Android: Page 12

Samsung didn't remove lockdown protection from One UI 9. It embedded the feature directly into the power menu, making Samsung One UI 9 lockdown mode automatic the moment you open and dismiss the menu without selecting anything. The phone drops to the lock screen, fingerprint and face unlock are disabled, and a PIN or password is now the only way back in. No dedicated button required, no second tap needed.

Google announced today that Google Wallet ID passes will come to select EU member states this summer, with a privacy-preserving age verification feature built alongside German savings bank Sparkasse as the first confirmed use case. Which countries are included, and what credential types will be supported, has not been specified.

Google announced last month that Gboard is getting a Gemini-powered feature called Rambler, which the company says will filter out filler words, self-corrections, pauses, and repetition as you speak, so only cleaned-up text lands in the input field. That's a specific claim, and it matters because Gboard already has tools that correct dictated text after it appears. If Rambler genuinely processes speech before transcription is committed, it addresses a real gap in how voice input works today. If...

Google launched Search profiles today, giving eligible creators and publishers a claimable, customizable page inside Search where they can consolidate their bio, content links, and social presence into a single branded destination. The feature supplements standard search results without altering how links rank in ordinary queries. For creators who qualify, it offers something specific and limited: a managed identity inside Google's own surfaces, connected directly to a follow-based discovery...

Google launched two targeted updates to its payments platform yesterday, and the split between them is worth understanding clearly. Google Pay direct checkout brings saved Google Wallet payment credentials directly into a retailer's checkout page, cutting out the separate Google-hosted flow that currently pulls shoppers away from the merchant's site. The second update, a revamped Secure Payment Authentication (SPA) system, replaces SMS one-time passwords and bank redirects with a biometric...

The Galaxy Z Flip 8 has appeared in the SGS certification database drawing power at 9V and 2.77A, or 25W wired charging the same ceiling every Z Flip has carried since the Flip 4, Android Authority reported today. If confirmed at launch, Samsung will have shipped five consecutive clamshells without touching the Galaxy Z Flip 8 charging speed.

Google Photos is building a dedicated "Copy photo" button that sits directly on the image viewing screen, letting users send a photo to the clipboard without opening the share sheet at all. Code found in version 7.79 of the Android app points to the work being underway, Android Authority reported today. None of it is live yet, but Google could activate the Google Photos copy photo button via a server-side switch at any point without requiring users to install a new build.

Chrome posted record scores on two industry-standard browser benchmarks this week, and the numbers themselves are almost beside the point. What's more interesting is the engineering work behind them a coordinated overhaul spanning three separate subsystems that reveals how much the browser's job has changed.

Samsung's Samsung Health AI redesign begins rolling out today for Android users, with the app shifting its core purpose from displaying raw biometric data to interpreting what that data means. The update lands on Android 10 or later devices running Samsung Health v7.0, with a Samsung account required, per Samsung's Global Newsroom. The headline coaching features, though, are expected to debut first on the Galaxy Watch 9, anticipated in late July, according to 9to5Google.

At MWC 2026 in Barcelona, Samsung Display was on the show floor with a phone that slides upward to reveal more screen. Back home, Samsung's product division was shipping a phone that unfolds twice. Both devices exist. Only one is for sale. That gap between what Samsung's display engineers can demonstrate and what its product team will actually commit to defines the current state of the Samsung rollable phone.

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Pixel Watch cyclists are reporting completed bike workouts that vanish before they ever appear in Fitbit. The evidence for a cycling-specific Pixel Watch cycling workout not saving bug is thin, but what is well-documented is a broader Fitbit data reliability failure that has been corrupting health metrics across the Pixel Watch lineup since mid-March 2026. Cycling may be its newest casualty.

Buried among the AI announcements at the Android Show 2026 was a feature that does not sound like an AI demo at all. The Android 17 Pause Point feature is ten seconds long and contains no adaptive algorithm. It's the most behaviorally intelligent anti-doomscrolling intervention Google has shipped, not because it's powerful, but because it's aimed at the right moment.

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Clicks emailed pre-order holders this morning with two concrete spec revisions: the Clicks Communicator Android 17 launch is now confirmed, replacing Android 16 as the shipping version, and the battery has grown from 4,000mAh to 4,450mAh using silicon-carbon cell construction, Droid Life reported.

Google raised usage ceilings for Gemini users and Google AI subscribers using Antigravity at Google I/O 2026, and the complaints from developers and heavy users haven't slowed down. The core grievance isn't that the new limits are too low. It's that nobody can tell, before starting a session, whether they'll finish it.

A South Korean ETNews report suggests Samsung is preparing a fourth flagship for its Galaxy S27 family: a 6.47-inch model called the Galaxy S27 Pro, reportedly aimed at buyers who want near-Ultra hardware without the Ultra's size or its S Pen. If the leaks prove accurate, it would point to Samsung's first four-phone Galaxy S lineup. Samsung has confirmed nothing.

AI Mode runs multiple related searches in the time it takes you to run one. It returns a single synthesized answer before you've seen any of the underlying process. That's not an incremental upgrade to Google Search. It's a different product, and the post-search Google era it points toward runs on different rules than anything the web has operated under before.

Google's Gemini-powered Live Translate headphone mode is now available on iPhone. Two months after the March 26 announcement, Google's March 26 rollout expanded the feature to seven additional countries. Google's current help page now lists availability in 12 countries. That combination resolves the three biggest constraints on the product at once: platform exclusivity, geographic reach, and hardware requirements.

Save a boarding pass to Google Wallet on Android, and live flight updates, gate changes, delays, estimated takeoff and arrival times, and flight progress appear directly on your lock screen without opening an app. That one feature captures what Google has been building toward across several update cycles: a wallet that monitors your trip rather than just stores the pass.

Pixel Watch 3 and 4 owners are hitting a hard wall this week: tap the Find My Phone shortcut, get a brief splash screen, then land right back at the watch face. Nothing rings. Rebooting both the watch and the paired phone does nothing. Google has acknowledged the bug and says a fix is coming in a future update, but has given no timeline.

Video filters have disappeared from Samsung's camera app in One UI 8.5 and the One UI 9 beta quietly, with no announcement from Samsung and no explanation of whether it's a bug or a deliberate cut. Android Central reported the issue this week after Reddit users flagged missing video filters on One UI 8.5, and said it confirmed the missing recording filters on a Galaxy S25 Ultra.

Motorola Quick Launch lets you double-tap the back of your phone to trigger a custom action without touching the screen. According to AT&T's support page for the Razr+ 2025, when Quick Launch is enabled, you can double-tap the back to perform certain options like taking a screenshot or returning to the home screen. That phrasing matters: "certain options like" is not an exhaustive list, and this guide covers what AT&T explicitly documents.

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Google TV and Android TV together now run on 300 million active devices globally, according to 9to5Google's reporting from I/O. The Google TV 300 million active devices figure is real. It is also the kind of number that looks better in a press release than it does under scrutiny.

Samsung's One UI 8.5 has a dark mode problem: the deep AMOLED blacks that Galaxy users expect have been replaced by washed-out grey across the system UI, phone dialer, and Google apps. A workaround exists, Samsung support has confirmed it helps, and a support representative suggested a future update may provide an official fix, though that is not a confirmed roadmap commitment.

Galaxy phone owners using wireless controllers in DeX Mode have dealt with a frustrating input failure since last fall: the moment the phone screen timed out, analog sticks and D-pad inputs went dead. Face buttons kept working. Movement didn't.

Some Fitbit Air pre-orders began arriving recently, a full day ahead of the official May 26 launch. For iPhone owners, that was a welcome surprise. For Android buyers, it meant unpacking a $99.99 tracker they couldn't use.

Android 17 QPR1 beta 3 contains a setting that would let users hide Gboard's globe icon, the keyboard switch key that sits in the bottom-right corner. The toggle removes the globe key entirely, even when multiple languages or other keyboard apps are active. That appeals to users who want a cleaner layout, but the same report found a meaningful catch: switching back from at least one third-party keyboard becomes significantly harder once the globe key is gone.

Samsung's Bespoke AI WindFree Premium Pro air conditioner includes a mode that detects when you fall asleep and shifts its cooling profile in real time. The feature is called Wearable Good Sleep, and it requires a compatible Samsung wearable on your wrist or finger. Without one, the AC operates like any other air conditioner. That hardware dependency determines everything about how the feature works.

Oppo just launched the Reno 16 series alongside its "Bubble," a touch-capable magnetic rear screen phone accessory that snaps to the back of a compatible phone and delivers something close to the secondary display Xiaomi built directly into the 17 Pro.

Samsung Gallery will stop syncing directly with OneDrive on September 30, 2026. Microsoft's support page, updated earlier this month, sets that as the official cutoff, and Galaxy owners who currently rely on the integration need to update their camera roll settings before that date, not just to keep backing up new photos, but also to keep accessing previously backed-up photos through the OneDrive app.

Reviewed by Julianne Ngirngir

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