Android

On paper, the Google Pixel 11 doesn’t seem like anything special. It looks like another 2026 smartphone with relatively minor upgrades and a higher starting price, thanks largely to the ongoing RAM and memory crisis. As someone who owns a Pixel 9 from a couple of years ago, upgrading to the Pixel 11 didn’t initially make much sense to me. After all, the Pixel 11 doesn’t look dramatically different from the Pixel 9, and my current phone still works perfectly fine.

When the latest leaks and rumors around the Samsung Galaxy S27 Ultra dropped earlier this week, they created a bit of a furor in the Android Authority newsroom, and for good reason. Early renders show a wide horizontal camera bar stretching across the back of the phone. It replaces the individual floating lenses Samsung has used for years for a striking change that also looks suspiciously similar to a certain Pro-themed smartphone from Cupertino. For years, we’ve given Samsung a hard time for playing it safe with iterative designs. Now, I’m not saying that critiquing Samsung’s repetitive takes on the same design ID wasn’t well deserved. However, now that the company is trying out something different, I can’t really say it’s for the better. The problem is not that Samsung changed its design language. It is that the change feels less like a bold step forward and more like Samsung wholeheartedly adopting Apple’s roadmap as its own.

TL;DR Google has officially listed seven phones that support Gemini Nano 4, the model behind some of its newest on-device AI features. The supported devices are the Pixel 11 series and Samsung’s latest Galaxy Z foldables, including the Z Fold 8 Ultra. Features such as Gboard’s Rambler and Create My Widget increasingly depend on newer hardware, potentially leaving older phones behind. Google’s latest AI features are becoming less about what version of Android your phone runs and more about what’s inside it. If you were hoping a software update would eventually bring Google’s smartest Gemini Intelligence features to your older flagship, the latest device list is a good reality check. Google now says Gemini Nano 4 is supported on only seven Android phones, and those are the devices positioned to unlock the newest on-device Gemini experiences. The list includes Google’s Pixel 11, Pixel 11 Pro, Pixel 11 Pro XL, and Pixel 11 Pro Fold, alongside Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 8, Galaxy Z Fold 8, and Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra. Google quietly added these devices to its developer documentation this week (via 9to5Google), making them the first phones officially listed with Gemini Nano 4 support.

If there are two pieces of tech I have a love-hate relationship with, it’s USB-C charging and Google’s Pixel smartphones. At their best, both can be brilliantly hassle-free, but at their worst, they’re a parade of seemingly unnecessary compromises. Based on my previous experiences with Pixels, testing the 45W wired charging capabilities of the new Pixel 11 Pro XL was almost certainly going to cause a headache or two, but it quickly descended into a full-on migraine. Let’s start with the good USB-C news for the Pixel 11 Pro XL. After years of underperforming the headline charging figure, Google’s latest large flagship comes much closer to hitting its 45W marketing claim. While still not quite there, I was able to hit a peak of 40.7W for about the first 9 minutes on the Google Pixel Flex 67W charger (). That’s a reasonable power level and far better sustained than rivals that claim up to 100W capabilities, plus it exceeds the 35W peak I’ve observed on the previous two generations of XL smartphones. So a pat on the back there.

Credit: Paul Jones / Android Authority TL;DR Samsung just released One UI 9 Beta 7 for the Galaxy S26 series, featuring unannounced Galaxy AI additions. Digging in, we’ve found new features: My FanCam video re-framing, Call Brief overlay, Custom Cards in Now Brief, and unified Finder and Google Search home screen search widgets. These features were launched with the Galaxy Z8 foldables and also made available to the Galaxy S26 FE, and are now on track to expand to the Galaxy S26 series when the stable update rolls out. Samsung just rolled out One UI 9 Beta 7 to the Galaxy S26 series with a mysterious “Added new AI features” entry in the changelog. While the company remains tight-lipped, we’ve found that the update introduces several new features, including My FanCam, Call Brief, a Custom Card for Now Brief, and Search and Finder options on the home screen. Starting with the most notable change, you will see the new Google Search and Finder widgets right on your home screen if you previously had the Finder widget there. Samsung now lets you choose one, both, or none, as spotted previously.

TL;DR A new hands-on video shows that the HUAWEI Pura X View can automatically shift screen contents for one-handed use. The wide phone can dynamically shift the keyboard and calling controls based on which hand is actually holding it. This would be a great addition to other wide phones like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 and iPhone Ultra. Samsung and HUAWEI have both released wide foldables in 2026, coming years after OPPO and Google first revealed them. However, HUAWEI has also recently unveiled a conventional wide phone dubbed the Pura X View. One concern about this form factor is one-handed use, but the Pura X View has a cool solution. Reviewer Vincent Zhong posted his HUAWEI Pura X View hands-on video on YouTube, and it turns out the phone can automatically detect whether you’re holding it with your left or right hand. The device can then adjust certain UI elements accordingly.

Samsung just completed its Galaxy S26 lineup with the launch of the Galaxy S26 FE, and rumors about its next-generation flagships, the Galaxy S27 series, are already circulating. We recently got our first look at the Samsung Galaxy S27 Ultra, which revealed that Samsung could be moving away from its familiar vertical camera layout and instead adopt an iPhone-like horizontal camera plateau. And now, leaks surrounding the base Galaxy S27 have started to surface as well.

Credit: Paul Jones / Android Authority TL;DR Samsung has released the seventh One UI 9 beta for the Galaxy S26 series. The 1,234MB update (firmware ZZHK) includes the August 5, 2026, security patch and introduces new AI features, though Samsung hasn’t detailed which ones. Currently live in Germany, India, Poland, the UK, and South Korea, the new update will soon be available in the US as well. Earlier this week, Samsung released One UI 9 Beta 6 for the Galaxy S26 series. Samsung usually goes a few weeks between beta releases, and while we hoped for a stable update to finally roll out, there were indications that Samsung was working on yet another beta update. Turns out it was, as Samsung has begun rolling out One UI 9 Beta 7 for the Galaxy S26 series. We’ve received the seventh One UI 9 update on our Galaxy S26 Ultra in the UK. This Android 17-based update comes with firmware version ending in ZZHK, the August 5, 2026 security patch, and is 1,234MB in size.

Credit: Robert Triggs / Android Authority TL;DR A trusted leaker has claimed that the OPPO Find X10 Pro Max will be the world’s first phone with three 200MP cameras. This apparently consists of a 200MP HPC main camera, a 200MP telephoto camera, and a 200MP ultrawide shooter. The leaker previously suggested that this phone could launch in September or October. Many smartphones have 200MP sensors, as manufacturers use this for the main or telephoto cameras. However, the OPPO Find X9 Ultra and vivo X300 Ultra stunned us earlier this year by offering two 200MP cameras. It now sounds like a phone with three 200MP cameras is on the horizon. Leaker Digital Chat Station claimed on Weibo that the OPPO Find X10 Pro Max will be the first phone with three 200MP cameras. That means the main, telephoto, and ultrawide cameras will all have 200MP sensors.

Credit: Kaitlyn Cimino / Android Authority TL;DR Google has partnered with authors to make certain paid books available through Gemini Notebook. With the new Expert Intelligence option, users can import certain owned titles from Play Books into Gemini Notebook. Users can also combine insights from multiple titles for a broader knowledge bank in a single notebook. Using copyrighted text for training large language models has been a controversial topic for as long as AI has been a buzzword. That hasn’t stopped frontier labs from gaining access to books, including physical ones, to satisfy the ever-scaling need for pretraining data. The pursuit of high-quality human data has also led to legal troubles for AI companies, including Google, which is now looking to soften the blow by partnering with (and hopefully, rightfully paying) authors — and letting users access and imbibe their wisdom through Gemini Notebook (previously called NotebookLM). Gemini Notebook can be an excellent tool for digesting enormous amounts of information in books, but importing books directly may involve wading through gray swamps of skirting DRM restrictions. Google is now formally opening the gates to use information and insights from copyrighted books in its research or learning pursuits. Under the banner of “Expert Intelligence,” Google is allowing users to import owned titles from Google Play Books into Gemini Notebook and use its features, such as Audio Overviews or Infographics.

Credit: Paul Jones / Android Authority The Samsung Galaxy S5 still has a special place in my heart, purely because I could pop the back off and swap in a fresh battery myself. Phones have come a long way since then, and that kind of easy repairability largely disappeared along the way. But Fairphone has spent years trying to keep the idea alive, and its latest phone brings that philosophy to the US more directly than ever. The Fairphone Gen 6 Plus is the first model the company is selling directly in the US — rather than through Murena — and it runs the standard Google-equipped version of Android. It costs $649 and lets you replace up to 12 components with a single screwdriver, including the battery, display, cameras, and USB-C port. The upgrades over the regular Gen 6 are fairly modest, but we still wanted to know what you made of the package. We asked our readers whether the Gen 6 Plus was hot in a recent poll, and the results could hardly have been more definitive. Take a look for yourself.

Credit: Joe Maring / Android Authority TL;DR YouTube’s CEO has announced that Amazon is joining the platform’s affiliate program. Eligible creators will now be able to tag Amazon product listings in their videos and earn commission on any purchases made. This could make it easier for you to buy products recommended by the creators you follow. YouTube recently fixed a bug that was hiding saved videos from Watch Later and other playlists. While that’s great, the video platform is in the news again. Not for another bug fix or broken feature, but for a change to the YouTube Shopping affiliate program. In a social media post, YouTube CEO Neal Mohan announced that Amazon is joining its e-commerce network. As a result of this partnership, eligible US YouTube creators will now be able to tag Amazon products in their content. This includes long-form videos, livestreams, and Shorts.

TL;DR Some Pixel 11 owners are losing Google Maps’ Immersive Navigation after upgrading from older phones. The feature seems to be controlled on the server-side, so users can’t simply restore it with an app update or setting. Google is investigating the reports, but it hasn’t confirmed what’s causing the problem or when it’ll be fixed. Buying a new phone shouldn’t feel like a downgrade. For those upgrading from an older Pixel to a new Pixel 11 series device, that’s apparently exactly what’s happening, at least when it comes to their Google Maps experience. Users with the new Pixel 11 are reporting having no access to Immersive Navigation in Google Maps, even if they had it on an earlier device. For many, the “biggest navigation upgrade,” as described by Google, was previously available on their older Android phones. The problem seems to be affecting Immersive Navigation on phones and when running Google Maps through Android Auto, as users report on Reddit and Google’s support forums (via Auto Evolution).

TL;DR Meta’s smart glasses attempt to detect when their recording LED is blocked or tampered with, and will refuse to start filming. It turns out this check was only performed when recordings were initiated, and users could just start filming and cover the LED afterwards. Meta is currently rolling out a fix to correct this behavior. Retro gamers may remember the old PlayStation 1 swap trick: The system would only check disc integrity when first booting, so you could run imports or backups by first powering the PlayStation up with a legit disc in it, and then quickly swapping it out. It turns out that Meta’s smart glasses have been vulnerable to a similar attack, and the company is only just now getting around to patching it. Everybody’s concerned about smart glasses and privacy right now, and probably the biggest issue there is centered on surreptitious recording. Even though we all carry around phones capable of sneakily recording videos, some folks are just really upset about the idea that someone could film them with smart glasses, and they’d never know it. Responding to that pressure, manufacturers like Meta have been building their glasses with conspicuous recording LEDs, broadcasting to anyone nearby that they’re actively recording.

Credit: Hugging Face TL;DR Hugging Face has unveiled a $400 bipedal robot called Microduck. The duck-shaped robot features 15 motors, a camera, a depth sensor, and an articulated beak that can pick up objects. Microduck comes with learned behaviors and can be controlled with a gamepad, but developers can also teach it new skills through reinforcement learning, simulation, and open-source software. AI has earned an overwhelmingly negative perception over the last couple of years. At this point, is there any way for the technology to shed that stigma and become more approachable to the general public? One of the best attempts at that may be Hugging Face’s new tiny duck-like robot. Hugging Face has unveiled a cute bipedal robot known as Microduck. The robot is about 10 inches tall and features 15 motors, a camera, a depth sensor, two inertial measurement units (IMU), and an articulated beak that can pick up objects. According to the company, the duck character was born as a result of the robot’s proportions, beak, and waddling gait.

TL;DR Google is investigating a bug that splits existing group chats into separate threads with the same participants. Affected users can end up with multiple versions of the same conversation, sometimes losing the continuity of their chat history. Similar reports involve individual RCS chats, but Google has yet to confirm whether they are related to the acknowledged group-chat bug. Google Messages users haven’t exactly had a quiet summer. Google recently acknowledged an RCS connection bug affecting some users, and the company is still working with its carrier partners to get that problem under control. Now, another Messages problem has surfaced, and this one can leave your conversations scattered across multiple threads. Google has confirmed that it is investigating an issue where group chats split into separate threads. Responding to an affected user on Reddit, Google said its team is actively looking into the problem and asked users to submit feedback through the Messages app with the hashtag #splittingthreads to help engineers investigate.

TL;DR Visible One bundles mobile and fiber internet on a single bill, starting at $55/month for 300Mbps fiber and Visible’s standard mobile plan. Visible+ Pro One costs $75/month and upgrades you to 1Gbps fiber plus Visible’s premium mobile plan with 5G Ultra Wideband and a smartwatch line. There are no added taxes, fees, contracts, or credit checks, but the bundles are limited to homes that already have an inactive Fios ONT installed. Soon after debuting its 5G home internet option, Verizon MVNO Visible is now introducing a new bundle that combines its mobile services and fiber home internet. Aptly named Visible One, the new bundle is offered through Visible Fiber, with the company leaning heavily into its no-hidden-fees, no-annual-contracts, and no-credit-check approach to attract price-conscious consumers.

Credit: Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority TL;DR OpenAI has confirmed that ChatGPT is experiencing issues. The company warns that Workspace Agents and ChatGPT Work users may see elevated error rates on web and mobile. A fix is currently being worked on. If you’re having trouble with ChatGPT today, it’s not an issue on your end. There are many others who are having similar problems. The chatbot is currently experiencing issues. OpenAI states on its status website that there are ongoing service interruptions. Specifically, users of Workspace Agents and ChatGPT Work are running into increased error rates. The issues affect both the web and mobile versions of ChatGPT.

TL;DR Homey now lets users install over-the-air (OTA) firmware updates for connected smart home devices directly from a single app. Matter, Zigbee, and Z-Wave devices are supported, covering thousands of products from multiple manufacturers. The new feature, known as Device Updates, will be available with the Homey app version 9.10.0 and newer, as well as the Homey web experience. Not all smart home setups look alike. Mixing and matching devices from multiple brands is common, as it gives you the flexibility to choose something within your budget. However, managing products from a variety of manufacturers can be a tad irritating, especially when it’s time for a firmware update. Smart home platform Homey has now addressed this particular pain point by enabling over-the-air (OTA) updates for multiple major smart home protocols from its app. In a blog post announcing the changes, Homey shares that owners of Matter, Zigbee, and Z-Wave devices can now download updates directly from the Homey app. Updates for Zigbee and Z-Wave devices will come from their respective apps within Homey, while Matter device owners will receive updates through the Connectivity Standards Alliance’s Distributed Compliance Ledger (DCL).

TL;DR Google Messages is rolling out custom chat themes and wallpapers after months of testing. You can use preset backgrounds or your own photos, with matching message bubble colors. Themes are private to you, and RCS must be enabled to use them. We first spotted Google working on custom chat themes for Messages back in May — a feature that users of some other messaging apps have had for a while. Google is finally catching up on that front today, announcing that users can personalize individual conversations with custom colors and wallpapers. In a Messages Community post, Google explained that users can now change both message bubble colors and chat backgrounds. You can choose one of Google’s preset wallpapers, pick an image from your own gallery, or stick with a simpler color theme.

Credit: Dhruv Bhutani / Android Authority TL;DR Pixel 11 series users are reporting an issue with Video Boost. Bursts of static noise appear at intervals in videos recorded with the feature enabled. The issue may have something to do with an Audio Zoom bug. As we move further away from the launch of the Pixel 11 series, Google’s latest and greatest handsets are getting into more hands. That means a growing number of people are now putting the smartphones through their paces to see what they can do. Some users who were testing out the video recording capabilities have discovered a strange and frustrating issue with zoomed-in video. One Redditor who upgraded to the Pixel 11 Pro XL says they attended a house show the other night to test out the camera. When they reviewed their recordings, they noticed “static bursts” every five seconds. According to the poster, this issue only appeared on videos where Video Boost was enabled.

TL;DR Pixel 11 shoppers report serious problems when trying to get a Pixel 10 trade-in credit with Google. They describe conflicting messages about trade-in acceptance and unexpected card charges. One theory suggests this stems from a problem with a partner company processing trade-ins. For smartphone fans who always need to have the latest and greatest handset, trade-in deals can be a great way to upgrade every year without needing to pay full price every time. And while that normally works fine, when you’ve got hundreds of dollars on the line, all it takes is one small glitch in the process for you to have a very bad day. Sadly, that’s exactly what a number of Pixel users seem to be dealing with right now, as they report some confusing issues that are interfering with trade-ins. Over on Reddit’s Pixel sub, Pixel 10 owners are sharing their frustrations with trying to trade last year’s phone in for a new Pixel 11 on the Google Store.

The AOC Wireless Headset with Microphone for Work is built for people who spend a lot of time on calls, video meetings, and remote work, and it’s on sale right now at Amazon. It focuses on clear voice pickup and flexible wireless use, which makes it a strong fit for office desks, home setups, and work on the go. See the deal at Amazon

Outdoor spaces can look flat once the sun goes down, especially around patios, walkways, fences, and garden edges. The Philips Hue Neon Outdoor 16-Feet Multicolor LED Strip Light is built for exactly that kind of job, and there’s a record Amazon deal on it right now. See the deal at Amazon

TL;DR Google AI Mode can now track flight prices and email you when fares change, with the feature available in more than 180 countries. AI Mode can show flight and hotel prices in points or miles, making it easier to see whether your travel rewards are worth using. Google is also adding hotel booking directly through AI Mode in the US, letting you choose a room and pay with Google Pay through supported partners. We recently reported that Google made AI Mode in Search much more useful for trip planning. You could connect supported third-party apps, compare live flight and hotel information, look for recommendations, and even build an itinerary without constantly bouncing between different searches. Now, the company is taking that a step further. AI Mode can keep an eye on flight prices for you, show what flights and hotels will cost in points or miles, and even help you book a hotel once you’ve found the right one. So, it’s moving beyond helping you plan a trip and getting much closer to helping you actually book it. The addition I suspect most people will appreciate is flight price tracking. Google Flights has offered price alerts for years, but Google is bringing the feature directly into conversations with AI Mode.