Software

Fossil has finally commented on Wear OS 3 availability for its smartwatches. Confusingly, the company suggests that the Snapdragon Wear 3100-powered Fossil Gen 5 series will receive Wear OS 3, as well as the newer Fossil Gen 6. It remains to be seen whether the likes of Fossil will receive the same version of Wear OS as Samsung is currently beta testing on One UI Watch, though.

Apple has been rumored to launch its first-gen mixed-reality device (in the form of glasses or a headset) shortly. However, should all the leaks concerning its release have proven accurate, it would be on the market already. Now, a leading market analyst claims that its announcement has been pushed back due to production issues.

At its annual Worldwide Developer Conference, Apple saved the best for last with the introduction of iPadOS 16. The next version of Apple’s tablet-tailored operating system delivers rich enhancements to multitasking, expanded tools for professionals, and genuinely useful external display support. The catch? Most features are M1-exclusive.

Elon Musk had agreed to buy the social media company Twitter for a sum of over US$40 billion. However, the Tesla CEO has subsequently raised objections to this deal going ahead, citing alleged discrepancies in the proportion of accounts on the platform that belong to "real" users. The latest move in this vein is a securities filing that has sparked speculation that Musk is now trying to terminate the acquisition.

Google has announced the June Feature Drop for eligible Pixel smartphones. This time around, Google has focused on six areas, including improved 'At a Glance' functionality and quick access to a COVID-19 vaccination card. Google can now translate text messages into Dutch, Korean, Thai, Traditional Chinese and Turkish too.

Most of the new upcoming iPad Pro-centric features also apply to iPhones and Macs. On the other hand, some might work best with iPadOS 16's target form-factor; furthermore, there are some potentially long-awaited additions, which include a new Desktop-Class App initiative that benefits Apple tablets.

The latest version of macOS, dubbed "Ventura," brings several updates. Among these are improvements to window management via Stage Manager, a new graphics API (Metal 3), and new features that mate iDevices in new ways, such as using an iPhone camera as a webcam.

Apple has presented its latest potential Watch software updates during its WWDC 2022 keynote. The Cupertino giant has added a number of new apps and features that many users might find welcome and useful. They include a "next level of insight" into atrial fibrillation and sleep.

Dozens of Xiaomi models are guaranteed to receive the Android 13 update starting later this year when the company begins its rollout. On the other hand, some popular devices from the company look set to miss out, including the Mi 10T and Redmi Note 9 series in their entirety.

Developer Dario Samo recently announced RT64, a plugin for N64 emulators which enables a host of ray-tracing features. In a video on Twitter, Dario showed off RT64 in action across a range of N64 classics, including Ocarina of Time and Paper Mario.

Qualcomm has announced that the Snapdragon Spaces XR Developer Platform it has implemented to help engineers and creators make next-gen metaverse-type environments and products is ready for use. The OEM offers a compatible dev-kit made of Lenovo/Motorola hardware with 8 Gen 1 and XR1 silicon.

Although it is already June and the May security patch has been around for a while, the MIUI 13.0.6 Global Stable software update for the Xiaomi Mi 10T Pro only includes the April security patch. As its description shows, this 262 MB software package does not bring any other noticeable changes.

While some regions received it one day earlier, Diablo Immortal is now available globally for mobile players. The Open Beta version for Windows PCs is also surfacing today, although it will probably lose most of its players to Diablo 4 once that title hits the market (hopefully next year).

Samsung and Naver have partnered to present South Korea's first ever private 5G network. It exists to support a cloud that co-ordinates a new fleet of robots at the latter's new HQ. They are intended to move around the place by themselves, serving the company's employees with their meals, mail and coffee throughout the building.

A new list has now revealed what Xiaomi phones will receive the Android 13 update later this year. Dozens of devices make the cut, with most of them having being released over the past eighteen months or thereabouts.

Apple’s 2022 MacBook Air is the main piece of hardware that multiple leakers expect to be revealed at the upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC22). Apple has issued an AR trading-card set that has offered clues of what might be shown off alongside obvious highlights such as macOS 13 Mammoth, iOS 16, and iPadOS 16.

It might come as a surprise to many tech fans that Letv is back in the mobile devices market; however, the design of its comeback model, the Y1 Pro, will probably be less of one. The new smartphone has dual rear cameras in an oddly familiar layout, as well as a notch that seems mostly cosmetic, and a platform from Unisoc rather than Apple.

The Google app is now rumored to add a feature called "Personal Speech Recognition" in the course of a future update. It is slated to help the OEM's Assistant to respond better to words or names uttered most frequently by the user - however, this requires that the same user allows the AI to record their voice on their device.

Released back in September 2016, the compilation known as BioShock: The Collection is now free on the Epic Games Store. The package consists of BioShock, BioShock 2, and BioShock Infinite. The original games come with new textures, support for higher resolutions and framerates, as well as all the DLCs launched after their release.

The messaging app Telegram has been linked to a shift to a subscription-based model as of late. Now, the developer Alessandro Paluzzi claims to have spotted more signs that the service is preparing for this change. It consists of the re-wording of a reassuring page many users may recognize as part of the UI furniture.

A new Apple Pay ad featuring the upcoming iPhone 14 Pro may have been released in advance. The clips in question make heavy and unambiguous use of the flagship's allegedly updated, punch-holed front panel in animated form. Therefore, this potentially crucial difference between it and the conventionally-notched vanilla 14 may just have been confirmed - had it turned out to be genuine, that is.

MSI has announced a new, Assassin's Creed-branded edition of its RTX 3080 SUPRIM X card in its native Taiwan. It has the same specs as the standard version currently sold in the same country, although it has a new, exclusive and Valhalla-themed finish for its TRI FROZR X-enhanced build. Its price has yet to be revealed, although it is of course unlikely to come cheap.

It may have taken Google and Samsung the best part of a year, but Google Assistant is finally available on the Galaxy Watch4 and Galaxy Watch4 Classic. Initial tests are not all that convincing though, especially compared to older Wear OS smartwatches with the last generation version of Google Assistant.

Samsung has confirmed that it will begin issuing One UI Watch beta builds for the Galaxy Watch4 and Galaxy Watch4 Classic, still the company's flagship smartwatches. The One UI Watch beta program will begin next week, starting in South Korea.

Can you print a whole billboard using nothing more than a smartphone camera? According to Samsung, you can - so long as the sensor in question is the new ISOCELL HP1. The OEM's latest YouTube ad depicts the creation of the 616 square-meter cat-pic chosen for this purpose. Its ability to retain feline detail to the tune of about 200 megapixels (MP) is hyped in this new campaign.

Lenovo now claims to have ended its latest fiscal year (on March 31, 2022) with US$10 billion more in terms of revenue compared to the last. The company has also declared net profits of just over $2 billion (or 72% more year-on-year (YoY)). It attributes this success to pretty much all areas of its business, particularly its enterprise-focused and services arms.

The Honor Watch GS 3 is now officially slated to become available on the Indian market soon, thanks to a new Amazon.in preview page. The wearable is being teased in terms of its better attributes, its dual-frequency GNSS, new 8-channel PPG AI heart-rate monitor and 14-day battery life included.

Ahead of WWDC 2022, Apple is already sharing a number of accessibility features coming to iOS 16 and watchOS 9 this fall. From auto-generated captioning, to LiDAR-enabled door detection, prepare to gain a distilled picture that reads between the lines to reveal the true details behind each and every one of these new capabilities.

NVIDIA has come to Computex 2022 to show the latest Studio-approved PCs off, as well as what they can do with creator app from this OEM and its partners. They include the latest updates to Omniverse, a facility for 3D art or development, DaVinci Resolve 18, and the freshly-updated Studio Driver.

Those who missed last week's big news can still grab the latest freebie from Epic, namely Borderlands 3, which became available on May 20. Released back in September 2019, this title is a great action role-playing first-person shooter that shipped more than five million copies in the first five days on the market.

Google has rolled out two major changes for Wear OS, months before the Pixel Watch's launch. Now, it is possible to stream music over LTE or Wi-Fi via YouTube Music, a feature that has been missing since the service's introduction last year on Wear OS. Also, the next-generation version of Google Assistant has finally landed, but only for the Galaxy Watch4 and Galaxy Watch4 Classic for the moment.

OnePlus has announced OxygenOS C.60 for the OnePlus 9 series. The OxygenOS 12-based update adds a few new features and is rolling out now for the OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 9 Pro.

OPPO's latest mid-range Android smartphone event is the culmination of a considerable sequence of leaks and rumors concerning their design, internals and special features. Its top-end variant is the 8 Pro Plus (or Pro+) rather than the Pro, yet does indeed rock an in-house MariSilicon X image signal processor (ISP) on top of its new MediaTek SoC. Nevertheless, the OEM has managed to throw some curve-balls in the course of this launch.

Rumors of Sony's next-gen alpha 7r- (or α7r-) series camera have just gathered speed thanks to a new alleged leak from the blog PhotoRumors. It purports to spill a comprehensive list of specs for the upcoming full-frame unit. They point to updates in terms of the camera's sensor, processor, thermal management, as well as signature features such as Eye AF.

While a US$9.99 monthly Photoshop subscription is almost nothing for a professional studio spending thousands on expensive camera gear, a lot of people only do photography as a hobby and don't want to pay a monthly fee for editing software they may use every few weeks. Fortunately, there are free options out there that are very capable of editing both the shots you took on your morning walk and your landscape shots from your most recent camping trip.

The AppGallery is Huawei's in-house version of something like Apple's App Store that the OEM has been obliged to establish after it lost access to the Google Play Store. A developer claims that it has exhibited a vulnerability that might let users circumvent the theoretical paywall in front of the premium version of apps on the market. However, Huawei allegedly did nothing about the situation for "weeks" after the report.

Qualcomm has released reference headsets based on its Snapdragon XR2 platform before; however, this new Smart Viewer stands out among them as it is wireless. The OEM asserts that its support for Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth results in minimal latency and an improved range. It also features micro-OLED panels for displays and a more streamlined form-factor.

The Vivo S15 Pro has launched as the latest Dimensity 8100-powered smartphone with an additional discrete graphics co-processor; however, the base S15 might steal some attention for itself with a Snapdragon 870 platform with "enhancements" exclusive to its OEM. Then again, the Pro model also has the same customized 50MP main shooter as the X70 Pro. Both phones have launched with Android 12 out of the box and start at about US$400 in China.

Volkswagen has finally announced a date on which pre-sales for the ID. Buzz and Buzz Cargo will begin. The first-gen electric mini-bus will be available to configure and order later in May 2022, albeit in European countries such as Germany to start off with. The marque has also indicated how much one of the vehicles will cost for the first time.

With its MIL-STD 810H-rated metallic chassis, Wi-Fi 6E/Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity and USI stylus-compatible display options, Acer touts the Chromebook Spin 714 as an exceptionally premium example of its device category. It even has dual Thunderbolt 4 ports, thanks to its 12th-gen Intel processors - however, all this makes its starting prices pretty steep in Chromebook terms.

Acer's SpatialLabs division aims to bring a 3D stereoscopic experience back in a major way in 2022. To this end, it has brought this technology to portable monitors in the form of the View and View Pro. They are both 4K and weigh under 1.5kg (3.3lb); however, the Pro variant is pitched more strongly at enterprise use-cases with a retail-friendly design and support for popular rendering and editing programs.

Apple has introduced a raft of OS updates spanning the Apple Watch to the HomePod. Also in line for an OS update is iOS, along with iPadOS and macOS. All new updates, such as macOS 12.4, can be installed now and are rolling out worldwide.

ONVY is beta-testing an iOS app that can provide insights from data collated from your wearables. The platform can merge metrics from over 300 services, including Apple and Fitbit. Based on the data from your various wearables, the app will give you an overall Balance Score, with AI recommendations to improve your health.

The Meta Quest v40 update is now available. The latest software has various features for improved security and privacy, such as in-headset 3D secure payment abilities. Meta Quest is also testing optional end-to-end encrypted Messenger calling. Plus, the range of compatible Bluetooth keyboards has been expanded to include more Apple and Logitech models.

We all have that one friend that vehemently insists consoles are better, and that no, it's not because of aim-assist. Next time you hear this, invite them to play one of these games and then show them what it means to be part of the PC Master Race.

The latest Infinix Android 12 smartphone, the Note 12 VIP, is also the world's latest 120W smartphone. Furthermore, the OEM touts it as the slimmest mobile device with this charging technology. It also has a 120Hz AMOLED display and a 108MP main rear camera and a reasonable price tag, if only because of its 4G/LTE-only MediaTek Helio chipset.

Google has unveiled the 'Coolwalk' refresh of Android Auto, which leaked earlier this year. Due to arrive this summer, the UI update should provide a better experience for non-standard display formats, particularly wide-screen ones.

Apple is a major electronics OEM also now linked to the launch of its very first Car in the next few years. Now, the Cupertino giant is said to further those ambitions through a buyout of Canoo, a start-up in the same space. It may be a saving grace for the fledgling company, although it seems Apple may not exactly want it for the innovation it purports to offer.

At Google I/O 2022, the Mountain View tech giant revealed a number of exciting features coming to Android 13 later this year. Take a look at what to expect from the upcoming version of stock Android, including a more versatile Google Wallet and an innovative earthquake detection algorithm.

The Nord is the first generation of a new mid-range smartphone series from the Android OEM OnePlus. It has been out for nearly 2 years now, and has only just been officially updated to Android 12. Despite the stable nature of this new OTA install, it still carries the risk of some known bugs.