Android

TL;DR A UK retailer has listed the unannounced Philips Hue Play Sync Box Lite. The new version offers only a single HDMI input, among other compromises. The Lite model is listed at retailer Very for £109.99 compared to the existing premium model’s £299.99. The Philips Hue Play HDMI sync box 8K lets you synchronize your smart lights with what’s happening on your TV to create a “fully immersive light syncing experience” (as Hue puts it), matching the color and brightness of your smart lights with your video content in real time. It’s cool, but it’s also wildly expensive at an MSRP of $385. Now, though, it looks like Philips Hue is set to release a new, stripped-back version at a more affordable price. As spotted by Hueblog, UK retailer Very has published a listing for an unannounced sync box from Philips, the Hue Play Sync Box Lite. The Lite version is shown as having one HDMI input (to the current model’s four), meaning you’ll be limited to syncing lights with a single device’s video. It’ll apparently be much less expensive, though: the Hue Play Sync Box Lite is listed at £109.99, about a third the price of the 8K model’s £299.99 UK MSRP.

TCL’s NXTPAPER 11 Gen 2 is an 11-inch Android tablet designed for people who read, stream, take notes, and handle everyday tasks on a single screen. It stands out with TCL’s matte, glare-reducing NXTPAPER display, which is designed to feel more like paper than a standard shiny tablet screen, and there’s a solid Amazon deal on it right now, too. See the deal at Amazon

TL;DR A recent Google app update has added a new Ask Gemini button within Android’s text selection menu. While you could already add selected text to Gemini using the Share button, this new Ask Gemini shortcut makes it a one-step process. It’s unclear when this particular shortcut was rolled out, but we’re seeing it across multiple Google app versions. You can already access Gemini on most Android phones by long-pressing the power button, and Google has since found new ways to bring its generative AI experiences to its other apps, like with Chrome for Android. Back in March last year, we exclusively reported on an Ask Gemini text selection menu shortcut designed to appear when you select text in other apps. It has taken a while, but it now looks like this particular integration is slowly beginning to roll out. 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.

TL;DR YouTube may be rolling out a new seek UI on Android that shows how much time you’ve skipped through a video. The change appears on the stable YouTube app, but it hasn’t reached every device. The new behavior could be part of a broader YouTube UI refresh. YouTube’s interface has become something of a moving target lately. The company was only recently testing a new button arrangement on Android that removed text labels from the controls under videos. And now, a small change to how YouTube shows skipped time appears to be rolling out to some Android users. The change involves YouTube’s familiar double-tap gesture for skipping. Currently, you can double-tap the right side of the screen to jump forward or the left side to rewind, while touching and holding the scrub bar lets you manually move through the video. In the current UI, double-tapping skips forward or backward without showing how much time you’ve moved. When manually scrubbing, however, YouTube displays the amount of time you’ve skipped in the video interface, as seen in the screenshot below.

Credit: Joe Maring / Android Authority TL;DR Google updated the Now Playing app on Pixel earlier this year — and removed the option to show notifications. It may now be working to bring notifications back. Google also appears to be working to add support for multiple users, which isn’t supported yet. Now Playing remains one of the most compelling reasons to buy a Pixel still. In March this year, Google brought a major update to Now Playing, advancing it with its own dedicated app. But the update also brought a few feature cutbacks and challenges, such as removing notifications about tracks being played in your surroundings. This broke popular use cases for using Now Playing’s notifications to import songs into apps, such as Last.fm. What followed was dissatisfaction from users, which Google is now looking to address. It is working to add notifications for the currently playing track back to the app with a future update.

The Google Pixel 11 props up the company’s new flagship series and will be the popular choice to joining the premium Android ownership club. But, it’s by no means the only contender out there. If you’re torn about reaching for the Pixel 11, which alternatives should you consider? My colleague Brady Snyder offered up his five best options, and we asked readers to vote on their preferred candidate from this list. With over 4,200 votes in, we were just a handful of votes from a surprise upset.

Credit: Adamya Sharma / Android Authority TL;DR Google Play Store v52.8.55-34 code shows Ask Play will soon support direct image attachments from the phone’s camera or gallery. Users can upload screenshots to identify home screen widgets, features, specific types of apps, and more. Google may also retire the “Ask Play about this app” section in favor of sticky, horizontally scrollable question chips. At Google I/O 2026, Google unveiled an updated Ask Play conversational search feature within the Google Play Store. This feature was designed to help users discover apps and get high-level summaries through natural conversation and follow-up questions. Now, Google is preparing to make discovery even easier by allowing users to attach images directly to their Ask Play queries, alongside potentially sunsetting the “Ask Play about this app” section. 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: Tushar Mehta / Android Authority TL;DR vivo has started officially teasing the X500 series, featuring its upcoming camera-centric flagships. The vivo X500 Pro will use a custom Sony sensor that offers 17 stops of dynamic range, producing well-lit shadows even with bright highlights. The Pro is also claimed to be the first phone to capture slow-mo at 4K@240p. It’s been mere months since we took a good look at vivo’s colossal Ultra camera masquerading as a phone with one of the farthest-reaching zoom lenses. Come September, major phone giants will keep us busy with new releases. Among them, vivo is set to launch a new flagship camera phone with some serious upgrades previously unseen on phone cameras. In a recent Weibo post, vivo’s product manager Han Boxiao revealed camera upgrades coming for the upcoming vivo X500 series. Boxiao writes that while previous devices have aced at phone photography, the upcoming X500 series “aims to take mobile video to another level.” When I tested the X300 Pro from earlier this year, I found it to outpace the iPhone 17 Pro in video, and the upcoming phones could take a major leap, as the representative suggests.

Credit: Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority A few years ago, Chrome introduced Manifest V3 and began phasing out the older Manifest V2 technology used by some of the most advanced browser extensions. According to Google, the older version was harder to maintain and had its own real security risks, but we suspect it’s also because Google wanted to rein in extension capabilities. Unfortunately, this also made it harder to install extensions like the highly popular uBlock Origin. While workarounds still existed by using Chrome flags, that’s no longer the case. It is now virtually impossible to get MV2 extensions to work in Chrome.

TL;DR A leaked One UI 9 build shows the Galaxy S25 Ultra testing a tool that brightens backlit subjects without blowing out the background. The feature, Virtual Reflector, debuted on the Galaxy S26 Ultra and simulates a physical photography reflector in software. Samsung hasn’t confirmed a One UI 9 beta for the S25 series yet, so the feature could still be changed or dropped before release. Samsung appears to be preparing more than a routine software update for the Galaxy S25 series. Recent One UI 9 internal builds have already revealed camera features such as Horizontal Lock and My FanCam, and now another Galaxy S26 Ultra feature has surfaced on the Galaxy S25 Ultra. This time, Samsung could be giving its 2025 flagship a useful new tool to help with portraits in tricky lighting. Leaker Fahad Ali Javed shared screenshots on X showing the Virtual Reflector tool running on a Galaxy S25 Ultra with an internal One UI 9 build ending in ZZHC. SamMobile has also reported on the discovery, noting that Samsung is testing the feature through its Expert RAW camera app.

Credit: Robert Triggs / Android Authority TL;DR Xiaomi has announced the XRing 03 smartphone chipset. This chipset has an unannounced Arm G2-Ultra NX GPU and a 10-core CPU with no little cores. The chip will debut in the Xiaomi 18 Fold, which is scheduled to launch next month. Google has just launched the Pixel 11 series, and our own benchmarks show that the Tensor G6 chip is a significant step down from rival chips. Now, Xiaomi has revealed its XRing 03 processor, and it seemingly obliterates Google’s silicon on paper. Xiaomi revealed XRing 03 details on Weibo, and it packs a 3nm design from an unspecified foundry. However, what’s particularly interesting is that it comes with an unannounced Arm G2-Ultra NX GPU. Expect 16 cores, eight NX neural accelerators, and AI-based super-resolution/frame interpolation. In fact, Xiaomi claims that this GPU is 85% faster than last year’s XRing 01, 64% more efficient, and 182% faster at ray tracing. For what it’s worth, the XRing 01 had an Immortalis G925 MC16 GPU. Either way, this seems far more impressive than the Tensor G6’s PowerVR CXTP-48-1536 GPU.

Before the Pixel 11 Pro Fold became official, I shared a wishlist of changes I wanted Google to make for its next foldable. To my surprise, the Pixel 11 Pro Fold offers many of the upgrades I needed to take Google foldables seriously again. It’s thinner and lighter, has slimmer bezels and better screens, and supports faster 25W Qi2 wireless charging. However, Google also made an unexpected change to the Pixel 11 Pro Fold that I can’t overlook. To make the Pixel 11 Pro Fold about 1mm thinner than the Pixel 10 Pro Fold, compromises had to be made. The one you probably noticed is the smaller 4,806mAh battery capacity, but that isn’t the one I care about.

TL;DR Traffic lines are disappearing from Google Maps on Android Auto for some users. The issue appears limited to Android Auto, not Maps on phones. Some users say the problem started after the Immersive Navigation update arrived. Google Maps users really can’t seem to catch a break lately. Not long after Google fixed a bug that made color-coded traffic lines disappear across Android, iOS, and desktop, the same issue has now appeared in Android Auto. Several users in the Android Auto community and on Reddit are reporting that Google Maps no longer shows the familiar green, yellow, orange, and red traffic lines on their car’s screen. The problem appears to be limited to Android Auto, with affected users reporting that traffic displays normally when they open Google Maps directly on their phones.

Credit: Megan Ellis / Android Authority The Play Store has no shortage of weather apps, but most of them are paywalled, ad-heavy, or just not that good. Breezy Weather is none of those things. It’s free, open-source, and one of the most feature-rich weather apps available for Android. But since you’re here, I’m guessing you already know all that. The real question is how to get Breezy Weather on your phone, as it’s not on the Play Store — and more importantly, how to keep it updated. There are a few ways to do it, and none of them are complicated.

TL;DR Nintendo has filed seven new DMCA notices taking down over 400 GitHub repositories related to Switch emulators. The notice took down repos for emulators such as Suyu, Skyline, and several others. It’s no secret that Nintendo has historically taken an extremely strict stance against emulators and people using its IP without permission. A few months ago, the company sent DMCA notices to take down several Switch emulators whose code was hosted on GitHub. Now, the company has thrown another proverbial Donkey Kong barrel at more such GitHub repositories. Nintendo has filed seven DMCA complaints with GitHub to take down over 400 repositories related to Switch emulators in a single day (via TorrentFreak). This includes emulators like Suyu, which gained popularity after the Yuzu emulator shut down in 2024. According to the DMCA notice displayed publicly on the Suyu repository, GitHub took down all 311 repositories in the network due to Nintendo’s DMCA notice.

Credit: Joe Maring / Android Authority TL;DR The Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold has failed JerryRigEverything’s popular bend test. The phone cracked along both antenna lines next to the hinge, and its outer display also popped right off during the test. Google has touted a redesigned build that is three times stronger, but it looks like the same antenna-line area is still the phone’s weakest point, and the battery placement is also not ideal. Google’s Pixel 11 Pro Fold has failed JerryRigEverything’s popular durability test for a second year in a row. After the Pixel 10 Pro XL literally exploded during the same durability test last year, it looks like Google still hasn’t improved the Pixel 11 Pro’s weakest structural point.

TL;DR A new leak suggests that the OnePlus 16 will come with the thinnest bezels of any OnePlus phone. It also states that it will feature a “custom-designed screen.” The OnePlus 16 will have one of the best front-facing designs, per the leak. We’ve seen a bunch of OnePlus 16 leaks over the last couple of months, and with each one, the upcoming Android flagship looks more and more promising. Following leaks of a 9,000mAh battery and a true 165Hz display, a new leak suggests the phone’s screen could be excellent in both performance and looks. According to a Weibo post by leaker Digital Chat Station (DCS), the OnePlus 16 will come with the thinnest bezels on any OnePlus phone so far and a display experience to match. The leak doesn’t state exactly how thin the bezels could be, but states they will be “around this narrow .”

Credit: Dhruv Bhutani / Android Authority TL;DR Lenovo’s Android 17 list features unannounced models, such as the Motorola Edge 70 Neo and Edge 70 Plus, while omitting current 2024 and 2025 phones. Omitted devices include several phones from the Motorola Edge 50 lineup, the Razr 2024, the Moto G56 5G, and the Moto G75 5G, despite earlier multi-year update promises. There are also inconsistencies in the official Android 17 update list, such as duplicate entries for the Motorola Edge 60, raising a lot of questions about the overall list. Earlier this month, Lenovo published a list of Motorola phones confirmed to receive the Android 17 update. While the update included plenty of phones across Motorola’s expansive device portfolio, it also excluded several prominent, relatively recent models that should have made the cut for Android 17. When Lenovo published the Android 17 eligibility list, users on Reddit and in the comments section of our article mentioned that the following phones were missing:

There’s a lot to talk about with Google’s Pixel 11 series, but something that keeps coming up is how expensive the phones are. As we’ve seen from virtually every tech company this year, each Pixel 11 model is more expensive than its predecessor. The starting price of every Pixel 11 phone is $100 higher than its Pixel 10 counterpart, and the Pixel 11 Pro and 11 Pro XL also have less RAM than before. It’s a crummy situation all around, and I wouldn’t blame you if hearing this has put you off from buying a Pixel 11 entirely.

TL;DR Google’s Android Pulse app is starting to appear as an available update in the Play Store. The background service appears to detect unusual resource usage, such as apps suddenly consuming too much battery, memory, or processing power. Android Pulse isn’t new; builds date back to March, and the Play Store shows more than 10 million downloads. There are plenty of Google apps you probably use every day, but Android Pulse is definitely not one of them. In fact, you may not even know it exists. That could change soon, though, because this mysterious system app is suddenly showing up as an available update in the Play Store. As first spotted by 9to5Google, Android Pulse is a Google-made app that works behind the scenes. Its job appears to be pretty simple: keep an eye out for apps or parts of Android that are using your phone’s resources in unusual ways.

Credit: Mitja Rutnik / Android Authority TL;DR Claude is experiencing an outage right now, with users reporting problems across the service. Anthropic says it has identified the cause of elevated errors affecting multiple Claude models and is working on a fix. The company has yet to provide a timeline for when the issues will be fully resolved. Anthropic’s Claude AI service is experiencing issues right now. A growing number of users are reporting problems accessing the platform. Reports of an outage have also surged on Downdetector and X.

Credit: Joe Maring / Android Authority TL;DR Pixel 11 series owners are reporting that Genshin Impact is unplayable due to severe graphical problems. The developer reportedly said that PowerVR GPUs don’t meet its minimum requirements. Google has apparently confirmed the issue while noting that a fix will arrive in an upcoming game update. The Google Pixel 11 phones are powered by a Tensor G6 processor, which uses a PowerVR GPU. Unfortunately, you can’t play Genshin Impact on these new phones. Thankfully, a solution is in the works. Pixel 11 series owners reported severe graphical issues when trying to run Genshin Impact on their phones. These problems made the game unplayable as a result. The issue has also been flagged via Google’s Issue Tracker.

TL;DR Samsung reportedly tested its Exynos 2700 chip against the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 and Gen 6 Pro. According to the tests, the Exynos 2700 performed 9.5% better than the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 in Geekbench 6.5. It also performed 5% better in gaming and 24% better in gaming under low-power conditions. It’s no secret that the Exynos 2700 is coming and will power many phones in the upcoming Galaxy S27 series, at least in some regions. However, if you’re wondering whether an Exynos chipset in your next Galaxy flagship means poor gaming performance and thermal throttling, Samsung may have good news. According to a report from South Korean outlet SEDaily, citing industry sources, the Exynos 2700 outperformed the upcoming Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 and 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro in an in-house evaluation by Samsung. The report further claims that the Exynos chip beat Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chip in multiple categories.

Credit: Aamir Siddiqui / Android Authority TL;DR A tipster has posted apparent Galaxy S27 Ultra renders online. The pictures show a Galaxy phone with an iPhone-like camera plateau. The images also seem to hint at integrated magnets for Qi2 charging and other accessories. Samsung is expected to launch the Galaxy S27 series early next year, and we’ve already heard a few rumors about the new phones. However, the latest leak may have given us a good look at the Galaxy S27 Ultra itself. Tipster Sonny Dickson posted apparent Galaxy S27 Ultra renders on X, showing a major departure from the Galaxy S26 Ultra design. Check out the images below.

TL;DR A leaked image appears to give us an early look at the Sony Xperia 10 VIII ahead of its August 25 unveiling. The phone looks remarkably similar to the Xperia 10 VII, retaining the flat back, horizontal dual-camera bar, and side-mounted fingerprint reader. Leaks also point to the same Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 and 8GB of RAM, leaving us wondering where Sony’s biggest upgrades will come from. A few days ago, we reported that Sony could unveil the Xperia 10 VIII this week. We may not have to wait until the event to see what it looks like, though. Android Headlines has now shared an image that appears to show Sony’s Xperia 10 VIII out in the wild. The image shows a woman holding the phone and looking at the screen. More importantly, we get a clear look at the back. The phone appears to have a white finish with a slight green tint, and if you’ve seen the Xperia 10 VII before, you’ll probably notice something immediately: Sony hasn’t changed much.