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Cars with Google are getting multiscreen support and even more new app categories
Waze and YouTube are also making an arrival on cars with Google built-in
Google has made major inroads to our vehicles thanks to the success of Android Auto, which is on track to be in more than two-hundred million cars this year. Just as Google’s original project is about to cross this major milestone, its successor is on the way to completely changing how we think of in-car infotainment systems. Cars with Google built-in will see some major new features this year.
AI is coming to the Play Store to help both users and devs
Generative AI will be writing everything from descriptions to review summaries
Like so many of the announcements during this year’s Google I/O, AI has been the star of the show and it’s turning up in almost everything. The Play Store is taking part in the action with its own set of new features, and some of them are going to make a lot of sense. While most of the announcements are directed at developers, users will see benefits from almost everything.
OnePlus Nord Buds 2 review: Same great flavor, now with ANC
The original was already very good, it just needed a few adjustments
OnePlus set a high bar with last year’s release of the Nord Buds, which are generally some of the best budget wireless earbuds on the market. They were priced at an almost suspiciously low $39, but delivered pretty clear sound and a set of features that would be good enough for most users. Despite having more expensive and flashier options, they’ve even become one of my go-to pairs of earbuds.
Reolink Argus 3 Pro review: A proper competitor for more expensive security cameras
Matches many of the features of premium cameras, but cloud storage isn’t great
Reolink is a well-known name and among the best outdoor security cameras. With a series of models for both indoor and outdoor use, each offering distinct options, it’s easy to find a camera to cover your needs. The new Argus 3 Pro strikes a great balance between features for an outdoor security camera, while coming in at a price below many premium cameras with the same features. While it’s a solid camera, Reolink’s cloud hosting service needs some work.
Google's new Credential Manager brings us closer to a passwordless future
Sign in with just a couple taps
Password managers are a staple for surviving the modern Internet, but Google and Apple have been promoting a world in which users won’t need to memorize passwords or worry about hackers stealing all of your credentials. While the road to a passwordless future isn’t exactly finished, Google released a new tool that will make it easier for app developers to offer a simple sign-in experience in their apps, regardless of the type of credentials that are required for the account.
DJI’s new Mini 3 drone welcomes back pilots on a budget
About 25% cheaper than the Pro model with very few sacrifices
DJI had an instant hit with the launch of the Mini 3 Pro, a sub-250g drone with a great camera and all of the features suited to compete directly with all but the most expensive drone in the lineup. Despite its popularity, the Mini 3 Pro also came with a pretty big price increase that went above the budget for many potential buyers. Today, DJI is back with a new non-Pro variant of the Mini 3, sporting most of the same virtues of the Pro model, but at a significantly lower price.
One-minute hack allowed lock screen bypass on Android, current Pixels are safe
And that's why you always need to install your security patches, folks
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Right on schedule, Google released its November security update for Pixel phones — and to look at the short list of user-facing changes, it would appear that this is little more than a routine release to address a few bugs, including fixes to reduce power consumption, screen flickers, and an occasional app crash. However, this update also fixes a pretty serious vulnerability that could allow a person to bypass the lockscreen of many Android phones in less than a minute without any software or special tools.
Synology DiskStation DS1522+ review: Power and performance that's missing one thing
It's great at just about everything but being a Plex server
NAS systems have long been common appliances in businesses and the homes of cable cutters. They’ve grown even more popular over the last few years as many professionals shifted to working from home, while others have chosen to move their files to private storage rather than rely on cloud services. Synology’s new DS1522+ is a high-performance model designed for small businesses, video editors, and many data hoarders.
Xiaomi built this wild concept phone designed to tantalize serious photographers
Sony’s best 1-inch sensor is paired with Leica’s M-series lenses
Smartphones have been slowly encroaching on the territory of dedicated cameras for the last decade. The combination of rapidly improving camera sensors and very clever software has broken many of the long-held rules of digital imaging. However, the larger sensors and interchangeable lenses have allowed dedicated cameras to retain the lead in image quality. Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi is experimenting with building the first smartphone to truly support interchangeable lenses, and it looks pretty incredible — even if you'll probably never get to buy it.
The Play Store is working to stop recommending lower-quality apps
Listings and recommendations should become more useful
While the Android Dev Summit takes a week off before diving into the subject of form factors, the Google Play team is announcing some new capabilities for app developers that will subtly impact how users experience the Play Store. Some of the changes will give more visibility and promotion to some apps while blocking some others from appearing in recommendations, and you may even see some app listings change descriptions just for you.
Jetpack Compose debuts new Material Design 3 controls and expands to Android TV
Developers shouldn’t have to dread yearly OS updates anymore thanks to the new Android SDK Upgrade Assistant
Google is kicking off its annual Android Dev Summit with a welcome lineup of updates, new development libraries, and enhanced tooling. This year's big talking points feature Jetpack Compose, Material Design 3, and Android Studio Flamingo, but most of the individual form factors are also making appearances.
REVVL 6 Pro 5G review: T-Mobile is setting a high bar for budget phones
Despite some weak points, this is a great phone for $220
When a budget-friendly carrier-exclusive phone is announced, it’s natural to expect a lot of red flags. T-Mobile has been launching self-branded phones under the REVVL brand for several years, and as spec-to-price value continues to increase, it’s only producing better results over time. The new REVVL 6 Pro 5G is the latest to join this series, and thanks to a combination of software, performance, and battery life, it’s turning out to be one of the best budget phones I’ve ever used.
Your phone and tablet are now your best filmmaking and photography accessories
Professionals are putting all the power of our common gadgets to use
Smartphone cameras may be making impressive progress thanks to computational photography and plenty of innovation in sensor technology, but they're still not usually chosen for shooting professional photos and videos like we see in the movies we rent and stream. Dedicated cameras with large sensors and top-tier lenses remain the obvious choice at that level, but smartphones and tablets have been creeping into the production process. Gear makers are regularly inventing new ways to turn our pocket-sized gadgets into indispensable accessories for photography and filmmaking.
The first generation Mavic Mini was a great drone in its time, packing DJI’s smart design and technology into a tiny body that falls just under the weight limit that would require registration in many countries. It was great for casual exploration, but a lack of features and a mediocre camera held it back from being useful for much else. The release of the Mini 2 (sans ‘Mavic’ branding) brought near feature parity with the higher-end models and a substantially better camera, but the image quality was still not quite up to the standards of pixel peepers. Now DJI is pushing beyond normal iterative upgrades with its latest model, the DJI Mini 3 Pro, pairing the tiny frame with a much more powerful camera and a new gimbal that rotates 90 degrees for vertical video.
Play Store lays out new rules to curb intrusive full screen ads
Also modernizes several policies about misinformation, impersonation, and monetization
Google Play regularly revises its policies in response to both new and old problems that can be found among apps in the marketplace. Many of the changes may only impact developers, with some will also having indirect effects that show up for users; but there are a few that many people will benefit from right away.
Boost your Wi-Fi for $140 less this Prime Day with this Eero Pro 6 multi-pack deal
Upgrade your wireless now and don't worry about it for several years
Many of the gadgets we buy are meant to be replaced fairly often, but when it comes to your Wi-Fi, it’s usually worth investing in good equipment that won’t cause problems or require a fresh setup every couple of years. Thanks to Prime Day, there’s an opportunity to pick up the Eero Pro 6, one of the best mesh Wi-Fi routers on the market, for its lowest price ever. Through the rest of today, you can buy a 2-pack for just $259.
Amazon Echo Dot (4th gen) review: Good things come in small packages
Amazon's entry-level smart speaker delivers
Amazon effectively kicked off the sweet smart speaker market with the launch of the original Amazon Echo in 2015. The product line has gone through several evolutions and expansions since then, but for many customers, the Echo Dot has been a key entry point into the ecosystem thanks to a budget-friendly price and support for the full range of Amazon’s services. Now in its fourth generation, it adopts the new look of the larger Echo while retaining all of the qualities that made the original Dot popular.
SanDisk's high storage microSD cards are up to 50% off for Prime Day
Now you can expand your storage for even less
There are two things we seem to always run short on with modern gadgets: battery life and storage. If you happen to need some extra juice to keep everything running longer, check out some of the other Prime Day deals for batteries. But if you’re always running out of space, maybe it’s time to pick up some memory cards for your camera, drone, or smartphone. SanDisk has some great deals on microSD memory cards for Prime Day with discounts up to 50% off.
The Sennheiser CX Plus Special Edition earbuds are a bargain at $100 during Prime Day
Audiophile-tier earbuds for nearly half off
There’s no shortage of excellent true wireless earbuds on the market. However, very few of them aim to appease the sensibilities of the audiophile crowd, and fewer still have a price tag that could be called affordable. The Sennheiser’s CX Plus True Wireless Special Edition is one of the few that strikes a balance between high-quality neutral audio while also staying well below the $200 mark. They already ranked as one of the best wireless earbuds of 2022 with their original $180 retail price, but you can get them for just $100 during Prime Day.
OnePlus Nord Buds review: A better value than OnePlus phones
These deserve to sell for more than the $39 price tag
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OnePlus has proven it's a force to be reckoned with in wireless earbuds. It offers capable audio products from the budget-friendly Buds Z through to the high-end Buds Pro. The company recently launched its first set of earbuds under the even more budget-oriented Nord brand, previously known only for phones. Like the Nord phones, these earbuds offer more value than the rest of OP's lineup, but there are some compromises. No surprise with the very approachable $39 price tag, but these buds strike a great balance between quality and cost.