The Latest from Gadget Hacks: Page 2

Samsung launched the Samsung Health Assistant beta Tuesday, opening its first fully integrated AI-powered health tool inside Samsung Health to eligible U.S. users. Rather than presenting biometric data as graphs to decode, the assistant lets users ask questions about their health, check their daily Energy Score, and receive personalized health guidance across five wellness pillars: sleep, activity, nutrition, mindfulness, and vitals. The shift Samsung is positioning here is from a dashboard you...

Google released Android 17 QPR 2 Beta 1 on July 20, 2026, build CP41.260701.005, and the entire release is structured around repairs. The three headline fixes address Bluetooth accessories silently failing to reconnect after a disconnect, Pixel devices rebooting when invoking Gemini, and notifications randomly going invisible, per Google's official release notes. One notable gap: the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro are absent from the supported device list, despite both receiving the stable July...

Microsoft has crossed a meaningful threshold in how AI operates inside Excel. The latest update to editing with Copilot in Excel turns Copilot from a suggestion engine into an agent that can act directly inside a live workbook, creating PivotTables, generating forecasts, and executing multi-step tasks from a plain-English prompt, without a user clicking through each step.

Claims are circulating that future GWM Tank SUVs will support Apple Car Key, the feature that lets drivers lock, unlock, and start compatible vehicles using an iPhone or Apple Watch through Apple Wallet. The evidence doesn't support that yet. No GWM or Tank model appears on Apple's supported vehicles list. No CCC Digital Key certification for any Tank model exists in public records. Neither GWM nor Apple has issued any announcement on the subject. Buyers factoring this into a purchase decision...

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.

Screenshots from an internal One UI 9 build for the Galaxy S25 Plus, shared on X today, show a feature called Samsung My FanCam, a Galaxy AI tool that reportedly lets you tap a subject in footage you've already recorded and generate a reframed clip that keeps them centered throughout, Android Authority reported this morning. Samsung has not confirmed the feature exists. The One UI 9 public beta remains limited to the Galaxy S26 series; Samsung has not officially opened it to S25 devices at all,...

For three years, buying a book-style foldable in the US meant choosing between Samsung and Google. That changed in May 2026 when Motorola shipped the Razr Fold, and the reception was decisive. Android Authority called it "the new best foldable to buy" for most people; Engadget rated it 8.8/10 and called it a genuine rival to both. It launched at $1,899, slightly less than the Pixel 10 Pro Fold's $1,919, which means Motorola isn't asking anyone to pay a premium to switch.

Netflix spent a decade competing on 4K resolution and frame-rate clarity. This week, to mark Stranger Things' 10th anniversary, the platform released the Stranger Things VHS Special Edition: all eight episodes of season 1 engineered to look like a tape pulled off a shelf at a video rental store in 1983. The release dropped July 15, the exact date season 1 originally debuted on Netflix, Polygon confirmed this week.

The Onn Full HD streaming stick, a $15 Google TV dongle that turns any HDMI-equipped television into a capable smart TV, has become harder to find and more expensive to buy. Its publicly displayed price has climbed to $30 for some shoppers, double its 2023 launch price, with in-store stock running thin at many locations, according to Cord Cutters News and Android Police. For cord-cutters who relied on the Onn Full HD streaming stick as the cheapest entry point into Google TV, the question is...

Apple's Game Porting Toolkit 4 beta delivered a 66% frame rate jump in GTA V on the same M4 Pro MacBook Pro hardware, with no changes to the game itself, according to Macworld's testing today. That single benchmark captures something broader: the software layer translating Windows games on Mac has improved enough that Apple silicon can now show what it was always capable of delivering.

Google released Android 17 QPR1 Beta 7 for Pixel this week, pushing build CP31.260623.005 with the July 2026 security patch to all supported devices in the Android Beta Program. Every fix in the changelog targets Quick Settings. No new features ship with this release.

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.

A certification image has provided an early look at Samsung's unannounced Galaxy Tab S12 Plus. The photo shows a familiar Galaxy Tab design, while separate software findings suggest Samsung is preparing support for MediaTek's flagship Dimensity 9500 processor and several AI-powered image tools.

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."

Microsoft began testing a less cluttered Windows 11 Search experience on July 13, 2026. The redesigned home panel puts recent searches at the center while removing distractions such as trending searches, quizzes, game recommendations, and Microsoft's image of the day.

Netflix's decision to license short-form clips from Condé Nast, Hearst, and BuzzFeed Studios is one of the clearest strategic tells the company has offered in years. Not because the content matters three-to-twenty-minute clips from Bon Appétit and Cosmopolitan are table stakes, not programming strategy but because of who Netflix chose not to sign. The deals are with publishers, not creators. In the Netflix vs YouTube short-form video battle shaping up this year, that distinction is the whole...

Reviewed by: Y. Garcia

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S12 Plus has surfaced in a new certification leak, and the more consequential detail isn't the device itself. It's what the broader pre-launch record suggests about Samsung's 2026 tablet strategy. Based on GSMA IMEI filings and follow-on reporting, Samsung appears set to launch just two models in the Tab S12 range: the Plus and the Ultra. No standard Tab S12 has appeared in any credible sourced material.

Google appears to be rolling out a Play Store redesign that changes the look and navigation of the Apps and Games tabs. The update adds pill-shaped sub-tabs, moves Top charts and Categories into separate pages, and makes personalized recommendations the default view when you open either section, Android Authority reported July 8.

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.