Android: Page 2

Google AI Plus is losing Pro model selection. Google has begun emailing subscribers to say the option will disappear from the $4.99-a-month plan starting November 13, 2026, according to 9to5Google.

Google Maps on Apple CarPlay can now surface Gemini mid-drive, letting U.S. users ask multi-step questions and chain follow-up commands without leaving the map screen. It's the first time Google Maps has put a conversational voice assistant inside CarPlay itself, rather than confining that experience to the iPhone's own display, according to 9to5Google.

Samsung's foldable phones could look considerably different in 2027. A new leak suggests the company is preparing six Galaxy Z devices, including three versions of the Galaxy Z Fold 9, a second-generation TriFold, and a phone with a screen that slides outward instead of unfolding.

Learning how to use AI Network Guard on Samsung One UI 9 won't turn your phone into a systemwide ad blocker, but it can prevent new ads from loading inside certain offline-capable apps.

Apple spent this week shipping something Google has only sketched out in app code. On October 13, Apple announced HomeView, a $299 smart display built for shared households, with facial recognition for up to six family members, Siri AI, and controls that adapt as someone walks closer. Pre-orders are open now, and the device starts shipping November 13.

Samsung has started pushing the Galaxy S26 October 2026 security update to the Galaxy S26, Galaxy S26+, and Galaxy S26 Ultra, marking one of the first maintenance updates for the lineup since One UI 9.0 (Android 17) went stable, according to SamMobile. The patch addresses 62 security issues, per the same report.

Google built Googlebook to run on Android, then quietly defaulted several of its biggest apps away from it. That's the short answer to why Googlebook apps run as web apps instead of native Android experiences: Gmail, Docs, Calendar, Sheets, and YouTube all open as Chrome-based web experiences on these laptops, not the Android apps that ship on phones. Google Keep is the one confirmed exception, running natively on Android Authority's test unit, though a single result doesn't prove every...

Google is bundling free AI Pro trials into several hardware and carrier deals right now, including the Pixel 11, the Galaxy Z Fold 8, Chromebook Plus, and select Verizon plans. Those free accounts don't match the paid $19.99-a-month plan feature for feature. Google AI Pro trial restrictions are in Google's own product documentation.

Google's search bar has a new look on Pixel phones, and it's a narrow one. Google rolled out a slightly taller pill-shaped search bar in the Pixel Launcher, along with larger Lens, voice search, and AI Mode icons, in Google app version 17.32 on the stable channel, according to 9to5Google.

Samsung representatives confirmed earlier this year that the Galaxy S26 series uses 480Hz PWM dimming, with no higher-frequency mode, no DC-like dimming option, and no dedicated flicker-reduction setting, according to Android Authority.

Google began rolling out Universal Cart across Search and the Gemini app in the U.S. yesterday, giving shoppers a way to save products from different retailers in one running list instead of juggling browser tabs and screenshots. The feature also sends alerts when saved items drop in price or come back in stock, built on top of Google's Shopping Graph of more than 60 billion product listings.

Google is testing a new Google Nest speaker firmware update, version 3.79.550760, but for now the rollout is limited to people enrolled in Google's speaker Preview Program. The build currently covers four older speakers, the original Google Home, Home Mini, Nest Mini, and Nest Audio, according to 9to5Google. The supplied reporting does not include a Google announcement describing the update.

Android users have been seeing the "number is now verified" system notification more often since last year, and a report from Kaspersky published three months ago explains why. Google's phone number verification check, which confirms that the SIM tied to a number is physically in the device, became widely visible to most users after a Google system update in September 2025, and now runs by default during setup and periodically afterward.

Searching "new YouTube app icons" turns up a story that sounds bigger than it is. The reported change isn't a platform-wide redesign of YouTube's icon library. What's actually circulating is narrower: on a limited number of Android phones, YouTube was testing watch-page buttons, including Like and Share, with their text labels removed when Android Authority reported the change in June 2026.

If "Switch to Google Assistant" has vanished from the Gemini app's account menu, you may have been moved to Gemini as part of Google's mobile migration. Google still publishes switch-back instructions, but 9to5Google found that the option had disappeared on devices it tested in September.

Samsung's stable One UI 9 update, built on Android 17, started reaching US Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7 units on Oct. 2 following an earlier stable release in South Korea. The rollout began with select carrier models and has since expanded to unlocked phones and additional US carriers.

There's no universal best time to charge a Samsung Galaxy Watch. Generally, an optimal charging schedule is something you have to monitor yourself, and that premise holds up here: the right window depends on whether you track sleep, how much battery you're carrying into the evening, how fast your specific model refills, and when you're reliably inactive during the day. The four-question framework below turns that idea into something you can actually use.

Galaxy Watch 9 and Watch Ultra 2 owners have spent the past two months watching full charges stretch to two, three, even four hours, well beyond Samsung's advertised charging times for the Watch9 and the Watch Ultra2 in fast-charging mode. Samsung separately lists a 190-minute normal-charge time for the Ultra2.

A small shield sitting next to your battery percentage looks exactly like the kind of alert you shouldn't ignore. It isn't one. If you're wondering what the shield icon means on Samsung Galaxy phones, the answer is simple: Battery Protection is active. Samsung says a Battery Protection indicator may appear in the status bar while the feature is limiting charging.

Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra battery life test results are in, and they complicate the easy spec-sheet story. The phone jumped to a 5,000mAh battery using silicon-carbon technology, the biggest capacity increase in the Fold line's history, and it beat last year's model in nearly every Android Authority test scenario. It didn't improve by as much as the extra 600mAh might suggest, though.

Samsung announced a new SmartThings platform update on October 5, 2026, built around a feature called SmartThings Now that moves automation suggestions to the top of the Home tab instead of leaving them buried in menus and submenus. The Samsung SmartThings Now update also redesigns the Home tab layout, adds a Floating Bar for one-handed use, and expands local hub-to-phone control.

Google now documents Gemini Call for Me as a feature that can place and handle certain calls to businesses on a user's behalf. What remains undocumented as a released feature is the reported expansion to personal contacts, including scenarios where Gemini could call a friend or family member to pass along a message or ask a question. Google has published setup, eligibility, disclosure, monitoring, and data-handling details for the existing business-focused Call for Me feature, but not for that...

Amazon's October Prime Day sale is underway, and some of the strongest Google Pixel discounts of the fall have already arrived. Prime Big Deal Days runs Oct. 6 through Oct. 7, with Amazon releasing additional limited-time deals three times daily during the 48-hour event.

Google's Pixel lineup has accumulated plenty of labels over the years: standard models, Pros, Folds, XLs, and the more affordable phones whose names end in a lowercase "a." The last one looks simple enough, but Google has never publicly given the letter an official meaning.

Google's Pixel 12 lineup is still a long way from launch, but an early leak may have revealed the first concrete clues about the screens coming to all four expected models. The reported specifications show only small resolution changes for Google's three conventional phones, while the next Pixel Fold could be in line for a considerably larger jump.

If you're still emailing yourself a screenshot or dragging a photo into Drive just to get it onto a laptop, you're doing more work than the phone requires. This guide covers how to use Quick Share to transfer files on Android, whether the destination is your own Chromebook, a Windows PC, or someone else's phone standing next to you. Quick Share comes built into Android and ChromeOS already. Windows needs a separate app installed before it can take part in a transfer.

Two rows on a spec sheet, two names with "Android" in them, and a lot of shoppers who assume they're the same feature wearing different labels. They're not.

On the same day Google's new Googlebook laptops went on sale, the company admitted that Intel-based models may stumble on certain Android apps (The Verge). In a statement to Android Authority, Google described the affected group as a "small handful of complex apps or games" that need developer tuning to run their best on Intel platforms (Engadget).

Samsung just introduced the Galaxy Tab S12 series, a new tablet lineup built around Galaxy AI, a bundled S Pen, and a new MediaTek chip. The Galaxy Tab S12 Ultra and Galaxy Tab S12+ go on sale October 7 in select and major markets.

Samsung raised official US prices on every Galaxy A phone it currently sells: the A17 5G, A27 5G, A37 5G, and A57 5G. Notebookcheck reported yesterday that Samsung's US site now lists higher prices across the full lineup, putting the Samsung Galaxy A series price increase into effect for anyone shopping Samsung.com right now.

Samsung budget Galaxy phone price hikes in the US have landed on four models that are already on sale, not a new generation revealed at launch. The Galaxy A17 5G, A27 5G, A37 5G, and A57 5G all carry higher Samsung.com prices this week than they did before, according to SamMobile and Engadget, which both reported the new figures.

A fresh APK teardown suggests the Pixel Search app coming to older Pixels might finally go official, though Google still hasn't said a word about it. Code inside Pixel Search version 1.0.983036833 points to support for Pixel 6 and newer, a Gemini-powered suggestions feature, and new privacy controls, Android Authority found. Only one of those three things is actually live right now: the privacy toggles. The rest is still buried in code.

YouTube freezing on Samsung Galaxy phones is turning into a recurring complaint, and the reports cluster around three recent models: the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, the standard Galaxy Z Fold 8, and the Galaxy S26 Ultra.

Google Photos has added a floating camera button inside its AI editing tools, letting people snap a fresh photo without leaving the app and feed it straight into an edit. The new Google Photos AI camera button shows up inside Photo Remix and Photo to Video, part of a wider push to add camera access to tools in the app's Create tab.

Samsung is boosting compensation as engineers weigh offers from rival SK hynix, but the gap between its memory and foundry businesses remains wide.

Xiaomi has now launched the 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max in China, locking in the camera hardware that was being teased before their Sept. 23 debut. Samsung, meanwhile, hasn't officially revealed the Galaxy S27 Ultra camera system yet, and leakers are still disagreeing over parts of its telephoto setup.

Google closed its Pixel 11 launch event in New York on August 12 the way it opened: with Trevor Noah on stage. Near the end, Rick Osterloh, Google's hardware chief, joined him, apparently to wrap things up, after a lineup expected to include Alex Cooper, Steph Curry, PinkPantheress and Ayami Nakajo, according to Engadget's live coverage of the show. It made for solid television. It made for a thinner night of proof.

Samsung Electronics' phone business lost money in the same quarter its chip division posted the most profitable quarter in company history. The MX and Networks unit, which sells Galaxy phones, tablets, wearables and networking gear, reported an operating loss of KRW 0.7 trillion for the second quarter of 2026, even as the company's chip division posted KRW 89.2 trillion in operating profit and companywide operating profit hit an all-time high of KRW 89.5 trillion, according to Samsung's...

Some Nest Doorbell owners outside the US are hearing their doorbell announcements delivered in an American accent even though other Google Home interactions on the same account still match their configured language or dialect.

A tipster claims Samsung's first Googlebook has surfaced in a Geekbench database listing, with specs showing a Snapdragon X Elite chip, 16GB of RAM, and Android 17. The post comes from Abhishek Yadav on X, relayed through Android Headlines and reported today by Android Central. Samsung has not announced an Android-powered Galaxy Book or given it a launch date, according to SamMobile. This Samsung Googlebook leak is still only a reported claim, not a confirmed product.