Google’s secret new line of Pixel 9 phones isn’t that big of a secret anymore. Taiwan’s National Communications Commission (NCC) released new photos of the phones including the Pixel 9 Pro Fold from almost every conceivable angle.
Android Authority found the photos in the NCC archives and uploaded galleries of each of the four phones including the Pixel 9, 9 Pro, 9 Pro XL and 9 Pro Fold. They reveal some interesting details about the new Pixel phones.
The charging rates will be a little faster than the last generation of Pixel phones: Taiwanese authorities measured 24.12W for the base model, 25.20W for the Pro and 32.67W for the 9 Pro XL. The Pixel 9 Pro Fold, however, was the slowest of all of them at 20.25W. These numbers don’t often match up perfectly with the advertised ratings, so expect Google to be promoting higher numbers at its event.
Speaking of chargers, it looks like Google needed a bigger charger to power its new phones. Photos included in the NCC leak show each phone will come with a wall charger that’s around 45W depending on which model you purchase. The charger’s plug moved from the middle to the top of the brick.
NCC/Android Authority
The latest photo dump also shows the 9 Pro Fold unfolded for the first time. Google has moved the selfie camera to the inside screen for a wider field of view. The 9 Pro Fold also has a slimmer top and bottom, a reduced fold crease on the display and a full 180 degree unfolding angle to make a screen that’s just over 250mm or just under 10 inches.
These photos are the latest in a very long list of leaks of Google Pixel 9 photos. The last Pixel 9 leak came down yesterday showing two prototype models of the base and XL models. Google might look into buying a new combination lock for the high school locker where they apparently keep all their unreleased gear.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/new-photos-reveal-more-details-about-googles-pixel-9-pro-fold-213344869.html?src=rss
An Amazon Prime Day deal has the Google Pixel 7a down to a record-low price. The phone, which only launched last year, typically costs $500 but is available now for half off at $250.
Even at its full price, the Google Pixel 7a is a well-rounded device that balances cost and power. At half off, it’s worth looking at if you have an older (or lower-end) Android phone and want features and specs that won’t be dramatically inferior to many flagship handsets.
The phone resembles the Pixel 7, which it riffs off of, and has a two-tone design with a similar camera bar. The build uses thermal-formed polycarbonate (or, as Engadget’s Sam Rutherford called it, “nice plastic”) that feels premium.
If you’re more interested in hardware than AI tricks, the Pixel 7a offers an impressive 6.1-inch OLED screen with 2400 x 1080 resolution and a 90Hz refresh rate for smoother visuals. ( The latter isn’t something you always see in mid-ranged handsets.) The phone uses a Tensor G2 chip with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. Performance won’t likely let you down unless you’re coming from a higher-end model from the last year or so.
It also includes fast charging, IP67 water and dust resistance and a 64MP rear camera (with all of Google’s machine-learning photography magic). Its camera held up surprisingly well against the Pixel 7 Pro and Galaxy S23 Ultra, its pricier generational peers. Its battery lasted over 17 hours in our video rundown tests, passing the Pixel 7 Pro.
Your Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Hear from Autoblog’s experts on the best Amazon Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/this-is-the-one-prime-day-phone-deal-you-shouldnt-miss-173215863.html?src=rss
Google reportedly offered a group of EU-based cloud firms $512 million (€470 million) as an attempt to derail an antitrust settlement with Microsoft and force the continuation of a formal complaint, according to Bloomberg. The attempt failed and the settlement went through.
Here’s how it went down. A non-profit trade organization called the Cloud Infrastructure Services Providers in Europe (CISPE) issued a complaint to the EU’s antitrust arm, alleging that Microsoft made it too difficult for business customers to change providers because the software was tied to Azure cloud services.
This led to a negotiation between CISPE and Microsoft to give the former better access to the latter’s technologies and end the formal complaint. That’s when Google, a rival to Microsoft, stepped in. The company allegedly offered the aforementioned financial package to the group, so long as they continued with the complaint. This is according to confidential documents and people familiar with the matter, all of which were vetted by Bloomberg.
The financial package broke down into two parts. The vast majority of Google’s offer included software licenses for its cloud technology over five years, with a value of $495 million or €455 million. The remaining amount was offered in cash, as well as a long-term partnership proposal. Amazon Web Services (AWS) also contributed money to Google's offer, despite being an actual member of CISPE.
Google’s deal was conditional, however, on CISPE continuing its EU antitrust complaint against Microsoft. This didn’t influence the cloud companies that comprise CISPE, which are mostly European firms. Instead, the group went in the opposite direction. It entered into a similar agreement with Microsoft that allows them to use enhanced Azure features and gives them the ability to offer Microsoft products and services on their local cloud infrastructures. There was also a cash payout agreement from Microsoft to CISPE of around $11 million, according to people familiar with the agreement.
"Microsoft's playbook of paying off complainants rather than addressing the substance of their complaint hurts businesses and shouldn't fool anyone," Amit Zavery, head of platform at Google Cloud, told CRN. “We are exploring our options to continue to fight against Microsoft's anti-competitive licensing in order to promote choice, innovation, and the growth of the digital economy in Europe.”
It’s worth noting that Zavery didn’t address the allegations that, well, Google did the same exact thing. According to The Register, an individual familiar with the matter called Google’s response “a bit rich.”
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-reportedly-offered-eu-cloud-firms-over-500-million-to-continue-antitrust-case-against-microsoft-160721324.html?src=rss
When Beats discontinued the Pill+ in early 2022, the company seemed to be done with portable Bluetooth speakers. At that point, it hadn’t debuted a new model in over six years, which is a far cry from the release schedule we’re accustomed to from Beats. But, to the surprise of many, the company has re-entered the crowded market with a redesigned Pill ($150). Taking more aesthetic cues from its older models instead of the most recent Pill+, the company sought a cure by completely re-engineered the inside of the device to improve sound quality. It also made the new Pill more rugged along the way, while doubling the battery life and adding modern features like lossless audio, remedying what ailed the previous aging model.
A prescription for better sound
While there are some visible changes, Beats did most of its overhaul on the inside of the new Pill. Most importantly, the company ditched the dual tweeter and dual woofer setup from the Pill+ in favor of a new design that only uses one of each. A larger, more powerful pill-shaped woofer provides more robust bass with less total harmonic distortion (THD) and a lower frequency range.
That single tweeter has been upgraded, too. The driver for mid-range and treble sits in its own housing and has a larger rear cavity. Beats says this setup decreases the crossover responsibilities for the tweeter and woofer in covering the Pill’s full sonic range. As a result, the two components work more efficiently as the tweeter is only tasked with mids and highs while the woofer cranks out the bass.
Another item Beats added on the new Pill is lossless audio over USB-C. The speaker can handle higher-quality tunes up to 24-bit/48kHz via a wired connection. This is my favorite way to listen to the Pill as the audio is more immersive with better clarity. Billy Strings’ Live Vol. 1 in Hi-Res Lossless on Apple Music is noticeably improved over listening via Bluetooth, for example. Of course, the speaker will also charge in this scenario since you’re physically connected to the laptop or whichever device it’s streaming from.
Billy Steele for Engadget
All of this creates much-improved sound quality on the new Pill. The Pill+ was no slouch by 2015 standards, but portable Bluetooth speakers have come a long way in nine years. The rebuild under the hood provides great clarity with punchy highs, full mids and booming bass for much of the volume range. At maximum loudness though, things are more of a jumbled mess as the speaker can’t maintain the crisp, clear detail it offers at around 85 percent and below.
For Balance and Composure’s “Cross To Bear,” the Pill accurately replicates the snappy kick drum and snare combo with the droning bass line over top. Guitars weave through in a layered fashion and the vocals cut clean in the mix. The low-end tone provides depth to this alternative rock track that many speakers this size can’t. The Pill also does a respectable job with boomy hip-hop songs from Run The Jewels and Kaytranada, although the speaker does start to struggle when the bass is super deep, like on RTJ4’s “Out Of Sight.” The tone isn’t as clean as most other songs I tested from the genre.
Amplify and Stereo modes return from the Pill+ to expand the capabilities of the Pill – if you have two of them. The first simply offers bigger, louder sound since you’re using the power of two speakers. The second creates a true stereo pair with dedicated left and right channels. Both work well, but if you’re only using the onboard controls to activate Stereo mode, you have to remember to join the speakers in Amplify mode first. There’s no option in the iOS settings to do this, but you can activate the modes inside the standalone Beats app for Android.
The Beats Pill’s design
Billy Steele for Engadget
One visible design change is the drivers now sit at a 20-degree angle. Beats says it did this to improve sound projection and it delivered. The new Pill does a better job of beaming audio in the direction of your ears when it’s sitting on a shelf or a table, rather than just blasting it straight out the front. I was especially struck by how well the Pill projects low-end tone on boomy hip-hop and electronic tracks.
Four buttons line the top of the Pill for a complete suite of physical controls. The power button, which is on the left, also handles pairing, battery status, voice assistant, USB-C audio and reversing the charging direction. In the middle, the redundantly named Center button offers the media controls while also playing a role in activating Amplify and Stereo modes. And on the right sit the two volume buttons. These are all dimpled circle buttons that work reliably and are easy to find by touch.
The new Pill is also built for the great outdoors. Beats engineered this speaker with IP67-rated dust and water resistance, while the Pill+ didn’t have an IP rating at all. This number means the Pill is fully dust tight and can survive full immersion up to 30 minutes in depths of one meter (just over three feet). That’s plenty of protection for a day at the beach or the pool without having to worry about terminal damage. Beats also included a loop strap that attaches to the end of the speaker for easy carrying or hanging up the unit.
The Beats Pill as a speakerphone
Something Beats is hyping on the new Pill is the ability to use it as a speakerphone. This functionality has been available on Bluetooth speakers before, but the company says its combination of a noise-learning algorithm and full duplex capability (both sides can hear clearly without being cut off) leads to a better experience. I found this to be true during my testing as the Pill sounds much better than most earbuds in quiet spaces. The audio quality on calls suffers when the speaker is trying to battle background noise; however, it’s still your voice that comes through clearly rather than a loud fan or some other distraction.
Battery life
Beats says the new Pill will last up to 24 hours on a charge, which is ample power for a few days. During my testing, I noticed that the speaker could actually muster more. It might be because I kept volumes around 35 to 40 percent most of the time, since the Pill is really loud at 50 percent. After 14 hours of listening to music on both my laptop and iPhone, I still have 70 percent battery left.
If you do find yourself in a pinch, the Pill is equipped with Beats’ Fast Fuel feature that gives you two hours of use by plugging in for 10 minutes. What’s more, the speaker will charge while connected to another device, like your laptop, via a USB-C cable. The Pill has a charge-out feature that can top up your phone or other small devices too, and you can reverse the charging direction with a triple tap on the power button.
The competition
There are so many alternatives to the Beats Pill, with plenty of them available for $100 or less. I would recommend reading our in-depth guide on the best bluetooth speakers that has some suggestions as well as what to look for when you’re shopping. I will point out the JBL Charge 5 from that list, primarily due to its sound quality. It’s just as durable as the Pill and you can use two for a stereo setup or sync it with any PartyBoost-enabled JBL devices. The Charge 5 also has up to 20 hours of battery life and a built-in power bank to top off your phone, making it a great deal at under $150.
Wrap-up
I’ll be the first to admit I didn’t have a new Beats speaker on my 2024 Bingo card. But, I’ll also be quick to confess that I enjoyed my time with the new Pill, mostly due to its much-improved sound quality. Doubled battery life, lossless audio over USB-C and a more rugged build set the Pill up to compete with popular models from Ultimate Ears, JBL and others. Plus, Beats took a chunk out of the price, making this new model a much more palatable offering at $150. While the audio isn’t as good at extreme volumes and the bass tone isn’t as consistent on some tracks, overall audio quality is the best aspect of the Pill. And that makes it a solid addition to your music regimen.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/beats-pill-review-a-revival-worth-the-wait-160056269.html?src=rss
We're seeing steep discounts for Amazon Prime Day on the latest Samsung Galaxy smartphones — the regular ones, not the Z Flip or Z Fold that were just announced. You can get a whopping $325 off the Galaxy S24 Ultra right now, which brings the final price down to a record low of $975. Prime Day phone deals have also brought all-time-low prices to the Galaxy S24 and S24+, knocking them down to $600 and $750, respectively.
Engadget’s pick for the best premium Android phone, the S24 Ultra has the best display available on a phone today: a 6.8-inch color-rich AMOLED screen with razor-sharp QHD+ resolution. In addition, this year’s model takes a page from Apple’s book by switching from an aluminum to a titanium frame, and its camera has a 5x optical zoom. It even includes an S-Pen (stylus) for more precise and versatile input.
Perhaps more intriguing than traditional phone specs is the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s suite of AI tools. The phone’s Galaxy AI features include proofreading texts, editing images, transcribing recordings and more.
The Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24+ are also heavily discounted for as part of the Prime Day deals. Although not quite super-premium like the Ultra, these are still flagship-quality phones with the powerful Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor. In addition, they carry over much of what already worked in the S23 series, including similar camera hardware and battery life.
The standard S24 models also include Samsung’s Galaxy AI suite. You can run some generative AI tools locally, and there’s an additional option to set them to never leave for phone, which is handy for privacy. Features include live translation for voice calls, a live interpreter for in-person conversations, note assist for summaries and formatting, writing assist from the keyboard and image editing.
Your Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Hear from Autoblog’s experts on the best Amazon Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-best-amazon-prime-day-phone-deals-include-up-to-325-off-samsung-galaxy-s24-smartphones-101533773.html?src=rss
We're seeing steep discounts for Amazon Prime Day on the latest Samsung Galaxy smartphones — the regular ones, not the Z Flip or Z Fold that were just announced. You can get a whopping $325 off the Galaxy S24 Ultra right now, which brings the final price down to a record low of $975. Prime Day phone deals have also brought all-time-low prices to the Galaxy S24 and S24+, knocking them down to $600 and $750, respectively.
Engadget’s pick for the best premium Android phone, the S24 Ultra has the best display available on a phone today: a 6.8-inch color-rich AMOLED screen with razor-sharp QHD+ resolution. In addition, this year’s model takes a page from Apple’s book by switching from an aluminum to a titanium frame, and its camera has a 5x optical zoom. It even includes an S-Pen (stylus) for more precise and versatile input.
Perhaps more intriguing than traditional phone specs is the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s suite of AI tools. The phone’s Galaxy AI features include proofreading texts, editing images, transcribing recordings and more.
The Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24+ are also heavily discounted for as part of the Prime Day deals. Although not quite super-premium like the Ultra, these are still flagship-quality phones with the powerful Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor. In addition, they carry over much of what already worked in the S23 series, including similar camera hardware and battery life.
The standard S24 models also include Samsung’s Galaxy AI suite. You can run some generative AI tools locally, and there’s an additional option to set them to never leave for phone, which is handy for privacy. Features include live translation for voice calls, a live interpreter for in-person conversations, note assist for summaries and formatting, writing assist from the keyboard and image editing.
Your Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Hear from Autoblog’s experts on the best Amazon Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-best-amazon-prime-day-phone-deals-include-up-to-325-off-samsung-galaxy-s24-smartphones-101533773.html?src=rss
Apple’s 10th-gen iPad just dropped to $299 for Amazon Prime Day, which is a discount of $50. That's the lowest sale price we've seen, and some users are seeing an additional, clippable coupon that can take off another $20 from the sale price. That would bring the tablet down to $279, but just know that the additional coupon seems to be hit or miss for folks. Regardless, $299 is a fantastic deal one one of our top picks for the best iPads.
This Prime Day iPad deal is for the bare-bones version of the device with 64GB of internal storage. However, this particular iPad model shines brightest when consuming content and, well, most of that is on the cloud nowadays. Also, this particular model is Wi-Fi only with no cellular service, if that’s a dealbreaker for you. Also: the deal extends to all four colorways.
Despite being released back in the ancient days of 2022, the 10th-gen iPad is still a capable machine with an A14 Bionic chip, a 10.9-inch Retina display, two 12MP cameras and a robust battery that should last a full day before requiring a trip to the outlet. It won’t beat the recently-released iPad Air and Pro models, but it’s also a fraction of the price.
As a matter of fact, this tablet still has a place on our list of the best iPads. We appreciated the solid battery life, the modern design that recalls its pricer cousins and USB-C charging. At the end of the day, it’s an iPad. It’s great, despite being significantly underpowered when compared to the Pro and Air. To put it another way, this is the tablet to get if your primary use cases are consuming content, surfing the web, playing games and writing emails. This is not the tablet to get if you want to start editing videos.
Your Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Hear from Autoblog’s experts on the best Amazon Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/prime-day-tablet-deals-apples-10th-gen-ipad-drops-to-a-record-low-of-299-070443368.html?src=rss
OnePlus just held a press event and introduced a trio of new gadgets. There’s an upgraded tablet, new earbuds and a smartwatch. The OnePlus Pad 2 is a refresh of last year’s model, which we mostly enjoyed, so let’s start there.
The Pad 2 is an upgrade over the previous iteration in nearly every way. There’s a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset and a 12.1-inch screen with 3K resolution and a 144Hz refresh rate. The company also promises “stronger audio output” which is always nice, as the primary use for many tablets is consuming content. OnePlus even says that this sound system can emulate spatial audio.
This tablet ships with a 9,510mAh battery that can be fully charged in just over 80 minutes and will operate on standby for up to 43 days. Preorders are available now and the tablet costs $550. It’ll be widely available on July 30. OnePlus is also releasing a suite of accessories for the device, including a keyboard and stylus.
OnePlus
The OnePlus Watch 2R, as the name suggests, is a minor refresh of the just-released Watch 2. It has all of the features of its predecessor, including a maximum battery life of 100 hours, but it's both lighter in weight and cheaper.
It’s powered by the latest Wear OS and integrates with the company’s health-monitoring app for fitness tracking. The Watch 2R is available for purchase right now and costs $230. It’s available in both green and gray.
OnePlus
Finally, there’s the OnePlus Nord Buds 3 Pro. These new earbuds offer improved noise cancellation, up to 49dB, over previous iterations. The buds also have something called Smart Noise Cancellation, which uses an algorithm to automatically reduce unwanted sounds in response to ambient noise.
These earbuds include three microphones for calls, a transparency mode and an extra-large 12.4mm audio driver, which OnePlus says allows for deep bass. They are available now and cost $80.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/oneplus-just-unveiled-a-new-full-sized-tablet-with-some-decent-specs-140023477.html?src=rss
One of the questions I get asked the most is: What is the best affordable Android tablet? And while there aren't a lot of one-size-fits-all devices, if you just want a basic slate for shopping or browsing the news that can also double as a great shared device that lives in your living room, thanks to discounts for Amazon Prime Day, the 10.9-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE is an unquestionably good deal.
At $330, the Galaxy Tab S9 FE is even cheaper on Amazon than it is direct from Samsung, who has it listed for $50 more. But more importantly, while the Tab S9 FE was designed to be a streamlined version of the full-fat Galaxy Tab S9, it retains a lot of the features we like about its more expensive sibling. That includes things like built-in stylus support (and a bundled S Pen), a sturdy aluminum chassis and a bright, high refresh rate display. Granted, the FE's 90Hz LCD panel isn't quite as colorful or speedy as the 120Hz OLED screen on the standard Tab S9 and it has a slower Exynos 1380 processor. But when you consider that the FE costs almost one-third the price for Prime Day, those feel like pretty reasonable trade-offs.
Furthermore, Samsung's DeX mode gives you a dedicated desktop UI complete with a taskbar and multi-window support at the touch of a button. That means the Tab S9 FE can serve as a great portable productivity machine, especially when paired with one of Samsung's many keyboard accessories.
That said, potential buyers should know that one thing the Tab S9 FE doesn't excel at is hardcore gaming. That's because while it's more than speedy enough for casual titles like Stardew Valley or Candy Crush, graphics can become a bit stuttery when playing more demanding shooters like Call of Duty: Mobile.
But if all you need is a versatile Android tablet for a good price, getting a Tab S9 FE for just $330 feels like a steal.
Your Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Hear from Autoblog’s experts on the best Amazon Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/prime-day-tablet-deals-bring-the-samsung-galaxy-tab-s9-fe-down-to-330-140001832.html?src=rss
Amazon Prime Day has brought a slew of deals on some of our favorite gadgets, including a top pick of ours for the best smartphone you can get. The Google Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro handsets are down to $499 and $699, respectively, thanks to Prime Day deals. Those are record-low prices for each, with the steepest discount being $300 off the Pixel 8 Pro.
Google Pixel smartphones have been some of our favorites for a long time, and if you're an Android loyalist, there are no better phones to get at the moment. In our review, these handsets impressed with their Actua and Super Actua displays, refined design, speedy performance and AI features provided by the new Tensor G3 chipset and improved battery lives.
The Pixel 8 is the more compact of the two, with a 6.2-inch touchscreen, and it shares most of the same features with the Pixel 8 Pro. But the latter provides a few extra features including a higher max brightness on its display, a new temperature sensor and configurations with up to 1TB of storage. You'll also get a 48-megapixel ultra-wide camera and a 48MP telephoto lens in addition to the 50MP main camera on the Pixel 8 Pro. AI photo features like Best Take and Magic Editor are shared between the two handsets.
If you want to get some of the benefits of a Pixel 8 phone without spending quite so much, the good news is that the Pixel 8a midrange handset is also on sale for Prime Day. It's down to a record low of $449, which represents a $50 discount.
Your Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Hear from Autoblog’s experts on the best Amazon Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/prime-day-deals-include-up-to-300-off-google-pixel-8-smartphones-125534624.html?src=rss