Android: Page 4

Google is preparing to move "Your info" from a buried settings menu to the top of the main contacts list in Google Contacts, with a share icon permanently alongside it. The Google Contacts Your info rollout doesn't add new functionality; it makes existing functionality findable. Based on code evidence in the same app build, it also appears to be laying groundwork for Tap to Share, Google's in-development proximity sharing feature that still hasn't shipped.

Google shared new Pixel 11 teaser images this week, giving the first real look at Pixel Glow, and the confirmed Pixel 11 problems have nothing to do with the lighting feature itself. Pixel Glow is real, it's genuinely clever, and it deserves more than a reflexive dismissal. The trouble is that it arrived at exactly the moment Google needs to answer harder questions.

Samsung has filed a patent for a clamshell phone with a double-jointed hinge that can fold both inward and outward, eliminating the cover screen in favor of a single flexible panel that serves both purposes. Android Authority reported the filing today. It's at least the second Samsung foldable phone patent staking out this concept: Tech Advisor covered a related WIPO design patent earlier this year.

A Fitbit update has knocked out SpO2 blood oxygen tracking and skin temperature monitoring on Pixel Watch devices, and Google has confirmed it is working on a fix for the permissions error. What the company has not said is when that fix will arrive, which software version caused the reset, or how many users are affected.

A code teardown of Google Photos v7.83.0 has surfaced a "Save as photo" button that appears directly when a user pauses a video, bypassing the multi-step editing sequence the app currently requires to pull a still from a clip. Android Authority activated and tested the feature last week, describing it as "a much better experience than what the app offers right now."

Google Search AI Mode connected apps began rolling out in the U.S. this week, letting users link services like Instacart, Canva, and YouTube Music directly inside AI Mode and push tasks into those apps without leaving Search, per Google's announcement. The practical result: a grocery list assembled through conversation can land straight in an Instacart cart; a playlist AI Mode curates can be saved to YouTube Music with a single tap.

Google Maps Immersive Navigation has appeared on Android Auto for at least one U.S. user, with screenshots published showing the new 3D interface running on a car display. Four months after Google said Android Auto would receive the feature "over the coming months," Android Authority reported the first publicly documented evidence that it's arriving.

Google's Tensor chip program has spent four years running a node behind its rivals. The Pixel 11 TSMC 2nm chip rumor, sourced to an analyst and reported by 9to5Google last month, suggests that could change and not because Google has suddenly become a chip powerhouse, but because of who is now building its chips and where Apple is directing its own 2nm supply.

Google has carved out a slot in the Android status bar for AI agents, and right now there is no confirmed way to hide it. Android Halo, announced at Google I/O in May and explained in more detail this week, gives Gemini and other supported agents a fixed, dedicated location at the top of the screen, visible across apps while an agent is active. The Android Halo status bar indicator is designed to stay put. Whether users will have any say over that is the question Google hasn't answered.

The European Commission issued binding rules this week requiring Google to open Android's deepest system controls to competing AI assistants on equal terms with Gemini. The order, published under Digital Markets Act Article 6(7), is not a choice screen or a preference menu. It mandates OS-level infrastructure access, and it sets a compliance clock running toward a July 2027 deadline for EU users to see the results.

Samsung's next Galaxy foldable may depart from the tall shape that has defined its book-style phones.

Gemini for Home will no longer stop mid-conversation to ask who you are. This week's Google Home Gemini update, reported by Android Authority and Android Police, removes voice verification prompts during Continued Conversation sessions and makes chained commands more consistent. It lands eight days after Google Home devices were reported taking up to a minute to respond, or timing out entirely, with no confirmed fix deployed as of that report.

Code surfaced inside the Google Home iOS app this week suggests the upcoming Home Display may be less a Nest Hub successor than a Google smart display with camera features borrowed directly from Nest Cam. The latest Google Home Display Nest Hub Max camera findings, analyzed by Android Authority, describe recording tiers that mirror existing Nest Cam subscriptions exactly: a free event-history window, with longer event history and continuous recording tied to Google Home Premium tiers.

Amazon has been discounting the Galaxy S26 lineup in the week after Prime Day, keeping promotional pressure alive on Samsung's newest flagship series. Whether any given Amazon Galaxy S26 deal represents genuine savings depends on which Samsung product you're looking at and on a broader pricing pattern that has made discount labels across much of Samsung's catalog harder to trust.

A growing number of Google Home Speaker owners are hitting a wall before the device ever plays a single note. The Google Home Speaker setup issue surfaced in reports Thursday, with buyers across multiple countries finding that the speaker fails to complete first-time onboarding and then loops through the same error when they try to fix it. Google has confirmed its engineering team is investigating but has no root cause, no working fix, and no timeline for resolution, Android Authority reported...

The Google Store is now selling a Samsung smartwatch. Yesterday, a "Devices from the Google Store" carousel surfaced in the US Play Store app, offering the Galaxy Watch 8 through the standard Google Store checkout flow, financing included, according to 9to5Google. The device sits alongside Google's own Pixel Watch 4 and Fitbit Air all three processed through the same checkout infrastructure Google uses for its Pixel lineup.

Google pushed a significant Google Photos Android redesign this week: a floating pill-style bottom bar that makes the Create tab a top-level destination, plus a new Gemini-powered Video Remix tool that transforms library clips into stylized, shareable video in seconds. The redesign arrives on Android about five months after iOS users got it. The more interesting context, though, isn't the platform gap. It's what Google was apparently willing to do a year ago when it didn't yet have a native...

Samsung is pitching the Galaxy S26 Ultra as more than a faster flagship. Its biggest selling point is Galaxy AI: tools that can suggest actions, summarize context, edit images, screen calls, and hand off limited tasks across apps. Some of those features are useful now. Others still need the right apps, accounts, permissions, and real-world reliability to be worth the Ultra price.

The Samsung Odyssey OLED G5 (G50SF) has dropped to roughly $340 in the US, a street price that simply didn't exist for QD-OLED gaming monitors until this year. That matters most for PC gamers running DisplayPort, who get the full spec sheet. Console users and anyone locked to HDMI run into a bandwidth ceiling the panel can't clear over that connection. The deal is real; it's just not for everyone.

A dataset collected from 147 Deaf signers using smartphone cameras has produced the largest ASL fingerspelling recognition dataset ever assembled, and the results carry real implications for what Gboard sign language recognition could eventually look like. No such feature has been announced. Nothing in the available evidence connects the research to a Google product plan.