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Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE quietly launches with a Snapdragon 750G
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE has been quietly launched, and it brings a Snapdragon 750G CPU, 5G connectivity, and a 10,090 mAh battery.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 series was a breakout hit by Samsung. The Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 and Galaxy Tab S7+ both featured high refresh rate displays, flagship processors, among other premium features worthy of Samsung's flagship series, and they're on our top list for the best tablets currently available. The Android tablet market has, for a long time, been dull, with iPads being the default choice for anyone looking for a tablet, but Samsung tablets, while far from perfect, delivered high-end specifications and a more compelling experience than other alternatives---not to mention, Samsung DeX support allowed you to use the tablet in desktop mode. Now, Samsung has quietly launched a new model in the series, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE.
OxygenOS updates for the OnePlus 7 and 7T series bring minor fixes and updated security patches
The OnePlus 7 series and the OnePlus 7T series, including the Pro models, are getting OxygenOS 11.0.1.1 with bug fixes and security updates.
We first got introduced to the OnePlus 7 series of smartphones two years ago. The OnePlus 7 was merely a refinement of its predecessor, the OnePlus 6T, which wasn't a bad thing at all: it followed the same "flagship killer" DNA that, until that point, was a key selling point of OnePlus phones. But the OnePlus 7 Pro was OnePlus' first jab at a "truly premium" flagship and managed to lift the bar much higher for OnePlus. The OnePlus 7 Pro is credited with making high-refresh-rate smartphone displays more common among the general public and provided not-yet-before-seen quality, cameras, and performance for OnePlus. Then, the OnePlus 7T and 7T Pro followed in the footsteps of both devices with substantial improvements, particularly in the OnePlus 7T. Now, these phones are getting an update to OxygenOS 11.0.1.1 after the Android 11 rollout.
Save up to $100 on Garmin rugged smartwatches!
Thinking about grabbing a Garmin smartwatch? Check out these deals on some of the best rugged smartwatches in their lineup!
While Samsung and Apple often make pretty compelling options for smartwatches, some people swear by Garmin's extensive lineup of smartwatches as one of the best options out there, particularly when it comes to sports and fitness. And if you're a sports enthusiast in the market for a smartwatch, you've probably heard about Garmin products before. Their products are a little bit on the expensive side, and if you really want to check them out, every deal towards them definitely comes in handy. Now, a handful of rugged smartwatches have had their prices slashed by up to $100.
OnePlus 6 and OnePlus 6T get OxygenOS 10.3.11 with May 2021 security patches
The OxygenOS 10.3.11 update is here for the OnePlus 6 and the OnePlus 6T, bringing the May 2021 security patches and other bug fixes.
The OnePlus 6 and OnePlus 6T are both fairly old smartphones. Having launched in 2018 and having been superseded 3 generations ago, it's hardly high-end anymore: the Snapdragon 845 that powers it is roughly equivalent in raw horsepower to smartphones powered by the Snapdragon 765G from last year. Nonetheless, it's still a respectably serviceable smartphone that keeps getting security updates after all these years. Both smartphones are also due to receive an update to Android 11 very soon, but in the meantime, the company has begun rolling out May 2021 security updates for both devices.
The Redmi Note 10 Ultra is teased by Xiaomi ahead of its announcement in China
The Redmi Note 10 Ultra is coming to China, and Xiaomi has started to tease pictures of the device on Weibo. Read on to know more!
Xiaomi, or more specifically their Redmi subbrand, is holding an event in their home market of China on May 26th, where new product launches are expected. The company recently launched a handful of devices comprising the Redmi Note 10 lineup, including the regular Redmi Note 10 as well as both the Redmi Note 10 Pro and the Redmi Note 10 Pro Max. We don't know exactly how many devices Redmi will be launching during that event, but we do know that one of them will be the elusive Redmi Note 10 Ultra. Further confirming this is the fact that Redmi shared a handful of posters of the device on Weibo, pretty much confirming it.
Microsoft Office for Android now supports dark mode
Microsoft Office for Android users, rejoice! The app is finally getting a long-awaited dark mode toggle. Read on to know more!
The full Microsoft Office experience can probably be best enjoyed on PCs, particularly Windows computers. It has greatly evolved since Microsoft 365, formerly Office 365, was introduced. But something that has evolved too is Microsoft Office for Android. It's a surprisingly capable tool that allows you to edit and even draft up Word, PowerPoint, and Excel documents on the go. While all three services (Word, PowerPoint, and Excel) were initially available as single apps for each, Microsoft not too long ago made the decision to merge all three into a one-size-fits-all app. Now, Microsoft Office for Android comes with an all-new, much-needed improvement: dark mode!
WhatsApp may soon let you transfer your chats to a different phone number
WhatsApp is working on a phone number migration tool to allow users to move their chat history to another phone with a new phone number.
Migrating your WhatsApp chats from one phone to another can be hard if the ideal conditions are not met. Currently, if you want to restore your chats from a fresh WhatsApp install, you need to have a previous backup on your device or cloud service of choice, and it needs to be from both the same phone number and the same platform (Android backups can be restored on Android only and iOS backups can be restored on iOS only). In the case of the latter, it was teased a few weeks ago that WhatsApp was working to allow chat migration from iOS to Android and vice versa, but chat history was still tied to your phone number. Now, WhatsApp might let you transfer your chat history to a different phone number as well.
Grab the Samsung Galaxy Buds Plus now for $99, their lowest price ever
The Samsung Galaxy Buds Plus are currently on sale for just $99 of their usual $149 price point, making for an excellent value proposition.
The Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro, the newest true wireless earbuds from Samsung, might be the ones grabbing all the press and user attention right now, but if you can't afford them, Samsung still has pretty good, albeit slightly older, options. One of them is the Galaxy Buds Plus, Samsung's successors to the original Galaxy Buds. Despite having been superseded by newer products, they're still perfectly serviceable wireless earbuds as well as an option everyone in the market for ones should have in mind, and they're currently going for their lowest price ever.
Developers will soon be able to advertise their Android app on desktop Google Search
Google is giving developers tools to give their Android apps a small boost by making it easier to show up in Google Search ads, and more.
App developers can sometimes find it hard to promote their apps on Google Play and to get people to actually download them on their phones. Especially now that the world is transitioning and becoming more and more digital every year. Roughly 3 million apps are available from around 700,000 app developers, and for a new developer to stand out, it can be an uphill battle if you don't have the right tools. If you're willing to pay for promoting your app, however, good news: Google is putting forward more tools so you can promote your Android app more efficiently across the entire Google ecosystem, including Google Search.
Opera GX, the "gaming browser", is coming to smartphones
Opera GX, Opera's self-described browser for gamers, is now available for Android and iOS devices as a beta. Check it out!
It's been some time since Opera launched Opera GX, a self-described "gaming" browser. It's pretty much just the same thing as regular Opera, except with extra features to appease the enthusiast and gaming crowd. Some of the features that come with it are pretty much just gimmicks, such as its overall "true gamer" aesthetic and even RGB syncing with Razer Chroma RGB. Deep down, however, it has features that are actually useful. It comes with a CPU and RAM limiter that allows you to keep tabs on excessive resource usage while browsing, it comes with a built-in VPN and ad-blocker and integrates with services like Discord and Twitch. Now, this browser is also getting a smartphone release.
Samsung is only ditching Tizen for its smartwatches and not its TVs
Samsung has confirmed that, despite their Wear OS collaboration with Google, they'll still use Tizen in other products, such as TVs.
Samsung's Tizen operating system took a wild turn. At Google I/O 2021, Google announced that the next update of Wear OS was made in collaboration with Samsung. This collaboration signified that Samsung would have a central role in developing the next version of Wear OS, bringing several of their services and features over, while also announcing that their upcoming smartwatches would no longer run Tizen but rather Wear OS from this point onwards. This led many people to think that Samsung was abandoning Tizen and merging it outright into Wear OS. The truth of the matter, however, is that Tizen is not only running on smartwatches. The company officially confirmed that, at least as of this moment, they will still use Tizen in its TVs.
You can now get verified on Twitter again
Twitter is finally re-launching its long-awaited verification form in the next few weeks, opening up blue badges for everyone.
Twitter verification used to be open to the public, years ago. Previously, users had a handy form where, if they were notorious enough, they could apply for a blue badge, give information as to why they should be verified, send identification, and Twitter would approve or deny the request on a case-by-case basis. Twitter's blue checkmark is meant to give notorious individuals a way to tell other users that they were, indeed, themselves and not someone pretending to be them, but the company closed down this form in 2017. Now, Twitter is finally formally re-launching its verification program to the public, complete with a new, revamped verification form.
Google Play Console is adding new features so developers can fix their apps before they're removed
The Google Play Console will help developers avoid their apps from being removed from the Google Play Store by accidental policy violations.
Accidental policy violations. It happens to the best of us. You don't know what you did wrong, but Google took down your app nonetheless after an update while providing only a vague explanation on what you did wrong and what you can do to fix it. Sometimes, this will be an error, but other times, Google had a reason to—even if you don't know what that reason is or if you didn't know that was against their terms. Fortunately, Google is putting forward new tools in Google Play Console to try and prevent that from happening.
Linux for Chromebooks will finally graduate from beta in the next Chrome OS release
Linux for Chromebooks, which allows Chrome OS devices to run Linux apps, is finally leaving beta in the next Chrome OS release.
Chrome OS has come a long way since it was introduced by Google as a "web-first" operating system in 2011. Over the course of the last few years, Google enabled support for Android apps on the platform, bringing the massive Google Play catalog of apps over to Chromebooks. And more recently, Linux app support was added to capable Chromebooks as well. Linux app support is currently in beta, but developers will be glad to know that the next release of Chrome OS will see Linux support graduate from beta.
Android 12 will make it easier for developers to know how powerful a device is
Android 12 is making it easier for developers to know which devices are more powerful than others with something called "performance class".
Android devices come in all shapes and forms. We have cheaper smartphones with weaker specifications and more expensive ones with better internals. You, as a user, can obviously tell if your smartphone can be considered "powerful" or not by simply looking up those specifications online. But how does an app running on your device know that? It could theoretically do things like match your device name against a database then pull specs from that, check system properties for the SoC part number/RAM capacity/etc, or call Android APIs that list information like resolution, etc., but there's no easy, unified way to tell what kind of performance an Android device can deliver. It'd be useful if there was a quick way to group devices into categories so an app can provide different experiences that are optimized for each class of device. To that end, Google has introduced at I/O 2021 what they're calling "performance class," starting with Android 12.
The embedded Google Maps experience is about to improve with new developer features
Google is giving is giving some love to embedded Google Maps as well with WebGL beta support for 3D maps. Read on to know more!
Google Maps is officially accessible to everyone for free through either the website or the mobile app, but as you probably have noticed on websites and apps with a map element powered by Google, third-party companies and website/app developers can also embed a Google Maps view into their own apps or webpages using one of the various SDKs or APIs that are available. This can make it easier to find business information, give directions to users, and much more. And one of these APIs is the Maps JavaScript API, and it's intended for web developers to add and "customize maps with your own content and imagery for display on web pages and mobile devices."
Android and Google Nest are getting support for Matter, a new universal smart home standard
Google has announced that Matter, a new universal smart home standard, will be supported on Android and Google Nest devices.
Smart home devices have been a thing for a long time and we've seen them from many different companies, including from the likes of Apple, Amazon, Google, and Samsung. They're meant to blend inside your home and enhance it with voice assistants, AI, or simply integrate with other devices in your household. But there hasn't been an actual standard for them, making interoperability between these smart devices something of a mixed bag sometimes. Now, though, there is: it's called Matter, and Google officially announced that both Android and Google Nest devices will be supporting it.
Apps no longer need your location to scan for nearby Bluetooth devices on Android 12
Android 12 adds new permissions specific for Bluetooth scanning and tracking, without needing apps to access the wider Location permission.
Google keeps improving privacy and regulating the way apps use permissions with each Android release, and Android 12 brings a healthy dose of these changes as well. Yesterday, during the main Google I/O 2021 keynote, features like Privacy Dashboard, camera/microphone usage icons in the notification bar, and much more were shown off. But there are also a bunch of smaller changes to ensure apps only use the permissions they need, whenever they need to use them, and not have access to anything they don't need. One of those changes is pretty minor, but an important step: Now, apps no longer need to ask for the location permission to keep track of a nearby Bluetooth device.
Samsung Boost wants to give you free access to several paid services on your Galaxy S21
Samsung has launched Samsung Boost, offering free, temporary access to several paid subscription services. Read on to know more!
Free trials for paid subscription services are useful to try out the experience for a limited amount of time, then deciding whether you actually want to commit to paying for it or not if you want to keep using it. The price for these subscription services can, however, quickly add up if you're using many of them. YouTube Premium, for one, costs $11.99 per month, and several services, whether it's video, music, or others, cost a similar amount or even more. If you have a Galaxy S21, however, Samsung wants to give users free access to a lot of paid subscription services so you can try them all out for a few months. Enter Samsung Boost.
Google Play is adding new ways for users to pay for apps and subscriptions
Google Play is adding several changes to Google Play billing that users and developers alike might find useful. Read on to know more!
Google Play is not only Android's go-to app store, but it's also one of the biggest digital distribution services in the world. Almost 2 million apps have become available on the platform to the reach of billions of active Android users around the world since it was first introduced in 2008 as the Android Market (the Google Play name was introduced in 2012). But micro-transactions and purchases are also commonplace. Some games and apps include paid items: whether it's a membership on an app or service or an item in a game, we've all come across them at least once. If you're a developer making apps with paid content, we have news for you: new ways for paying in apps and subscriptions are coming to Google Play.