Who doesn't love a refresh? Samsung's upcoming One UI makes it easier to use your device with one hand and adds a fresh coat of paint to the formally "Samsung Experience" skin. While you're probably looking forward to installing One UI on your phone, not all Galaxies are equal — your device could be one of the first to receive the update, or it could never see One UI at all.
According to Google's new Android ecosystem transparency report, you're eleven times more likely to be infected by malware if you're running Android Lollipop (5.0) as opposed to Android Pie (9). The same report shows that if you sideload apps, you're almost seven times more likely to be infected than if you stick to Google Play as your app source. All of the data provided in the report is quite interesting, but there's a clear pattern among malware-infected users.
The OnePlus 5 doesn't have too many weak spots, at least not when you consider the price. But you might feel that the company with the slogan, "Never Settle," might have actually settled a bit with its camera. The OnePlus 5 and 5T don't have bad imaging specs, but they could use a pick-me-up, which is what we're about to provide. There's a bit of a catch, though.
Apple released the first major iOS 12 update Tuesday, Oct. 30, just hours after the company's iPad and Mac presentation. While iOS 12.1 is the first official update to hit iPhones since iOS 12.0.1, beta testers had enjoyed an exclusive first-hand look at all the new features the latest OS has to offer. So what's new in iOS 12.1?
Stickers are a staple in most messaging apps. Facebook Messenger and Apple Messages, among others, are all compatible with still or animated stickers to personalize your chats. Now, WhatsApp is stepping into the sticker arena with a new update, bringing the popular feature to one of the most used chat apps in the world.
Though not as popular as Super Mario or Zelda, Konami's Contra nevertheless remains as one of the greatest titles that helped put Nintendo on the map. This retro shooter is set to make a comeback, and has been soft-launched in select Asian countries ahead of a worldwide release. Of course, you can try the game yourself right now, thanks to a nifty workaround.
With the Galaxy Note 9's 6.4-inch AMOLED display, split screen is far more useful since each half of the screen is relatively large. The problem is that there are some noticeable omissions in the list of apps which support the feature. However, Samsung offers a fix for this.
The iPhone X ushered in the Swiss Army Knife-like Side button, which can perform numerous functions, such as summoning Siri and opening Apple Pay through click gestures. This has carried over into the iPhone XS, XS Max, and iPhone XR, so if you've upgraded to one of these devices from a Home button-equipped iPhone, you'll have to learn how to shut down your new device.
Thanks to Android Pie's gesture controls, features like split screen mode now take several additional steps to activate. This change is due to the revamped navigation bar which removed the recents apps button. Luckily, we can still change it back.
The ongoing war between Apple and Samsung fans will rage on once again. With the release of the iPhone XS Max, Apple has presented a stronger adversary for the Samsung Galaxy Note 9, released earlier. Both stack up well against each other, providing two of the best experiences on their respective operating systems.
RIP Touch ID. Apple's fingerprint sensor on iPhone and iPad models with Home buttons is about to become phased out on Wednesday, Sept. 12. While Touch ID will remain an integral part of models from the iPhone 5S to the iPhone 8 Plus, as well as the iPad Air 2 through the sixth generation iPad, Face ID will completely take over as the default security method for unlocking future iOS devices.
With iOS 12, iCloud Keychain has become a more useful password manager for your iPhone with strong password suggestions, password reuse auditing, and Siri support. However, before you jump ship from your current password manager, you should consider all the reasons why iCloud Keychain doesn't make sense as your primary password manager.
Xiaomi made a new phone with their sights set on picking up some ex OnePlus users. As a result, the Pocophone F1, or just Poco in some markets, is quite unlike most other Xiaomi phones. While you can't buy the F1 in stores in the US, you can get its home screen app on almost any phone right now.
While the three new iPhones won't even be announced until Sept. 12 during Apple's fall event, case makers are already primed for the launch of the devices. Some case designs are already live on manufacturer websites, and you can even buy or preorder cases for the iPhone XR, iPhone XS, and iPhone XS Plus to have right now or on launch day.
Incoming phone calls and FaceTimes, whether you want to answer them or not, will take over your entire iPhone's screen — no matter what you're in the middle of doing on the device at the moment. You could be browsing the web, playing a game, or chatting on social media. It doesn't matter, you'll get interrupted. But you don't have to put up with it anymore.
Ever-shrinking bezels and disappearing hardware buttons make for good looking phones, but they also increase the need for gesture controls. Android Pie comes with seven new swipe gestures, but if you don't have the update yet (or find its default gesture options to be lacking), you should take a look at the Microsoft Launcher.
Apple's dedication to iPhone security is one of the company's biggest selling points. It's no surprise then that iOS 12 offers users a simple yet powerful way to make, save, and auto-fill strong passwords to your iCloud Keychain when creating accounts in both Safari and in apps. The best part? You hardly need to do a thing.
For years, Skype has been synonymous with video calling and messaging. However, as the industry moved toward encryption and privacy, Skype usage was discouraged by experts due to its murky encryption. To combat this, Skype has introduced true end-to-end encryption.
While iOS 11 was famous for its instability, performance issues weren't the only factor holding it back. The OS overhauled the notification system on iPhone, but not necessarily for the better. iOS 12, however, improves upon these changes, bringing critical features that make viewing and interacting with notifications on your iPhone on par with Android.
With Android Pie, Google added a genuinely useful feature for Pixels called App Suggestions, which uses AI to predict the apps you might want to use next. These show up at the top of your app drawer and in the new dock in the revamped multitasking UI for quick access. But here's the trouble: Muscle memory is a thing.
Crisis averted — Apple released iOS 12 public beta 6 — not public beta 7 — to software testers Wednesday, August 15. The update comes hours after the release of dev beta 8, which replaced the short-lived seventh developer beta. Apple released dev beta 7 Monday, August 13, but quickly pulled the update due to instability and poor performance.
One of iOS 12's biggest attractions is Group FaceTime, which would allow up to 32 people to video chat together at the same time. It's quite the pitch, and many iOS users are excited to see in action. Unfortunately, Apple has confirmed that Group FaceTime won't be included with iOS 12 when it launches, leaving everyone to chat one-on-one just a little bit longer.
If you've upgraded your phone to Android 9.0 Pie, you might notice some intermittent problems with your internet connection. That's because "Turn On Wi-Fi Automatically," while available with Android Oreo on select phones, is now enabled by default on all phones running Android Pie. If your Essential or OnePlus device is acting up, you'll want to check this out.
Time to play — Fortnite is now officially available on Android. However, the game won't be available across the Android ecosystem right away. Fortnite Battle Royale launches on Samsung devices first. That means if you have a Galaxy S7, S8, S9, Note 8, Tab 3, or Tab 4, you can download the game right now.
Apple released the fourth public beta for iOS 12 to public beta testers on Tuesday, July 31, just one day after the company seeded the fifth developer beta to eligible users. Both releases are surprising, as Apple had appeared to stick to a two-week release schedule for the iOS 12 beta season, and these updates both came one day earlier than expected.
Data breaches are all too common now, and the latest one you need to know about involves Timehop, a mobile app that makes it easy to reminisce over old photos. The breach, which took place on July 4, was revealed on Sunday, July 8. At the time, Timehop disclosed that 21 million users had been affected by the breach, but it now appears that all users were impacted in some way.
Wi-Fi tools keep getting more and more accessible to beginners, and the LAZY script is a framework of serious penetration tools that can be explored easily from within it. This powerful and simple tool can be used for everything from installing new add-ons to grabbing a WPA handshake in a matter of seconds. Plus, it's easy to install, set up, and utilize.
Android 9.0 Pie is now available to install on Google's own Pixel devices and a select few other phones. In the new release, there's a fairly hidden setting that lets you enable a system-wide dark theme that changes the look of your Quick Settings panel and other menus.
Apple's on a roll with once-every-week releases for the iOS 11.4.1 beta. Exactly seven days after beta 3 came out, beta 4 has been pushed out to developers and public beta testers on Monday, June 25. Just like before, there are no new features or any known enhancements or bug fixes. Apple confirmed that iOS 11.4.1 is for under-the-hood improvements only, since iOS 12 beta is already out.
Samsung reintroduced its well regarded Good Lock app, so now you can tweak parts of your Galaxy's interface without the need for root or other labor-intensive mods. Thanks to an awesome add-on, you can even tidy up you phone's status bar — so if you've always wanted to get rid of that pesky NFC "N" icon or any other indicator at the top of your display, you're now just a few taps away.
Another beta for iOS 11.4.1 was released on Monday, June 18, exactly one week after iOS 11.4.1 beta 2 was pushed out. Like the second beta, iOS 11.4.1 beta 3 has no new features or any known enhancements or bug fixes. It's likely Apple is simply using iOS 11.4.1 to add under-the-hood improvements only, since iOS 12 beta is already out.
Has this ever happened to you: You're singing a song in your head and want to look it up on Apple Music but you just can't think of its name or even who recorded it? In iOS 12, if you can sing it, you can search for it, as the update lets you find songs in Apple Music by lyrics alone. It's like Shazam, only instead of identifying music by sound, it uses the lyrics in your head.
Since the San Bernardino shooting in 2014, Apple's been engaged in a game of cat and mouse with law enforcement. Authorities want access to evidence on criminals' iPhones, but Apple wants to protect all of its customers' personal data equally. The latest installment in this saga has Apple outright disabling the Lightning port.
Ever since 2009, you could send a photo or video that you've already taken right from the Messages app on your iPhone. You would just tap on the camera icon next to the new message box, then choose either to take a new one or select one from your library. If you're running iOS 12, that's no longer the case, but that doesn't mean the capability is gone entirely.
In iOS 12, Apple included new, Snapchat-like effects and stickers for photos and videos in Messages. While these new options are fun, they're missing something that takes away from the appeal, especially since Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, and similar apps already let you do it.
Let's say you wake up in the middle of the night and check your phone to see the time. As soon as you do, you're greeted by a wall of notifications on your lock screen. You just wanted to know how much longer you could sleep, but now your mind's racing after seeing all of the messages you need to deal with. Thankfully, iOS 12's new Bedtime Mode has a solution for this problem.
Apple's linear Notification Center has been scattershot at best since iOS 9 when we could group notifications by app. Without any type of grouping ability, the notification history becomes more of a nuisance of random alerts based on time alone, making it a treasure hunt to find the notification wanted. Now, iOS 12 has addressed this issue, bringing back groupings — with improvements.
Apple is putting their Workflow acquisition to use with the new Shortcuts feature, integrated right into Siri. It allows you to connect commonly-used actions to a phrase that you activate with Siri. In addition to some of the other speed improvements in iOS 12, Shortcuts helps streamline your mobile experience.
Setting up Face ID is simple, but getting it to work correctly every time is a different story. While there are numerous tips for getting Face ID to work every time you need it on your iPhone X, XS, XS Max, or XR, Apple has added a better option in iOS 12 that lets you add an "alternative appearance."
Uber is one of the best ways to get around, but nobody said it was cheap. What's even more infuriating is when you have a bad experience with a ride. Sure, you can get a refund, but then you need to figure out where to enter in the promo code for the coupon that Uber sends your way.
