Amazon may be prepping Kindles for easier battery repairs, with new firmware strings suggesting the company already has some plans in motion. A recent discussion on the MobileRead forums highlighted several battery-related messages discovered inside Amazon’s briefly available Kindle 5.19.4 firmware update. The software was later pulled, but according to contributor jhowell, the firmware included warnings for unsupported batteries alongside references to official replacement kits and installation guidance.

Don’t want to miss the best from Android Authority?

All our focus is on Google I/O 2026, but on the eve of Google’s annual developer conference, Apple announced the date of its own. The company’s Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) for 2026 kicks off June 8 and will conclude June 12. The catchphrase for WWDC 2026 is “Coming bright up,” paired with a glowing render of its Apple Park render and a light-refracting logo of Swift, its programming language. The developer-focused event will serve as the first official look at Apple’s next operating system updates, including iOS 27, iPadOS 27, watchOS 27, macOS 27, tvOS 27, and visionOS 27.

The main WWDC 2026 keynote begins June 8 at 10 AM ET / 1 PM PT, with in-person festivities occurring at Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, California. The event will also be live-streamed on YouTube, Apple’s website, and the Apple TV app. It’s unclear whether this year’s WWDC keynote will have a “live” component — recent Apple events have been pre-recorded, even for in-person audiences.

Google I/O 2026 officially starts tomorrow, but Google didn’t wait to push a sweeping Gemini app redesign out to Android users. The new interface includes both visual and functional changes to the Gemini experience, and Android Authority spotted the update rolling out on multiple devices. The redesign matches the Gemini app for iOS overhaul that began rolling out earlier this month to iPhone users. It’s a minimalist homepage that swaps the older white-and-gray aesthetic out for a colorful blue-and-white gradient one.

The fresh Gemini app for Android homepage removes the suggestion chips in favor of a larger greeting. The homepage greeting is different each time you restart the Gemini app, and you might see messages like “the mic is yours” or “ask away.” There’s a new icon for temporary chats in the top-right corner — instead of a dotted-line chat bubble icon, the Gemini app now uses a dotted line with a pen as the temporary chat button. The Google account profile icon is removed from the Gemini app homepage and hidden inside the sidebar.

Last Tuesday, music fans looking for a little entertainment to get them though the afternoon ran into a slight hiccup: Spotify was suddenly unusable for many users. It took a few hours, but eventually the company was able to restore service later that day. On its own, that wouldn’t be particularly noteworthy; outages happen all the time. But as it turns out, this outage may have been the directly result of political activism.

Don’t want to miss the best from Android Authority?

If you’re facing issues with the Gmail app flickering on your Android tablet, you’re not alone, and you don’t need to schedule a visit with your ophthalmologist. There is a widespread issue with the app on tablets and foldable devices.

Don’t want to miss the best from Android Authority?

Google may be preparing to significantly restrict the free tier of Gemini, and we’re seeing the first signs that the company is changing how access limits work behind the scenes.

A new leak from AshutoshShrivastava on X reveals that Google is quietly testing weekly usage limits for some Gemini features instead of the shorter rolling limits users are used to. The leaker posted a screenshot that appears to show some free users are now seeing weekly limits attached to Gemini use instead of the usual daily or hourly restrictions.

It’s almost hard to believe that we’re still finding new ways to improve messaging in 2026 — you’d think we would have gotten it pretty nailed down by now. But even after RCS arrived to start modernizing how we text, the addition of more and more new features keeps us excited about the next big upgrade waiting for us. A couple months back, the publication of the RCS Universal Profile 4.0 laid the groundwork for cross-platform RCS video calls, and now we already  may be seeing the early signs of Google Messages building out support.

Let’s get one thing very clear here, early on: That “may be” is doing a lot of heavy lifting, and right now we really don’t have any clear sense for just how functional these recent changes are. But even without the full picture, we’re still excited to see Messages acknowledging RCS video calls.

This is an open thread.

We want to hear from you! Share your thoughts in the comments and vote in the poll below — your take might be featured in a future roundup.

Going to the US, Mexico, or Canada usually means either paying a lot for international roaming or trying to find a physical SIM card at the airport. Just in time for the huge wave of soccer fans arriving next month, AT&T is shaking up that outdated process.

In a new announcement Monday, AT&T launched “eSIM by AT&T,” a new short-term wireless offering aimed at tourists visiting the US, Mexico, and Canada.

Google is rolling out its new, redesigned, and weird-looking app icons to all users. The new icons were originally spotted last month and have been heavily debated since then.

Don’t want to miss the best from Android Authority?

At the Android Show: I/O Edition 2026, Google announced plans to revamp all 4,000 emojis supported on Android to make them 3D and “more alive” than ever. The redesigned “Noto 3D” emojis on Android are expected to arrive “later this year.” If you can’t wait that long, here’s a good look at some of those 3D emojis ahead of their official rollout.

Developer RKBDI got their hands on Noto 3D emojis ahead of their official rollout and shared them with users in the form of a Magisk module. You can install the Magisk module onto your phone to experience the emojis ahead of their launch, but if you can’t, here’s a preview of what some of those popular emojis will look like:

Beyond the battle for the title of the best launcher on Android, I’d argue that the next fiercest competition is for browser rights. There are a plethora of Android browsers out there, some made by major manufacturers and others by smaller players that focus on more acute aspects of traveling the web.

While I side with Firefox as my daily browsing tool on desktop and Android, my colleague Pankil Shah recently ditched it, Chrome, and Samsung Browser for Brave. Pankil argued that Brave’s excellent focus on privacy, built-in features, and YouTube viewing experience sets it apart.

An elderly relative, a gullible friend, or someone who just isn’t all that tech-savvy: we all have those people who make us wish that there were reverse parental controls on Android. The reality is that complicated UIs combined with malicious actors are making it easier than ever for scams and dodgy apps to target people who don’t always have their guard up.

Google’s Play Protect service is meant to defend users of the Play Store from malicious applications. But when my boyfriend’s grandmother asked me to help her with her Android phone, I realized that the service is failing to identify these apps.

There are plenty of things I genuinely don’t enjoy doing — repetitive tasks, setting reminders, organizing endless to-do lists, and all those chores that eat into the day. That’s where AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude have slowly slipped into my routine. They handle the grunt work for me, which means I can spend more time on things I actually care about.

Paying for all three premium versions of these AI apps was great for unlocking their full capabilities, and for a while, I was actively trying to use each of them properly. But somewhere along the way, I noticed a pattern. Despite having access to all three, I rarely stuck with ChatGPT or Gemini for long stretches. Instead, I’d open them, start a task, maybe experiment for a bit, and then somehow drift back to Claude.

Samsung’s One UI 8.5 rollout is now picking up serious pace. Just days after the company pushed the stable update to older flagship phones like the Galaxy S25 and the Galaxy S24 series in the US, it is now expanding the release to another major lineup: the Galaxy S23 family and the A56.

Samsung has started rolling out the stable One UI 8.5 update in South Korea for the Samsung Galaxy S23, S23 Plus, and S23 Ultra (via SamMobile). The update reportedly arrives with firmware version S91xNKSU7FZDT and weighs 390.01MB for those already on the beta version of the software. Well-known tipster Tarun Vats also confirmed the rollout on X, too.

Every time a new Samsung Galaxy Ultra phone launches, comparisons with the latest hardware-focused Chinese flagships quickly follow. Over the past few years, brands like Xiaomi, vivo, and OPPO have aggressively pushed smartphone camera hardware forward with larger sensors, multiple periscope zoom lenses, and increasingly ambitious camera systems.

Samsung, meanwhile, has taken a much more iterative approach. While the Galaxy S26 Ultra doesn’t introduce major camera hardware changes this year, Samsung continues to rely heavily on its in-house computational photography and image processing.

There’s something about a real book that still feels impossible to replicate digitally for me. The way pages slowly age over time, that familiar smell when you crack open a new paperback, the creases and highlights that become part of your reading journey — it all feels oddly intimate. Screens have gotten sharper, lighter, and smarter, sure, but they still don’t carry that same warmth. Maybe that’s why I’ve never really been tempted to buy a Kindle. And after seeing Amazon quietly phase out support for several older Kindle models, I feel even more hesitant about investing in something that can eventually be left behind by the company that made it.

Starting May 20, 2026, Amazon will discontinue technical support for several aging Kindle models, including the original Kindle, Kindle 2, Kindle DX lineup, Kindle Keyboard, Kindle 4 and 5, Kindle Touch, first-generation Kindle Paperwhite, and older Kindle Fire tablets. Once support ends, these devices will essentially become offline reading machines. Users will still be able to access books that are already downloaded, but anything tied to Amazon’s cloud-based services or future support will fade away.

As we approach I/O 2026, Google is rolling out new features to Gemini. After smarter audio sharing and a new animation, users are now seeing a new “Thinking level” option in the Gemini app.

Don’t want to miss the best from Android Authority?

AI. AI. AI. I’m sure you’re tired of hearing this word over the past couple of years. It is everywhere, slapped onto every feature, every app, every keynote slide, whether it actually makes your phone better or not. And honestly, I’ve felt the same way. Sure, some features are quite useful, but most of the AI features on Android I find to be a gimmick you try once and forget about.

One such gimmick, at least in my opinion, has always been on-device AI. Most AI features on our phones still rely on the cloud (or hybrid architecture), and for the longest time, I’ve believed that smartphones simply can’t match the processing power of AI data centers. Because of that, on-device AI never really felt all that useful, at least not to the extent companies claim it is.

It’s fair to say that Google Photos has been the best thing that has ever happened to smartphone photography management. For years, it has served as the ultimate set-it-and-forget-it tool. And for the longest time, it was my go-to recommendation. It was practically free. It was unlimited. It was perfect for anyone who didn’t want to think about how to store their photographs in the long run. However, it’s been a while since the party ended and the storage limits kicked in. Suddenly, it’s no longer the obvious choice.

Like many others, I’ve also gone down the NAS route and set up my own Google Photos alternative. I’ve experimented with various self-hosted platforms like Immich and my own storage server to forgo the Google Photos tax. But lately, I’ve been thinking of alternative solutions. Looking at an old Pixel sitting in my desk drawer, I suddenly realized that I was sitting on a high-performance, battery-powered Linux server that was just waiting for a cool weekend project.

We didn’t see it coming (honestly, neither did Apple), but Google just showcased what could perhaps be the biggest moment for AI: Gemini Intelligence. It brings to reality Gemini’s agentic mode that we have all been dreaming of: where AI can execute multi-step tasks on your behalf as you watch your phone screen do things on its own, as if it were a moving newspaper from a Harry Potter movie.

Gemini Intelligence does appear futuristic, and honestly, it is tempting enough that I’d want to try it out. But once you step back away from its dazzle, you realize that it fundamentally changes how we interact with our smartphones. If Gemini can search, plan, compare, reply, and execute tasks on my behalf, where exactly do I come into the process? Do I actively participate, or just hover over its actions to supervise it? Do I only approve what AI has already done, or let it mess up and come to me later to fix things?

Google made plenty of announcements at the Android Show last week, but none captured my attention more than Android XR. The company formalized a roadmap I’ve been waiting for, designed to bring Android XR beyond clunky AR-style goggles into the world of something people actually want to wear.

Samsung’s Galaxy XR headset works well, and I enjoyed my time testing it, but there’s no way I’d want to wear a heavy headset for more than a few minutes at a time. It’s also expensive and limited to niche uses — it’s not a vehicle to bring Android XR into the mainstream.

The Walmart Onn 4K Pro has been one of the most elusive tech gadgets of 2026. The Google TV streaming device has been leaking since March, and for the past month, Walmart has kinda-sorta been rolling it out — with random online listings and store sightings, but no official launch or announcement.

I managed to snag the Onn 4K Pro about a week ago and have been using it as my primary streaming device ever since. I wasn’t expecting much from a $60 Google TV box, but after a week of use, Walmart proved me wrong.

Samsung’s Galaxy A series has a special place in my tech-loving heart — it always has. It’s where I started reviewing and where I’ve spent a lot of time over the last few years. And at one point, it felt like my go-to pick when someone needed a cheap phone recommendation. There was just simply a Samsung Galaxy A device at every price point for every buyer.

Since then, though, things have changed. Samsung’s cheap Android competition has improved, and the Galaxy A series has merely stayed the course. It’s counted on long-term updates and a slow trickle of AI features to stay ahead of the likes of CMF, Motorola, TCL, and more, and I’m not sure it’s working.

Google’s Pixel strategy has shifted significantly in the last few years. The company went from competing with other Android manufacturers to focusing on the platform’s overall success. It seemed to matter less whether Pixel devices won, as long as Google services reached more people. That’s why you often see new Android features launching on Samsung Galaxy devices first. It’s often not long before Pixel-exclusive features come to a wide range of Android phones.

However, that doesn’t mean Google doesn’t need to find a way to sell more Pixels. The company is still in business after all, and its phones have legitimate appeal. We’ve seen bits of Google’s plan to expand sales before, but the latest Android Show makes it obvious.

First impressions matter, and after 48 hours with the Fitbit Air, Google’s new screen-less tracker is making a very good one. Honestly, I’m already more impressed by the physical device than I was by the idea of it.

Ever since the early rumors surfaced, the Fitbit Air sounded like another minimalist wellness wearable chasing the same passive-tracking trend as devices like the WHOOP 5.0. I’m also generally wary of first-generation devices and the inevitable quirks that come with them. But on my wrist, Google’s first swing already makes good contact (especially for $99). Until I spend more time digging into features, accuracy, and the company’s new Health Coach platform for my full review, I won’t call it a home run just yet.

The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra is a good phone. In fact, if you’re coming from a four-year-old device, it will likely feel like a revelation. But as someone who lives and breathes mobile tech, I’ve hit a wall. At $1,300, “good” is no longer the benchmark; “extraordinary” is. And quite frankly, the S26 Ultra feels like a Galaxy S23 Ultra-S — a 2023 soul trapped in a 2026 body.

The S26 Ultra feels like an Ultra in name only

For many years, the Galaxy Note and subsequently the Galaxy Ultra branding stood for Samsung throwing everything at the wall to see what stuck. Today, that $1,300 price tag feels less like an R&D investment and more like a subsidy for Samsung’s massive marketing and distribution machine.

The new Googlebook appears to be bridging the gap between an Android phone and a computer — something Android users have envied in the iPhone-MacBook pairing since the beginning of time. It feels, at a cursory look, like it’s designed from the ground up to efficiently communicate with an Android phone and offer the revered Apple-like ecosystem benefits.

But beyond the flashy marketing material, is Google truly having its own MacBook moment, or has it just presented the old Chromebook dressed in new clothes?

When it comes to securing our homes or businesses, having reliable surveillance is essential. If you’re weighing up your options, you might be interested to know that the Ring Floodlight Cam Pro is now available at its lowest price ever.

We’re expecting Samsung to officially announce its next foldables, the Galaxy Z Fold 8, Galaxy Z Fold 8 Wide, and Z Flip 8, in the next couple of months. We first saw the upcoming Flip in renders more than a month ago, and now, we’ve seen even more of the phone thanks to early store listings for Z Flip 8 cases.

As spotted by SammyGuru, accessory maker Dux Ducis published listings for Galaxy Z Flip 8 cases last weekend. The images line up with what we were expecting after previous leaks: the phone looks pretty much just like last year’s Z Flip 7.

Powering our lives has never been more crucial, especially during emergencies. That’s why the Anker SOLIX F3800 Plus Portable Power Station caught our eye with a record price drop: now available for $2,399.99, down from $2,999.99, which is a 20% reduction.

We all love capturing special moments in stunning detail, and the Insta360 X5 Virtual Tour Bundle helps you do just that with its incredible 8K 360-degree capabilities. Currently, this bundle is priced at $540, which is $99 off its usual asking price.

The last days of Samsung Messages are upon us, as the company gets ready to shutter the app once and for all in just a couple months. As the last of those hold-outs consider their options, we’ve been tracking some efforts from Google Messages to spruce itself up with fancy new Samsung-like features, including a way to customize the appearance of chats. While that’s still not ready to go, we’ve found some new signs of progress there, as well as work on a smart tweak to how you configure Smart Replies.

When we last checked in with Messages chat theming, we saw a number of text strings referencing not just custom colors, but also the ability to upload photos and set custom chat backgrounds. Looking through the new messages.android_20260508_02_RC00.phone.openbeta_dynamic release, we’ve identified further work on that support.

Samsung has been on a roll lately with the stable One UI 8.5 update. After releasing it for Galaxy S25 users in the US, the company has now started rolling out the update for S24 users in the US as well (via SamMobile).

Don’t want to miss the best from Android Authority?

As phones get slimmer and more power-hungry, accessory manufacturers are scrambling to deliver battery packs that don’t feel like bricks hanging off the back of your device. Accessory maker INIU thinks it has the answer: the new SnapGo Air 10000mAh Power Bank, an ultra-thin magnetic charger that promises faster wireless speeds, stronger magnetic attachment, and enough battery to survive a full day away from the wall.

The big deal here is the jump to 25W wireless charging, via Qi2.2 certification. That’s a big upgrade from the slower 7.5W wireless charging many iPhone users still get stuck with from older accessories. INIU says the SnapGo Air can charge supported iPhones up to 50% in 33 minutes.

Google is testing a rather interesting change to Gmail. New users found that they were restricted to just 5GB of cloud storage, but they had to add their phone number to their Gmail account to unlock the full 15GB.

Google confirmed this test to Android Authority, saying it applied to new users in some regions and was supposed to help provide “a high-quality storage experience.” It also asserted that this move encouraged users to protect their accounts and improve data recovery. Nevertheless, there’s something really shady about effectively dangling the existing cloud storage cap in exchange for a phone number.

We’re spoiled for choice when it comes to face-worn gadgets that beam content straight into our eyes, from super-premium headsets like the Apple Vision Pro and Samsung Galaxy XR, to smart glasses with embedded displays like the Meta Ray-Ban Display, to more moderately priced options from companies like XREAL and VITURE. RayNeo’s Air 4 Pro AR glasses () fall toward the latter end of that spectrum.

These glasses aren’t smart, per se; they don’t run apps or provide direct access to any AI assistants. But they can play video and audio from just about any device with USB-C, providing a private viewing experience that’s easy to toss in a bag for travel. I’ve got some issues with the Air 4 Pro, but at $299, I think these wearable displays could be a good pick for the right buyer.

Microsoft’s next Xbox controllers have just leaked, and it looks like the company is going all-in on cloud gaming in a way that feels very different from the Xbox strategy we’ve known for years.

A fresh leak from Brazilian outlet Tecnoblog, which obtained images from a regulatory filing, has revealed two unreleased Xbox controllers; a compact cloud-focused gamepad and what appears to be the long-rumored Xbox Elite Series 3.

The Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses are getting a bunch of new capabilities today, including several new features that the company teased when the glasses first went on sale.

Don’t want to miss the best from Android Authority?

There’s an age-old saying: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. No company lives by that philosophy quite like modern era Samsung. In fact, Samsung typically takes it a step further: don’t fix it unless you absolutely have to, or until the competition forces your hand. We’ve seen it with the Galaxy S26 series, with its foldables year after year, and its Android tablets are no different.

Samsung was absent from the budget tablet market for two years after the undeniably solid Galaxy Tab A9 Plus, skipping the Tab A10 entirely before arriving here with the Galaxy Tab A11 Plus. Two years is a long time, and you’d expect Samsung to come back with something that feels meaningfully better. Spoilers: It doesn’t. And yet, if you’re shopping on a tight budget, this is still likely the tablet you’ll end up buying and be happy with… whether you’re excited about it or not.

The new Motorola Razr lineup is getting mixed opinions. Some Motorola fans find the new phones lazy; others are indifferent. Reactions really are all over the place.

I don’t think the 2026 Razrs are perfect, but compared to what Samsung is doing with its devices lately, I love what Motorola has done with its flip phones. And, to be perfectly honest, I would readily pick one over a Galaxy Z Flip 7.

OpenAI is making ChatGPT a much more useful tool for developers on the go. The company has officially rolled out Codex, its AI coding assistant, inside the ChatGPT mobile app, giving users the ability to track and manage coding tasks right from their phones.

The new mobile integration, now in preview on both Android and iOS, lets users interact with Codex sessions running on their machines remotely. Android Authority first spotted evidence of this upgrade earlier this month. From the ChatGPT app, you can review generated code, approve commands, switch AI models, start new tasks, and monitor ongoing workflows in real time.

I receive plenty of app recommendations from readers, and some I’ve genuinely grown to love and appreciate. One that has become a must-use across my devices is NextDNS.

This self-managed Private DNS solution has completely transformed how I block ads and trackers on my phone and any other devices that I choose. It’s so effective that I’ve largely dropped dedicated ad-blocking apps that I previously relied on.