News and Updates from Gadget Hacks: Page 2

Creating a password-protected ZIP on Android starts with choosing a file manager that supports encrypted archives. Files by Google can create ordinary ZIP files, but its documented compression workflow doesn't include a password option. That's a limitation of Files by Google, not Android as a whole.

Apple's current support page lists up to 25W MagSafe charging for iPhone 16 Plus and iPhone 16 Pro Max, while iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro are rated for up to 22.5W. An independent Techtest report also found faster charging with a third-party Qi2.2 pad after updating an iPhone 16 Pro Max to iOS 26.

Motorola has started rolling out stable Android 17 to the Razr Ultra 2025, but only a narrow group of owners has confirmed receiving it so far. The update has been reported on an unlocked unit in the United States, according to Android Authority and TuttoAndroid.

Samsung Community goes offline on Oct. 30 for about 72 hours, and the platform migration behind the shutdown could leave users without direct messages, drafts, bookmarks, or subscriptions they haven't backed up, according to Samsung's official notice.

Before installing anything billed as the latest AMD chipset drivers for Windows 11, check two things first: the exact chipset on your motherboard and the version already installed. AMD currently lists chipset driver revision 8.09.28.1124, released Oct. 21, 2026, as its Windows 11 64-bit package for both the X870 and WRX80 platforms.

OpenAI is testing a ChatGPT Google Messages integration that lets its autonomous Dots agents text users directly, instead of keeping conversations locked inside the ChatGPT app, Slack, or Microsoft Teams. ChatGPT said on Wednesday that the feature is "rolling out now as a preview for Pro users in the US." Android users reach a Dot through RCS in Google Messages, while iPhone users reach it through iMessage.

Searching for an Apple Creator Studio update preorder page won't get you anywhere, because Apple isn't running one.

A Gartic Phone Halloween party game only works if the host plans around one detail: most guests will be drawing monsters with their thumbs on a six-inch screen, not a tablet or laptop. Gartic Phone works in iOS Safari and Android Chrome with touchscreen drawing built in, but a guide covering the game's mechanics says detailed drawing is harder on a phone than on a larger screen.

Yes, a laser pointer can damage a phone camera sensor, but the outcome isn't a single fixed result. Research on camera sensors shows effects ranging from temporary overexposure that clears on its own to permanent dead pixels or a sensor that stops producing usable images altogether. None of the studies cited here support the blanket claim that any laser pointer aimed at any phone will wreck the camera. The risk depends on the laser's power, wavelength, exposure duration, and how much energy...

OnePlus confirmed the Ace 7 and Ace 7 Pro in China today, two sub-flagship phones built around a 9,000mAh battery, a 185Hz gaming display, and a built-in cooling fan, according to Android Authority. Those numbers are the closest thing to a OnePlus 16R specs preview available right now, even though OnePlus has not named, priced, or scheduled a 16R in any market, per the same report.

At $899, Apple's M6 Mac mini looks like a bargain beside the new $1,499 iMac. That's $600 saved before you've even turned either computer on. But there's a catch: the Mac mini doesn't come with a screen, keyboard, or mouse, and buying those separately can eat into the savings.

The Delta 2.0 update launched Oct. 22, giving the retro-game emulator a dual-screen layout built specifically for Nintendo DS games on Apple's new iPhone Duo and adding Sega Genesis and Mega Drive emulation for every user. It's the first new system Delta has supported since its 2024 App Store debut, according to iThinkDiff. The release went live on the App Store and AltStore PAL in time for the Duo's Oct. 23 retail launch.

The Pixel 11 Pro HiLight notification feature just picked up its most requested upgrade: message alerts. Owners running Android 17 QPR2 Beta 6.1 on the Pixel 11 Pro, Pro XL, or Pro Fold can now flip on a toggle that makes the camera-ring LED blink for texts from favorite contacts, confirmed working with Google Messages according to 9to5Google. That's a real expansion for a feature Android Police called a "dud" at launch over its narrow scope, per Android Police.

Google quietly confirmed that receipt scanning is coming to Google Wallet in the changelog for Google Play Services v26.40, dated Oct. 12, 2026. The entry says users can now scan to add receipts, a change that could make it easier to save purchase records without entering their details manually.

A leaker claims OPPO is testing its unannounced Find X10 Ultra with MediaTek's Dimensity 9600 Pro, then says a Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 version is now more likely (Android Central, today). The OPPO Find X10 Ultra MediaTek Dimensity 9600 Pro rumor is still just that: a leak, not a product announcement. OPPO hasn't confirmed the phone exists at all, so there's no official chipset, camera hardware, price, or release date to weigh against anything.

Ask Play, Google Play's AI-powered search feature, can now generate side-by-side comparisons between apps alongside its existing conversational recommendations.

A claim of a Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold $250 off Amazon discount is not verifiable from the reporting reviewed for this article. No live listing, seller name, SKU, or timestamp backing that price cut turned up anywhere in that reporting. That gap doesn't prove the deal is fake, it just means there's nothing yet to check the claim against.

Google calls the $179.99 Fitbit Edge its "smartest fitness tracker ever" (Google, two weeks ago). But according to Android Authority's reporting, which draws on direct correspondence with Google, anyone chasing the fullest set of AI health features should skip the Edge and "buy a Pixel Watch 5 and a Pixel phone" instead. That's the core tension behind any Fitbit Edge vs Google Pixel Watch comparison right now: two products from the same company, running the same health platform, with...

YouTube is testing a new channel cleanup policy that lets creators facing termination for certain spam violations wipe their entire video library instead of losing the channel outright. A channel that takes this route can retain its subscribers, handle, and monetization status while showing zero videos, so an account sitting in your subscriptions feed could go completely blank without actually being banned (Android Authority; Dexerto).

Google confirms that blood-pressure and insulin-resistance trend tracking are included free with Pixel Watch 3, 4, and 5, while the same two tools require a Google Health Premium subscription on Fitbit Air and the newly released Fitbit Edge.

Type "Zelda" or "Ocarina of Time" into Google right now, and a tiny Master Sword appears hovering at the edge of the results page. Tap it, and a Triforce flashes across the tab before the retro results page appears, styled to resemble Google's look from 1998. That's the Google Ocarina of Time Easter egg, and it's timed precisely to land the same week as Nintendo's remake of the game.

Install a system update, and within the hour the phone feels different: apps stutter, the case warms up, and the battery percentage drops faster than it did yesterday. That's the opposite of what an "update" is supposed to deliver, and it happens on iPhone and Android alike (Engadget reports).

Disney's October 2025 price increase reshaped the math on its streaming bundles. The Disney+ Hulu bundle price hike raised the ad-supported bundle to $12.99 a month while leaving the $19.99 ad-free Premium bundle unchanged.

Microsoft says Windows 11 is now "up to 20% more responsive," with measured improvements across Search, Start, right-click, Settings, Snipping Tool, and File Explorer. The company also says its broader performance work extends from boot and logon through Microsoft 365 and Edge, according to an Oct. 15 Windows Experience Blog post. Microsoft singles out PCs with 8GB of RAM as seeing an "especially meaningful difference" from new memory-management work.

Full Android Auto work profile support doesn't exist yet, and this new discovery doesn't change that. It does suggest Google is quietly building toward it.

Microsoft is reshaping Copilot Notebooks from a source-grounded question-and-answer tool into something that can act on notebook content: delegating tasks, running recurring automations, and editing Office files directly inside a notebook, according to Neowin.

Microsoft has resolved a known issue that caused black screens, desktop loading failures, and Explorer crashes right after sign-in on some Windows 11 systems.

Nvidia RTX Spark Windows laptops became available from OEM partners on Oct. 16, 2026, after preorders opened ahead of launch. Nvidia and Microsoft are marketing this hardware heavily around local AI agents and large language models that run without a cloud connection. That pitch is only part of the story.

ITavisen reports that Google's own support documentation confirms phone number verification is enabled by default on Android, automatically verifying a number and adding it to every Google account signed in on that device. That covers current and future accounts and phone numbers, not just the one account used to set up the phone in the first place.

The documented discount on a Roku Pro Series OLED TV sale belongs to the standard 120Hz model, not the faster 144Hz Pro Series LX OLED. During a past sale event, Amazon had the 55-inch Pro Series OLED at $699.99 and the 65-inch at $799.99, well under the set's $999.99 and $1,199.99 list prices (Tom's Guide, two weeks ago). The standard model is confirmed available nationwide on Amazon right now; the pricier LX was only announced for an October 2026 launch, and no sale price has been documented...

Apple has closed so much of the feature gap between its standard and Pro earbuds that the AirPods 5 vs AirPods Pro 3 decision isn't really a spec-sheet question anymore. It comes down largely to whether an open-ear bud resting against your ear beats a sealed tip sitting inside your ear canal.

Apple's first foldable iPhone goes on sale this Friday, Oct. 23, after preorders opened Oct. 16. The iPhone Duo starts at $1,999, and Apple says the device has an IP68 dust-and-water rating and a stiffer polymer cover layer to protect the folding display.

Samsung's internal testing reportedly found the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 overheating and throttling in Galaxy S27 Ultra prototypes, fueling talk of a switch to Samsung's Exynos 2700 chip.

Microsoft says Windows 11 is now "up to 20% more responsive," with gains the company describes as noticeable from the moment a PC boots and extending through Start, File Explorer, Search, Snipping Tool, Microsoft 365, and Edge, according to the Windows Experience Blog.

Google started rolling out the Pixel VIPs widget redesign last month, and if you already use the Contacts app widget daily, it's worth checking for the update now.

Apple posted iOS 27.2 release candidate build 24B115 to its Developer releases page on Monday. An RC follows several rounds of beta testing, and 9to5Mac reports Apple is now putting the final touches on the update. If testing doesn't turn up anything that requires another build, this exact build could become the version everyone gets once iOS 27.2 goes public, though the available Apple release listing doesn't give an exact public-release date.

Google began rolling out Gemini Personal Intelligence on Android Auto on October 20, letting the assistant use information from connected Google services, including Gmail and Photos, to personalize responses and assist with tasks such as navigation. The feature is rolling out to eligible personal Google accounts, though Google has built in enough restrictions on region and account type that not everyone with Android Auto will see it right away.

More than 2,700 Android Authority readers answered a blunt question this week: handed $2,000 of their own money, would they spend it on Apple's iPhone Duo or Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 8?

Amazon introduced two new Bee AI devices on October 15, 2026: the $74.99 Bee Frontier wearable, available now, and the $99.99 Bee Eclipse magnetic phone attachment, which Amazon says will arrive soon with no confirmed release date.

Apple added the 2017 Retina 12-inch MacBook to its obsolete products list this week, a designation that now covers every 12-inch MacBook the company ever sold.