All articles tagged with #mobile
A leaked image shows the Xperia 10 VIII maintaining the Xperia 10 VII’s flat back, horizontal camera bar, and side‑mounted fingerprint sensor, with Geekbench suggesting Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 and 8GB RAM; Sony’s August 25 reveal is near, but concrete upgrades beyond design remain unclear.
Charter’s acquisition brings Cox under the Spectrum banner with an auto-transition by mid-September; existing Cox accounts and pricing stay the same unless customers switch plans, and promotions remain. Spectrum adds value with free streaming apps (Disney+, HBO Max, Hulu, Paramount+), a first year of Spectrum Mobile for eligible Cox Internet customers, and a Savings Guarantee for bundling Internet and Mobile.
Huawei unveils the Pura X View, a non-foldable glass-slab smartphone with a 6.39-inch OLED display in a 16:9.5 aspect ratio, a 6.68mm-thin profile, 201g weight, and a 7,000mAh battery, signaling a broader push into wide-screen designs beyond foldables; full specs and pricing aren’t announced and the device isn’t expected to leave China soon.
Google is developing a new Quick Insert feature for Gboard on Android that adds a diamond-plus button to quickly insert content such as emoji, contacts, clipboard history, images, and more from across the device. The tool appears to pull from multiple sources and may include a search for older items, but its exact integration with existing Gboard options and whether it will genuinely speed up workflows remains unclear; APK teardowns hint at potential features that may or may not reach a public release.
Google's Android 17 QPR2 Beta 3 adds a SIM security timeline to log modem-detected threats (IMEI/IMSI), a SIM security info screen detailing active encryption ciphers across calls, SMS, and data, and new notifications warning about a broader range of cellular attacks (DoS, jamming, imprisonment, downgrade, location tracking).
A fresh One UI 9.5 leak shows subtle depth enhancements like drop shadows and frosted elements across the UI and a redesigned Phone app with integrated Samsung AI-powered search, potentially resembling a system Finder; Samsung hasn't announced One UI 9.5 and features may change before beta or release, with the Galaxy S26 line likely to lead the rollout.
A leaker shared screenshots of an early One UI 9.5 build running on a Galaxy device, hinting at notable changes as Samsung stays busy rolling out One UI 9.0 to older devices while developing 9.5 for the Galaxy S27 series next year; details are sparse.
A CNET columnist argues Google should integrate Snapseed’s powerful film-like editing presets directly into the Pixel camera app (beyond the new in-camera Camera Looks) to make Pixel phones more appealing to photographers, noting Snapseed’s depth and suggesting Pixel could rival Fujifilm’s X100 VI by uniting full editing power with in-camera shooting.
Google’s Gemini AI has reached 1 billion monthly active users, the fastest uptake of any Google product, driven by deep integration across Android and apps like Gmail, Drive, and Search. About 63% of active users utilize voice input (with an increasing share being voice-only), and 20% of Gemini Live users share camera feeds or screens. Daily, Gemini users generate roughly 150 million AI-generated images watermark-protected by SynthID. Over 100 million MAUs are on iOS. Despite the milestone, progress on model releases has slowed (Gemini 3.5 Pro delays, Gemini 4 training underway) amid leadership changes and AI infrastructure costs, raising questions about sustainability against competition from OpenAI/Anthropic.
Google released a new Pixel 11 Pro teaser ahead of Wednesday's Made by Google event, focusing on two Pro units forming an '11' while keeping the spotlight on Gemini Intelligence; the clip is light on features as the launch nears.
Verizon customers across the United States faced a large-scale mobile-service outage that began around 3:30 p.m. ET, with Downdetector recording more than 13,000 complaints at its peak and major metro areas like New York, Los Angeles and Boston most affected. Verizon said it’s making progress on the issue and urged impacted users to restart their devices; the carrier did not provide a reason for the outage, which also disrupted calls on other carriers such as AT&T and T-Mobile as reported by Downdetector and CNBC.
Analysts warn that expanding Starlink Mobile into cities could be costly and technically challenging, as dense urban areas with steel and concrete can block signals and would likely require many small ground stations, potentially eroding profitability even as SpaceX aims to beat traditional carriers by 2027 and Starlink largely serves as a satellite backhaul and emergency backup for mobile networks.
SpaceX plans to add a terrestrial component to Starlink Mobile using thousands of small base stations attached to Starlink dishes, backed by 65 MHz of EchoStar spectrum, to compete with AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile. Analysts say achieving a true direct-to-consumer mobile service without an MVNO agreement will be challenging, and regulatory approvals are pending, but SpaceX intends to start service by late next year and argues the approach could attract customers, especially in dead zones and during disasters.
Google will end support for its mobile Google Assistant on September 4, forcing users to switch to the Gemini-powered assistant across phones and many connected devices (wearables, headphones, Android Auto, and most smart-home gear), with some older devices or regions possibly getting a reprieve. The transition marks Gemini as the primary AI assistant going forward, though Android TVs/set-top boxes and certain vehicles may follow later.
Google has begun informing Android users that Google Assistant will be removed from devices starting September 4, with the change rolling out over several weeks and Gemini becoming the default assistant on supported Android devices, Wear OS watches, and compatible headphones; once the switch is applied, users won’t be able to revert to Google Assistant.