News and Updates from Gadget Hacks: Page 16

WhatsApp has pushed a redesigned profile tab to stable iOS builds, and the official App Store release notes say exactly what it's for: the settings tab is now a profile tab for managing your account, controlling your identity, and expressing yourself. Those are WhatsApp's own words. The rollout of this new profile tab was confirmed this week by 9to5Mac, and for anyone tracking WhatsApp multiple accounts for iOS, it's the clearest public signal yet that the feature is getting closer.

Apple Music concerts feature: how tour dates and ticket links work

You know that feeling when you want music that fits a very specific vibe, but you're not quite sure how to search for it? YouTube Music is betting that you'd rather just tell its AI what you're in the mood for and let it handle the rest. The platform's "Ask Music" feature—recently given a fresh coat of paint and now simply called "Ask Music"—is Google's answer to the increasingly crowded world of AI-powered music curation. This isn't just about catching up to Spotify's AI Playlist feature; it's...

T-Mobile customers have until 4:59 a.m. ET this Monday, March 31 to claim a free full-season MLB.TV subscription through the T-Life app. The subscription, valued at $149.99, covers every out-of-market regular-season game live or on demand. T-Mobile's own promotional materials flag the core limitation in bold: this offer is built for watching other cities' teams, not your own.

The Thomson Google TV Streaming Box 260 Pro 4K surfaced this month with specs that directly undercut Google's $99.99 streamer on storage and connectivity. Within days, leaked details and an FCC filing confirmed Walmart is building a second-generation Onn 4K Pro that appears to clone Google's hardware story almost feature for feature. Two devices, different manufacturers, same basic thesis: the sub-$100 Google TV market is converging around a small pool of chipsets and a shared feature checklist.

Pre-launch framework: Confirmed pricing, software support terms, and independent camera test results for the Xiaomi 17 series are not yet available as of late March 2026. This piece builds a buyer's decision framework from structural patterns in Xiaomi's flagship history. Every historical claim is labeled as precedent. Verified specs and pricing will replace these references at launch.

OnePlus has officially launched the OnePlus 15T in China, with open sales starting today, March 25. The compact flagship arrives with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset, a 7,500mAh silicon-carbide battery, and a starting price of CNY 4,299 (roughly $624) making it one of the more aggressively priced phones to carry Qualcomm's latest silicon.

Two polls published this week, drawing a combined 14,000+ votes, tell a consistent story: engaged Android users broadly oppose Google's new Android sideloading restrictions. The headline number is striking roughly four in five respondents expressed some form of opposition. The more interesting finding is what that opposition actually consists of, because a large minority accepts Google's security case entirely and still rejects this specific implementation.

Google is about to let Pixel users record Take a Message greetings directly inside the Phone app, cutting carriers out of the process entirely. The March 2026 Pixel Drop page stated that Take a Message "is almost ready for easy custom greetings," the first time Google has used that language officially. Now, examination of Phone app beta version 214.0.888174602-publicbeta-pixel shows recordings actually functioning within the greeting interface, with Android Authority reporting today that the...

The BackTrack anniversary mode is what everyone is talking about. It's not what you should care about most.

Starting in September 2026, every app installed on a certified Android device must come from a developer who has registered their real identity with Google, submitted government ID, paid a $25 fee, and registered their app's signing key. These Android sideloading verification rules apply to more than 95% of Android phones sold outside China, according to F-Droid's open letter. Play Store users won't notice a thing. The communities built on F-Droid, Obtainium, and direct-download distribution...

When Apple shipped watchOS 11.3 alongside iOS 18.3 on January 27, 2025, a server-side misconfiguration briefly locked owners of Apple Watch Series 4, Series 5, and the first-generation SE out of watchOS 10.6.1, the most recent version of watchOS 10. Some of those watches lost the ability to pair with an iPhone entirely. Apple fixed it, but the incident made something concrete that usually stays abstract: on older Apple Watch hardware, missing your last available update doesn't just leave you...

Apple is reportedly planning the most significant Siri redesign in years, and the first thing to understand about it is what it isn't. According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, the overhauled Siri won't be a separate chatbot app sitting on your home screen. The redesigned assistant, codenamed "Campos" internally, will be embedded directly into iOS 27 and macOS 27, replacing the current Siri experience entirely while keeping the same trigger mechanism users already know. 9to5Mac's summary of...

Apple Music is adding a "Concerts Near You" section to its iOS app, surfacing nearby shows, venue details, and ticket links for the first time. The Apple Music concerts feature is currently live in the iOS 26.4 beta, with a public rollout expected in the coming weeks, Cult of Mac reported last month. Apple appears to be drawing on Bandsintown concert data to power it, though the company has not formally documented that architecture.

Tipster Digital Chat Station posted a near-complete specification sheet for the Vivo X300s on Weibo today, six days before its confirmed March 30 China launch, as GSMArena reported. The leak covers battery size, charging speeds, camera configuration, vibration motor dimensions, and build details. Combined with Weibo posts from Vivo Product Manager Han Boxiao directly confirming the display, battery capacity, and naming rationale, the hardware picture is detailed enough to analyze with...

Based on current reporting, a fully all-screen iPhone has no credible release date. The most specific public rumor points to 2027 for an under-display selfie camera only, Apple's display engineering effort is concentrated on a foldable iPhone due this fall, and the second half of what an uninterrupted front actually requires under-display Face ID has no timeline from any source. For anyone searching "when is the all-screen iPhone coming," that's the honest answer right now.

Europe's major broadcasting groups this week formally asked the EU to designate smart TV operating systems and virtual assistants as gatekeepers under the Digital Markets Act. The complaint names Apple TV and Siri alongside Google, Amazon, and Samsung, and targets something more specific than hardware market share: who controls what audiences see when they turn on a television or ask a voice assistant what to watch. No smart TV platform and no virtual assistant has yet been designated a...

Robin Liu, who joined OnePlus in 2018 and oversaw what sources describe as a turnaround that kept the brand in India's market, has stepped down as CEO of OnePlus India. His departure, confirmed today by Android Authority, is the most visible result of a restructuring that places OnePlus under closer OPPO group oversight. His notice period ends March 31. He has already relocated to China.

Europe's largest commercial broadcasters formally asked the EU this week to extend its toughest tech regulations to smart TV operating systems and virtual assistants, arguing that the home screen on your television and the voice assistant you use to navigate it have become powerful enough chokepoints to warrant Digital Markets Act oversight. The request puts Apple TV and Siri under DMA gatekeeper scrutiny alongside Android TV, Amazon Fire OS, and Samsung's Tizen. Whether the European Commission...

Apple's foldable iPhone is now widely expected to land this September alongside the iPhone 18 Pro lineup, and the supply chain is moving in ways that point to a real product rather than another rolling forecast. Samsung began DRAM shipments in Q2, timed to Apple's production schedule, MacRumors reported eleven days ago. A Chinese assembly-line source claimed Apple submitted production line orders, the kind of hardware commitment that typically precedes a launch rather than anticipates one,...