The Latest from Gadget Hacks: Page 5

For the past several Galaxy S generations, the answer to "should I buy the S or S Plus?" has been some version of "only if the Ultra is too big or too expensive." The cameras were fine. The batteries were adequate. Nothing about them was wrong, exactly they just weren't interesting. A batch of Galaxy S27 camera and battery leaks published today suggests Samsung is aware of that problem and may be doing something about it.

In hands-on testing, PCMag found that the Gemini Daily Brief flagged two overlapping Airbnb reservations for the same weekend and warned of a potential duplicate YouTube Premium charge, both pulled unprompted from the tester's Gmail inbox. The example shows the feature's core pitch: usefulness through deep access to personal Google data. The broader implication is harder to dismiss than a single anecdote suggests.

HONOR detailed the full camera system for its Robot Phone at a camera technology event in China today, confirming HONOR Robot Phone dual 200MP cameras, three-axis mechanical stabilization, and a partnership with professional cinema brand ARRI for LOGC3 encoding. The main sensor mounts on a four-degree-of-freedom titanium-alloy robotic arm that, according to Honor, enables 360-degree subject tracking a physical mechanism rather than a software compensation layer. The China launch is set for...

iOS 27 adds something Wallet has never had in fourteen years: the ability to build your own pass. Tap the "+" button you use to add credit cards or pass emails, and a new "Create a Pass" option appears alongside the existing options. It lets you digitize a paper ticket, membership card, or loyalty pass directly from your iPhone, with no developer account, no Pass Type ID, and no certificate signing required (Michael Tsai, May 2026). This guide walks you through how to use Create a Pass in Apple...

Google Clock v9.0 is rolling out support for Google Clock Live Updates, surfacing active timers and stopwatches in the status bar, on the lock screen, and on the always-on display, Android Authority reported today. The update also fixes a specific bug: timers shown on the always-on display previously appeared frozen mid-count even while running in the background. Both changes arrive together.

The Pixel Watch 5 has turned up in Google's own developer infrastructure. A Play Console entry under the codename "godric" appeared this week, per 9to5Google, and it's the kind of registration that shows up near the end of a product cycle, not at the beginning. Combined with FCC clearance for four model numbers in late June, the Pixel Watch 5 is now visible in Google's official systems well ahead of any announcement.

Google says higher memory costs will force it to adjust prices across the Pixel family, including the upcoming Pixel 11 lineup. In a July 24 interview with 9to5Google, Google Vice President of Devices and Services Shakil Barkat said the company could no longer absorb all the increases coming from suppliers.

The hard part of working in Google Docs has never been writing the first sentence. It's everything that follows: reformatting a draft to match a template someone else built, fixing the voice after four contributors have left their fingerprints on it, finding an image that doesn't require a trip to another tool. Google has been shipping Gemini in Google Docs updates since March 2026 to handle most of that cleanup automatically, inside Docs, without changing the interface most users already know.

Until last week, the Pixel 11 price increase was a rumor. It isn't anymore. Google's VP of Devices and Services, Shakil Barkat, told 9to5Google that the entire Pixel family will see pricing "adjustments" rolled out "dynamically to match supply realities" and that phones already on sale could be affected too, with no timeline given. Google is announcing the next Pixel generation on August 12, per The Verge. Specific numbers come then. The policy behind them is already set.

This guide tells you exactly how to watch the 2026 MLS All-Star Game live online and whether you qualify for the free trial. The game streams exclusively through MLS Season Pass on the Apple TV app. No cable broadcast, no over-the-air channel, no alternative platform. "Free" applies only in two specific situations. Figure out which one describes you, then follow the steps below to have a working stream before tomorrow's 8 p.m. ET kickoff.

Microsoft is gradually updating some of Windows 11's oldest interface elements with replacements built using WinUI 3, its current native user-interface framework. The latest preview-build discovery suggests that the familiar File Properties window may be next, although the redesign remains hidden and cannot be enabled through normal Windows settings.

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...

An Amazon listing surfaced the Pixel Buds Pro 2 in an unnamed dark green colorway this week before being pulled, and Android Authority reported today that Google also appears to have been showing the same shade on its Play Store rewards page. The Pixel 11 event is confirmed for August 12, two weeks away. The leak points to no hardware changes, only a new colorway.

OnePlus confirmed on July 16, 2026, that it would end new product rollouts in North America and Europe. Existing phones will continue receiving their promised software updates, security patches and after-sales support, but the decision effectively closes the official route to buying future OnePlus flagships in those markets.

Pixel 4a owners are reporting that Google's July Play system update has resolved the boot-loop problem that has plagued the phone for weeks. Affected users have posted on Reddit's Pixel 4a community confirming the reported Pixel 4a reboot-glitch fix worked for them, Android Authority reported.

Tipster Ice Universe demonstrated Galaxy Z Fold 8 app-level display customization this week on a Chinese Fold 8 unit, showing YouTube's recommendation feed shift from two rows of videos to three after adjusting that single app's display size. Nothing else on the device changed. Samsung appears to be shipping this per-app zoom feature in One UI 9 ahead of the August 7 retail launch, according to Android Headlines, with the caveat that review units are not yet on final firmware and all...

By the end of this guide, your Mac will be running macOS Tahoe. What you recover beyond the operating system depends on one thing: whether you have a Time Machine backup made before the Golden Gate beta was installed. This guide covers all three realistic scenarios for getting back to stable ground.

Razer Axon Wallpaper Engine Mobile is scheduled to hit Google Play on July 15, 2026, and Razer has built a two-phase hardware giveaway around the release that runs from July 3 through July 29. Nine prizes total, split across pre-registration and social entry windows, with the first draw already open, PR TIMES reported this week. What the app actually does remains largely undescribed in pre-launch materials but the campaign mechanics are concrete, and that's what most readers need to act on...

A federal judge dismissed rapper RBX's Spotify streaming-fraud lawsuit last month, finding that the complaint did not plausibly support its negligence and unfair-competition claims. The case can be refiled within 21 days, so it isn't over. But the dismissal laid bare a structural problem that no ruling can fix: the same enforcement systems Spotify built to fight bot streams are removing legitimate artists from the platform, and those artists have almost no recourse when it happens.

Starting today, Google is counting all Android backup data toward your Google Account storage limit, but the rollout isn't instant for everyone, and the actual impact for most users is smaller than the policy change might suggest.