Android: Page 7

The Galaxy S26 FE has turned up in the UL Demko certification database with confirmed support for 45W wired charging, a spec that would put Samsung's budget-oriented handset ahead of the base Galaxy S26, which is still expected to top out at 25W. The Galaxy S26 FE 45W charging leak covers six regional model numbers and aligns with Samsung's Super Fast Charging 2.0 standard, SamMobile and Android Headlines both reported this week. The same 45W ceiling appeared on the Galaxy S25 FE, meaning the...

No ID scan, no selfie, no document upload. Google's answer to the wave of age-verification laws sweeping U.S. states and international regulators runs entirely on settings parents already control inside their family's Android account. This week, the company announced an expansion of its beta Google Play Age Signals API, moving past an initial test in Brazil into a broader international rollout, Ars Technica reported.

Google Maps Platform opened a Private Preview yesterday for Google Maps Custom Satellite Embeddings, a service that lets organizations request AI-derived Earth data for specific regions on cycles as tight as every five days, according to Google Maps Platform. That's a sharp break from the annual dataset it builds on, but it is not a new feed of satellite photos.

The Galaxy Z Fold7 became Samsung's first book-style foldable to outsell its companion Flip model during a South Korean preorder period. Its share rose from roughly 40% in the previous generation to 60%, giving Samsung fresh evidence that buyers would choose the more expensive Fold when its design addressed the format's biggest usability problems.

A battery unit spotted in India's Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) database was an early piece of evidence pointing toward an unannounced Samsung earbud, according to an April report from Android Authority. Nothing in that listing, or in the app code that surfaced before it, confirms the Samsung ear-hook earbuds theory that has attached itself to the leak.

The Pixel Watch 5 has appeared in a Google Play Console listing under the codename "godric," adding to the evidence that Google's next smartwatch is nearing launch. The entry follows June regulatory filings for four probable Pixel Watch 5 models and reveals 3GB of RAM, up from 2GB in recent generations.

A leak posted today on X claims Samsung will open pre-reservations for the Galaxy Z Fold 8 as soon as July 8. The tip comes from a single source, Abhishek Yadav, and Samsung has not announced it. But a separate report noted that this year's pre-registration window is reportedly compressed to just a few days before the expected July 22 Unpacked event, 9to5Google reported two weeks ago, so the compressed timing fits. What matters before acting on that is understanding which device the reservation...

Samsung Messages shut down on July 6, 2026. If you're a US Galaxy user on Android 12 or newer, the app can no longer send or receive messages except to emergency numbers, per Samsung's discontinuation notice. The text field is greyed out, and that's a permanent state.

In late October 2025, Niagara Launcher published a support note that was, in its quiet way, a small admission of defeat. Google Play services had started blocking the launcher from opening certain Unity-made games a Niagara Launcher Google Play services issue the team could do nothing about. Not because of a Niagara bug. There was nothing to patch, nothing to push. According to the team's help page, it appeared that Google had rolled out new firewall rules in response to a Unity engine...

At Google I/O in May, Google's director of product management for the Home Platform published a blog post describing the company's ambitions with a phrase you'd expect from a B2B sales deck: enabling partners to build "monetizable, proactive services" for customers' homes. That's not consumer language. It's licensing language. And it's the clearest signal yet about where the Google Home future is heading designed around carriers, ISPs, and security companies, with consumers as the end market...

Samsung's cardiovascular health story for Galaxy Watch has quietly changed direction. Samsung's June 4 Samsung Health preview emphasized new AI health tools, while a later Samsung Health notice positioned Blood Pressure Trends as the U.S. replacement for Vascular Load. It has not issued a broad public announcement, but Samsung Health is reportedly notifying U.S. users that Vascular Load will disappear with Samsung Health v7.0 and One UI 9 Watch.

The Galaxy S27 Ultra battery rumor that dominated Samsung coverage earlier this year was built on shakier ground than most headlines let on. A credible tipster has pushed back on the claim that the S27 Ultra will ship with a cell larger than 5,000mAh, and the original sourcing was already more conditional than downstream coverage acknowledged. The likeliest outcome: the Ultra ships with the same capacity Samsung has used across every Ultra model from the S20 through the S26, a streak now seven...

At first glance, Android Halo looks like a sensible piece of UX design. Google's description is straightforward: a persistent indicator at the top of your phone screen where an AI agent can update you, ask for input, and surface results from background tasks, all without interrupting whatever you're doing. Google's official announcement previewed this in May as "at-a-glance visibility into what your agent is working on at any given time." That is a real problem, and this is a reasonable...

Google Maps appears to be preparing a food-ordering feature that would let users request food through Ask Maps while on the go, according to newly discovered app strings and earlier Google statements about agentic commerce. The two signals together point to active development of a Google Maps food ordering capability built on top of the app's existing Gemini integration, and they raise as many questions as they answer.

A new report claims OPPO may retire OxygenOS on all future global devices, folding it into ColorOS alongside realme UI, according to the report. That claim comes from a single unnamed source, but it lands against a backdrop of independently confirmed signals: OnePlus' German website now directs customers to OPPO hardware, most of the European team walked out in April, and UK inventory has run dry with no refresh in sight. Taken together, the software consolidation report and the brand retreat...

A Samsung Galaxy Glasses leak this week surfaced what appears to be a 27-second promotional video showing the device from multiple angles, and the footage tells only part of the story. The more revealing details come from a companion manager app and embedded code strings analyzed by SammyGuru, reported this week by Android Authority and Beebom: Samsung appears to be building a dedicated controller app for Galaxy Watches, while code strings in a Ring gesture plug-in reference starting and...

The YouTube Music Library tab has disappeared for some Android Auto users, replaced by a blank screen showing a "No Items" message where saved playlists, albums, and liked songs should be. If you're seeing that message where your YouTube Music Library used to be on Android Auto, you're not alone. Both Android Authority and 9to5Google reported the YouTube Music Android Auto bug earlier today, and a thread in r/AndroidAuto has drawn enough matching complaints to suggest this is wider than...

Google's official Nest Community account reportedly confirmed it identified the root cause of a YouTube Music playback failure on Nest Hub smart displays and pushed a fix. At least one affected user confirmed playback resumed immediately afterward. If YouTube Music not working on Nest Hub has been your reality for the past few weeks, the short answer is: try it again now.

Google confirmed today that a Pixel 4a boot loop fix is arriving in the July Google Play system update. For owners whose phones still function, the fix should land automatically this month. For devices already locked in a loop and unable to complete startup, whether the update can reach them at all remains publicly unanswered.

Some Pixel owners are missing calls that never ring and never show up as missed. The phone sits there looking normal while the caller hits voicemail. Complaints have accumulated on Reddit and Google's Issue Tracker across multiple Pixel models, with no confirmed cause and no fix, according to Android Police this week.