Category: Technology

Samsung has temporarily shut down Galaxy Buds 3 Pro shipments. With memories of its flaming hot (and not in a good way) Galaxy Note fiasco eight years ago, the company is halting the earbuds’ launch while “urgently assessing and enhancing” the product’s quality control, according to Android Authority, which first published the news.

Some users who received the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro before their July 24 launch reported that their ear tips tore easily. Considering how often they may need to remove and replace tips to find their ideal fit, material prone to ripping could have led to atrocious PR and an expensive recall had the company let the launch proceed as planned.

Samsung’s website has added a new release date of August 28, although it’s unclear if that’s a soft placeholder or a new hard target. In addition, the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro Amazon listing has been pulled altogether.

“To ensure all products meet our quality standards, we have temporarily suspended deliveries of Galaxy Buds 3 Pro devices to distribution channels to conduct a full quality control evaluation before shipments to consumers take place,” Samsung’s statement to Android Authority reads. Samsung Korea previously issued a statement apologizing for quality control issues and promising a full inspection. However, that remark didn’t mention a delay.

The company added that customers who already received the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro and are having problems should contact Samsung or visit a Samsung Service Center. Android Authority also published an email sent to a pre-order customer confirming a delay and advising them to request a cancellation if they choose.

For more on the flagship wireless earbuds, you can read Engadget’s hands-on coverage.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/samsung-is-freezing-galaxy-buds-3-pro-shipments-amid-quality-control-issues-181407398.html?src=rss 

No one has been making foldable phones longer than Samsung. And for the first few years, the sheer number of improvements we got on the Galaxy Z Fold line meant it didn’t really have any competition. But more recently, the pace of innovation has slowed while new challengers like the OnePlus Open and Pixel Fold have arrived. Now for 2024, Samsung has reinforced the Galaxy Z Fold 6 with a stronger but significantly lighter frame, a new ultra-wide-angle camera and a bunch of AI-powered tools. Unfortunately, not much else has changed, leaving us with a very iterative upgrade. So while the Galaxy Z Fold 6 remains the best all-around big foldable on the market, it feels like complacency is eroding Samsung’s lead among flagship flexible phones.

Design and displays: Tweaked dimensions with even brighter screens

After eliminating the gap between the screen (when closed) on last year’s phone, Samsung has adjusted the Galaxy Z Fold 6’s dimensions again for 2024. But the changes are so small you have to measure them in millimeters. When closed, the phone is just over one millimeter thinner and when you open it up (in portrait), the main screen is 2.7mm wider but one millimeter shorter. It’s not a ton, but you do get a little more room for activities. And of course this also affects the exterior Cover Display, which is about 1mm wider as well — just enough to make using its on-screen keyboard more forgiving.

Elsewhere, the entire phone is sharper, from its boxier edges to the more squared-off corners on both screens. Samsung also says the Enhanced Armor Aluminium used in the Z Fold 6’s chassis is about 10 percent stronger than before, but I hope you’ll forgive me for not dropping it on purpose just to find out. Holding everything together is a new dual-rail hinge. And this time, I think Samsung has nailed the perfect balance between something that’s easy to open but also holds its position when you want it to. But the biggest design upgrade is a 14-gram weight reduction compared to the previous model. Granted, that might not sound like much, but now the Z Fold 6 only weighs around 4 grams more than its non-foldable cousin, the S24 Ultra. And on an already heavy phone, this change makes a big difference.

As for the displays, as someone who’s been using the Pixel Fold a lot recently — which has a solid screen in its own right — can I just say, Samsung’s panels are so choice. Not only has peak brightness improved to 2,600 nits for both displays just like on the standard S24 family, Samsung has subtly shrunk and flattened the bezels, so the phone looks even more like a magazine come to life. And until I see something better, this is simply the best screen on a big foldable right now.

Performance: Expectedly speedy

The Z Fold line has never been slow and this year we got the same upgrade to a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip as we saw on the S24, while base RAM is staying pat at 12GB. And as you’d expect, the Z Fold 6’s performance is fast and responsive. There’s no lag when doing pretty much anything and thanks to the addition of a larger vapor chamber on the inside, the phone stays cooler during longer sessions, which is a nice bonus to all the gamers out there who like playing on a truly big-screen device.

Cameras: Mostly unchanged

When it comes to photography, I’m a bit disappointed with the Z Fold 6, not because it can’t take a decent pic, but because I know Samsung can do better. For this go around, Samsung has stuck with a trio of rear cameras, opting for a new 12-MP sensor for the ultra-wide lens — and it’s pretty good. But at the same time, the ultra-wide lens is the one I use the least in daily use, and it’s not close.

The other two cameras – the 50-MP main and 12-MP telephoto with a 3x optical zoom — are solid, but they’re the same ones Samsung used on at least the previous two generations. In a photo of some strawberries, the Z Fold 6 produced a delicious pic with deep saturated hues and great details. At the same time, though, you can also see the slightly exaggerated warm tones you often get from Samsung cameras. And at night, the Z Fold produced a beautiful pic of a flower in a very tricky backlit environment.

The issue is that after Google released the Pixel Fold, Samsung doesn’t really have an excuse for saddling the Z Fold 6 with downgraded photography when compared to the S24 Ultra. The Pixel Fold has a longer 5x optical zoom and an edge in overall photo quality. Just take a look at two zoom shots taken by the Z Fold 6 and the Pixel Fold. In a vacuum, Samsung’s photo doesn’t look bad. But then take a look at the Pixel’s image. It’s noticeably sharper and more detailed.

And it’s the same thing in really low-light situations, like the one I took of some Bluey figurines, where the Pixel Fold captured a less grainy, sharper and more well-exposed pic. And after being pleasantly surprised with the cameras on the S24 Ultra, it’s a shame Samsung’s most expensive phone sits in second place when it comes to photography.

AI features: Fun and occasionally handy, but not essential

As we saw back at the beginning of the year, Samsung has brought the Galaxy AI suite it launched on the S24 to the Z Fold 6. And by and large, a lot of the features are the same including things like Chat Assist which you can use to generate social posts or emails while selecting a variety of tones. There’s also support for Google’s Circle to Search along with translation and summarization tools. A couple new tweaks for the Fold is that now the phone can translate text in place instead of spitting it out into a big unformatted blob, which is nice but kind of situational. And I should mention, Google Lens already offers similar functionality. Perhaps the more important one is the ability to do dual-screen translations, so each person can see text in their language in real-time, depending on what side of the phone they’re looking at.

Some new additions are the Portrait Studio tool that can create an AI-generated drawing of someone based on a photo and a range of styles like comic or watercolor. It’s fun and it’s good for a laugh or two, but I’m not sure how useful it will be on a regular basis. There’s also the Sketch to Image feature that allows you to add a simple drawing to an existing photo and then have the phone generate a more realistic rendition of it in your final image. I still think Samsung’s basic AI photo editing tools are the most useful of the bunch, as they make it easy to delete distracting objects or do simple touch ups. But once again, all of this feels more like bonus content rather than core essentials.

Battery life: Great longevity but could use some faster charging tech

While Samsung didn’t increase the size of the 4,400 mAh cell in the Z Fold 6, the phone does have slightly better battery life due to improved energy efficiency from its new chip. On our video rundown test, it lasted 20 hours and seven minutes when using its large main screen and 25 hours and 19 minutes when using its exterior cover display. That first number is even better than we saw from the Pixel Fold (15:22) and OnePlus Open (19:19), so if you need a big-screen phone with ample longevity, the Z Fold 6 is the easy pick.

Unfortunately, its charging hasn’t changed much. You still get 25-watt wired charging and 15-watt wireless charging, which are both pretty mediocre figures in 2024. And while I wasn’t expecting to see support for Qi2 magnetic charging on the Z Fold 6 after Samsung opted not to add it to the main S24 line, I’m still a bit miffed that a phone this expensive is cutting important features off the spec sheet.

Wrap-up

It wasn’t long ago when practically every component on the Z Fold line was unmatched by its competitors. But now phones like the Pixel Fold exist, which offers better overall photography. Then there’s the OnePlus Open, which weighs the same as the Z Fold 6 even after its recent diet. And let’s not forget, both of those rivals are 2023 models. Plus there are Chinese competitors like the Honor Magic V3 and the upcoming Xiaomi Mix Fold 4, which are both thinner and lighter than Samsung’s champion.

Don’t get me wrong, the Galaxy Z Fold 6 is still a good foldable, a great one even. It’s got excellent performance, strong battery life and handy features like native stylus support. But it feels like after all this time sitting fat and happy on its throne, Samsung has a diminished hunger for total domination. Instead of long-awaited features like a built-in S Pen or an improved under-display camera, we got a bunch of AI-powered tools and tricks, which are fun but not true highlight attractions. And at $1,900 — which is $100 more than last year — the Galaxy Z Fold 6 is the most expensive it’s been since the Z Fold 3. But I guess that’s the price you pay Samsung for having such a long reign on top.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/samsung-galaxy-z-fold-6-review-the-king-but-for-how-much-longer-140129812.html?src=rss 

When you’re living the college life, every penny counts. Thankfully, there’s a plethora of free software, services and tools you can use to get through your day-to-day on campus, whether you’re doing coursework, trying to better manage your time or just finding some entertainment. Our job at Engadget is to figure out which of these things are actually good, so below we’ve recommended a few of our favorite apps and services that are totally free. Each should help you save cash for extracurricular fun, and all of them are significantly better than the main thing you get for free when attending college in America: debt.

Google Docs

You’re probably going to need a productivity suite at school. Thankfully, the days of having to buy an expensive software bundle are long gone. Google Docs can handle the document creation you’ll need over a semester, whether it’s writing term papers, crunching data in spreadsheets or whipping up group presentations. Automatic cloud saves can spare you the heartache of losing progress.

You may want to subscribe to a Google One plan if the free 15GB of Drive storage proves too limiting. And as capable as Docs may be, there may be some classes where professors insist on paid services like Microsoft 365. If you’re free to choose your work tools, however, Docs is an easy choice — particularly if you already rely on Calendar, Meet and other parts of the Google ecosystem. — Jon Fingas, Former Reporter

Todoist

Student life is defined by time management. You’ll likely have to juggle multiple assignments, study sessions and a personal life (remember that?) without missing a beat. Todoist is our pick for keeping yourself on track. You can not only create the usual to-do lists, but set up task boards, set priorities and even delegate items to others — helpful if it’s a roommate’s turn to buy dinner.

The free Todoist plan will likely be enough for school with support for five active projects, five collaborators and 5MB file uploads. You’ll only want to shell out $48 per year (or $5 per month) for a Pro account if you have many on-the-go projects (up to 300), need to upload large files or want to set reminder alerts. Whatever you need, this might be key to getting it all done on time. — Jeff Dunn, Senior Reporter, Buying Advice

Photopea

It used to be that free image editors were underpowered or ungainly, and you could generally forget about web versions. That’s not the case with Photopea, which is more or less an unofficial, online Photoshop clone. Can it fully replace that ultra-popular app? No, it’s slower to process many tasks and it’s missing some of Adobe’s more advanced features. But just about all of the essentials are here, and its web-based interface should immediately feel familiar to anyone who’s used Photoshop before. (It’s much simpler to grok than other free alternatives like GIMP, for one.) For spot heals, crops, light and color touch-ups, background removals, adding text and graphics, layering or most other common edits you might need for a presentation or photography class, it should be enough. It’s compatible with a host of file formats, too, including Photoshop’s PSD, PDF, AI and various RAW camera files. The whole thing is ad-supported by default, with a $5-per-month Premium tier available to remove those and increase online storage from 0.5GB to 5GB. You can also connect to cloud storage services like Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive and Dropbox. — J.D.

Blackmagic DaVinci Resolve

You might not have to pay for a costly video editing package to make it through film school. Blackmagic’s DaVinci Resolve provides an in-depth bundle of editing, color correction, audio and effects tools at no cost. You could make a short film for class using the same core tools used to produce Hollywood blockbusters, complete with multi-user collaboration.

In fact, you’ll likely have little need for paid editing products unless your coursework has very specific requirements. You’ll only want to think about spending $295 for DaVinci Resolve Studio if you want to edit footage beyond 4K at 60 frames per second, work with more video formats or rely on advanced 3D, AI and HDR tools. Unless your professors demand that you use a rival tool like Final Cut Pro or Premiere Pro, this should be enough to learn the fundamentals. — J.F.

Blender

If you’re creating 3D artwork for games or videos at school, you’ll want a strong modeling suite — and one of the more capable packages happens to be free. Blender provides a wide range of modeling, animation and sculpting tools for 3D content, while budding movie producers can take advantage of built-in compositing, motion tracking, story art drawing and simple video editing. You might have everything you need to create a CG short film.

You’ll want to be sure that Blender can fulfill your class requirements, and you might want more focused software like Natron (an equally free compositing tool) to supplement your work. With that said, Blender’s open source code and extensible design work in its favor. It’s easy to find a bevy of free or low-cost add-ons that can meet your needs, and you can even write your own extensions if you’re comfortable with scripting. — J.F.

Audacity

Some courses may need an audio editor, whether it’s to create a podcast, tweak game sound effects or finesse a song. If you’re in that boat, Audacity can sometimes do the trick. The free, open source editor gives you the essentials for capturing and editing multi-track recordings, including support for effects and plugins.

Audacity won’t replace heavy-duty digital audio workstations like Audition, Logic Pro, Pro Tools or Reason. Those offer non-destructive editing, and often include a slew of effects generators and other tools aimed at music and video production. This is a good place to learn some basics, though, and may well be all you need if a class isn’t particularly demanding. — J.F.

Evernote Scannable

Paper is still a reality in the classroom, whether it comes in the form of a handout, a sketched diagram or a friend’s handwritten notes. But you won’t have to worry about how you’ll digitize them. There are a number of free document scanning apps available, and Evernote Scannable is one of the best. You just have to point your camera at documents to produce easily readable PDF and JPEG files you can share with the rest of the class. While you can sync content with Evernote (which is clearly the intended idea), it’s not required.

That said, Scannable is limited to iPads and iPhones as of this writing, so you’ll want to look to alternatives like Microsoft Lens or Adobe Scan if you prefer Android or use devices across platforms. Microsoft’s app is a particularly nice pick if you want to export scans in Office formats or convert handwritten text. Either way, you might not have to worry about lugging a binder around campus. — J.D.

Spotify

Let’s be frank: you’re going to need some study music, and Spotify still provides the best free soundtrack for those lengthy learning sessions. The no-charge tier will periodically interrupt your listening with ads, but you can create playlists, follow podcasts and enjoy much of the core Spotify experience. You can stream songs on mobile and smart speakers, too, so the music won’t stop when you leave your desk.

You may still want to pay for service, as Spotify’s mobile app makes you listen to all but a handful of playlists in shuffle mode and gives you a limited number of skips per hour unless you use the desktop app. For paid users, Apple Music is the top pick in our guide to the best music streaming services: It offers higher-quality audio (if you have a good set of headphones), a generally cleaner interface and a greater emphasis on curation, with a handful of live radio stations hosted by actual people. It’s reportedly better about paying artists, too, though it’ll work best if you own an iPhone. Mercifully, Apple sells a student plan for $6 per month, the same as Spotify, so you’ll still get a nifty discount. — J.D.

PDF Candy

There’s a distinct possibility you’ll encounter PDF documents at school, whether it’s a research paper or the class syllabus. You won’t have to pay for apps like Adobe Acrobat to edit those files, at least. PDF Candy offers a free web-based editor. You can modify PDFs, convert to and from common formats (including Word and PowerPoint), extract images and otherwise take control. This might do the job if you need to flesh out scanned class notes or extract a quote from a scientific study.

There are time and size limits for the free version (up to 500MB per task), and you should also consider the $48 yearly or $99 lifetime plans if you want faster web processing or the Windows app’s offline editing. Alternatives like Acrobat are also better if you need commenting, mobile editing and other advanced features. Still, the free web tool is difficult to beat for basic utilities. — J.F.

Amazon Freevee (and other free video streaming services)

There’s no real way around it: If you want to keep up with the films and shows in the current zeitgeist, you need to pay for a streaming service or two. (Or utilize less scrupulous methods we can’t recommend here.) Given that new apps and price hikes seem to pop up every other week, that sucks. Still, there are a number of free services you can use to cobble together some decent entertainment on the cheap, including Amazon Freevee, Tubi, Pluto TV, The Roku Channel, Crackle, and Sling Freestream, among others.

All of these force you to sit through ads, most have pretty sloppy UIs and each is absolutely loaded with trash content. But think of them like the old Blockbuster bargain bin — you may have to do some digging, but every now and then you’ll find a gem. If we had to pick one, Freevee is probably the standout: Shows like Schitt’s Creek, The Good Wife and The Twilight Zone are still great, while the original mockumentary Jury Duty is one of the funniest things in recent memory. You can catch up on older seasons of The Boys — but not the latest one, natch — and the more people we can get to appreciate Columbo, the better. But it’s worth digging through the others noted above if you’re really strapped for cash and can’t hawk a login. We’ll direct you to our guide to the best live TV streaming services for more details. — J.D.

Libby

Not enough people, college students or otherwise, take full advantage of their local library. Libby is an easy way to change that. So long as you have a library card, this clean little app lets you check out ebooks, audiobooks and magazines to your phone, tablet, computer or ereader at no cost. It works across iOS, Android and web browsers, and you can sync your progress between multiple devices. You’re still at the mercy of the selection your library actually has available, and you’ll still have to finish your rentals within a set period. But if you like to read for pleasure between classes, Libby will ensure you never run out of material. — J.D.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/free-stuff-for-college-students-143051840.html?src=rss 

The mining of technology nostalgia is unrelenting. Earlier this week, we had an unofficial return of the iPod, not to mention Tamagotchis and now Discman. Well, not an actual Discman, which is a Sony brand, but the portable CD player is back.

Audiophile brand FiiO has launched the DM13, a portable CD player with modern touches, like high-fidelity wireless and a built-in battery. No more AAs! The CD Player will go on sale in September for $179 (£179 in the UK). It begins shipping only in a silver finish, but FiiO says red, blue, titanium and black variants will arrive later in the year – enough time to find my folder of NOW compilation CDs.

— Mat Smith

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Microsoft suffers Azure outage and faulty cybersecurity update takes out companies worldwide

It’s a massive Microsoft Windows BSOD (blue screen of death) outage.

Unable to get into Outlook this morning? You’re not the only one. Microsoft has also suffered an outage with its Azure services and Microsoft 365 app suite. Then, a faulty update from security giant CrowdStrike forced PCs and servers into an unrecoverable boot loop. The issue forced Delta, Frontier and other airlines to ground flights and impacted the UK’s London Stock Exchange and Sky broadcaster.

“We have widespread reports of BSODs on Windows hosts, occurring on multiple sensor versions,” CrowdStrike wrote in a pinned Reddit post. “[We have] identified a content deployment related to this issue and reverted those changes.” It’s a great Friday morning for all involved.

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Previewing iOS 18

Waiting on Apple Intelligence for the true upgrade.

Apple launched public betas across all its platforms, and while you’ll have to wait for the official release in fall, lots of features are stable enough for most folks to play with. While I got to grips with everything out there on iOS 18, there was a big missing piece: Apple Intelligence.

Arguably the most interesting things Apple showed off at WWDC hinged on AI, but none of those features are available for testing yet. Read on for what we like so far.

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That huge camera bump on the Pixel 9 Pro is very real

Google just confirmed it.

It’s not a Pixel leak without Google following up with fewer images and less information. Following a couple of leaks on four Pixel 9 phones apparently coming up, Google revealed the camera unit on the Pixel 9 Pro, and it is chonky.

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Halo, the TV show, has been canceled

Not everything is Fallout.

Back in 2013, Microsoft decided to create a live-action Halo television series — back when Halo was one of the biggest gaming properties in the world. It took about ten years to happen, but only two years — and series — for Paramount+ to cancel it. According to an unnamed Variety source, the show creators plan to shop the project around and search for a new home for Master Chief.

Continue reading.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-the-age-of-the-retro-cd-player-is-here-111606809.html?src=rss