MobileNews

Alphabet Scoop 110: Galaxy S21 hands-on, everything at CES 2021, and Fitbit

This week we recap everything announced by Samsung today at the Galaxy S21 event from the trio of phones to new earbuds and a tracker. We then highlight the top things announced at an otherwise quiet CES 2021. Alphabet Scoop is available on Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Castro, Pocket Casts, Overcast, and through our dedicated RSS feed. New episodes of Alphabet Scoop are…
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MobileNews

Google's Android and TV leads chat Samsung, RCS and CES

There’s been an onslaught of news this week from CES 2021 and Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked, and even though Google didn’t have major news of its own to share, its presence was still felt. In addition to joining us on our virtual stage for a panel with Microsoft on…
MobileNews

Galaxy Buds Pro review: Samsung's best earbuds yet

When the rumors began to swirl about Samsung’s Galaxy Buds Live, the promise of active noise cancellation (ANC) led me to believe the company was finally addressing a key omission from its lineup. However, those earbuds would ultimately offer an “open type” design that doesn’t seal your ear canal entirely. So while ANC was there, it wasn’t particularly effective. Enter the Galaxy Buds…
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MobileNews

Galaxy S21 comes pre-loaded with Google Messages… just not in the US

As RCS takes over the default messaging service on Android, Google Messages is leading the charge. Yesterday, Samsung and Google announced that Google Messages would be “native” to the Galaxy S21 but without going into detail on what that meant. Now, we’ve got a bit more context. In an interview with Engadget, Google’s Hiroshi Lockheimer further details that Google Messages on the Galaxy…
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MobileNews

US adds Xiaomi to list of alleged Chinese military companies

The Trump administration has added Xiaomi to the US military list under the National Defense Authorization Act of 1999. That means the US has designated the third-largest smartphone maker in the world — according to IDC, Counterpoint Research and Gartner — as a company…
MobileNews

iOS 14.4 will alert users about non-genuine cameras on iPhone

Starting with iPhone 11, Apple has added an alert in iOS that tells the user when the device has a non-genuine display — which was later expanded to third-party internal batteries as well. And now iOS 14.4 will alert users when it identifies non-genuine cameras on the…
MobileNews

Google Fi delays classic Hangouts shutdown, gives subscribers more time to switch to Messages

Google told Fi subscribers last year that classic Hangouts would no longer support texting or calling in January. A week before the deadline, Google has pushed back that deadline for MVNO subscribers to March. Fi members have long been able to use classic Hangouts to send SMS/MMS, make/receive calls, and get voicemail. Given the cross-platform nature of Hangouts, Fi users could access their MVNO…
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