A holiday weekend has delivered a delicious new deal on the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE Plus, with the mid-range tablet dropping to $469 for the first time ever. We spotted that the $130 markdown is only available on the silver model of the device, which often indicates that you won’t have long to catch this record-low price.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE Plus for $469 ($131 off)
Every time a new Wear OS watch is announced, I am intrigued. I have been using the platform for almost a decade now, and I like to try new watches to see what they offer in terms of features, comfort, battery life, and more. The OnePlus Watch 2, for example, really caught my eye with its excellent dual OS and dual-processor-enabled battery life.
But there’s one thing that holds me back from switching to OnePlus’s latest or Samsung’s excellent Galaxy Watch 6 series, and that’s Fitbit. See, I’ve been using Fitbit trackers for more than a decade now. All my stats are in there, all my patterns, my ups and downs, and my best and worst days. I’m used to the platform, I know how to interpret any day’s data because I know what my historical data is like. So I stick with my Pixel Watch 2, because it offers me the best of Fitbit inside a Wear OS watch. But what if — hear me out — Fitbit wasn’t a Pixel Watch exclusive anymore?
About a month ago, I was attending MWC 2024 and I’d just gotten out of an FC Barcelona game. I was loitering around the Montjuic area when I decided to snap photos of the museum behind the Font Majica with my Galaxy S24 Ultra while the football crowds were dispersing. And I noticed something odd. For every good photo I would get, there were two or three bad shots with random people in them.
I was sure I was timing my shots perfectly, just like I always do with my Pixel phones. But almost every time I thought I had a clean photo without any crowds passing in front of the cam, well, I did… not. There was a face, a head, a bit of hair in the final image — just something to ruin the snap. This was not supposed to happen with one of the best camera phones out there, but the Galaxy S24 Ultra was clearly slow.
To oversimplify, Garmin’s Forerunner 265 adds a fresh face to the already powerful Forerunner 255 feature set. Beyond their contrasting screens, the devices share many core features. In fact, many of the new generation’s software updates even roll back to the previous one, keeping the Garmin devices neck and neck. On the other hand, the 265 does pack a few important upgrades that differentiate the watch from its older sibling. Find out which fitness tracker is right for your wrist in this Garmin Forerunner 255 vs 265 comparison.
| Garmin Forerunner 255/255S | Garmin Forerunner 265 | |
|---|---|---|
| Display | 41mm: 1.1-inch MIP 218 x 218 resolution 46mm: 1.3-inch MIP 260 x 260 resolution |
42mm: 1.1-inch AMOLED, optional always-on 360 x 360 resolution 46mm: 1.3-inch MIP 416 x 416 resolution |
| Dimensions and weight | 41mm: 41 x 41 x 12.4mm 39g w/o strap Fits wrists 110-175mm 46mm: 45.6 x 45.6 x 12.9mm 49g w/o strap Fits wrists 130-205mm |
42mm: 41.7 x 41.7 x 12.9mm 40 w/o strap Fits wrists 115-178mm 46mm: 46.1 x 46.1 x 12.9mm 46g w/o strap Fits wrists 135-205mm |
| Colors and materials | 41mm: Color: Powder Gray or Light Pink Material: Gorilla Glass 3 display, Fiber-reinforced polymer bezel, silicone strap 46mm: Color: Tidal Blue or Slate Gray Material: Gorilla Glass 3 display, Fiber-reinforced polymer bezel, silicone strap |
42mm: Color: Black/Amp Yello, Whitestone/Neo Tropic, or Light Pink/Powder Gray Material: Gorilla Glass 3 display, Fiber-reinforced polymer bezel, silicone strap 46mm: Color: Whitestone/Tidal Blue, Black/Powder Gray, or Aqua/Black Material: Gorilla Glass 3 display, Fiber-reinforced polymer bezel, silicone strap |
| Battery | 41mm Up to 12 days in smartwatch mode Up to 26 hours in GPS-only GNSS mode Up to 20 hours in All-Systems GNSS mode 46mm: Up to 14 days in smartwatch mode Up to 30 hours in GPS-only GNSS mode Up to 25 hours in All-Systems GNSS Mode |
42mm: Up to 15 days in smartwatch mode Up to 24 hours GPS-only GNSS mode Up to 15 hours in All-Systems GNSS mode 46mm: Up to 13 days in smartwatch mode Up to 20 hours in GPS-only GNSS mode Up to 14 hours in All-Systems GNSS Mode |
| Sensors | GPS GLONASS GALILEO Multi-Frequency Positioning Garmin Elevate Barometric Altimeter Compass Gyroscope Accelerometer Thermometer Pulse Ox Blood Oxygen Saturation Monitor |
GPS GLONASS GALILEO Multi-Frequency Positioning Garmin Elevate Barometric Altimeter Compass Gyroscope Accelerometer Thermometer Pulse Ox Blood Oxygen Saturation Monitor |
| Durability | 5ATM | 5ATM |
| Connectivity | NFC Bluetooth Wi-Fi |
NFC Bluetooth Wi-Fi |
| Compatibility | Android and iOS | Android and iOS |
The most important thing to know when comparing the Forerunner 255 vs 265 is that both are great fitness trackers. During our Forerunner 255 review, we felt the device significantly improved the Forerunner line with NFC support and upgraded sensors. Before it was outdone by the 265, we considered it the best midrange running watch you could buy.
Back in 2021, Google released Material You, a major revamp to the company’s design language. Material You design elements were first incorporated into that year’s Android 12 release. Although Android’s current design hasn’t changed drastically since then, it has received minor tweaks in the few releases since. In the upcoming Android 15 release, Google is finally planning to revamp the system volume panel UI.
The volume panel appears when the user presses a volume key and then taps the three-dot menu at the bottom. The current design features five different sliders for each volume stream. From top to bottom, these include media, call, ring, notification, and alarm volume controls. A thin slider controls the level of each. Apart from the panel’s header, stream icons, and sliders, there are also buttons to open Android’s sound and vibration settings and dismiss the panel. Finally, if there’s any active media playback, a shortcut to open Android’s media output switcher will appear underneath the media volume slider.
Late last year, Apple stunned the entire tech world by announcing it would support rich communication services (RCS) within iMessage at some point in 2024. The company has been mum on any further details since that announcement, but we finally have a small but useful update from a different source: Google.
On a new webpage dedicated to Google Messages (first spotted by 9to5Google), the company divulges that RCS messaging support for iPhones is coming “in the fall of 2024.” This is a bit more specific than just “next year,” which is all Apple said at the time of its initial announcement.
Earlier today, Google surprised us all by confirming that Gemini Nano support (i.e., on-device generative AI features) will come to the Pixel 8 after previously saying it would only come to the Pixel 8 Pro. That announcement came during a Made by Google podcast episode. But that’s not the only thing Google divulged during the episode (h/t 9to5Google).
Seang Chau, a VP at Google, talked at length about various aspects of the Pixel ecosystem. One tidbit divulged related to one of the biggest bits of news with the launch of the Pixel 8 series, which was that Google would support them for seven whole years. As it turns out, choosing seven years of time wasn’t arbitrary. It actually was a deliberate choice based on, of all things, the very first Google Pixel. Here’s Chau on it:
Good news is coming for Galaxy device owners enrolled in the Samsung Care Plus program. Samsung is revamping its device protection program to offer subscribers unlimited battery repairs starting in May 2024.
Samsung Care Plus is a device protection program offering various plans to safeguard your Galaxy phone or tablet. New Galaxy buyers can sign up for the Care Plus program within 60 days of purchasing an eligible device. It goes beyond the standard manufacturer’s warranty, providing unlimited repairs for drops, spills, and mechanical breakdowns, including $29 screen repairs and even theft coverage (depending on the plan). Plans for Samsung Care Plus range from around $10/month to up to $18/month for 36 months.
Amidst clashing rumors over whether the upcoming iPhone 16 series will be an incremental upgrade or a significant refresh, images of alleged dummy units for the iPhone 16 series have emerged, potentially confirming some major hardware changes.
These leaked images, shared on Weibo and by Majin Bu on X (formerly Twitter), seemingly confirm some of the rumors swirling around the iPhone 16 series. While it’s advisable to take these with a pinch of salt, some exciting changes are highlighted in these images.
It has been about a year since Nothing launched the Ear 2. Now it appears the London-based tech company is getting ready to announce the successor to last year’s TWS earbuds.
On X (formerly Twitter), Nothing shared a post that contained a video of a frog jumping over a beetle. You can watch the short clip in the post below.
Every year, we see a handful of modded smartphones from luxury brand Caviar. The company takes existing phones and makes them “better” by slapping a bunch of extra stuff onto the chassis, usually sourced from expensive materials, such as gold. As such, it was only a matter of time before we saw a modded Galaxy S24 Ultra — but we certainly didn’t expect anything like this.
Caviar’s Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra Cybertruck model is, in brief, jaw-dropping (h/t Droid-Life). While it clearly delivers what you’d expect, it looks so awful that you wonder why anyone would spend even the list price on it, let alone the nearly 7x markup Caviar is asking for.
Multi-line discounts were once reserved for postpaid plans from Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile. Thankfully this practice has caught on in the prepaid world as well, with a variety of carriers offering family plans. One of the better-known options is the Google-owned Fi Wireless. In this guide, we take a look at the Google Fi family plan to see if it’s a good deal versus the competition.
Google offers three main plans: Flexible, Simply Unlimited, and Unlimited Plus. All three options can be added to a family plan, but there is no mixing and matching. In other words, all family members must be on the same plan type in order to qualify for family plan pricing. Be aware that in early 2024 Google Fi raised its pricing for the first time in a while for Simply Unlimited families greater than 3 members in size, though even with the higher pricing it remains arguably the most flexible and affordable carrier in the US.
While the concept of foldable phones has been around for a while, the first modern foldable smartphones didn’t actually surface until 2018. A year later, Samsung entered the scene, quickly becoming the biggest player and really the only major option in the US. Thankfully, that has changed recently with Google, Motorola, and even OnePlus helping to push foldables to new heights in 2023. If you’re looking for the best foldable phone, you have more options than ever before. This article will examine the current foldable phones on the market and whether or not they would be a great fit for you.
Not sure what you’re looking for in a foldable or if they are even a good fit? We have a guide on how to find the right foldable phones at the bottom of this page (hit the jump link to go there now).
With Apple’s thrifty approach to discounts, we expected to wait a lot more than a few weeks before seeing a deal on the 2024 MacBook Air. We’re happy to have been proved wrong, with the base model of the 13-inch laptop already showing a $75 price drop on Amazon.
2024 Apple MacBook Air (13-inch, M3, 8GB, 256GB) for $1,024 ($75 off)
In 2022, Google launched the first budget phone in its refreshed Pixel line-up, an era that began with the Pixel 6. The Google Pixel 6a, as its name suggests, took the design and primary specs from the Pixel 6 but shaved off the premium features to keep the price lower. Since then, Google’s launched its successor, the Pixel 7a.
At some point this week, though, Google has removed the Pixel 6a from the official Google Store (via Droid-Life). The phone does not appear on any pages and if you try to visit its previous URL, the site simply auto-forwards you to the listing for the newer, better Pixel 7a.
Samsung already offers some of the best affordable Android tablets on the market, and it seems it’s not stopping there. The company has quietly launched a refreshed version of its popular budget tablet — the Galaxy Tab S6 Lite — now called the Galaxy Tab S6 Lite (2024).
The original Tab S6 Lite debuted in 2020 and received a refresh in 2022. While rumors of a second refresh for the Tab S6 Lite had been circulating, it seemed absurd that Samsung would stick to a 4-year-old naming convention for a new tablet. However, Samsung’s Romanian website — first spotted by Gizmochina — has now officially listed the Galaxy Tab S6 Lite (2024).
Just in time for MLB Opening Day, T-Mobile is swinging for the fences by announcing two baseball-themed offerings for its customers. First up is a homerun: another year of free subscription to MLB.TV, valued at $149.99. This perk will be available starting tomorrow and will run through April 1st. T-Mobile customers can claim their subscription through T-Mobile Tuesdays in the T Life app.
But T-Mobile isn’t stopping there. To add a touch of playful (and perhaps slightly dubious) workplace fun, it’s introducing a “Secret Baseball Button.” This limited-edition device connects to your laptop via Bluetooth and allows for a one-click switch between watching MLB.TV and a screen resembling a work video call.
Telegram is probably the most popular alternative to WhatsApp, often bringing innovative features to the table before WhatsApp. Now, it looks like the company is giving away Telegram Premium to a few users, but this initiative has plenty of downsides.
The company has launched a so-called Peer-To-Peer Login Program (P2PL) on Android, according to the Telegram Info English channel and the firm’s updated terms of service. This program sees Telegram using your phone number as a relay to send one-time PINs (OTPs) to fellow users via SMS so they can log in to the messaging app.
Are you looking forward to your next vacation? Maybe you need some motivation to work harder. I like to have images that remind me of my goals, and you can set these on your phone to remind yourself of the days to come. To keep you inspired, we have put together a nice collection of travel wallpapers for your phone.
Don’t start packing your bags quite yet! We need to tell you how things work with these wallpaper posts first. The image previews you see below are for demonstration purposes only. These files have been compressed and optimized for faster website performance, so the quality isn’t as good. Instead, you should download them using the button right below the previews. You will find the full-resolution pictures in there.
Android and iOS have traded features with each other for a while now, and it looks like Apple could grab a feature from Android phones for the company’s iOS 18 update.
The weekend may have made you realize you need to expand your gaming options. Or even your fitness options. Either way, the Meta Quest 2 is a solution. And, thanks to the fact the Amazon Big Spring Sale still has a day to run, you can get it for an all-time low price right now of just $199. That’s $100 off retail and less than half the price of the Meta Quest 3.
Meta Quest 2 for $199 ($100 off)
It’s been a little over five months since I first got my hands on the Google Pixel 8 Pro and shot my first photo with it. At the time, I immediately noticed one infuriating change in the Google Camera‘s interface that put the brightness, shadows, and temperature sliders behind the settings/adjustments button instead of keeping them available at all times on the screen.
And, as you can surmise from the title of this article, I still hate that change five months in. I thought I’d get used to it and start tapping the settings button more often, but really, no. That’s not what happened.
In the grand scheme of things, we really are spoiled by today’s Android phones. Modern devices pack a host of cool features when you really think about it. Even affordable mid-range phones offer high-quality touchscreens, fast charging speeds, big batteries, speedy connectivity, and capable processors that can handle virtually everything you can throw at them.
It’s only when you look back at the early to mid-2000s smartphone era that you really appreciate how great today’s smartphones are. As someone who owned a couple of feature phones and several early Symbian smartphones, let me tell you all about the features I missed that many of us now take for granted.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is Qualcomm’s most cutting-edge smartphone processor in 2024, powering phones like the Galaxy S24 series and many more. However, the company has just launched the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3.
This latest chipset is still positioned as a flagship-tier processor, but how does it differ from the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3? Here’s everything you need to know.
Small screen horror that Stephen Kin approves of? Sign me up, please. For those in the dark, From is a show about inhabitants of a town who are trapped there forever, and tormented by shape-shifting monsters who come out when the sun sets.
Let’s get into the From season 3 release window, plot expectations, and cast details. And whether season 3 will finally answer the ultimate question: Is escape a possibility?
Rumors have suggested that Apple was internally preparing MicroLED displays for its future smartwatches, like the Apple Watch X. However, that possibility appears to have ended as a new report claims the Cupertino firm has shut down development.
According to Bloomberg, Apple has reportedly halted its work on smartwatch MicroLED screens. It appears this decision was made around the same time the company decided to give up on its self-driving car, which was reported on back in late February.
Google Wallet users, particularly in Europe, are reporting a change in how contactless payments are authorized. Unlike before, regardless of the transaction amount, users are now required to unlock their phones with a fingerprint or PIN for every tap-to-pay purchase.
9to5Google first reported that many European users were taking to Reddit to express their frustration with this new payment flow. In some European countries, contactless payments traditionally function with spending thresholds, where transactions below a set amount wouldn’t necessitate unlocking the phone. While this change prioritizes security, it’s understandable that it disrupts the previously smoother user experience where smaller purchases didn’t require unlocking.
We hope you’re ready for the next version of Android because Android 15 is here! Although it will be quite a while before the software becomes stable enough for daily use, that doesn’t mean you can’t give it a shot. Below, we have instructions on how to install the second developer preview of Android 15 on a supported Pixel device.
Call of Duty Warzone Mobile has been available as a limited release for a while now, but Activision has finally decided to fully launch the mobile game on smartphones and tablets.
The company launched Call of Duty Warzone Mobile on Android and iOS today, and the game brings an initial download size of ~1.5GB on Android. Nevertheless, you’ll be required to download an additional 5GB worth of assets before you can start playing.
You may have heard plenty about Google’s various generative AI products like Circle to Search, its AI wallpaper tool, Search Generative Experience (SGE), and more. But you may not have heard nearly as much about the other ways it is using AI, such as predicting floods. Recently, Google was able to accurately predict flooding up to seven days in advance thanks to machine learning (ML).
Today, Google announced it was able to significantly improve global-scale flood forecasting with the help of machine-learning technologies. According to the firm, it was able to improve the reliability of “global nowcasts, on average, from zero to five days.” In some cases, it was even able to predict floods a full week out before they happened.
Thanks to Epic’s various disputes with Apple, we know full and well that the game publisher intends to launch a store on iOS. But iOS won’t be the only place you’ll find the Epic Games Store. Epic’s marketplace will also bring Fortnite and other games to Android in the near future.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the Epic Games Store’s account teased a launch on both iOS and Android. Unfortunately, the post doesn’t elaborate on when the store will arrive on these platforms.
Samsung Semiconductor recently unveiled a roadmap detailing its plans for the next generation of Universal Flash Storage (UFS) solutions, which could also be our first hint at what the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S25 series might bring.
Every year, our smartphones leap forward in power, and processors are usually hailed as the heroes behind this progress. But there’s another crucial component that often goes unnoticed: storage speed. Just like a wider highway with a higher speed limit allows for faster traffic flow, faster storage lets your phone handle data transfers, downloads, and anything else that relies on moving information around much more efficiently.
When it comes to AI, we’ve seen plenty of products — like ChatGPT and Gemini — from major players in the tech space including Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI. While those companies have been churning out generative AI solutions left and right, Apple has been fairly quiet on this front. But if you thought Apple may be asleep at the wheel, a recently published research paper suggests otherwise.
Apple quietly submitted a research paper last week related to its work on a multimodal large language model (MLLM) called MM1. Apple doesn’t explain what the meaning behind the name is, but it’s possible it could stand for MultiModal 1.
Update, March 19, 2024 (06:15 PM ET): We’ve updated our Google Pixel 8a hub with leaked information regarding multiple specs as well as an FCC listing.
The first time Google launched an A series phone was in 2019 with the Pixel 3a and 3a XL. At the time, those were some of the best Android phones you could get for the price. Since then, Google’s released a new A series Pixel every year. As such, we expect to see a Google Pixel 8a in 2024.
It was only about a month ago when it was discovered that Google was testing an AI feature in the Play Store called “App highlights.” Now it appears the feature is rolling out officially.
First spotted by Android Police, the latest Google System Release Notes mentions that users can “Watch the highlights of apps/games in places on Google Play Store.” Despite using the word “Watch,” this passage is likely referring to the text-based App highlights feature Google was found testing in a server-side rollout last month.
With the widespread use of AI, it has become increasingly difficult to tell the difference between real and technically manipulated content. To fight potential disinformation, YouTube is implementing a new policy requiring content creators to label altered or synthetic content.
YouTube announced it is now requiring creators to disclose whether realistic-looking video content was made with AI tools. Under the new guidelines, content that uses the likeness of real people, altered footage of events and places, or generated realistic scenes should be accompanied by an ‘altered or synthetic content’ label to avoid misleading users.
Google Wallet is a great app for storing cards and passes. However, Google’s app is not quite as ubiquitous as Apple Wallet and thus does not have the same level of support. But Google could soon close the gap by supporting a new file format.
On X (formerly Twitter), Mishaal Rahman shared that a Telegram user informed him that they were able to import .pkpass files to Google Wallet. If you’re unfamiliar with this file format, it’s the same one that Apple Wallet uses for saved passes. Meaning, this update allows Apple Wallet passes to be used on Google Wallet.
We’re pretty deep into AI wars, with every company aiming to somehow use AI features in their products. We’ve seen the likes of the Google Pixel 8 series and the Galaxy S24 series successfully incorporate generative AI features in meaningful ways, giving them the edge in features. The iPhone is surprisingly missing from this race so far, but Apple has been rumored to be working on generative AI features for iOS 18. As it turns out, Apple could end up banking on Google’s Gemini for the AI smarts on the next iPhone.
As per a report from Bloomberg, Apple is in talks to incorporate Google’s Gemini AI engine into the iPhone. The two companies are said to be in active negotiations to let Apple license Gemini to power some of the generative AI features coming to iOS 18.
Seven years of updates, as seen on the Google Pixel 8 and Samsung Galaxy S24 series, should be a stand-out selling point for the latest and greatest smartphones. In theory, it is; the old days of losing the latest Android features just two years after purchase were shameful, and up-to-date security is more important than ever now that we store virtually everything on our phones. However, Google may have bitten off more than it can chew with such long support pledges, especially when tied with the promise of regular Feature Drops.
I’m sure you’ve read that Google’s Pixel 8 is at the center of recent controversy after confirming that Gemini Nano, Google’s compact model to power on-device AI, won’t be coming to the base model after making its way to the more expensive Pixel 8 Pro. That means no AI summaries or smart keyboard replies without the cloud. The reason: unspecified hardware limitations. That’s a double blow, given that Video Boost and other AI doodads were already reserved for the Pro.
A curious report from Sammobile this week claimed that the Galaxy Watch could go back to its square roots. It’s still a rumor for now, and we’re not sure if this will be the case for the Galaxy Watch 7 or if we have to wait more than a year to see it, but it got me hyped up! Samsung “copying” the Apple Watch design is a very good idea, and I put “copying” between quotes because we all know Apple didn’t invent that shape for smartwatches.
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