The Latest from Gadget Hacks: Page 3

Two days before Samsung's scheduled July 22 Unpacked event, prominent leaker Evan Blass published what appears to be official promotional material for the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2, including an exploded internal diagram with a visible "Powered by Snapdragon Wear Elite" badge. The Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 leak covers the watch's full spec sheet: an 800mAh battery, a 5,000-nit display, a 12% thinner titanium chassis, and Qualcomm's 3nm Snapdragon Wear Elite chip, according to Notebookcheck and...

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.

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...

LG introduced a picture setting that lets movie studios influence how individual streaming titles appear on compatible televisions. Creator Original Picture Mode can apply title-specific parameters for shadow detail, color balance, noise reduction, and motion handling instead of relying on one general cinema preset.

The Nvidia Shield TV base model has been unavailable across NVIDIA's major U.S. retail partners for months. NVIDIA broke its silence on the matter, and the answer left the central question unresolved. The company said the base model is "largely out of stock due to demand" and that it has "no updates to share regarding future availability at this time." If you're wondering why Nvidia Shield TV is out of stock, that's the official explanation. It doesn't tell you when, or whether, the device is...

Suno is marketing a workflow it calls the Suno iMessage song generator: screenshot a conversation, extract the text with your phone's built-in OCR, paste it into Suno, and get back a full song with vocals, lyrics, and instrumentation in about 60 seconds. The pitch leans hard on iMessage branding. The actual mechanic involves no Messages extension or official Apple integration of any kind.

Huawei launched the Pura 90s Pro and Pura 90s Pro Max in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, opening global sales in Malaysia first, with expansion to additional markets expected in the coming months, according to FoneArena. The Pura 90s Pro starts at approximately $907; the Pro Max comes in at $1,202. Both are now available to order in Malaysia.

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.

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."

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.

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.

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 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.

Here is the tension at the center of Google's foldable strategy: why foldable Pixel phones still matter is a genuinely answerable question, but the Pixel 10 Pro Fold doesn't answer it. The category has a strategic logic. The device doesn't live up to it.

Samsung published its July 2026 security maintenance release on July 7, listing 57 vulnerability fixes for Galaxy phones and tablets, including five critical Android flaws.

Six Pixel 11-series model numbers have appeared in FCC certification records recently, a sign Google is nearing launch ahead of its August 12 event in New York City, 9to5Google reported. The filings arrived after what 9to5Google describes as "a pretty big retail leak," with regulatory certification now adding to a cluster of pre-launch signals. Buried in the band tables is the filing's most durable detail: Google has swapped its modem supplier, replacing Samsung's Exynos parts with a MediaTek...

In June, Chris Graue made headlines for photographing Jupiter with a Game Boy Camera, a 1998 accessory whose sensor captures 128×128 pixels in four shades of gray. The image showed cloud bands and a clear planetary limb. The catch: Graue shot through the Hooker Telescope at Mount Wilson Observatory, one of the most historically significant instruments in American astronomy. The camera was the hook. The adapter and the 100-inch mirror behind it were the story.

WordPress released a native Apple TV app today that brings its long-running community video archive to the living room. The WordPress TV Apple TV app is free, requires no account, and opens immediately to thousands of talks, tutorials, and WordCamp session recordings from events held around the world. Reporting so far points to the app listing rather than a separate WordPress announcement, with 9to5Mac covering the launch today.

The conventional wisdom used to be that Android users were a restless bunch. More willing to chase a better deal, less attached to any particular brand, generally more open to switching than their iPhone counterparts. A large Android user loyalty survey published earlier this year suggests that picture is increasingly out of date.

Bigme's Hibreak Dual 2 dual-screen phone launched on Kickstarter today with pledges starting around $560, pairing a 6.13-inch color E-Ink front panel with a 5-inch 720×1280 LCD on the rear, Notebookcheck reported. Both screens are rectangular and sized for genuine use a direct response to the watch-face-sized rear panel on Bigme's previous attempt, which never shipped.