Android

A $699 Google Pixel 11 figure can be produced by combining a reported $899 starting price with a $200 trade-in value, not by finding a markdown on Google's price tag. Engadget reported that the base Pixel 11 starts at $899, and in the same report, a base-storage iPhone 11 traded in toward a new Pixel was valued at $200, a combination that lands close to $699 (Engadget).

OnePlus has squeezed a 9,000mAh battery, a built-in cooling fan, and high-refresh-rate gaming hardware into its latest Chinese smartphones. The Ace 7 and Ace 7 Pro offer an enticing glimpse of what could arrive in the next OnePlus R-series phone, although the unannounced OnePlus 16R may not inherit everything.

Google is rolling out a Google Home and Nest speaker update that the company says fixes disappearing speaker groups and stereo pairs, the exact symptom Nest owners have been describing for months. The release notes name the bug directly: stereo pairs and speaker groups that "unexpectedly disappear or become undiscoverable" in the Google Home app, according to Google's October 29 release notes, also reproduced by 9to5Google. The same update bundles in faster local device discovery and a separate...

Samsung has started pushing the stable Galaxy A54 One UI 9 update. As of last week's reporting, it's reaching beta testers in South Korea only, closing out a one-month beta program. The build arrives as firmware A546SKSUKGZJ5, a compact 274.52MB download, according to SamMobile.

If your edited Google Photos pictures stopped showing up in WhatsApp's attachment picker, Google has an actual fix. The bug sent edited images into hiding across WhatsApp, Telegram, and a handful of other Android apps, even though the photos never left Google Photos itself. APKMirror founder Artem Russakovskii identified version 7.97 as the fix, while 9to5Google independently confirmed the problem no longer occurs in version 7.98.

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.

Samsung's Galaxy A08 is already on sale in the Philippines, while the Galaxy A18 won't land until December 2026. Both phones run the same MediaTek Helio G99+ chipset, which means the real Samsung Galaxy A18 vs Galaxy A08 comparison comes down to screen quality, camera hardware, and battery capacity rather than raw processing power.

Samsung has pushed out Home Up version 18.0.00.38, a Good Lock update fixing two home screen glitches on Galaxy devices running One UI 9: DIY Home layouts that changed on their own and Stack Widgets that displayed incorrectly. If you use DIY Home Screen on a Galaxy device running One UI 9, open Good Lock, check the installed Home Up version, and install 18.0.00.38 if it's offered for your device.

YouTube added six new educational Playables games built with Khan Academy, Veritasium, TED-Ed, Math with Mr. J, Black Girls Code, and The Jed Foundation, turning STEM, music, and mindfulness concepts into short interactive games, according to YouTube's announcement published today.

Score a last-second win in a mobile game with no recorder running, and a Google headline from 2024 suggests the moment might not be lost. The Google sources reviewed here do not establish whether a 30-second retroactive recording feature is currently available on Android.

Samsung's latest Galaxy Watch 7 update isn't packed with new features, but it targets parts of the smartwatch experience that owners use throughout the day. Watch faces, the always-on display, and Quick Settings are among the areas receiving attention in the fifth One UI 9 Watch beta.

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.

Google Meet's real-time voice translation jumped from six languages to 63 this week, powered by a new Gemini 3.5 Live Translate model that automatically detects which language someone is speaking instead of locking a call into one fixed pair. This expansion brings Google's Gemini 3.5 Live Translate model to Meet's web and mobile apps, and it removes the old meeting-wide language-pair limit so each participant can pick their own translation language. Most people will still need an eligible paid...

A Samsung Galaxy phone can meet every obvious requirement, Bluetooth enabled, signed into the same Google Account, and fully updated, and still refuse to show up as an option under ChromeOS's Connected devices setup.

OnePlus has already started rolling out Android 17-based ColorOS 17 ahead of its original Oct. 29, 2026, schedule.

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 next budget fitness tracker is coming into focus, and anyone expecting a dramatic redesign may be disappointed. Newly uncovered Galaxy Fit 4 renders show a device that looks remarkably similar to the Galaxy Fit 3, with Bluetooth 5.4 emerging as the clearest documented upgrade.

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.

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.

A Galaxy tablet owner asked Samsung Community how to reorder "the first 6 buttons" on their Quick Panel, and the reply pointed to a setting called Edit top quick settings. Samsung now documents that option in its official support materials for newer Galaxy devices, although the exact menu layout can vary by software version and model. For One UI 7 users, the key distinction is between editing the full Quick Panel and customizing the shortcuts shown in the combined notifications view.

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.

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.

Samsung has started rolling out One UI 9.0 based on Android 17 to the Galaxy A16 5G on Verizon.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The Pixel 11 Pro HiLight notification feature just picked up its most requested upgrade: message alerts. Owners running Android 17 QPR2 Beta 6.1 on the Pixel 11 Pro, Pro XL, or Pro Fold can now flip on a toggle that makes the camera-ring LED blink for texts from favorite contacts, confirmed working with Google Messages according to 9to5Google. That's a real expansion for a feature Android Police called a "dud" at launch over its narrow scope, per Android Police.

Google quietly confirmed that receipt scanning is coming to Google Wallet in the changelog for Google Play Services v26.40, dated Oct. 12, 2026. The entry says users can now scan to add receipts, a change that could make it easier to save purchase records without entering their details manually.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Google calls the $179.99 Fitbit Edge its "smartest fitness tracker ever" (Google, two weeks ago). But according to Android Authority's reporting, which draws on direct correspondence with Google, anyone chasing the fullest set of AI health features should skip the Edge and "buy a Pixel Watch 5 and a Pixel phone" instead. That's the core tension behind any Fitbit Edge vs Google Pixel Watch comparison right now: two products from the same company, running the same health platform, with...

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.

Google has confirmed to Android Authority that a fix for Android Auto not connecting after the One UI 9 update is already rolling out. The company frames it as a broader "Android 17 / One UI 9" issue rather than a bug tied to one specific phone.

The Glowbar, the light strip built into the lid of Googlebook laptops, normally shows information such as battery status and Gemini activity. A hidden system app called Glowbar Disco turns that same strip into a customizable, music-reactive light show, and figuring out how to find Glowbar Disco on Googlebook means digging past the regular app launcher into the system settings menu.

Samsung has started rolling out the stable, Android 17-based One UI 9 update to the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Flip 5. The rollout began in South Korea and has since expanded to parts of Europe, although availability still varies by country, carrier, and device variant.

ITavisen reports that Google's own support documentation confirms phone number verification is enabled by default on Android, automatically verifying a number and adding it to every Google account signed in on that device. That covers current and future accounts and phone numbers, not just the one account used to set up the phone in the first place.