News and Updates from Gadget Hacks: Page 2

The Trump Mobile T1 is shipping. That is the least interesting thing about it. After eleven months of missed deadlines and three separate redesigns, according to Times of India, what customers are receiving is a $499 gold-colored Android phone that experts say closely resembles a Chinese-manufactured mid-range handset T-Mobile originally sold for $249, per Salon. Eric Trump announced the T1 last June, promising it would "change" mobile calling, Salon reported. That phone, domestically built and...

Code found in Apple's backend suggests the iOS 27 Apple Wallet Create a Pass feature would let users scan physical cards and tickets to generate digital passes, bypassing the usual requirement for businesses to build native Wallet support. 9to5Mac and MacRumors first reported the backend-code findings on April 16, 2026, after developer Nicolás Alvarez discovered the functions; later reporting in early May added the more specific "Create a Pass" framing.

More than 3 billion people in over 180 countries use WhatsApp, according to Meta in September 2025. That scale makes it the default messaging app for much of the world. It also makes it worth understanding not just what WhatsApp is and how to use it, but what "encrypted" actually means for your privacy and where that protection stops.

The HONOR Power2 went on sale in China on January 9, 2026, making it HONOR's latest major entry in the 10,000mAh phone category after the HONOR WIN series, as reported by Gadgets 360. It starts at 2,699 yuan, or about $386, and no global release has been announced.

A camera app built by Los Angeles wildlife creator Derrick Downey Jr. hit No. 1 on Apple's top paid apps chart within 12 hours of release, The Verge reported. The DualShot Recorder iPhone app records portrait and landscape video simultaneously in a single take, producing two synced files that save directly to the Photos library. No export step. No account.

Apple filed a certiorari petition with the Supreme Court today, asking the justices to take up two questions arising from the company's contempt finding in its long-running legal fight with Epic Games. The petition, confirmed by 9to5Mac, marks Apple's third attempt to get the Court involved in this dispute. For the developers caught in the middle, the outcome determines whether App Store payment competition is real or cosmetic.

Motorola's 2026 Razr lineup goes on sale today, and US carriers are competing on who can make the sticker prices disappear fastest. Motorola Razr carrier deals hitting stores this week follow a familiar structure: headline "free phone" offers built on 36-month financing agreements that require a premium plan to deliver the credit. Before accepting any of them, the plan math is worth running.

Buried among the AI announcements at the Android Show 2026 was a feature that does not sound like an AI demo at all. The Android 17 Pause Point feature is ten seconds long and contains no adaptive algorithm. It's the most behaviorally intelligent anti-doomscrolling intervention Google has shipped, not because it's powerful, but because it's aimed at the right moment.

Tipster Debayan Roy has ruled out a June or July launch for the CMF Phone 3 Pro, pushing the expected window to August or September. GSMArena reported the tip yesterday; Gadgets360 followed today. That puts the CMF Phone 3 Pro launch date roughly three to four months later than the April cadence CMF set when the Phone 2 Pro debuted last year.

Spotify and Universal Music Group announced a licensing deal today that clears both master recording and publishing rights for AI-generated music, allowing the company to launch a tool letting Premium subscribers create covers and remixes of songs from participating UMG artists. The tool will cost extra on top of a standard Premium subscription. No price and no launch date have been set, according to The Verge, Billboard, and Music Ally.

If you searched "Motorola Razr Fold charging speed" and got contradictory answers, the naming is why. "Razr Fold" isn't an official product name it's shorthand for Motorola's clamshell foldable lineup, which currently spans three distinct devices with three very different charging systems. The Motorola Razr Fold wired charging wattage ranges from 30W on the base model to 68W on the Ultra, and that spread has real consequences: in lab-tested conditions, it's the difference between a 43-minute...

The 2026 Motorola Razr lineup is in pre-order now, and carriers are once again marketing clamshell foldables as free. Every free Motorola Razr 2026 offer works the same way: bill credits spread over 24 to 36 months that only pay out in full if you stay on the required plan for the entire term. The 2026 device pricing is confirmed, but carrier-specific promotions for the new lineup have not yet been publicly documented at the same level of detail as the 2025 launch terms. The analysis here draws...

A concentrated wave of first-gen Chromecast failures has surfaced this week, with users reporting that major streaming apps have stopped recognizing the 2013 dongle as a cast target. The breakage is app-specific: some services still work, others have quietly dropped the device from their cast menus entirely. Google, which ended software support for the original Chromecast in 2023, has not commented on the current failures, 9to5Google reported this week.

Apple's satellite feature started as a lifeline for people genuinely stranded, no signal, no road, no one nearby. Three years on, it lives inside the standard Messages app and lets you text a friend from a trailhead. The iPhone 18 Pro, if current rumors hold, could push iPhone 18 Pro satellite messaging further still: toward a connectivity layer that operates in the background rather than a special mode you consciously invoke when things go sideways.

Pixel Watch cyclists are reporting completed bike workouts that vanish before they ever appear in Fitbit. The evidence for a cycling-specific Pixel Watch cycling workout not saving bug is thin but what is well-documented is a broader Fitbit data reliability failure that has been corrupting health metrics across the Pixel Watch lineup since mid-March 2026. Cycling may be its newest casualty.

If you're seeing unusual Audible background data usage on Android, the first thing to do is confirm the app is actually the source before changing any settings. This guide walks through how to check whether the Audible mobile data bug is affecting your device, how to limit the damage with the least disruption to features you actually use, and what to send support if you need to escalate.

Some Pixel owners are reporting My Pixel app missing tabs today, with the entire bottom navigation bar gone and no way to reach Support or the Google Store within the app. At least one affected user saw a pop-up just before the tabs vanished: "Support and Google Store features are not available in your region. You can manage your orders and repairs on the Google Store website." They dismissed it, and the navigation bar disappeared, Android Authority reported today.

Google shipped three things at I/O 2026 this week that belong in the same sentence: Gemini 3.5 Flash, Google Antigravity 2.0, and Managed Agents in the Gemini API. Taken together, they represent Google's clearest public statement yet about how it plans to make Gemini the default layer underneath products it didn't build itself. The home is where that bet eventually lands.

Apple's AirPods hearing health suite reached the Philippines in March 2026, the latest addition to a rollout that now spans more than 100 countries and regions, according to Apple's Philippine newsroom. The suite covers three distinct capabilities: a Hearing Test, a Hearing Aid mode for mild to moderate loss, and Loud Sound Reduction. All three run on AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods Pro 3.

The strongest evidence available points to Apple developing a Samsung-supplied micro-curved OLED panel for its 20th-anniversary iPhone, targeting a bezel that effectively disappears from the user's line of sight rather than simply measuring smaller. Multiple leaker and supply-chain reports describe a 2027 iPhone quad-curved OLED display concept built around optical engineering, with the panel curving subtly on all four sides, MacRumors reported last month, citing leaker and supply-chain claims....

Three separate data trails now point to the same unreleased Samsung product: a clip-style open-ear earbud that, if the Samsung Galaxy Buds Able leak holds up, would be the company's first entry into a form factor where Bose, Sony, and Anker already have established products. It would also be a mechanical answer to a fit problem that has followed the current Buds lineup since launch.

The Motorola Razr 2026 costs $800. That's $100 more than last year's model, a jump that CNET called "hard to stomach" this week. The friction is real. Based on what reviewers have found, though, the Razr 2026 still makes the strongest case among sub-$1,000 flip phones for buyers who prioritize cover-screen flexibility and battery life over raw processing muscle. It concedes clear ground on chip performance and software longevity. Buyers who understand that trade-off going in will be satisfied;...

At MWC 2026 in Barcelona, Samsung Display was on the show floor with a phone that slides upward to reveal more screen. Back home, Samsung's product division was shipping a phone that unfolds twice. Both devices exist. Only one is for sale. That gap between what Samsung's display engineers can demonstrate and what its product team will actually commit to defines the current state of the Samsung rollable phone.

Google is marketing Gemini as "a next step toward a true generalist agent" a tool that orchestrates complex tasks across Gmail, Calendar, and connected apps on your behalf. Six months after that pitch, the Gemini multiple Google accounts problem remains unsolved. Gemini works within a single active account. That's it. Your work life and personal life stay invisible to each other, and Gemini acts as though the other half of your day simply doesn't exist.

Google announced this week that Gemini is now broadly available in Android Auto, covering more than 250 million compatible vehicles already on the road. That number is the headline. The more important detail is what it obscures: the version most drivers will get is meaningfully different from the one that enables genuinely new capabilities.

Adam Lisagor of Sandwich has released the Hovercraft Mac app, a virtual camera utility that keeps presenters visible on screen while they share content during video calls. The app composites the presenter's webcam feed and a floating, movable window into a single outgoing video stream, so the audience never sees a screen takeover. 9to5Mac reported today that Hovercraft is available now, free to try, and priced from $19 for a single Mac.

Apple has confirmed that tvOS 27 larger text support is coming to Apple TV, giving users a native control to scale up on-screen text directly from the Settings app. The feature has been standard on iPhone, iPad, and Vision Pro for years. Apple TV is only now catching up, according to MacRumors today.

Apple Music introduced a mandatory AI disclosure system in early March, requiring labels and distributors to tag content whenever artificial intelligence played a "material portion" of its creation. The Apple Music AI-generated music policy covers four categories: sound recordings, artwork, lyrics and compositions, and music videos. Here is the tension at the center of it: Apple says the tags are required, but its own technical specification describes them as optional, defaults to assuming none...

Every May, Apple announces accessibility features coming later in the year. Usually these announcements stay in their lane. This one doesn't.

A code teardown of Android 17's QPR1 Beta 3 reveals something more interesting than a status dashboard: a four-step verification process that routes trust through an independent second device and a browser, ending with a side-by-side comparison the user resolves themselves. The Android 17 OS verification system is not yet functional end-to-end, but the UI strings extracted from the current beta are detailed enough to map the workflow, and the checks Android already has in place give the design...

The most useful thing to understand about the rumored MacBook Ultra isn't the OLED display or the touchscreen. It's what those features being somewhere else would mean for the MacBook Pro.

Airbnb released its 2026 summer update for iOS and Android today, adding three app-level features that shift what the platform can actually do: AI tools that surface what matters about a listing before you book, a collaborative itinerary builder designed to replace the group text thread, and a globally expanded support assistant that loads your trip details before the conversation starts. Airbnb is positioning the app as a broader trip-planning and support hub, not just a booking tool.

Personal video has always existed in a captions blind spot. Streaming platforms add subtitle tracks. Broadcasters add them. The footage that reliably doesn't have them is the clip your sibling texted from a wedding, the birthday video shot in a loud backyard, the voice memo your dad recorded in a moving car. That content is everywhere and almost never captioned.

Google's biggest Android Auto overhaul in years landed without much ceremony. Gemini is now widely available across more than 250 million compatible vehicles, bringing genuine back-and-forth conversation to replace the old rigid command syntax for eligible users, according to Google. The Android Auto Gemini update 2026 covers messages, navigation stops, email, music, and calendar tasks, all in natural language, hands-free. For most drivers, this is the practical story.

Nintendo announced Pictonico! on May 19, a mobile game for iOS and Android that pulls faces from your photo library and drops them into rapid-fire minigames. Nintendo lists Pictonico! for release on May 28, 2026, though the US App Store page currently shows an expected date of May 30, 2026. Pre-registration is open now on the App Store and Google Play. The catch is built into the name: the app is "free-to-start," which means some minigames are available as a free demo, while paid volumes unlock...

Google announced at Google I/O yesterday that Wear OS 7 will bring Live Updates to smartwatches, letting status information like package deliveries, navigation, and sports scores surface on your wrist automatically. The update also introduces Wear Widgets, Android 17 design carryover, Gemini developer APIs, and a claimed 10 percent battery life improvement, according to The Verge and Engadget, both reporting yesterday.

Apple's Eddy Cue will receive the Cannes Lions Entertainment Person of the Year 2026 award at the festival running June 22–26, Deadline and Variety reported today. The institution doing the honoring is not a Hollywood guild or a streaming trade body. Cannes Lions is the advertising and marketing world's biggest annual gathering, and Lions CEO Simon Cook pointed explicitly to Apple's influence on consumer behavior through its devices and platforms when explaining the decision, not just its...

UGREEN on Wednesday announced the Nexode and MagFlow Air Editions, a five-product lineup of pocket-sized chargers for Apple devices priced from $39.99. Two products are confirmed available now in the US: the Nexode Air 65W Charger and the MagFlow Air Magnetic Power Bank 10000mAh 15W, sold through the UGREEN Official Store and Amazon, according to the company's launch release.

Samsung launched what it says is the industry's first 6K gaming monitor today, and the Samsung Odyssey G8 G80HS is built around a single architectural bet: that the most useful gaming display is one that can change what it is. Flip Dual Mode and the monitor drops to 3K resolution and pushes its refresh rate to 330Hz, putting it in the same performance tier as dedicated esports panels. That switch is what separates the G80HS from a resolution showcase with no practical application.

Talks between Samsung Electronics management and its largest union collapsed Wednesday after marathon negotiations that drew South Korea's labor minister into the room for the first time. With no deal reached, an 18-day Samsung Electronics strike is now underway, the second in the company's history. Union chair Choi Seung-ho confirmed the walkout as he left the mediation session at the National Labor Relations Commission office in Sejong: "The union will proceed as planned and lawfully launch a...