Samsung's Galaxy S9 is officially on sale, so we ran through its best software features and even took a look at a few hidden things you might not know about. A new phone is always exciting, but there are a few annoying issues with any device. One such issue is the new persistent Android System notifications in Android Oreo on the Galaxy S9.
The Galaxy S9 is now available worldwide. We ran through several Android P features already on the Galaxy S9 and even took a look at a few hidden things you might not know about. While you're likely loving your new phone, there are a few concerns with any new device. One possible issue is the new persistent Android System notifications on the Galaxy S9.
If you have some experience in the Google world, you'll know that Google Assistant has had location-based reminders since it dropped nearly two years ago. Before that, Google Now offered the same feature. Even with that precedent, you've never been able to ask Google Home to remind you to, say, pick up eggs when you reach the grocery store. That is, until now.
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 do is point your phone's camera at the paper and tap a few times.
Following in iOS 11's footsteps, Android 9.0 Pie will include a security feature that lets you immediately disable the fingerprint scanner as well as extended Smart Lock features. After initiating the feature, you will be required to insert your PIN, pattern, or password before any other unlock methods will work again.
From veteran modders to casual tinkerers, booting into either recovery mode or download mode is something every Galaxy S9 owner should know about. These two pre-boot menus serve a very important purpose — recovery mode is the go-to solution for soft bricks, while download mode allows you to flash firmware files using utilities like Odin and Smart Switch, which can truly be a lifesaver.
Samsung just launched their Galaxy S9 flagship, with preorders shipping in the US already. The Galaxy S9 is an amazing smartphone, with a number of advanced features. Despite this, over time your S9 or S9+ may slow down a bit more than you would like. Thankfully, there is a longstanding trick in the Android community that can speed things up a bit.
The Galaxy S9 is a great phone powered by the Android ecosystem. This includes Google's family of apps — many of which overlap with Samsung's in functionality. This can lead to redundant apps that siphon resources from your phone, but fortunately, there's a way to dull some of the noise and disable built-in apps.
Hearthstone, Blizzard's online card game, combines strategy with a fun spin on the World of Warcraft lore to create a unique experience. With the latest expansion (The Witchwood) on the horizon, you'll want to make sure your collection is ready for when the set drops in April. Fortunately, you can get free packs on iPhone or Android to help prepare.
If you have a Mac, you can use Apple's Handoff feature to open one of your Safari desktop tabs in Safari on your iPhone. But if you prefer to use Google Chrome as your desktop browser, whether or not that's because you have a Windows PC, you can't "hand off" open tabs from Chrome desktop to Safari on your iPhone. There is a cool workaround, however.
As advanced as the Galaxy S9 is, it can still be susceptible to the occasional hiccup. Several factors can cause your smartphone to behave erratically or become unresponsive, such as buggy apps or updates that didn't properly install. Luckily, most of these issues can be easily resolved with a press of a button — or two, to be exact.
Along with the awesome early-2018 addition of Giphy GIFs in Snapchat, you can now share other people's Snapchat handles and tag them in a way that lets others reach those people easily — something you couldn't do before in the app.
Google updates the Play Store periodically, but the changes are usually subtle. A recent server-side update, however, is shaking things up quite a bit.
The new Android 9.0 Pie update is bringing a feature that stock Android has been lacking — screenshot editing. OEM skins like Samsung's TouchWiz have had this for years, and Apple added it to iOS just recently. But now that it's in stock Android, it'll be included with every phone going forward — trouble is, most people will have to wait for the update. Thankfully, you can get this feature right now on any phone.
Samsung's Galaxy S9 has the best smartphone display among any in its class, beating out the likes of the Google Pixel 2 XL and iPhone X. However, Samsung doesn't unlock the true power of its screen out of the box. To do that, you'll need to rummage through a few settings on your way to maxing out the resolution of your Galaxy S9 or S9+.
For all of its advantages, Facebook Messenger isn't the best for people who like their privacy. The popular app lets all your Facebook friends know when you're online by default, as well as how long you've been idle, making it impossible to check up with one person without leaving yourself vulnerable to your entire friends list. Luckily, this feature is one you can turn off.
In many ways, the Galaxy S9 is a holdout from the golden days of Android. It's one of the last major flagships to sport a headphone jack, it has an impressive array of internal sensors, and perhaps more importantly, it's got a micro SD card slot.
Assassin's Creed Rebellion is a welcome addition to the popular gaming franchise, garnering great reviews so far. Unfortunately, the game has been stuck in soft-launch limbo for almost a year, with no firm release date in sight. With a little legwork, however, you can try the game out for yourself right now.
Netflix currently lets parents block content based on maturity rating, but it isn't a perfect system. Not all titles rated PG-13 are equal, for instance. That's why it's good news that Netflix is adding more controls for parents, by allowing account holders to bar individual movies and TV shows they deem inappropriate.
The fourth beta for iOS 11.3 was released by Apple to developers and public beta testers on Monday, March 5. The update comes just under two weeks after the company released beta 3 on Feb. 20, which mostly added bug and stability patches. It appears that beta 4 is much of the same, but we'll learn more as we sink our teeth into it.
For quite some time, popular messaging apps like Snapchat have had features that let you place stickers on photos and videos to add time and location-based information. To catch up, WhatsApp has now added the same functionality to its messaging platform in an effort to remain among the most well-rounded messaging apps available.
If you're a Harry Potter fan who has ever wanted to have your own Hogwarts adventure, you're in luck — Jam City is close to releasing "Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery," a mobile game that allows you to attend the magical school yourself. In fact, it's so close you can pre-register for the game right now.
As far as overall security updates are concerned, we all know that iOS reigns supreme over Android. But just how bad do Android devices fare against Apple in general? A recent report will have you second guessing some companies the next time you're in the market for a handset.
Spring training has begun in earnest, and to mark MLB's soft debut, GLU has soft-launched a followup to the smash hit MLB Tap Sports Baseball 2017 in Canada. While MLB Tap Sports Baseball 2018 is still technically unavailable outside of Canada, you can actually play this game right now through a simple hack.
With Wrestlemania 34 right around the corner, WWE has partnered with GLU to soft-launch WWE Universe. While the game is currently only available in New Zealand, there's a simple loophole that you can exploit to download the game right now and play as your favorite WWE wrestler.
Snap Inc.'s dedication to augmented reality has expanded the world lenses in Snapchat to our own Bitmojis. While it's great to see our characters interacting with real environments, we haven't seen them connect to other Bitmoji in AR space. That all changes with "3D Friendmojis," a lens from Snapchat that lets you stage scenes between your Bitmoji and a friend's.
It's been a long time coming, but Tamagotchi has finally ditched its iconic toy egg and arrived as a mobile game. The new iteration is called My Tamagotchi Forever, and though it's currently only available in Canada, you can actually download the game anywhere and care for your very own virtual pet right now.
Oreo, the latest and greatest Android OS, lets you enjoy a ton of new features such as app shortcuts and an improved keyboard. But thanks to a feature that's required of all phones that ship with Android Oreo out of the box, your S9 may be the first Galaxy phone to finally receive timely software updates.
A relatively new feature in Snapchat, having been first introduced in February 2018, is GIF support. These new animated stickers, straight from a partnership with Giphy, came to the app about a month after Instagram received GIF capabilities. If you've used Instagram's version, adding GIFs to snaps is even more intuitive. While they were late to the game, they're doing it better.
Facebook's status update box has received many new features over the years. You can go live, sell something, and even create a poll. But since all this was added, the status update box has been relatively stagnant. That's finally changing again with Facebook's newest addition: Lists.
New emojis are coming with the Android Oreo update for Galaxy S8 and S8+. Samsung Experience 9.0 has been updated to Emoji 5.0, adding 239 brand new emojis when you take into account gender and skin tone variants. While there are minor changes across the board, we wanted to focus on the newly created emojis so you'll know what's available to you.
It seems Apple has followed through on their promise. After the disastrous battery slowdown scandal in December, the iPhone maker has finally pushed new battery health information and controls to iOS 11.3. Now, if you have an affected battery, you can disable performance throttling to keep your iPhone running as fast as possible.
Apple released the second beta for iOS 11.3 on Tuesday, Feb. 6. The update comes two weeks after the original announcement and release of the iOS 11.3 beta, which brought new Animoji, Messages on iCloud, and Apple Music Videos, among other features. One glaring omission was the promised battery health tool, but iOS 11.3 beta 2 just introduced it.
After receiving many requests for the feature, Signal introduced read receipts last year to its mobile apps. However, some users don't like the idea other people knowing when they've read messages. Luckily, Signal lets you disable this feature and reclaim a little privacy.
If you're like me, your iPhone has way too many Safari tabs open. Links from other applications open up new tabs automatically, it's too easy to open up new tabs to search, and sometimes you're skittish about closing pages you don't want to forget about. This all creates a massive mess that requires cleaning house, and there's an easy trick to doing just that.
Well, that was annoying. Earlier today, iOS users — including myself — were getting plagued with the same CNN news alert over and over again. While the news itself is significant (the guy who sent that false missile alert in Hawaii was fired), people usually get the gist after just one alert, not dozens.
Over the past few days, we've learned a lot about Samsung's upcoming Galaxy S9 and S9+ smartphones. In addition to a full list of hardware specs, we have complete renders direct from renowned leaker Evan Blass. Of course, Samsung always has a few surprises up their sleeve, and today, we have some new information about the facial unlock method arriving on the S8.
Mobile phones are not only essential for work and communication, they're quickly becoming an integral asset to our health. Your iPhone can store valuable data about fitness, nutrition, heart health, and so much more. And since iOS 11.3, your iPhone can even import a list of allergies, medications, immunizations, hospital visits, and other health information from your doctor or hospital.
If the Notes app on your iPhone is anything like mine, it's a mess. Even with the addition of folders, adding note after note can really clutter things up. You need a way to quickly identify the notes that are most important, and that's where pinning comes in.
With the release of the iOS 11.3, iPhone users have new features to both sift through and look forward to, such as increased battery health information and control, new Animoji on iPhone X, and Health Records in the Health app. A smaller change with the update, however, is also a useful one — a new way to sort App Store reviews.
