As we inch closer to the launch of Android 15, more of its potential features keep getting unearthed. Industry insider Mishaal Rahman found evidence of a new camera extension called Eyes Free to help stabilize videos shot by third-party apps.
Before that, Rahman discovered another feature within the Android 15 Beta 1.2 update relating to a fourth screen magnification shortcut referred to as the “Two-finger double-tap screen” within the menu.
What it does is perfectly summed up by its name: quickly double-tapping the screen with two fingers lets you zoom in on a specific part of the display. That’s it. This may not seem like a big deal initially, but it is.
As Rahman explains, the current three magnification shortcuts are pretty wonky. The first method requires you to hold down on an on-screen button, which is convenient but causes your finger to obscure the view and only zoom into the center. The second method has you hold on both the volume buttons, which frees up the screen but takes a while to activate.
The third method is arguably the best one—tapping the phone display three times lets you zoom into a specific area. However, doing so causes the Android device to slow down, so it’s not instantaneous. Interestingly enough, the triple-tap method warns people of the performance drop.
This warning is missing on the double-tap option, indicating the zoom is near instantaneous. Putting everything together, you can think of double-tap as the Goldilocks option. Users can control where they want the software to focus on without experiencing any slowdown.
Improved accessibility
At least, it should be that fast and a marked improvement over the triple tap. Rahman states in his group’s time testing the feature, they noticed a delay when zooming in. He chalks this up to the unfinished state of the update, although soon after admits that the slowdown could simply be a part of the tool and may be an unavoidable aspect of the software.
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It’ll probably be a while until a more stable version of the double-tap method becomes widely available. If you recall, Rahman and his team could only view the update by manually toggling the option themselves. As far as we know, it doesn’t even work at the moment.
Double-tap seems to be one of the new accessibility features coming to Android 15. There are several in the works, such as the ability to hide “unused notification channels” to help people manage alerts and forcing dark mode on apps that normally don’t support it.
Some say it’s always better to have more options, but it’s never as clear-cut as it sounds. This design philosophy doesn’t always work, and more importantly, it isn’t a magical shortcut that can patch everything up and always lead to a better user experience. On the contrary, if not handled properly, I believe the “more is always better” approach can sometimes harm the UX and alienate customers.
Unfortunately, Galaxy phones and tablets, or the alliance between Android and One UI, make for a good example of a somewhat confusing experience. Don’t get me wrong, I believe One UI is fantastic, but it isn’t a full-fledged OS, even if it can sometimes give off that impression thanks to the included high-quality Samsung-made apps.
However, One UI sits on top of Android OS, which means it is bound to a portion of Google’s app ecosystem. This is where I believe things can get confusing for the average consumer.
Because of the Samsung-Google alliance, Galaxy phones and tablets ship with too many duplicate apps that essentially serve the same purpose. Some examples include:
Two Messaging apps that share the same name.
Two web browsers (Samsung Internet and Google Chrome).
Two email apps (Samsung Email and Google Gmail).
Two virtual assistants (Samsung Bixby and Google Assistant).
Two app stores (Galaxy Store and Google Play).
Two Gallery apps (Samsung Gallery and Google Photos).
Two weather forecast systems.
Worse yet, Google and Samsung can’t always design user experiences together, which can lead to similar features clashing. Take this screenshot of the Google Chrome translate feature in action as an example.
When Galaxy device users highlight text they want to translate in Chrome, they’re presented with a tooltip menu containing two “Translate” options. One is Samsung’s, and the other is Google’s, but there’s no way to tell them apart unless you select them or remember which is which from previous interactions.
This is a perfect example of too many options leading to an unfriendly user experience. To the end user, it makes little difference that Samsung likely has no power over Google Chrome’s tooltip menu. Google included that option, and users have to live with it.
As for the app situation, is there anything Samsung can do to make the user experience friendlier? Is there a solution to cleaning up One UI and offering a better-curated experience rather than throwing more options in the user’s lap?
Samsung can’t ditch Google apps but could better curate the experience
In an ideal world, Samsung would have created and perfected its own mobile OS for Galaxy devices, independent of Android OS and Google. But I’m afraid that’s an unrealistic scenario.
Likewise, I doubt Samsung can exclude Google’s apps from its devices, given the co-dependency between these two tech giants.
However, there might be a simpler solution to addressing the incoherent user experience, at least, to a degree. Samsung could rethink its Galaxy device setup process to allow users to choose their default apps from the get-go.
At the moment, there’s no such option. Upon setting up a new Galaxy device, users end up with a mix of Samsung, Google, and even Microsoft apps as the default solutions. And some average consumers might not even realize that they’re using an app provided by one or the other.
Story continues after the video…
It should be noted that an option to choose your default apps already exists, but it is only accessible after the initial Galaxy device setup process — not during. And not every brand-new Galaxy device user might know that they can open the Settings app on their Galaxy phones, navigate a couple of menus, and eventually access the “Choose default apps” option for a deeper layer of customization.
All things considered, the Galaxy phone and tablet experience will probably never be rid of the app duality problem. Default app options offered by both Samsung and Google will probably always clash on Galaxy phones and tablets. A solution to fewer but well-curated options doesn’t seem possible at present.
Nevertheless, maybe Samsung could mitigate the issue by redesigning the initial Galaxy device setup process with new users in mind. It could better inform users of the choices they can make and thus remove some of the confusion that permeates the relatively disjointed Samsung-Google experience.
The popular Google Wallet app is now available in India. In classic Google fashion, though, it doesn’t have all the features available in other countries. Google isn’t replacing Google Pay with Google Wallet, and both apps will continue to co-exist.
Google Wallet is not as feature-rich as Samsung Wallet in India
The Google Wallet app is now available for Android smartphones in India. It can be installed on Galaxy smartphones via the Google Play Store. It allows users to carry flight boarding passes, gift cards, loyalty/membership cards, and movie tickets. However, it can not store credit or debit cards to make mobile payments via NFC, and that feature is still limited to the Google Pay app in India.
In other countries where the Google Wallet app is available, users can store their payment methods (credit and debit cards) to make mobile payments on the go. In India, users must use two apps for their membership cards, payments, and tickets.
In comparison, Samsung Wallet is a more straightforward solution. It acts as both a virtual wallet and a mobile payment solution. It can even store boarding passes, digital car keys, login credentials, mobile ID cards, and digital documents issued by the government. Samsung Wallet links to India’s UPI payments system for quick payments and mobile transfers.
So, if you want a single app for all your shopping, spending, and travel needs, Samsung Wallet is still the app you should prefer if you have a Galaxy smartphone.
Happy Star Wars Day to those who celebrate! But even on these most nerdy of holidays, the tech world moves so fast it’s like it’s jumped to Hyperspace.
If you’ve lost track of the top stories this week we’re here with our trusty lightsaber to cut through the noise so you can get caught up on the most important tech news of the past seven days from Netflix, Rabbit R1, DJI, and Apple.
Speaking of, be sure to head back here on Tuesday, May 7, to read about all the latest hardware announcements from the Apple event. And return next Saturday for another ICYMI news round-up.
In social media posts, Apple has described its upcoming showcase as “a different kind of Apple event,” which has got us thinking about how this iPad-centric reveal might differ from previous Apple events we’ve tuned into.
There are some obvious but boring conclusions to draw here, like the fact that this ‘Let Loose’ event is being held slightly earlier than other Apple events – proceedings are due to kick off at 7am PT / 10am ET / 3pm BST, which is May 8 at 12am AEST in Australia – but we’re hoping Apple justifies its own hype with a more exciting revelation (perhaps we’ll get a sneak peak at the company’s long-awaited generative AI software?).
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Other countries, including the US, aren’t affected yet. But, with a global rollout likely to happen, we suggest you work through your watchlist of the best Netflix shows, best Netflix movies, and best Netflix documentaries ASAP. Otherwise, you might have to start paying extra or be subjected to ads when you’re automatically switched over from the Basic tier to the Standard with Ads one, if you want to watch them on the world’s best streaming service.
5. The Rabbit R1 disappointed us
(Image credit: Rabbit)
Welcome to the very disappointing age of personal AI devices. First there was Humane AI, a wearable AI Pin that was slammed by most major tech critics. Following fast on its heels was Rabbit R1, a far more adorable pocket-sized AI companion that at least has a screen.
Sadly, that’s the kindest thing we can say about it at the moment. This is a bright orange device that is supposed to bridge the gap between intention and action without the need to navigate various apps. In reality, it’s an odd little box with an awful analog scroll wheel, inconsistent performance, and an average LLM. As far as we can tell, it does nothing your iPhone with the Microsoft Copilot app installed on it can’t do, and the marquee item – accessing app features without using apps – often doesn’t work. To make matters worse, there are now claims that the Rabbit OS is little more than an Android app. That may be so, but it’s definitely not the handset’s biggest problem, At least it only costs $199.
4. The DJI Mini 4K landed on Amazon
(Image credit: DJI)
A potential DJI ban in the US aside, life just got harder for DJI rivals that make beginner-level drones after the launch of the Mini 4K.
It’s DJI’s cheapest-ever drone to shoot 4K video and it costs less than $300 / £270 which is an absolute bargain. With much the same hardware as the Mini 2 SE, the Mini 4K is ideal for beginners with easy flight moves, tutorials in the Fly App, a foldable sub-250g design, 31-minute flight time, downward object sensing, and Level-5 wind resistance.
Where it improves on the 2.7K video-equipped Mini 2 SE is higher resolution video, higher bit rates, and a 2x digital zoom. DJI’s cheapest drone just got more powerful and we expect it to be very popular.
3. The Arc browser came for Chrome’s lunch
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
The Arc browser finally came to Windows 11 after originally launching on macOS and iOS, and we’re already loving it more than than Google Chrome and especially Microsoft Edge. It’s speedy, uses far less memory than Chrome, and lacks Edge’s annoying ads and all its other clutter.
Obviously, things aren’t perfect in every way. As it is a Chromium browser, the looming privacy threat of Manifest V3 is very real, and there’s the issue that the browser can still track users with ad block installed.
Though Arc has a lot of great things to offer, and The Browser Company team developing it has promised big feature updates are incoming, including Windows 10 support.
If you’re interested in trying out Arc out for yourself, you can download it for free here.
2. New VR games abandoned the Quest 2
(Image credit: Shutterstock / Boumen Japet)
The Oculus Quest 2 might have recently seen its price drop to just $199.99 / £199.99 / AU$359.99, which is ridiculously cheap – but we highly recommend you ignore it and pick up a Meta Quest 3 instead, even if it’s $499.99 / £479.99 / AU$799.99.
That’s because the first Meta Quest 3 exclusive games were revealed recently, with Batman: Arkham Shadow being announced only a few days ago. So finally, after years of dominance, it’s officially time to put down your Quest 2 – as stupendous as it was – and pick up a different standalone headset as you can no longer enjoy the latest and greatest VR software on the aging Meta device.
So long Quest 2, we’ll miss you.
1. ChatGPT became a little more human
(Image credit: Shutterstock)
Artificial intelligence became a little more human this week for all ChatGPT Plus users after OpenAI rolled out its Memory feature.
Exactly what the name suggests, memory allows the AI chatbot to recall key details from your previous conversations. Say you mention your birthday is next week, or that you just got a new cat, the bot will remember this and should use the information to inform its responses to your prompts in the future.
This should make it feel more like you’re continuing a conversation with the same person rather than a complete stranger every time, but if the idea terrifies you then you can turn the feature off, delete the bot’s whole memory, or delete only certain details.
Recently, it was revealed that Windows 11’s market share has been declining as more users have been opting for Windows 10. Gamers must have missed the memo, though, since it turns out that Windows 11 is gaining ground as the most popular OS among Steam players.
Considering that my position is for Microsoft to simply give up on Windows 11 and move to launching and supporting Windows 12 instead, it’s fascinating to see gamers actually lean into the OS to the point that nearly half of gaming PCs surveyed by Valve have it installed.
According to data from the latest Steam Hardware & Software survey, Windows 11 is installed among 45.15% of Steam users, while Windows 10 has a 51.02% install base. Currently, the top two operating systems are neck and neck, with 11 having a shot at taking over as the most popular gaming OS, especially as 10 has been on the decline in that regard and all of the best gaming PCs today come with Windows 11 preinstalled.
But why?
It’s fascinating as to why this would be the case, as there isn’t much incentive for gamers to make the switch. There are more niche features like Auto HDR, advertised as a Windows 11 setting that would make older games look just as vibrant and clear as modern releases, but the setting barely does anything.
Then there’s the issue of advertisements appearing in the Start menu with no way to opt out, which — alongside the forced integration of AI into the OS — has made the UI more cluttered and annoying to navigate. It honestly boggles my mind as to why so many gamers made the switch with so little material benefit and so many downsides.
It’s possible then, that so many gamers have 11 installed out of convenience rather than any sort of material benefits. All current Windows PCs come with Windows 11 installed rather than Windows 10, meaning that if you purchased a desktop or laptop in 2022 or later you’ll already have it.
While nearly half of Steam gamers use Windows 11 right now, there’s a massive demographic of users who would rather stick with Windows 10 than move on, despite the End of Support (EOS) for Windows 10 looming over users by October 2025. Or, maybe that’s the answer. They could be waiting to move on to Windows 12 instead of dealing with the issues of using Windows 11.
Regardless of the reason, at least Windows 11 received a bit of good news after its fair share of bad press in recent weeks.
Meta is offering some creators thousands of dollars if they go viral on Threads. The payouts are part of a new invitation-only bonus program that rewards creators who use Meta’s newest app.
An Instagram offers some details. It says creators can earn money “based on the performance of your Threads posts” or “the number of posts you create.” So, go for either quality or quantity, it seems. It appears terms of the bonuses are unique to each creator.
According to on Threads, at least one creator was offered “up to $5,000” for Threads posts or replies with 10,000 views or more. Unfortunately, we can’t see how many views that screenshot has so far, and whether it’s making him money.
While not nearly as high as the $10,000 bonuses Reels creators could earn in the past, it’s still pretty generous, given the lower effort needed to type a Threads missive.
The company refers to it as being in “testing,” but it offers a preview of how Meta may try to boost engagement on the service. It’s the same playbook as Meta on Facebook and Instagram.
— Mat Smith
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Just in time for the Olympics.
Peacock just announced it’s raising prices again, less than a year since it did it last. The new price will be $8 per month for Peacock with ads and $14 per month, ad-free. Those prices start on July 18 for new subscribers and August 17 for existing users. The 2024 Summer Olympics is right around the corner, and the streamer will show “every sport and event, including all 329 medal events.” So there’s a reason.
Apple now has six months to allow competing stores on its tablets.
Engadget
Apple’s iPad has been added to the list of tech products that must abide by the EU’s DMA rules. The European Commission has officially designated iPadOS as a gatekeeper under the DMA, alongside Apple’s Safari web browser, iOS and the App Store. To ensure iPadOS compliance, Apple will have to allow third parties to interoperate with iPadOS, so that means third-party app stores for those tablets.
Teens can shop for goods in virtual stores before shipping products to their house.
Walmart’s Discovered experience started out as a way for kids to buy virtual items for Roblox inside the game. But today, that partnership will include a pilot program for teens to buy real-life goods stocked on digital shelves before they’re shipped to your door. Anyone who buys a real-world item will receive a free virtual twin. The first products to benefit from this are a crochet bag from No Boundaries, Onn Bluetooth headphones and a TAL stainless steel tumbler. And we all know: Kids love to show off their stainless steel tumblers.
There are widespread reports of Apple users being locked out of their Apple ID overnight for no apparent reason, requiring a password reset before they can log in again.
Users say the sudden inexplicable Apple ID sign-out is occurring across multiple devices. When they attempt to sign in again they are locked out of their account and asked to reset their password in order to regain access.
This has led to additional Apple ID issues for users with Stolen Device Protection enabled who are away from a trusted location, as well as any app-specific passwords previously set up in iCloud also being reset.
MacRumors staff members have also been affected by the service outage, which does not appear to have been picked up by Apple’s own System Status webpage.
We have contacted Apple for comment and will update readers if we hear back. Have you been affected by the Apple ID issue? Let us know in the comments.
Apple today released several open source large language models (LLMs) that are designed to run on-device rather than through cloud servers. Called OpenELM (Open-source Efficient Language Models), the LLMs are available on the Hugging Face Hub, a community for sharing AI code. As outlined in a white paper [PDF], there are eight total OpenELM models, four of which were pre-trained using the…
Apple is set to unveil iOS 18 during its WWDC keynote on June 10, so the software update is a little over six weeks away from being announced. Below, we recap rumored features and changes planned for the iPhone with iOS 18. iOS 18 will reportedly be the “biggest” update in the iPhone’s history, with new ChatGPT-inspired generative AI features, a more customizable Home Screen, and much more….
Apple has announced it will be holding a special event on Tuesday, May 7 at 7 a.m. Pacific Time (10 a.m. Eastern Time), with a live stream to be available on Apple.com and on YouTube as usual. The event invitation has a tagline of “Let Loose” and shows an artistic render of an Apple Pencil, suggesting that iPads will be a focus of the event. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more …
Apple has dropped the number of Vision Pro units that it plans to ship in 2024, going from an expected 700 to 800k units to just 400k to 450k units, according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Orders have been scaled back before the Vision Pro has launched in markets outside of the United States, which Kuo says is a sign that demand in the U.S. has “fallen sharply beyond expectations.” As a…
Apple is finally planning a Calculator app for the iPad, over 14 years after launching the device, according to a source familiar with the matter. iPadOS 18 will include a built-in Calculator app for all iPad models that are compatible with the software update, which is expected to be unveiled during the opening keynote of Apple’s annual developers conference WWDC on June 10. AppleInsider…
Best Buy is discounting a collection of M3 MacBook Pro computers today, this time focusing on the 14-inch version of the laptop. Every deal in this sale requires you to have a My Best Buy Plus or Total membership, although non-members can still get solid second-best prices on these MacBook Pro models. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Best Buy. When you click a link and make a…
VMware’s end-user compute products are set to undergo substantial changes imminently, with service providers and customers bracing for the impact of yet another potentially colossal shakeup by Broadcom.
An email seen by The Register is reportedly warning service providers of VMware’s Horizon range to either face increased costs or an architecture change.
The changes had also reportedly been covered in a conference call “in recent weeks,” however affected users have had a less-than-ideal amount of time to prepare.
Horizon service providers have been told that they’ll have to make one of two choices. The first, buying licenses for VMware Cloud Foundation and for Horizon, could end up being costly because it involves subscribing to Broadcom’s software bundle.
The second pick, acquiring licenses to VMware vSphere Foundation for VDI from a distributor and reselling them to clients, will require architectural changes that could also add an unwanted (and frankly unnecessary) cost.
Although those affected have reportedly been given permission to apply for exemptions, a separate communication reveals that the system used for managing exemptions is set to go offline at the end of April.
Since acquiring VMware for $69 billion last November, Broadcom has introduced a series of considerable changes to the virtualization company’s portfolio, leaving a bitter taste in the mouths of customers, clients and partners worldwide.
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Several Broadcom executives have come online in recent weeks to address these concerns, including CEO Hock Tan acknowledging the “unease.”
However, investors seem to be less phased about the changes. In the past six months, covering a short period in the runup to the acquisition, Broadcom share prices have risen by a pretty respectable 53.9%.
Threads is testing an option that allows users to archive old posts so that they don’t appear on their profile, according to Instagram head Adam Mosseri.
In a post on the Meta-owned social media platform, Mosseri said that the archive option being tested with a small number of people included a manual setting for individual posts, as well as the ability to automatically archive all posts after a certain period of time.
Users also have the option to unarchive a post to make it public again. If beta testing goes well, the ability to archive posts is likely to be rolled out globally as an option rather than a default behavior, which Mosseri said was the overwhelming preference based on user feedback.
When it launched back in July, Threads was very barebones, with Meta working to add new functionality on a regular basis to bring the network in line with X (Twitter). It has since gained a web app, an ability to search for posts, and a post editing feature. Just last week, Threads began rolling out an option to some users to filter search results by the most recent posts, rather than just posts suggested by its algorithm.
The slow trickle of new features appears to be gradually paying off: The app now has more than 150 million monthly users, according to Mark Zuckerberg, who revealed the figures on Wednesday during Meta’s first-quarter earnings call.
The number indicates an increase of about 20 million new users since February, suggesting steady growth, albeit at a slower rate than its initial rapid popularity, when the app racked up 100 million users in its first week. Zuckerberg said in October he believes Threads has a good chance of becoming Meta’s next billion-user app.
Apple has announced it will be holding a special event on Tuesday, May 7 at 7 a.m. Pacific Time (10 a.m. Eastern Time), with a live stream to be available on Apple.com and on YouTube as usual. The event invitation has a tagline of “Let Loose” and shows an artistic render of an Apple Pencil, suggesting that iPads will be a focus of the event. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more …
Apple has dropped the number of Vision Pro units that it plans to ship in 2024, going from an expected 700 to 800k units to just 400k to 450k units, according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Orders have been scaled back before the Vision Pro has launched in markets outside of the United States, which Kuo says is a sign that demand in the U.S. has “fallen sharply beyond expectations.” As a…
Apple is finally planning a Calculator app for the iPad, over 14 years after launching the device, according to a source familiar with the matter. iPadOS 18 will include a built-in Calculator app for all iPad models that are compatible with the software update, which is expected to be unveiled during the opening keynote of Apple’s annual developers conference WWDC on June 10. AppleInsider…
The upcoming iOS 17.5 update for the iPhone includes only a few new user-facing features, but hidden code changes reveal some additional possibilities. Below, we have recapped everything new in the iOS 17.5 and iPadOS 17.5 beta so far. Web Distribution Starting with the second beta of iOS 17.5, eligible developers are able to distribute their iOS apps to iPhone users located in the EU…
Apple today released several open source large language models (LLMs) that are designed to run on-device rather than through cloud servers. Called OpenELM (Open-source Efficient Language Models), the LLMs are available on the Hugging Face Hub, a community for sharing AI code. As outlined in a white paper [PDF], there are eight total OpenELM models, four of which were pre-trained using the…
Almost a billion mobile users, holding various devices, could have had their communications revealed to malicious third parties, a report from cybersecurity researchers Citizen Lab claims.
It says different device manufacturers have used different keyboard apps which were relaying unencrypted communications, transmitting keystrokes via plaintext, and similar. Tencent QQ Pinyin, Baidu IME, iFlytek IME, Samsung Keyboard on Android, Xiaomi (with keyboard apps from Baidu, iFlytek, and Sogou), OPPO, Vivo, Honor, all of these allowed potential threat actors to decrypt Chinese mobile users’ keystrokes, completely passively, and without the users needing to send any extra network traffic.
The team says it believes the keyboard apps found on these devices were “revealing the contents of users’ keystrokes in transit”.
Keeping private talk private
The only manufacturer whose keyboard app was secure is Huawei, the researchers said. As for Apple and Google, neither app has a feature to transmit keystrokes to cloud servers for cloud-based communications, it was said, which made it impossible to analyze the keyboards for the security of the feature.
“However, we observed that none of the mobile devices that we analyzed included Google’s keyboard, Gboard, preinstalled, either,” the researchers claim.
The researchers disclosed their findings to the manufacturers and say that as of April 1, almost all have addressed their issues. Only Honor and Tencent (QQ Pinyin) still remain a work in progress.
To defend from potential eavesdroppers, users should keep their apps and mobile operating systems updated, and use a keyboard that fully works on the device. Developers, on the other hand, are advised to use well-tested and standard encryption protocols, instead of building their own, potentially vulnerable versions, The Hacker News reports.
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“Given the scope of these vulnerabilities, the sensitivity of what users type on their devices, the ease with which these vulnerabilities may have been discovered, and that the Five Eyes have previously exploited similar vulnerabilities in Chinese apps for surveillance, it is possible that such users’ keystrokes may have also been under mass surveillance,” the researchers concluded.
