We just keep discovering hidden features and settings scattered throughout the Galaxy S8's system like little digital Easter eggs that were largely left unadvertised. One such setting is an option that lets you change the placement of your S8's display brightness slider. Thou ...more
It's never fun to fidget around with your phone's camera while you're out and about, especially when it comes to transitioning between its front- and rear-facing cameras. Thankfully, Galaxy S8 users can scratch this one off their list of inconveniences, as Samsung has built in ...more
Online lives could be made easier now that Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger are testing merged app notifications. 'Could' being the operative word! This feature was first spotted by social media analyst Mari Smith, who admitted that she's "not too jazzed about that one!" W ...more
The displays on all of our devices are getting better and better. TVs, smartphones (Infinity Display, anyone?) — any modern device you use, the screen looks great. So we should expect our content to live up to these fantastic displays. Netflix is attempting to do that, by impl ...more
UPDATE: It was previously reported that the OnePlus 3T 128 GB in Gunmetal would be discontinued. GSM Arena received an official rebuttal from the company which noted that the phone is not discontinued, but rather, out of stock. Though, it seems like the company has more of a p ...more
Like Russian Matryoshka dolls, the features on the Galaxy S8 and S8+ often have hidden components within them that add to their functionality. The phone's flashlight is a great example of this since there's a hidden shortcut within the "Flashlight" Quick Settings tile that let ...more
With all the hype surrounding the recent Galaxy S8 release, it can be easy to forget Samsung makes other smartphones. But let's be real here; $726 isn't cheap. If you're someone who doesn't want to drop that kind of cash on a smartphone — or who doesn't feel your device needs ...more
The Galaxy S8, with all its new features, is shining in the news right now as one of the best phones of the year. However, users in the US may be at a disadvantage to those overseas, as it seems that the Snapdragon 835-powered S8 models underperform variants with Exynos proces ...more
It was nice while it lasted. Samsung users who managed to get their hands on the Galaxy S8 or S8+ early enjoyed the ability to launch any app through the dedicated Bixby button. Unfortunately, Samsung wasn't all that down with us using the Bixby button for purposes other than ...more
Huawei is the third biggest smartphone manufacturer in the world and continues to increase its market presence with each new device. The Mate 9, the company's latest high-end phablet, has been available for four months now and has sold five million units so far. This is 36% mo ...more
The Galaxy X, Samsung's long-awaited foldable smartphone, may be revealed a lot sooner than we thought. Twitter user mmddj_china, a well-known Chinese tech-leaker, tweeted some obscure messages today surrounding Samsung's future products that said we can expect to see the Sam ...more
Headphone drama has been all the rage in the past year, with Apple killing off the headphone jack and trying to force AirPods upon its users (Apple, stop trying to make tiny, expensive, easy-to-lose earbuds happen. It's not going to work). The news for the Galaxy S8 has been ...more
The HTC U isn't set to be revealed until mid-to-late-April, but that isn't stopping the leaks from creating hype. Weibo user Ann Bunny just leaked a spec sheet for the new HTC phone, which can be seen below. Keep in mind, though, all details are still just rumors at this point ...more
WinFuture, a German tech-news site, has leaked a spec sheet for the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus. We previously covered all speculation and leaks in our rumor roundup, but thanks to Roland Quandt, we now have a very clear look at what to expect from Samsung's latest ...more
Dual cameras are increasingly popular right now for smartphones, but so far, Samsung has steered clear of all the hype. However, a new patent application shows that Samsung has been working on a dual camera system of their own, featuring tech potentially more advanced than wha ...more
When it comes to social media, Google has had it a bit rough. But its next big app in this category is apparently steps away from completion, with a platform that allows small groups of users to edit and organize photos in unison. TechCrunch reports Google has confirmed the a ...more
The rumors have been confirmed by Samsung themselves: Samsung has developed a virtual assistant of their own, named Bixby. Bixby will makes its debut with the Galaxy S8 on March 29, with a "Bixby dedicated button" on the side of the new phone. Samsung senior vice president I ...more
A 5-year-old girl was injured after the battery in another Samsung phone exploded in China. The Samsung Note 4 was reportedly charging next to the sleeping girl when it blew up in her Guizhou-based home. The Guizhou Metropolitan Daily reports that the child's hands, face, and ...more
Selfies' reign on social media and pop culture has not really lost any steam since it was declared the word of the year back in 2013. We've had the much-mocked selfie stick, and even an ill-fated TV show named after the term. So what's next? Well, if you're phone maker Oppo, y ...more
According to new rumors, Samsung, still stinging after the Note7 recall debacle, is determined to be the first to release a foldable smartphone. According to ET News, the company is going to begin prototype production of their always-rumored but never-seen folding smartphone i ...more
With the death of Google's Nexus line, the market for phones with top-notch specs at midrange prices is now wide open. OnePlus is apparently ready to fill this void, as they've just announced the OnePlus 3T, an iterative update to their OnePlus 3 flagship only five months afte ...more
I don't mean to offend anyone, but some phone calls are just plain boring, and being put on hold is shittier than eating three-day old sushi. If you're on hold or trying not to fall asleep during a talk with grandma, you can multitask by playing a game or texting someone more ...more
Feelings can get hurt on Twitter as fast as an update. Everything is fine and dandy because two people are mutually following each other, then out of nowhere, one person has unfollowed the other out for seemingly no reason. Twitter doesn't notify users when someone has unfollo ...more
While certainly faster than writing by hand, manually typing passages from a book or document can be slow and frustrating. But thanks to Google Assistant, this is no longer the case. Whether you need to quote text for an essay or need to win an online argument, all you need to ...more
Mobile augmented reality for iOS typically comes through apps via ARKit, but Apple is borrowing a few pages from Google's playbook and bringing AR directly to iOS 15. During the keynote presentation at the WWDC 2021, Craig Federighi, senior vice president of software engineer ...more
I don't know about you, but nothing is more annoying than when my phone hits 15% and I'm nowhere near a charger. Not just because I know my phone will die soon, but until I reach a charger, I have to deal with the annoying low battery notification and LED light. Well, with And ...more
Being able to customize the look and feel of your device is the main reason a lot of folks choose Android over iOS. And perhaps the single biggest way to visually overhaul your phone or tablet's UI is to apply an icon pack, which can liven up your home screen with bright color ...more
As one of the most powerful Android apps for connecting your phone or tablet to your other devices in various ways, Pushbullet had always been a fan—and Gadget Hacks—favorite. However, ever since late last year, many of the app's popular and once-free features now require a c ...more
The Android version of Google Chrome only shows a home button on some devices. Unfortunately, this feature isn't available to all Android phones due to several factors. But thanks to a simple workaround, you can now enable this button and set a home page regardless of what dev ...more
Google Camera, the default shooting app on Nexus devices, is finally getting a feature we've been anticipating for years. As evidenced by a recent APK teardown done by Android Police, the beginnings of a new RAW capture mode have already been baked into the latest version of t ...more
Google has already issued a few updates to Android 7.0 Nougat. There aren't many headlining features, as these minor updates are mostly bug fixes and performance improvements. But there's a few security enhancements as well, so staying up-to-date with the latest patches is imp ...more
The flexibility within Android is pretty amazing. Unlike iOS, you can make a lot of modifications with nothing more than a download from Google Play, but to really step up your softModder game, you'll need to go a little further. Rooting takes things a step deeper, allowing y ...more
We all got a little jealous of the iPhone 7 Plus's dual-lens camera during the Apple Keynote in September. It's okay, you can admit it. But just because your Android doesn't have two lenses doesn't mean you can't recreate the fun bokeh effect of the iPhone's now wildly popular ...more
Ever feel like you're receiving notifications way too late on your Android device? Many Android apps use Google's Cloud Messaging service to send and receive notifications, including Hangouts, Gmail, Pushbullet, Facebook, and even WhatsApp to an extent. To ensure that your ph ...more
The lack of Xposed support on Android Lollipop has left modules like GEL Settings incompatible with my Google Play Edition HTC One, so I've had to find a new launcher to meet all of my needs. While I can safely say I will never find the perfect launcher for me, Blinq comes pre ...more
Many of our online accounts now come with an added two-factor authentication (2FA) functionality to help keep our data safe. This essentially means no one would be able to access the account until a specific set of requirements were met. It could be a combination of a password ...more
Augmented reality software maker 8th Wall has closed a Series A funding round of $8 million in capital to feed the growth of its development platform. Founded by former Google and Facebook engineers, 8th Wall uses computer vision to enable six degrees of freedom tracking, lig ...more
While it took Apple a damn-long time to finally include widgets in iOS, I do admire their implementation. Accessible from within any screen by pulling down the Notification Center (or, more correctly, the "Today" view), the home screen remains clean and minimal, which some of ...more
Google seems to be following Apple's and Microsoft's lead, as the "point" update to Android 6.0 Marshmallow (6.0 -> 6.1) will reportedly allow multi-screen support. Android 6.1 is expected to debut in June 2016. "Snapped" split screen view on the Surface Pro 3.. Companies like ...more
We've already seen the visual changes that Android 5.0 Lollipop has brought to the table, but Google spent just as much time altering things under the hood. Awesome new functionality and hardware capabilities have been added left and right, and with the OS already out now, it' ...more
Perhaps one of CyanogenMod's greatest features was its built-in theme engine. It wasn't perfect, but it got the job done and gave users a unique look. Now that CyangenMod is defunct, and the developers behind its successor, LineageOS, have confirmed they won't be continuing th ...more
At the end of 2017, Mozilla introduced the world to Quantum. While desktop Firefox received all the improvements, Android users were stuck waiting for one of the biggest components to hit, which brought speed that surpassed Google Chrome. Well the wait is over, the new and imp ...more
As smartphones become more accessible, billions of people have come to depend on their features for daily life. One of the most important aspects these days is the camera. OEMs have been working for years to improve camera quality, and they seem to have finally figured it out ...more
Bitmoji has experienced explosive success this year thanks to Snapchat. The app allows users to create their own personal emoji and send responses to other friends, and even though it's only two and a half years old, this customizable emoji app is growing at an impressive pace ...more
Alongside the launch of Android 11, Google added a new feature to Live View, the augmented reality mode for walking navigation in Google Maps, that helps you find friends in AR. But even if you're not trying to meet up with somebody, you can easily access the AR mode and orien ...more
Google's Pixel smartphone is striking up some heated competition between phone makers HTC, LG, TCL, and Coolpad, as the Pixel 3 gets ready to release in 2018. Yep, you heard that right—not the Pixel, not the Pixel 2, but the Pixel 3—which shows that Google is really committed ...more
Super Mario Run has been one of the most insidiously addicting iOS games to come out in recent years for iPhone. And now, as of March 22, Android users can get in on the fun, too. You can install Super Mario Run from either the iOS App Store (requires iOS 8 or higher) or Goog ...more
Thanks in large part to our phones, many of us don't get the recommended eight hours of sleep. In Android Pie, Google introduced a feature called "Wind Down" that aims to help combat this. However, thanks to a creative app developer, we don't need to wait for Android 9.0 to en ...more
When BlackBerry made the move to Android OS, they were aware of the limitations it presented. Unlike with BB10, they didn't create the operating system and would have to deal with the vulnerabilities already included. As a result, they added numerous security enhancements, and ...more
Greetings my fellow aspiring hackers, Android Development like other programming languages requires the use of some basic essential components, programs and configurations to get started. Android Development requires a little bit of knowledge of the Java language which means ...more
The hugely successful S10 series of flagships may be a tough act to follow, but Samsung has proven that it's up to the task with the Galaxy Note 10. The latest phablet bearing the Note name is the first of its line to come with an even larger variant, and boasts an eye-pleasin ...more
For Android 11, Google is doubling down on the handy App Suggestions feature that debuted in Android 10's app drawer by expanding it to the home screen dock. In addition to making its way to the home screen, App Suggestions is getting a few customization options as well. Here ...more
When traversing the web, you'll regularly come across websites that require you to create an account. With the majority of these accounts, protection is limited to a simple password. Despite this, many people are still using weak passwords such "123456." For these reasons, you ...more
Google's Chromecast is quite literally one of my favorite inventions of the past five years, allowing me to kick back, relax, and enjoy the various forms of streaming entertainment it has up for grabs. Don't Miss: How to Use Your Chromecast Without Wi-Fi But as awesome as it ...more
Last year, Apple debuted a feature that allows families to share iTunes and App Store purchases across their various accounts. Us Android users, on the other hand, have to buy separate copies of apps for each of our accounts—well, at least from an official standpoint. Truth b ...more
At its core, Android TV's software is the same as the OS running on 87% of all smartphones. But it doesn't always feel that way, with its version of the Play Store only having 5,000 apps (or 0.2% of all Android apps). To access the remaining 99.8% of apps, you will need to sid ...more
ADB and Fastboot are probably the most essential tools for any Android aficionado. They can do everything from backing up your device to unlocking your bootloader with a few simple steps. This paves the way for many new tweaks and customizations that weren't possible before. T ...more
Google's latest mobile operating system, Android 5.0 Lollipop, is coming out very soon for Nexus devices, but it will be some time before any other devices get to experience it. However, there are other ways to get the Lollipop feel on non-Nexus devices right now. Unlike the ...more
Update, November 12, 2014: Android 5.0 Lollipop is officially out now. If you haven't gotten the OTA yet, check out our new guide on installing the official Lollipop builds on any Nexus for download links and instructions, for Mac or Windows. Google I/O 2014, the annual devel ...more
Paranoid Android has always been one of the most popular custom ROMs because of the inventive features its developers add to Android. Two of the biggest draws in particular have to be the "Halo" notification bubble, and the "Pie" navigation buttons, which can both fundamentall ...more