Gadget Hacks: Page 11

The Galaxy S26 FE now has its own teardown, and it earned a 9/10 repairability score from PBKreviews.

Microsoft's next Surface generation, a 13-inch Surface Pro alongside 13.8-inch and 15-inch Surface Laptop models built on Qualcomm's Snapdragon X2 Plus and X2 Elite chips, is confirmed for sale in three markets so far. Microsoft first documented availability in Switzerland on June 17, with Surface Pro pricing starting at CHF 1,349 (Microsoft EMEA, three months ago). Thailand and Malaysia were both scheduled to begin sales on July 23, 2026, a date now roughly two months in the past; Microsoft's...

Samsung has confirmed that the Galaxy Tab S12 series is coming in the second half of 2026, but it hasn't announced the exact lineup, specifications, pricing, or launch date.

Audible buries a handful of useful features behind menu labels that don't always explain themselves clearly.

Xiaomi launched the 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max in China on September 23, 2026, and the headline feature across the Xiaomi 18 Pro series is a hardware-level privacy display that switches on for a single app, a single notification, or one pane of a split screen. Both phones also bring back the rear display from last year's 17 Pro, now rebuilt around Xiaomi's Xiao AI assistant (GSMArena, yesterday).

The best time to charge a Samsung Galaxy Watch comes down to timing: pick whichever stretch of your day you can afford to lose tracking data, charge during that window, and make sure whatever charge you end up with covers your next sleep period or workout.

Apple confirmed this week that Apple Podcasts Subscriptions video is coming, letting creators lock subscriber-exclusive episodes, ad-free video, early access, and bonus content behind the same paywall they already use for premium audio, across more than 170 countries and regions (9to5Mac, reported this week). The move would end an audio-only run that's lasted since Apple Podcasts Subscriptions launched in 2021, even though free video has already been playing in the app since March, when Apple...

Farwave, an iPhone and iPad app, lets people find world radio stations by spinning a 3D globe to a region and tapping on a station, according to a 9to5Mac report published September 12 as part of the outlet's weekly Indie App Spotlight series. The Farwave app is free to download, with a subscription tier that adds podcasts, imported music, and other features.

Some YouTube users say they no longer have to tap play at all. Opening the app is apparently enough to start a Short playing, according to a report from Android Authority published today. One user described a Short auto-launching through connected earphones and waking a sleeping partner, with no interaction involved beyond opening the app.

Mention MapQuest in conversation and Google Maps tends to come up as some kind of corporate cousin. It isn't. The short answer to who owns MapQuest is System1, a digital advertising and customer-acquisition company, not Google. System1 confirms that it owns and operates MapQuest, after acquiring the service from Verizon in 2019. The purchase price was not disclosed publicly.

Rivian's chief software officer has a blunt answer for anyone still shopping for Apple CarPlay in an electric truck: the debate itself, he argues, no longer matters. That's a striking claim from a company whose own buyers once ranked CarPlay as their single most-requested feature, according to The Verge, two months ago.

Samsung says the Galaxy Z Fold 8 and Z Fold 8 Ultra can charge from empty to 65% in 30 minutes. In preliminary testing, the Fold 8 Ultra actually beat that mark, reaching 67% in the same window, according to Android Authority testing three weeks ago. That's a real jump from what the Fold line could do a year ago, and it raises the obvious question for anyone hunting for the best charger for Galaxy Z Fold 8 devices: which one actually gets you there?

Google is quietly building a major Google Messages search redesign, and it surfaced not through an official announcement but inside the code of a beta build. A teardown of Messages beta version 20260917 shows the app moving its Search button off the top header and down to the bottom of the screen, handing Gemini the header spot Search used to occupy, and rebuilding search into a visual archive of chats, shared media, links, and places, according to Android Authority.

Sony may be preparing a camera upgrade for the Xperia 1 IX that swaps out the flagship's main sensor for a larger one, which would be the first change to that specific component since the Xperia 1 V launched in 2023. The claim traces to Japanese blog Sumahu Digest and was reported today by PhoneArena.

Most people who see the word "Pro" attached to a piece of software assume it means faster, better, or more capable in some general sense. Run that logic on Windows 11 Home vs Pro, and it falls apart fast. The two editions are, in Engadget's words, "extremely similar," and the gap between them has nothing to do with speed, gaming performance, or day-to-day polish.

The sources reviewed here trace the phone's reported specifications to one Gagadget article, and the phone hasn't launched yet. Gagadget reported this week that the Magic 9 Pro Max pairs dual 200MP cameras developed with ARRI, a mechanical gimbal, and support for ARRI's LogC3 color format, with a China launch planned for September 28 starting at 6,999 yuan, roughly £855/$875.

Google's September Pixel Drop scam detection features are live now, alongside a redesigned Pixel VIPs contact widget for calling and texting the people you talk to most. Both started rolling out on September 15, 2026, as part of the September Pixel Drop.

Hideo Kojima's Physint has moved to Xbox after Sony ended its involvement in the project, according to statements reported today by VGC and Variety. Xbox will now work with Kojima Productions on the game, replacing PlayStation Studios as its publishing partner.

WhatsApp is rolling out a new settings panel that lets a subset of Mac beta testers set their own WhatsApp beta for Mac update schedule, picking between two release channels instead of taking whatever build the company pushes automatically, according to WABetaInfo and Hardware Upgrade this week.

Apple's first foldable iPhone now has a price and a calendar. The iPhone Duo starts at $1,999 for 256GB, opens for preorder on October 16, and ships October 23 (MacRumors). Before that money changes hands, the real question for iPhone owners is whether the redesigned iOS 27 layout Apple built specifically for a folding display makes up for the hardware compromises that come with any first-generation foldable. The iPhone Duo software features shown off this week look more thought-out than the...