Nintendo is working on new versions of its Switch 2 console specifically for the European market. The company announced on its website that it’s implementing changes that are in line with the EU’s new regulations.

“Regulation (EU) 2023/1542” concerning batteries requires that batteries in certain appliances should be easily replaceable by end users at any time. It will go into effect from February 27, 2027, and Nintendo is expected to start stocking Switch 2 hardware with replaceable batteries by then.

The One UI 9 beta is in full swing for the Galaxy S26 series, and while there aren’t many major updates, there are some nice quality-of-life changes to look forward to. Seeing as One UI 9 is based on Android 17, it’s natural to assume that most, if not all, of the updates Google made to Android would be here as well.

That isn’t the case, and unfortunately, One UI 9 is missing one of my favorite Android 17 features.

Google announced a heap of new Gemini features at Google I/O last month, and one of them — Gemini Avatar — is finally rolling out. What is Gemini Avatar? Essentially, it’s an AI clone you can create of yourself to use in AI-generated videos, capturing not only your physical likeness but even your voice. Welcome to 2026!

The whole concept of Gemini Avatar sounds like something straight out of a Black Mirror episode, and yet, it’s a real feature you can use right now. Should you? That’s up to you to decide. But if you’re curious and want to see what Gemini Avatar is all about, here’s how to get started.

Vibe coding is easier than ever thanks to the diversity of tools available for developers and novices alike. While it would take hours or even days for a beginner to get a simple app up and running without AI, vibe coding allows you to do this in minutes.

I dived into the world of vibe coding by completing a Google AI course, which covered the essentials of using Google AI Studio. And after I got my first app up and running, I realized that the experience was different from what I’d envisioned.

I’ve been a Pixel user for quite some time now. I started with the Pixel 9, moved on to the Pixel 10 Pro, and I’m currently using the Pixel 10a. One of the best parts of testing gadgets for a living is constantly switching phones, and I absolutely love that.

The interesting part, though, is seeing which phone actually stays with you beyond the excitement of setting it up for the first time. That’s exactly what happened with the Pixel 10a. I feel like I understand this phone beyond the honeymoon phase because it has slipped into my routine in a way very few phones do.

Back in April, Google released its mobile-friendly Gemma E2B and E4B models, bringing on-device multimodal AI to Android and iOS devices. It also released the high-end 26B Mixture of Experts (MoE) and 31B Dense models for higher-end devices with dedicated AI GPUs. Now, the company is launching another Gemma model that sits nicely between the four.

Google today announced the Gemma 4 12B model aimed at bringing on-device AI capabilities to laptops. It offers multimodal features and is the first mid-sized model from Google to support native audio input.

Google Chrome could soon let you search the web without opening Chrome first. Most of us interact with Google Search in Chrome the same way: open the browser, type a query in the address bar, and wait for the results page to load. Google may be exploring a shortcut that skips several of those steps altogether.

According to Windows Report (and previously spotted by tipster Leopeva64), Google is experimenting with a new floating search interface for Chrome that can be summoned from anywhere on your desktop. The feature was reportedly spotted in Chrome Canary, Google’s experimental testing build, where it can be launched using the Ctrl + Shift + Space keyboard shortcut on Windows.

There’s no questioning that Google is bullish on Gemini and wants it to be part of every other product. One of the apps that it proposes benefits hugely from the deep integration of AI is Drive. Gemini in Drive helps users by searching through different files and folders, renaming or organizing them, or answering questions specific to files or folders by peeking inside them. This information is displayed in panels that open on the side of the file or folder preview.

In addition to file or folder-specific side panels, Google also offers a conversational interface in Google Drive, called “Ask Gemini,” where you can ask the AI questions about a broader range of files. To make results more accurate or limit them to a smaller section, you can choose specific files or folders stored in your Drive as sources, just like you would in NotebookLM. And now, you can also include email threads for better context.

Google has often rolled out new app features to iPhones before bringing them over to Android devices. Google Photos’ custom stickers have been no different: it took the company six months to roll them out to Android phones. By then, the iOS app had received another fresh update that added a dedicated “Stickers” category in the “Collections” tab. Now, that feature is finally rolling out to Android devices as well.

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One of the Pixel’s most useful features is now rolling out to all users in supported countries. The ability to record custom outgoing messages for the Pixel’s “Take a Message” voicemail feature was originally spotted in a beta version of the Phone app back in April. It’s now rolling out in the stable channel as well, meaning you can now record custom voicemail greetings that play when your Pixel phone answers a call for you.

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Google recently announced a new feature called Screen Reactions that aims to make creating reaction videos much easier. Now, we’ve spotted the feature rolling out in the latest Android Canary release, giving testers an early look at how it works.

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Using AI to generate pictures is a whole lot of fun. And it can also be very useful when you’re trying to visualize new ideas in order to more easily share them. But does it sound like a great fit for shopping? Amazon sure seems to think so, and is introducing a new AI-powered visualization tool for search in its Amazon Shopping app.

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Leica projectors aren’t exactly known for being attainable, but that may be changing. Today, the company announced the Leica Cine Compact 1, a portable 4K laser projector with a significantly lower price tag. The company’s Cine Play 1 launched at nearly $3,800. The newest model cuts that price by roughly $1,800 while retaining much of the same premium design and feature set.

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It hasn’t even been three weeks since Google brought us our last taste of Android’s bleeding edge, with the May Canary update. But not content to wait for a full month to pass, today we’re already getting a crack at Android Canary 2606.

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Google and the European Union don’t often see eye to eye. The company has, on many occasions, been on the EU’s radar for various reasons: a massive five-billion-dollar antitrust fine years ago and more recently, a warning against Gemini getting preferential treatment on Android. Now, the EU has decided to stop using Google as the default search engine on official systems.

The European Parliament will start using Qwant as the default search engine on its in-house computers beginning on June 4, per an email seen by Politico.

With June finally here, we’re probably just another couple months away from the launch of Google’s next smartphone lineup, as the Pixel 11 series gets ready to make its debut. Recent rumors have brought us both good and bad news about hardware expectations, and we’re still sorting out the full picture there. But we’ve also gotten a few previews on the software side, including the discovery in late April of some official Pixel 11 Pro Fold wallpapers in an early Android 17 build. Today, we finally get to check out the wallpapers for the rest of the Pixel 11 lineup.

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The Surface Laptop (2024) is here to help you tackle your daily tasks with ease, bringing AI-assisted features right into your workflow. If you’re looking for power, versatility, and seamless productivity in an elegant package, this could be the laptop for you. And right now, there’s a tempting offer you might not want to skip.

This deal drops the price of the Surface Laptop to $799.99 — a 47% savings compared to the $1,499 retail price. It’s easily the lowest price it has hit this year, making it an excellent time to grab this AI-enhanced machine.

Keeping tabs on your front door has never been easier or more affordable. The Arlo Video Doorbell 2K (2nd Gen) has just hit its all-time low price of $30, 40% off its previous deal price of $49.75. If you’ve been eyeing a reliable smart doorbell with all the bells and whistles, this is a standout opportunity to get a smart home device that originally retailed for $130.

Backing up your device is an extremely important part of being a responsible smartphone user. And if you’ve been maintaining backups of your Android devices, you’d know that not everything on your phone deserves to be backed up to the cloud. While Android doesn’t currently give you a choice on that end, that might be changing soon.

We were able to take a peek at a new feature in the latest v26.22.30 beta version of Google Play Services that hints at a much better future for anyone who frequently backs up their Android phones.

Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode can be useful tools, but users and website owners have had their fair share of complaints about these features. Now, Google is testing a new toggle to let websites opt out of its generative AI search results.

Google announced today that it’s adding a new control that will let website owners manage how their content appears in the company’s AI Search features.

We’ve been seeing leaks and rumors about Samsung’s upcoming foldable phones over the past month, including one with a wider foldable screen. Recent leaks claimed that the successor to the Galaxy Z Fold 7 will be called the Z Fold 8 Ultra, and the wider foldable will be called the Z Fold 8. Now, we’re getting confirmation that Samsung will go ahead and use the Z Fold 8 Ultra moniker for its upcoming Z Fold 7 successor.

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Google Drive has been receiving several useful updates in the past few days. After rolling out an improved document scanner in Drive, Google now wants to make it easier for users to organize their files using AI.

After previewing it to a small subset of users last year, Google has started rolling out the “Organize My Files” feature more widely. It’s now available to Workspace accounts and to users subscribed to the company’s AI plans.

Most people end up using ChatGPT like a slightly smarter search engine. That used to be me when LLMs kicked off a few years back. I’d ask a question, get an answer, maybe ask a follow-up, and continue on from there. There’s nothing wrong with that, and it works well enough for simple lookups even today. However, it barely scratches the surface of what the tool is actually capable of. The fact of the matter is, that the gap between a casual user and an expert user who genuinely gets things done with ChatGPT isn’t technical know-how. Rather, it’s a skill issue. It comes down to a handful of core habits that completely transform how you interact with the model and allow you to extract the absolute maximum from its extensive capabilities.

The default behavior of AI is to make assumptions. Better answers start with better questions.

I’ve spent a lot of time pushing ChatGPT well past the basics, across grammar fixes, research, technical research, and day-to-day decision-making guided by data. While you will find plenty of online sources offering hyper-specific prompts, these eight specific tricks are the ones that have made the single biggest impact in how I approach ChatGPT and other large language models. Looking for Gemini tricks? We’ve got that covered, too. But these little tricks are the ones that have made all the difference in getting me better results from ChatGPT.

Magnetic wireless charging battery packs are my favorite power bank solution, mostly because of their portability and ease of use. You just slap them on the back of your phone. You can continue using the phone, leave it anywhere, or simply pocket the phone and charger and go on about your business, all while it is charging your handset.

I have been testing the INIU SnapGo Air () for a few weeks, and I am loving it. I have used many of these over the years, but this is the first time one makes me feel like I am finally in the modern era of mobile wireless charging. Let me tell you all about my experience and show you why.

Between its Razr 2026 flip phones, the Razr Fold, and multiple Moto G handsets, Motorola has been very busy over the last couple of months. Apparently, that wasn’t enough for the company, because on Tuesday, Motorola announced the Motorola Edge 2026.

Motorola’s Edge phones have always been close competitors with Google’s baseline Pixel, typically targeting the same “value flagship” niche in that $600-$700 price bracket. While the Edge series has gone through its ups and downs over the years (the 2025 and 2024 models weren’t particularly impressive), the Edge 2026 looks like it could be something special.

Ever since the official announcement, we’ve seen a mix of opinions about Google Books, with some of the Android Authority writers lauding Google’s hardware choices while others were outrightly underwhelmed. Google’s upcoming response to the MacBook Neo will combine the best of Android and ChromeOS and support a range of x86 and Arm64 chips from various brands. Although Google has already shared a template design, it also announced partnerships with various PC brands, but without revealing details.

A new report, however, now throws light on it, suggesting the different Googlebook models expected to launch this year. According to Chrome Unboxed, Google could release at least eight Googlebook devices, with launches expected around fall this year.

Rumors are heating up around Samsung’s next Galaxy Watch Ultra, with the rugged flagship expected to return this summer. I’ve tested the Galaxy Watch Ultra since its launch and compared it against just about every major smartwatch competitor along the way. There’s a lot to like about Samsung’s first rugged flagship, and overall, the watch made a strong debut. It also revealed a few opportunities for improvement, especially as competitors like Google continue to push ahead in areas like health tracking and overall refinement.

With the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 expected soon, these are the upgrades I’d most like to see Samsung bring to the table. Some, like the overall design, are fairly subjective. Others feel like dealbreakers if Samsung wants to get me to upgrade.

Robot vacuums are great because they automate one of the most annoying chores inside your house. But if you own a lawn, the annoyance doesn’t stop indoors. Because now you also have grass to maintain, weeds growing everywhere, and yet another thing to worry about when you’re already a busy person. As someone working full-time while running my own business, lawn maintenance is one of those chores that’s easy to fall behind on.

So when Dreame reached out for me to try their new A3 AWD Pro robotic lawn mower (), I was genuinely curious whether this thing could actually save me time, or if it was just another overcomplicated smart gadget pretending to solve a problem.

While Anthropic’s Claude Code and GitHub Copilot are in a league of their own with their AI coding tools, Google seems to be running low on free data to train its artificial intelligence — and the search giant is apparently turning to Android developers to fix the problem.

According to a new report from 404 Media, Google has quietly started offering money to select Play Store developers for access to their app source code. The move is reportedly part of a confidential pilot program designed to improve the company’s AI-powered coding tools.

A fitness tracker without a display has one primary job: accurately record your activity in the background. That’s the promise behind Google’s new Fitbit Air. But if early user reports are anything to go by, the tracker may be struggling with some of the basics.

One Fitbit Air owner recently shared their experience on X, claiming the device failed to recognize that they had been asleep for roughly an hour. Instead of logging rest, the tracker reportedly counted the period as 422 steps. The user described their first day with Google’s latest wearable as a major disappointment.

AI is everywhere these days, but so many times it feels like something that’s been tacked on to an existing product: It’s a smartphone with AI, or earbuds that are equipped with AI note-taking. And while that usually works well enough, Microsoft envisions a new kind of hardware that’s AI agent-first in its design and execution — and is tapping into Android to make that a reality.

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Who among us doesn’t feel a little resentful about all the subscriptions we regularly pay for to access the products and services we crave? Sometimes, a subscription makes unequivocal sense — maybe you really appreciate the convenience of meal prep kits. But all too often, it can feel like this payment model is little more than a way to squeeze more money out of us. Just days ago, we took a look at how Oura Ring users were building a subscription-free way to access their health data, and now we’re learning about a similar project for another wearable.

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Compared to modern, secure communication systems, the ancient public telephone network has long felt like a weak link. While we still rely upon it to receive important information, it’s far too easy for bad actors to take advantage of its limitations, and try and fool us by impersonating callers we trust. Thankfully, Google’s been working on a solution, and shares how its new tool is going to work as part of today’s June Android Drop announcements.

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The Pixel Watch 5 leak cycle got off to a more dramatic start than usual when an alleged prototype was reportedly found in the ocean. Certification databases are a lot less exciting, but they can be more useful for spotting signs of an upcoming launch. Sure enough, four Google model numbers that may belong to the Pixel Watch 5 have now appeared in India’s BIS database.

As reported by XpertPick, Google devices with the model numbers G0F3Y, G1XJ6, G25QD, and GFW3R have been listed by the Bureau of Indian Standards. The listing itself doesn’t name the device, but it does show the Google brand and a grant or inclusion date of June 1, 2026.

If there’s one thing we all want from our next smartphone, it’s more battery life. Thankfully, battery cells are bigger than ever, while processors are increasingly frugal. This means that many, but certainly not all, flagship and mid-range handsets can take us through a day without leaving us suffering from battery anxiety.

However, some phones are definitely better than others at lasting through more demanding work/life balances or taking lighter users through a second day. Not to mention, there’s a massive variation in how quickly phones charge back up when they eventually run out of power.

Amazon Prime is one subscription service that’s just packed with benefits: free shipping, Prime Video, Music Prime, and even Luna gaming. But those benefits have also become more and more restrictive in recent years — first Prime Video introduced ads, and then it paywalled 4K content. What’s going to be the next Prime perk that Amazon ends up dialing back or charging extra for? Based on what we’re seeing happening internationally, there may be reason to be worried about Music Prime.

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Whether you’re an artist or someone who values top-notch visuals, having accurate colors and a sharp display makes all the difference. If you’ve been holding out for a great deal, the ASUS ProArt Display 15.6-inch 4K Pen Display has hit its all-time low of $599, down from $699, for a 14% discount off the recent list price.

Tablets are a great way to multitask, catch up on work, or just enjoy some entertainment. If you’ve been eyeing Apple’s iPad Air, now’s an excellent time to snag one — the 512GB model is currently at its lowest price ever. Right now, you can pick up the 11-inch iPad Air with the M2 chip for just $679, down 24% from its normal retail price. That’s a $220 discount!

AI assistants are dime a dozen nowadays, so picking the best option can be a case of trial and error. Many readers, including my colleagues, usually narrow the options down to three powerful and popular options: ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini. But which one of these three do you, as the consumer, use the most?

My colleague Shimul Sood recently looked at these big hitters in a feature article, and she believes one in particular leads the other two in terms of usability and functionality. Do readers agree? We asked you to pick your champion in a poll, and the results are as follows.