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Huawei has already dabbled in foldable phones with the Huawei Mate Xs and Mate X2, but it could be changing direction with its next effort: the latest rumor is that Huawei will soon launch a clamshell device in the vein of the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3.
This leak comes via sources on Chinese social media platform Weibo (via Notebookcheck.net), and mass production has apparently already started on the new phone. That means it could be officially unveiled before the end of the year.
We don't have much more information about what this clamshell phone is going to look like, though it's apparently the manufacture of a simplified hinge that has revealed the device's existence. Let's hope a simpler hinge means a lower price too.
The only other detail we get from this particular source is that the foldable phone will come with a "fashionable" design and a "rich" color scheme (if Google Translate can be trusted). It sounds as though the new clamshell will be made to catch the eye.
This is by no means the first time we've heard rumors of a clamshell Huawei foldable phone – we saw patents for this device over a year ago. More recent leaks have suggested that the upcoming handset could be called the Huawei Mate V when it appears.
Due to the ongoing trade restrictions that the US is imposing on Huawei, it is going to have to settle for 4G technology for the time being. The Huawei Mate V could well come running a 4G version of the Snapdragon 888 when it makes its debut.
However you like your foldable phone – as a clamshell you can snap shut, or as a device that opens up like an electronic book – the main appeal is the same. You've got a fully functioning, full size phone that also fits neatly in your pocket.
There's a lot that's different in terms of these two form factors though. The phone-to-tablet transformation ultimately gives you much more in the way of screen space: the display on the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3, for example, measures a rather impressive 7.6 inches when opened out.
The clamshell form factor, meanwhile, is much more about keeping the dimensions of the device down and making it more convenient to use. The likes of the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 and the Motorola Razr can be operated with one hand, you'll notice (and can be locked with a pleasing snap as well).
Samsung has decided that it wants to cover both bases with its foldable phone range, and it would appear that Huawei is about to follow suit – and as always, more hardware on the market means a wider choice of devices for consumers to pick from.
Reports suggest that Amazon AppStore isn’t playing nicely with Android 12 more than a month on from its initial release.
You might think that the maker of one of the most popular third party app stores on the internet – and a fully resourced internet giant at that – would ensure that their product was fully compatible with the world’s most popular operating system. But that doesn’t seem to be the case with Amazon AppStore.
According to reports from the Amazon Forum, Amazon AppStore isn’t working for some people following an update to Android 12.
More than a month after Google released its latest mobile OS to device manufacturers, Android 12 users are complaining that most if not all of the apps they’ve downloaded from the Amazon AppStore are non-functional. Some have reported that their app library is failing to even show up on the Amazon AppStore
An Amazon staff member has acknowledged the issue in the forum, and has confirmed that the company’s technical team is “still working on the resolution”.
In addition, Amazon has taken to posting the following message in the app: “We’re excited about Android 12 too. Unfortunately we’re working through some issues. Thank you for your patience as we get your Appstore back.”
Again, Android 12 rolled out more than a month ago, so we’re not entirely sure that a company of Amazon’s size claiming to be “excited about Android 12” quite cuts the mustard here.
The Amazon AppStore is a commonly used alternative to the Google Play Store, particularly by Windows 11 users. It’s also the first port of call for many Huawei smartphone users in the West.
THE FBI can access WhatsApp and iMessage users' personal information according to a new document – despite Facebook and Apple's claims of privacy.
The report - first obtained by Rolling Stone - suggests that as long as the bureau has a warrant or subpoena they can access certain data.
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It goes on to describe how WhatsApp will give address-book access with a search warrant.
Daniel Kahn Gillmor, a senior staff technologist at the ACLU, said: "WhatsApp offering all of this information is devastating to a reporter communicating with a confidential source."
His ACLU colleague Nathan Freed Wessler added: "For probably all of these platforms, if law enforcement gets its hands on somebody’s device, no amount of end-to-end encryption is going to protect the information on the device."
Facebook originally said its Messenger service was getting end-to-end encryption in "2022 at the earliest" and now it's pushed things back a whole year.
For Apple users their subscriber information, as well as information on what they looked up in iMessage, could be handed over with a court order.
If the user has backed up their messages in the Cloud then they could also be accessed.
Mallory Knodel of the Center for Democracy and Technology. “Apple has encrypted iCloud but they still have the keys, and as long as they have the key, the FBI can ask for it.”
WhatsApp is owned by Facebook, now renamed Meta Platforms.
It provides users with end-to-end encryption, in which messages are scrambled so that only their senders and recipients can read them.
Law enforcement, however, has long pressured the company for access to that information in order to investigate crimes such as terrorism or child sexual exploitation.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said his apps are "privacy-focused."
He has said: "I believe the future of communication will increasingly shift to private, encrypted services where people can be confident what they say to each other stays secure and their messages and content won’t stick around forever.
"This is the future I hope we will help bring about.”
Apple CEO Tim Cook has said privacy is a “basic human right."
The January 7 document is to be used by agents to determine what kind of information they can get from the messaging apps.
The Sun has contacted Facebook and Apple for comment.
A WhatsApp spokeswoman confirmed the FBI cannot access actual message content. But it can show when users are speaking to one another.
Apple did not comment when approached by Rolling Stone.
Do you have a story for The US Sun team?
WASHINGTON — As Apple and WhatsApp have built themselves into multibillion-dollar behemoths, they’ve done it while preaching the importance of privacy, especially when it comes to secure messaging.
But in a previously unreported FBI document obtained by Rolling Stone, the bureau claims that it’s particularly easy to harvest data from Facebook’s WhatsApp and Apple’s iMessage services, as long as the FBI has a warrant or subpoena. Judging by this document, “the most popular encrypted messaging apps iMessage and WhatsApp are also the most permissive,” according to Mallory Knodel, the chief technology officer at the Center for Democracy and Technology.
Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg has articulated a “privacy-focused vision” built around WhatsApp, the most popular messaging service in the world. Apple CEO Tim Cook says privacy is a “basic human right” and that Apple believes in “giving the user transparency and control,” a philosophy that extends to the company’s wildly popular iMessage app. For journalists, activists, and government critics who worry about government mass surveillance and political retribution, secure messaging tools can mean the difference between doing their work safely or facing imminent danger.
While the FBI document raises no questions about the apps’ abilities to keep out hackers and snoops-for-hire, the paper does describe how law-enforcement agencies have multiple legal pathways to extract sensitive user data from the most popular secure messaging tools. The document — titled “Lawful Access” and prepared jointly by the bureau’s Science and Technology Branch and Operational Technology Division — offers a window into the FBI’s ability to legally obtain vast amounts of data from the world’s most popular messaging apps, many of which hype the security and encryption of their services.
The document, dated Jan. 7, 2021, is an internal FBI guide to what kinds of data state and federal law-enforcement agencies can request from nine of the largest messaging apps. Legal experts and technologists who reviewed the FBI document say that it’s rare to get such detailed information from the government’s point-of-view about law enforcement’s access to messaging services. “I follow this stuff fairly closely and work on these issues,” says Andrew Crocker, a senior staff attorney on the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s civil-liberties team. “I don’t think I’ve seen this information laid out quite this way, certainly not from the law-enforcement perspective.”
After the Cambridge Analytica controversy, when news outlets revealed that personal data from more than 50 million Facebook users was harvested without their permission to create psychological profiles of American voters, Zuckerberg sought to rebrand the social media giant as a tech company built around privacy. Facebook intended to make that vision a reality largely through the design choices it made with WhatsApp, which it had acquired in 2014 for $19 billion. Today, WhatsApp is the most popular messaging app in the world with more than 2 billion users. “I believe the future of communication will increasingly shift to private, encrypted services where people can be confident what they say to each other stays secure and their messages and content won’t stick around forever,” he wrote at the time. “This is the future I hope we will help bring about.”
In the view of the FBI, however, WhatsApp is a wellspring of private user data. According to the FBI’s “Lawful Access” document, WhatsApp will provide more practically real-time information about a user and their activities than nearly every other major secure messaging tool. A subpoena will yield only basic subscriber information, the FBI document says. Presented with a search warrant, WhatsApp will turn over address-book contacts for a targeted user as well as other WhatsApp users who have the targeted individual in their contacts, according to the FBI.
But WhatsApp is unique in how quickly it can produce data to law-enforcement agencies in response to a so-called pen register — a surveillance request that captures the source and destination of each message for a targeted individual. WhatsApp will produce certain user metadata, though not actual message content, every 15 minutes in response to a pen register, the FBI says. The FBI guide explains that most messaging services do not or cannot do this and instead provide data with a lag and not in anything close to real time: “Return data provided by the companies listed below, with the exception of WhatsApp, are actually logs of latent data that are provided to law enforcement in a non-real-time manner and may impact investigations due to delivery delays.”
A WhatsApp spokeswoman confirmed the company’s near-real-time responses to a pen register. But the spokeswoman added that the FBI document omits important context, such as that pen registers for WhatsApp do not yield actual message content and only apply in a forward-looking, not retroactive, manner. The spokeswoman said the company uses end-to-end encryption for the content of users’ messages, which means law enforcement can’t directly access that content, and has defended that message encryption in courts around the world. “We carefully review, validate, and respond to law-enforcement requests based on applicable law, and are clear about this on our website and in regular transparency reports,” the spokeswoman said. The FBI document, she added, “illustrates what we’ve been saying — that law enforcement doesn’t need to break end-to-end encryption to successfully investigate crimes.”
Even without the ability to legally request message content from WhatsApp, however, the metadata provided by WhatsApp to law enforcement captures which users talk to one another, when they do it, and which other users they have in their address book. The handing over of that data can have serious consequences for people who seek truly secure and anonymous messaging, such as journalists working with a confidential source or activists who face government threats and punishment.
In 2017 and 2018, Buzzfeed News published a series of explosive stories about former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, the Russian embassy in the U.S., and other high-profile figures that drew on a trove of confidential documents from the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN. In early 2020, a former senior FinCEN adviser named Natalie Edwards pled guilty to leaking so-called Suspicious Activity Reports to an unnamed reporter, and Edwards later said she was a source for Buzzfeed’s reporting. A judge later sentenced Edwards to six months in prison. According to the FBI’s criminal complaint in the case and subsequent reporting, Edwards and a Buzzfeed reporter exchanged hundreds of messages on WhatsApp, which they believed to be a safe place to communicate. Instead, authorities would later use those WhatsApp messages to make their case against Edwards.
“WhatsApp offering all of this information is devastating to a reporter communicating with a confidential source,” says Daniel Kahn Gillmor, a senior staff technologist at the ACLU.
Experts stressed that the FBI guide isn’t the full scope of law enforcement’s snooping powers. The document, for instance, doesn’t touch on what happens when police or federal agents gain access to a person’s physical device. “For probably all of these platforms, if law enforcement gets its hands on somebody’s device, no amount of end-to-end encryption is going to protect the information on the device,” Nathan Freed Wessler, deputy director of the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, says.
The other tech giant that can be compelled by law enforcement to hand over potentially large amounts of sensitive messaging data is Apple. iMessage, Apple’s text-message service, comes loaded on the iPhone and is used by 1.3 billion people worldwide. According to the FBI’s “Lawful Access” guide, if served with a court order or a search warrant, Apple must hand over basic subscriber information as well as 25 days’ worth of data about queries made in iMessage, such as what a targeted user looked up in iMessage and also which other people searched for that targeted user in the app. That doesn’t include actual message content or whether messages were exchanged between different users.
But the amount of data available to law enforcement is potentially far greater — greater even than the user data provided by WhatsApp — if a targeted user backs up their iMessage activity to iCloud, Apple’s online storage platform. If that’s the case, the FBI document says, then law enforcement can request back-ups of the target’s device, including actual messages sent and received in iMessage if they’re backed up in the cloud.
While Apple describes iCloud as an encrypted service, it comes with a giant loophole. Apple holds an encryption key that can unlock user data in iCloud, and so police departments or federal agencies can request that key with a search warrant or a customer’s consent to access certain user data. “You’re handing someone else the key to hold onto on your behalf,” says Mallory Knodel of the Center for Democracy and Technology. “Apple has encrypted iCloud but they still have the keys, and as long as they have the key, the FBI can ask for it.”
An Apple spokesman declined to comment on the record and referred Rolling Stone to Apple’s legal-process guidelines, which describe the kinds of data the company hands over to law enforcement under certain circumstances.
Daniel Kahn Gillmor, the ACLU senior staff technologist, says Apple has the ability to implement end-to-end encryption for iCloud. But the company reportedly abandoned plans to do so after federal law-enforcement agencies put pressure on Apple, saying fully encrypting iCloud backups would interfere with the government’s investigative abilities. “For cloud-based backup providers, they could if they want to lock themselves out of their users’ data,” Gillmor says. “iCloud has not made that choice for iMessage backups.”
There are several messaging apps listed in the FBI document for which minimal data is available to law enforcement without the actual device in hand. Signal will provide only the date and time someone signed up for the app and when the user last logged into the app. Wickr will give law enforcement data about the device using the app, when someone created their account, and basic subscriber info, but not detailed metadata, the FBI document says.
But the number of users on Signal and Wickr, while growing, pales in comparison to WhatsApp and iMessage, which the FBI’s own guide describes as two of the most permissible secure-messaging apps in existence.
And that imbalance raises questions about the complaints from law-enforcement agencies about secure and encrypted messaging apps interfering with their ability to investigate crimes. Wessler of the ACLU says the FBI’s “Lawful Access” should act as a reality check the next time police officers or FBI officials insist that encrypted messaging hampers their work. “As we can see, [those complaints are] completely overblown and not representative of how much information they continue to have access to even from these encrypted communication platforms,” he says.
Property of the People, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit transparency group, received the document via a Freedom of Information Act request and shared it with Rolling Stone. “Privacy is essential to democracy,” says Ryan Shapiro, Property of the People’s executive director. “The ease with which the FBI surveils our online data, mining the intimate details of our daily lives, threatens us all and paves the way for authoritarian rule.”
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Venus Optics Unveils Smallest 2x Macro for Full Frame: 85mm f/5.6 APO PetaPixelView Full coverage on Google NewsRemember when author Edward Bok said, “The price of success: hard work, patience and few sacrifices”, little did we discern its true connotation. But there is a substantial difference between listening to stories and experiencing one.
Among many countless success narratives, the journey of a 20-year-old boy Sahil Ali is a genuine encouragement to millions. Proving that age is just a matter of juggling numbers, Sahil has stood out in the field of the foreign exchange market like no other. This young man is the director of the company Costafx Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
Sahil was always an inquisitive mind. His curiosity opened his way to new learnings. Despite having no family background from the financial world, he was still hooked to the field and learned everything that he could. Such was his determination to discern new things.
Sahil started understanding the trading world when he was just 13 years old. The enthusiast didn’t limit himself due to restricted resources. With the help of the internet, he perceived in-depth knowledge about trading and technology.
The young man then went on to explore the globe of entrepreneurship and as a result, he runs a foreign exchange trading company in today’s date. Being a proud director of Costafx Technologies, Sahil is skillfully exploring the business world and enhancing his leadership qualities. His business has a client base of more than 12 crores which truly reflects his success.
Sahil is also a technophile. He was always feverish about the changing technology. Every new trend in the world fascinated him and that he discerned everything about Artificial Intelligence and Machine learning in no time. All of his vast knowledge can be glimpsed through his thriving business.
The youthful trader is quintessential of perseverance and patience. He gave up on every other past-time fun to make a better future not only for himself but for society. The automated Costafx is taking the country in the direction of enlargement and development.
Hailing from Nanded to the economic capital Mumbai, the journey was full of peaks and lows for Sahil. It was his never-give-up attitude, utter curiosity to keep learning and of course, his unwavering patience that wrote his success story right.
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If you’re into macro photography, you might be wondering why so many macro lenses emphasize a wide aperture; f/2.8 is nice to have, but when focused down to 1:1, it’ll leave you with no depth of field. From my point of view, Venus Optics seems to have had the same thought. They built a macro lens with a spec sheet that’s focused on delivering macro results. Is this the new best option for macro photographers?
Venus Optics has built a name as a manufacturer of specialty wide angle and macro lenses. In the past, I’ve looked at a number of their lenses and always come away impressed with the creativity their lens designers have. They’ve built products that often offer something no other lens on the market matches. Whether it’s a unique focal length, form factor, price point, or some combination of all of the above, their lenses are always interesting. This one is no exception.
The 85mm f/5.6 is available for Sony E mount, Nikon Z mount, Canon R mount, and Leica M mount. It covers a full frame image circle and uses what appears to be a relatively unique optical formula, which features extra-low dispersion glass and an apochromatic design for reduced chromatic aberration (the false colors that can fringe your subject).
The biggest selling point on the spec sheet is the lens' capability to focus at a ratio of 2:1. For a macro lens, this ratio means that the subject will appear twice as large on the sensor as it is in real life. Most macro lenses can do 1:1, while this can enlarge a subject quite a way beyond that, letting you get even closer and get even more detail in your images. The listed minimum focusing distance is 16.3 centimeters, but as this is measured from the focal plane, you won’t have much distance between the front of the lens and the subject at maximum magnification.
Fortunately, like other macro lenses, the front element is slightly recessed and works well with both the included metal hood and a protective filter. Furthermore, the lens is internal focusing, which can reduce both dust intrusion and the risk of bumping the lens into the subject by just adjusting focus.
As mentioned, this lens is small. It’s listed at about 250 g, despite having a sturdy metal construction. The front filter is a tiny 46 mm diameter. For comparison, I photographed it alongside my Z mount 105mm macro, but even that image doesn’t do justice to how compact this lens is. This size advantage makes it a great option to slip into your bag for an unexpected macro opportunity or even a quirky short telephoto option when using a few primes, as the lens works perfectly well at normal focusing ranges too.
Testing performance on this lens first requires a discussion of one of the tradeoffs the lens does make. With a maximum aperture of f/5.6, this lens is going to be significantly slower than many other primes in the corresponding focal range. For dedicated macro shooting, this isn’t an issue, as you’ll typically need to stop down anyway, but could impact usability when working with this lens in a non-macro capacity. Having a slower max aperture, however, does make it possible to get great optical performance at a lower price point. Smaller glass elements are cheaper to make for a given performance target, and the lens’s MTF charts indicate competent optical performance throughout most of the frame.
In real-world testing, I found that both resolution and contrast are quite good throughout the frame. The lens delivers great image quality even at 2:1 magnification; this spec isn’t just hot air, but instead a real and usable part of the focus range.
The focus at high magnifications, however, will test your abilities as a camera operator. The lens is manual focus, and while the manual focus ring is pleasant to use, a thin depth of field even at f/11 can make nailing focus on moving subjects tricky. What might be surprising if you haven’t shot macro before is that at 1:1 or 2:1, almost everything is a moving subject. This level of magnification will reveal issues with your tripod setup and shutter technique that you might not have noticed on another lens.
When you do nail focus, the results are very nice. Pleasing color performance and contrast are evident on all subjects. The bokeh is good. On some of the trickiest backgrounds, I did notice a bit of harshness when stopped down to f/8 or f/11.
True to its apochromatic designation, I didn’t notice any color fringing. For macro subjects, this is particularly helpful when considering focus stacking or reproducing images of things like text or artwork, where neutral rendering is preferred. Along with the lack of chromatic aberration, this lens also seems to be free of major vignetting issues. At f/5.6 and 2:1, the very edges of the frame appear to have a slight vignette to them, but this can be manually corrected in Lightroom easily.
Venus Optics 85mm f/5.6 2x Ultra Macro APO is a unique offering. By prioritizing features like apochromatic behavior and trading aperture for size, the lens sits in a unique position. While many macro lenses from major manufacturers have broadened their feature set to diversify their use cases, this lens is a great fit for particular users.
If you’re looking for some of the cheapest access to 2:1 magnification around, this lens is a great option. Compared to Venus Optic’s other 2:1 macro offering, this lens is a far smaller option, but also only available for mirrorless mounts. Given the competent performance at normal focus distances, this lens could also be a unique addition to a prime walkaround kit for mirrorless photographers who don’t have access to a full stable of native primes.
Available at $449 for Sony, Nikon, and Canon, as well as $499 for Leica M, this lens is an impressive value.
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Not only that, but you’ll be able to browse the Internet, watch videos or turn the smart clock into a digital frame. Apart from that, Lenovo’s Smart Clock offers the same features as a regular smart speaker, so just say “Hey Google” and get the latest weather forecast, as well as stream music, radio and podcasts.
Thanks to Google Assistant, you can even create custom routines for various times of day. Last but not least, the smart clock may be used to controls tens of thousands of compatible smart devices that work with Google’s digital assistant.But the best thing about Lenovo’s Smart Clock is that it’s very cheap. Typically, such a device costs $80, but thanks to an early Cyber Monday deal, you can get one for just $35 from Best Buy.
Trading is indeed a very complex field. Furthermore, when it comes to a global platform like the foreign exchange market, trading becomes more dynamic and erratic. In such circumstances, different types of individuals act heterogeneously. And therefore, Sahil Ali highlights the different types of forex traders.
Being a distinguished name in the arena of forex trading, Sahil Ali grew to be outstanding through his scrupulous knowledge in the field. He is also the director of Costafx Technologies Pvt. Ltd. that provides a stage for various traders who aspire to grow through this trading field.
Sahil Ali states the 4 major types of forex traders. Find your category!
1. The Day trader
2. The Swing trader
3. The Scalper
4. The Position trader
Talking about the first category, Sahil Ali describes that the Day Traders take the advantage of frequent small gains making quick profits or losses. They don’t trade overnight and therefore they get the majority of sleep than the other three.
Swing traders are those who have the patience to hold on to trading for several days or several weeks. These types of traders analyze the market for a few hours at night to conclude their strategy and make a trading decision.
On the contrary to Swing traders are Scalpers. Elucidating about these traders he says that they take very little time (from seconds to a few minutes) and grab tiny opportunities to make the most from them throughout the day.
Lastly, Sahil Ali speaks about the Position Traders. These traders believe in playing long games. They conduct basic market research and decipher the market direction to stay always a step ahead. People juggling large amounts are the one who belongs to this category.
Sahil Ali guides all the traders to be patient while dealing in the forex atmosphere. He also advises on gaining knowledge before entering the realm as it will also aid you to get to the bottom of your type.
This is possibly the best deal we've ever seen on the Beats Solo 3 Wireless headphones.
Walmart has slashed their price by an incredible $175 for Cyber Monday, bringing it down to just $124. Better act fast!
We didn't find the Solo 3 Wireless the most competitive wireless headphones on the market at their original RRP of $299, but this hefty discount certainly helps their performance-per-dollar case. And if you like your music bold and upfront with good levels of energy, you might find these perfectly fitting companions.
They have an excellent feature list, too, which includes a massive 40-hour battery life. There are also extra benefits for iOS users, as there’s a seamless link with your iPhone; turn the headphones on and your iPhone will ask if you want to connect.
Given their attractive price and comfy fit, they should certainly make the shortlist of the fashion-conscious iPhone owner.
This discount applies to the gold model – there's the same money off the rose gold and red colorways (though the red is out of stock).
MORE:
The best Black Friday headphones deals on one handy page
Our pick of the best Beats wireless headphones for all budgets
Want wireless buds? Here are today's best AirPods deals
Joe has been writing about tech for 17 years, first on staff at T3 magazine, then in a freelance capacity for Stuff, The Sunday Times Travel Magazine, Men's Health, GQ, The Mirror, Trusted Reviews, TechRadar and many more (including What Hi-Fi?). His specialities include all things mobile, headphones and speakers that he can't justifying spending money on.
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The Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro get the absolute best Google Assistant experience, and the 'At A Glance' widget is one of the most valuable ways that the artificial intelligence (AI) can help. It might not be well known that users can customize the features, and even the widget's location can be changed by moving to another page or just a bit lower on the first page if that suits the user better.
Google has always given its Pixel phones the best AI features available on Android, and the Pixel 6 series is even better since it uses the Tensor chip. Google designed its first mobile processor specifically to enhance the AI capabilities of the Pixel 6 series for language processing as well as image processing. AI is used throughout the system for more mundane but equally important tasks such as maximizing battery life and alerting the user to essential details at the perfect time.
Google's 'At A Glance' widget usually looks like a small date and temperature display at the top of the first page of the home screen. It's actually much more powerful than that, capable of displaying valuable data at the ideal moment, such as traffic conditions when leaving for a commute, flight information at the airport, severe weather alerts and more. Android makes it easy to customize what is shown in this Pixel 6 widget simply by pressing and holding the widget. A menu will appear, and tapping 'Customize' will open the home screen options. Tapping the gear icon beside 'At A Glance' will show location settings and several toggles that are enabled by default. Users can switch off any unwanted options.
The Pixel 6 series has an advanced widget that identifies upcoming events based on time and location, providing helpful information at the ideal time. Unfortunately, while users can move most widgets, the default 'At A Glance' widget is fixed in place at the top of the first page of the home screen. While this is generally a nice, highly visible place to have it, Android provides options to move the widget. It just takes a few extra steps.
The Pixel 6's default 'At A Glance' widget can be switched off by using the same home screen settings but tapping 'At A Glance' rather than the gear icon to the right. Then the user can add the widget on any page and any location just like a regular widget. By pressing and holding anywhere other than an app icon or widget, a menu will open, and tapping 'Widgets' will show the complete list. The 'At A Glance' widget is in the Google section, and it can be dragged into the page wherever the user wants. The manual widget occupies the same amount of room as the default Pixel 6 widget but uses a horizontal layout instead of stacking the date on top of the weather.
Source: Google
Lily Katz / Android Authority
High switching costs have made it increasingly difficult to jump from one platform to the other. The Apple AirPods (3rd generation) build on the company’s dominance in the true wireless earbuds market by introducing more features limited to Apple devices. Similarly, Samsung has locked the software features of the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 behind an app that is only available on Android devices.
Even with these platform limitations in mind, Samsung and Apple users may be peering over the walls of their garden to see what the other side has to offer. In this head-to-head, we’ll be comparing the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 and Apple AirPods (3rd gen) to see if either is worth jumping ship for.
Our verdict: Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 review | Apple AirPods (3rd gen) review
About this Vs: This article comes from the audio experts at our sister site SoundGuys. Check out their in-depth take on the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 vs Apple AirPods (3rd gen).
Chase Bernath / Android Authority
The Galaxy Buds 2 offer a relatively standard true wireless earbud fit and feel. Multiple sizes of silicone ear tips ensure most will attain a secure fit with a good seal. Small and rounded, each earbud features touch-sensitive panels to control music playback and calls.
See also: Ultimate headphone buying guide
On the other hand, the Apple AirPods retain the same unsealed design of previous generations. Many will struggle to attain a proper fit with this one-size-fits-all approach that doesn’t feature swappable ear tips. A slightly more rounded shape compared to previous AirPods offers a better fit in your outer ear, with a slightly worse fit in the ear canal opening. Like the AirPods Pro, indentations in each stem control music playback and Siri.
Eric Zeman / Android Authority
Connecting to the Samsung Galaxy Wearable app offers an ear tip fit test and active noise-cancelling (ANC) controls for the Galaxy Buds 2. The AirPods don’t have ANC, but do feature spatial audio. This brings virtual surround sound, meaning the earbuds can playback media mastered for Dolby Atmos. A “spatialize stereo” setting can also convert non-Atmos media into virtual surround sound, though it doesn’t work as well as music made specifically for it. Accelerometers incorporated into the AirPods also allow for head tracking, which keeps the sound source seemingly locked in one place.
IP water protection ratings allow you to use either set of earbuds for working out. An IPX2 rating protects the Galaxy Buds 2 from sweat, while an IPX4 rating protects the AirPods from light splashes of water. The unsealed design of the AirPods makes them a good choice for hearing surroundings while out on a run, while the sealed fit and ANC of the Galaxy Buds 2 are better for blocking out noise in the gym.
Chase Bernath / Android Authority
Samsung has a slight edge when it comes to connection quality. On top of SBC and AAC, the Galaxy Buds 2 support the Samsung Scalable Codec for optimal connection to Samsung devices. This codec constantly balances between sound quality and connection strength to ensure you get the best listening experience.
The Apple AirPods only support SBC and AAC since these are the only Bluetooth codecs Apple devices use. AAC is much more reliable on Apple devices than Android devices, so iPhone users won’t have to worry about connection strength.
See also: Bluetooth codecs 101 — everything you need to know
The Galaxy Buds 2 also use Bluetooth 5.2, a step up from the Bluetooth 5.0 on the AirPods. The newer iteration of Bluetooth handles the power draw of Bluetooth connections a little more efficiently at greater ranges. Bluetooth 5.2 also means that the Galaxy Buds 2 may one day support the new LC3 codec when it eventually replaces SBC as the default Bluetooth codec.
Chase Bernath / Android Authority
Just like the previous Apple AirPods, the AirPods uses the iOS (or iPadOS) settings app for control and customization. Only users that own an Apple device can install firmware updates or use spatial audio, Find My AirPods, and hands-free Siri. The settings app also enables users to adjust the onboard stem controls or toggle automatic ear detection.
Samsung takes a more traditional approach to earbud customization with the Galaxy Wearable app. Since the app is only available on Android, iPhone users miss out on firmware updates as well as toggling between ANC and ambient sound mode, access to the ear tip fit test, and the app’s selection of EQ presets. The Galaxy Buds 2 don’t have a fully custom EQ, but the presets still provide more sound customization than the hands-off Adaptive EQ on the AirPods.
Lily Katz / Android Authority
With a slight boost over its predecessors, the AirPods hold a leg up over the Galaxy Buds 2 when it comes to battery life. In our testing of continuous playback at 75dB(SPL), the AirPods lasted six hours, 21 minutes on a single charge while the Galaxy Buds 2 only lasted five hours and nine minutes. The Galaxy Buds 2 were tested with ANC on, but you might be able to extend their lifespan beyond that of the AirPods by turning ANC off.
The AirPods charging case holds an additional four charge cycles, and can be powered with the new MagSafe charger. You can also charge up the AirPods case with a regular wireless charger or Lightning cable. With five minutes in the charging case, the earbuds attain an hour of playback time.
See also: How to maximize device battery life
The Galaxy Buds 2 charging case holds an additional three charge cycles, for just over 20 hours of cumulative playback. USB-C or wireless charging powers up the case, which in turn can also provide an hour of playback to the earbuds from only five minutes of charging. If you have a compatible Samsung Galaxy device, you place the case on top of the device to wirelessly charge the case and earbuds.
Chase Bernath / Android Authority
If you are listening in a quiet environment, the AirPods and Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 sound pretty similar. In the frequency chart above, the AirPods are in cyan, the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 is the yellow dashed line, and the SoundGuys Consumer Curve is the pink line. The silicone ear tips on the Galaxy Buds 2 enable far more accurate sub-bass output, though the AirPods integrated bass reflex ports do a lot to mitigate bass leaking.
Midrange output is slightly more accurate on the AirPods. Combined with the slight boost in high frequencies, this leads to more perceived clarity in vocals and instruments such as guitars and pianos. In general, either of these earbuds will sound great for just about any kind of music.
While both sets of earbuds sound good in quiet environments, only one performs well in noisy environments. Due to the unsealed fit of the AirPods, pretty much all environmental noise leaks into your music. Auditory masking will force you to turn up your music in loud environments, putting your ears at risk of harm.
The Galaxy Buds 2, on the other hand, can make low-frequency noises sound one-quarter as loud as they would without the ANC earbuds. This is pretty impressive, and requires you to get a solid seal with the ‘buds to your ears.
Both earbuds have adequate onboard microphones, though the AirPods often sound better — depending on what device you use them with. With pretty much every pair of AirPods we’ve reviewed, microphone quality takes a hit when paired with Android devices or different computers. The Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 don’t sound quite as good but should be more consistent across platforms.
Chase Bernath / Android Authority
While you can use either set of earbuds on either platform, you will substantially limit your experience out of the gate when you choose the headset beyond your ecosystem. iPhone owners can utilize the Apple AirPods software integration and a host of additional features, while the Galaxy Wearable app isn’t even available to iOS users. Android users (and especially Samsung users) can enjoy all that the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 have to offer, but won’t get much out of the AirPods.
Apple AirPods (3rd generation)
The third generation of Apple's true wireless earbuds.
A new design brings water resistance, spatial audio, and longer battery life to the world's most popular earbuds.
Either set of earbuds brings a host of features, though the shortcomings of the AirPods unsealed design is hard to overlook. People doing exercises that require a secure fit should definitely look at the Galaxy Buds 2 for its more versatile design that brings ANC, an ear tip fit test, and a variety of EQ presets.
Samsung Galaxy Buds 2
Small noise-cancelling earbuds for daily use.
A more affordable pair of noise-cancelling earbuds from Samsung, with an IPX2 water-resistant build and compact, lightweight design. There's a lot to love with these playful earphones.
Chase Bernath / Android Authority
Luckily, these earbuds aren’t the only option for iOS and Android users. Apple device owners are much better off with the Apple AirPods Pro, which alleviates the major shortcomings of the regular AirPods by adding silicone ear tips and ANC.
The Beats Studio Buds and Beats Fit Pro are also worth a look, with active noise-cancelling, fast charging, an IPX4 rating, and a tight fit. Android users can take advantage of all the Beats earbuds have to offer by downloading the Beats app from the Google Play Store.
The Sennheiser CX Plus True Wireless bring a lot of the same features as the Galaxy Buds 2, but they also offer aptX support, so more than just Samsung users get a premium Bluetooth codec. If you don’t care about ANC, you could also go for the cheaper Sennheiser CX True Wireless, which are otherwise identical.
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