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Snapchat finally stops charging you for dark mode on Android
Users report the company is rolling out dark mode to those who don't have Snapchat+
Snapchat recently got a premium subscription tier appropriately called Snapchat+, which gives you, among other things, custom icons, a custom badge that others can see, early access to new app features, and the option to make someone your #1 BFF within the app. But it had other, stranger perks. Android users had to subscribe to get a dark mode within the app — something that's presently a free addition to pretty much every other app on your phone. Now, though, this strange limitation is finally being removed.
The OnePlus 12's cameras look like one upgrade worth focusing on in latest leak
A considerable upgrade from the OnePlus 11, at least on paper
The OnePlus 12 is still several months away, and yet, we already know a lot about it. We know how it might look, and how powerful it might be. We also know when we might see it launched — for Chinese users, that might be as early as December, which would give it a considerable head start over other 2024 smartphones. We're learning more stuff as the weeks go by, and now, we have a very early look at the kind of camera hardware the OnePlus 12 could pack. And if this is anything to go by, it shouldn't disappoint.
Google's 25th anniversary is coming up, and the celebration could mean deals like these
Google has almost been around for a quarter of a century
Google is soon to turn 25. The company was first founded on September 4, 1998, by then-students Larry Page and Sergey Brin. It got its start with the Google search engine, which is still its main product, but over the next few years it managed to branch out into many more things. For the past quarter of a century, it has positioned itself as one of the main tech companies out there, and of course, Google wants to celebrate it. How, exactly? By holding a big sale on some of its most popular hardware products, of course.
Sync is back on the Play Store, but it's not a third-party Reddit app anymore
The fediverse shall heal us all
The concept of federated social media is still one that's not on many people's minds just yet, but as Twitter got taken over by Elon Musk and Reddit went thermonuclear on third-party apps, many started looking at it as an option. In that regard, Lemmy is to Reddit what Mastodon is to Twitter — a federated alternative where you have many different servers with many different communities co-existing with each other. Being an open alternative to Reddit, it's also where many developers of third-party apps are going. Now, Sync, formerly a third-party app for Reddit, has officially become a Lemmy client, and it's now listed in the Play Store.
WhatsApp Channels slowly begins its international spread
Nine countries are better than two, at least
WhatsApp is, by and large, among the best encrypted messaging apps out there. Meta bought the app years ago and really hasn't tried pushing it in a different direction. And that's fine, really. Meta has two big social media services — Facebook and Instagram — and really doesn't need a third one. That doesn't mean that WhatsApp can't use just a few more social elements. A big one that got introduced relatively recently is Channels, and now, WhatsApp is making it available in more countries, in anticipation of a potential global launch.
Google is putting the final nail in Android 4.4 KitKat's coffin
The last pre-Material Design operating system is finally dead
It seems like yesterday to many of us, but Android 4.4 KitKat was launched in 2013, a whopping 10 years ago by this point. In a way, over the course of a few years, it became Android's Windows XP — it wouldn't go away completely despite Google's best efforts, and was present on a lot of hardware, even after Android 5.0 Lollipop and subsequent versions were released, with the Android 14 Beta the latest in line. It's pretty much gone by this point, and a distant memory, but it was one of the most stable and solid Android versions to be released. Now, though, it's finally completely dead.
The Galaxy Watch 6's most important upgrade could have nothing to do with its bezels
That rotating bezel on the Classic still sounds pretty dope, tho
Alongside the upcoming Galaxy Z Flip 5 and Z Fold 5, Samsung is also planning to introduce new smartwatches. Rumors have been floating around the Galaxy Watch 6 and the Watch 6 Classic with its rotating bezel, which are set to be Samsung's next big smartwatch entries. They haven't leaked as thoroughly as Samsung's foldable phones have, but we know a thing or two about them, including that they will be landing on store shelves pretty, pretty soon. Now, thanks to fresh leaks, we know what they will be packing inside — and there are a few changes to highlight here.
The OnePlus 12's hardware specs have leaked, half a year before release
In case you needed a reminder that we're closer to 2024 than 2022 at this point
If you haven't kept an eye on the news recently, the OnePlus 12 is coming. We got a very early look at OnePlus' upcoming phone just over a week ago, and we got to see what could very well be its design — a smartphone that looks familiar but adds several changes at the same time. The phone is still a few months away from landing in store shelves, but we're getting to know new details bit by bit, and it looks like it will be one of the best phones around. A new leak reveals some of its specs, and they're looking like what you should expect from a great 2024 flagship.
Samsung could be looking to get into a whole new segment of wearables
Rumored Galaxy Ring could be the company's first smart jewelry
When we think of wearables, smartwatches, earbuds, and even AR glasses come to mind. But what about smart rings? Oura has taken it upon itself to popularize this market segment with rings designed to give us health and fitness insights without having to carry another screen around. And while it's still a rather niche product, it might not stay that way for long. Why, you ask? Because it looks like a huge player could be entering this field with its own offering. If leaks and rumors are anything to go by, development for Samsung's first smart ring, the Galaxy Ring, might already be underway.
Your phone might soon sweet-talk you into updating Android
Try Android 13, it has a lot of great features, we're sure it'll be great
There are two kinds of Android phone owners out there. We have the kind of people who eagerly take an update to the next Android version as soon as it's available, and then we have the kind that will just ignore the update until it becomes too hard to ignore. There are an awful lot of people in the latter crowd, and if you don't have a friend or relative who does this, then it's probably you. Android's distribution numbers are already bad enough because of uncommitted OEMs, and these people definitely drag the stats even lower. Good news, though — Google is coming up with ways to entice them into updating, and this latest one is looking great.
Google One's VPN will use local servers to make location-based services more accurate
This is like the polar opposite of a country selector
Google's in-house VPN, which is a part of its Google One subscription, is a bit different in philosophy to other VPNs. While most other VPNs allow you to transport yourself to any part of the world you want, Google's own VPN doesn't believe in that. There's no country or region selector, and instead, you just fire it up and get to browsing again. It's meant to shield yourself and your IP address online, and it's probably the most solid option if you don't really need to hop around countries for any reason. And if you've ever wondered whether this would change, it will not — in fact, the servers you'll connect to are now getting even closer to you.
Get ready for light-based Wi-Fi, because it's now an official standard
Think of Li-Fi as Wi-Fi, but without radio waves and like, ultra-fast
Wi-Fi is a basic part of our lives at this point, but back in the 90s, it was a groundbreaking concept. Internet without wires? The thought of connecting your computer to the World Wide Web without hooking it up to a modem was surreal until Apple did it with the iBook in 1999 (which in classic Apple fashion it made into a proprietary thing for its devices, called AirPort). By now, though, it's a concept we're all familiar with. That doesn't mean there can't be more innovation, however. Wi-Fi uses radio waves, but what if there was a better way? Li-Fi was just made into a standard, IEEE 802.11bb — and it harnesses the power of light to give you connectivity.
The TicWatch Pro 3 series and E3 are finally getting their Wear OS 3 beta
It's closed, though — so closed you need to sign an NDA
The TicWatch Pro 3 was launched all the way back in 2020, while the TicWatch E3 and Pro 3 Ultra were launched a year later, in 2021. Owners of these watches have been awaiting an update to Wear OS 3, Google's current watch experience, for a very, very long time. We got news about updates for Mobvoi's older range of smartwatches back in April, saying that users should expect to see Wear OS 3 in the third quarter of this year. Just as we're about to step into that third quarter, Mobvoi is officially opening a (restrictive) closed beta for those who are interested in seeing how well Wear OS 3 runs on their watches.
Android Auto is letting people use Google Maps on their phone and car at the same time again
Tell your co-pilot to help you get there
Google Maps has joined us faithfully in our road trips for well over a decade now, helping us get to places we don't know how to get to. And paired with Android Auto, you get a solid navigation experience that lets you stay focused on the road while getting places. Even then, if you're using Android Auto, there is a strange restriction — you can't use Google Maps on your phone and your Android Auto dashboard at the same time. Now, though, this finally seems to be changing, as some users are reporting that they're able to use Google Maps on both their car and their phone.
Transferring your WhatsApp history to a new device no longer requires Google Drive
From your old phone to your new phone with no middlemen
WhatsApp has always had one big shortcoming (or advantage?) compared to messaging apps like Facebook Messenger or Telegram. Instead of storing your messages on the cloud, in a server, your message history is instead only saved in your smartphone's local storage. This made it tricky to get things such as multi-device support working well and also meant that uninstalling the app or installing it on a new phone required you to start with a clean slate or manually restore a previous backup. On Android phones, the intermediary for this is Google Drive. Now, though, you can pass on a backup from one device to the other, no Google Drive required.
Nothing might launch a new Ear 2 color variant as soon as next week
The black colorway you've been waiting for could almost be here
The Nothing Ear 1 earbuds, launched by a startup called Nothing and founded by no other than Carl Pei of OnePlus fame, got a lot of press when they first came out. Thanks to their good feature set at a competitive price, they were quickly some of the best earbuds around, but they also got plenty of attention because of their unusual transparent design. The company launched a black version of those earbuds, but that black colorway has yet to land on the earbuds' successors, the Ear 2. That's set to change, though — and it might change as soon as next week.
The way Android looks has changed drastically over the course of the last few years. And with Android's constant changes, its brand identity has also adapted over time. We've seen a few changes to Android's logo and brand identity over the years, with the bugdroid remaining a staple of Android's brand. The last change was in 2019, and saw Google use only the bugdroid's head in addition to a slightly refreshed font. We're used to getting a logo change every few years or so, and if you were worried Google was going to settle for what it has right now, it's not happening. Google is yet again redesigning Android's brand — and this time, it's going for a rather radical one compared to what we've seen before.
Stories were one of Snapchat's biggest features until Instagram decided to imitate them in 2016. From there, everyone started adding stories. Some of them stuck, like WhatsApp's implementation, while others, like Twitter's or YouTube's, were less successful and actually a bit of an embarrassment. Nonetheless, even today, social media platforms are still toying around with the idea of adding stories if they haven't. One such platform is Telegram, which has just announced that, after actively resisting the change for a very, very long time, it will cave in to user feedback and become the latest platform to add stories. At least they'll come with some cool spins, though.
New Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 leaks give us something to look forward to
It's catching up to the competition
It's no secret that Samsung is coming up on another smartphone launch. Ever since the death of the Note, the second half of the year is usually reserved for the company's foldables, and this year will be no different. We've already seen plenty of Galaxy Z Flip 5 and Galaxy Z Fold 5 leaks over the last few months, giving us a rough idea of what both phones will look like and how powerful they'll really be. Now, if you're interested in the phablet-sized foldable, some new leaks have left little to the imagination.
Google is supercharging your Play Books library management
It's time to organize that untidy mess of e-books
When it comes to keeping a collection of e-books neatly organized, there are many options out there. But if you're fully invested into the Google ecosystem, you've probably looked at the Google Play Books app at least once. It lets you buy and read all kinds of e-books, comics, and even audiobooks, though when your library gets bigger, it gets significantly harder to organize. After blessing the service with a new icon, Google is now adding some direly needed library management improvements.