News and Updates from Gadget Hacks: Page 24

Google pushed out a batch of updates to Gemini for Home in March that move the platform toward more expressive lighting requests, letting users describe what they want in natural, conditional language rather than issuing exact device commands. The timing is deliberate: those updates arrived alongside reliability fixes that addressed foundational problems with how the assistant handles room-level commands. Google's new lighting pitch only makes sense if the assistant can first tell which home...

The Nothing Phone 3 is being promoted as part of Amazon's Spring Sale, but the only verified price data available shows a $120 discount on the black 256GB/12GB RAM model, which brought it below $679 during an early Black Friday event last November, according to PhoneArena. That was the lowest documented Amazon price for the phone at that time. Any Spring Sale headline claiming a larger cut needs to be checked against live listing data and price history before it's taken at face value.

Apple updated its vintage and obsolete products lists this month, moving the iPhone 5 and the 8GB variant of the iPhone 4 into the obsolete category. For those specific devices, the consequence is straightforward: Apple and authorized service providers generally no longer perform hardware repairs or supply parts for either phone, according to 9to5Mac (March 16). The more relevant story, though, involves devices that are far less ancient.

Starting this September, whether an app can be installed on a certified Android device will depend not on a developer's cryptographic signature, the technical standard Android has used since its earliest days, but on whether that developer has registered a verified real-world identity with Google. That's the core of what makes the Google Android developer verification rollout consequential, and it's why the backlash has been sharp enough to force Google into modifying the policy before...

Google has introduced Android Bench, a new platform for evaluating how AI coding assistants perform on real-world Android development tasks. According to the company's developer blog, it's designed to compare how different models handle common programming challenges.

The most interesting thing about the first Pixel 11 Pro renders isn't what's on the back of the phone. It's what may no longer be there. Early CAD renders and third-party case listings suggest Google is restructuring the camera bar and cleaning up the rear panel, and the temperature sensor that debuted with considerable fanfare on the Pixel 8 Pro appears to be absent. These are measurement-based renders from Android Headlines and tipster OnLeaks, not official assets, and the source acknowledges...

Apple just made a strategic decision that's getting professional computing users talking: The company appears to be shifting focus away from the extreme high-end memory configurations that made headlines when the M3 Ultra Mac Studio launched. While the 512GB unified memory option technically remains available on Apple's specification pages, the combination of limited availability, premium pricing, and Apple's apparent de-emphasis of this configuration signals a notable change in direction for...

The rumor that Apple will shrink the Dynamic Island on the iPhone 18 Pro is not new. What shifted this week is more specific: two converging signals, a prototype image and screen protectors designed around a reduced cutout, have pushed this iPhone 18 Pro leak from scattered speculation toward something more technically grounded. Not confirmed. But narrowed in a way worth paying attention to.

Editor's note: Build 29558 referenced in the original announcement could not be confirmed from available sources at publication time. This article covers what is confirmed: the 28020.1797 release on the default track and the 29550.1000 release on the optional 29500 series. The Windows Insider Blog is the authoritative reference for any 29558 changelog.

Samsung's chip strategy is shifting in a big way, and if you're keeping tabs on Galaxy devices, this matters more than you might think. The company appears increasingly determined to standardize Exynos processors across its entire Galaxy lineup, marking a significant departure from the mixed approach we've seen in recent years.

Samsung's flagship smartphones used to feel like annual leaps forward—brighter displays, sharper cameras, faster chips. Lately, though, the upgrades have started to feel more like gentle nudges. According to a recent reader poll from Android Authority, the community has noticed this shift, and they've got some compelling theories about what's driving Samsung's more conservative approach.

Three numbers from a Weibo tipster are driving this story: an 8,500mAh battery, a 165Hz display, and a MediaTek Dimensity 9500 chip. Those are the OnePlus Ace 6 Ultra leaked specs published March 30 by Notebookcheck, FoneArena, and Gizchina. The Redmi K90 Ultra is expected the same month with near-identical hardware. That convergence is the actual story here not just what OnePlus is building, but the fact that two major Chinese brands appear to be racing toward the same...

On April 1, 1976, Apple incorporated as a scrappy hardware company selling kits to hobbyists. This week it turns 50, holding the highest global smartphone market share of any single manufacturer at 25%, per Counterpoint Research via Economic Times. Tracing Apple innovation over the years reveals something more interesting than a success story: it reveals a single strategy, applied obsessively, across every product category the company has ever entered.

The Galaxy S26 Ultra is the first phone to ship with Samsung's APV codec, a format Samsung says is built for professional post-production workflows and designed to stay visually lossless through repeated edits. That distinction matters more than any sensor spec for creators who take footage off the phone and do serious work with it. But there's a catch, addressed below, that determines whether this changes anything for your pipeline today.

Ask someone what they want most in their next phone and you'll probably guess camera quality or a lower price tag. Both are reasonable. Both are wrong.

The phrase has been circulating through headlines and cable segments for months: "The White House has an app, and Trump wants you to report people to ICE on it." The White House ICE reporting app claim is real enough as media shorthand, but the actual infrastructure behind it is more complicated than any single product description suggests. What exists is a cluster of mobile tools and public-facing reporting channels that together form an immigration enforcement system running well ahead of...

The Google Pixel 9a is $399 at Amazon, Google's own store, and other major retailers a $100 reduction from its $499 list price that covers every available color, according to Kotaku this week. Engadget already called it the best-value Android available at $499. At $399, the math shifts considerably.

Google has brought its Live Translate feature to iPhone, and the change that matters is this: real-time audio translation now runs through any pair of headphones, covers more than 70 languages, and costs nothing beyond the free Google Translate app. The rollout began Thursday, expanding Google Translate live translate on iOS headphones for the first time while simultaneously extending availability across both platforms to twelve countries, per the Google blog (March 26, 2026).

Android 17 Beta 3 Priority Charging has surfaced in a teardown published today, pointing to a feature that would pause background activity like app updates to free up capacity for a faster charge when time is short. The feature, discovered by Android Authority, has no user-facing presence in Beta 3 settings and has not been confirmed by Google. What makes it worth paying attention to anyway: it suggests Google is building toward a charging system organized around scenarios rather than a single...

The March Pixel Drop delivered something Pixel owners have wanted for years: native app icon customization without a third-party launcher. Google Pixel home screen customization took a real step forward this month, but the way Google built the feature draws a clear line around how much control it's actually handing over.