Google dropped several of the Pixel 4's more gimmicky features in favor of perfecting the basics on the Pixel 5. While you probably won't miss Motion Sense or the Assistant squeeze gesture, you'll definitely like the extra battery they packed into the space those features once occupied. Almost 50% more battery, actually.
Pressing the side key on your Galaxy S20 wakes or locks the device, while pressing and holding the button activates Bixby. So "side key" is an apt name — it's not really a power button anymore. That begs the question, how exactly do you restart this thing?
One of my favorite iOS hacks is Type to Siri. This lets you type your queries to the iPhone digital assistant without needing to use your voice. Unfortunately, Type to Siri replaces the typical Siri voice prompt on the Home or Side button, meaning you need to choose between one or the other. That is, until iOS 13.
iPhones aren't immune to occasional bugs. But starting with the iPhone X, performing a reboot to fix minor issues has gotten a little more tedious. Thankfully, iOS 13 has a hidden option that makes the process a whole lot simpler.
It's always great to see a company pull off a bit of augmented reality magic, but what we see is not always what it's cracked up to be.
The promotions around last week's release of Stranger Things 3 have been numerous, with Netflix at one point even taking over an entire baseball field via augmented reality.
After North cut the base price of its Focals smartglasses, Vuzix is now testing the waters of a lower price point for its Blade smartglasses.
After publishing two batches of videos from its L.E.A.P. developer conference, Magic Leap has made the session on Seedling from Insomniac Games available to the public.
Over the last few years, the only thing teased by Magic Leap more than the Magic Leap One itself has been the company's flagship gaming title Dr. Grordbort's Invaders. The game, developed by New Zealand studio Weta Workshop, finally got its debut last week during the L.E.A.P. conference in Los Angeles.
Sorry Samsung. I know you really wanted Bixby to be the next Siri, Google Assistant, or Alexa — but it just isn't. Burying the option to disable the app won't change that. Sure, Bixby has some redeeming qualities, but there are many of us who don't want it shoved down our throats. We'll show you how to disable the app to prevent it from launching every time you try to access just about anything.
On Friday, at IFA 2018 in Berlin, Samsung invited attendees into the residence of Family Guy's Griffin family to learn all about its "smart home" products via augmented reality.
Samsung Experience (better known as TouchWiz) can take some time to get used to when you switch to a Galaxy from another Android device. It's a bit heavy-handed with the features, and many consider the UI theme to be a little over the top. Thankfully, there are several stock settings that can dial this back.
In just a few days, all the Galaxy S9 and S9+ leaks will come to an end, as Samsung will officially unveil its latest top-tier smartphone. But before that happens, we're all getting another leaked image of the handset thanks to a bit of snooping and the magic of augmented reality.
Last week, we told you about one of the first pairs of augmented reality smartglasses to get Amazon Alexa functionality, and now we're finally getting a look at how it works.
Augmented reality has given companies worldwide great powers for innovating business practices and engaging customers, but on Monday, Honda demonstrated that with great power, also comes great social responsibility.
Good news for those suffering from the "i" glitch, otherwise known as the "A [?]" bug: Apple has just released an official patch to fix the issue, in the form of a software update named iOS 11.1.1.
Lenovo has been no stranger augmented reality, both in products for consumers and services for developers.
Artificial intelligence and augmented reality go together like spaghetti and meatballs, and Lenovo has some ideas on how to spice up the recipe.
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 its intended use — to provide quick access to Samsung's new virtual assistant.
It's happened to all iOS users: You're talking to a friend or watching TV, and all of a sudden, you hear "I'm not quite sure what you've said." Apparently, your phone heard something that resembled "Hey, Siri," and activated the assistant. But now, thanks to a new patent from Apple, the days of unexpected Siri may be numbered.
Cortana, a strong competitor to Apple's Siri and the Google Assistant, has just been updated for beta testers on Android. The update introduces some sleek redesigns of both the look and features of the app, developing anticipation for the official update.
For some strange reason, Google Now is unavailable in several countries across the globe. Users from Albania, China, Cyprus, Malta, Nepal, Puerto Rico, Tunisia, and many more big countries have reported for years that the service doesn't work in their area, mostly likely because Location Reporting is not available in their region. This is really a shame, because Google Now has some great features.
Google's new Pixel phones will ship with Android 7.1 Nougat pre-installed, but early reports stated that Nexus devices wouldn't be getting the new version until "end of year" 2016. For people that purchased a Nexus 5X or 6P under the assumption that Nexus devices get Android updates first, the fact that the Pixels could be getting 7.1 a full two months ahead of them felt like a slap in the face.
A lot more people are about to be able to use Android Auto. Google announced at I/O 2016 that you'll soon be able to use the app with only your phone, so you won't need a compatible car or third-party display unit. And if (or more likely, when) Google brings the app to iOS, Apple may lose the precious "infotainment" system battle very early in the game. The update isn't coming until later this year, but once it arrives, you'll be able to mount your phone and use Android Auto the same way that...
A new iPhone exploit has recently been discovered by YouTube user videosdebarraquito, who has found many other exploits and bugs in iOS over the years. This new exploit allows someone to bypass the lock screen and gain access to contacts and photos via Siri, Apple's digital voice assistant—but it only affects the iPhone 6s and the iPhone 6s Plus because it requires 3D Touch functionality.
Update (February 2019): The methods below will help on older Android versions, but we've recently revisited this topic. So if you have a newer Android phone and you want to get rid of Google, head here.
While the Spotify interface isn't overly complicated or confusing, it's not exactly safe to use when behind the wheel. Thankfully, a new app from Navideck is here to make driving with a Spotify premium membership easier and safer for your daily commutes.
When on-screen buttons were introduced alongside Android 4.0, it didn't take long before Google added a gesture to these virtual navigation keys. Since then, an upward swipe originating from the home button has always been a shortcut to Google Now on Nexus devices.
Aside from identifying songs with Shazam and using the "Hey Siri" feature while driving, Apple's personal assistant isn't something I regularly use on my iPhone.
Your new Samsung Galaxy S4 is fast, but it can definitely be faster. One issue that carried over from the Samsung Galaxy S3 is Home button lag. Instead of it being an instantaneous response, it takes a split second for the action to take place—and a split second is enough to irritate the best of us. The culprit here is S Voice. The built-in voice assistant is great, but whether or not you use it, one of its features remains persistent—its strenuous use of the Home button—where you double-tap ...
While Siri's integration with the iPhone is becoming increasingly substantial, restrictions with the intelligent personal assistant are apparent when it comes to third-party apps like Google Maps, Netflix, and Spotify (unless your iPhone is jailbroken, of course). As an avid Spotify user, it's distressing that I can't use Siri to navigate through the music streaming service's extensive library. In the car, I use Spotify about 90% of the time and it can become increasingly frustrating to chang...
Having to read a bunch of articles and tweets everyday can be tiresome, but if you can have a sweet-ass personal assistant read them for you, you're pretty golden.
My obsession with Siri is well documented, and after I jailbroke my iPhone 4 recently, I thought I would finally be able to rekindle our imaginary love. But, when I downloaded the Siri Port, I found that the app was buggy and super slow.
Unless you're a business executive or movie star, most of us aren't afforded the luxury of having a personal assistant. Wouldn't it be nice to wake up in the morning and just have everything taken care of?
Google Now is an extremely intelligent personal assistant that automatically updates and prepares the most pertinent information for you on your Android device. Traffic updates, alternatives routes, weather conditions, and other important data is constantly being monitored and updated for you.
Getting the task done as quickly as possible is usually the goal for most things in life. Well, most things. That's why efficiency is the first and main component of the McDonaldization of our society.
There's a lot of firsts that President Barack Obama can claim, like being the first POTUS from Hawaii, the first to publicly support same-sex marriage, and of course, the first African American to hold office. One of his coolest firsts, though, is that he's the first American president to ever brew his own beer in the White House. And thanks to a Redditor who filed a Freedom of Information Act request, two recipes have been released so that home brewers everywhere can give them a try.
Google's new Material You theming engine in Android 12 adds a personal touch to your user interface. The main colors of your wallpaper dynamically affect the colors in menus and apps, essentially putting you in control of the overall theme. But there's another new design element for app icons that's hiding in your settings.
While you can use Google Assistant on your Android phone to identify songs playing around you, you may still prefer Shazam's music recognition service, which has been available on Android since 2008 — a full nine years before Google Assistant's audio-fingerprinting technology. If that's the case, it's even easier now to Shazam songs in seconds, no matter what screen you're on.
YouTube Music just refreshed the user interface for playlists, seemingly taking away the ability to shuffle the songs in your playlists. While the update has been rolling out for months, you might just be getting the updated look on your smartphone, and there's no giant "Shuffle" button like there was before. But that doesn't mean there's no more shuffling.
