Category: MOBILE

The new Moto G35 5G is the most affordable entry in this year’s Motorola G-series and it brings a competent specs sheet for just €199. We got to spend some time with the device following its announcement and these are our first impressions.

Motorola is turning a new page in its G-series design language with the G35 and the G55. Both devices offer a sleek looks with the camera island gently rising from the back. The textured back on the green color variant features vegan leather made with renewable materials including soy and bamboo. The black and red versions get a polycarbonate back with a sparkle-like finish that also provides plenty of grip.

Motorola went with a dual camera setup headlined by a 50 MP main shooter which is joined by an 8 MP ultrawide lens.

Moto G35 comes in three color options – Guava Red, Midnight Black, and Leaf Green which is the one we got to test out. The green color is our personal favorite. The vegan leather helps with the grip and is a nice option if you want to go case-less.

Moving to the front, we have a sizeable 6.72-inch LCD with FHD+ resolution and 120 Hz refresh rate. The panel is rated at up to 1,000 nits peak brightness and it features an embedded 16 MP front-facing camera.

Moto G35 relies on the Unisoc T760 chipset and now comes with 128GB base storage, unlike its predecessor which started with 64GB storage.

Moto G35 top and bottom

The phone boots Android 14 out of the box with Motorola’s Hello UI interface on top and features a 5,000 mAh battery with 18W charging. You also get a microSD card slot, 3.5mm headphone jack, and a USB-C port for charging and data transfer.

The Pixel 9 family launched a couple of weeks ago with Android 14 on board, and so you may have been wondering what Google’s plans are about releasing Android 15. According to a new rumor today, the company will only roll out Android 15 to its Pixels in October, perhaps around the middle of that month.

That is despite the fact that Google will allegedly release the source code for Android 15 next week. Traditionally, the day of the source code drop was also the day the rollout began for Pixels, but that’s been changing recently, with the Pixel team regularly withholding updates until they’re fully ready.

This gives it more time to finalize marketing for Pixel Drops, test changes, and iron out last-minute bugs. Last year, the Pixel release was delayed too compared to the initial timeline, and it seems like it’s going to happen again, for the same reason.

The same source claims that the Android 15 update for pixels is being withheld to improve its stability. Hopefully there’s enough time between now and mid-October to make that a reality.

Source

Apple is allegedly targeting September 10 as the date of its next hardware launch event, where the iPhone 16 family will make its grand debut alongside new watches and AirPods. The information comes from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, a usually very reliable source of Apple-related information.

If the event does in fact take place on September 10, then the new devices would go on sale on September 20. All of this comes from “people familiar with the situation”, as Apple hasn’t announced anything officially about its next event. The company also declined to comment on this report.

The iPhone 16 models will all get a new Capture Button (Sony says hi), and some camera improvements too, which were detailed in a leak yesterday. Of course there should be new chips too, as well as marginally larger screens. Naturally, the new devices will come with the Apple Intelligence features too.

The Apple Watch X or Apple Watch Series 10 will have larger screens while being thinner, and the vanilla AirPods will come in two models, one of them with noise cancelation for the first time in the non-Pro series.

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WhatsApp has been working on adding support for usernames for a while now, and while that feature still hasn’t been released to the public, the service has now added an interesting twist.

In the latest beta version of WhatsApp for Android (2.24.18.2), you can set a username PIN so that people who you haven’t interacted with before won’t just be able to message you if they know your username.

This sounds like an incredibly useful feature that should cut down on spam (which is a prevailing issue on WhatsApp these days). With the PIN, if someone you haven’t interacted with before on WhatsApp wants to message you, they won’t just need to know your username, but also your PIN (which will need to be at least four digits).

On the other hand, conversations with people you’re already in touch with will just go on as if nothing changed, even once the usernames are implemented for everyone.

Unfortunately, it’s unclear when the username feature or the PIN support will make it out of beta, but judging by WhatsApp’s usual development time, we’d be surprised to see these go live before the end of the year.

Source

By far the biggest launch this week was the arrival of the Google Pixel 9 series. The search giant unveiled two new flagships, a new near-flagship phone and a new foldable, all of which are currently on pre-order.

Starting with the Google Pixel 9, this takes over from the Pixel 8 – an FHD+ non-LTPO display and no telephoto camera keep it from earning a “pro” moniker. However, this phone does feature the powerful new Tensor G4 chipset and a 48MP ultra wide camera. Both the wide and ultra wide cameras are the same as on the 9 Pro and 9 Pro XL.

Google has trade-in deals. Note that from what we’ve seen, the storage doesn’t matter (i.e. a Pixel 8 128GB and 256GB trade in for the same price). A Pixel 8 in good condition is valued at $490, a Pixel 7 at $360. An iPhone 15 is worth $480, an iPhone 14 at $440. The values of Samsung phones aren’t great, a Galaxy S23 goes for $320, even the S24 (which isn’t even a year old) is $400.

Something you may have noticed – there are no free storage upgrades. Instead, Google, Amazon and Best Buy are each offering store credit or a gift card and they are all the same value, e.g. the Pixel 9 comes with $100 credit/gift card.

The Google Pixel 9 Pro is exactly the same size as the Pixel 9, but it is a true Pro phone with a higher resolution LTPO display (1,280 x 2,856px) and a 5x 48MP telephoto camera. The Pros get an additional upgrade – a 42MP selfie camera with an ultra wide lens.

The Pixel 9 Pro is not quite the petite flagship that some might have hoped for – it’s larger and heavier than the Galaxy S24 and the iPhone 15 Pro. It’s a bit larger than the Pixel 8 too. Still, you’re not getting a 5x tele camera on the Samsung or Apple phones (just 3x and with a lower resolution sensor), no high resolution ultra wide or selfie cameras either. And it’s not like Samsung and Apple do fast charging, so Google doesn’t look bad in comparison. There are trade-in offers with the values mentioned above.

The Google Pixel 9 Pro XL is the follow-up to the 8 Pro (Google changed up its naming scheme, which makes things confusing). This is a larger version of the 9 Pro with a 6.8” display (vs. 6.3”) and a larger 5,060mAh battery (vs. 4,700mAh). One additional difference here is that the wired charging goes up to 37W (vs. 27W), which gets the battery to 70% in 30 minutes. It’s no VOOC charging, but we’ll take it.

Note that all Google Pixel 9 phones will be supported for 7 years.

The Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold is a major improvement over Google’s first attempt at a foldable. It closes down to just 10.5mm, compared to 12.1mm on the Galaxy Z Fold6 and 11.7mm for the OnePlus Open. It’s heavier than both, however, at 257g.

The OnePlus phone has an excuse – it’s a 2023 model. The Galaxy Z Fold6 is brand-spanking new, though, and we think that Google overtook Samsung in the foldable development race.

Anyway, note that while the Pixel 9 Pro Fold uses all new internal and cover displays, it has more or less the same camera hardware as the original Pixel Fold. However, the original Fold launched with the old Tensor G2, so the new model with a G4 is significantly more powerful and more efficient too.

Google launched a new 45W charger, which you will need to get the maximum charge speed with the Pixel 9 Pro – the old 35W charger won’t cut it. That said, if you have a USB-PD charger you are happy with, you can skip this one.

The new Google Pixel Watch 3 comes in two sizes, 41mm and 45mm, while the Watch 2 was available only in 41mm size. The 45mm option gets you a larger 1.4” display (vs. 1.2”) and a larger 420mAh battery. We’ve linked the Wi-Fi watches below, but you can get an LTE version for $100 more. If you do go for the 4G version, Google will give you 2 years of free data on Google Fi. Note that while texting is supported, calling from the watch is not (at least not with this free plan).

Finally, Google unveiled the new Pixel Buds Pro 2. This is the first time its custom Tensor chips venture into the TWS buds form factor, but promise massive improvements to noise cancellation (2x in the 400Hz-2kHz range). And the ANC adapts to your environment automatically. The buds have no stems (cough, Samsung, cough) and promise long battery life (8 hours for the buds with ANC on, up to 30 hours with the case).

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Google wrapped up its Pixel 9 series event and arguably the most impressive member of that is the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold – didn’t expect that, did you?

This is only Google’s second attempt at a Pixel foldable, but it’s already overtaking Samsung’s seasoned Fold, which is now in its sixth generation, in a number of key characteristics.

The Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold vs the Galaxy Z Fold6

In fact we can make a strong case that the Pixel 9 Pro Fold has overall superior hardware than the Galaxy Z Fold6, showing that the Korean company is perhaps getting a bit complacent due to the lack of global competition. Well, here’s some stellar competition that coming to seventeen countries around the world.

Better aspect ratios

The main issue users have had with Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold series is the aspect ratios of the displays – in particular, the cover screen. Samsung improves on that a bit lately, but the bottom line is that the Galaxy Z Fold6’s cover screen is too narrow compared to any modern bar smartphones.

In contrast, Google’s Pixel 9 Pro Fold has a 6.3-inch cover display with a standard 20:9 aspect ratio. As a bonus, it’s also a 1080p panel, whereas the Z Fold6’s is a few pixels short at 968p.

Image is not up to scale

The folding display on the Pixel 9 Pro Fold is bigger (207.4 cm2 vs 185.2 cm2), has higher resolution, and a close to 1:1 ratio, which is more convenient for multitasking. And multitasking is what book-style foldables are usually bought to do.

Thinner, if heavier

Google slimmed down the Pixel 9 Pro Fold to an impressive level. It’s only 10.5mm folded, very close to a normal phone, and substantially thinner than both the Galaxy Z Fold6 (12.1mm) and the OnePlus Open (11.7mm). Unfolded the Pixel is just 5.1mm – barely thicker than its USB-C port.

The thin Pixel 9 Pro Fold

To its credit, the Galaxy Z Fold6 is much lighter – 18 grams to be exact – which isn’t insignificant. Then again, a book-style foldable is the type of device you expect a bit of heft, while slimness is what you generally feel more in day-to-day use.

Google made the Pixel 9 Pro Fold water-resistant too, though you wouldn’t go swimming with either phone.

More RAM and better cameras

The Galaxy Z Fold6 uses a 4nm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, which likely has the upper hand in performance over the new Tensor G4. The clock speeds on the two chipsets’ processors indicate as much, though we’ll know for sure when we complete a full review on the new Tensor.

However, the Pixel 9 Pro fold ships with 16 GB of RAM, which is a step up from the Galaxy Z Fold6’s 12 GB. More RAM means more apps can work in the background and a general bump in responsiveness.

Foldables make it hard to fit the highest-end camera hardware as these premiere folding phones can attest. Still, on paper at least, the Pixel foldable has an edge here as well. The main camera on the Galaxy Z Fold6 has a bigger sensor and a slightly wider lens. But the Pixel 9 Pro Fold has a nearly twice as reaching zoom camera (112mm vs 66mm), and autofocus on its ultrawide angle camera.

Bigger battery, but is battery life better?

The Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold packs a slightly bigger (~6%) 4,650mAh battery, although charging speeds are rather disappointing on both of these. And actual battery endurance is yet to be tested so this one is more a maybe than a certain advantage.

Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold6 is still the mainstream choice

The fact that the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold is an overall better hardware package likely won’t cause the Galaxy Z Fold6 to lose much sleep on its own. The Galaxy Z Fold6 will outsell the Pixel 9 Pro Fold by a country mile and it’s not only because it’s more widely available. Samsung’s foldable has more polished multitasking and supports the S Pen. It also has a degree of dust protection. And, you’re likely to find a better deal on the Galaxy Z Fold6 if you shop outside of Samsung’s own website.

However, it’s rather damning that a company hardly known for its cutting edge hardware has overtaken a company that rose to the number one maker globally on the back of its impressive hardware. Sure, Samsung has been focusing more and more on the software side and building an ecosystem and that’s commendable, but it mustn’t forget what made it the dominant force in the smartphone market. Much less in a niche that’s still relatively new and where there’s clearly a lot of headroom.

Because between Google’s latest Fold and the long-awaited release of foldables from Chinese companies with their even more impressive hardware it risks being squeezed from a niche it worked so hard to create.

Introduction and unboxing

The Samsung Galaxy Buds have always been the safe choice for Android users – they’re well made, they sound better than most other buds, and they’re fully featured.

It’s safe to say that none of this has changed although the buds themselves look dramatically different in their sixth generation. This is the first time that Samsung’s earbuds have a stem design and it’s made them better, even if it lost a lot of character and brought them close to the Apple AirPods Pro.

The Galaxy Buds3 Pro cost $250 / £220 / €250 and ship in Silver and White. Inside the box, you’ll find a USB-C cable and S, M, and L silicone ear tips.

Let’s dive into Samsung’s biggest update to the Galaxy Buds yet.

Design and features

Superficial observers will insist that the Samsung Galaxy Buds3 Pro is a blatant Apple AirPods Pro 2 copy from the form of the buds to the shape of the case. We don’t necessarily agree with that, the Galaxy Buds have a different shape and look different, especially if you buy the Silver model.

Apple similarities aside, the Galaxy Buds3 Pro has a completely different design from its predecessor. What used to be bulbous and stemless buds are now more slender buds with long flat-sided stems.

The case has a transparent top and tiny blue or cyan and orange color accents to show you where the matching-accented bud belongs. The buds nestle inside the case in the opposite way of the AirPods Pro 2 – facing outward, whereas the Apple Pro buds sit in the same way you would wear them in your ears.

The direction you place the buds in the case is generally something you get used to after a while, the issue with the Galaxy Buds3 Pro’s way of returning to charge has to do with the flat-sided stems. You need to align the stem correctly with the angled tunnel in the case and that is an uncomfortable finger gymnastic that doesn’t get easier with time. Put simply – these buds are hard to put back into the case each and every time.

On a positive note, the new angular stems on the Galaxy Buds3 Pro open up a world of possibilities for control that didn’t exist on previous models in the series.

Similar to how the AirPods Pro and the Nothing Ear work, you squeeze the stem to control playback. But here, you can also slide your finger up and down for precise volume control. The flat side of the Galaxy Buds3 Pro stem makes this possible in a way that isn’t on those other buds.

A word on the reported quality issues that forced Samsung to temporarily halt Galaxy Buds3 Pro sales. It has to do with changing the ear tips, which attach to the buds via a plastic cradle, which some users reported breaking on their units. Our Galaxy Buds3 Pro don’t seem to have this issue. We removed the tips multiple times to make sure, without hassle.

The buds themselves

The stems on the Galaxy Buds3 Pro feature a Blade Light that illuminates when you put the buds back in the case. You can set the lights to be on all the time with a long squeeze on the stem. It’s a different design, but we can’t say that it adds anything to the experience.

The case has a USB-C port and supports wireless charging. There’s a small LED in the center of the case to give you battery and charging indication, and there’s a button on the bottom for pairing.

We find this case design to be more comfortable to use. The smaller lid is easier to close gently than the big flap of the previous Galaxy Buds case.

The buds themselves are rated IP57 for moderate dust and solid water protection.

The in-ear feel of the buds is something strictly indvidual. This editor found them just a bit too loose, regardless of the tips.

They were fine for most activities, but eating lunch and watching a movie resulted in a few drops. Pushing the buds further into the ear helped, though it made the fit slightly less comfortable.

The stem controls are excellent on the Galaxy Buds3 Pro. Tapping the previous models was a tedious experience. And they would constantly think I was tapping them when I wanted to readjust them.

The stems on the latest model makes this a thing of the past. Squeezing once to pause, twice for the next track, and three times to repeat the current one worked without a hitch.

Having buds like the Nothing Ear and the Galaxy Buds3 Pro with their excellent controls, it’s hard to go back to the stemless models.

The stems are also handy for taking out the buds or adjusting them in-ear. Taking the buds out pauses whatever you’re playing.

Sound quality, active noise cancellation, and battery life

The Galaxy Buds3 Pro comes with adaptive noise control – a smarter ANC than before. The buds will monitor for noise to eliminate but can detect your voice and will switch ANC off if you enter a conversation. The buds will also leverage AI to detect an alarm or siren and will stop ANC so you can hear the warning.

You can adjust the strength of the noise cancellation in the Galaxy Wear app. At the maximum strength, the noise reduction is pretty solid. We’ve tested these buds against the typical office environment, as well as outside and during a three-hour flight.

The Galaxy Buds3 Pro does a fine job of eliminating constant noise from a jet engine but will naturally struggle with the frequencies of human voices or random noises.

Keeping a snug fit helps ANC a lot.

Before we talk about the sound quality, a word on the underlying technology. The Galaxy Buds3 Pro uses a 2-way driver with an independent woofer and tweeter in each bud. On the software side, the Galaxy Buds3 Pro encodes audio at up to 24-bit/96kHz and then decodes the sound at the same quality using what Samsung calls its Seamless Codec.

The Galaxy Buds3 Pro may very well be the best earbuds for calls. The six mics provide excellent quality without the “speakerphone feel” you get with most buds of this sort. All callers were surprised when we told them we were using buds.

If you’re using these buds with a Galaxy phone, you can also enjoy 360 Audio (spatial audio), which simulates a multi-speaker system in a physical room. You can also use the Galaxy Buds3 Pro with Galaxy AI’s Interpreter mode. There’s also a sort of multi-point connection mode, but it seemingly only works with other Galaxy devices.

Finally, you can control the buds with your voice with commands like Volume Up, Play Music, Previous Song, Answer or Reject the call. But this too only works with Galaxy phones.

The Galaxy Buds3 Pro sounds impressive. There’s a noticeable increase in volume and an uptick in overall soundstage and dynamics compared to the Galaxy Buds2 Pro.

Bass is present from the sub-bass frequencies and grows throughout the range. Set these to the Bass Boost equalizer setting and you’ll get a lovely rumble throughout the range.

But it’s the midrange where the Galaxy Buds3 Pro shines. The instruments and melody are nicely defined. Vocals also come out natural and there’s just the right amount of presence and brilliance in the higher frequencies.

One issue with the Galaxy Buds3 Pro is the equalizer. The custom equalizer is quieter than the preset ones – even if you make them identical. For instance, if you duplicate Bass Boost as a Custom EQ setting and toggle between them, your custom one is around 10% quieter.

We expect this to be a software issue that will be fixed with an update.

Conclusion

The Galaxy Buds3 Pro are another excellent showing from Samsung and a fine, if controversial entry into a solid lineup of earbuds.

The AirPods Pro comparisons and the unfortunate quality issues that have already been resolved mean they stumbled out of the gate, but they remain a strong upgrade to the very good Galaxy Buds2 Pro. The Galaxy Buds3 Pro introduce a radical new design, which adds multiple levels of functionality and comfort.

Beyond the design changes, the Galaxy Buds3 Pro makes subtle but meaningful updates to the sound quality, resulting in a better sounding product. We’ll even say the Galaxy Buds3 Pro sounds better than its mainstream rivals like the Apple AirPods 2 Pro and Nothing Ear with stronger bass and a more dynamic soundstage.

The Galaxy Buds3 Pro cost $250 / £220 / €250 which is on the expensive end, but it is a bit cheaper than Apple’s AirPods Pro 2.

If you’re a Galaxy owner, these are probably the best earbuds you can buy for your phone with the added features making the purchase worthwhile. Other Android users can look elsewhere for a similar sound and set of features for less – the new and cheaper Nothing Ear is worth a look.

Depending on how old you are, you may remember a time not so very long ago when “AI” meant what is today being referred to as “AGI”. In the meantime, there’s been a wild rebranding and here we are, living in a world where “AI” is large language models. But “AI” is also Apple Intelligence, because the Cupertino company couldn’t help hijack the acronym for its own use.

And Apple Intelligence has been all the rage ever since its announcement in June. Sure, it’s delayed and the first bits and pieces are now only expected to arrive in October, a month after the initially planned release. But the question on a lot of analysts’ minds seems to be how much it will cost since it apparently can’t remain free forever.

So, they’ve started speculating. Wildly. And apparently a consensus of speculation has been reached, and it points to $20 per month, or maybe less as part of the Apple One bundle of services.

This is not a leak, keep in mind. It’s not even a rumor. The source linked below is just reporting on what random analysts believe Apple could charge for “AI”. That’s it.

Of course, while these speculations are pulled entirely out of thin air, no one would be surprised in the slightest if Apple did decide on $20 per month, or even more. After all, it has its bottom line to think about, and a premium reputation to uphold, and that doesn’t come with low prices for anything.

Source

Last month we found out that Samsung is working on the Galaxy M55s, since it then got certified by the Wi-Fi Alliance. And now, the device has received yet another certification on its path to availability.

It’s passed through the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), which means it will (rather unsurprisingly) be sold in India as well, among other places.

Through a Geekbench run of an M55s prototype we found out that the handset will be powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 SoC, and there will be a version with 8GB of RAM (more could also be offered, of course).

The phone will run Android 14 out of the box, with One UI 6.1 on top. It will support 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz Wi-Fi. These are all the details we know so far, but it seems pretty clear that the M55s is going to become official in the next few weeks.

Via

Motorola’s Edge 50 Neo is expected to launch soon and Evan Blass (@evleaks) shared detailed renders of the device giving us our best look at its four official colors – Grisaille (black), Nautical Blue, Poinciana (red) and Latte (beige).

We can see Edge 50 Neo will offer three cameras on its back which are positioned in the same way as the recently launched Moto Edge 50.

Motorola Edge 50 Neo colors

The markings on the camera island show the same 13-73mm focal range and OIS presumably for the main cam. If these details are any indication, then the Edge 50 Neo should offer a 50MP main cam, 10MP telephoto (3x optical zoom) and a 13MP ultrawide

Edge 50 Neo will join the rest of the Moto Edge 50 series which already includes the Edge 50 Fusion, 50 Pro and 50 Ultra. Moto Edge 50 Neo is expected to launch in 8GB/256GB and 12GB/512GB trims.

Source (Evan Blass – X.com)