 Pro‘s €240 (~$257) launch price. Expect to find it in Silver and White colors.

Meanwhile, the 40mm Galaxy Watch 7 BT is reportedly listed at €314.49 (~$336) while the 44mm model costs €344.99 (~$369). The watches are apparently available in Cream, Green, and Silver color schemes. There’s no word on pricing for the cellular models.

Fancy buying the Galaxy Watch Ultra? The unnamed retailer is listing it for €688.99 (~$737), with the outlet claiming that it’s available in Titanium Gray, Titanium Silver, and Titanium White.

Device pricing can undoubtedly change between now and the Unpacked launch event. It’s also worth noting that European prices tend to be more expensive than US prices, so a direct conversion isn’t necessarily indicative of US price tags.

Samsung just (accidentally) confirmed the Galaxy Watch Ultra name

Galaxy Watch 7 Ultra front display design

  • Samsung has outed the Galaxy Watch Ultra name on its regional websites.
  • The company also accidentally confirmed a 47mm size and LTE support.
  • The new smartwatch is expected to launch at Samsung’s Unpacked event in July.


Samsung is expected to hold its Unpacked event next month, and we’ve heard rumors about a variety of devices. One persistent wearable-related claim is that the company will launch a so-called Galaxy Watch Ultra on the day, and it looks like Samsung itself has accidentally confirmed this name.

91mobiles spotted an official “Galaxy Watch Ultra” support page on Samsung’s regional websites. The now-pulled pages listed the name, 47mm size, and LTE support. Check out a screenshot below.

Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra support page 91mobiles

Samsung may have pulled these pages, but you can still use a Google search (seen below) to view the company’s mention of the “Galaxy Watch Ultra” name and other details.

Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra name Google search

Credit: Hadlee Simons / Android Authority

The news comes a few weeks after regulatory bodies listed a Galaxy Watch Ultra too. But now Samsung itself has indeed outed the name, albeit accidentally.

Leaked Galaxy Watch Ultra renders show a watch with a curious dial shape, along with a mysterious third button. It’s believed the new watch could retail for $699 to $710, undercutting Ultra watches from the likes of Apple and HUAWEI.

Pixel 8 users are facing connectivity issues, VPN by Google might be to blame

google pixel 8 pro rear porcelain 2

Pixel 8 Pro
Credit: Rita El Khoury / Android Authority

  • Several Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro users are facing connectivity issues of late.
  • Disabling the built-in VPN seems to address the problem for some.


Google Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro users in many parts of the world are facing connectivity issues. The problem doesn’t appear to be widespread and predominantly affects those who use the device’s built-in VPN.

According to 9to5Google, multiple user reports on the r/GooglePixel subreddit highlight issues ranging from the inability to access specific apps or websites to complete loss of connectivity. In most cases, disabling the new VPN by Google seems to get users back online. However, the issue also appears to affect users in regions where Google does not offer its VPN service, leaving no option for a temporary fix.

Some state that the latest update for the Google One app, which has started reaching users today, seems to resolve the issue. However, it might be a while before it reaches all affected users. In the meantime, you can try disabling the VPN for a quick fix. A Google support page related to the VPN by Google One shutdown also recommends users deactivate the VPN from system settings if they face internet connection issues. You can also try deleting your Google One VPN profile and disabling the VPN within the Google One app if that doesn’t help.

Google has replaced VPN by Google One with VPN by Google, which started rolling out to Pixel 7, 7 Pro, 7a, and Pixel Fold users earlier this month. The service debuted with the Pixel 8 last year and offers better system integration for a more seamless experience. However, connectivity issues like these may push users towards other alternatives.

Are you facing connectivity issues on your Pixel 8 or 8 Pro? Let us know in the comments below.

ASUS ROG Phone 9 wishlist: All the features I want to see

The ASUS ROG Phone 8 has only been around about five months, and even a bit less than that in the United States. So far, it’s gotten great reviews and is easily looking to be one of the best phones for gaming to date. Not only does it build on everything that comes before it, but it adds new features like dust resistance that help make it a bit more mainstream-friendly. Even if it’s one of the best Android phones around, no phone is perfect. There are certainly a few things that could be improved upon next year with a new model. With that in mind, here is my ROG Phone 9 wishlist.

Continue to blend mainstream with gaming

ASUS ROG Phone 8 back in hand with lights in background

Credit: Robert Triggs / Android Authority

It’s no secret ASUS has struggled with its smartphone division recently, with many questioning even if we’d see the ASUS Zenfone 11. ASUS has since clarified it’s not done with phones yet, but it is pretty clear which of the two product lines has the most potential to bring in new customers if ASUS plays its cards right at least.

The ROG has always been the more exciting of the two, but this year the phone received a substantial design update that added water and dust resistance for the first time. The design also has a much more mainstream look than previous iterations. There’s still plenty of gaming flare, but it’s a much more reserved experience that reminds me of the now-defunct Razer Phone series.

I think ASUS should continue to lean on this. A quick look around Reddit and other communities makes it clear that a portion of older ROG Phone owners are quite disappointed by the change, but those who prefer more reserved designs have much more positive things to say. Even better, first-time buyers are finally sitting up and taking notice. Interestingly, it’s not all just from gamers either. After all, the ROG Phone 8 stands out for those looking for something powerful and different from the pack.

There's still plenty of gaming flare, but the new-look ROG Phone reminds me of the now-defunct Razer Phone series.

I’m not saying that the ROG Phone 9 could ever compete at the same level as other mainstream phones, the point is that balancing mainstream appeal with hardcore gaming appeal might provide ASUS with a larger target audience than they have now. A less flashy design could also appeal to gamer types (like myself, actually) who love powerful hardware but don’t want it to be overly flashy. For example, my ROG Phone Zephyrus G14 straddles the line between the gaming machine and productivity beast, and that’s what I love about it.

The ASUS ROG Phone 9 doesn’t need to shake up this new design much at all. Instead, it should work on diversifying its lineup to satisfy all budgets, from the most modest mobile gamer to the hardcore gamer who’ll use emulators, streaming services, and more. That leads to the next point.

A lower-tier option might appeal to more users than you’d think

The ASUS ROG Phone series finally has the chance to appeal to more than just hardcore mobile gamers. Yes, that might feel a bit ironic but the talk around the web makes it clear that this is a phone that is eye-catching and interesting enough to appeal to a slightly wider audience. Granted this pales massively in comparison to the audience for Apple, Samsung, or really even Google’s Pixel series. Still, it’s an opening ASUS could work with by introducing a more wallet-friendly base version of the ASUS ROG Phone 9 that’s more aimed at casual gamers.

Right now, the ROG Phone 8 family starts at $1,099 for a phone with 256GB of storage and 16GB of RAM. Imagine if there was a base model that had only 128GB of storage and 8GB of RAM, akin to devices like the base Galaxy S24. This change would allow the ROG Phone 8 to compete a little better for those who are just fans of the ROG laptop series (like myself) but aren’t necessarily looking for a mobile gaming powerhouse. It could also be great for those looking for more options in the US outside of the usual suspects.

Bigger battery

ASUS ROG Phone 8 LED back

Credit: Robert Triggs / Android Authority

The ASUS ROG Phone 8 dropped the battery down a bit with this generation, opting for a 5,500mAh battery instead. While the 500mAh drop sounds like a lot, the good news is the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and other optimizations mean you’ll get roughly the same battery life as the older model. But, this is a gaming phone! More battery life is never a bad thing, as games can drain battery life pretty fast compared to other activities.

I’d like to see the ASUS ROG Phone 9 continue improving battery life through optimization while also returning to form with a 6,000mAh battery.

Continue to refine the camera

ASUS ROG Phone 8 camera close

Credit: Robert Triggs / Android Authority

The ASUS ROG Phone 8 is actually a pretty decent camera phone, especially compared to its predecessors. It has decent color saturation, white balance, and exposure. Of course, it also has some lens flare issues and a pretty inconsistent zoom experience.

It’s true that gamers don’t typically care about the camera as much but that’s slowly changing. Mobile gaming is improving on the whole, largely thanks to Apple and its push, and as these games improve they will no doubt attract new audiences that might not consider themselves your typical hardcore gamer. I believe ASUS may have a limited recipe for success if the ROG Phone 9 can balance these high-end gaming features with a camera that’s close to as good as Samsung, Google, and Apple.

Better update policy

This last point is extremely important. Two years of OS updates in 2024 is absolutely crazy. This is a high-end gaming machine that would absolutely benefit from having the latest and great improvements from Google.

ASUS might not want to commit to the same crazy seven-year promise that Samsung and Google are starting to offer, but I’d settle for any improvement. Heck, even a promise of just three to four OS upgrades and five years of security would really go a long way. This is especially true for those who have never bought an ASUS phone and are a bit nervous about its long-term life support.


Will there be a ROG Phone 9?

ASUS ROG Phone 8 standing hero

Credit: Robert Triggs / Android Authority

ASUS has had its share of struggles in the smartphone space and it’s clear that nothing about its future here is certain. There are still whispers that the Zenfone series might be heading toward the grave, and it’s equally possible the ROG series could also be in trouble. As it stands, I can’t say with 100% certainty there will be a ROG Phone 9. That said, I’d say it’s still very likely.

The ROG Phone 8 has been extremely well reviewed so far and has seen equally positive attention from the online community. All that bodes well for the future of the ROG Phone 9. If it does arrive, when might we see it? That’s a bit complicated as the phone doesn’t have the most consistent launch history, as you can see:

  • ROG Phone 8 — February 29, 2024
  • ROG Phone 7 — April 13, 2023
  • ROG Phone 6 — July 5, 2022

For now, all I can really say with any certainty is the ROG Phone 9 won’t surface until 2025 barring some major change in their strategy, which seems pretty unlikely.

Should you wait for the ROG Phone 9?

ASUS ROG Phone 8 homescreen in hand

Credit: Robert Triggs / Android Authority

Absolutely not! Odds are the ROG Phone 9 will continue the legacy built by the ROG Phone 8’s major design change, just with further refinement. If you want a gaming phone now, we highly recommend the ASUS ROG Phone 8.

Just want a powerful Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 phone and don’t care if it’s gaming-centric? The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra ( ) would be a wonderful alternative and is one of the best Android phones on the market.

Your Android phone is about to get some prime real estate in Windows

windows 11 start menu phone link

Credit: Microsoft

  • Microsoft is testing a feature that integrates Android or iOS devices right into the Start Menu.
  • You’ll be able to send and receive messages and calls. You’ll also be able to manage photos and a few other functions.
  • The feature is rolling out to Windows Insiders using Android phones on the beta channel slowly, though no word on when it might come to the stable Windows 11 build.


Microsoft Phone Link is the simplest way to connect an Android phone or iPhone to Windows 10 and 11. Not only is the app pre-installed for most Windows 11 users, but it’s also one of the easiest-to-use solutions, albeit with a feature set that’s a bit more basic compared to some third-party alternatives. Now, it’s about to become even more accessible, as today Microsoft announced it will soon integrate Phone Link features directly into the Start Menu.

The general functionality remains the same as ever, but it’s now more seamlessly integrated into the Windows experience. It’s also definitely more prominently placed than ever before. You’ll be able to see your phone’s battery status and connectivity, as well as access messages, calls, and photos right from the Start Menu. You’ll even be able to pick up exactly where you left off in activities from your phone and run select apps right on the big screen.

The only catch is that this new feature isn’t quite ready for prime time and there’s really no word on if or when it’ll hit the stable build of Windows 11. It’s only available to those enrolled in the Windows 11 Insider Program with Phone Link version 1.24052.124.0 or higher and will only work with Android phones to start. You’ll also need to be on Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22635.3790 or higher in the Beta Channel. Microsoft says the feature will roll out gradually. As an Insider, I can tell you the update has yet to reach my test laptop, so you might need to be patient a bit longer if this is something you’re keen to check out for yourself.

Google halts plans to support more real-money gaming apps on the Play Store

Google Play Store logo on smartphone stock photo.

Credit: Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority

  • Google has put a hold on its plans to support more types of real-money gaming apps on the Play Store.
  • The announcement comes just days before the scheduled expansion in India, Brazil, and Mexico.


Google has been running pilot programs to support real-money gaming (RMG) apps on the Play Store in several regions for a while now. Earlier this year, the company announced it would expand support for more game types and operators in India, Brazil, and Mexico starting in July. But it has now paused the expansion citing challenges in markets that lack proper licensing frameworks.

TechCrunch reports that Google is keen on supporting more types of RMG apps on the Play Store, but it has faced issues identifying the type of games allowed in markets that don’t have a central body to approve such apps. The company seems to have taken this step to avoid unwanted regulatory hurdles.

In a statement outlining the development, a Google spokesperson had this to say:

Expanding our support of real-money gaming apps in markets without a central licensing framework has proven more difficult than expected and we need additional time to get it right for our developer partners and the safety of our users. Google Play remains deeply committed to helping all developers responsibly build new businesses and reach wider audiences across a variety of content types and genres.

The company has clarified that while it won’t expand support for new types of RMG apps, those released as part of the pilot program in India will continue to operate. It isn’t immediately clear if this also applies to apps released during the pilot program in Mexico.

Although Google may have paused the expansion, it’s still trying to develop a suitable framework to offer a wider range of RMG apps on the Play Store. It is also working on introducing a new service fee structure for such apps, but it has yet to work out all the details.

This could be our first look at the OnePlus Pad 2

oneplus pad with keyboard

Credit: Ryan Haines / Android Authority

  • OnePlus is launching the OnePlus Pad Pro in China, which could come to the US as the OnePlus Pad 2.
  • The tablet looks similar to its predecessor but is expected to be the first Android tablet to feature the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset.
  • OnePlus is also launching a new variant of the OnePlus Watch 2 in China.


OnePlus’ first attempt at an Android tablet, the OnePlus Pad, was a hit thanks to its excellent balance of price and performance. But over a year has passed since its release, and everyone’s been itching to know what’s next. Well, it looks like OnePlus might have just given us a clue.

In a Weibo post, OnePlus announced the launch of the OnePlus Pad Pro in China, marking the brand’s first tablet release in the Chinese market. We can safely assume that this new tablet, or a variant of it, will also make its way to the US, possibly under the name OnePlus Pad 2.

OnePlus Pad Pro Weibo screenshot

As translated from Chinese, OnePlus is calling the Pad Pro ‘the most powerful Android tablet,’ strongly suggesting that it will come with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset. This would be a significant upgrade from the Dimensity 9000 chip found in the original OnePlus Pad and would make it the first Android tablet to feature the 8 Gen 3 chip.

The official teaser image also reveals a glimpse of a new keyboard cover accessory, complete with a laptop-style touchpad. We can also see a new black-colored stylus pen along with the tablet.

While we don’t have confirmation of any other specs so far, leaker Digital Chat Station has shared real-life images of the alleged OnePlus Pad Pro, which indicate that the tablet might not differ much physically from the original OnePlus Pad.

Unfortunately, it appears that the screen will still be an LCD panel. While the original OnePlus Pad’s LCD was impressive for its price, boasting Dolby Vision support and a 144Hz refresh rate, an OLED display is generally preferred for the ultimate multimedia experience.

Nevertheless, we can expect OnePlus to continue its tradition of competitive pricing for the OnePlus Pad Pro (or Pad 2) if and when it launches in the US. The price is expected to be higher than the original OnePlus Pad ( ), but if OnePlus can undercut the upcoming Galaxy Tab S10 series, it could have another winning tablet on its hands.

A new OnePlus Watch 2?

OnePlus Watch 2 China variant

Alongside the OnePlus Pad Pro, OnePlus also confirmed the launch of the OnePlus Watch 2 in China. From the image, it seems like this watch would be slightly different in terms of physical design compared to the OnePlus Watch 2 that’s available in the US.

This could be the alleged OnePlus Watch 3 that has been surfacing online in recent weeks. However, since the OnePlus Watch 2 launched just a few months ago, it’s uncertain whether OnePlus will release a new version in the US so soon.

These product launches, including the OnePlus Ace 3 Pro, are scheduled for June 27. The Ace 3 Pro is set to debut with the innovative Glacier Battery technology, promising significant improvements in battery performance and efficiency.

Apple confirms Apple Intelligence isn’t coming to nearly 450 million people in EU

iPhone 13 Pro apple logo

Credit: Gary Sims / Android Authority

  • Apple is not bringing its highly publicized Apple Intelligence features to the European Union this year, with the future remaining uncertain.
  • The territory’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) would likely interfere with Apple’s overall plans.
  • Along with Apple Intelligence, iPhone Mirroring and SharePlay Screen Sharing are also not coming to the EU.


Earlier this month, Apple held its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). There, it launched Apple Intelligence, the umbrella term that will be the home of generative AI tools for iPhones, iPads, and Mac computers. The company spent approximately 50% of its keynote event solely focused on these new technologies and how they will make using its products better.

Unfortunately, it looks like nearly half a billion people won’t be able to experience Apple Intelligence features, at least not anytime soon. Today, via Bloomberg, we learned that Apple will not launch Apple Intelligence in the European Union for the time being. The reason behind this is the Digital Markets Act (DMA).  This is the main reason Apple has been pushed to change many of its policies, such as moving the iPhone to USB-C, allowing third-party app stores, and allowing developers to use third-party payment systems to bypass Apple’s previously mandatory 30% cut of all profits.

Apparently, Apple anticipates the DMA will mess with its Apple Intelligence plans, so it’s just not going to launch it there right now. “We are concerned that the interoperability requirements of the DMA could force us to compromise the integrity of our products in ways that risk user privacy and data security,” the company said in a statement.

In a seemingly separate statement to Financial Times, Apple said this would not be a permanent policy:

Due to the regulatory uncertainties brought about by the Digital Markets Act, we do not believe that we will be able to roll out three of these [new] features […] to our EU users this year.

Apple Intelligence is almost certainly going to be another way for it to push users to stay locked within its ecosystem. It’s possible Apple has concerns that, in order to abide by the DMA, it would need to open Apple Intelligence to other ecosystems, such as Android. Given how much Apple Intelligence is likely to cost the company (at least some of the features announced so far will require using a remote Apple data center to function), the return on investment in offering those features to EU citizens might not be worth it if the company can’t also lock those users into the broader Apple ecosystem.

Unfortunately, this limit in the EU won’t just apply to generative AI features under the Apple Intelligence umbrella. Two other features launched at WWDC — iPhone Mirroring and SharePlay Screen Sharing — will also apparently not land in the EU. It is unclear what about these features could be negatively impacted by the DMA.

What does this mean for Apple users in the EU?

This news will almost certainly be a significant problem for iPhone, iPad, and Mac users in the EU. Remember: the second half of Apple’s entire WWDC keynote was devoted to Apple Intelligence. It’s clear the company has a lot riding on this, and it will be a significant focus of the company’s current and future strategies.

For EU citizens to be left out of that will almost certainly push some to adopt other platforms, including Android and Windows, both of which are not yet limiting AI features by region. This won’t happen overnight, but if Apple launches a new version of iOS in the EU that only has a handful of new non-AI features, the eventual glut of development will certainly cause a user exodus.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the coming months and years. Will EU-based Apple users abandon the brand, or will they begrudgingly hang on while they watch Apple users in the United States and other countries enjoy shiny new AI features? Also, the DMA has been hugely influential on US policies. Will the US adopt more of the DMA’s principles and force Apple to simply alter Apple Intelligence everywhere? Time will tell.

The best new streaming shows this week: I Kissed a Girl, Hotel Cocaine, and more

We’re back with this week’s list of shows brand-new streaming shows. We’ve got a lot of horror and action for you and a much-waited reality show that’s finally out in the US.

The best new streaming shows this week

Feel free to click on anything that piques your interest. This week, our list includes shows on Netflix, Max, Hulu, and MGM Plus.

House of the Dragon (Season 2) – June 16, Max

  • Release date: June 16, 2024
  • Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama
  • Rating: TV-MA
  • Director: George R. R. Martin, Ryan Condal
  • Cast: Emma D’Arcy, Olivia Cooke, Paddy Considine, Matt Smith, Rhys Ifans, Graham McTavish, Jefferson Hall

Set 200 years before Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon’s second season continues the Targaryen saga with a slow-burning start that gradually builds to intense political drama. The series focuses on the brewing conflict between Rhaenyra and Alicent, former friends now leading opposing factions. While the opening episode is heavy on recaps and diplomacy, the show soon hits its stride, delivering the epic dragon battles that you would expect.

House of the Dragons, in the first season, is slightly less dramatic than Game of Thrones. The second season continues this trend, holding on to the subtlety — but it is still a riveting, action-packed watch full of rivalry and, well…dragons.

Perfect Wife: The Mysterious Disappearance of Sherri Papini – June 20, Hulu

  • Release date: June 20, 2024
  • Genre: Documentary, Crime
  • Rating: TV-MA
  • Director: Michael Beach Nichols
  • Cast: Allison Berkley, Joseph Freed, Rob Ford, Erin Lee Carr

This is a three-part docuseries examining the controversial 2016 kidnapping case that turned out to be a hoax. Doesn’t that remind you of Gone Girl? The show opens with the initial investigation and Papini’s reappearance, before revealing the truth behind her fabricated story. Each hour-long episode meticulously reconstructs the events, from Papini’s initial vanishing to her reappearance 22 days later, and the eventual unraveling of her fabricated story.

An absolute treat for true-crime fans, the series features interviews with law enforcement officials, journalists, and Papini’s friends and family who offer multiple perspectives on the case. It explores the investigation process, the impact on the community, and the psychological factors that may have led to Papini’s actions. The show also leans into why this kind of “victim” is so problematic, and how their false reports hurt those who actually suffer.

Hotel Cocaine – June 16, MGM Plus

  • Release date: June 16, 2o24
  • Genre: Crime, Thriller
  • Rating: N.A.
  • Director: Chris Brancato
  • Cast: Danny Pino, Yul Vazquez, Mark Feuerstein, Laura Gordon, Corina Bradley, Tania Watson, Michael Chiklis

Hotel Cocaine transports viewers to 1970s Miami, in the infamous Mutiny Hotel. More specifically, on the general manager. Roman Compte. The series blends historical events with fictional drama, exploring the intersections of drug trafficking, politics, and family loyalties.

We watch Roman attempt to balance his legitimate business with the demands of drug traffickers, politicians, and law enforcement. The series features a large ensemble cast, including Michael Chiklis as a determined DEA agent. Hotel Cocaine also explores immigration, the American Dream, and the transformation of Miami during the cocaine boom, offering a gritty, detailed look at a pivotal era in the city’s history. It’s full of action and drama — so there’s that too.

I Kissed a Boy – June 15, Hulu

  • Release date: May 14, 2023
  • Genre: Reality
  • Rating: N.A.
  • Director: Johnathan Booth
  • Cast: Dannii Minogue, Layton Williams

I Kissed a Boy breaks new ground as the UK’s first all-gay dating show. Hosted by Dannii Minogue, the program brings together ten single men in a picturesque Italian setting. The unique twist is that contestants must kiss before speaking, challenging conventional dating norms.

Over eight episodes, the show follows the men as they navigate potential relationships, participate in challenges and face eliminations. While adhering to familiar reality dating show formats, I Kissed a Boy also addresses issues specific to gay dating and relationships. The series is a great start to showcasing LGBTQ+ relationships and identities, potentially paving the way for more diverse dating shows in the future.

The Victims’ Game (Season 2) – June 21, Netflix

  • Release date: June 21, 2024
  • Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
  • Rating: TV-MA
  • Director: David Chuang, Chen Kuan-chung
  • Cast: Joseph Chang, Tiffany Hsu, Wang Shih-Sian, Moon Lee, Ruby Lin, Ding Ning, River Huang

The Victims’ Game: Season 2 is a Chinese-language crime thriller series returning to Netflix on June 21, 2024, following a four-year wait since its first season. This new installment centers around a series of interconnected murder cases tied to an incident from 15 years ago, delving into themes of belonging and the value of life.

Chang Hsiao-chuan reprises his role as Fang Yi-jen, a forensic detective with Asperger’s syndrome who finds himself as the prime suspect in these new cases. The series explores Fang’s character development as he navigates complex situations, including mending his relationship with his estranged daughter and learning to socialize more.

Joko Anwar’s Nightmares and Daydreams – June 14, Netflix

  • Release date: June 14, 2024
  • Genre: Horror, Mystery
  • Rating: TV-MA
  • Director: Joko Anwar
  • Cast: Muzakki Ramdhan, Kevin Ardilova, Happy Salma, Sha Ine Febriyanti, Sal Priadi, Ayu Laksmi, Muhammad Faqih Alaydrus

Aptly named, this is the stuff of nightmares. This is a 7-part horror anthology. In the first episode, we follow taxi driver Banji as he leaves his senile mother in a luxurious elderly home, only to uncover sinister secrets about the place.

As Banji investigates increasingly disturbing occurrences, the episode transitions from a family drama into a supernatural horror, with lots of shocking revelations about the facility’s true purpose sprinkled in between. The story draws on Indonesian folklore and mythology elements, creating a culturally specific horror experience. Things are looking pretty good for the next episodes.

 

What was new and worth watching over the last month

Did you miss our other lists? Here’s a recap of what was released this month.

Bridgerton (Season 3, Part 2) – June 13, Netflix

  • Release date: June 13, 2024
  • Genre: Drama, Romance
  • Rating: TV-MA
  • Director: Chris Van Dusen
  • Cast: Nicola Coughlan, Claudia Jessie, Ruth Gemmell, Luke Thompson, Polly Walker, Bessie Carter, Florence Hunt

After what feels like forever, part 2 of Netflix’s Regency-era romance is finally out, and boy, it is so worth the wait. We reach new heights of intrigue and emotion in the second half, given the existing standards for it — that’s saying a lot. If you haven’t watched the previous seasons or the first part, you might want to stop reading here.

Penelope and Colin might just get a happy-ever-after, but she has to deal with the looming threat of her Lady Whistledown secret being revealed. Because guess who Colin absolutely hates? Penelope must choose between holding on to her voice or starting a new family, with her own overbearing family making the choice even tougher than it needs to be. Queen Charlotte is also out to get her, and Francesca’s got her own complicated love story brewing on the sidelines.

Let it be known: the ton has never been so deliciously addictive.

The Boys (Season 4) – June 13, Prime Video

  • Release date: June 13, 2024
  • Genre: Action, Crime
  • Rating: TV-MA
  • Director: Eric Kripke
  • Cast: Karl Urban, Jack Quaid, Antony Starr, Erin Moriarty, Dominique McElligott, Jessie T. Usher, Laz Alonso

The Boys are back and bolder than ever in Prime Video’s gritty superhero satire. Season 4 finds Butcher dying and desperate to save the world from Homelander and Neuman. Expect the show’s trademark shocks, from a horrifying Human Centipede-inspired scene to explosively bloody fights.

Strong performances, especially from Antony Starr’s deliciously evil Homelander, and the deft handling of topical themes keep you riveted, even if the nihilistic tone feels bleaker than ever. The Boys continues to deliver a wild, unsettling ride that sets up an epic final season.

Presumed Innocent – June 12, Apple TV Plus

  • Release date: June 12, 2024 
  • Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery
  • Rating: TV-MA
  • Director: David E. Kelley
  • Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Ruth Negga, Bill Camp, Elizabeth Marvel, Peter Sarsgaard, O-T Fagbenle, Renate Reinsve

Apple TV Plus takes a second stab at Scott Turow’s legal thriller, with Jake Gyllenhaal stepping into the role of prosecutor Rusty Sabich, accused of murdering a co-worker he had an affair with. The series explores the case, and Rusty’s psyche and marriage. A solid, modernized take that justifies revisiting the story.

The pacing is great, hard to do with such a dense plot because the daily gripping courtroom drama keeps things humming. With its timely themes of power, privilege, and media scrutiny, Presumed Innocent makes for a very interesting weekend watch. But then, anything with Gyllenhaal would be.

Love Island USA (Season 6) – June 11, Peacock

  • Release date: June 11, 2024
  • Genre: Game Show, Reality
  • Rating: TV-MA
  • Director: Mark Busk-Cowley, Brent Baker, Jo Scarratt-Jones, Tom Gould
  • Cast: Arielle Vandenberg, Matthew Hoffman, Iain Stirling, Sarah Hyland, Ariana Madix, Nicholas Theodore Nemeth

We’re here with the latest iteration of Love Island USA, with the usual round-up of attractive singles converging to find love. With Vanderpump Rules fan-favorite Ariana Madix presiding as host, the new season starts strong, introducing memorable characters like mellow Kordell, hyper-sweaty Hannah, and lovable goofball Rob. The nearly real-time format remains as addictive as ever, letting viewers watch relationships bloom or wilt over weeks.

Everything you would expect from a show like this happens like the “bombshell” arrivals meant to spice things up. Still, there’s an escapist charm to watching attractive people flirt in a tropical villa, and the teased twists suggest the drama will keep heating up. Pack your emotional baggage for the trip.

Perfect Match (Season 2) – June 7, Netflix

  • Release date: June 7, 2024 
  • Genre: Reality, Romance
  • Rating: TV-14
  • Director: Chris Coelen
  • Cast: Nick Lachey, Dom Gabriel, Georgia Hassarati, Bartise Bowden, Chloe Veitch, Izzy Fairthorne, Joey Sasso

Netflix doubles down on its Netflix reality all-stars conceit with another frothy season of Perfect Match. Though you needn’t be familiar with shows like The Circle or Sexy Beasts to follow along, half the fun is watching the collision of outsized personalities from different “extended universes.” The stakes are simple but effective: find your “perfect match” from the crowd or risk going home.

This ticking clock fuels much of the drama, as the absurdly attractive contestants fall into bed and bicker with equal passion. Host Nick Lachey presides with affable charm. A few couples emerge as early favorites to root for, but with new faces entering the villa each episode to shake things up, no pairing is safe. Silly, bubbly, and surprisingly sincere, Perfect Match remains the ideal low-stakes binge. Grab some popcorn and find a couple to root for.

Queenie (Season 1) – June 7, Hulu

  • Release date: June 4, 2024
  • Genre: Drama
  • Rating: N.A.
  • Director: Candice Carty-Williams
  • Cast: Dionne Brown, Bellah, Samuel Adewunmi

Queenie is a 25-year-old British Jamaican journalist struggling to navigate the challenges of work, love, sex, and family in this uneven but endearing quarter-life crisis dramedy on Hulu. Recently dumped by her boyfriend for being “too much”, Queenie spirals into a series of ill-advised decisions – drinking to excess, engaging in unsatisfying hookups, and flaking on work and friends.

Haunted by fractured memories of her estranged mother, Queenie avoids confronting her childhood trauma until she’s ready. While the show sometimes stumbles in articulating Queenie’s identity outside her struggles, it surrounds her with warmth and treats her with compassion, affirming that for all her flaws and missteps, she is worthy of love. A likeable if messy portrait of a young woman figuring herself out.

Sweet Tooth (Season 3) – June 6, Netflix

  • Release date: June 6, 2024
  • Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama
  • Rating: TV-14
  • Director: Jim Mickle
  • Cast: Nonso Anozie, Christian Convery, Adeel Akhtar, Stefania LaVie Owen, James Brolin, Naledi Murray, Dania Ramirez

After surviving harrowing ordeals in the first two seasons, the young deer-human hybrid Gus and his gruff protector Tommy Jepperd continue their journey through a post-apocalyptic America. Still reeling from the deadly Sick virus, of course. Having escaped the clutches of human militias who hunt hybrids, Gus has learned his kind’s existence is deeply linked to the pandemic’s origins.

New enemies soon emerge to threaten Gus and his found family. With each perilous stop, the mysteries surrounding Gus’s destiny loom larger. Despite slower subplots, Sweet Tooth builds narrative urgency for a satisfying final chapter that explores its core themes — the power of innocence and humanity’s self-destructive impulses.

The Acolyte – June 4, Disney Plus

  • Release date: June 4, 2024
  • Genre: Action, Adventure
  • Rating: TV-14
  • Director: Leslye Headland
  • Cast: Amandla Stenberg, Lee Jung-jae, Charlie Barnett, Dafne Keen, Manny Jacinto, Rebecca Henderson, Joonas Suotamo

This exploration of the Star Wars mythos is set centuries before the Skywalker saga. The series follows the journeys of former Jedi acolytes — sisters Osha and Mae — after a tragic incident derails their training in the ancient mystical order’s ways. Mae has fallen in with shadowy underground elements plotting to overthrow the complacent Jedi regime.

Meanwhile, the more reluctant Osha finds herself caught in a web of conspiracy surrounding the Jedi’s once ironclad beliefs of peace and justice for the galaxy. The Acolyte dares to ask — were the Jedi’s lofty teachings masking darker, more troubling secrets? This uniquely feminist take pushes Star Wars to new frontiers.

Fantasmas – June 7, Max

  • Release date: June 7, 2024
  • Genre: Comedy
  • Rating: TV-MA
  • Director: Julio Torres
  • Cast: Julio Torres, Martine Gutierrez, Tómas Matos, Joe Rumrill

This comedy series is an unfiltered fever dream. You only need to watch the trailer to know that. It follows Torres himself, an eccentric artist, as he pitches demented high-concept TV premises to baffled Hollywood producers. From a deranged Lion King remake about zebras to a twisted addiction drama centered on the Tooth Fairy, Fantasmas’s sketches routinely veer into the surreal, and outright unhinged.

Overflowing with absurdist humor, Fantasmas explores the anxieties plaguing an authentic artistic voice. By leaning fully into strangeness and vulnerability, the series discusses the infinite realms of possibility within one brilliant creative mind. But….if you’re in the mood for a traditional watch, this show might be too mind-bending for you.

Criminal Minds: Evolution (Season 2) – June 6, Paramount Plus

  • Release date: June 6, 2024
  • Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery
  • Rating: TV-14
  • Director: Jeff Davis
  • Cast: Kirsten Vangsness, A.J. Cook, Joe Mantegna, Thomas Gibson, Shemar Moore, Paget Brewster

Your weekly dose of your favorite profilers is back, but they might be in a tight spot this season. The show opens very dramatically, as our BAU profilers meet one of their most evil criminals — a prolific serial killer dubbed “Gold Star”. They have to make a shocking, unholy alliance to capture him — with none other than Elias Voit, the serial killer from last season.

That’s because Voit may possess insights into Gold Star’s psychopathic motives that could help track him. However, being close to the manipulative Voit is traumatizing for the agents, especially David Rossi who is still haunted by Voit’s torments. Emily Prentiss also brings in former analyst Tyler Green, whose romantic history with Penelope Garcia might just make it difficult for the team to stay together.

Mayor of Kingstown (Season 3) – June 2, Paramount Plus

  • Release date: June 2, 2024
  • Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
  • Rating: TV-MA
  • Director: Taylor Sheridan, Hugh Dillon
  • Cast: Jeremy Renner, Hugh Dillon, Tobi Bamtefa, Taylor Handley, Emma Laird, Derek Webster, Hamish Allan-Headley

In the gritty third season, Jeremy Renner returns as Mike McLusky, the fixer who wields true power in the crime-ridden city of Kingstown. Still reeling from his mother’s tragic death, Mike faces a new wave of violence that threatens his grasp on order between the police force and criminal factions like the Aryan Brotherhood, gangs, and the Russian mob.

An IED detonates at his mother’s funeral, kicking off a chaotic game of retaliations and bloodshed. Mike’s former ally, the formidable gang leader Bunny, declares Kingstown a warzone as he battles to maintain dominance. New adversaries also emerge — like the menacing Russian mobster Konstantin, while the hard-nosed new DA Evelyn Foley turns into a bigger problem for Mike.

Ren Fraire – June 2, Max

  • Release date: June 2, 2024
  • Genre: Documentary
  • Rating: TV-14
  • Director: Lance Oppenheim, David Gauvey Herbert
  • Cast: Jeffrey Baldwin, Darla Smith, George Coulam, Louie Migliaccio

Ren Faire takes viewers behind the scenes of the massive Texas Renaissance Festival, providing an intimate look at the heated succession battle to determine who will inherit control of this iconic event after its 86-year-old founder, George “King George” Coulam, retires. Two frontrunners have emerged to take over King George’s kingdom when he steps down — Jeff Baldwin and Louie Migliaccio.

Blending cinematic visuals with an engrossing character study of its eccentric players, Ren Faire pulls back the curtain on the high-stakes battle to control a multimillion-dollar live entertainment empire built on fantasy, intrigue, and medieval lore. Only one contender can win and lead this kingdom into a new age.

 

The Outlaws (Season 3) – May 31, Amazon Prime

  • Release date: May 31, 2024
  • Genre: Comedy, Crime, Drama
  • Rating: TV-MA
  • Director: Stephen Merchant, Elgin James
  • Cast: Christopher Walken, Stephen Merchant, Darren Boyd, Rhianne Barreto, Gamba Cole, Clare Perkins, Eleanor Tomlinson

The Outlaws are done with their community service on a Bristol farm when Rani suddenly drives back in her car with a dead body. The group has to solve how to get rid of the dead body without letting Rani’s strange behavior get in the way. On the other hand, the drug boss — The Dean — is out for revenge against them for having him jailed. Rani’s boyfriend Ben feels let down after she ran away earlier.

Loads of other sub-plots working in the background — Greg resigns from work and goes on a date, and Gabby attempts to kick her bad habits. Most of the main cast is back, but Christopher Walken who played Frank’s character will only make one appearance this season. Expect the show’s signature mix of crime thrills and character-driven humor as the gang gets pulled into yet another risky misadventure.

Alexa’s upcoming generative AI upgrade might cost you $5 to $10 monthly

Amazon Echo Alexa speaker stock photo (3)

Credit: Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority

  • A new report suggests Amazon might charge a monthly fee for an upgraded, generative AI-powered version of Alexa.
  • Allegedly, this monthly charge could be $5 to $10, but there could be a less powerful version that stays free.
  • Amazon considers the current Alexa unprofitable and is losing ground to Google’s and Apple’s offerings.


This year, we’ve seen digital assistants get serious AI facelifts. Google is by far the most prominent, with its Gemini platform already poised to take over for Google Assistant. Meanwhile, at WWDC24, Apple showed off what a generative AI-powered version of Siri will be able to do later this year.

So far, the major digital assistant platform left out of this conversation is Amazon’s Alexa. Alexa hasn’t had a good couple of years. Amazon considers the platform unprofitable because not enough people use it for what Amazon wants them to use it for, which is buying products on Amazon, naturally. Alexa also doesn’t have the advantage of being baked into your smartphone since the one time Amazon tried to launch a phone was a crash-and-burn failure. This has all culminated with Amazon shrinking the Alexa team and focusing less on it.

But Alexa’s not about to be left behind in the generative AI race. According to a new report from Reuters, Amazon is working hard to bring generative AI-powered Alexa to the masses. Codenamed “Banyan” — a reference to a species of sprawling ficus trees — the “new” Alexa would offer two tiers of service, with the lower tier remaining free and the top tier costing users a monthly fee.

Internally, Amazon is referring to this upgrade as “Remarkable Alexa,” although that is unlikely to be its commercial name. Allegedly, access to “Remarkable Alexa” might cost between $5 and $10 each month. There is not going to be a tie-in with Prime membership, so you won’t get access to the premium tier just by paying for Prime.

According to three current and former Amazon employees speaking anonymously with Reuters, the company has given the Alexa team a hard deadline of August 2024 for the rollout of the “Banyan” project. This would put it nearly a year behind Google’s Gemini announcement and months behind Apple’s Siri announcement. However, if Amazon can actually roll out the new Alexa in August, it might beat Siri’s actual rollout, which likely won’t be completed until early 2025.

Regardless, Amazon’s top brass are calling this a “must-win” situation for the unprofitable Alexa. The team hopes that conversational AI will finally bring Alexa to a profit by allowing users to converse with it about products before making a purchase. However, the people speaking with Reuters admitted that people are too used to using Alexa for free, so paying a monthly fee for it — no matter how useful it might be — isn’t likely to work.

Spotify’s new ‘Basic’ plan in the US is here, and it’s really just the old Premium plan

Spotify stock photo 9

Credit: Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority

  • Spotify’s new Basic plan costs $10.99 each month.
  • It offers ad-free, unlimited music listening and podcast access, with no audiobook access.
  • Previously, this is what Spotify Premium offered, so this is really just a return to the old Premium plan.


At the beginning of this month, Spotify increased the price of its Premium plan by $1.00, going from $10.99 monthly to $11.99 monthly. The main reason for this price jump was the recent introduction of audiobook support on the platform. With the “new” Premium plan, you get 15 hours of audiobook listening time per month.

The problem is that users who don’t care about audiobooks suddenly are paying more for a service they don’t use. Well, Spotify is now offering a solution in the United States with its new Spotify Basic plan. The Basic plan costs $10.99 each month and only includes music and podcasts.

Wait a minute — that’s just the old Premium plan with the same old price!

We’re not really sure why Spotify chose to do things this way. Why didn’t it launch a new plan that included audiobooks with a slight upcharge and then give people the option of switching? Instead, it forced everyone on Premium to pay more, and now they need to manually switch down to Basic if they don’t want audiobooks. Oh, wait — I just answered my own question.

Regardless of Spotify’s sneaky moves here, it is nice to see that people who were upset about the price increase have an option to get things back to normal with this new Basic plan.

This probably isn’t the only new Spotify plan we’ll see this year. A years-in-the-making tier is probably coming in 2024 that will provide users access to lossless audio, which will be of higher quality than the compressed tracks Spotify Basic and Premium subscribers get. However, Spotify might be too late to the game by the time this so-called “Hi-Fi” tier launches, considering Apple Music’s entire catalog is lossless and doesn’t require more money to access it.

Gaming on Snapdragon X: Can it run Crysis?

Snapdragon X benchmarks can it run crysis

Credit: Robert Triggs / Android Authority

With mobile smarts ramped up to suit a powerhouse PC form factor, Snapdragon X processors are an interesting prospect for mobile and laptop aficionados alike. I’m lucky enough to have my hands on the new Microsoft Surface Laptop, complete with the Snapdragon X Elite (1xE80100) onboard, and I couldn’t resist seeing if this chip could handle a little bit of AAA gaming (off the clock, of course, boss).

As a parent of two, my Steam library needed a little dusting off, but it’s not like Qualcomm is positioning the Snapdragon X platform at hardcore gamers anyway. Its Adreno X1 GPU is still an integrated component, after all, with a lowly 3.8TFLOPS of compute on this model that puts it well behind discrete mobile cards, let alone beefy desktop GPUs. Instead, Copilot Plus PCs are marketed for their AI smarts and battery life. Still, between modern classics including GTA V, Hitman 3, Crysis Remastered, and The Witcher 3, I feel like I have a reasonable sample of games you might be tempted to boot up on the go. Let’s find out if they can actually run.

Before we jump into the benchmark results, there are some important things to note. First, all of these games (and, in fact, anything you run through Steam or other launchers) are currently compiled for x64 processors (see AMD and Intel), not Arm (see Snapdragon X). That means Windows secretly spins up its Prism emulation layer to get these games running, which incurs a performance penalty. How much? We’ll just have to see.

Secondly, I spotted that some of these games ran with Windows’ “Automatic Super Resolution” (Auto SR) enabled by default. This new feature is exclusive to Copilot Plus PCs, leveraging their NPU capabilities to upscale low-resolution rendering for better performance. We’ll discuss this a bit more later on, but the key thing to note is that it lowers the output resolution on the Surface Laptop I’m using to just 1,152 x 768.

Snapdragon X Elite gaming benchmarks

My expectations for the Adreno X1 GPU are firmly in check, so I started by setting all these games to medium graphics settings. GTA V and Witcher 3 have SSAO enabled, but I declined anti-aliasing and ray tracing in every game where possible in favor of extra frames. The results below track the minimum and average frame rates across these game’s benchmark apps (and a fairly brisk run around some enemies in The Witcher 3). First, let’s run the tests at the Surface Laptop’s native 2,496 x 1,664 resolution (or as close as possible in the case of the Crysis benchmark).

Snapdragon X Elite Gaming Benchmarks High Res

Credit: Robert Triggs / Android Authority

As you might have expected, the results are not great even with medium settings. Crysis hobbles the Adreno X1 at this resolution, with an average FPS of just 19. Grim. Hitman is barely any better, with low average and minimum frame rates that make it a choppy mess to play. The Witcher 3 is slightly more playable but dips below 30fps far too regularly to be enjoyable. Likewise, GTA V has a much higher average frame rate, but the game grinds to a slideshow when heavy physics is employed. Clear, AMD and NVIDIA aren’t going to lose any sleep over the Snapdragon X Elite.

Auto SR is a Copilot Plus PC's secret weapon to run AAA games on low-power graphics.

At native resolutions, frame rates are a pretty dismal sub-30fps affair that’s headache-inducing to play for more than a few minutes. However, Copilot Plus PCs have a trick up their sleeve — Auto SR. This runs at a very low resolution, making it a bit backward compared to rival technologies that are regularly employed to output 4K. Obviously, a low resolution will run much better than the native display pixel count, so I ran all the games again at 1,152 x 768 (or 720p if that wasn’t a supported option) and then re-ran them with this AI-powered super-resolution scaling technology enabled.

Snapdragon X Elite Gaming Benchmarks Low Res

Credit: Robert Triggs / Android Authority

So can the Snapdragon X Elite run Crysis? Unfortunately, Windows’ super-resolution feature doesn’t support Crysis, so there’s no benefit to be had here, much to my immeasurable disappointment. Still, it technically runs, and at an OK 41fps average at 720p, which is no doubt faster than when I played the original on my beloved ATi X1950 Pro. You’ll have to settle for low settings if you want something approaching a silky smooth frame rate, but the game runs passably on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite even without Auto SR support. Not terrible.

Of course, the other games in our list benefited from dropping the resolution back too, hitting frame rates above 30fps and in some instances closer to 60fps. Still, flicking the AI Auto SR switch yields even more frames. Well, at least most of the time.

Auto SR can provide a substantial boost to both minimum and average FPS.

GTA V sees the smallest change to its average frame rate, which sits well above 60fps anyway. However, minimum fps leap up by 46%, making for a smoother ride, but it’s still hampered by CPU-dependent scenes. Conversely, the more GPU-intensive Witcher 3 sees little change to its minimum fps but a 30% boost to its average frame rate, taking it up to the comfortable 60fps mark. Hitman 3 is more of a mixed bag. The Dubai benchmark sees a whopping 60%-odd gain to its minimum and average fps by turning to this AI upscaling technology, which again makes the game far more playable than by just dropping the resolution alone.

Now, I ran both Hitman tests because Dartmoor is incredibly physics-heavy, stressing any decent CPU and applying even more pressure when running under emulation here. This explains the super low minimum fps results we see regardless of whether super-resolution is enabled or not. So, Auto SR clearly helps out in GPU-bound instances, but it can’t improve frame rates for CPU-bound scenes. Still, Hitman runs pretty well in real gameplay when using AI upscaling.

AI Super Resolution to the rescue?

Windows Automatic Super Resolution Settings menu

Credit: Robert Triggs / Android Authority

Windows’ not much talked-about Automatic Super-Resolution feature is a bit of a silver bullet for Copilot Plus PCs — and their Snapdragon X chips inside. Flip the switch, and these laptops feel like much more capable gamers than they first appear. While obviously still not able to deliver truly high-end graphics options, frame rates, or native resolutions, it’s a brilliant addition for sneaking in a game on the go. Leaping from sub-30 to 45-60fps makes a world of difference to playability and turns your sensible work laptop into something a little more fun.

So how does it work? According to Microsoft, “Auto SR functions by automatically lowering the game’s rendering resolution to increase framerate, then employs sophisticated AI technology to provide enhanced high-definition visuals.” With that in mind, it helps to think of this as NVIDIA’s DLSS or AMD’s FSR in reverse. It’s more like a cross between variable rate shading and AI-enhanced super resolutions details.

See, Windows Auto SR doesn’t upscale a game to match a high-resolution display. In fact, you have to settle for a resolution that’s far below typical modern gaming targets of 1440p and 4K. There’s no getting around the fact that 1,152 x 768 doesn’t look particularly sharp, even on the Surface Pro’s modest 15-inch screen. Aliasing artifacts are abundant and you’ll have to give up some of those valuable frames you just clawed back if you want rid of them.

Auto SR is the inverse of NVIDIA's DLSS. It runs at a low resolution and bumps down even lower to improve fps.

Instead, what I believe is happening is that the rendering resolution is sometimes even lower than 1,152 x 768. AI is used to scale up these frames so you can’t see the difference, which explains why this technique is quite good at improving minimum fps values in GPU-bound games. I suspect the overall low resolution is ultimately a limitation of the 45TOPS of NPU power found in Copilot Plus PCs. NVIDIA’s DLSS, for instance, runs on much more powerful hardware to reach 4K. To Microsoft’s credit, I really couldn’t tell if or when this was happening. Every still I captured looked the same with AI on or off and it’s even harder to make out any changes that happen during motion.

That said, Auto SR exacerbates jankiness when frame rates fall very low. This was readily apparent in the Dartmoor benchmark; several runs temporarily slipped into a Matrix-style Deja Vu. Despite the higher frame rates, I’m not convinced any of these titles felt buttery smooth with Auto SR enabled. It also makes text distort into drunken fonts, which can give the appearance of a goofy SNES emulator upscaler.

The Witcher 3 - Auto SR Off The Witcher 3 - Auto SR On The Witcher 3 - Auto SR Off
The Witcher 3 - Auto SR On

Still, running graphics upscaling on a chip’s dedicated NPU (necessary to be classed as a Copilot Plus PC) is an inspired idea, as it doesn’t steal many, if any resources from the GPU. In this instance, Auto SR leverages Qualcomm’s Hexagon NPU that sits alongside the Adreno X1 GPU inside the Snapdragon X chipset, but this technique should work on future AMD and Intel PCs with integrated NPUs too. To be honest, I’m surprised we haven’t seen something similar in the Android gaming space, given the hardware is already there and pixel requirements are much lower.

You can find a list of Auto SR compatible titles at this link, which includes newer titles like Cyberpunk and The Last of Us. I can’t be sure these demanding titles will run quite as well without testing them, but they should still see some benefit. Unfortunately, not every game supports or even works well with Automatic Super-Resolution enabled. GTA V, for example, ships with super-resolution off by default, and while enabling it drastically improves the frame rate, menus and UI elements flicker and sometimes black box completely. On the other hand, Crysis Remastered and many other games don’t support the feature at all, so this certainly isn’t the cure-all for gaming on Arm-based PCs. The experience is not completely ready for prime time, much like Windows Recall.

Equally, I’m not entirely convinced by the decision to have this enabled by default for some games. It deprives gamers of balancing resolution and graphics settings themselves. The fact that the setting is hidden away in the new “Display > Graphics” menu also means yet another panel for gamers to faff with before they can just get playing. Though Windows does display a nice prompt to let you know Auto SR is working when you boot up the game.

Still, who can turn their nose up at free extra frames? Auto SR can’t disguise Snapdragon X as a serious rival to a proper gaming laptop, but it does mean that Copilot Plus PCs can dabble in a little light gaming without framerates that’ll tank your W/L ratio.

Report: Samsung really, really doesn’t want a Snapdragon-only Galaxy S25

Samsung Galaxy S24 in hand homescreen

Credit: Robert Triggs / Android Authority

  • Samsung is reportedly making a concerted effort to improve the yields of its Exynos 2500 chip so it can be used in the Galaxy S25 series.
  • The chip purportedly saw yields of just under 20% in Q2, while 60%+ or higher is apparently required for mass production.
  • A failure to improve yields means that Samsung will need to exclusively use the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 in next year’s Galaxy S25 phones.


The Samsung Galaxy S24 series is available with in-house Exynos or Qualcomm Snapdragon chips. However, there seems to be uncertainty over whether the Galaxy S25 series will use Exynos silicon. Now, a new report suggests that Samsung is making a concerted effort to make an Exynos-powered Galaxy S25 a reality.

ZDNet Korea reports that Samsung is making “all-out efforts” to improve the yield of the upcoming Samsung Exynos 2500 processor. The outlet reports that Samsung’s LSI division is focused on improving the yield of the new chip by the second half of the year.

The Exynos 2500 is built on Samsung’s 3nm manufacturing process, but the yield rate reportedly remained in single-digit percentages until the first quarter of the year. A project to supply engineering samples of the new chips was also apparently postponed at the time.

Will an Exynos Galaxy S25 actually happen?

ZDNet Korea further claimed that Samsung has since improved the yield rate to just under 20% by Q2 2024. The website adds that this yield rate isn’t enough and that yield rates typically need to reach 60% or higher for mass production. For what it’s worth, leaker Revegnus claimed back in February that the 4nm Exynos 2400 had a ~60% yield rate.

Samsung apparently still has time to improve yield rates as mass production of the Exynos 2500 is said to be scheduled for the end of the year. So it seems like Exynos-powered Galaxy S25 units aren’t out of the question just yet, but it’s looking like a tall order.

The news comes after analyst Ming-Chi Kuo recently claimed that the Galaxy S25 would likely be exclusively powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 chipset, citing the Exynos 2500’s poor yield rates.

iOS 18 lets you tune your AirPods Pro 2’s noise cancellation even better

A hand holds the AirPods Pro 2nd generation while in pairing mode in front of a Pixel 6 phone.

Credit: Lily Katz / Android Authority

  • Apple’s AirPods Pro 2 will allow users to customize the Adaptive Audio mode on iOS 18 by choosing how much noise gets suppressed.
  • Those currently testing iOS 18 must update their AirPods Pro 2 to the respective beta firmware to try the new feature.
  • We advise you not to install beta firmware on your AirPods, as you won’t be able to roll back to the stable version if you find the experience unreliable.


Apple’s AirPods Pro 2 are arguably the best wireless earbuds for iPhone users, offering a seamless integration with iOS and many neat features. These include an Adaptive Audio option that blends the Transparency and Noise Cancellation modes. So, those using it can hear human voices but not unwanted, loud noises. With iOS 18, Apple is giving the Adaptive Audio mode a welcome upgrade, allowing users to control how much noise it cancels.

As highlighted by MacRumors, the AirPods Pro 2’s Adaptive Audio mode has become more customizable on iOS 18. Those running the latest beta firmware versions on their iPhones and AirPods will find a new option in the Settings app. Through a dedicated slider, users can allow more or less noise to pass through when using the Adaptive Audio mode.

While the upgraded Adaptive Audio mode is certainly handy, we advise you not to install the beta firmware on your AirPods Pro 2. After all, AirPods, unlike iPhones, can’t easily be downgraded to the stable version. So, if you encounter serious bugs or battery drain while running the beta, you may have to deal with it until the final release launches this fall.

It’s worth noting that the new Adaptive Audio mode is also supported on iPadOS 18 and macOS Sequoia. So, if you’re using your AirPods Pro 2 with a different Apple device, you’ll still be able to customize the aforementioned feature.

YouTube now lets you take down AI content that mimics your face and voice

YouTube premium app on smartphone stock photo (1)

Credit: Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority

  • YouTube has expanded its privacy request process to include AI-generated content.
  • If a piece of content mimics your face or voice, you can request its removal from YouTube.
  • YouTube will review each request manually and issue takedowns when faked content “could be mistaken for real.”


Over the past year, we’ve seen how tools like Midjourney can create misleading imagery and potentially sway public opinion. To address these concerns, YouTube is taking a stand with new measures to safeguard user privacy. The platform will now allow users to flag and request the removal of AI-generated content that mimics their face or voice. This policy covers fully synthetic recreations or partially altered content that could be mistaken for the real deal.

If you come across content that convincingly fakes your voice or face, YouTube has added a third option to its privacy complaint form that covers this scenario. Before this, you could only report videos that included your full name or sensitive information, like a residential address, without your consent.

It’s worth noting that YouTube will review each request carefully before taking action. A key factor will be the level of realism and the potential for misuse or manipulation.

The announcement also specifies that YouTube will consider whether the reported content contains “parody or satire when it involves well-known figures.” The platform could make an exception for high-profile individuals who are already in public discourse. This seems like a reasonable trade-off as long as the AI-generated content falls under the purview of social commentary and free speech. However, it’ll be interesting to see YouTube balance that aspect against a person’s reputational risk.

In March, YouTube began enforcing the use of disclosure labels for AI-generated content. When the label is applied, viewers see a small message that reads “Altered or synthetic content” along the bottom of the video, similar to a sponsorship disclosure. This only applies when videos contain a significant amount of artificially generated content, like if an AI voice generator is used for narration.

The latest announcement is yet another step to weed out potential misuse of AI on YouTube, which may become more rampant as video generators become more capable. OpenAI’s video demos of Sora earlier this year were exceptionally lifelike and its upcoming GPT-5 model will likely support video as an additional modality on top of text, images, and audio. Google also announced its competing Veo video generator last month and plans to integrate it into YouTube Shorts.

Google official Pixel 8a case review: Should you buy it?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BX9uBNc7CXE

Should you buy the official Google Pixel 8a case?

Official Google Pixel 8a case in hand

Credit: Nick Fernandez / Android Authority

When it comes to protecting your Pixel 8a in style, the official Google Pixel 8a Case is a standout option, mostly because it’s the only case that’s Made by Google. Branding aside, there are a few good reasons why you might want to consider it.

First off, the case is available in several vibrant colors that match the Pixel 8a itself — Aloe, Bay, Porcelain, Obsidian, and Coral. The color you pick is also extra important because the camera bar is entirely uncovered. The phone’s natural color will peek through, so make sure you pick two colors that look good together. It’s a small detail, but it adds a nice touch of personality to the otherwise plain case.

The case itself feels great in hand. It’s thin and light, yet it feels sturdy thanks to the rigid polycarbonate shell that covers the back and runs halfway up the edges. This design choice makes it more durable than fully silicone cases, which can sometimes feel flimsy. The minimalistic design, featuring a soft-touch finish and an embossed G logo, gives it a sleek and premium feel.

Official Google Pixel 8a case on table

Credit: Nick Fernandez / Android Authority

The silicone exterior is beautifully smooth, with no mold lines or imperfections. It fits the phone like a glove, adding just the right amount of grip to prevent slips while still being easy to slide into a pocket. The precise cutouts for the speakers and mics are exactly what you’d expect from a case designed by Google. Interestingly, there’s a gap above the charging port, a unique feature that sets it apart from other cases.

Google's official Pixel 8a case looks and feels great, but doesn't add much protection.

However, not everything is perfect. The raised ridges around the screen are just barely taller than the display and don’t wrap around the front. I found that they can slip down, potentially exposing the screen. The Pixel 8a has thick bezels, so it would have been trivial to add a little extra material to keep it in place. Considering it has an aging Gorilla Glass 3 screen, I’d strongly recommend using a screen protector with this case.

Despite this minor flaw, the case is still a decent pick. At $30, it’s a bit pricier than other thin silicone cases, but the color options and premium feel make it worth considering. Just be aware that it won’t protect your Pixel 8a from serious drops or damage, especially when it comes to the screen.

What are the best official Google Pixel 8a case alternatives?

Official Google Pixel 8a case alternatives

Credit: Nick Fernandez / Android Authority

If the official Google Pixel 8a case isn’t right for you, here are a few other thin Pixel 8a cases that are worth considering:

  • Spigen Thin Fit ( ): The Spigen Thin Fit is just as thin and light, but costs significantly less. However, it only comes in black.
  • Mous Super Thin ( ): The Mous Super Thin is a beautiful case that’s even thinner than the official case, but also includes MagSafe magnets in the back. However, it’s quite a bit more expensive.
  • Ringke Onyx ( ): While not as thin as the official Google 8a case, the Ringke Onyx is very affordable and nails the basics. Again though, color options are pretty limited.

YouTube Music brings design parity with a refreshed album and playlist UI

YouTube Music logo on smartphone with headphones

Credit: Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority

  • YouTube Music has released a fresh layout for albums and playlists on its web app, better suited to large screens.
  • The service first adopted the new UI on Android tablets, but it’s seemingly still unavailable on iPadOS.
  • The update appears to be rolling out gradually, so it may take some time to reflect on your end.


YouTube Music is one of the most popular platforms for streaming your favorite tunes. Bundled with YouTube Premium, the service offers an extensive catalog, including unofficial covers and unreleased tracks you may not find elsewhere. However, its desktop UI was too basic for the longest time, mimicking a mobile design on large screens. Fortunately, the company has finally addressed this by optimizing YouTube Music’s web layout — particularly when viewing albums and playlists.

YouTube Music album redesign on the web

Credit: 9to5Google

As per a 9to5Google report, YouTube Music is rolling out a redesigned, two-column UI for albums and playlists on the web. The first column highlights the album art, year, and description, in addition to handy buttons like play, download, share, and more. The second column, on the other hand, lists the included tracks, along with their play count, duration, and artist.

YouTube Music's old design for albums on the web

Credit: 9to5Google

Before this update, YouTube Music on the web would cram the first column’s content at the top of the screen, followed by the second column’s song list. That wasted desktops’ screen real estate, as the margins were too broad and unutilized. The new UI takes better advantage of wider displays by condensing more information in the same view.

YouTube Music first adopted this optimized album and playlist UI on Android tablets (but not iPadOS). While the company has already started rolling it out to desktop users, it’s not yet available to everyone. If it hasn’t appeared on your end, you could try clearing the website’s cache.

Satechi’s new Qi2 Wireless Car Charger features a sleek design and 15W output

Person placing an iPhone on a Satechi Qi2 wireless charger mounted on a car's AC vent.

Credit: Satechi

  • Satechi’s latest wireless car charger supports the faster Qi2 standard.
  • It offers 15W charging support and features integrated magnets for proper alignment to improve charging efficiency.
  • The Satechi Qi2 Wireless Car Charger costs $59.99 and ships with a USB-C cable and a 25W cigarette lighter adapter.


The Wireless Power Consortium announced the faster Qi2 standard for wireless charging at CES last year with several manufacturers showcasing chargers featuring the new tech. These products are now slowly making their way to the market, even though most Android flagship phones have yet to adopt the standard.

Satechi’s new Qi2 Wireless Car Charger is the latest addition to the lineup, featuring a sleek design with a Space Gray finish that won’t look out of place in most cars. The charger offers 15W wireless charging support — twice as fast as the 7.5W charging output offered by standard Qi chargers. Sadly, only MagSafe-compatible iPhones, i.e. iPhone 12 to iPhone 15 series, can make use of the faster wireless charging speeds at the moment.

Front and back view of the Satechi Qi2 Wireless Car Charger on white background.

Credit: Satechi

Although the Satechi Qi2 Wireless Car Charger will work with standard Qi devices, charging speeds will be limited and you may need additional hardware, like a magnetic sticker or magnetic phone case, to keep your device securely in place. The wireless charger includes integrated magnets that comply with the updated standard, which ensures proper alignment with the phone’s wireless charging coils to improve power transfer and efficiency.

The Satechi Qi2 Wireless Car Charger is available for $59.99 through the company’s website, and it’s a great buy for those who have one of the recent iPhone models. Android OEMs will hopefully adopt the standard soon, so the charger is worth considering if you want to future-proof your purchase. It ships with a one-meter USB-C cable and a 25W cigarette lighter adapter that you can use for wired fast charging in a pinch.

This new Motorola phone comes with a whopping four-year warranty

Moto S50 Neo Weibo resized

  • Motorola has announced that the upcoming Moto S50 Neo will offer a four-year warranty.
  • This will take the form of a standard one-year warranty plus a free, three-year extended warranty.
  • The phone and warranty offer seem to be limited to China right now.


Many Android phones sold in the US come with a one-year warranty, while the European Union and several other markets mandate a two-year warranty for devices. What if two years isn’t enough for you? Well, Motorola has a phone for you — if you live in the right country.

Motorola has revealed that the upcoming Moto S50 Neo budget smartphone will have a four-year warranty, beating warranty offerings from other manufacturers.

Lenovo China GM Weibo Moto S50 Neo

The four-year warranty consists of a one-year warranty plus a free, three-year extended warranty service, according to the fine print in an official image (below).

Moto S50 Neo Weibo four year warranty

The Moto S50 Neo is also confirmed to come with a 5,000mAh battery while weighing just 171 grams. The phone has apparently surfaced on China’s TENAA regulatory website too, featuring an FHD+ OLED screen, a 2.3GHz octa-core chip, a 50MP+8MP rear camera pairing, and a 32MP selfie snapper.

Unfortunately, the Moto S50 Neo and the accompanying warranty offer seem to be China-only affairs for now. We’ve asked Motorola whether it plans to offer four-year warranties for any phones in the US, and will update the article accordingly. But we’d love to see it or other brands up the ante with four-year warranties in global markets.

Counterpoint Research previously predicted that people would hold onto their phones for roughly 40 months in 2023. We’ve also seen several manufacturers offer five or even seven years of software updates. So it seems sensible for warranties and spare parts availability to match these software promises.

Some Pixel owners still aren’t seeing the replacement Google VPN service

VPN by Google One on Pixel 7 Pro stock photo 2

Credit: Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority

  • Some Pixel users have reported that the VPN By Google service isn’t available for them.
  • This is meant to be a replacement service for the shuttered VPN By Google One offering.
  • It seems like some of these users might be waiting for the June update from their carriers.


Google confirmed a while back that it would be shutting down its VPN By Google One service on June 20 (yesterday). Pixel owners received a replacement service, dubbed VPN by Google, from June 3. Unfortunately, it looks like there are issues with this replacement service for some users.

Several Pixel owners have chimed in on Reddit to note that the new VPN By Google service either isn’t working or isn’t showing up for them. That means these users don’t have access to the original VPN by Google One service or the replacement option, forcing them to use an alternative VPN service for their needs.

The issue seems to affect the Pixel 7 series (including the Pixel 7a) and the Pixel 8 range, but it will likely affect some Pixel Fold owners too.

In any event, some Redditors in the thread observed that their phones haven’t received the June update from their carriers yet. However, a few others chimed in to say they received the update but still don’t have access to the VPN By Google service.

We’ve asked Google for comment regarding this issue and will update the article if/when the company gets back to us.

More like T-stationary: T-Mobile fixes roaming loophole for 5G home internet

T Mobile logo at MWC

Credit: Kris Carlon / Android Authority
  • T-Mobile has now implemented address verification for its unlimited Home Internet service.
  • People were taking their home gateway devices with them to get 5G internet when traveling.
  • Affected users will now need to return their gateways to the original address or verify their new address.

T-Mobile previously announced that it would address a loophole that allowed customers to access its 5G Home Internet service while traveling. It looks like the company has finally closed this gap.

New York set to ban so-called addictive social media feeds for children without parental consent

TikTok featured image

Credit: Joe Hindy / Android Authority

  • New York is introducing two new laws designed to better protect kids online.
  • The first law would limit feeds to followed accounts, turning off automatic suggestions. The second law would limit the data collected around minors.
  • Both laws are likely to face opposition in the near future, as not everyone agrees with the approach taken by the state of New York.


Social media is notoriously addictive, especially for young users like children and teenagers. While the US government has shown some interest in protecting our youth online, there hasn’t been much federal progress. As a result, several states have stepped up with their own laws, with New York being the latest to introduce legislation.

Today, Governor Kathy Hochul signed two new bills into law. The first, called the Stop Addictive Feeds Exploitation (SAFE) for Kids Act, requires parental consent for “addictive feeds” in apps. Currently, most social media apps automatically suggest content through custom algorithms. Under this new law, minors will only see videos from accounts they follow, unless they have parental approval for automatic suggestions. The law also prevents platforms from sending notifications about suggested posts to minors between midnight and 6 am, unless there is verifiable parental consent. The next step is to create a system to verify a user’s age and parental consent status. Once the rules are finalized, social media companies will have 180 days to integrate the new regulations into their apps. Companies that fail to comply could face fines of $5,000 per violation.

The second bill, the New York Child Data Protection Act, limits the data platforms can collect on minors without consent and restricts the sale of such data. This law is set to take effect next year.

The laws have received a mixed reception, reflecting the political divide. While there is bipartisan agreement on the need for better online protection for children, the methods to achieve it differ. This division is why federal proposals like the Kids Online Safety Act have stalled. Conservatives often oppose proposals requiring age verification that involves real IDs, fearing government tracking and privacy breaches. Liberals, meanwhile, largely worry that such laws could restrict access to important resources for marginalized groups like the LGBTQ+ community, echoing concerns about educational laws and book bans in conservative states.

These new laws are likely to face significant challenges. In fact, they already are. The industry association NetChoice has sued California over a similar law, the Age-Appropriate Design Code, which was ultimately blocked in court. The judge argued that the law could negatively impact data collection across all ages due to implementation difficulties. NetChoice has already criticized New York’s SAFE for Kids Act as unconstitutional, claiming it could “increase children’s exposure to harmful content by requiring websites to order feeds chronologically, prioritizing recent posts about sensitive topics.” It seems like a lawsuit is all but inevitable here too.

It’s uncertain how these issues will unfold in New York courts, but it’s clear that the new laws are in for a tough journey.

Leaked images of Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6 prototypes suggest minimal design upgrades

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 and Galaxy Z Fold 4 standing

Galaxy Z Fold 4 (L) vs Galaxy Z Flip 4 (R)
Credit: Robert Triggs / Android Authority

  • Leaked images of prototype Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6 units have surfaced online.
  • Both devices feature a more boxy design with flat edges, but the overall design and layout remain largely unchanged.
  • The units shown are prototypes, meaning the final designs may still change the official release.


As the anticipation builds for Samsung’s summer Unpacked event, rumors and leaks about the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6 have started pouring in. The latest one comes from 9to5Google, who have obtained images of both phones’ prototype units (via Sonny Dickson), dashing some of the high hopes we previously had from Samsung’s next-gen foldables phones.

The leaked images of the Z Fold 6 reveal a design that appears to be an iterative upgrade from the current Z Fold 5. While earlier reports hinted at a slightly wider outer screen, the aspect ratios of both displays remain largely unchanged, and the crease on the inner display doesn’t seem to have seen significant improvement.

As widely expected now, the Z Fold 6 does seem to have a more boxy form with flat edges and squared-off corners, but the rest of the design, including the triple camera layout and button placement, remains borrowed from the Z Fold 5.

Similarly, the Z Flip 6 images showcase a more boxy design, but the display crease is still quite visible. One noticeable change is the slightly more protruding dual cameras on the back, potentially emphasizing the upgraded main camera sensor. Both phones do appear to fold flat without any gap, but their predecessors have already achieved that feat.

It’s crucial to remember that the leaked images depict prototype or “dummy” units, meaning they are subject to extensive changes throughout the design process. The final versions of the devices may differ significantly from what is seen in these images.

We anticipate Samsung will soon confirm the July 10 date for its Galaxy Unpacked event, where all details about the new foldables will be officially unveiled.

US government will ban Kaspersky antivirus software due to ties to Russia

Kaspersky Anti Virus Android

Credit: C. Scott Brown / Android Authority

  • The Biden administration, using powers created by the Trump administration, will ban Kaspersky software in the United States.
  • The reasoning behind the ban is Kaspersky’s ties to the Russian government and the security threat that suggests.
  • New sales are likely to end in July, and current users will need to stop using it by the end of September.


Today, the United States government under the Biden administration announced an upcoming sweeping ban of Kaspersky software. Kaspersky is most well-known for its antivirus programs that protect Windows machines, but it also has several other types of programs and a robust library of Android apps. Its most popular Android app, VPN & Antivirus by Kaspersky, has over 100 million installs.

Reuters reports that the ban will come in two waves. First, new sales of Kaspersky products will need to cease in the US within 30 days of the ban’s official announcement, which is likely to land in the coming days. That means that by the end of July, Kaspersky software and licenses will no longer be sold in the US. The second wave will begin 100 days after the official announcement of the ban, which will likely be the end of September. At this point, all usage of Kaspersky software, licenses, and white-label products with Kaspersky technology underneath must end. The 100-day window is to give businesses time to invest in alternatives to Kaspersky’s offerings.

The Biden administration does not mince words about why it is instituting this ban. According to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, it is due to Kaspersky’s ties to Moscow and the possible security threat that that represents.

“Russia has shown it has the capacity and […] the intent to exploit Russian companies like Kaspersky to collect and weaponize the personal information of Americans, and that is why we are compelled to take the action that we are taking today,” Raimondo said on a call with reporters Thursday.

Per comments heard by WIRED, Raimondo had this to say to anyone who is currently using Kaspersky software:

You have done nothing wrong, and you are not subject to any criminal or civil penalties. However, I would encourage you, in as strong as possible terms, to immediately stop using that software and switch to an alternative in order to protect yourself and your data and your family.

To be clear, there will not likely be any criminal penalties for continuing to use Kaspersky software on personal computers and devices.

This ban is now the second time the Biden administration has pushed for a product to be removed from the US due to its ties to a foreign government. Previously, President Biden announced a ban of TikTok in the US should the owner ByteDance — based in China — not divest from the brand. ByteDance is fighting the ban in court on the grounds that it is unconstitutional.

However, unlike with Kaspersky, Biden is giving far more leeway to ByteDance with no ban taking effect until 2025, at the earliest. Kaspersky, though, has such a short window of time that it is unlikely it will be able to fight back effectively. In other words, you should plan for Kaspersky’s ban now, as it is practically inevitable.

An election-year move using a tool from his opponent

President Biden is the presumptive Democratic nominee for the 2024 presidential election. His opponent is expected to be former President Donald Trump, making it a repeat of the 2020 election. In 2016, Trump’s presidential win was revealed to have been heavily influenced by Russia, with the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in particular, possibly helping him to clinch the win.

This is likely at least part of the reason why Biden is acting swiftly now against Kaspersky. Judging by the timeline, Kaspersky will be absent from the United States by the time the election reaches a fever pitch.

Interestingly, the tool President Biden is using to ban Kaspersky is one enacted by Trump. It is similar to the “Entity List” tool Trump used to enact the HUAWEI ban in 2019.

Upcoming ‘Adaptive Thermal’ feature for Pixels will teach you to prevent overheating (APK teardown)

  • A Pixel phone will soon proactively enlist the user’s help in cooling it down when it’s overheating.
  • The phone will alert the user what actions it’ll take to cool itself down as well as share tips on how the user can help out.
  • New strings within the latest version of Google’s Device Health Services app reveal work on this alert, code-named “Adaptive Thermal.”


Most Android phones are able to keep themselves cool by intelligently regulating their own performance, but there are times when drastic measures need to be taken to prevent damage to internal components. If you’re using your phone outdoors under the hot sun, then naturally, your phone will heat up a lot more than if you were using it indoors. Combine that with the increased power draw from the display needing to ramp up its own brightness to remain visible and the power-hungry 5G modem needing to connect to distant towers, and it’s no wonder that overheating is a problem for some users.

Fortunately for Pixel users, Google has already baked in a couple of anti-overheating features to prevent damage to your phone. For example, Google says on a support page that Pixel phones intentionally limit some functions when they sense they’re too hot. These include throttling performance, slowing down charging speeds, turning off the camera’s LED flash, disabling camera capture, and partially or fully disabling the mobile data or Wi-Fi connection. Google even warns that your phone may automatically turn itself off once it gets dangerously hot, a safety feature that’s quite common on consumer electronics.

Pixel 8 Pro overheating thermometer

There are only so many actions that your phone can take by itself to regulate its temperature when it’s overheating, though. No amount of performance throttling or feature disabling can combat the heat from a scorching sun, which is where you, the user, needs to step in. There are some simple yet very effective steps you can take to cool down your phone when it’s overheating, and thanks to the Pixel’s new “Adaptive Thermal” feature, you won’t need to open up a web browser to see what they are.

In the latest version of the Pixel’s Device Health Services app (version 1.27), we spotted some strings related to a new Adaptive Thermal feature. This feature consists of several components, including a notification that spawns a dialog and a battery temperature measurement service.

When the battery temperature reaches 49 degrees Celsius (~120 degrees Fahrenheit), the “pre-emergency” alert is triggered. This causes a notification to be posted that says your “phone needs to cool down.” The notification says you “may experience slower performance” and should “try avoiding direct sunlight or close any battery-intensive apps.” A single button to See care steps is included in the notification.

<string name="pre_emergency_notification_title">Phone needs to cool down</string>
<string name="pre_emergency_notification_content">You may experience slower performance. Try avoiding direct sunlight or close any battery-intensive apps.</string>
<string name="pre_emergency_notification_action_button">See care steps</string>

Tapping the See care steps button will spawn a dialog that shares more information on what steps the operating system is taking to cool down the device, such as temporarily limiting performance speed and disabling the 5G network. It also reiterates some tips on how you can help cool down your phone, such as avoiding direct sunlight, putting your phone in the open for better airflow, or closing any battery-intensive apps such as videos, games, and the camera. You can dismiss the dialog by tapping the Got it button or tapping Learn more, which opens the support page mentioned earlier.

<string name="pre_emergency_dialog_title">Phone needs to cool down</string>
<string name="pre_emergency_dialog_content">"Pixel will try to cool your phone down by temporarily limiting:

• Performance speed
• Disabling 5G network, and more

How to help cool down your phone:

• Try avoiding direct sunlight
• Put your phone in the open for airflow
• Close any battery-intensive apps such as videos, games, and the camera

Once your phone cools down, it will run normally again"</string>
<string name="pre_emergency_dialog_dismiss_button">Got it</string>
<string name="pre_emergency_dialog_action_button">Learn more</string>

Adaptive Thermal will sample the battery temperature every five minutes to see if the phone has cooled down. If the phone still hasn’t cooled down but instead reaches 52 degrees Celsius (~126 degrees Fahrenheit), Adaptive Thermal enters the “emergency” state. I don’t know what exactly happens in this state, but I’m assuming even more drastic actions are taken. If those actions don’t help to cool down the phone and it reaches a dangerous 55 degrees Celsius (~131 degrees Fahrenheit), then Adaptive Thermal will warn the user 30 seconds before it shuts down the phone to protect itself.

<string name="pre_shutdown_dialog_title">Phone will shut down in about 30 secs due to high temperature</string>

The flags for Adaptive Thermal aren’t enabled yet, but even after enabling them, I was unable to actually trigger the alert. This is mainly because I couldn’t get my phone hot enough to actually trigger it (the closest I got was 46 degrees Celsius, even while running an intensive benchmark under direct sunlight). Fortunately, Adaptive Thermal only alerts you about what the phone is already doing under the hood to protect itself, so you don’t need to worry about it not being available yet. So long as you follow some basic tips, you should be able to cool your phone down before it dangerously overheats.

Hopefully, future devices from Google — such as the upcoming Google Pixel 9 series — have better thermal regulation features to prevent overheating. The rumored shift to TSMC for next year’s Tensor G5 chipset could also help with efficiency, but we won’t know for quite a while. If you own a Pixel device, do you feel that it overheats often? Let us know in the comments!

Google’s AI Overviews relying much less on Reddit, new data suggests (sorry to any pizza gluers)

Google or Google Search logo on smartphone stock photo (6)

Credit: Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority

  • Third-party data strongly suggests Google has toned down Reddit’s influence on search results that use AI Overviews.
  • This change comes from high-profile, outrageously terrible AI Overviews results that were likely lifted from Reddit.
  • Elsewhere, Google appears to have significantly dropped the number of delivered AI Overview results, in general.


At Google I/O 2024, the company rolled out the public version of its AI-based search functionality in Google Search. Previously known as Search Generative Experience (SGE) and now known as AI Overviews, it was immediately clear at the event that Google thought this was the future of Search, by far its most important (and most lucrative) product.

However, soon after AI Overviews went live, people started to notice some truly bizarre — and, in some cases, dangerous — AI Overview results. Putting glue on pizza to prevent toppings from sliding off, eating a few small rocks a day, and drinking your own urine were just some of these results.

Interestingly, some of the wacky responses were almost certainly caused by the AI Overviews system pulling information from Reddit posts. The pizza glue one comes from an 11-year-old Reddit post, for example.

After these ridiculous responses went viral, Google apologized and promised to refine the system further. Today, we have some data that suggests one of the biggest changes Google might have made is to simply rely less on Reddit.

According to search engine optimization (SEO) platform SERanking (via Search Engine Land), Reddit is no longer a top-ten source for AI Overviews information. In an analysis of 100,000 keywords, SERanking found the top five sources for results were Runners World, Healthline, LinkedIn, RunRepeat, and Wikipedia. It isn’t clear where Reddit now falls in the ranking, but SERanking affirms it was in the top ten at some point in the past.

It also isn’t clear where other dubious sources for information now fall on the list. The suggestion to eat a few small rocks a day almost certainly comes from The Onion, probably the world’s most famous satirical news site. The fact that AI Overviews was even pulling information from this “source” at all is a good indicator of just how trustworthy one should find the results it gives.

This whole situation has seemingly resulted in Google pushing AI Overviews at a far slower rate than it did immediately after I/O. Similar SEO firm SEOClarity says that AI Overview results popped up only in 7.6% of its tested searches, down from 17.4% observed between May 14 (Google I/O) and May 30.

YouTube confirms crackdown on VPN-based cheaper Premium subscriptions

YouTube premium app on smartphone stock photo (3)

Credit: Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority

  • Some YouTube Premium subscriptions recently started getting canceled for using VPNs to access cheaper regional pricing.
  • A YouTube spokesperson confirmed the company has systems to detect discrepancies between signup countries and actual user locations.
  • YouTube will require such users to update their billing information to match their current country of residence.


We recently reported that users who used a VPN to subscribe to YouTube Premium were receiving notifications about their subscriptions being canceled. Now, the company has officially confirmed that it is taking action against such subscriptions.

YouTube Premium subscriptions are priced differently across various countries to reflect the purchasing power parity of different currencies. However, many users have been circumventing YouTube’s standard subscription fee (e.g., $14 per month in the US) by using VPNs to appear as though they are in regions where the subscription is cheaper.

In a statement to TechCrunch, a YouTube spokesperson said, “To provide the most accurate plans and offers available, we have systems in place to determine the country of our users. In instances where the signup country does not match where the user is accessing YouTube, we’re asking members to update their billing information to their current country of residence.”

Although YouTube declined to comment to TechCrunch on specific cancellations, a Google support agent confirmed to PCMag that accounts identified as having falsified signup country information are being terminated. Affected users have been receiving an email and in-app notification informing them of the cancellation.

This move is part of what seems like YouTube’s broader effort to enforce its policies more strictly. Recently, the company also began injecting server-side ads to combat the widespread use of ad blockers on its platform.

VPN workarounds for cheaper YouTube Premium subscriptions failing (Update: Google confirms)

YouTube premium app on smartphone stock photo (4)

Credit: Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority

  • Several YouTube Premium subscribers have had their Premium membership randomly canceled.
  • However, the common thread between these cancelations is that the users used a VPN workaround to subscribe to Premium at a cheaper rate than the one applicable to their region.
  • Google has commented that it is cracking down on this practice while avoiding discussing the forced cancelations.


Update, June 21, 2024 (01:50 AM ET): Yesterday, we told you of reports that people’s YouTube Premium subscriptions were being terminated if that user had used a VPN workaround to get the service at a cheaper rate. Now, we have a statement from Google confirming that it is clamping down on this practice:

To provide the most accurate plans and offers available, we have systems in place to determine the country of our users. In instances where the signup country does not match where the user is accessing YouTube, we’re asking members to update their billing information to their current country of residence.

Interestingly, YouTube did not confirm or deny that it has canceled YouTube Premium subscriptions for this practice.

A customer service rep did tell PCMag, though, that the company “initiated the cancellation of premium memberships for accounts identified as having falsified signup country information.” While this isn’t an official statement from Google, it does heavily suggest that that’s what the company is doing.

The original, unedited article continues after the break.


Original article, June 19, 2024 (08:58 AM ET): A YouTube Premium subscription can be one of the best subscriptions you can purchase, especially if you are an avid user of the video streaming platform. The platform has made it clear that it doesn’t like ad blockers, and the amount of ads on it has also made it rather annoying to use. The only real solutions are to stop using YouTube or plop some money down for a Premium subscription. Some users have used VPNs to buy YouTube Premium at cheaper rates, but it appears that Google is cracking down on such subscriptions and canceling them.

Reddit user Alopez1024 pointed out that YouTube seemingly canceled their YouTube Premium membership out of nowhere.

YouTube Premium Subscription cancelled

Other Redditors chimed in, claiming that their subscriptions were canceled too. However, the common thread appears to be that the users used a VPN to subscribe to YouTube Premium at a cheaper rate than what is available for their home market.

YouTube presents different Premium rates to specific markets, possibly to better accommodate the purchasing power of the local currency and align with local consumer expectations. Many people have used a VPN connection to mask their country of origin and take undue advantage of YouTube Premium’s regional pricing.

For instance, one of the common countries for such workaround subscriptions is Ukraine, where the subscription costs 99 UAH per month (~$2.44) compared to $13.99 per month in the US, and an international credit card would work. Premium would work normally after subscription, even without a VPN, making it a lucrative workaround. But not anymore, though.

If you have subscribed to YouTube Premium through a VPN, there is a good chance that your membership has been canceled. If you were scratching your head on the reason, this is probably it.

Redditors who have contacted customer service mention that the cancelation is because the user “moved” to a different location than the one they signed up from. They have been advised to sign up with a local card and address, which would inevitably bring them the normalized regional prices.

So far, we have not yet come across reports of people who have moved countries being caught in this clampdown on VPNs. But there is a possibility that even they could be affected.

We’ve reached out to Google for a statement and will update this article if and when we hear back.

Android 15 may let you perform some device diagnostics without going to a repair center

  • Android 15 Beta 3 prepares to add a new Device Diagnostics menu in the Settings app.
  • The Device Diagnostics menu lets you run some manual tests and view your device’s battery and storage health.
  • It also lets you enter an “evaluation mode” to run and validate tests from a trusted device.


With companies like Samsung and Google extending their phone update policies to seven years, it’s never been more important to research what your options are in case your phone breaks or seems to be wearing down in some way. Even though many hardware issues can’t be properly diagnosed — let alone repaired — without taking your phone to a repair center, there are some things you can check yourself to save you some time and money. In the upcoming Android 15 update, Google is preparing to add a dedicated device diagnostics page that lets you run some manual tests and check up on the health of some of your phone’s internal components.

Google released Android 15 Beta 3 earlier this week, and after tinkering with the build on one of my Pixel phones, I managed to surface a new entry in the Settings app called Device Diagnostics. This entry is located under the Settings > System location, and while it doesn’t have a description, it’s obvious what this page does after opening it.

Android 15 Beta 3 device diagnostics in system settings

Credit: Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority

The device diagnostics page opens up with two items: “Component health” and “Evaluation mode.” Component health lets you “run manual tests and view battery and storage health.” Evaluation mode lets you “use one device to assess another device.”

Under the Component health page, you can run a display test that shows a series of differently colored screens, making it easy to inspect the screen for defects visually. You can also run a touch test that shows a red screen turning white as you swipe your finger over it, giving an obvious indicator of where touch input may be broken. 

Lastly, the Component health screen lets you check the health of your phone’s battery and storage chip. The battery status page shows you the remaining capacity of your phone’s battery as a percentage of its original capacity, the manufacturing date of your phone’s battery, its first usage date, and its charging cycle count. It also has fields for the serial number and part status, but my device doesn’t support reporting those values, so they were empty.

The storage status page, meanwhile, shows you the remaining lifetime of your phone’s storage chip as well as its total capacity. I previously documented how Android 15 calculates the remaining lifetime of the storage chip in case you’re wondering how that works under the hood. As for how Android is able to estimate your battery’s remaining capacity (and other battery health related information), I also already went into detail on how that works.

Evaluation mode requires a secondary, trusted device to assess the device under evaluation. The device that’s being assessed needs to tap Evaluated device to generate a QR code that the other device can scan. Doing so will run a series of tests on the device that’s being evaluated, some of which require internet access. These tests consist of the same display and touch test from before. Completing these tests generates a report that can be evaluated to see if there are any issues with the device.

I’ve been tracking Google’s work on implementing battery and storage-health-related APIs for a while now, wondering when it would finally provide users an easy way to check up on these components. I’m glad to see that Google is finally adding a way to check the health of these components in Android 15. While the device diagnostics page doesn’t provide a ton of information, nor does it test every component, it could save some folks a lot of hassle, especially those whose issues stem from their device’s display/touch screen, battery, or storage.

Beats’ most affordable true wireless headphones are now finally available

beats solo buds

Credit: Beats

  • Beats Solo Buds are the cheapest true wireless earbuds the company has ever made at just $79.99.
  • The buds lack a lot of extras but still have touch controls and nail the other basics.
  • You can pick up the earbuds from today in your choice of four colors.


Back in April, Beats announced its first true wireless earbuds priced under $100. Now, the Solo Buds are finally available, starting today for just $79.99.

The new affordable buds are fairly basic in design, lacking extras like noise cancelation and auto play/pause functionality. At least there are touch controllers activated by pressing the B button on the headphones that offer basics like playback control, answering calls, and activating Siri. You also get four ear tip sizes out of the box, which should cover pretty much all ear types reasonably well.

We can’t speak for the sound quality of these buds, but at this price point, you’d expect a few concessions. Aside from the lack of more expensive extras, the most obvious trade-off has to do with the case you put your buds in.

While many true wireless earbuds have charging cases that include built-in batteries to bolster battery life quickly, the Solo Buds do not. Thankfully, the earbuds themselves have an impressively solid battery life of up to 18 hours, but after that, you’ll need to put them in the case and plug them into a USB-C to top them back up. Beats says the buds charge up fairly fast, at least, reportedly giving you one hour of playback with just a five-minute charge.

The Beats Solo Buds are available now in your choice of Matte Black, Storm Gray, Arctic Purple, and Transparent Red.

Samsung Galaxy A35 5G review: Should you buy it?


Should you buy the Samsung Galaxy A35 5G?

Samsung Galaxy A35 samsung folder

Credit: Ryan Haines / Android Authority

We’ve already worked our way through the rest of Samsung’s budget-friendly updates for 2024, but there’s still enough room for one more entry in the form of the Samsung Galaxy A35 5G. With no official launch for the Galaxy A55 5G in North America, the Galaxy A35 5G sits at the top of the lineup in the US. It also has the unenviable task of taking on one of the most competitive yearly slates of affordable Android phones we’ve ever seen. It’s surrounded by excellent offerings from Google, Motorola, Nothing, and even Samsung, which makes us wonder how the Galaxy A35 5G can stand out from the crowd.

Starting with the design, the Galaxy A35 5G, well, doesn’t exactly stand out. Instead, it looks a whole lot like Samsung’s Galaxy A25 5G, which looks a whole lot like the Galaxy A15 5G, which… you get the picture. The overall look is about as close to Samsung copying its own homework as you can get, with just a few tweaks to set it apart from the more affordable Galaxy A models. Some of those tweaks work in the Galaxy A35 5G’s favor, like ditching the cheaper models’ plastic backs and lower-tier Gorilla Glass for a premium sandwich of Gorilla Glass Victus Plus around the plastic frame. The Galaxy A35 5G also picks up a full IP67 rating against water and dust, giving it a clear durability advantage over Samsung’s other budget models, though as was the case with the Galaxy A34 5G, you do lose out on a headphone jack.

For the most part, though, the Galaxy A35 5G is just as easy to navigate as any other affordable Samsung phone. It still houses the power button and volume rocker on the right side, and there’s a down-firing speaker tucked next to the USB-C port on the bottom edge. This time, Samsung has moved its fingerprint reader from the power button to an in-display unit that sits low on the display — perhaps too low — and bumped the combination SIM tray and microSD slot to the top edge. I haven’t had any issues with speed or accuracy, but it’s also positioned in just a way where it’s tough to reach if you’re holding the bottom of the Galaxy A35 5G.

Besides that, most of Samsung’s tweaks to the Galaxy A35 5G help elevate it above its budget-friendly siblings. Although it looks and feels pretty much the same as the Galaxy A15 5G and A25 5G, swapping from simple plastic to Gorilla Glass Victus Plus gives it a more premium heft in hand. The swap adds enough weight and rigidity to the phone that you don’t notice the plastic frame — or at least I didn’t. Unfortunately, the Galaxy A35 5G brings back a high-gloss finish that picks up smudges and fingerprints like they’re going out of style. Our Awesome Lilac version has an almost iridescent finish to its pinkish glass, which looks great when the light hits it, provided you can keep it clean.

Around the front, Samsung hasn’t really changed the Galaxy A35 5G’s display over its predecessor — at least not beyond the upgrade in materials. It still has a 6.6-inch AMOLED panel, a 120Hz refresh rate (with an adaptive mode that can drop to 60Hz when idling), 1,000 nits of peak brightness, and even bezels on all four sides. Despite the lack of changes, the Galaxy A35 5G remains head and shoulders above its Galaxy A siblings, especially when used outdoors. I could easily see the Galaxy A35 5G’s display from odd angles while collecting camera samples on a sunny day, whereas I could only see the Galaxy A15 5G and A25 5G head-on with the display a few inches from my face.

Upgraded materials and a much better display put the Galaxy A35 5G far above its budget siblings.

While the retread design might not be enough to sell you on the Galaxy A35 5G, Samsung’s excellent software experience and long-term support might. The phone not only ships with Android 14 and One UI 6.1 right out of the box, but it’s in line for four years of Android version updates and a fifth year of security patches, carrying it almost to the end of the decade. This is only bettered by the Pixel 8a in the mid-to-budget space.

So far, Samsung has been on track with its security updates, too, already rolling out enough to bring the phone up to April 1, 2024. Unfortunately, you won’t find any Galaxy AI features tucked away on the Galaxy A35 5G, despite the phone popping up on a few AI-centric pages on Samsung’s website. There’s some of the usual bloatware when you set the phone up, too, but you can clear most of it out.

Samsung Galaxy A35 Android 14 easter egg

Credit: Ryan Haines / Android Authority

Under the hood, the Samsung Galaxy A35 5G packs an in-house Exynos 1380 chipset; the same chipset we saw on the Samsung Galaxy A54 5G in early 2023. It’s a generational upgrade over the Galaxy A25 5G’s older Exynos 1280, and it comes backed by 6GB of RAM and 128GB of expandable storage in the base configuration. Samsung’s in-house chipset feels significantly more comfortable in a slightly more affordable device, putting up CPU benchmark numbers that compare well against the more expensive Google Pixel 8a and Nothing Phone 2a and sometimes even beat the flagship-grade chipsets. Its Achilles’ heel is GPU testing, which gets points for stability, but is an obvious weakness compared to slightly pricier mid-range phones.

Samsung Galaxy A35 Wild Life graph

Credit: Ryan Haines / Android Authority

Thankfully, the Galaxy A35 5G often outperforms its price tag in day-to-day usage. I took it out as my primary device for a weekend of trail running with friends in rural Pennsylvania, and I was pretty impressed with how well it held up. The phone had no issues charging through two hours of GPS navigation to get me around Harrisburg at morning rush hour, and I pulled in with more than enough juice left to capture photos all day and pull up Strava for an ill-advised eight miles on the Appalachian Trail. I didn’t fall while on the trail, so I didn’t get to see how Gorilla Glass Victus Plus held up to the rocky, miserable stretch of trail through my home state, but it gave me enough peace of mind to take the trails quickly and know my phone would probably survive.

The Galaxy A35 5G kept chugging once we got off the trails, too, allowing me to hop between a little bit of social media streaming and light gaming (mostly Golf Clash and Marvel Snap) while we waited to grab dinner. I wouldn’t recommend heavier titles like Genshin Impact or Asphalt 9 unless you can live with low settings and frequent frame drops, but light titles are no issue. I also caught up on the first few episodes of Disney’s The Acolyte while I was away, with the Exynos 1380 only warming slightly because I was streaming from the comfort of an outdoor hammock.

Samsung Galaxy A35 cameras

Credit: Ryan Haines / Android Authority

Since we’re busy comparing the Galaxy A35 5G to the more affordable Galaxy A25 5G as an obvious alternative for those looking to save some cash, let’s move on to the cameras. All of Samsung’s budget camera setups look identical at a glance, and they’re all inspired by the flagship Galaxy S series, but they’re not quite created equal. The Galaxy A35 5G kicks off with a 50MP primary camera with a maximum aperture of ƒ/1.8, the same resolution and aperture as the Galaxy A15 5G and A25 5G offer, but its sensor is larger, offering slightly better low-light performance thanks to its larger individual pixels. The other two cutouts house an 8MP ultrawide and a 5MP dedicated macro sensor, giving the Galaxy A35 5G a slight leg up over its fellow Galaxy A devices in some cases.

However, that leg up isn’t a big one, as picking out the differences between photos from the three phones often feels like recreating the pointing Spider-Man meme — at least at 1x and 2x zoom. It’s not a problem, as Samsung’s 50MP primary sensor feels pretty well-tuned in well-lit scenarios, but it does mean you’re not getting too much extra punch by grabbing the Galaxy A35 5G over Samsung’s more affordable options.

You're not getting too much extra punch by grabbing the Galaxy A35 5G over Samsung's more affordable options.

Overall, though, I’m pretty pleased with the results it turned in during my testing, whether in well-lit or in slightly lower lighting. Samsung’s colors are surprisingly accurate in the bunch of pride balloons — no oversaturation on reds and greens this time — and the Galaxy A35 5G captured the stock cars rounding the dirt track without any motion blur. Although I’m not usually a big fan of budget ultrawide cameras, the Galaxy A35’s 8MP option is among the better I’ve used. It easily fits the entire sailboat in the image to the bottom right, and both the colors and details are better than what I’ve gotten out of the Galaxy A15 and A25. There’s a tiny bit of distortion in the planks of the dock in the corner and a bit of a bend to the horizon, but they’re worthwhile trade-offs so that I don’t have to move further back from the boat.

I’m not as thrilled with the dedicated macro shot of the purple flower, with the limitations of a 5MP sensor on full display, but somehow, that’s not the most disappointing shot in the gallery. That dubious honor goes to the 10x zoom image of lily pads on a local pond. Although the white flower and lily pads look fine, the Galaxy A35 5G struggled badly with the algae growth in the background, reducing it to a green pattern that almost looks AI-generated.

If you want to check out full-resolution versions of the samples above (especially the weird lily pad artifacting), you can do so at this Google Drive link.

Unfortunately, the underwhelming shot of the lily pads is a sign of the Galaxy A35 5G’s greater struggles with zoom. Because it has a dedicated macro sensor rather than a telephoto, you wind up relying on the primary sensor for, well, everything. It skates by at 2x zoom without too much issue, but by the time you hit 4x and even 10x zoom (the Galaxy A35 5G’s maximum), the details are in rough shape due to the lack of dedicated hardware and reliance on digital zoom. I’ll give it to Samsung that the colors are still accurate, but the shingles on top of the pagoda look like little more than horizontal stripes at longer lengths.

The Galaxy A35 5G’s selfie camera, on the other hand, surprised me. I had no expectations for the 13MP punch hole sensor, but it nailed the details through my hair and beard — something that budget selfie options from Motorola and OnePlus have repeatedly fumbled. It also accurately identified the edges of my hair in portrait mode, something else that doesn’t always happen perfectly.

On the video side, the Galaxy A35 5G matches the more affordable Galaxy A25 5G, with up to 4K recording at 30fps. You can also record in 1080p at either 30fps from the selfie camera or 60fps from the rear camera. Video stabilization is good, too — good enough to make memories with your kids or pets — but it’s not quite flagship-grade.

Although there are plenty of other differences between the Samsung Galaxy A devices, battery life and charging are the great equalizers. Like the more affordable models, the Galaxy A35 5G ships with a 5,000mAh battery and supports wired charging at up to 25W with a compatible charger (you don’t get one in the box). It takes a pretty consistent hour and a half to pick up a full charge, which is no surprise since the Galaxy A15 5G and A25 5G filled at the same rate.

The Galaxy A35 5G is the best of Samsung's budget crop for 2024.

That said, I’m impressed to see such consistency out of Samsung across its budget range, especially when rivals like Motorola offer different (and slower) charging speeds depending on which Moto G device you buy. Of course, the trade-off is that a few Moto G devices now support wireless charging for added flexibility, and several other alternatives from OnePlus and Nothing offer even faster wired charging.

As for the battery life itself, Samsung’s Galaxy A35 5G is no slouch. In our battery drain test, it nearly doubled the web browsing results of more expensive devices like the Pixel 8a and beat both the mid-range Pixel and the Nothing Phone 2a in our gaming tests. While a mixed day of usage will probably balance out some of the battery gains in one section or another, the Galaxy A35 5G easily packs enough juice to go a day and a half between charging. I’ve been using the phone throughout a heat wave here in the Mid-Atlantic, and it hasn’t knocked down the battery performance in any noticeable way.

All told, the Galaxy A35 5G is the best of Samsung’s budget crop for 2024 (at least in the US) and by far the easiest of the Galaxy A devices to recommend. Sure, it shares a lot with the Galaxy A15 5G and A25 5G in terms of the battery life, charging, software support, and primary camera, but the more durable materials, official IP67 rating, and much better display more than justify its $400 asking price. There are things that the Galaxy A35 5G could still improve, like adding wireless charging and trading its dedicated macro sensor for, well, anything else, but they’re small prices to pay when the rest of the phone is so well-rounded.

What are the best Samsung Galaxy A35 5G alternatives?

Samsung Galaxy A35 vs Moto G 5G vs Pixel 8a on table

Credit: Ryan Haines / Android Authority

Should you decide that the Samsung Galaxy A35 5G isn’t the budget phone for you, there are plenty of other options to check out. Whether you want to spend a little more or save some money, here are some Galaxy A35 5G alternatives:

  • Google Pixel 8a ( ): Google’s most affordable Pixel 8a has a few advantages over the Galaxy A35 5G, including wireless charging and even better software support, including Gemini AI features, but Samsung’s cameras are more flexible and Gorilla Glass Victus Plus beats a plastic back any day.
  • Motorola Moto G Stylus 5G (2024) ( ): The Moto G Stylus 5G (2024) is a high point for what the Moto G series has become. It’s the most affordable phone you can get with a stylus, and Motorola’s vegan leather back is comfortable in the hand. However, you’ll have to live with bad bloatware and a weak update commitment.
  • Samsung Galaxy A25 5G ( ): Samsung’s own Galaxy A25 5G is a good option if you’re on a tighter budget. It offers many of the same features as the Galaxy A35 but swaps to a plastic back and lower-tier Gorilla Glass display. You’ll get similar cameras, too, even if the sensors are slightly smaller.
  • Nothing Phone 2a ( ): The Nothing Phone 2a might be one of the best budget phones you can buy, but it’s tricky to recommend in the US. It scores big with a powerful Dimensity 7200 Pro chipset, a massive 6.7-inch display, and a pair of sharp 50MP cameras but loses points for iffy network support across the big three. If you’re outside the US, however, it’s an easy pick.
  • Apple iPhone SE (2022) ( ): If you really need an iPhone, this is the most affordable option—not that we’d recommend it. Apple’s most recent iPhone SE remains trapped in an iPhone 8’s body, complete with hefty top and bottom bezels and just one camera on the back. But hey, it’ll get plenty of software updates.

Samsung Galaxy A35 5G specs

Samsung Galaxy A35 5G
Display6.6-inch Super AMOLED
2340 x 1080 resolution
120Hz refresh rate
19.5:9 aspect ratio
Corning Gorilla Glass Victus+
ProcessorSamsung Exynos 1380
RAM6GB
Storage128GB
Expandable via microSD card
Battery5,000mAh
25W wired charging
Cameras50MP wide camera
ƒ/1.8 aperture
OIS

8MP ultra-wide camera, 123deg FoV
ƒ/2.2 aperture

5MP macro camera
ƒ/2.4 aperture
Connectivity5G
4G LTE
Wi-Fi 6
Bluetooth 5.3
Operating SystemOne UI 6.1
Android 14
Water resistanceIP67
ColorsIceblue, Lilac, Navy
Dimension and weight161.7 x 78 x 8.2mm
209 grams

Samsung Galaxy A35 5G review: FAQ

Does the Samsung Galaxy A35 5G have wireless charging?

No, the Samsung Galaxy A35 5G does not have wireless charging, only 25W wired charging.

Does the Samsung Galaxy A35 5G have a headphone jack?

No, the Samsung Galaxy A35 5G does not have a headphone jack.

Does the Samsung Galaxy A35 5G support eSIM and dual-SIM?

Yes, the Samsung Galaxy A35 5G supports dual-SIM in the form of a single nano-SIM and downloadable eSIM profile.

Does the Samsung Galaxy A35 5G support NFC?

Yes, you can use the Samsung Galaxy A35 5G to make wireless payments via NFC.

Is the Samsung Galaxy A35 5G waterproof?

Though it’s technically not waterproof, the Samsung Galaxy A35 5G has an IP67 rating, which means it can be submerged in one meter of water for up to 30 minutes.

Samsung Galaxy S25 series rumors and leaks: Everything we know so far

Update: June 20, 2024 (01:00 PM ET): We’ve updated our Galaxy S25 series rumor hub with apparent camera specs, more chip leaks, possibly battery specs, and more!


Original article: Samsung’s Galaxy S24 series launched in the middle of January 2024, arriving a little earlier in the year than the last couple of generations. Along with it, the company introduced Galaxy AI, a titanium frame, new camera tricks, and a number of other features. But now that the Galaxy S24 launch has come and gone, it is time to start thinking about the next iteration in the series. How will the Galaxy S25 series set itself apart from its predecessor? What new features will Samsung come up with for the next generation? Will 2025 finally be the year we see a major shift in the Galaxy S design philosophy? Here, we’ll break down everything we know so far about the Galaxy S25.

Will there be a Samsung Galaxy S25?

Samsung Galaxy S24 homescreen in hand

Credit: Robert Triggs / Android Authority

Samsung releases a new Galaxy S series phone on an annual cadence, and there’s no reason to believe it will stop at the Galaxy S24. But if that’s not enough to convince you, there have already been plenty of leaks and rumors about the incoming family of handsets that we’ll get into later on. Obviously, nothing is official until Samsung announces it. The company could always suddenly decide to shut down development, but that is extremely unlikely given how profitable its smartphones are. We would say it’s less of a question of whether Samsung will release a Galaxy S25 and more of a question of when it will launch in 2025.

What is the most likely Samsung Galaxy S25 release date?

samsung galaxy s24 ultra case hero with phone

Credit: Ryan Haines / Android Authority
  • Galaxy S22 — February 9, 2022
  • Galaxy S23 — February 17, 2023
  • Galaxy S24 — January 31, 2024

The Galaxy S24 lineup launched in January, so we’re still a fair distance away from the expected release of the Galaxy S25 series. As such, it will be a while before Samsung provides an official launch date for the device. As far as leaks and rumors are concerned, there’s not really anything on that front, either. Given the lack of information, we’ll need to speculate on what the date could be.

The South Korea-based firm usually launches its Galaxy S phones near the beginning of the year. For the last three years, the release date has fallen in the months of January and February. We assume Samsung will keep the same cadence for the Galaxy S25. Unfortunately, we’ll need to wait to find out the exact date.

What rumored specs and features could the Samsung Galaxy S25 have?

Samsung Galaxy S24 Family 1

Credit: Lanh Nguyen / Android Authority

Even before the Galaxy S24 launched in January 2024, we were hearing rumors about the Galaxy S25. Now that it has been a while since the release of 2024’s Galaxy phones, the rumor mill for next year’s phones has picked up a lot of steam. These rumors and leaks span the gamut from the SoC to the design and more. Let’s take a moment to break down all of the available information.

Design

The design of the Galaxy S series has hardly changed in the last few generations, but we might finally be in store for something a little different with the next iteration. Leaker Revegnus said that Ilhwan Lee, a former Mercedes-Benz designer, has been tasked with making the Galaxy brand feel “fresh” and that design changes are expected.

Galaxy S25 revegnus

Credit: Revegnus

With the release of Samsung’s 2024 flagship devices, the company introduced titanium to the Galaxy S line, specifically for the Ultra model. There is reason to believe Samsung will continue to use the same metal in the Galaxy S25 Ultra. The question, however, is whether the firm sticks with the same type of titanium that appeared in the Galaxy S24 Ultra. It is also unknown if this build material will come to the regular and Plus models in 2025, though that seems unlikely.

In a now-deleted social post from PandaFlash (via Android Headlines), the tipster claimed, “I have doubts about the rumors of the Highest-Grade titanium in the Galaxy S25 Ultra.” In case you didn’t know, titanium comes in different grades. For example, Apple gave the iPhone 15 Pro series Grade 5 titanium, which is an alloy made of titanium, aluminum, and vanadium. The Galaxy S24 Ultra, on the other hand, uses Grade 2 titanium, which is all titanium. The difference is that Grade 2 titanium is softer, cheaper, and easier to work with than the Grade 5 version. If PandaFlash is correct, then it looks like the tech giant may stay on the same path.

On March 19, 2024, a tipster who goes by Kro on X (formerly Twitter) posted a brief but interesting statement. That statement simply reads, “S25 Series CAD Drawings in Development.” While these drawings have yet to leak, this would suggest Samsung is currently working on the design.

Another rumor, this one originating from a now-deleted social post from PandaFlash (via Android Headlines), suggests Samsung is testing four prototypes for the Galaxy S25 Ultra. Although the tipster didn’t have renders of these prototypes, they did create mock-ups of what they thought the Ultra might look like based on their information:

galaxy s25 ultra design

Credit: PandaFlash

According to the rumor, the main changes seem to revolve around the frame and bezels. We could see thinner bezels but the same frame as before, a thinner and flatter frame with slimmer bezels, thinner sides but a thicker top and bottom, or a thinner frame with rounded edges. Outside of that, it appears the front of the device will look mostly the same as the Galaxy S24 Ultra.

Meanwhile, leaker Bennett Buhner claims that Samsung might increase the display size of the Galaxy S25 Ultra to something closer to 6.9 inches. This could mean that the device will be slightly bigger, but it could also just mean the screen has smaller bezels, giving it a slightly different aspect ratio.

The Ultra isn’t the only model rumored to see some design changes. Korean blogger yeux1122 has claimed on Naver that the base Galaxy S25’s screen size could grow by 0.16 inches, putting it at 6.36 inches. If this is true, it would be the second time in the last three generations that Samsung has increased the diagonal screen size of the base model.

Specs

One of the first pieces of information to leak about the S25 was the camera specs. Early rumors were very conflicted, with some claiming massive overhauls (such as going with a simple, triple-lens setup) and a big upgrade for the primary 200MP lens. However, as the year has gone on, most of those early rumors have been shot down. The most recent info points to a few upgrades for the Galaxy S25 Ultra, but not a complete overhaul

Ice Universe posted a load of apparent Galaxy S25 Ultra camera specs on Weibo on May 27. They claimed that the Ultra phone would stick with a 200MP main camera and 50MP 5x periscope telephoto zoom but would switch to a 50MP 3x camera and a 50MP ultrawide lens. The 50MP 3x camera would be a big upgrade over the current 10MP 3x lens, which has been used since 2021’s S21 Ultra.

Later, leaker Sperandio4Tech posted info on sensor upgrades for those two upgraded lenses. Allegedly, the Galaxy S25 Ultra’s ultrawide lens could get “a new version of the 1/2.76-inch JN1 sensor.” Meanwhile, the 3x telephoto lens could get “a new 1/3-inch Isocell sensor.” These upgrades would be combined with the previously mentioned resolution upgrades to 50MP for both lenses.

The Galaxy S25 Ultra could offer upgraded 3x and ultrawide cameras, according to one significant leak.

Moving on to the display, not much is currently known about display specs outside of the rumor that the series could go bigger. However, Samsung has been working on next-generation OLED displays that would allow fingerprint scanning anywhere on the screen, as well as open up the ability to scan multiple fingerprints simultaneously. At the time, the CEO of Isorg, Dieter May, predicted that Samsung would be ready to deliver these displays by 2025.

Some of the biggest Galaxy S25 rumors so far have related to the processors. Samsung brought back its tradition of offering the Galaxy S series with a Snapdragon processor in selected markets and an Exynos chip for the rest of the world with the S24. This was after the much-welcome shift in 2023 of abandoning Exynos and offering Snapdragon processors for all handsets around the world.

Now, the most recent rumors suggest Samsung might return to its all-Snapdragon-everywhere policy in 2025, meaning that every Galaxy s25 phone, regardless of location, would have a Snapdragon 8 Gen 4. This is reportedly due to Samsung’s manufacturing issues with the supposed Exynos 2500 chipset, which would appear in the Galaxy S25 series. As of now, this is the strongest rumor we have, so it’s looking likely we could see only Snapdragon-powered Galaxy S25 phones next year.

It's possible we could see a return to all-Snapdragon-powered Galaxy S25 phones in 2025.

If Samsung does go all-in on Snapdragon, it looks like the Galaxy S25 could get a nice speed boost. Tipster Digital Chat Station claims that “Tongzi” — supposedly the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4’s codename — chips will hit 4GHz. This would be a notable improvement from the Gen 3 processor, which is capable of reaching 3.3GHz.

On to battery specs, it’s possible Samsung could be planning to use stack technology for the battery in the S25 series, according to a report from The Elec. This tech is commonly used in electric vehicles, but it appears Samsung’s research and development department is considering bringing it over to smartphones. Stacking refers to the way cells in the battery are arranged, which can lead to a higher energy capacity inside a smaller volume. According to the report, the arrangement could provide a 10% improvement in energy density.

So far, the only battery capacity rumor we have relates to the vanilla model. A report from GalaxyClub says the standard Galaxy S25 could have the same 4,000mAh capacity as the Galaxy S24. This isn’t bad news, but it might be disappointing for anyone hoping to eke out a bit more juice from the Galaxy S25.

Meanwhile, in a reply to a social post from Samsung, tipster Ice Universe claims that the base Galaxy S25 will once again have 8GB of RAM. Presumably, the leaker is suggesting that only 8GB of RAM will be available, regardless of the configuration. If true, this would mean the S25 will have the same amount of memory as Samsung gave the S24 and S23.

While it is possible we won’t see a change in the amount of memory, the storage story could be different. Samsung Semiconductor released a roadmap for the next generation of UFS. That roadmap states the company will release UFS 4.0 4-lane CS in 2025 before jumping to UFS 5.0 in 2027.

Samsung Semiconductors Storage speed roadmap

Credit: Weixin

Based on the roadmap, UFS 4.0 4-lane CS will double the read/write rates of the current UFS 4.0 standard. The additional speed will provide a number of benefits, like faster load times and more efficient on-device AI applications.

What might the Samsung Galaxy S25 price be?

Samsung Galaxy S24 Family 7

Credit: Lanh Nguyen / Android Authority
  • Galaxy S22 — $799 (base), $999 (Plus), $1,199 (Ultra)
  • Galaxy S23 — $799 (base), $999 (Plus), $1,199 (Ultra)
  • Galaxy S24 — $799 (base), $999 (Plus), $1,299 (Ultra)

When it comes to pricing, Samsung has stayed fairly consistent over recent years. For the last three years, in fact, the base and Plus models have remained at $799 and $999, respectively. The only price change that happened during this time span was with the Ultra model, which went up by $100 in 2024. The good news is there’s not enough information to suggest there will be a price increase for any model. On the other hand, the bad news is that there’s also not enough information to suggest that Samsung won’t implement a price bump. If we had to guess, however, we believe the cost will be the same as it was in 2024.

Should you wait for the Samsung Galaxy S25?

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra vs S23 Ultra vs S22 Ultra 1

Credit: Lanh Nguyen / Android Authority

Unless you’re dead set on getting the latest and greatest from Samsung, there’s not really any reason to wait. The exception to that is if you’re not in immediate need of a new phone. In that case, it might be worth waiting to see how the Galaxy S25 series pans out.

If you need something now, Samsung’s Galaxy S24 ( ), Galaxy S24 Plus ( ), and Galaxy S24 Ultra ( ) can likely serve all your needs. Likewise, you have your choice of perfectly capable non-Samsung handsets that range anywhere from premium to budget-tier and everything in between. For example, the Google Pixel 8 Pro ( ) is a solid device that has great cameras and neat AI features powered by Gemini. There’s also the Nothing Phone 2 ( ) if you want a flagship smartphone that won’t hurt your wallet.

Anthropic releases Claude 3.5 Sonnet, claims it outperforms GPT-4o and Gemini 1.5 Pro

claude homepage

Credit: Calvin Wankhede / Android Authority

  • Anthropic AI has announced Claude 3.5, its next-generation large language model family.
  • The mid-tier Claude 3.5 Sonnet model is available for free today, with larger and smaller variants expected later this year.
  • According to Anthropic’s figures, the new model beats GPT-4o and Gemini 1.5 Pro in various reasoning benchmarks.


Anthropic has released Claude 3.5 Sonnet, the first of three models in the AI startup’s next-generation Claude 3.5 large language model family. According to Anthropic’s official announcement, the new model “sets new industry benchmarks” across various AI benchmarks. Specifically, the company claims that Claude 3.5 Sonnet delivers more accurate responses than both GPT-4o and Gemini 1.5 Pro.

Similar to ChatGPT, Anthropic is making Claude 3.5 Sonnet available for free — albeit in a limited capacity. We ran into the rate limit after just a handful of responses, beyond which you’ll be prompted to pay $20 per month for a Pro plan or wait a few hours for the counter to reset.

Still, Claude 3.5 Sonnet boasts impressive results across various benchmarks like coding, math, and graduate-level understanding — at least according to figures shared directly by Anthropic. While self-reported benchmarks aren’t necessarily reliable, Anthropic’s previous best model keeps up with most of the competition in crowdsourced LLM leaderboards.

The new model also brings improved vision capabilities, which is most noticeable in reasoning tasks like reading and interpreting graphs. Anthropic says Claude 3.5 Sonnet can accurately transcribe text from images, once again with accuracy that rivals GPT-4o and Gemini 1.5 Pro.

claude 35 sonnet benchmarks vs gpt 4o gemini

Credit: Anthropic

Claude 3.5 Sonnet resembles Google’s latest LLM in that the middle-sized model surpasses the largest variant of its predecessor. Gemini 1.5 Pro is currently the search giant’s best model and surpasses Gemini 1.0 Ultra. Similarly, Claude 3.5 Sonnet takes the top spot for now and replaces Claude 3 Opus at a fraction of the cost. However, a larger “Opus” variant of Claude 3.5 will also be released later this year, alongside a smaller and faster “Haiku” model.

For now, Anthropic has also announced a new Artifacts feature that allows Claude to generate code snippets, documents, and even small games in a new window, separate from the chat interface. While this feature is experimental for now, the company says it’s the foundation of a “collaborative work environment.” Anthropic envisions a future where teams can work on design or code projects together in a shared space, similar to Google Docs’ real-time collaboration.

Anthropic received a whopping $2.75 billion from Amazon in its latest funding round this March. The company has also received a funding commitment of $2 billion from Google, with at least $500 million already disbursed so far. So even though Claude hasn’t become a household name like ChatGPT yet, Anthropic is one of OpenAI’s biggest rivals. However, neither Amazon nor Google has yet moved to integrate Claude into their products.

Galaxy Buds 3 retail listing reveals the stunning new design

The Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro case open with the earbuds.

Credit: Lily Katz / Android Authority

  • The Galaxy Buds 3 were spotted on a South Korean e-commerce site.
  • The leaked images showcase the Galaxy Buds 3 featuring a stem design as previously expected.
  • The charging case also gets a makeover, featuring a transparent lid and a vertical orientation.


Samsung’s highly anticipated summer Unpacked event could be announced any day now, with a tentative date set for July 10. As the countdown continues, new information about the products expected to debut is emerging, including the next generation of Samsung’s wireless earbuds.

Recent leaks suggest that the Galaxy Buds 3 might feature a design reminiscent of Apple’s AirPods, and now we have our first glimpse of these new earbuds. X/Twitter user @Teqhnikacross spotted what looks like the official product images of the Galaxy Buds 3 on Coupang, an e-commerce site in South Korea. These images give us a preview of the sleek new design of Samsung’s earbuds, and we’re here for it. (h/t: Sammobile)

First things first, the images showcase the Galaxy Buds 3 in a polished grey color variant, which looks absolutely slick. The charging case has undergone a redesign, transitioning from a horizontal to a vertical layout, with a transparent lid that adds a futuristic touch to the design.

The earbuds themselves look stunning. They appear to sport a wider earbud section and a rectangular stem, which makes them look much less like the Airpods or the OnePlus Buds Pro 2. Even though the two Buds 3 models might look similar to one another, word on the street is that the Pro version could have ‘blade lights’ running down the stems to set them apart from the standard Galaxy Buds 3.

In terms of specifications, the Galaxy Buds 3 and Buds 3 Pro are rumored to share several features, including active noise cancelation (ANC), an IP57 rating for dust and water resistance, and ultra-high-quality sound (24bit/96kHz).

For me, this is the best look Samsung has come up with for its earbuds so far. Let’s hope they sound just as good as they look.

Lenovo’s latest tablet doubles as a Bluetooth speaker and packs a whopping 8 speakers

lenovo tab plus

Credit: Lenovo

  • Lenovo has a new media consumption and entertainment tablet, the Lenovo Tab Plus.
  • The headline feature is its JBL eight-speaker setup, which can even double as a Bluetooth speaker.
  • The Tab Plus is available right away for $289.99


Today, Lenovo unveiled its latest Android tablet, the Lenovo Tab Plus. This new tablet aims to enhance your audio experience with eight JBL-tuned speakers, all while still maintaining an affordable price tag.

As it’s clearly the headline feature, let’s start by taking a closer look at the audio experience. The speaker setup includes four matrix tweeters and four force-balanced woofers, capable of delivering 26W of stereo sound. These speakers are optimized for Dolby Atmos, and the tablet includes a 3.5mm jack for high-res audio support at 24-bit and 96kHz frequency over headphones. In a bid to stand out from similar tablets, the Lenovo Tab Plus speakers can even be used with other devices like smartphones or game consoles via Bluetooth — a testament to the confidence Lenovo has in this audio setup.

Another small feature that helps the Tab Plus stand out is the built-in kickstand, which is perfect for a device that’s clearly made with media consumption as its priority.

Despite its impressive sounding speaker system and solid design, the Tab Plus is priced at an affordable $289.99. As you might suspect, this means the tablet compromises in a few other areas. The processor is the most obvious compromise. While the MediaTek Helio G99 isn’t a bad SoC, it doesn’t quite match the specs you’d find in a high-end Android tablet or iPad. This MediaTek chip is also paired with 8GB of RAM, which is more than adequate for a tablet designed for entertainment and media consumption.

The rest of the specs are pretty standard for this price range. It features 256GB of storage, a microSD slot for expansion, and an 8,000mAh battery with 45W fast charging. The 11.5-inch display boasts a 2K resolution and a 90Hz refresh rate. It even offers water and dust resistance, albeit with a modest IP52 rating. That means it can handle some spills, splashing, or light rain, but it definitely isn’t swim-proof.

The Lenovo Tab Plus is available starting today, equipped with Android 14 out of the box. Lenovo also offers a limited update guarantee, promising two years of Android upgrades and security patches through June 2028.

Sunbird, an insecure app that’s never worked properly, will likely cost you $1.99 each month

Sunbird Messaging App Webpage

Credit: C. Scott Brown / Android Authority

  • The much-maligned app Sunbird is now telling some users that it will be charging $1.99 each month for the service.
  • This is a bold move, considering the security problems the app has faced in the past, as well as the company’s history of over-promising and under-delivering.
  • With iPhones getting RCS support soon anyway, what is Sunbird really offering?


The Sunbird story just keeps getting stranger. The app — which promises to bring iMessage features to Android by bridging the two ecosystems through a macOS device — came back recently after taking a hiatus last year when it was revealed to be an absolute nightmare for privacy and security. Although we still haven’t seen anyone actually gain access to the “new” Sunbird, we have seen some new information related to it.

Thanks to Reddit posts first spotted by 9to5Google, some users are reporting receiving an email that says Sunbird will soon have a monthly fee. At $1.99 each month, Sunbird isn’t asking for much. However, the app has always been free, and the company’s early promotional material touted this as a major aspect of its appeal. At some point recently, though, Sunbird quietly altered this, with one 9to5Google reader pointing out that the company’s FAQ on its website now says this:

Sunbird will not remain a free product for unlimited messaging. Over the coming months we will test subscription types and payment options.

As recently as March this year, though, Sunbird’s site said this in response to the same FAQ:

Sunbird will be free for the foreseeable future, that’s the bottom line. We don’t have any reason to turn on paid subscriptions right now based on our current goal. Right now we have one goal in mind to give iMessage on Android to millions of users. Let’s connect the world first!

So, clearly, something has changed at Sunbird as far as its financial goals are concerned.

Regardless, it seems quite bizarre for the company to double down like this. First, it has a massive amount of ill will and doubt to overcome after the Nothing Chats debacle last year. Second, Sunbird still hasn’t adequately proven that it’s solved all (or even some) of the privacy and security problems we’ve seen from it. Third, at no point has Sunbird proven that the app actually works well enough to use as a daily messaging service, let alone one that is worth paying for. Fourth, even in this most recent email to users, Sunbird openly admits that there are significant problems with the app, including that “new Apple IDs may have a brief 30-60 minute warming up period,” “all playable audio formats cause the app to crash,” and “outgoing attachments may be duplicated on the receiver’s end sporadically,” to name a few. Fifth, and most importantly, iPhones will receive RCS support very soon, which will not solve the “green bubble” issue Android users face when communicating with iPhone users but will make any app that does what Sunbird does immediately less enticing. In other words, for the company to already be planning a subscription model, it is very much putting the cart before the horse.

As we’ve said before, multiple members of the Android Authority team are on the Sunbird waitlist. Once we gain access to the “new” app, we’ll report back to you.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 rumors: Expected release date and what we know so far

Update: March 20, 2024 (1:41 PM ET): We have updated our NVIDIA RTX 5090 rumor hub with rumors about the release date, performance improvements, and the price.


While the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 might be the very next graphics card from the company, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 will likely be the next major high-end graphics card on offer. While the RTX 4090 is still quite a while off, here’s everything we know so far.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090: At a glance

The newest streaming movies this week: Exhuma, Monkey Man, and more

We’re here with a new list for the week, featuring two long-awaited movies and an anime retelling you’re going to love. It’s a great month for movies and shows this month, you’ll find more if you scroll to the bottom of this week’s round-up.

The best new streaming movies this week

Feel free to click on the links if something piques your interest, or read through to discover what’s streaming to find your weekend watch.

Ultraman Rising – June 14, Netflix

  • Release date: June 14, 2024 
  • Genre: Animation, Action, Adventure
  • Rating: PG
  • Director: Shannon Tindle
  • Cast: Christopher Sean, Gedde Watanabe, Tamlyn Tomita, Keone Young, Julia Harriman

Ken Sato, a star baseball player in Tokyo, must reluctantly follow in his father’s footsteps and become the next Ultraman, humanity’s legendary defender against giant kaiju monsters. As Ken struggles to balance his sports career with his new responsibilities as a superhero, he also grapples with a strained relationship with his father and the recent disappearance of his mother.

An encounter with a baby kaiju forces Ken to examine what truly makes a hero. Amidst epic battles to protect Tokyo, Ken and his father must learn to work together and mend their family bonds, all while deciding the fate of this mysterious young creature. This anime film offers a fresh, modern take on the classic Ultraman story, delving into complex familial themes while delivering thrilling kaiju action.

Exhuma – June 14, Shudder

  • Release date: May 3, 2024
  • Genre: Horror, Mystery, Thriller
  • Rating: N.A.
  • Director: Jang Jae-hyun
  • Cast: Choi Min-sik, Kim Go-eun, Yoo Hai-jin, Lee Do-hyun, Kim Jae-chul, Jeon Jin-gi, Kim Sun-young

In the forested countryside near the North Korean border, a wealthy immigrant family finds themselves plagued by a dark force targeting their newborn son. Desperate for help, they turn to Hwa-rim and Bong-gil, two young shaman siblings, and Sang-deok, a veteran geomancer, and his Christian apprentice Yeong-geun. As the spiritual experts dig deeper into the family’s past, they uncover terrifying secrets linked to the colonial-era traumas and the region’s rich tapestry of shamanist, Buddhist, and Christian traditions.

Mixing elements of exorcism thrills and creature feature horror with a strong basis in Korean mythology and history, Exhuma delivers a chilling ghost story that will make you think twice about the consequences of disturbing the past.

Clotilda: The Return Home – June 18, Disney Plus

  • Release date: April 13, 2024
  • Genre: Documentary
  • Rating: N.A.
  • Director: Tara Roberts
  • Cast: Tara Roberts

Nearly 90 years after the abolition of slavery, the schooner Clotilda carried 110 kidnapped Africans to Alabama in 1860, the last known slave ship to bring human cargo to the United States. Among the captives was Oluale Kossola, who was later interviewed about his experiences by author Zora Neale Hurston in the 1930s.

Now, Kossola’s descendants journey to his home village in Benin, hoping to finally fulfill his last wish of returning his spirit to where it was stolen. Along the way, the family confronts the brutal realities of slavery at historical sites in both Benin and America. Watch an African-American family’s quest to reclaim their ancestor’s story, find healing, and ensure that the truth of the Clotilda’s survivors will never be forgotten.

Camp Pleasant Lake – June 14, Starz

  • Release date: February 27, 2024
  • Genre: Horror
  • Rating: N.A.
  • Director: Thomas Walton
  • Cast: Kelly Lynn Reiter, Jonathan Lipnicki, Leila Almas Rose, James Di Giacomo, Lacey Burdine, William Delesk, Bonnie Aarons

Two decades after the unsolved Meadows Family murders at Camp Pleasant Lake, the remote site has been transformed into an immersive horror destination where paying guests can live out a “real” 80s slasher movie experience. But as the campers gleefully play along with the staged scares and gory special effects, a very real killer begins stalking the woods, and the lines between fiction and reality blur with deadly results.

Is it the vengeful spirit of young Echo Meadows, who vanished the night of her family’s slaughter? Or a flesh-and-blood killer orchestrating the ultimate horror show? Paying homage to classics like Friday the 13th and Scream, this blood-splattered, Camp Pleasant Lake gleefully hacks its way through the fourth wall for a gory, tongue-in-cheek thrill ride.

Monkey Man – June 14, Peacock

  • Release date: April 5, 2024 
  • Genre: Action, Thriller
  • Rating: R
  • Director: Dev Patel
  • Cast: Dev Patel, Sharlto Copley, Pitobash, Adithi Kalkunte, Sikandar Kher, Makrand Deshpande, Ashwini Kalsekar

On the chaotic streets of an Indian metropolis, a mysterious young fighter enters an underground tournament run by crooked promoters, using the prize money to fund his secret revenge mission. Concealing his identity behind a monkey mask, “The Kid” works his way into the inner circle of the city’s powerful elite, including the ruthless police chief who destroyed his family.

But even as The Kid trains his body into a lethal weapon, the sins of the past continue to haunt him. Driven by his commitment to justice and a belief in the mythic Hanuman, The Kid launches a brutal one-man war against the corrupt establishment, leaving a trail of blood and broken bones in his wake.

Black Barbie – June 19, Netflix

  • Release date: June 19, 2024 
  • Genre: Documentary
  • Rating: TV-MA
  • Director: Lagueria Davis
  • Cast: Beulah Mae Mitchell, Kitty Black Perkins, Stacey McBride-Irby

Since 1959, the Barbie doll has been a blonde-haired, blue-eyed icon of femininity and a mainstay of American girlhood. But for decades, Black girls were denied a doll that reflected their own beauty and experiences — until a group of pioneering Black women at Mattel rewrote the toy’s history.

Told through the voices of Mattel employees, cultural historians, and Barbie fans, this eye-opening film reveals how designer Kitty Black Perkins and others challenged corporate resistance to create the first Black Barbies in the 1960s and 70s. Blending corporate history with cultural critique, Black Barbie takes a searing look at the tangled relationship between race, beauty standards, and the power of representation.

 

What was new and worth watching over the last month

Here’s an extended list of what you can watch in June. 

Hit Man – June 7, Netflix

  • Release date: May 24, 2024
  • Genre: Action, Comedy, Crime
  • Rating: R
  • Director: Richard Linklater
  • Cast: Glen Powell, Adria Arjona, Austin Amelio, Retta, Sanjay Rao, Molly Bernard, Evan Holtzman

Philosophy professor by day, hitman by night, Gary Johnson leads a double life, helping his police pals catch criminals in the act of hiring contract killers. Awkward and unassuming in the classroom, Gary transforms into a suave operator when he goes undercover, donning disguises and adopting personas. But his well-ordered system hits a snag when beautiful Maddy Masters walks into his life, looking to escape her controlling husband.

As “Ron”, Gary talks Maddy out of the hit, but can’t resist falling for her himself. Director Richard Linklater keeps the action popping and the screwball romance sparking. What will Gary have to do to save his girl and his secrets? Sizzling chemistry and whip-smart dialogue make this movie a fun, fizzy ride.

Baki Hanma VS Kengan Ashura – June 6, Netflix

  • Release date: June 6, 2024
  • Genre: Animation, Action
  • Rating: TV-MA
  • Director: Toshiki Hirano
  • Cast: Nobunaga Shimazaki, Tatsuhisa Suzuki

The hardcore heroes of two hit Netflix anime finally face off in an epic crossover event that will leave only one standing. Baki Hanma, the stoic mixed martial arts champ raised from childhood to fight, takes on Kengan Ashura’s Ohma Tokita, the underground arena brawler with a wild style and a wilder backstory. Teeth will shatter, bones will crunch, and blood will gush as the two trade earth-shaking blows in a battle for the ages.

Flashy animation captures every gouged eye and snapped limb in kinetic detail, Baki Hanma VS Kengan Ashura delivers the goods for fans hungry for a fist-to-face fracas. Lots of humor from secondary characters to look forward to in this one, this movie is as much a fun diversion as it is a true clash of titans.

Origin – June 10, Hulu

  • Release date: January 19, 2024
  • Genre: Drama, History
  • Rating: PG-13
  • Director: Ava DuVernay
  • Cast: Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Jon Bernthal, Niecy Nash-Betts, Emily Yancy, Finn Wittrock, Victoria Pedretti, Jasmine Cephas Jones

Isabel Wilkerson’s landmark 2020 book Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents brilliantly reframed racism as a caste system with deep historical roots in societies around the world. Now, director Ava DuVernay gives us Origin, telling the story of Wilkerson as she conceived and wrote the book while navigating personal angst. Flashing between eras, the film draws fascinating parallels between American slavery, Nazi Germany, and India’s oppression of the Dalit caste, uncovering disturbing conclusions.

We see a younger Wilkerson studying these grim histories and making potent connections in her work and life. Meanwhile, the present-day author copes with the death of her beloved husband and the decline of her elderly mother, finding solace in family and the hope that her book will make a difference. Origin is thought-provoking, grab a copy of the book once you’re done watching the movie. 

Queer Planet – June 6, Peacock

  • Release date: June 6, 2024
  • Genre: Documentary
  • Rating: N.A.
  • Director: Ed Watkins
  • Cast: Andrew Rannells, Sue Perkins, Christine Wilkinson

As conservatives rant about a “gay agenda”, Peacock cheekily presents Queer Planet, an eye-opening nature documentary that completely rebuffs the idea that homosexuality is “unnatural”. Narrated by actor Andrew Rannells, the special tours the animal kingdom to spotlight same-sex pairings and gender-fluid behavior, from affectionate lady lions to polyamorous bonobos.

Along the way, an array of colorful experts outline how pioneering biologists imposed their Victorian mores on the natural world, discounting queer conduct as non-existent for centuries. The ultimate conclusion: love is love, whether you’re a hetero human or a gay goose. Sure, there’s a clear political message here. But the film’s playful, accessible approach and fascinating footage make this an engaging watch for Pride month, or any time of the year. Queer Planet is a blast of fresh air in the often stuffy nature doc genre.

Perfect Days – June 6, Hulu

  • Release date: December 21, 2023
  • Genre: Drama
  • Rating: PG
  • Director: Wim Wenders
  • Cast: Koji Yakusho, Tokio Emoto, Arisa Nakano, Aoi Yamada, Yumi Asou, Sayuri Ishikawa, Tomokazu Miura

A man methodically mops a floor and scrubs a sink in a public restroom. This is no one-off, but a daily ritual for Hirayama, who takes great pride in his work as a Tokyo toilet cleaner. But there’s more to Hirayama than his humble profession in this delicate, deceptively simple character study from director Wim Wenders. Precisely ordered days filled with books, music, photography, and visits to a favorite bar hint at a life rebuilt from some past upheaval.

When the fragile cocoon Hirayama has constructed starts to fray, we see flickers of deep anguish and worry about Hirayama. Will he bounce back, and reenter his days of art and taking pride in his work? Perfect Days finds poetry in an overlooked life and the shadows that can shape us.

Big City Greens the Movie: Spacecation – June 7, Disney Plus

  • Release date: June 6, 2024
  • Genre: Animation, Action, Adventure
  • Rating: TV-Y7
  • Director: Anna O’Brian
  • Cast: Chris Houghton, Marieve Herington, Bob Joles, Artemis Pebdani, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Zeno Robinson, Anna Akana

Cricket Green and his offbeat country family trade the Big City for access to space in this action-packed musical comedy based on the Disney Channel series. When wacky tech mogul Gwendolyn Zapp recruits the Greens to test out an experimental asteroid farm, they eagerly volunteer, dreaming of an out-of-this-world adventure. But their cosmic lark turns into a disaster movie mission as everything that can go wrong does.

From worrying about malfunctioning robots to an asteroid knocked off course and hurtling toward Earth. It’s up to the Greens and astronaut Colleen Voyd to put aside their differences and save the day. This is a fun ride — with catchy songs, madcap humor, and a heartwarming message about finding the comforts of home and family wherever you are. But it’s the characters that really shine, with Cricket’s goofy schemes, Gramma Alice’s wisecracks, and Bill’s befuddled charm.

Am I OK? – June 6, Max

  • Release date: January 24, 2022
  • Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
  • Rating: R
  • Director: Stephanie Allynne
  • Cast: Dakota Johnson, Sonoya Mizuno, Jermaine Fowler, Kiersey Clemons, Molly Gordon, Whitmer Thomas, Sean Hayes

Lucy and Jane have been inseparable best friends since childhood. But when Jane drunkenly confesses she once kissed a girl as a teenager, it opens up long-suppressed questions about sexuality for the 32-year-old Lucy. Just as Jane is preparing to move across the world to London with her boyfriend Danny, Lucy finds herself undeniably attracted to Brittany, a free-spirited masseuse at the spa where Lucy works.

With Jane’s loving encouragement, the shy and anxious Lucy begins dipping her toes into the lesbian dating world — signing up for apps, visiting clubs, and flirting with Brittany. However, this new world of self-discovery puts strain on Lucy and Jane’s once-unbreakable bond as Jane spends more time with their more adventurous friend Kat.

And after one intimate night with Brittany, everything changes for Lucy.

Under Paris – June 5, Netflix

  • Release date: June 5, 2024
  • Genre: Action, Horror
  • Rating: TV-MA
  • Director: Xavier Gens
  • Cast: Bérénice Bejo, Nassim Lyes, Léa Léviant, Anaïs Parello, Iñaki Lartigue, Julien Jakout, José Antonio Pedrosa Moreno

Did it finally happen? A shark movie worthy of being compared to Jaws? Under Paris does establish an interesting premise — after a tragic diving accident leaves marine biologist Sophia Marleau permanently scarred. The massive great white shark she was tracking — a female mako nicknamed Lilith — goes rogue. Three years later, Lilith has somehow found her way into the Seine River running through the heart of Paris.

As Lilith starts racking up a terrifying body count, mutilating any unlucky enough to cross her path, Sophia teams up with shark activist Mika and river patrol sergeant Adil. Their urgent mission: capture Lilith and lead her back to her natural ocean habitat before the mayor’s ill-advised decision to allow a major open-water swimming competition turns the Seine’s currents bloodred.

Stopmotion – May 31, Shudder

  • Release date: February 23, 2024 
  • Genre: Horror
  • Rating: R
  • Director: Robert Morgan
  • Cast: Aisling Franciosi, Stella Gonet, Tom York, Therica Wilson-Read, Bridgitta Roy, Caoilinn Springall, Alex Freeborn

In Stopmotion, talented stop-motion animator Ella Blake is working on a personal film project after the death of her overbearing mother Suzanne, who used to control and criticize her every creative move. Finally free from her mother’s shadow, Ella moves into an apartment to focus solely on bringing her dark, twisted, stop-motion story to life.

However, Ella finds an unexpected collaborator in the building’s only other resident – a strange little girl who begins “helping” with the animated film. As Ella uses increasingly disturbing and unconventional materials to craft her stop-motion figures, the lines between her art and reality start blurring in dangerous ways. Stopmotion blends mesmerizing stop-motion animation with a disturbing psychological horror tale of artistic obsession and internalized trauma.

The American Society of Magical Negroes – May 3, Peacock

  • Release date: March 15, 2024 
  • Genre: Comedy, Fantasy
  • Rating: PG-13
  • Director: Kobi Libii
  • Cast: Justice Smith, Zachary Barton, Anthony Coons, Robbie Troy, Gillian Vigman, James E. Welsh, David Alan Grier

Part biting racial satire, part supernatural comedy, The American Society of Magical Negroes takes the offensive “magical negro” trope to absurdly literal heights.

With razor-sharp social commentary and mind-bending fantasy elements, it boldly asks: What if upholding systemic racism…was an actual superpower? What if there was a secret society of Black people with actual magical powers — but their sole purpose was to use those abilities to make white people more comfortable? That’s the provocative premise at the heart of The American Society of Magical Negroes.

Aren is recruited into this organization after displaying supernatural talents. At first, he’s in awe of his new abilities. But soon, he starts questioning everything. Caught between the magical mentor bringing him into the fold and a white love interest oblivious to the society’s influence, Aren must decide whether to keep using his powers to enable white supremacy or reject the society’s antiquated agenda once and for all.

Die Hart 2: Die Harter – May 30, Prime

  • Release date: May 30, 2024 
  • Genre: Action
  • Rating: N.A.
  • Director: Eric Appel
  • Cast: Kevin Hart, Nathalie Emmanuel, Ben Schwartz, John Cena, Paula Pell, Greg Kriek, Melissa Ponzio

To prove he can do his stunts, Kevin Hart hires goons to take over a fancy restaurant. Just so he can fight his way out looking like a badass. This is the last straw for the studios, because who’s going to back his insane vanity project? Apparently, a mysterious European investor will. He swoops in to greenlight Hart’s dream by actually having him and his reluctant co-star Nathalie Emmanuel kidnapped for real.

Convinced it’s all part of his “movie,” the delusional Hart plays along, dodging tranquilizer darts and escaping captors as the body count rises. But who is actually behind this twisted plot? Could it be Hart’s fired stunt double-played by John Cena seeking revenge? As the violent game of make-believe blurs with reality, Hart must finally accept this is not a rehashed reboot – it’s life or death. This movie is action-packed and the stakes are high, but it does have Hart in it, so it is characteristically funny.

Basma – June 6, Netflix

  • Release date: June 6, 2024 
  • Genre: Drama
  • Rating: N.A.
  • Director: Fatima AlBanawi
  • Cast: Fatima AlBanawi, Eissa Hafiz, Yasir AlSasi, Mai Hakeem, Terad Sindi, Mohammed Fawzi

Basma is a 26-year-old Saudi woman who returns home to Jeddah from the U.S. to find her father suffering from paranoid delusions and deteriorating mental health. As she tries to get him proper treatment before having to leave again, Basma confronts the harsh stigmas and lack of resources around mental illness in Saudi society.

Writer/director Fatima Al-Banawi, who also stars, draws from her psychology background to authentically explore one woman’s struggle to help a loved one with a psychological condition in a culture that largely shuns discussions of mental health. Basma’s urgent mission to save her father lays bare the isolating challenges for Saudi families dealing with psychic disorders.

The First Omen – May 30, Hulu

  • Release date: April 5, 2024 
  • Genre: Horror
  • Rating: R
  • Director: Arkasha Stevenson
  • Cast: Nell Tiger Free, Ralph Ineson, Sônia Braga, Bill Nighy, María Caballero, Nicole Sorace, Tawfeek Barhom

Is there such a thing as too many Omen movies? The answer is no. While my personal favorite remains Omen IV: The Awakening, the newest addition does not disappoint. If you missed this one in the theatres, now’s your chance to get up to speed.

Ah, the familiar old set-up. In 1970s Rome, an ancient evil stirs within the heart of the Catholic Church. The First Omen tells you how it all started. It follows Margaret as she uncovers a sinister conspiracy.

Sent to the crumbling Vizzardeli Orphanage, Margaret is drawn to a troubled young girl, Carlita, whose dark visions hint at an unspeakable fate. As a series of horrifying events unfold, a desperate priest (Ralph Ineson) reveals the Church’s true intentions: to bring forth the Antichrist and drive the faithful back to God through fear.

Upcoming OnePlus smartwatch resurfaces, confirming LTE support

OnePlus Watch 2 showing watch face on shelf

Credit: Dhruv Bhutani / Android Authority

  • An upcoming OnePlus smartwatch with LTE support has surfaced in Chinese regulatory body TENAA’s database.
  • The certification filing reveals several similarities with the recently released OnePlus Watch 2.


OnePlus is likely working on an upgraded version of the OnePlus Watch 2, which could address one of its main shortcomings: the lack of LTE support.

MySmartPrice has spotted an unreleased OnePlus smartwatch with the model number OPWW234 in a certification filing submitted to China’s regulatory body TENAA. The filing includes a render showcasing a smartwatch that looks strikingly similar to the OnePlus Watch 2 with a circular dial and two buttons on the right side.

Render of an unreleased OnePlus smartwatch from a TENAA certification filing.

Credit: TENAA

While the upcoming model might not feature major design changes, the listing adds that it will include LTE connectivity via eSIM and support eSIMs from China Unicom, China Telecom, and China Mobile. Like the OnePlus Watch 2, it will also include Bluetooth, GPS, BeiDou, NFC, GLONASS, and WLAN support.

The international variant of the unreleased smartwatch with the model number OPWWE234 appeared on India’s Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) certification site and in the TUV Rheinland database earlier this month. As per those listings, the model will bear further similarities with the OnePlus Watch 2, like a 500mAh battery. A 3C certification listing of the Chinese model has also highlighted the same 10W charging capability.

Due to these similarities, we suspect that the device could just be an LTE variant of the OnePlus Watch 2. Add to that the fact that it has only been a few months since the OnePlus Watch 2 hit the market, it’s highly unlikely for the company to release a full-fledged successor.

We might not have to wait too long to know for sure, as companies generally submit regulatory filings close to launch. OnePlus will likely release the watch in China and India. We don’t have any indication of a wider global launch.

New leak points to welcome camera sensor upgrades for the Galaxy S25 Ultra

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra camera housing

Credit: Robert Triggs / Android Authority

  • A new leak points to two Samsung Galaxy S25 camera sensor upgrades.
  • Allegedly, the ultrawide could get “a new version of the 1/2.76-inch JN1 sensor.”
  • Meanwhile, the 3x telephoto could have “a new 1/3-inch Isocell sensor.”


We’re a good seven months away from the expected launch of the Samsung Galaxy S25 series. However, that doesn’t mean the rumor mill isn’t already in overdrive, dishing out supposed specs and upgrades for the upcoming flagships. Today, we have some new info related to the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra’s camera, specifically.

According to Sperandio4Tech on X (formerly Twitter), there could be two notable sensor upgrades for the Galaxy S25 Ultra. First, the ultrawide sensor could get “a new version of the 1/2.76-inch JN1 sensor.” Currently, the Galaxy S24 Ultra has a 1/2.55-inch sensor, making this rumored upgrade a slightly smaller model. As previously leaked, though, the resolution could get a huge bump from the 12MP on the Galaxy S24 Ultra to a solid 50MP.

Galaxy S25 Ultra – New Sensors Revealed

Although we still don’t know the names of the sensors at this stage, the Ultrawide will have a new version of the 1/2.76″ JN1 sensor, which is slightly smaller than the one in the S24 Ultra and has a higher resolution of 50MP, as we’ve… pic.twitter.com/LOyU9QJ9MT

— Sperandio4Tech (@ISAQUES81) June 20, 2024

Meanwhile, the 3x telephoto lens could also get a new sensor. The leaker says this could be “a new 1/3-inch Isocell sensor.” This would be slightly larger than the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s 1/3.52-inch sensor for its 3x telephoto. Once again, previous rumors suggested this would get a resolution upgrade from 10MP to 50MP.

Unfortunately, all signs point to no upgrades for the main 200MP sensor. It also appears that the 10x periscope telephoto lens will also be carried over from the Galaxy S24 Ultra.

It’s worth noting, however, that Sperandio4Tech has a mixed track record as far as Samsung leaks go. The X user claimed last month that the S25 Ultra would drop the 3x camera altogether in favor of a variable telephoto lens. More established leakers Ice Universe and Revegnus contradicted these claims at the time, with Ice Universe alleging that 50MP 3x and ultrawide cameras were coming. So while this latest claim is in line with more reliable leakers, you should still take Sperandio4Tech’s claims with a bag of salt in general.

It’s early days yet, though, so who knows what could change between now and 2025, which is when we expect the Galaxy S25 series to launch.

Wear OS should take a page out of Apple’s book

Google’s Wear OS took a gulp of fresh air with the help of Samsung in 2021. The new version launched with an improved UI, smoother performance, reliable features, and the promise of consistent development. We’ve since seen the arrival of Wear OS 4 in 2023, with the next iteration possibly landing later this year. But even though the revamped OS is miles beyond its earlier versions, it’s still not the smartwatch OS of my dreams. It fails to accomplish one important task: display contextually relevant information when it’s most needed.

So, how can Google remedy this? I think Apple may have a solution.

Wear OS and its info dilemma

google wear os tiles demo on fossil sport

For context, I use a Samsung Galaxy Watch as a daily driver. I’ve been through several Fitbit and Garmin watches, but I’ve always returned to Wear OS for that comfortable fit. It feels familiar, and forms the basis of my digital life when my hands are tied. My phone usually stays nestled in my bag when I’m not at home, and when I do need it, I prefer to continue any task I’ve initiated on my watch. However, this isn’t always possible. Information on Wear OS is always a button press or a swipe too far, or simply isn’t available on the wrist.

Information on Wear OS is always a button press or a swipe too far, or simply isn't available on the wrist.

Google has tried to remedy this with the release of newer complications and the addition of tiles. While I’ve always felt complications are essential for viewing bite-sized information, tiles leave a lot to be desired. The feature allows apps and features to display dedicated screens beyond the home screen, but it’s never been a true solution to my problem. The implementation is clunky, relies on multiple swipes and button presses, and often neglects to update in a timely fashion. As it stands, tiles just aren’t useful.

How watchOS tackles the problem

WatchOS 10 on Apple Watch 3

Ironically, the previously widget-shy Apple does a much better job with this on the Apple Watch. With Smart Stack — a home screen widget carousel that displays relevant information from apps running in the background — app information is readily available and easily cycled through using the digital crown. There’s never a need to leave the home screen to access this information. This has other benefits too. There’s no need for complications, so users can run their favorite watch faces unabated.

Ironically, the previously widget-shy Apple does a much better job with on the Apple Watch.

At WWDC 2024, Apple added even more functionality to this system by introducing Live Activity support to watchOS 11, allowing it to display contextually-relevant info cards in the stack when appropriate. These are essentially mirrored toasts taken from the iPhone’s Dynamic Island, but functions as a natural extension of your phone on your wrist. That degree of seamlessness is dearly missing with Wear OS and Android.

Smart Stack isn’t perfect, but it could be for Wear OS

google pixel watch wear os watch face prime os 2

Credit: Rita El Khoury / Android Authority

There’s no denying that Smart Stack has its issues, but this is due to execution rather than concept. I’ve read multiple complaints from users who feel there just aren’t enough useful widgets available. There are others who feel that data-heavy watch faces are all they need. Perhaps I’m in the minority, as I see Smart Stack as a potentially great addition to Wear OS. But now that Apple was the first to launch the feature, a Wear OS equivalent can iron out these problems.

It would put essential information relayed from your phone front and center without user intervention. Do you want to use a complication-free watch face but still demand info snippets? A Smart Stack clone would allow this. As more Wear OS watches are adopting a dial, a swipe-free implementation would also be more than doable.

Despite its numerous improvements over the years, Wear OS still has plenty of room to grow.

Google has done wonders with Android’s notification system, and there’s room to improve it on Wear OS. In an ideal world, contextual clues, be it time of day, location, specific days of the week or month, and even ambient light could all prompt specific widget cards. Google wouldn’t necessarily require Gemini smarts to accomplish this, but it would add some welcome smarts to the experience. Of course, such a feature would live and die by the apps it supports. It’ll still need third-party developers to enrich the widget offering. This is an opportunity, not a potential issue. If the feature adds value, developers will build for it.

Despite its numerous improvements over the years, Wear OS still has plenty of room to grow. Addressing the way it displays information could hugely improve its interoperability with Android and make it a true extension of the smartphone. If Google needs ideas on how to address this, its competitor has a few.

This demo of Apple’s iPhone Mirroring feature shows it’s ahead of Android

macOS Sequoia on MacBook Air M2

Credit: Mahmoud Itani / Android Authority

  • A user has activated the unreleased iPhone Mirroring feature that is coming soon to macOS Sequoia.
  • Apple’s iPhone Mirroring execution in the screen recording appears to be much smoother than its Android-Windows counterpart.
  • There’s currently no easy way to enable Apple’s feature, but those running the iOS and macOS betas can expect an official debut in the near future.


Arguably, macOS Sequoia’s most significant feature is iPhone Mirroring. Through this upcoming Apple ecosystem integration, users will be able to control their iOS devices directly from their Macs. While macOS Sequoia beta 1 doesn’t officially offer this feature, a user has managed to enable it forcibly. Based on the brief screen recording they shared, Apple’s iPhone Mirroring appears to be much more polished than the Phone Link feature tying Android and Windows.

Region lock my ass. 😂🇪🇺
iOS 18 seems to have turned a few of us into full-time reverse engineers 🫡 pic.twitter.com/ZcfIxWx5DX

— xezrunner (@XeZrunner) June 20, 2024

As shown in the video embedded above, Twitter user Xezrunner has managed to enable and use iPhone Mirroring on iOS 18 and macOS Sequoia. The mirroring in the demo seems to be instantaneous, with virtually no lag or glitches. The user swiftly launched, navigated through, and exited a mirrored iOS app — reflecting a natural, intuitive user experience.

Screenshot of tweet about iPhone Mirroring feature

User Albacore, who helped enable the feature, states that there’s currently no easy way to activate iPhone Mirroring on macOS Sequoia beta 1. Consequently, users may have to wait until Apple officially enables it in a future beta build. Nevertheless, the fact that an unreleased feature on a first developer beta seems to be working seamlessly only highlights how well-developed it is. The second OS betas, which could potentially enable this feature for all testers, are expected next week.

I tried the anti-AI Instagram alternative and it’s a mental and visual delight

Instagram, and social media as a whole, has an AI problem. Not only is the platform tagging real photos as created by AI, but it’s also using users’ creations to train its AI models. This, for an artist, is obviously worrying. In a world where generative AI is gathering momentum, and the lines between real and artificial are quickly blurring, it’s becoming more difficult for real artists to ply their trade. That’s where Cara steps in. The platform recently saw a surge in users, and I decided to give it a whirl, too.

What is Cara and who is it for?

Founded by photographer Jingna Zhang, Cara is a relatively new social network and app that aims to protect artistic integrity. Despite its focus on creators, Cara is available for all seeking out new and exciting artists or novel work. Like a digital art gallery, you don’t need to upload your own content to enjoy others’. You don’t even need an account if you browse online. I do love discovering new artists at markets and online, and I’ve found myself scrolling through the app much like I would Instagram or Reddit.

Its core tenet and principle draw is its stance on AI. The app currently prohibits generative AI works and implements safeguards to prevent AI models from scraping and training on data. In this sense, the platform appeals to those who want an authentic, AI-free portal to promote their work.

What Cara gets right

Cara also bills itself as a refuge from Instagram and other pro-AI social networks, but its design borrows heavily from the Meta app. This is a good thing, as the familiar UI streamlines the learning process. It took me a few minutes to familiarize myself with the app and with its home page.

The app is devoid of ads and puts the content first and foremost. It also provides plenty of options for users to browse and discover new work. I’m a huge fan of its Home Feed Settings option, which lets you choose in percentage increments what content you encounter on your home page. If you only want to see your friends’ artwork, you can do that. Want to see site-wide posts and a splash of your follower’s content? That’s possible too. All social networks could benefit from this quality-of-life toggle.

I can't recall encountering a social network with a more supportive environment.

The profile page layout is another bright spot and foregrounds the promotion of artists. Users can broadcast their stance on accepting freelance work, commissions, or full-time positions if eager eyes come looking. Links are allowed too, making it easy for potential clients to navigate directly to an artist’s storefront. I’ve bookmarked more than a handful of creators I plan to purchase work from in the future. This pocketing functionality, which is separate from likes, makes it a great way to remember specific pieces, too, be it for your own inspiration or later referral. Hashtags also work well, plugging directly into the search functionality.

I want to touch on my experience on Cara beyond the art itself, though. A core part of the platform is its community. Like every social network, it’s the people that make it what it is. Unlike Instagram and X (formerly Twitter), comments left on Cara posts are remarkably supportive. I haven’t yet encountered one toxic comment. Perhaps this is thanks to its core ethos, but Cara is largely devoid of political commentary, harassment, toxic remarks, and hateful echo chambers. I can’t recall encountering a social network with a more supportive environment.

As its a smaller, more condensed community, it encourages the discovery of art from artists you wouldn’t otherwise encounter. This makes it easier for smaller artists to garner a following, as opposed to Instagram where the sheer number of users and its algorithm may limit potential reach.

It’s not quite there, yet

cara app hero image 2

Credit: Andy Walker / Android Authority

As you’ve probably gathered, I love the idea of Cara. A place that fosters creativity and harbors a supportive net of users who all share the same love? Count me in. However, for all of its positives, Cara isn’t exempt from critique.

There are practical flaws. Even though Cara allows text posts up to 5,000 characters long, the platform’s current focus is visual art. Unfortunately, this makes it more inhospitable for other creative projects. Text posts aren’t as easy to search for as visual content, which makes finding poetry and short stories difficult. Users can post their poetry as an image to get around this, but it’s an extra step.

I found issues with image quality too, especially when zooming into images. Granted, there has to be some compression, but visual platforms should put visual fidelity first.

It's important to address the elephant in the room: what is Cara's trajectory?

Finally, it’s important to address the elephant in the room: what is Cara’s trajectory? It’s not a social media platform in the traditional sense. I feel the app has more in common with an art subreddit than Instagram. You won’t use it to keep up with a friends’ travel photos, see specific images from a place or event, or more general imagery from internet users. In this sense, don’t expect Cara to ever become a true Instagram alternative.

I worry about its feasibility. In its current guise, the platform appears to be unsustainable. In an interview with Wired, Zhang noted that the platform’s hosting bills are mounting. The small development outfit was considering implementing a subscription service, but this may inadvertently dissuade people from joining.

Cara may have too narrow a reach to be a truly viable social platform, but rapid growth also leaves it with unsolved issues. The platform no doubt strengthens artist-to-artist collaboration, but I doubt it’ll spawn an anti-AI social media revolution. I’m not sure if that’s what Cara or its creators want, either. The platform is designed for artists by artists, and this makes it inherently niche. But can Cara survive without casual users? Can digital art survive without casual browsers? I’m not so sure, but regardless, I enjoy drawing inspiration from the platform. I might even take up doodling again.

Samsung has some cool new Paris 2024 Olympic-themed accessories for your Galaxy phone

Person pulling a Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 featuring a Paris 2024-themed case out of their pocket.

Credit: Samsung

  • Samsung has released a new range of smartphone accessories celebrating the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic games.
  • The lineup includes new cases, power banks, shoulder straps, and more for a wide range of Galaxy smartphones.
  • The accessories are already up for sale in France, but we have no information on wider availability at the moment.


In celebration of the upcoming Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris, France, Samsung has released a new range of Paris 2024-themed smartphone accessories. The lineup includes over 50 case models, power banks, and shoulder straps featuring the Paris 2024 logo, Art Deco-inspired designs, colors of the French Olympic and Paralympic teams, and the official Paris 2024 Olympic mascot “Phryge.”

Cases in the Paris 2024 accessory lineup are compatible with the following Galaxy smartphones:

  • Galaxy A05s
  • Galaxy A15 4G/5G
  • Galaxy A25 5G
  • Galaxy A35 5G
  • Galaxy A55 5G
  • Galaxy S23 FE
  • Galaxy S24
  • Galaxy S24 Plus
  • Galaxy S24 Ultra
  • Galaxy Z Flip 5

The new range also includes a few universally compatible products, like a waterproof case with the Paris 2024 logo, a braided shoulder strap in the colors of the French flag, a wider ribbon shoulder strap in pop colors with the Paris 2024 text logo, and a 10,000mAh power bank featuring Phryge. You can check out some of the designs in the gallery below.

The Paris 2024-themed accessories are currently on sale in France, with a few products limited to Samsung’s website. At the moment, we don’t have information regarding a wider release. We expect the company to launch the accessories in other regions ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games opening ceremony next month.

Would you buy one of these Paris 2024-themed accessories for your phone? Let us know in the comments below.

Google Home could finally better support Nest x Yale locks (APK teardown)

Nest x Yale smart lock

  • Strings within the Google Home app suggest that new functionality related to passcodes is coming to the app.
  • While this could be for future hardware releases, there’s a chance that this is existing Nest x Yale lock users who have been stuck without passcode-related features in the Google Home app ever since the Nest app was deprioritized.


Google and Yale announced the Nest x Yale smart door lock back in 2017, with the smart features of the lock controlled through the Nest app. However, the company sunset the Nest app in favor of the Google Home app in 2021. Despite “transitioning” to the Google Home app, Google never really managed to get full feature parity with the Nest app. An upcoming Google Home app update could help bridge some of the gaps, finally giving Nest x Yale smart door lock users the ability to use passcodes through it.

In the latest Google Home app v3.19.1.3 update, we found the following strings that reference passcode functionality:

<string name="choose_a_lock_header_description">A guest passcode will be created for this lock</string>
<string name="create_label_header_description">Labels help you identify and organize passcodes</string>
<string name="choose_a_lock_header_title">Choose lock</string>
<string name="create_passcode_label_hint">Passcode label</string>
<string name="edit_label_header_description">Tap label to change. Labels help you identify and organize passcodes.</string>
<string name="create_label_header_text">Create label</string>

The strings reveal that the Google Home app will get passcode-related features. These features will extend to labeling and creating guest passcodes, though there is always room for adding more features in the future.

Now, the strings do not directly reference the Nest x Yale locks. So, there is a chance that Google is building functionality for some future hardware products. However, there’s also a chance that this feature is finally an attempt at bringing feature parity to Nest x Yale lock users, and we believe that to be more likely the case.

Google’s support documentation on Nest x Yale Lock passcodes continues to reference the Nest app for creating and changing the passcodes used to lock and unlock the Google Nest x Yale Lock. We’ve also spotted exasperated Nest x Yale lock users on Reddit trying to figure out how to manage passcodes for their lock in the confused mishmash between the Nest app and the Google Home app. The Nest app redirects them to the Google Home app, but the Google Home app seems to lack functionality around passcodes. So it’s likely that Google could be looking to finally bridge the gap here for existing users. However, this remains speculation on our end.

We’ve reached out to Google for a statement on this finding. We’ll update this article when we hear back from them.

Here’s when the first Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 phone could launch

Xiaomi 14 Camera

Credit: Paul Jones / Android Authority

  • The Xiaomi 15 will be the first Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 phone, according to a leaker.
  • Another tipster has claimed that the first Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 phone will arrive in late October.
  • This isn’t a surprise as the first Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 phones arrived in October 2023.


Qualcomm has already confirmed that its next-generation Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 processor will launch in October, and it’s expected to power a host of high-end phones in 2025. But you won’t need to wait until 2025 to see the first phone with this processor.

Weibo tipster Smart Pikachu has claimed that the Xiaomi 15 will be the first Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 smartphone. The leaker reiterated that the phone will have a small flat screen, adding that it’ll be a “little rounder” than before.

When will the phone launch, though?

Smart Pikachu didn’t dish out a specific launch window. However, fellow leaker Digital Chat Station claimed in a now-edited post that the first Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 phones would indeed launch at the end of October.

An October launch window for the first Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 phones wouldn’t be a surprise. The Xiaomi 14 and 14 Pro launched in October 2023 as the first Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 handsets, after all.

However, we’re guessing that the first Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 devices will be China-only releases at first, with global launches following in the new year. This was indeed the case for the Xiaomi 14, which eventually received a global release in February 2024.

This isn’t the first time we heard about the Xiaomi 15 series being the first Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 phone family, either. Leaker Yogesh Brar claimed back in April that Xiaomi had “exclusive first launch rights” for the new chip and would offer the Xiaomi 15 and Xiaomi 15 Pro. Brar added that OnePlus and Iqoo would follow as the next OEMs to offer the new silicon.

AI portraits could come to Samsung phones, but should you care?

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra camera housing angled

Galaxy S24 Ultra
Credit: Robert Triggs / Android Authority

  • Samsung’s One UI 6.1.1 will reportedly use AI to let you paint portrait photos in different styles.
  • It’s unclear whether this will be based on prompts, predefined filters, or something different altogether.
  • We’ve already seen a couple of brands fuse generative AI and portraits, with less-than-convincing results.


We heard our first One UI 6.1.1 leaks earlier this week, and it seems that Samsung is planning to bring plenty more AI features with this software. Now, a long-time leaker has revealed one more apparent AI feature.

Ice Universe claimed on X that the upcoming Samsung One UI 6.1.1 update will include an AI feature for portrait mode. More specifically, the tipster claims that “you can use AI to paint the portrait photos you take into various styles.”

It’s unclear whether this will be a highly customizable feature (e.g. using prompts), a handful of pre-defined on-device styles akin to filters, or something different altogether. We hope it’s not a few predefined styles as filters aren’t anything new.

In any event, this wouldn’t be the first time we see generative AI used for portraits on phones. Chinese brand vivo has offered generative portrait functionality on its high-end phones (seen below), allowing you to change the season in your portrait images. Your captured images are uploaded to vivo’s servers for processing, and the results aren’t convincing at all.

More recently, Xiaomi marketed an AI Portrait feature on the Xiaomi 14 series, which allows you to place yourself in a variety of scenes based on prompts. This doesn’t work locally, though, and requires you to feed previous photos of yourself as a reference so the feature can learn what you look like. This also doesn’t specifically work with portrait mode.

Either way, the aforementioned attempts to fuse generative AI and portraits have generally been very gimmicky. So our expectations are low for Samsung’s take on this in One UI 6.1.1, but we hope to be proven wrong.

realme GT 6 launches with Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 and brightest smartphone display ever

  • The realme GT 6 launched today.
  • It has a Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 chip and the brightest display ever on a commercial phone.
  • A massive 5,500mAh battery and 120W wired charging are other highlights.


When it comes to budget-friendly Android phones in Europe and other parts of the world, realme is usually a part of the conversation. At the end of May, the company launched the realme GT 6T, the first phone to hit Indian stores with the Snapdragon 7 Plus Gen 3 chipset. Interestingly, the company launched that phone before fully revealing the GT 6, on which it is based. Today, though, the company finally took the wraps off the new flagship realme GT 6!

As one would expect, the GT 6 looks a lot like the GT 6T, right down to the two color choices of Fluid Silver and Razor Green. The dual-tone mirrored back also ports over, with most of the phone having a frosted look, but the area surrounding the rear camera module retains the polished look you would expect from a mirror. While this looks cool, it’s also functional: using the mirrored back, you can easily line up a selfie using the rear camera lens, giving you much better results than the tiny front-facing camera.

One of the most notable aspects of the phone, though, is its processor. Inside the realme GT 6 is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 3, making it one of the first commercial smartphones to land with this chipset (the Xiaomi 14 Civi is another). It’s essentially a slightly weaker version of the mainline Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. Since it’s not as powerful, it’s also not as expensive, allowing the phone to stay a bit cheaper than you would expect for the features it offers.

Elsewhere, the phone has the brightest display of any commercial smartphone, hitting a stunning 6,000 nits. Of course, you’ll never see that in day-to-day usage, with the usual peak being a much more reasonable 1,600 nits. If you wanted to, though, you could turn on the Peak Brightness Test in Android’s Developer Options and watch as the phone hits a blinding 6,000 nits.

For cameras, you have a 50MP primary lens flanked by an 8MP ultrawide and a 50MP telephoto. The front-facing selfie camera is a 32MP shooter, housed in a centered display cutout.

Rounding out the phone’s specs, you’ll find 120W wired charging, a 5,500mAh battery, Wi-Fi 6 support, Android 14 skinned over with realme UI 5.0, up to 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM, and up to 512GB of UFS 4.0 storage. Unfortunately, you won’t get wireless charging.

realme GT 6: Price and availability

The realme GT 6 will be available in Europe and India. The starting price for the model with 8GB RAM and 256GB of storage is €600 (~$645)/Rs. 40,999, while the 12GB/256GB variant costs €700 (~$750)/Rs. 42,999, and the 16GB/512GB variant costs €800 (~$858)/Rs. 44,999.

Realme gt 6 availability

Credit: Rita El Khoury / Android Authority

The phone is available to preorder immediately in Europe and India from Realme’s website and other retail channels.

realme GT 6 hands-on: A pretty phone that cuts the right corners

Premium Android smartphones have only been getting more expensive recently. The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is $100 more than the same model was in 2023, pushing it to a whopping $1,299 at the low end. Even the Google Pixel 8 Pro, compared to the Pixel 7 Pro, jumped by $100 to $999. These ultra-premium phones continuing to rise in price does have a silver lining, though, which is that there are now gaps in the $600-$900 range that other companies can fill. In that vein, enter a new contender: the realme GT 6.

Poised as a “flagship killer,” the realme GT 6 attempts to deliver most of the premium features you would want from an expensive flagship but with a lower price tag. I had some hands-on time with the GT 6 and have some thoughts on it, so let’s get into it.

Design

Realme GT 6 Razor Green With Retail Box Standing Up

Credit: C. Scott Brown / Android Authority

The first thing I said to myself when I took the realme GT 6 out of the box was, “Huh, I haven’t seen this before.” The phone has a two-tone mirrored back. Most of the back is frosted — i.e., slightly reflective — while the portion surrounding the large rear camera module is polished, giving you a pure mirror. It’s a unique look that might be a “love it or hate it” kind of thing, but I quite like it.

While the back makes the phone look cool, it also has a purpose. Using the reflective back, you can more easily line up a selfie shot using the rear cameras. Doing so will produce better results than using the front-facing camera, making the mirrored back a sort of lo-fi alternative to just spinning your phone around, hitting the shutter, and hoping for the best. Check the photos below to see me lining up a shot of myself.

Notably, this was a method used a long, long time ago with phones that didn’t yet have front-facing cameras. I remember the LG Prada — the first phone with a capacitive touch screen, beating the original iPhone to market by a few months — had a small mirror on the back for this very reason. So really, realme has just taken an old idea and modernized it, but it’s still great to see here.

Speaking of the back of the phone, the GT 6 comes in two colors: Fluid Silver and Razor Green, the latter of which is the version I got my hands on. Both colors are nice, but the Razor Green model isn’t nearly as reflective as Fluid Silver. If you envision yourself using that selfie trick I just described a lot, you’ll probably have an easier time with Fluid Silver since it looks basically just like a real mirror.

Of course, all this mirrored glass makes the GT 6 a fingerprint magnet. Seriously, I couldn’t even gently touch the phone without leaving fingerprints behind. Also, if you plan on dropping the whole thing into a protective case, the finish doesn’t really mean anything, so keep that in mind if this is a phone you’re interested in buying.

Outside of the back and the colors, the phone follows recent premium smartphone design trends. It has a huge 6.78-inch display with some steep curves on the sides. The display has a nice resolution of 2,780 x 1,264 with a 120Hz refresh rate and can also get very bright, but I’ll touch more on that in the next section.

Finally, at 199g, the phone isn’t super heavy but still feels premium. As far as big phones with curvy screens go, I found it relatively comfortable to use with one hand, and it never felt like I was using a mid-ranger.

Hardware and features

Realme GT 6 Razor Green Camera Module On Back

Credit: C. Scott Brown / Android Authority

The three most notable hardware aspects of the realme GT 6 are the processor, the display, and the battery. Let’s start with the processor.

Under the hood, you’ll find a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 3. Launched in March 2024, this is essentially a slightly weaker version of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, which is the processor you’ll find in the OnePlus 12 and the Galaxy S24 series (in certain locations). Despite its launch a few months ago, we haven’t seen many phones actually include it, making the realme GT 6 one of the first to market with the chipset.

For day-to-day usage, the processor will deliver everything you need. It even will be more than capable for high-performance tasks, such as gaming. For example, it supports PUBG Mobile gameplay at 120fps and plays Genshin Impact at a silky smooth 1.5K resolution. There’s even a feature, awkwardly called Geek Power Tuning (seriously, realme, re-think the name of this), that allows you to customize CPU/GPU performance to your needs. Obviously, all the tweaking in the world won’t make it quite as good as a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 phone, but the 8s Gen 3 is cheaper, which will prevent the realme GT 6 from hitting those aforementioned ultra-premium prices.

The realme GT 6 has a processor that we haven't seen in many phones to date.'

The display is the second notable hardware feature of this phone. In its marketing, realme is making a big deal of calling this “the brightest smartphone display ever,” which is technically true. By that, I mean, technically speaking, the phone is capable of hitting an absolutely bonkers 6,000 nits — nearly three times the peak brightness of the Google Pixel 8 Pro and Galaxy S24 Ultra. However, you will never, ever see that brightness during normal usage. In fact, the normal peak brightness of the GT 6 is only 1,600 nits, which is much lower than the peaks for the Galaxy S24 Ultra (2,600 nits) and Pixel 8 Pro (2,400 nits). To hit the 6,000 nits mark, you’ll need to manually force it using Android’s Developer Options, which makes it a silly parlor trick, essentially.

Realme GT 6 Razor Green Realme Logo

Credit: C. Scott Brown / Android Authority

Parlor tricks aside, the display is still very nice. But don’t believe the jargon — the GT 6’s display is brighter than most, but not as bright as some in real-world scenarios.

The third notable aspect of this phone is its battery and how fast it can charge. The GT 6 has an enormous 5,500mAh cell, which is 500mAh bigger than what you’ll find in the S24 Ultra and the Pixel 8 Pro. You can also charge that battery much, much faster than either of those two other phones, thanks to SUPERVOOC technology bringing 120W wired charging speeds to the GT 6. Thankfully, the phone comes with the charger needed to meet that speed, which promises a battery topped off from zero to full in just around 28 minutes.

You'll also get a massive battery and ludicrously fast wired charging speeds, but wireless charging is missing, unfortunately.

Unfortunately, the trade-off here is that the GT 6 doesn’t support wireless charging at all. Still, when you can go from 0% to 50% in around 10 minutes with a wire, wireless charging might seem like the weaker alternative.

Moving on, the camera system on the realme GT 6 is pretty good. You’ve got a solid 50MP primary shooter with a Sony LYT-808 sensor and optical image stabilization (OIS). That’s paired with a Sony IMX355 ultrawide with an 8MP resolution and a 50MP telephoto with 2x optical zoom on top of a Samsung JN5 sensor. The front-facing sensor has a resolution of 32MP. All in all, this is a solid setup. However, there are some notable deficiencies, such as the lack of 8K video support in any mode, which is thanks to the processor not supporting it.

Finally, the GT 6 comes with up to 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM and up to 512GB of UFS 4.0 storage. Maxing those specs out should give you all the power and space you could need.

Specs

Realme GT 6 Razor Green About Phone Screen

Credit: C. Scott Brown / Android Authority

The specs of the realme GT 6 are pretty awesome, especially considering that they either meet or exceed most of the core specs of ultra-premium flagships from other brands.

realme GT 6
Display6.78-inch LTPO OLED, FHD+ resolution (2,780 x 1,264)
120Hz display refresh rate (1Hz-120Hz)
ProcessorSnapdragon 8s Gen 3
RAM8, 12, or 16GB
Storage256 or 512GB
Battery5,500mAh
Power120W wired charging
Charger in box
No wireless charging
CamerasRear:
- 50MP main
f/1.69, 1/1.4-inch sensor, OIS

- 8MP ultrawide
f/2.2, 1/4-inch sensor

- 50MP telephoto
2x optical zoom
f/2.0, 1/2.8-inch sensor, 47mm EFL

Front:
- 32MP
f/2.45, 1/2.74-inch sensor
VideoRear:
4K/1080p/720p at 30/60fps (all lenses)

Front:
4K/1080p/720p at 30fps
Connectivity5G
Wi-Fi 6
Bluetooth 5.4
NFC support
SIMDual nano-SIM tray
SecurityOptical under-display fingerprint sensor
SoftwareAndroid 14
realme UI 5.0
Dimensions and weight162 x 75 x 8.6mm
199g
ColorsFluid Silver, Razor Green

realme GT 6 hands-on verdict: The price will be the deciding factor

Realme GT 6 Razor Green On Top Of Retail Box

Credit: C. Scott Brown / Android Authority

As of writing this, I still don’t know how much this phone costs (Update: Check out the price info here). When asked, realme told me it will be “under $850,” which would make it at least $150 cheaper than the list price of a Pixel 8 Pro ( ) and at least $450 cheaper than the lowest list price of a Galaxy S24 Ultra ( ). Those are some significant savings, though considering the phone is unlikely to be officially released in the US, we’ll also need to see how that converts to local currencies in Europe and other regions.

Assuming the final price sticks to realme’s promise, I can absolutely imagine recommending this to someone who wants a beautiful and powerful Android phone but doesn’t want to spend more than $900 on it. After all, the only major caveats here are the lack of wireless charging, the camera hardware not being as good as a Pixel 8 Pro or Galaxy S24 Ultra, and realme’s weak software support history, which is usually locked to just two years. Outside of those things, the GT 6 has everything the average person could want and then some.

Until I know that price, I can’t really say whether or not you should grab a realme GT 6. For now, though, I can confidently say the realme GT 6 is a very pretty phone that cuts the right corners to keep the price significantly lower than the competition, which is always good to see.

Stay tuned for the final price reveal from realme coming soon. In the meantime, let me know what you think of the GT 6 in the poll above and the comments below.

FAQ

Does the realme GT 6 have dual-SIM support?

Yes, the realme GT 6 has a dual-SIM tray for two physical SIM cards.

Does the realme GT 6 support wireless charging?

No, the realme GT 6 doesn’t have wireless charging. It does charge very fast with a cable, though, at a blazing 120W with the proper cable and charger.

Does the realme GT 6 have a charger in the box?

Yes, the realme GT 6 comes with a 120W SUPERVOOC charger and a USB-C cable, giving you everything you need for blazing-fast wired charging speeds.

Does the Realme GT 6 have a headphone jack or a microSD card slot?

No, the realme GT 6 doesn’t have a 3.5mm headphone jack, nor does it have a microSD card slot.

What colors does the realme GT 6 come in?

There are two colors for the realme GT 6: Fluid Silver and Razor Green.

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