Apple Black Friday deals include up to 25 percent off USB-C chargers, MagSafe accessories and more

If you recently treated yourself to an iPhone 15 or new Mac computer, Amazon’s Black Friday sale has Apple accessories you can buy to complete your setup. The highlight of the promotion are the company’s FineWoven Wallets, which are currently $6 or 10 percent off their $59 MSRP. Apple offers the MagSafe accessory in five different colors, with the evergreen, mulberry and taupe models included in the sale. And if you don’t mind basic black, that wallet is discounted even further at $48 currently. Not everyone is a fan of Apple’s new FineWoven accessories, but on the plus side, the material is vegan-friendly and the wallet attaches magnetically to recent iPhones.

As part of the same sale, Amazon has also discounted Apple’s first-party AirTag Key Ring. The coral, taupe, mulberry, pacific blue and black models are all 9 percent off their usual $35 price tag, making them $31 at the moment. Like the MagSafe Wallets above, the AirTag holders are made using the company’s new FineWoven material. 

Separately, the sale discounts the company’s 35W dual USB-C power adapters. After a 25 percent discount, both the standard and compact models are $44, or $16 less than usual. Unlike the FineWoven accessories, these are universally well-regarded. In particular, I love the standard model for its modular design that allows you to swap out the power connector if you’re traveling in another country. Note that 35W won’t be enough to charge some of Apple’s more power-hungry laptops, including the 14-inch MacBook Pro.

For the Mac fan who has nearly everything, I’ll lastly mention Amazon has reduced the Magic Trackpad, Mouse and Keyboard. Of the three peripherals, I think the keyboard is the most useful, particularly if you own one of the company’s laptops and want to build a more ergonomic setup. It’s also subject to the most significant discount, with it costing $80 after a 19 percent price cut.

Your Black Friday Shopping Guide: See all of Yahoo’s Black Friday coverage, here. Follow Engadget for Black Friday tech deals. Learn about Black Friday trends on In The Know. Hear from Autoblog’s experts on the best Black Friday deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Black Friday sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apple-black-friday-deals-include-up-to-25-percent-off-usb-c-chargers-magsafe-accessories-and-more-015305089.html?src=rss

Amazon Black Friday deals: The Fire Max 11 tablet hits a record low of $150

Amazon’s flagship Fire Max 11 tablet is back down to its previous all-time low price just in time for Black Friday. The retailer has discounted the base model with 64GB of internal storage and lock screen ads to $150 or 35 percent off its $230 MSRP. For those that had their eye on the other variants of the Fire Max 11, the 128GB model is sold out at the moment, as is the productivity bundle — though you can still buy the ad-free model for $165, or $80 off its usual $250 sticker price.

The Fire Max 11 is Amazon’s most powerful tablet to date. It features an 11-inch, 2,000 x 1,200 LCD screen, a MediaTek octa-core processor that is about twice as fast as any other Amazon tablet, 4GB of RAM, Wi-Fi 6 support and a fingerprint sensor that’s built directly into the device’s power button. Compared to most of the company’s other tablets, which often skew toward being kid-friendly and built primarily for consuming content, the Fire Max 11 sports a more refined design. It weighs about a pound and features slimmer bezels. Most of all, Amazon went with more premium aluminum. The internal battery is good for about 14 hours of use on a single charge.

On the software front, the Max 11 runs Fire OS 8, the latest version of Amazon’s Android fork. It offers a built-in split screen and picture-in-picture features that are perfect for those who frequently use their tablets to watch video. If you want to use the device for productivity, Amazon offers optional stylus and keyboard case accessories.

Engadget hasn’t had a chance to review the Fire Max 11, but for $230, the tablet offers plenty of value for those looking for a no-frills device that’s great for media consumption and light productivity work. When you consider competing 2-in-1 tablets from the likes of Samsung, Microsoft and Apple will typically set you back far more than Fire Max 11, Amazon’s offering is a great budget option.

Your Black Friday Shopping Guide: See all of Yahoo’s Black Friday coverage, here. Follow Engadget for Black Friday tech deals. Learn about Black Friday trends on In The Know. Hear from Autoblog’s experts on the best Black Friday deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Black Friday sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/amazon-black-friday-deals-the-fire-max-11-tablet-hits-a-record-low-of-150-011030793.html?src=rss

The Instant Pot Vortex Plus air fryer is on sale for $80 in an Amazon Black Friday deal

If you’ve been patiently eyeing an air fryer, one of Engadget’s favorite models is on sale right now. Amazon has discounted the Instant Vortex Plus. Thanks to a 33 percent discount, the small appliance is $80 through the end of the weekend. Normally, the 6-quart model costs around $200, with the current price reflecting a new all-time low for the Vortex Plus.

If you’ve ever been around a kitchen, Instant needs no introduction. The brand is responsible for the very popular line of Instant Pot pressure cookers, and as it just so happens, it also makes an excellent air fryer. In fact, Engadget considers the Vortex Plus as the best model for most people. It features intuitive controls, an easy-to-clean basket, and enough internal capacity to cook four chicken thighs. The Vortex Plus is also versatile. On top of a fry setting, it includes five other cooking modes: roast, broil, bake, reheat and dehydrate. Best of all, it’s fast and doesn’t need much time to preheat.

The model Amazon has discounted is missing the OdorErase feature found on Engadget’s top pick. As the name suggests, Instant claims OdorErase lessens the strength of cooking smells when the Vortex Plus is working. In our testing, OdorErase didn’t completely eliminate all smells, but it did help the appliance produce less smoke. It’s a nice feature to have, but for $80, it’s hard to complain about omissions when the Vortex Plus offers such great performance.

I know what you’re thinking, does anyone really need another small appliance in their kitchen. For what it’s worth, I use the air fryer I bought earlier this year almost every day. It’s great for roasting perfectly crisp vegetables in about half the time required with a conventional oven. I also appreciate how easy the included basket makes cleanup.

Your Black Friday Shopping Guide: See all of Yahoo’s Black Friday coverage, here. Follow Engadget for Black Friday tech deals. Learn about Black Friday trends on In The Know. Hear from Autoblog’s experts on the best Black Friday deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Black Friday sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-instant-pot-vortex-plus-air-fryer-is-on-sale-for-80-in-an-amazon-black-friday-deal-001218389.html?src=rss

Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals drop Google Pixel phones to record low prices on Amazon

All of Google's latest smartphones have been discounted for Black Friday. Of note is the Google Pixel 7a, which is 25 percent off and down to a record low of $374. The Pixel 8 and 8 Pro are also on sale for $549 and $799, respectively, while the high-end Pixel Fold is a whopping $400 off. The Pixel 7a is a great option for anyone who wants a capable smartphone at a very low price — it's our current favorite midrange phone, but at this sub-$400 price, it's a steal.

At $499, the Pixel 7a was already a great value. Budget phones often involve some compromises, but with the 7a, those are few and far between. The phone comes with Google’s previous generation Tensor G2 chip. What’s more, the company didn’t cut back on memory — the 7a features 8GB of RAM, just like the Pixel 7. Subsequently, the Pixel 7a offers performance on par with its more expensive sibling.

Google didn’t skimp in other areas either. The 7a features a vibrant 6.1-inch OLED screen. And for the first time on one of the company’s A-series phones, the 7a boasts a 90Hz refresh rate, meaning interactions like scrolling will feel faster and more responsive than on 60Hz phones. The 7a even comes with wireless charging, a feature that’s frequently hard to find on other phones in the 7a’s price range. Add to that an excellent 64-megapixel main camera with Google’s best-in-class photography software, and there’s not much the 7a doesn’t have going for it.

In fact, when Engadget Senior Reporter Sam Rutherford reviewed it earlier this year, he found little to fault with the 7a. “The Pixel 7a delivers everything I like about the regular Pixel 7 for $100 less,” he wrote in his 90 review of the device. “So if you’re the kind of person who just wants a solid phone for a great price, the Pixel 7a has everything you need.”

For those with more to spend, it’s worth noting the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro are also on sale. After a 21 percent discount, the former is $549 for the 128GB model, with all three colorways — hazel, obsidian and rose – included in the promotion and in stock. Meanwhile, the 128GB Pixel 8 Pro is $799 following a 20 percent discount. Once again, all three colorways — bay, obsidian and porcelain — are part of the sale and available.

Considering the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro only hit the market at the start of October, this is a great opportunity to buy a brand new device. Engadget awarded the two handsets scores of 90 and 93 respectively, calling them Google’s most compelling phones in years. The inclusion of Google’s new Tensor G3 chip, genuinely useful AI features and an unprecedented seven years of software support should make the new Pixels compelling to anyone in the market for a new flagship smartphone.

If you're interested in diving into the world of foldable phones, the Pixel Fold is down to a record low of $1,399 right now. It earned a spot on our best foldable phones list thanks to its easy-to-use exterior display, its thin, IPX8 water resistant design and its handy Google-specific software like Hold for Me, Call Screener and more.

Your Black Friday Shopping Guide: See all of Yahoo’s Black Friday coverage, here. Follow Engadget for Black Friday tech deals. Learn about Black Friday trends on In The Know. Hear from Autoblog’s experts on the best Black Friday deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Black Friday sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-black-friday-deals-the-pixel-7a-is-25-percent-off-and-cheaper-than-ever-223006599.html?src=rss

Android 14: Google’s release dates, new features and everything else you need to know

Android 14, the latest version of Google’s mobile operating system, arrived on October 4. Since then, it has slowly started rolling out to some newer phones, tablets and foldables. Android 14’s user-facing enhancements broadly fall into four categories: accessibility, customization, privacy and security. Below, is a list of all of the update’s biggest features, along with instructions on how to access and enable them.

To compile this how-to, I used a Pixel 8, so what follows reflects how things are done on stock Android. On some phones and tablets, certain options may be located in other parts of the operating system or require a slightly different process to turn on. Even if that’s the case, the instructions here should help you find your way around.

And if you want to find out when (or if) Android 14 will arrive on your device, check out our dedicated guide. In short, many manufacturers, including OnePlus and Nothing, are still finalizing their first stable Android 14 builds, and they may need more time to complete bug and quality assurance testing.

At the bottom of this how-to, you will also find information about Google’s ongoing QPR betas, which include bug fixes and enhancements the company is testing ahead of its first Android 14 Pixel Feature Drop.

Accessibility

Flash notifications

Two screenshots of Android 14's flash notifications feature. The second screenshot shows the two different color notifications.
Screenshots by Igor Bonifacic / Engadget

New to Android 14 are flash notifications, a feature that allows the OS to trigger your phone’s camera flash or brighten the screen when notifications arrive or an alarm goes off. This is particularly helpful to people who may be hard of hearing. Previously, support for flash notifications was spotty on Android, with some manufacturers – most notably Samsung – offering it while others did not.

Users can enable flash notifications from their device’s Settings menu. Swipe down from the top of your phone’s screen to access the Notification Shade, then swipe down again to expand the Quick Settings. Tap the cog icon on the bottom of right of the screen to access the main Settings menu. From there, tap “Notifications,” then “Flash notifications.”

Two toggles allow you to enable camera and screen flashes independently of one another, and, if you tap “Screen flash,” you can also tweak the color of the flash, with Pixel phones offering 12 different options.

Improved support for hearing aids

Screenshots of Android 14's new dedicated Settings page for hearing devices
Screenshots by Igor Bonifacic / Engadget

Flash notifications aren’t the only new Android 14 feature for those who may be hard of hearing. In Android 13 and prior, Google grouped hearing aids in with other Bluetooth devices. Now, the former have their own dedicated page within Android 14’s settings.

To access the page, open the Settings app, scroll down and tap “Accessibility,” then scroll down and tap “Hearing devices.” Here you will find an option for pairing new hearing aids with your phone, and a toggle that allows you to add dedicated shortcuts for said device. On Pixel devices, users can both add an accessibility button that lives on the side of their phone’s screen, and configure the volume buttons so that when you hold down both, your phone will take you directly to the hearing devices menu. There’s also a toggle that Google notes should improve compatibility with telecoils and reduce unwanted noise.

Larger fonts

Screenshots of Android 14's display size and text menu
Screenshots by Igor Bonifacic / Engadget

For visually impaired users, Google has added support for larger fonts and smarter scaling. On Pixel devices, Android can now make text up to 200 percent larger where before the maximum was 130 percent. The new system is built around non-linear scaling, so text that is already big – such as titles and headings – won’t increase in size as much as other, smaller elements.

To increase the size of text and interface elements on your phone, open the Settings menu, then tap “Display,” followed by “Display size and text.” In addition to two sliding scales that allow you to change the size of fonts and everything on screen, this page features two toggles that you can turn on to bold all text and enable high contrast fonts.

The first time you tweak your phone’s font size settings, Android 14 will automatically add a font size settings option to the final page of the quick settings menu. You can access this menu by swiping down from the top of your phone’s screen to bring down the notification shade. Swipe down again to see the full quick settings menu. To edit the order in which menu items appear, tap the pencil icon that appears when the full quick settings menu is on screen, and then hold and drag the tiles you wish to move.

Better pinch to zoom functionality

Two screenshots showing off Android 14's new magnification settings.
Screenshots by Igor Bonifacic / Engadget

In addition to more robust font scaling, Android 14 features a redesigned magnifier tool that allows users to quickly customize how much of the screen they’d like to see enlarged. The panel offers four different magnifier sizes and the option to enable diagonal scrolling. It also includes a scale you can use to increase or decrease the zoom level. To enable the panel, open the Settings menu, tap “Accessibility” followed by “Magnification. As with flash notifications, you can bind the magnifier tool to an on screen accessibility button or both volume buttons.

Customization

More wallpaper and lock screen customization

Two screenshots of Android 14's new customization
Screenshots by Igor Bonifacic / Engadget

Although technically not new to Android 14, it’s more than likely that the two wallpaper features Google previewed at I/O 2023 will arrive on most non-Pixel handsets alongside Android 14. The new features allow users to create custom wallpapers with up to 14 of their favorite emoji or with the help of a built-in AI image generator.

The new customization settings are accessible directly from the homescreen. Long press the home screen and tap the top option, “Wallpaper & style” to open the relevant menu. From there, you can find the new AI and Emoji wallpaper options by tapping “More wallpapers.” Both options are situated at the top of the interface.

The AI option has a few limitations worth keeping in mind. To start, you must select a theme. As of this article, there are 12 on offer. Additionally, Google doesn’t currently allow you to write a prompt from scratch. Instead, each theme comes with a few parameters that the user can define, and here again the options are limited to the ones Google gives you.

The new lock screen customization options are accessible from the top of the “Wallpaper & style” screen. Tap “Lock screen,” and then drag your finger or thumb either left or right to scroll through the different options. To tweak the color and size of the clock, tap “Clock color & size.” For additional tweaks, including the new option to add up to two shortcuts to your phone’s lock screen, scroll down the interface.

Regional preferences

Two screenshots of Android 14's new regional preferences menu, which allows users to set their preferred temperature scale and first day of the week.

If you’re an American who lives abroad (or a foreigner who finds themselves frequently visiting the US), Android 14 allows users to set system-wide preferences for whether apps should display temperatures in Celsius or Fahrenheit or treat Sunday or Monday as the start of the week. Additionally, once you set those preferences, Android 14 knows to carry them over between backups. Separately, the OS offers more robust support for gendered languages like French and German.

To set your regional preferences, open the Settings menu, tap “System,” then “Languages,” followed by “Regional preferences.” When I sat down to write this story, searching for “Regional preferences” using the Settings app’s built-in search feature did not point me in the right direction. If you run into a similar issue, follow the menu flow described above.

Privacy and security

Data protection

Android 14 makes it easier to see how advertisers and other third parties are using your data – and thereby decide if you want to restrict your app permissions – with a new monthly notification that details any data sharing changes the apps on your phone may have made in the past 30 days. You don’t need to enroll in these to start seeing them, though a footnote on Google’s website notes this feature is only available for certain apps.

End of support for older apps

Android 14 doesn’t allow users to install apps that make use of application programming interfaces (APIs) that date back to and before Android 5.1. Google’s reasoning for this is that a lot of malware programs target vulnerabilities found in older and outdated APIs. In practice, this is mostly likely to affect older games that haven’t been updated in more than a few years. That said, if you have a Lollipop era app or game installed on your phone when you go to download Android 14, it will continue to work even after your phone starts running the new OS.

More nuanced photo and video sharing

A screenshot of Android 14's new data protection notification, which allows you to limit the photos an app can access.
Screenshots by Igor Bonifacic / Engadget

Borrowing a page from iOS, Android 14 adds more nuanced sharing options for photos and videos. Now, when an app requests access to your media files, you can choose to give it access to all, none or only some of your photos and videos. Previously, this was an all or nothing proposition. You should see a new prompt reflecting the redesigned permissions the first time an app asks for access to your photos and videos.

If at any point you change your mind, you can review all of your app permissions from the Settings app. After opening the menu, tap “Apps,” then tap the name of the program you want to review (you may need to tap “See all apps” to find the specific one you’re looking for), followed by “Permissions” and then “Photos and videos.” If you plan to change the permissions for more than one app, there’s a helpful “See all apps with this permission” option that will appear toward the bottom.

Separately, Google has also tweaked Android’s Share Sheet. With Android 14, developers can add custom share targets to the interface, and the OS can pull in more app data to better inform the priority of actions. In theory, this should make the Share Sheet more consistently useful.

PIN enhancements

With Android 14, the humble pin has received a pair of enhancements. First, there’s a new option that allows you to disable the animation that plays on the lock screen when you input your PIN. In theory, this should make it harder for onlookers to spy your code. Second, there’s a new auto-confirm option that makes it so you don’t need to tap “Ok” after tying out your PIN, thereby reducing the time it takes to open your phone. For security reasons, this is only available with six-digit PINs.

Both options are found in the “Enhanced PIN privacy” section of the “Security” settings menu. The auto-confirm unlock is enabled by default when you set a six-digit PIN.

Everything else

Battery life

Android 14 doesn’t include any tentpole battery-related features like Marshmallow did with Doze. Nonetheless, Google claims the OS should be less of a power hog, thanks to refinements the company made to how the software handles background tasks, downloads and uploads.

Health Connect integration

Google Health Connect
Google

In late 2022, Google released Health Connect, a platform it jointly developed with Samsung to enable health and fitness apps to more easily share data between one another without compromising on user privacy. With Android 14, Health Connect is integrated directly within the operating system’s Settings. It’s accessible from the “Privacy” page of the dashboard.

Ultra HDR

Lastly, Android 14 includes built-in support for Google’s new Ultra HDR picture format. The format embeds a high dynamic range tone map directly within the metadata of an image. On devices with HDR-compatible displays, Google says Ultra HDR will produce images with more vibrant colors and contrast. The nifty thing about the format is that it’s fully backward compatible with most devices. thanks to the fact it makes use of the .jpg extension. On devices with SDR displays, the viewer will see a regular SDR image.

What about the next two Pixel Feature Drops?

The Pixel 8 retains a matte finish on its frame while the Pixel 8 Pro features polished sides.
Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

As mentioned above, Google is currently conducting two quarterly platform release (QPR) betas. For the uninitiated, these see the company testing tweaks that will eventually arrive as part of future Pixel Feature Drops. Google is expected to release the first one before the end of the year and the one after that in March. You can take part in the QPR1 and QPR2 betas by enrolling in the Android Beta for Pixel program.

Once the first Android 14 Pixel Feature Drop arrives, I’ll update this article to detail what’s new – since the release timing of specific features can change. In the meantime, what follows is a non-exhaustive list of the changes Google has been testing. Credit for spotting many of these goes to former XDA Developers reporter Mishaal Rahman.

QPR1

The highlight of the first beta is a redesigned “Software updates” page that is easier to find and brings together system, app and Play Store updates in one place. Considering the amount of taps it currently takes to manually check for updates, this is a welcome change.

Another notable enhancement sees Google tweaking the Pixel’s built-in Clock app to add weather information to the world clock page. This change is carried over to the app’s optional widgets.

QPR2

As for the second beta, the highlight here is a per-app screen recording option. This is a change Google has been teasing for a while, and it looks like it’s finally on its way early next year. Elsewhere, QPR2 adds an outline to the volume slider, making it easier to see just how loud your phone is at any given moment. Some people have also reported that QPR2 reduces the amount of time it takes to install software updates anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/android-14-googles-release-dates-new-features-and-everything-else-you-need-to-know-150057490.html?src=rss

When will your phone get Android 14?

While Google may have officially released Android 14 at the start of October, there’s a good chance you’re still waiting for the update to arrive on your device. In recent years, the company has done its best to reduce the lag between when the latest version of Android arrives on its own Pixel phones and those from third-party partners, but that gap still exists in 2023. As of the writing of this article, many phone manufacturers are still beta-testing their Android 14 skins.

Engadget reached out to nearly every major phone manufacturer in the US market to find out how close they are to releasing a stable build of Android 14. If you’re unsure if your phone will receive the new OS, this article will answer that question, too.

ASUS

ASUS Zenfone 9 in
Richard Lai/Engadget

ASUS began publicly testing Android 14 in the US on October 10. Currently, the beta is only available on the company’s current flagship, the Zenfone 10. “The Zenfone 10 Android 14 closed community beta is first up – and as such Zenfone 10 is the first device which should be getting a stable release,” an ASUS spokesperson told Engadget.

ASUS declined to say when Zenfone 10 users could expect a stable version of Android 14 to arrive on their devices, with the company noting the timing of the release “is highly dependent on the stability and results of the beta tests with our signed-up community members.”

Beyond the Zenfone 10, only a handful of other ASUS phones will receive Android 14 due to the company’s current policy of supporting its recent devices with two platform updates. Taking that into account, the oldest phones ASUS will update with Android 14 are the Zenfone 9 and ROG Phone 6.

Google

For 2023, Google added a selfie camera with autofocus to the Pixel 8 Pro, though the standard Pixel 8 still gets a traditional fixed-focus shooter.
Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

As the main steward of Android, Google was one of the first phone makers to release a stable build of Android 14. Much of the Pixel line, dating back to 2020’s Pixel 4a 5G, has had access to Android 14 since October 4. Starting with the Pixel 8 series, Google has promised to support future devices for seven years. The first Android 14 Pixel Feature Drop will arrive sometime in December. In the meantime, you can enroll in the Android Beta for Pixel program to check out the first two Android 14 quarterly platform release (QPR) betas. Those include features that will arrive in later Feature Drops.

Huawei

Unless there’s a dramatic change in US-China relations, Huawei devices in the United States, Canada and Europe will not receive access to Android 14, at least not in the form accessible on devices from other manufacturers. In 2019, the Commerce Department placed the telecom giant on its Entity List, prompting Google to cut official ties with Huawei. HarmonyOS, the company's version of Android, doesn’t draw directly from the codebase Google makes available to its commercial partners. Additionally, most recent Huawei devices, including the Mate 60 Pro, aren’t available outside of China.

Motorola

The Motorola Razr+ folded shut and held in mid-air, with a weather widget showing on its external display.
Photo by Cherlynn Low / Engadget

Motorola will begin rolling out Android 14 to its phones in early 2024. The 2022 Edge, Edge+ and Edge 30 Fusion are the oldest devices the company plans to upgrade. The company’s 2023 lineup — including the Razr, Razr+, Moto G Power, G Stylus and G 5G — is also slated to receive Android 14. “For the status of Android OS on a specific device, users can visit our software support page,” a Motorola spokesperson said.

Nothing

Thanks to its OS 2.0, Nothing is finally showing its vision of a more thoughtful smartphone UI.
Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

Carl Pei’s Nothing recently began rolling out the second open beta of Nothing OS 2.5, which builds on Android 14 with features designed to extend the capabilities of the company’s signature Glyph interface. The company posted on X on December 15 that the Nothing OS 2.5 update will roll out to Phone 2 users “over the next few days.” Meanwhile, Phone 1 users can expect an open beta for the update before the end of 2023.

Pei detailed Nothing OS 2.5 in a community update Nothing uploaded to YouTube. Among other enhancements, Open Beta 2 adds a new Glyph animation when the Phone 2’s NFC hardware is in use. The update also adds optional shortcuts users can access from the Phone 2’s power button, and tweaks to the operating system’s three-finger swipe gesture to make it more reliable. You can find the complete list of changes on Nothing’s website.

To date, Nothing has pledged to support its phones with three years of OS upgrades and four years of security updates. Having only entered the smartphone market in July 2022 with the Phone 1 and released one other handset since then, Nothing users can rest assured their device will get Nothing OS 2.5.

OnePlus

The Open's 6.3-inch exterior display doesn't sound like a big increase over the Z Fold 5's 6.2-inch Cover Screen, but that tiny bit of added width makes a big difference in overall usability.
Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

OxygenOS 14, OnePlus’ upcoming skin of Android 14, has rolled out to the OnePlus 10T and 11R in India, according to 9to5Google. OnePlus declined to say when users could expect its entire eligible lineup to receive it, telling Engadget it did “not have any additional information to share at this time.”

On November 8, the company announced the Beta 4 release of OxygenOS 14, at the same time making the software available to people in the US and India.

If you bought your OnePlus phone anytime in the last three years, it’s likely to receive Android 14. With its two most recent products, the OnePlus 11 and OnePlus Open, OnePlus pledged to provide four years of Android updates and five years of security patches. With earlier handsets, including last year’s OnePlus 10 Pro, the company said it would support those products with three years of platform updates.

With that in mind, the OnePlus 8T, which was released in late 2020, is likely the oldest OnePlus phone slated to receive OxygenOS 14. Additionally, as with most other manufacturers, those with older devices will probably end up waiting longer before they see the latest version of Android arrive on their phone.

Samsung

While it's a bit pricey starting at $1,200, Samsung's Galaxy S23 Ultra continues it's reign as the flagship Android phone to beat.
Sam Rutherford/Engadget

Samsung began rolling out a stable build of its Android 14 skin, One UI 6, at the end of October. With the company offering four generations of OS updates on many of its recent devices, older phones like the Galaxy S21 and Galaxy A32 won’t be left out of the company’s Android 14 rollout. Samsung has already updated a significant portion of its recent smartphone lineup, starting with recent flagships. With the company off to a quick start, most eligible Galaxy phones could end up receiving the update before 2024.

As 9to5Google notes, the Galaxy S23 series was the first to receive Android 14, in October. The S22 and S21 series followed in late November, as well as foldables including the Z Fold 5 and Z Flip 5. Midranged handsets like the Galaxy A54 5G, A53, A34 5G and A24 squeezed into the November update slot as well. So far in December, we’ve seen the One UI 6 / Android 14 update arrive for the A52s, A14 LTE, A33 and M33.

Not yet updated (but still scheduled for December, according to an apparently official Samsung schedule shared by a company community manager) are the Z Fold 4, Z Fold 3, Z Flip 4 and Z Flip 3. Also expected in December are midrange handsets like the Galaxy A72, A52, A14, M53 5G and the rugged XCover 6 Pro.

Models expected in January include the Galaxy A23 5G, A13, A04s, M23 5G and M13.

Sony

Sony's Xperia I V smartphone debuts vlogging features like 'Product Showcase'
Sony

Sony began rolling Android 14 to its flagship Xperia 1 V phone on November 6. If your 1 V hasn’t prompted you to install the update yet, you can manually check if it’s available to download by opening your phone’s Settings menu and tapping the “System Update” option, which is found under the “System” heading.

“The Android 14 update will be rolling out to other Xperia models,” a Sony spokesperson told Engadget. “However, we are not able to share the exact timing of that rollout.”

Xiaomi

Xiaomi's 13 Pro packs a 1-inch camera sensor and Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor
Xiaomi

Outside of Google, Xiaomi was one of the first OEMs to roll out a stable release of Android 14 to its users. As of this article, MIUI 14, which builds on the latest version of Google’s operating system, is available on the Xiaomi 13 Pro, 13 and 12T.

Unfortunately, those with older Xiaomi handsets may end up waiting a while before MIUI 14 arrives on their phone. “The exact timeline for Xiaomi to update its older devices to Android 14 is currently not available,” a Xiaomi spokesperson said. “Please stay tuned for further updates on this matter.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/when-will-your-phone-get-android-14-152432975.html?src=rss

What is RCS and how is it different from SMS and iMessage?

In a dramatic reversal, Apple announced this week it would offer RCS support starting in 2024. The decision effectively ends one of the most protracted and confusing conflicts between iOS and Android. If you’re not sure what any of that means, don't worry: We're about to lay out what could change with Apple’s adoption of the GSMA’s next-generation messaging protocol. 

What is SMS?

Short Message Service (SMS) is one of the most ubiquitous messaging protocols on the planet. It dates back to the early days of mobile technology. In December 1992, Neil Papworth, at the time an engineer at Vodafone, sent the first SMS text message when he wished his boss “Merry Christmas.” By the start of 2011, approximately 80 percent of all mobile phone users globally — an estimated 3.5 billion people — were sending SMS messages every month.

In 2023, however, the standard has some notable drawbacks. SMS messages are limited to 160 characters, and texts you send can’t include photos, videos, audio or GIFs. For that, cell phones have long turned to a supporting protocol known as Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), but it too has its share of technical limitations, including woefully small message size limits. SMS also doesn’t support end-to-end encryption.

But for all the ways SMS feels dated in an era dominated by instant messaging platforms, it has one defining advantage: SMS messages are routed through your carrier’s mobile network, meaning a data plan isn’t necessary to use the technology. That fact has meant SMS has often served as a fallback for more advanced protocols, including iMessage.

What is RCS?

RCS is short for Rich Communication Services, though sometimes it is also marketed as “Advanced Messaging.” Either way, it’s often positioned as a next-generation replacement for SMS and MMS. RCS allows users to take advantage of many features that were previously exclusive to over-the-top messaging platforms like WhatsApp.

For instance, the RCS Universal Profile includes full support for read receipts and typing indicators. It can also facilitate proper group chats, and allow users to send high-resolution images, video and audio clips. As of earlier this year, Google’s implementation of RCS also offers by default end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for both one-on-one and group chats.

Unlike SMS texts, RCS messages are routed over a mobile data connection or Wi-Fi link, with SMS functioning as a fallback. For that reason, the older protocol likely isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

One thing that’s important to remember about RCS is that it is not and has never been envisioned as a replacement or competitor to instant messaging apps. At its heart, RCS is a communication protocol between mobile telephone carriers and between a phone and carrier. Taking advantage of RCS does not require signing up for a new service. As long as your phone and carrier support RCS, and you’re using a compatible app such as Messages by Google, you can take advantage of everything the protocol has to offer — provided, of course, the person or people you’re messaging meet those same requirements.

How does iMessage fit into all this?

Apple announced iMessage in June 2011, a few short months before Steve Jobs died later that same year. Unlike RCS, iMessage is a proprietary messaging protocol controlled exclusively by Apple and available (barring some unofficial workarounds) only on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Mac devices. Starting in 2024, Apple plans to integrate support for RCS in its Messages app. However, at the moment the two protocols do not communicate with one another. As such, Apple’s Messages app will default to SMS/MMS when users attempt to send texts and media files to someone with an Android phone.

From the perspective of an iMessage user, it can feel like Android users are stuck in a bygone messaging era — even though the latter is not at fault for the situation. Due to iMessage’s reliance on SMS/MMS for Android communication, media files end up pixelated, there aren’t any read receipts or typing indicators and forget about trying to involve multiple iPhone and Android users in a single group chat.

How did we get here?

Although work on RCS began before Apple announced iMessage, the protocol had one major disadvantage that doomed it to a slow rollout. RCS is a multi-stakeholder project that includes the involvement of the GSMA, a trade body that represents the interests of the mobile communications industry at large. In 2015, Google took a more active role in the proliferation of RCS when it acquired Jibe Mobile. With Jibe’s technology as a base, it’s effectively Google that provides the glue that binds the RCS ecosystem together, but for a long time, the company did a poor job of aligning everyone involved in RCS toward a shared goal.

In fact, the early days of RCS were marked by false starts, with some carriers, including a group made up of AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon forming a short-lived joint venture to push the protocol forward before eventually aligning themselves with Google. Even Samsung did its own thing for a while before it too eventually agreed to make Messages by Google the default messaging app it ships on phones in the US.

For that reason, Apple has had little reason to adopt RCS. After all, why would it give a bumbling competitor a freebie? And as recently as last year, it seemed there was little to no chance the situation was going to change anytime soon. "I don't hear our users asking that we put a lot of energy into that," Apple CEO Tim Cook told the Code Conference in 2022 when he was asked about RCS messaging. “Buy your mom an iPhone” was his final word on the matter.

But it was also last year that the European Union passed its landmark Digital Markets and Services Act (DMA). The legislation requires “gatekeepers” to not favor their own systems or limit third parties from interoperating within them. Gatekeepers are any company that meets specific financial and usage qualifications. Apple, according to the law, is one such company. 

At the start of November, Google sent the European Commission arguing that iMessage violates the DMA. It’s probably not an accident that Apple's RCS announcement coincided with the deadline for companies to file challenges to the DMA at the EU’s General Court. On Friday, the EU announced Apple is contesting its DMA assignments. The details of the company’s complaints aren’t public, but Bloomberg reported last week Apple was planning to challenge the gatekeeper designations of both iMessage and the App Store.

Does Apple’s support of RCS mean the end of green text bubbles on iPhone?

It’s too early to tell. On Thursday, Apple provided precious few details about how it plans to display and treat RCS messages on its devices. What’s more, the company did note that iMessage “will continue to be the best and most secure messaging experience for Apple users.” That said, even if you take that statement to mean iMessage will continue to display texts from non-Apple devices differently from those sent from an iPhone, iPad or Mac, Apple’s adoption of RCS will lead to a better user experience for both iOS and Android users.

Again, Apple needs to provide specifics, but it’s easy to envision a future where its Messages app, thanks to RCS, properly displays high-resolution images and videos sent from Android phones, and allows both iOS and Android users to take part in group chats without something breaking. On Thursday, Apple also said it would work with GSMA members to improve the existing Universal Profile protocol, with a focus on adding end-to-end encryption to the standard.

Of course, whether that interoperability ends the stigma around green bubbles is harder to answer.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/what-is-rcs-and-how-is-it-different-from-sms-and-imessage-202334057.html?src=rss

Nothing Phone 2 is getting iMessage support this Friday — with some catches

Android has long had an iMessage problem. In the US, Apple’s proprietary chat platform reigns supreme, particularly among teens. In fact, many Americans won’t switch for fear of the perceived social stigma that comes with the green chat bubbles iMessage assigns to messages from Android phones. Google has tried a few different things to convince Apple to open the platform, including turning to the European Commission for regulatory relief. For most Android users, that's meant there's been little they've been personally able to do about the situation. Until now.    

Nothing today announced Nothing Chats, a messaging app that supports both RCS and iMessage. Nothing Chats builds on Sunbird, a unified messaging platform that has been available in closed beta since the end of last year. Sunbird allows users to access all of their chats, including iMessage, from a single interface. As of this past April, the app had a waitlist more than 100,000 entries long. Sunbird is one of a few apps that Android users can turn to chat with their iPhone-touting friends. The most well-known player in the space is Beeper, which is the brainchild of Pebble founder Eric Migicovsky.

At launch, Nothing Chats will support most of iMessage's signature features, including typing indicators. However, some functionality, such as read receipts and Tapback reactions, will arrive at a later date.
Nothing

With Friday’s release of Chats, Nothing isn’t just promising to allow Phone 2 owners to “camouflage” themselves as iPhone users. Out of the box, Chats will ship with support for many of iMessage’s signature features, including typing indicators, high-resolution media sharing and proper group messaging. Read receipts and Tapback reactions will arrive at a later date. As mentioned above, Chats also supports RCS, meaning you can enjoy iMessage-like features when messaging your Android friends too.

“We understand that the blue bubble vs. green bubble dilemma, especially in North America — although seemingly ridiculous — is real. Nothing Chats allows for freedom of communication between anyone regardless of their brand of smartphone - which is how it should be,” said Nothing CEO Carl Pei. “We want to remind consumers that they do have a choice when it comes to device selection and that their daily behaviors should not be dictated by any one company.”

So, what’s the catch? “There’s no data saved on the platform, so users don’t have to worry about their privacy,” Pei told Inverse. But there are some concerns. Sunbird, like Beeper, employs a workaround that Apple doesn’t officially support, and that the company would almost certainly argue puts users at risk. Nothing told Inverse Sunbird’s “patented” process for bringing iMessage to Android involves server farms of Mac minis that route a user’s messages through to Apple.

Before someone can access iMessage on Nothing Chats, they must first sign into their Apple ID through Sunbird’s platform. Nothing told Inverse all iMessage content sent through Chats is encrypted, and that “at no point can Sunbird access your messages or Apple ID.” Additionally, Nothing notes the startup will delete a user’s Apple ID credentials after two weeks of inactivity. Still, if you decide to use Nothing Chats to access iMessage, you’re effectively handing over the keys to your Apple ID to a company that isn’t Apple.

A screenshot of Nothing Chats' onboarding interface
Nothing

As for whether Nothing Chats is long for this world: Asked about the possibility of Apple taking legal action against Nothing and Sunbird, Pei told Marques Brownlee he thought the tech giant would “probably [do] nothing.” 

In a separate interview with The Washington Post, Pei said Nothing has sold “about six figures’ worth” of Phone 2 devices in North America, Britain and Europe. In other words, it’s a small fish in a big pond. More importantly, Apple finds itself in a regulatory environment where attempting to shut down a platform that is opening up iMessage would draw the attention of regulators in the European Union and beyond.

Nothing Chats will be available to download from the Play Store starting on November 17. For the time being, a Nothing Phone 2 is required to access the platform, with regional availability limited to the US, Canada, UK, EU and other European countries, including Norway and Switzerland.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/nothing-phone-2-is-getting-imessage-support-this-friday--with-some-catches-194655776.html?src=rss

The best gifts for cyclists in 2023

Other than a bike, helmet and a few emergency maintenance essentials, there aren’t many things a person needs to enjoy a bike ride outside. But having the right accessories can go a long way towards making the experience more fun, more safe and, ultimately, more rewarding. The list of recommendations below cover the gamut of things you can give to the cyclist in your life, from must-have safety accessories like bike lights, to more techie gadgets like bike computers. However, each represents an item the staff here at Engadget have personally tested or swear by, and would make for a great holiday gift.

Crankbrothers M19 Multi-Tool

Knog Rear Blinder or Rear Plus Lights

Ornot Handlebar Bag

Garmin Varia Radar

Knog Oi Luxe Bike Bell

Kryptonite New York U-Lock

PS Bagworks Rider Strap

Patagonia Houdini Jacket

Planet Bike Waterproof Bike Seat Cover

Park Tool Cyclone Chain Scrubber

Wahoo Elemnt Bolt V2

Ortlieb Back-Roller Plus Panniers

Outdoor Research ActiveIce Sun Sleeves

Steadyrack Vertical Bike Rack

Burley Kazoo Trailercycle

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/best-gifts-for-cyclists-140100878.html?src=rss

Apple Arcade exclusive ‘Japanese Rural Life Adventure’ is a surprising story of rebirth

For the third time in less than two years, I have COVID-19. Whenever an illness has forced me to stay in bed, my comfort food has been gaming. In 2009 I played through all of Assassin’s Creed II in a feverish, swine flu-induced haze. When I was sick with COVID for the first time, I jumped into Red Dead Redemption 2 blind, and found a story about sickness and human mortality. Now, during one of the most stacked years in recent gaming history, I find myself under the covers not with Starfield, Spider-Man 2 or any of the other big fall releases. Instead, my bedside companion is a small Apple Arcade exclusive called Japanese Rural Life Adventure.

I discovered this gem through an X account that tweets about upcoming indie games. I took one look at Japanese Rural Life Adventure and knew I had to play it. The game features a beautiful pixel art style, and a pastoral setting evocative of anime classics like Only Yesterday and Wolf Children. What I didn’t expect to find was a heartwarming experience about the importance of community.

In its opening hours, Japanese Rural Life Adventure plays out much like Stardew Valley or, for that matter, any other farming sim made in the past two decades. When the game’s protagonist first arrives in the countryside, they find their new home in disrepair, nearly every inch of the surrounding fields overgrown with weeds. But following a predictable start, the game shows its true character.

Almost uniquely among other games in the genre, Japanese Rural Life Adventure doesn’t include any romantic partners for the player’s character to pursue. Nearly everyone you meet is elderly. They complain of aching bones, bad backs and a dim future where there aren’t any young people to carry on their community’s traditions.

“I was born and raised in the city, in a big town. I have no memories of playing in rivers, climbing mountains, or anything like that,” Takeo Fujita, the founder of Japanese Rural Life Adventure developer GAME START, told me over email. “I have no older relatives living in the countryside. In other words, you could say that the ‘gentle and simple countryside’ found in Japanese Rural Life Adventure comes from a sense of longing that I felt watching and reading Japanese TV dramas and manga.”

Longing for a simpler life is something that pervades Japanese Rural Life Adventure  not just its setting, but also its mechanics and the scale of its gameplay. For all the time I’ve put into the game, I have not become a farming mogul. At most, it’s possible to plant and maintain four fields for growing rice and produce, alongside a few fruit trees. In fact, there’s only so much “work” for your character to do in a single day. And the days, compared to those in Stardew Valley or recent Harvest Moon entries, are long, adding to the sense of a slower pace of life.

Japanese Rural Life Adventure consistently pushed me to slow down and appreciate everything it had to offer beyond farming: fishing, bug catching, cooking and photographing wildlife, all of which have their own fun minigames associated with them. Sometimes, I would just let my character rest on the front porch to watch a cherry blossom tree shed its pedals or to bask in the sparkle of fireflies at night.

mmm fish
GAME START

At first, Japanese Rural Life Adventure limits players to the small area around their farm. More often than not, advancing the plot or opening a new section of the game involves helping others. Before I could buy seeds to grow my first batch of cucumbers and daikon radishes, I first had to build a bench for an old peddler lady to sit and rest. After completing a few of the game’s early objectives, including the partial restoration of a local Shinto shrine, the nearby town unlocks.

The town is in a sorry state when you first visit. The roads are weed-ridden and potholed. Nearly every building is falling apart. The young people are long gone. It’s one step removed from becoming a ghost town.

As it turns out, this town is the heart of Japanese Rural Life Adventure. After exploring it for a bit, I meet the village head, who tasks my character with restoring the decaying roads and buildings, including a Buddist temple and schoolhouse, all in hopes of bringing tourists who will help revitalize the local economy.

I didn’t expect this from Japanese Rural Life Adventure. In Japan, declining birth rates and one of the world’s oldest populations threaten to erase rural life as the country knows it. A 2019 Bloomberg article, citing data from the Japan Policy Council, frames the stakes succinctly: “If current trends continue, by 2040, 869 municipalities – nearly half of Japan’s total – will be at risk of vanishing.”

Fujita says GAME START didn’t set out to create a game about the plight of his country’s towns and villages. “When developing games, we do not consider difficult themes such as vanishing rural communities or population aging. We believe that games should be something you can enjoy and forget about everyday life,” he said. "‘Growth’ and ‘development’ are elements that can make a game attractive to prospective players. So we adopted ‘village regeneration’ as one of the themes of the game.”

Take my dog. Please!
GAME START

To some extent, all games like Japanese Rural Life Adventure share an interest in community. After all, it’s safe to say part of the reason why so many people love Stardew Valley is because of Pelican Town and all the weird and wonderful characters that inhabit it. However, in orienting almost all of the player’s actions towards the betterment of its unnamed town, Japanese Rural Life Adventure puts community front and center in a way I hadn’t seen in the genre before. It’s also that focus that makes the game feel fresh and compelling.

Take the restoration project I mentioned earlier. The village head compensates the player for completing the tasks he assigns to them, but I found the money I earned was often only enough to cover the costs of the next repair I needed to complete. More rewarding was seeing the results of my efforts. The project culminates in a summer festival that requires a significant investment from the player, both in terms of time and money spent. Before I could even start preparing for the event, I first had to repair and repaint the torii gates of the temple where the town planned to hold the festival. It was also up to me to produce the 21 chochin lanterns needed to light everything. This task consumed a few hours of my time, but the reward was a beautiful night time celebration that felt like a culmination of everything I had done up to that point. The fact I won a young koi fish to release in the pond in front of my house was a bonus.

Often, Japanese Rural Life Adventure doesn’t feature a lot of mechanical sophistication. Watering plants is as straightforward as a single tap, and most other tasks involve either foraging or buying the right items, but what it has a lot of is heart. That was something I needed.

Japanese Rural Life Adventure is currently available on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apple-arcade-exclusive-japanese-rural-life-adventure-review-170006419.html?src=rss