One of the biggest upgrades to Samsung’s Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge line-up is the battery, with Samsung managing to add a battery that is 18% and 40% larger than the predecessors respectively. Both handsets scored highly in their respective reviews, but suffered in the battery department so a year on, just how much has Samsung managed to improved the battery by?
Taking a look at common tasks such as WiFi browsing and Video Playback, coupled with an extrapolation of expected battery life, it’s time to put the smaller of the two phones to the test.
TL;DR
Chromecasts can now be added to be speaker groups in the Google Home app. Previously, only Chromecast Audio dongles and Cast-enabled speakers were eligible for grouping. You will need to enable the preview program in your Google Home app to get the feature for now. If you own several Cast-enabled speakers throughout your home, you’ve likely grouped them all together into a speaker group using your Google Home app.
In the past 12 months, we’ve seen oversized phones (don’t call them phablets) rise to dominance and pretty much becoming the face of the Android smartphone market. Gone are the days of phones with modest 3.5-inch screens, dual-core processors, and limited wireless features. Nowadays, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a handset that doesn’t have a large screen, quad-core CPU, and some form of next-gen wireless networking.
Last year’s phones were great, don’t get us wrong.
Adam Molina / Android Authority
Samsung’s Galaxy Buds lineup is the company’s true wireless series of earbuds that first got introduced in 2019 with the original Galaxy Buds. This lineup replaced the Gear IconX series and streamlined the product category into the Galaxy ecosystem. Today, you’ll find five different iterations of the product, each with varying designs, feature sets, and prices.
Samsung Galaxy Buds series at a glance
Adam Molina / Android Authority
Xiaomi Redmi 8A
The Redmi 8A redefines what you can get in the entry-level segment. It is an excellent piece of kit that delivers a modern design, above-average performance, and fantastic battery life -- all at a sub-$100 price point. Few brands can claim to have defined an entire generation of smartphones. Xiaomi knows how to create stellar hardware that redefines value, and, a few exceptions aside, it has consistently released the best entry-level and mid-range phones.
C. Scott Brown / Android Authority
Welcome to Wallpaper Wednesday! In this weekly roundup, we’ll give you a handful of Android wallpapers you can download and use on your phone, tablet, or even your laptop/PC. The images will come from folks here at Android Authority as well as our readers. All are free to use and come without watermarks. File formats are JPG and PNG, and we’ll provide images in both landscape and portrait modes, so they’ll be optimized for various screens.
TL;DR
Some Samsung phones are getting a redesigned Google Messages app. The revamped version is reportedly rolling out to phones with One UI 3.1 and above. It transforms the Google Messages app into a typical Samsung app staple of the One UI platform. Samsung adopted Google Messages as its default messaging app on the Galaxy S21 series, switching out its own Samsung Messages app. Now, Google seems to be making its SMS app even more suited for Samsung phones by adopting a One UI-inspired redesign.
Google is changing its pistol emoji to look like a water gun rather than a real revolver. The update, which is rolling out to Android users now, follows soon after Twitter and Samsung made similar changes.
AR Emoji vs Animoji: The differences explained
Features
The news arrives via the Emojipedia blog, which suggests Google is trying to “to minimize cross-platform confusion” through the update. Apple and WhatsApp also use a squirt gun emoji, while Microsoft and Facebook still feature revolvers for the time being.
[UPDATE: May 3rd, 2011]
The release date for the UK, Germany, and the rest of Europe has been pushed to early May. For those you from the US, it’s likely it will be released on major carriers like Verizon as early as July 14. Read our full article here.
It’s still looking like it will take some time for this amazing piece of technology to hit North American shores. It’s slated for release sometime in July in Canada.
Nothing beats seeing a photograph materialize into a print, framing it, and mounting it on your wall. It’s an experience that will live on, but digital photo frames also deserve a spot in your home. These are convenient, easy to use, can display or rotate through many images, and some even include video playback, among other features.
With technology advancing so quickly, things like dynamic range, color accuracy, and definition are becoming less of an issue.