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US phone companies could face fines for weak security under a proposed new rule
As the feds report China’s Salt Typhoon hackers may still have access to US networks, the FCC is pushing telecoms to increase their security.
Android’s latest update is here with accessibility and Gemini AI improvements
Updates starting to roll out today add expressive captions for videos, a Spotify extension for Gemini, and Screenshots app updates for Pixel 9 phones.
The company’s take on Android 15 looks like a major update, with a Dynamic Island-ish feature called the Now Bar and a redesigned camera app UI, along with refreshed widgets and app icons. It’s available starting today to Galaxy S24 owners via the Samsung Members app.
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Recent Pixel phones have a reputation for running hot. While largely fixed in the Pixel 9, the 6, 7, and 8 can get quite toasty. Now, a new troubleshooting tool can tell you just how toasty with a realtime estimate of the phone’s internal temperature along with steps the device is taking to reduce heat, like pausing charging. Kinda cool.
I would have sworn this feature already existed — probably because it does on desktop Gmail! But Google says it’s new for Android. Just expand your CC and BCC fields, drop your finger atop any email address for a moment, then drag it where you’d like.
T-Mobile has confirmed last week’s report that it actually stopped a cyberattack in progress before sensitive customer data was exposed — something the company doesn’t have the best track record for.
T-Mobile didn’t identify the attackers, but the breach resembles the recent Salt Typhoon attacks — which sounds increasingly nefarious as more details arrive.
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Samsung Galaxy S24 FE review: not enough fan fare
The S24 FE feels less like a ‘Fan Edition’ and more like an exercise in retail positioning.
Following an earlier video leak, some new photos and screenshots have appeared that show the bottom half of the upcoming Samsung flagship (including its USB-C port, SIM slot, speaker, and S Pen), and what the One UI 7 update will look like on the device.
Huawei announced its new Mate 70 flagship and Mate X6 foldable today — the first devices running the company’s homegrown Google-less HarmonyOS NEXT operating system. Both feature this nifty transfer feature, but it’s limited to just images for now.
Oppo has launched the Find X8 series globally, including the X8 Pro with dual telephoto lenses. The standard X8 comes with just one zoom lens, and it looks an awful lot like the OnePlus 13 — also expected to launch globally sooner than later. Both brands sure are leaning into the big circular camera bump look, but there’s an essential piece of hardware still present: the alert slider.
I’m not talking about the fragile Samsung Galaxy Fold — but rather the “charmingly awful” Royale FlexPai that kicked off the entire foldable-screen craze in 2018! (Royale released a decent sequel, but by then Samsung found its stride.)
By 2019, folding phones had captured our imagination: I showed you how they were the stuff of science fiction, and we did a wacky field guide!
The folks at 404 Media are reporting on leaked documents revealing the capabilities of Graykey, a tool that law enforcement uses to hack into seized phones. From the looks of it, Graykey can only retrieve some data from the iPhone 12 and newer, whereas it’s possible to recover “full” info from an iPhone 11. The cat and mouse game continues.
The hackers, who have also reportedly broke into AT&T and Verizon’s networks, breached T-Mobile “as part of monthslong campaign to spy on the cellphone communications of high-value intelligence targets,” according to The Wall Street Journal.
As spotted by TechCrunch, researcher Jiska Classen posted a video showing that iOS 18 will reboot your iPhone after three days of inactivity. The security feature, which 404 Media originally reported on, is apparently making it more difficult for police to break into suspects’ phones.
The Redmagic 10 Pro Plus is Nubia’s latest gaming phone and it comes with a massive 7,050mAh battery. There’s also a “liquid metal” cooling system, a built-in fan, and of course, lots of customizable gamer lights. Kind of a spectacle. It’s launching in China first with a global release slated for December.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the $9.6 billion sale, expected to close in 2026, would see Verizon paying $38.50 a share and absorbing “about $10 billion” of Frontier’s debt. 63 percent of Frontier’s stockholders are for the all-cash transaction, while others are opposed, saying the offer is too low.
Frontier owns more than two million fiber connections across 25 states, including some in Texas, California, and Florida that it bought from Verizon in 2016.
That’s the gist of a report from Android Authority. According to leaked documents, Google’s custom chipset isn’t delivering the value the company had hoped for. Overheating is also cited as the top reason for Pixel returns — ouch. As such, Tensor G6 might emphasize lowering production costs and improving thermals over raw performance gains. Sounds like a real hot topic.
Message Plus was supposed to be shut down by now, but it appears that Verizon’s messaging client is sticking around just a little longer. The new shutdown date is December 9th, so you have just over a month to wrap up all your conversations and head over to Google Messages. I, for one, will not miss uninstalling it from every Android phone I use.