Android

Samsung has closed out the Galaxy A07's beta program and shipped a stable One UI 9.0 build, but the supplied reporting does not confirm the Samsung Galaxy A07 One UI 9 update has reached India. The stable firmware, A075FXXU7DZJ5, is a 2,833.43MB package for the 4G/LTE variant, first documented in Iran, according to SamMobile. That is the extent of what is confirmed: a real stable build exists and is rolling out in at least one market, and India is not named as one of them.

Warby Parker will open preorders on November 12 for its first "Intelligent Eyewear" collection, the camera-and-audio smart glasses built on Google's Android XR platform with Samsung hardware. That sets the Warby Parker smart glasses preorder date in writing for the first time, straight from the company's own third-quarter earnings release and a November 5 regulatory filing, not a product launch event (GCN, 2 days ago; Engadget, 6 days ago).

Nintendo already offers password-based sign-in alongside Google and Apple authentication for Nintendo Accounts. On November 10, 2026, the company announced that Google and Apple sign-in will be discontinued on January 26, 2027, leaving Nintendo Account passwords and passkeys as the supported alternatives. Nintendo has not established that the password option itself is newly introduced.

A Galaxy M17e owner posted last month that turning on Mobile Hotspot killed Wi-Fi automatically, leaving no way to run Wi-Fi and mobile hotspot at the same time on that phone. A commenter in that same thread suggested the Samsung Wi-Fi sharing hotspot setting, which can let a phone share Wi-Fi instead of mobile data through its hotspot, might be reserved for Galaxy S series phones and pricier A-series models. Samsung's published hotspot documentation confirms that Wi-Fi Sharing exists, but does...

Google has quietly rewritten the rules for Android Auto. The company's support page now lists Android 11 as the minimum operating system required to use the service, a change that excludes Android 9 and Android 10 from the documented requirements for wired Android Auto.

Google is testing a Google Photos overnight backup mode built to keep the app running in the foreground and the phone awake so large batches of photos and videos can finish uploading without getting cut off. The option surfaced inside a modified build of Google Photos version 8.0, according to Basinca (2 days ago), which dug into the app's code and surfaced screens Google hasn't shipped publicly yet.

Some Android Auto users on Pixel and Galaxy phones say the Android Auto Gemini "who do you want to call" bug is blocking hands-free calls and texts this week. Ask Gemini to reach a contact by name, and instead of placing the call, Android Auto loops back with the same question, "Who do you want to call?", even after the name is repeated (9to5Google; SamMobile). Reports have been piling up on Google's Android Auto Help forum since early October, with more surfacing this week, according to...

Google Wallet can now turn a paper receipt into a searchable transaction record instead of a photo sitting in the camera roll. Learning how to scan receipts with Google Wallet takes about ten seconds once a person knows where to look, but the scanner is tucked inside a generic menu item rather than given its own button, so it's easy to miss (Android Authority). This guide covers how to find the scanner, what Wallet pulls from each receipt, and where the feature still falls short.

Samsung Health users are reporting that step counts for older dates are showing up as "0" in the app's Steps section after an update that rolled out last week. For at least some of those users, the same dates still display correct totals in the app's Daily Activity view, which suggests the underlying data hasn't been wiped, just hidden from one part of the app.

Google Find Hub's "Notify when left behind" alerts are rolling out to Android users, warning them when a tagged item, like a wallet, keys, or bag, separates from their phone. The rollout was first reported by 9to5Google yesterday, and Engadget, Android Authority, and SammyGuru each published their own coverage today, all citing 9to5Google's original find.

A claim of a Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold $250 off Amazon discount is not verifiable from the reporting reviewed for this article. No live listing, seller name, SKU, or timestamp backing that price cut turned up anywhere in that reporting. That gap doesn't prove the deal is fake, it just means there's nothing yet to check the claim against.

Play Store version 53.9 now includes an Android Play Protect turned off reminder, a prompt that appears after Google Play Protect has been turned off for an extended stretch, according to a changelog spotted by heise online this week. The notification shipped in an update released earlier this week that also touched device connectivity, account management, and other security features, according to heise.

Samsung Galaxy phones started receiving a new Google Play system update dated October 1, 2026, a 19MB package, this week. Google published no changelog for it, so the exact list of fixes and features inside remains unknown, SamMobile reported.

Android Authority spent time this week digging through Play Store version 53.9.23-24 and found something that isn't live on anyone's phone: reported code for a "Gift" entry sitting in the three-dot overflow menu on premium paid apps. It points to Google exploring a Google Play Store game gifting feature, something that would let a sender place a specific paid app or game directly into someone else's library instead of handing over spendable credit, according to Android Authority's teardown...

Google has confirmed that Find Hub will add Left Behind notifications, alerting users when a tracked device separates from their phone, but the only hardware with a committed launch date so far is Pixel Tag, Google's own tracker arriving November 11 for $29 solo or $99 for a four-pack.

Samsung has started pushing a second Galaxy S26 October 2026 update, and so far only phones in South Korea have been reported receiving it, according to Android Headlines and SamMobile. The update covers the Galaxy S26, S26+, and S26 Ultra, weighs about 580.37MB, and arrives without a public changelog explaining what it does.

Samsung Galaxy F56 owners in India can now get Android 17, with new ways to customize their phones, monitor app activity, and secure their devices. The One UI 9 update also brings accessibility improvements, Samsung Health upgrades, and the October 2026 security patch.

There's still no confirmed Samsung Galaxy T1 earbuds release date, price, or official product name. But the unannounced SM-R545 has now cleared wireless certification in two countries within about a month, evidence that the product is moving through Samsung's regulatory pipeline rather than sitting idle, according to SammyGuru.

Google confirms that blood-pressure and insulin-resistance trend tracking are included free with Pixel Watch 3, 4, and 5, while the same two tools require a Google Health Premium subscription on Fitbit Air and the newly released Fitbit Edge.

The Galaxy A15 5G One UI 9 update in India is reportedly live, carrying firmware build A156EDXUAFZJC and CSC A156EODMAFZJC, according to Phoonomo, published yesterday. The report says the build runs on Android 17 and matches the prefix tied to the SM-A156E model sold in India.

A report says Google Password Manager now lets users choose which password or passkey to keep when an imported credential conflicts with one already saved, in a Google Play services update reported Tuesday by heise online.

Samsung launched the W27 in China this week, a China-exclusive, dressed-up version of the Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra priced from CNY 18,999 (roughly $2,852) to CNY 21,999 (roughly $3,303), according to SamMobile and Android Headlines. That pricing already lands above what's been reported for Apple's iPhone Duo in China, according to Android Headlines.

OpenAI is testing a ChatGPT Google Messages integration that lets its autonomous Dots agents text users directly, instead of keeping conversations locked inside the ChatGPT app, Slack, or Microsoft Teams. ChatGPT said on Wednesday that the feature is "rolling out now as a preview for Pro users in the US." Android users reach a Dot through RCS in Google Messages, while iPhone users reach it through iMessage.

Finished installing a One UI update? The "Software Update Complete" notice only confirms the operating system installed. It says nothing about whether Google Play Store or Galaxy Store have caught up too, which is why knowing how to update Samsung apps after a One UI update means checking both stores manually instead of trusting that one notification to cover everything.

Ask Play, Google Play's AI-powered search feature, can now generate side-by-side comparisons between apps alongside its existing conversational recommendations.

Start with one question: did tap-to-pay ever work on this phone, or did it work fine for weeks and then suddenly stop? That answer helps determine whether you're dealing with a setup problem you can fix yourself or an intermittent issue that ordinary troubleshooting may not resolve.

So, how much are old Samsung phones worth? In an Oct. 23 snapshot, a like-new 256GB Galaxy S23 Ultra could bring a top cash buyback offer of $291, compared with a reported average completed sale price of $404 on Swappa, before fees. That's a $113 difference for handling the sale yourself instead of accepting a buyback offer, according to Engadget.

The Samsung Galaxy A37 has worn three different price tags in about six months, and that's the central question of this Galaxy A37 review. The hardware hasn't changed.

Google's program is scheduled to become available on December 1, 2026, on devices running Android 17 QPR2 or later in the countries listed in Google's official eligibility FAQ, provided a third-party store has completed registration and received approval.

Creating a password-protected ZIP on Android starts with choosing a file manager that supports encrypted archives. Files by Google can create ordinary ZIP files, but its documented compression workflow doesn't include a password option. That's a limitation of Files by Google, not Android as a whole.

Calling a contact with more than one saved number through Android Auto has always meant one extra step: picking home, work, or mobile before the call actually connects. A teardown of a daily Android Auto build suggests that step might finally disappear, surfacing what's being described as an Android Auto preferred phone number feature buried in a set of unfinished code strings (Android Police, yesterday).

Samsung's unreleased Exynos 2700 reportedly scored around 13,000 in a Geekbench 6.5 multi-core benchmark test against roughly 11,000 for Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6, a lead of nearly 20%, according to industry sources cited by The Korea Herald on Oct. 25.

Google Photos has replaced its old shortcut grid with a layout users can actually control, giving people a real way to rearrange the Collections tab instead of relying on shortcuts the app picked for them, according to Android Authority and Android Police.

Samsung has started rolling out the Galaxy M54 One UI 9.0 update, based on Android 17, according to SamMobile and Zoomit, which reported the release on Oct. 27. Zoomit cites SamMobile for the global rollout, rather than independently confirming a separate release. Samsung's model-specific update documentation has not yet established which Galaxy AI features are included.

A working fork of the open-source Aves gallery app, posted to GitHub about a month ago, demonstrates something readers trying to search Android photos without cloud upload have been asking for: typed description search and visual similarity matching that run entirely on the phone, with photo indexing and search described by the developer as running locally, without uploading photos, videos, or search queries.

Samsung has begun releasing a second October 2026 update for the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, Galaxy Z Fold 8, and Galaxy Z Flip 8, following the earlier security patch that expanded from South Korea to Europe and India.

Google wants Android users in parts of Canada to check their phones before Nov. 1, the day several provinces and territories stop turning clocks back.

A new leak claims the Samsung Galaxy A58's rear camera setup will carry the same megapixel counts as the Galaxy A57: a 50MP main camera, 12MP ultrawide, 5MP macro, plus a 12MP front camera. The claim comes from Dutch outlet GalaxyClub and has since been relayed by outlets including GSMArena and Tech Advisor.

Google revised its privacy policy on Oct. 16 to say that data shared between Gmail, Google Photos, or Drive and certain other Google services may now be used to personalize content, including ads. The update adds an exception to language that previously ruled out using content from those apps for ad personalization, according to The Verge and Ars Technica.

Samsung's One UI 9 update is bringing an unwelcome surprise for some Galaxy S24 and S25 owners: battery life that suddenly falls short of what they're used to. Complaints range from faster overnight drain to phones needing several charges throughout the day.