Android Wear

Now that the Xposed Framework has finally been updated for Android Lollipop, we're starting to notice that some modules function properly, while others are a bit buggy or even worse—don't work at all. Most of this is a result of changes to elements of the Android system that K ...more

Not all smartphone chargers put out the same amount of current. The adapter in your car probably charges your phone a lot slower than the one plugged in at your bedside, and if you use wireless charging, it may be a bit slower still. Even considering the variance in listed am ...more

Yellow buses are beginning to trickle into traffic. Retailers are pushing pens, pencils, and notebooks. Grumbling Facebook statuses run rampant through your feed. Surely you recognize the signs—school is starting. For some, it already has. There's some fun stuff about school, ...more

When you're a kid, the best part about Halloween is the free candy, but if you're past your trick-or-treating years, there are still plenty of things you can do. With all the costumes, scary stories, and pranks, what's not to love? And now, you can even use your smartphone to ...more

Smartwatches are great for notifications. No need to dig your phone out of your pocket or purse when someone texts you — just glance at your wrist! It's great for driving, walking, and any other activities where you need to stay connected to your surroundings. Except it can st ...more

Despite their sometimes fluffy reputations and occasionally ethically compromised viewpoints, tech evangelists are important, don't let anyone tell you otherwise. The right passionate voice behind the right technology platform or piece of hardware can sometimes spell the diffe ...more

For some of us, winter puts the brakes on apps like Pokémon GO since smartphone screens usually only respond to bare fingers. Nobody wants to be that guy who caught frostbite chasing a Sneasel. When you use normal gloves, the display's sensor simple doesn't activate, so that d ...more

And so it begins... CES 2017 is upon us! This is a very exciting time for those who are looking out for the newest innovations and releases from the world of technology. I said this was going to be a fun week, and here we start it with a bang from smartglasses developer Osterh ...more

Apple's first AR wearable might not arrive until 2022, but we may have an early preview of what it will be like to wear a pair of its smartglasses via iOS 14. Clues found in the code for the next major version of Apple's mobile operating system point to an app with the codena ...more

The Oscars are just a couple of days away when Hollywood will celebrate the best crop of films from 2019 in the US and internationally. To enhance the event for hardcore movie fans, the Los Angeles Times and Yahoo News have teamed up to produce an augmented reality experience ...more

With the consumer edition of its Nreal Light headset, scheduled to ship in 2020, Nreal is prepared to bring the entire Android app ecosystem into augmented reality. On Monday evening, just hours ahead of the official start of CES 2020 in Las Vegas, Nreal unveiled Nebula, the ...more

Baby, it's cold outside, but, with some help from Snapchat augmented reality, Gucci is thawing our wintery hearths with a virtual trip to the tropics. On Wednesday, Snapchat launched a Portal Lens for Gucci designed to mirror the brand's Gift Giving advertising campaign featu ...more

The original iterations of the Terminator film franchise have served as the inspiration (via the heads-up display of the T-800) for future augmented reality dreams, so it is fitting that the current crop of AR gives the latest installment in the series a promotional boost. Wi ...more

We have seen Kickstarter-launched wearables before, but this one is particularly unique and may even have you blinking a bit in wonder when you see how it functions. Startup GWD Bio-Intelligence has just launched pre-sales for its HiiDii glasses, a device that allows the user ...more

Your goal in Mario Kart Tour is to beat your rivals and come in first place, but that's never easy when you're also trying to avoid banana peels, red shells, flying bombs, and other items. One item you may be familiar with is Blooper, a squid-like creature found in most water ...more

Apple's annual iPhone launch is set for Sept. 10 and iOS 13 is expected to be released soon thereafter, but it appears that the likelihood of a "one more thing" reveal just got a big boost. Documentation of the latest internal build of iOS 13 reportedly includes references to ...more

Although early attempts at consumer smartglasses have employed trackpads and handheld or wearable controllers for user input, its the gesture control interfaces of the HoloLens 2 and the Magic Leap One that represent the future of smartglasses input. A new machine learning mo ...more

Sports technology company Form is testing the waters for augmented reality wearables with a product aimed at a very specific user group. On Tuesday, the company unveiled Form Swim Goggles, a $200 pair of goggles outfitted with a see-through display designed to feed activity d ...more

Move over, cosmetics companies. The athletic footwear industry wants to be able to give their customers the opportunity to try on products in augmented reality as well. A new mobile app from augmented reality commerce company Wannaby, appropriately named Wanna Kicks, uses sma ...more

Famed singer-songwriter David Bowie will return to the real world as part of an augmented reality app launching on Jan. 8, 2019, which would have been his 72nd birthday. The app, which will be available on iOS and Android, serves as an augmented reality recreation of the "Dav ...more

Rooting. As an Android user, I'm sure you've heard the word once or twice. According to Kaspersky, 7.6% of all Android users root — but for the 92.4% who don't, we wanted to talk to you. Rooting allows you to remove barriers and open Android to a level of unprecedented contro ...more

The Pixel 2 XL had what Google called a circular polarizer to ensure the screen would be visible from any orientation while wearing polarized sunglasses. They made a pretty big deal out of it at their 2017 event, but in 2018, there was no mention of whether or not this feature ...more

It looks like Snapchat is becoming the MTV of augmented reality. On Thursday, Ariana Grande, with her new album Sweetner, joined Drake and Nicki Minaj and other artists who are pushing new releases through Snapchat's Shoppable AR e-commerce platform. Available in the Snapcha ...more

To quote MKBHD, cheap phones are getting good. Each year we are seeing manufacturers start to offer more for much less. This not only translates to cheaper flagship phones, but better budget phones. The latest example of this is the Alcatel 3V, which is redefining what you can ...more

Royal wedding fever has officially taken over the media, and that obsession with the UK's latest marriage event has now extended to Snapchat, thanks to a new Lens from the Today Show. Released on Tuesday, the Today Royal Wedding Lens lets you virtually don one of the iconic h ...more

Marvel and Walmart are looking to capitalize on the uber-successful Black Panther film with a mobile augmented reality app designed to push the franchise's merchandise. Enlisting mobile app developer Current Studios, the Explore Wakanda app for iOS and Android lets challenger ...more

We've been running the Essential Oreo Beta on our PH-1 over the past week and compiling a list of important changes. If you're interested in getting the Beta yourself, we even put together a quick guide on how to do that. Now that we've ran down the best new features, let's ta ...more

We've all been guilty of sending messages that we instantly regret — be it a moment of anger or plain old drunk texting. More often than not, these silly texts result in unnecessary headaches for both you and your contact. Thankfully, WhatsApp has finally tackled this age-old ...more

The cutting-edge iPhone X, XS, XS Max, and XR have one-upped their Android competitors when it comes to facial recognition. Apple packed these flagships with an array of front-facing sensors to complement its selfie camera, which allows the new device to more accurately analyz ...more

Thanks to augmented reality, fashion companies can let customers try on cosmetics, clothes, more cosmetics, and sunglasses from the comfort of their homes and through the non-judgmental eyes of their smartphone camera. Now, watches enter the augmented reality fitting room, co ...more

Earnings calls can be a mixed bag. If things are business as usual, the meetings can be, well, boring. Sometimes, however, these reports allow us to extract some juicy gossip. Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, proved my point yesterday when, during Alphabet's earnings call, he sa ...more

The augmented reality feature in Pokémon GO is one of the key components that draw people in to the popular Android and iPhone game. Indeed, there's nothing quite like the sight of a Pokémon standing around in an otherwise uninteresting parking lot. But this novelty effect us ...more

We all know Google's Image Search to be our trusty little companion when it comes to browsing through ideas on the web. Now, Google is adding on "style ideas" to its search feature to help you boost your "style IQ" every time Google catches you snooping through new handbags on ...more

It's impossible to predict the future, but it's fun to try. Adapted from Daniel H. Wilson's short story of the same name, filmmaker Giacomo Cimini's short film "The Nostalgist" shows a futuristic world where mixed reality serves as an escape from a less-desirable physical wor ...more

Unless you're sporting an LG G3 or a mod that allows tap-to-sleep and/or tap-to-wake functionality, you're probably hitting the power button to sleep and wake your device. But that button may be awkward to hit, may be worn down, or may just stop working due to a manufacturer's ...more

Personality is something we're constantly attempting to inject into our lives, whether it be the car we drive or clothing we wear—and our mobile devices are no exception. As previously shown, it's extremely easy to add various soft key styles to the LG G3, and now we're going ...more

Dorothy had it right: "There's no place like home." This is especially true when it comes to using your Samsung Galaxy S3, or pretty much any other smartphone, whose most vital button is the Home key. But what happens when that button no longer works? Replacements can be pri ...more

We go to such great lengths to secure our smartphones. We put passwords on our lock screens, encrypt our data, and install anti-theft programs, but it's never enough—someone, somewhere, will find a way around any protective measure you use, no matter how sophisticated. Unfort ...more

Whether you want to use it to keep your guests safe or just to see who's the most drunk, it's always fun to have your own breathalyzer at a party. We've seen DIY breathalyzers before, like this one by Craig Smith, but how about an Arduino breathalyzer? Engineering student Dan ...more

Apple AirTags are super helpful for keeping track of your keys, backpack, and other frequently misplaced items, but there are some pretty clever things you can do with them beyond finding regularly used stuff. Apple sells its smart trackers — small, circular white discs 1.26 ...more

Android phones have supported keyboards and mice for a long time, and you've even been able to use physical keyboards with iPhone and iPad models. But iOS 13 and iPadOS 13 finally include official mouse support. That means you can use a wireless or wired mouse and keyboard wit ...more

In recent weeks we've talked about the growing trend of smartglasses makers moving the brains of their devices to smartphones, and now a veteran of the space has joined that movement. On Wednesday, Epson revealed the Moverio BT-30C, the company's first truly affordable smartg ...more

Great news if you're looking to upgrade to either the S10e, S10, or S10+. Samsung has a trade-in program that's offering potentially massive discounts of up to $550 if you preorder one of their flagships right now — but only for certain phones. You'll need to act quickly if y ...more

It's been nearly two months since Samsung kicked off the official Galaxy S8 beta program for Android Oreo. The Korean manufacturer recently announced that the beta is ending on January 15, so it's time to move on to the official build. Today, an official (non-beta) build of Or ...more

Using a technology we like to call "Hive Computing," several Android apps allow you to contribute idle processing power to help further scientific research. This basically means that when you're not using your phone or tablet, it can join forces with other idle devices to form ...more

If you're a public beta tester, you woke up this morning with your iPhone running iOS 13.4.5. Today, Apple released the second beta for iOS 13.5. No, Apple didn't skip a version — 13.5 public beta 2 is essentially 13.4.5 public beta 2. So why the name change? Apple included th ...more

One of the worst-kept secrets in the tech world is Apple's plans for consumer-grade AR smartglasses, still unconfirmed publicly and only recently corroborated through a leaked account of an internal employee meeting. In addition to Apple's AR team, assembled through acquisiti ...more

After recently renewed enthusiasm for the arrival of Apple's long-awaited AR wearables -- the subject of multiple reports and rumors over the past few years -- some of that excitement may now be dampened a bit. But this time around, the Apple smartglasses news comes from Appl ...more

Scanning pictures and uploading them to Google Photos is a great way to digitize your collection. With unlimited high-quality storage and text recognition capabilities, it's hard to pass up. And for your older family pictures, Google Photos will soon even colorize black and wh ...more

Increasingly, cutting-edge platforms like blockchain technology and augmented reality are overlapping, forging new digital frontiers that promise to change the way we interact with the virtual and the real world. The latest effort in this area features blockchain startup WAX, ...more

Perhaps it's a coincidence that the Vuzix Blade smartglasses look like the sunglasses that a police officer would wear, but a new partnership with an AI software company makes the wearable a perfect fit for law enforcement. The iFalcon Face Control Mobile system pairs facial ...more

Augmented reality avatars that mimic facial expressions are no longer the exclusive province of Animojis on the iPhone X or AR Emojis from Samsung. Camera app Snow has added its own alternative to Apple and Samsung's features, which it also calls AR Emoji, for iOS and Android. ...more

Augmented reality headset maker DAQRI has collaborated with the US Navy to outfit the company's Smart Helmet device for use on battleships. The GunnAR system delivers firing commands issued from the gunner liaison officer (GLO) and received by the gunner. The GLO uses an Andr ...more

We are totally buggin' about Pinterest's update to their Lens. I know, I had to. It's only because this update is promising to bring us one step closer to that coveted closet that Cher had in 'Clueless'. The feature was originally launched in March as a search tool. It reco ...more

At the 2017 Augmented World Expo (AWE) in Santa Clara today, smartglasses maker Epson introduced two new augmented reality headsets from its Moverio line of products. The Epson Moverio BT-350 augmented reality smartglasses are aimed to be shared among multiple users. It can p ...more

The "Knock Knock" features on LG's G2 phone have proven popular and useful enough to spawn various apps and mods cloning these abilities for other devices. Porting the "Knock On" feature to our Samsung Galaxy S3 isn't as easily doable, since developers would need to create a m ...more

Normal wear and tear, combined with unfortunate accidents, can take a toll on any smartphone leading to scratches, cracks, and breaks that can leave physical buttons useless. One of the first buttons to usually go is the power button, since it's the main way to turn your phone ...more

Despite their awkward appearance, Apple's AirPods have become the earbuds of choice for working out, largely thanks to quality audio without any wires to tangle. However, at $159 to start, they aren't exactly for everyone. As with most innovations, when one company makes big ...more

OnePlus surprised the mobile industry last year when it revealed the OnePlus 3T in November, an improved version of the OnePlus 3 that came out just months earlier in June. While many thought this was a fluke, history has repeated itself with the arrival of the OnePlus 5T. It ...more

Long before Apple and Android became household names, Nokia dominated the mobile industry. The Finnish company was one of the first to develop smartphones, and their classic N95 with 2G "high-speed" internet connectivity was declared the "best smartphone ever" by some in 2007. ...more