Android

TL;DR Narwal has launched the new Narwal Freo 20 robot vacuum cleaner. It comes with a self-cleaning mop and dual RGB cameras. It offers interactive video monitoring and can identify baby toys and cribs to automatically switch to a low-noise cleaning mode. Narwal is today launching a brand-new robot vacuum cleaner — the Narwal Freo 20 — and it comes with a ton of features, including the first-ever self-cleaning mopping system in the Freo series. The Freo 20 is the first robot vacuum outside the Narwal Flow series to feature Narwal’s “FlowWash” mopping system. It uses 16 nozzles to spray hot water directly onto the mop to keep it clean while it mops your house. The company claims that this ensures better cleaning without leaving water streaks on the floor.

TL;DR More marketing materials for the Pixel Watch 5 have leaked. The smartwatch could come with Gemini Intelligence built in. Health features include heart health tracking, sleep tracking, cardio load tracking, and more. As we approach Google’s next hardware event, we’re seeing more leaked information about the upcoming Pixel Watch 5 and Pixel 11 series. After a recent leak shed some light on the Pixel Watch 5’s pricing and specs, we’re now getting even more official renders and images of the watch. Leaker Evan Blass has shared new marketing images and renders of the Pixel Watch 5 in his newsletter. The images also give us an idea of some of the new features we can expect to see on Google’s upcoming smartwatch.

Credit: Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority TL;DR Google has added an interactive AI Storytime feature to Gemini for Home that lets families create and modify stories using voice commands. The update also improves alarms, timers, and other everyday features while fixing several bugs. The Google Home app now supports more smart camera brands and includes several new camera viewing and recording improvements. Google has announced a fresh batch of updates for Gemini for Home (Early access) and the Google Home app. The latest August 5 update adds a fun new AI-powered Storytime feature to Gemini for Home and promises to make everyday smart home controls more reliable in the app.

TL;DR A security researcher claims that OPPO is among more than 1,600 organizations across 57 countries affected by a years-long North Korean hacking campaign. The attackers reportedly used fake software developer job interviews to trick victims into installing malware that granted access to corporate systems. The campaign primarily focused on stealing cryptocurrency, though researchers warn that the hackers gained highly privileged access to hundreds of organizations. A years-long North Korean hacking campaign has reportedly compromised more than 1,600 organizations across 57 countries worldwide, and Chinese smartphone maker OPPO is among the companies named by the researcher who uncovered the operation.

TL;DR Samsung says global preorders for the Galaxy Z8 series increased by more than 30% over the previous generation. The Galaxy Z8 lineup is on pace to set a new US preorder record for Samsung foldables. The regular Galaxy Z Fold 8 accounts for nearly half of US Z8 preorders across carriers and retailers. Foldable phones have often been described as a niche market, always hovering somewhere between exciting technology and expensive curiosity. However, the latest generation of Samsung foldables appears to be finding a bigger audience. Samsung says global preorders for the Galaxy Z8 series are up more than 30% over last year’s lineup, while the phones are also on pace to set a new Galaxy Z preorder record in the US. The company says combined US preorders for the Galaxy Z Fold 8 and Fold 8 Ultra are running 30% ahead of its previous record-holding Fold generation after the first 12 days. That follows the Z8 series setting an all-time preorder record for Samsung foldables in South Korea, so the enthusiasm clearly isn’t confined to one particularly foldable-friendly market.

Credit: Joe Maring / Android Authority TL;DR Gemini now lets you co-create stories on the fly, interrupt the narrative mid-scene, and remix classic tales. Google has made timers and alarms smarter and more accurate. Turning off a device now plays a soft, descending tone that matches the action. Two weeks ago, Google rolled out a Home update that allows Gemini to track conversations for longer. Fast forward to today, another Gemini for Home update is rolling out. Along with that, we’re getting smarter timers and alarms, as well as a few bug fixes. Story time with Gemini Starting with the latest change to Gemini, Google says on its support page that it is making story time interactive. Specifically, you’ll now be able to co-create stories on the fly, interrupt the narrative mid-scene, and remix classic tales. For example, you could tell Gemini to create a story about your kids traveling to Mars. Midway through, you could tell the AI to jump to the part where they reach the red planet. Or if you tell Gemini to recite the story of the three little pigs, you could ask to replace the big bad wolf with a T-Rex.

TL;DR Third-party SDKs integrated into trusted apps may be collecting and sharing your precise location data with a network of advertising companies. Said SDKs come with location data collection settings turned on by default. Developers have the option to disable location data collection, provided that they actively review SDK settings and opt out of unnecessary data-sharing features. Using a niche weather, navigation, or similar location-hungry app? Your location data might inadvertently be going places you never signed up for. No, this isn’t necessarily nefarious behavior on the app or its developers’ part. Instead, the culprit might be third-party advertising software quietly pulling the strings behind the scenes, as highlighted in an alarming new report from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).

Credit: Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority TL;DR Reddit’s new Rules Hub uses AI to judge whether posts and comments violate the “intent” of subreddit rules. Moderators decide whether suspected violations are flagged for review or removed automatically. The optional tool is rolling out more widely later in 2026, following testing in over 700 communities. Reddit moderation has never exactly been a polished operation. It runs on volunteer moderators, user reports, and Automod rules that may have been written years ago by someone who has since vanished from the subreddit. Perhaps inevitably, AI is now also being invited behind the scenes at Reddit, with a new system that can decide whether posts and comments should be reported or removed. As The Verge reports, Reddit’s new Rules Hub uses large language models to judge whether content matches the “intent” of a subreddit rule. Automod usually looks for specific words, phrases, or patterns, while the new system is meant to understand context and handle messier cases that don’t fit neatly into a keyword filter.

Credit: Roland Quandt TL;DR A leak has revealed renders of two new TCL phones. The P80 Pro will reportedly come with a MediaTek 7400 Elite chip, 6.83-inch OLED display, and 5,800mAh battery. The base model offers a 7300 Elite chip, 5,000mAh battery, and 8GB of RAM/128GB of storage. TCL recently launched the NXTPAPER version of the Tab A1 Plus. While the tablet is currently available for purchase, you’ll have to wait for the company’s next products. TCL has two new handsets on the way, and a leak provides not only our first look, but also the first details. In one of his latest social posts, Roland Quandt revealed that TCL is working on the P80 and P80 Pro. According to Quandt, the tan colored device is the base model, while the gray device is the Pro version. Both phones are fairly reminiscent of the NXTPAPER 70 Pro, minus two big differences. One of those differences is that these screens don’t have a matte finish, and the other is the flagship-like thin bezels.

TL;DR Pixel 11 Pro model phones are getting a new hardware notification light, called HiLight. We’ve known for a while to expect it to work with your contacts, but lacked details. Now a new app teardown reveals how HiLight will function with Google Contacts. Google’s new Pixel 11 phones are just one more week away, and this year we’re expecting at least one notable change to the family’s hardware, with the arrival of Pixel Glow the HiLight notification system on Pro models. We’ve seen it over and over in both leaks and official Google imagery, with its little colored circle pulsing away. But what exactly are we going to be able to do with it? Today we get a little bit closer towards learning what Google has planned for it. You’re reading an Authority Insights story. Authority Insights brings you all the latest exclusive reports, app teardowns, leaks, and in-depth tech coverage from the Android Authority team that you won’t find anywhere else.

Credit: Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority Welcome to Wallpaper Wednesday! In this weekly roundup, we’ll give you a handful of Android wallpapers you can download and use on your phone, tablet, or even your laptop/PC. The images will come from folks here at Android Authority as well as our readers. All are free to use and come without watermarks. File formats are JPG and PNG, and we’ll provide images in both landscape and portrait modes, so they’ll be optimized for various screens. For the newest walls, as well as all those from previous weeks, check out this Drive link. Want to submit your own? Head to the bottom of this article.

TL;DR Huawei’s MWC-unveiled MateBook Fold Ultimate Design is now making its retail debut in China. The device boasts an 18-inch OLED touchscreen that folds down into a more-traditional 13-inch form factor. The laptop builds on existing ones within the same niche category, including the Zenbook Fold 17 and the ThinkPad X1 Fold. Mobile World Congress 2026 wrapped up over 150 days ago, but the vision that Huawei showed off at the event is still clear as day. The Shenzhen, China-based company unveiled a premium foldable laptop at the event in Barcelona, and the device quickly grabbed a spot on our “Breakthrough” awards list. Now, the laptop is breaking through its prototype perception with a retail debut! Back in March, we described the model as a “premium foldable laptop with a large 18-inch OLED display that folds into a compact form factor, blurring the line between tablet and traditional notebook.” That still stands true, but now that the device is official, we know a lot more about the Huawei MateBook Fold Ultimate Design (yep, that’s a mouthful), and what truly makes it tick.

Credit: Ryan Haines / Android Authority TL;DR Samsung is working on a new Notes feature that includes the S Pen. The feature would allow the user to move handwritten notes by long-pressing on the content with the stylus. Notes created in this newer version of the app will either open in read-only mode or not open at all on older versions. Has there ever been a time when you handwrote a message in Samsung Notes, only to realize that you need to rewrite it because you ran out of space? Samsung appears to be working on a new Notes feature that will solve this problem, and it involves the S Pen. Code within version 4.4.45.37 of the Samsung Notes app, spotted by Nerd’s Chalk, reveals a new S Pen-related feature in the works. Aptly called “Drag handwriting,” the feature lets the user drag handwritten content to create more space. It works by long-pressing the content with the S Pen, which then allows the user to relocate the content.

TL;DR Verizon has confirmed it will increase the prices of some Apple Music-related perks starting September 1. Some legacy plans may be exempt from the price bumps, with the company’s support page confirming a $10.99/month cost for some individual plans. This comes on the heels of Apple Music raising the prices of its Individual, Student, and Family plans in July. Apple Music recently bumped the prices of its Student and Individual plans by $1/month, while the Family plan witnessed a $3/month increase. This marked the first price hike for the streaming service in nearly four years. Now, in a move that should come as no surprise to anyone, Verizon has announced a price hike for its Apple Music perk. A statement on Verizon’s support page for Apple Music details the increased perk rates that will go into effect on September 1.

Anker’s Soundcore Boom 2 is built for loud outdoor listening, and there’s a solid deal on it right now at Amazon. This portable Bluetooth speaker is made for bass-heavy sound, with up to 80W output and Anker’s BassUp 2.0 feature pushing even more low-end punch. See the deal at Amazon

Samsung’s new 27-inch ViewFinity S8 is already seeing its first Amazon price drop, and it’s a good one. You can grab this 5K monitor for $589.99 right now, down from its $699.99 recommended retail price, which saves you $110. For a newer display in Samsung’s 2026 lineup, that makes this a deal worth checking out sooner rather than later. See the deal at Amazon

Credit: Ryan Haines / Android Authority TL;DR Users are reporting that Spotify is down. There are over 1,500 reports of the service not working. Several major cities are impacted, including New York, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, and Seattle. Right as Anthropic brings Claude back online, another outage is underway. It appears that Spotify is the affected app this time. The music streaming service is currently experiencing issues. Users are reporting in droves on Downdetector that Spotify is down. According to the graph, it appears that downtime started around 10:00 AM ET. Since then, the number of reports have spiked into the thousands. Currently, there are over 1,500 reports of a service problem.

TL;DR Researchers found multiple issues that can expose a user’s real IP despite Private Relay. The problem is tied to passkey-related requests that bypass Safari’s Private Relay path. Apple has acknowledged the report and says it’s investigating. Passkeys were supposed to fix our login headaches, but as we recently saw with Google Password Manager, transitioning to passwordless security can expose unexpected cracks in your privacy. Now, Apple is facing similar scrutiny after researchers uncovered a WebKit flaw that lets websites bypass iCloud Private Relay and expose users’ real IP addresses during passkey requests. Discovered by security researchers Tommy Mysk and Talal Haj Bakry, the vulnerability centers on how WebAuthn requests interact with iOS (via 404 Media). When a site prompts for a passkey or even pretends to support one, the network request isn’t processed inside Safari’s standard web browser stack. Instead, Apple’s system-level credential service steps in to handle the fetch directly.

The AIPER Scuba V3 just dropped to $799.99 on Amazon in a Lightning Deal, down from its $1,399.99 recommended retail price. That’s a $600 saving, or 43% off RRP, and it’s worth moving fast because this deal is being claimed quickly. Paid link

The Botslab W510 4K AI Security Camera System 2-Camera Kit is down to $220.58 at Botslab right now, and that is a strong drop from its $319 recommended retail price. Use the exclusive promo code AA18 to cut $98.42 off, a 31% discount off the RRP. See the deal at Botslab

Credit: Megan Ellis / Android Authority TL;DR Duolingo is facing user backlash for mixing updates from random strangers into users’ personal activity feeds, burying achievements from actual friends. Frustrated learners are blocking profiles and reporting accounts as spam to clean up their activity tabs. Users are demanding basic feed filters and follow approvals to regain control over their social experience. Duolingo hasn’t particularly been shy about making controversial platform tweaks, but its social feed design is driving learners up the wall. Following widespread frustration over disruptive course updates that scrambled progress paths and introduced unfamiliar vocabulary, users are now facing another persistent headache: random strangers taking over their activity feed. Instead of highlighting milestones from actual friends and family, Duolingo continues to mix in social updates from complete strangers, diluting the feature’s core purpose. Reddit user EnoughConcentrate897 voiced their exasperation over their feed being filled with 100-day streaks and sentence shares from accounts they don’t know or follow, and so many other users chimed in with the same frustration.

TL;DR HUAWEI has just released the Watch GT 7 and GT 7 Pro featuring largely unchanged hardware. Both smartwatches in the Watch GT 7 series retain their week-long battery life while gaining new colors and updated wristbands. The Watch GT 7 Pro will be available in China for 2,688 CNY (~$398), whereas the 41mm Watch GT 7 will start from 1,588 CNY (~$235) in the region. HUAWEI is no stranger to smartwatches, having set high benchmarks with the Watch GT 6 and its Pro sibling last year. It’s nearly that time of year when the company refreshes its smartwatch lineup, and right on schedule, the Watch GT 7 and the Watch GT 7 Pro are going official. Following days of teasing their arrival on social media platforms, HUAWEI has finally taken the wraps off the smartwatches, but only for the Chinese market. While the Watch GT 7 and GT 7 Pro don’t differ much in the design department from their predecessors, HUAWEI now offers them in updated colors and revamped wristbands.

Credit: Calvin Wankhede / Android Authority TL;DR Anthropic has confirmed that multiple Claude models are experiencing issues. The affected models include Mythos 5, Fable 5, Opus 5, and Sonnet 5. The company has implemented a fix and is monitoring for recovery. If you’re having problems with Claude today, there’s a reason why. Anthropic has confirmed that its AI models are currently experiencing degraded performance. However, they could be back up soon. According to the Claude status page, the outage started early this morning around 3:00 AM ET. The outage affects several Claude models, including Mythos 5, Fable 5, Opus 5, and Sonnet 5. Anthropic says that it has implemented a fix, and it is currently monitoring for recovery.

TL;DR HUAWEI’s MateBook Pro S debuts a 14.2-inch 3.1K OLED privacy screen with a physical side toggle to instantly block shoulder surfing. Samsung popularized Privacy Display on the Galaxy S26 Ultra, but software controls aren’t as convenient as hardware toggles. With broader adoption of Privacy Display on the horizon, physical hardware toggles need to become the ideal control method for phones. Samsung made waves with the Galaxy S26 Ultra’s Privacy Display technology. It’s a genuinely useful piece of technology that protects your on-screen content from prying eyes, though opinion is divided about how much it affects display quality. Samsung provides handy shortcuts to toggle Privacy Display, but what if you wanted an even more convenient way to control it? HUAWEI is addressing this with the new MateBook Pro S laptop, which debuts a privacy screen controlled by a hardware switch. The HUAWEI MateBook Pro S features a 14.2-inch 3.1K OLED panel that uses a dual-pixel array structure, integrating two distinct sub-pixel sets within the same display zone. One set serves normal wide-angle viewing, while the second limits side-angle light emission, effectively giving you Privacy Display functionality in the same way that Samsung does.

Credit: Joe Maring / Android Authority Pixels are often touted as model Android phones. Even though the wider Android-using populace, apart from Pixel fans and Google itself, will not agree with that, it’s hard to deny that Pixels get some special, enviable features that others miss out on. These Pixel-exclusive features make users stick to these devices, despite their lackluster performance and battery life that may keep users yearning. We recently recounted several such features that keep Pixel users coming back, despite their grievances, and asked people what their favorites are.