Tuesday, March 19

Technology

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Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 Review: A Big Screen Inside And Out
Technology

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 Review: A Big Screen Inside And Out

Samsung’s popular folding-screen flip phone gains a bigger, more useful screen on the outside for its fifth generation, while keeping its stylish looks with a sleeker gapless design when shut. The new Z Flip 5 costs £1,049 ($999/A$1,649) – £50 more than last year’s model – and comes with twice the starting storage and a collection of small but meaningful upgrades. There is no doubt that folding tech still commands a premium, with prices similar to high-end Androids and iPhones. The Flip 5 feels like a plush piece of technology, and more refined than previous versions. A new hinge allows the two halves of the phone to close flush rather than leaving a gap at one end, which is more aesthetically pleasing and stops pocket fluff from getting in there. The new design also makes the ph...
YouTuber subjects the Galaxy Z Flip 5 to a week of continuous folding to see when it breaks
Technology

YouTuber subjects the Galaxy Z Flip 5 to a week of continuous folding to see when it breaks

If you’re wondering how many times Samsung’s latest foldable flip phone, the Galaxy Z Flip 5, might survive when subjected to the stresses and strains of the real world, YouTuber Mrkeybrd has an answer for you: 401,146. Between August 2nd and today, his channel has run a livestream of the phone being continuously folded and unfolded by a series of testers. Initially, Samsung’s foldable was being compared to Motorola’s recently released Razr Plus (known as the Razr 40 Ultra outside of the US), but the screen on Motorola’s foldable died after just 126,266 cycles. Mrkeybrd’s test is hardly as scientific as the kinds of robotic automated folding and unfolding Samsung has shown off in its promotional materials for the Flip 5 and Fold 5, but that’s kind of the point. The experiment subjected...
WhatsApp introduces screen sharing during video calls
Technology

WhatsApp introduces screen sharing during video calls

WhatsApp today introduced screen sharing as its latest feature to enhance the video-calling experience on its platform — taking on traditional video conferencing apps, including Microsoft Meet, Google Meet, Zoom, and Apple’s FaceTime. The new feature, announced this morning by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg through a Facebook post and on his Instagram channel, will allow you to share your documents, photos, and even your shopping cart with contacts available on video calls. First released for some beta testers on Android in late May, screen sharing on WhatsApp can be accessed by tapping or clicking the “Share” icon. Users can choose between sharing a specific app or their entire screen. This is similar to how screen sharing works on typical video-conferencing platforms like Google Meet an...
Google Messages Now Uses End-to-End Encryption by Default
Technology

Google Messages Now Uses End-to-End Encryption by Default

Google Messages will now be encrypted by default when messaging between Android devices, the company said in a blog post Tuesday. Previously, it was an option to encrypt your Google Messages, but now it's set to default. This means that when sending texts between two Android devices, including in group chats, outside actors won't be able to view or monitor your messages. Encrypted messaging is already the default on services like WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram and Apple's iMessage. Unfortunately, text messages between iPhone and Android users still lack this encryption. That's because Apple uses iMessage as the default messaging app, which isn't available on Android. For encrypted messaging between Android and iPhone, it's best to use a third-party instant messaging app instead. Goog...
August 2023 security update rolls out for Google Pixels, Galaxy S23, and more Samsung phones
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August 2023 security update rolls out for Google Pixels, Galaxy S23, and more Samsung phones

We're already 7 days into August, but since today is the first Monday of the month, that means it's time for the latest batch of Android security patches. Google today published the August 2023 Android Security Bulletin, and with it, the corresponding August 2023 security update for eligible Pixel devices. Google's Pixel phones aren't the only phones getting a freshly baked build today, though, as Samsung has also pushed new security updates to the Galaxy S23, Galaxy S20 FE, and a couple of foldables. August 2023 Android Security Bulletin In the latest Android Security Bulletin, Google disclosed multiple security vulnerabilities affecting the Android runtime, framework, system, and media framework. These vulnerabilities have been patched with the 2023-08-01 security patch level. Mea...
iOS 17: What’s New With AirPlay
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iOS 17: What’s New With AirPlay

With the iOS 17 update, Apple is updating and refining almost every iPhone app and feature, and that includes AirPlay. ‌AirPlay‌ is Apple's wireless communication protocol that allows music and video content from iPhones, iPads, and Macs to be beamed to devices like the Apple TV, HomePod, and third-party speakers, smart TVs, set-top boxes, and receivers. This guide highlights the changes that Apple is making to ‌AirPlay‌ in ‌iOS 17‌, with these features also available in iPadOS 17 and macOS Sonoma. AirPlay Preferences iOS 17‌ improves on-device intelligence for ‌AirPlay‌, and it is able to better learn your preferences over time. If you typically ‌AirPlay‌ from your ‌iPhone‌ to the ‌Apple TV‌ in the living room, it will learn that behavior and show the ‌Apple TV‌ first in your ‌A...
Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Flip 5 have tons of camera improvements under the hood
Technology

Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Flip 5 have tons of camera improvements under the hood

Except for a wider field of view employed by the Galaxy Z Flip 5’s 10MP selfie camera, there’s barely any difference between the imaging hardware used by the Galaxy Z Flip 5 / Galaxy Z Fold 5 and the 2022 models. However, the software underlying the camera (and even the Gallery app) went through significant changes, and the mobile photography experience enabled by the 2023 foldable phones should be superior. Here’s how it changed. Samsung published a new table of contents for CamCyclopedia on the official community forums (via @theonecid), explaining how the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Flip 5 improved the photo, video, gallery, and editing experiences. Improved photo and video shooting experiences The improvements listed in this updated CamCyclopedia table of content are a perfe...
iPhone 16 Pro Models to Adopt Stacked Camera Sensor Design
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iPhone 16 Pro Models to Adopt Stacked Camera Sensor Design

Apple’s iPhone 16 series next year will adopt a stacked rear camera sensor design across the lineup, following similar adoption in this year’s standard iPhone 15 models, according to Apple industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. This year’s lower-end ‌iPhone 15‌ and ‌‌iPhone 15‌‌ Plus models are expected to feature a 48-megapixel rear camera lens with a stacked CMOS image sensor (CIS) design that can capture more light. Production yield issues of the new sensor design have likely prevented Apple from adopting it across all ‌iPhone 15‌ models this year, and while Sony’s high-end CIS capacity is expected to remain tight through 2024, Apple has secured most of Sony’s orders ahead of time. According to Kuo, Sony’s tight capacity is expected to benefit rival supplier Will Semi, which will obta...
iOS 17 lets users create Shortcuts actions to open specific Camera app modes
Technology

iOS 17 lets users create Shortcuts actions to open specific Camera app modes

Apple’s Shortcuts app has evolved a lot since the company acquired Workflow in 2017. For those unfamiliar, it lets users create a series of automated processes on iPhone, iPad, Mac, and even Apple Watch. And with iOS 17, Apple is adding even more functionality to the app, which now supports Camera app actions. Camera app shortcuts coming to iOS 17 As noted by Matthew Cassineli, the latest iOS 17 beta available to developers and public beta testers adds new Shortcuts actions to open specific camera modes in the Camera app. With the new “Open Camera” action, users can choose between different camera modes and “immediately open any preset using Shortcuts.” These shortcuts can be very useful for a lot of things, like creating voice commands to use Siri to open the Camera app in a spe...
iPad Mini 7 Could Be Coming Later This Year
Technology

iPad Mini 7 Could Be Coming Later This Year

The seventh-generation iPad mini appears to be in the works at Apple, according to the leaker known as "ShrimpApplePro." In a thread of tweets that included details about the Apple Watch Series 9 and second-generation Apple Watch Ultra, the leaker said that they have seen evidence that at least one new iPad model is coming, likely the seventh-generation ‌iPad mini‌. Earlier this year, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported that an update this year with a minor "spec bump" is not out of the question. Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo believes that the seventh-generation ‌iPad mini‌ is most likely to begin mass production in the first quarter of 2024. ShimpApplePro's mention of the next-generation ‌iPad mini‌ alongside information about the new Apple Watch models that are expected to launch in ...