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Most people do not need to pay the premium for a foldable smartphone. But if you’ve got some cash to burn and have been looking to take the plunge, the Google Pixel Fold is one of our favorites, and a recent deal has dropped it down to $1,399. That’s still far from “affordable,” but it ties the largest discount we’ve seen for the unlocked 256GB model, taking $400 off Google’s list price. The offer is available at several retailers, including Amazon, Target, Best Buy and Google’s online store. If you need more storage space, Google has the 512GB model for $1,519, another $400 discount. The company says this deal will run through February 24.

The Pixel Fold is the runner-up pick in our guide to the best foldable phones, and Engadget Senior Writer Sam Rutherford gave it a score of 85 in his review last June. Similar to Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 5, our top pick, it’s a “book-style” foldable, one that works like a traditional 5.8-inch smartphone when folded in half but offers a larger 7.6-inch display when unfurled. Next to Samsung’s phone (and the OnePlus Open), though, the Pixel’s displays are shorter and wider, which generally makes the device easier to use like a traditional phone. Your fingers have more room to breathe while texting when the phone is folded, while apps and videos will look more natural on the cover display. Samsung’s screens are brighter and more vibrant overall, but the 120Hz OLED panels here are still far from poor. You can see a crease in the middle of the internal display, however.

Beyond that, we’ve found the Pixel Fold’s cameras and image processing to deliver more accurate and dynamic photos than either the Galaxy Z Fold 5 or the OnePlus Open, especially in low-light conditions. It’s thinner than Samsung’s phone as well, though it’s slightly thicker than the Open. Like other Pixel phones, the Fold runs on a relatively clean and streamlined version of Android. A decent number of Google’s own apps are tweaked to better fit the larger screen, and you can run two phone apps side-by-side. Google says it’ll provide OS updates through June 2026, with two additional years of security updates. That said, the Z Fold 5’s UI has more powerful tools for multitasking. And as with most Android tablets, it won’t take too long to find apps that aren’t optimized for large displays.

There are other caveats. The Pixel Fold is by no means slow, but its Tensor G2 chip is now a bit dated, so the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Open provide better raw performance. Battery life is worse by a few hours, too, plus it has larger bezels around the display. Then there’s the elephant in the room: All foldable phones carry a higher durability risk. The Fold has more ways to break despite costing more than the best “normal” phones, so you’ll have to be particularly careful with it. It’s also worth noting that Google is likely working on a Pixel Fold 2, though that isn’t expected anytime soon. All that said, the current Fold has plenty to like if you dead set on a foldable phone today, and this deal makes it at least a little more accessible.

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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-google-pixel-fold-is-400-off-right-now-163809557.html?src=rss 

Just as Microsoft renamed Bing Chat to Copilot to unify its generative AI branding, Google is doing the same thing with Bard and Duet AI. The services now bear the name Gemini, after Google’s multimodal AI model. The name change leaked earlier this month. Google has also debuted a dedicated Gemini Android app alongside a paid version of the chatbot that has more enhanced capabilities.

“Bard has been the best way for people to directly experience our most capable models,” Google CEO Sundar Pichai wrote in a blog post. “To reflect the advanced tech at its core, Bard will now simply be called Gemini. It’s available in 40 languages on the web and is coming to a new Gemini app on Android and on the Google app on iOS.”

Those who download the Gemini Android app can actually replace Google Assistant as the default assistant on their device. So, when you long press the home button or utter “Hey Google,” your phone or tablet can fire up Gemini instead of Assistant. You can also make this switch by opting in through Assistant.

Doing so will enable a new conversational overlay on your display. Along with swift access to Gemini, the overlay will offer contextual suggestions, such as the ability to generate a description for a photo you just took or ask for more information about an article that’s on your screen.

You’ll also be able to access commonly used Assistant features through the Gemini app, from making calls and setting timers to controlling smart home devices. Google said it will bring more Assistant functions to Gemini in the future. That certainly makes it sound as though Google is phasing out Assistant in favor of Gemini. The app also includes access to Gemini Advanced (more on that in a moment).

As for iOS, there won’t be a separate Gemini app for now. Instead, you can access it through the Google app by tapping the Gemini toggle.

Gemini is available on Android and iOS in English in the US starting today. Next week, Google will start offering access to the chatbot in more locales in English, as well as in Japanese and Korean. As you might expect, Gemini is coming to more countries and languages down the line.

In addition, Google is opening up access to what it says is its largest and most capable AI model, Ultra 1.0, through Gemini Advanced. The company claims this is able to have longer and more in-depth conversations with the ability to recall context from previous chats. It says Gemini Advanced “is far more capable at highly complex tasks like coding, logical reasoning, following nuanced instructions and collaborating on creative projects.”

Gemini Advanced is available now in English in 150 countries and territories. To access it, you’ll need to sign up for the new Google One AI Premium Plan. This costs $20 per month — the same price as Copilot Pro — after a two-month free trial. Along with Gemini Advanced, this subscription includes everything from the Google One Premium Plan, including 2TB of storage and a VPN. Subscribers will also be able to use Gemini in apps such as Gmail, Docs, Slides and Sheets in the near future (this is replacing Duet AI).

Of note, Google says it sought to mitigate concerns such as bias and unsafe content while building Gemini Advanced and other AI products. The company says it carried out “extensive trust and safety checks, including external red-teaming” (i.e. testing by third-party ethical hackers) on Gemini Advanced before refining the model with reinforcement learning and fine tuning.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-rebrands-its-bard-ai-chatbot-as-gemini-which-now-has-its-own-android-app-151303210.html?src=rss 

Sony’s Funimation purchased Crunchyroll from WarnerMedia for $1.175 billion in 2020, and they kicked off their transformation into a unified anime subscription service under the latter’s name a year after the deal was announced. By 2022, Crunchyroll has already added more than 50 shows that were either exclusive to Funimation and weren’t available with dubs to its library. Now, it sounds like they’re almost done unifying their services: Funimation has revealed that it’s going to shut down its old app and website on April 2. 

In Funimation’s End of Services’ page, it said most of its content has already been migrated to Crunchyroll. Those who’ve yet to leave Funimation, will automatically be transferred — all they need to do is use their existing credentials to log into Crunchyroll’s website. After they do log in, they’ll get a prompt telling them that their Watch and History lists are being migrated, as well. 

Viewers who have a Funimation and a Crunchyroll account will be prompted to merge their data from both services or to choose to use their data from one of them. And after April 2, their billing will go through Crunchyroll’s and will follow its pricing, which starts at $8 a month. Unfortunately, Funimation customers who own digital copies complementing the DVDs or Blu-rays they purchased will lose access to them because Crunchyroll does not support them. “[W]e are continuously working to enhance our content offerings and provide you with an exceptional anime streaming experience,” Funimation said. “We appreciate your understanding and encourage you to explore the extensive anime library available on Crunchyroll.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/funimation-will-stream-its-last-anime-on-april-2-131526671.html?src=rss 

Meta and TikTok owner ByteDance are not keen on the idea of paying the European Union to regulate them. The companies have challenged a supervisory fee set forth by EU moderators, who are now required to monitor Meta, TikTok, and other major platforms under the Digital Services Act (DSA), Politico reports. Meta first announced its action, with ByteDance following suit a day later.

Under the current arrangement, all designated companies must split the €45.2 million ($48.7 million) that EU’s regulators argue is necessary to properly supervise the 20 Very Large Online Platforms and two Very Large Online Search Engines (VLOSEs). Each regulated platform has 45 million or more users with its financial contribution based on the size of that number. They also can’t owe more than 0.05 percent of its 2022 net profits. However, companies like Amazon and Pinterest that reported little to no profits won’t owe anything. Meta, on the other hand, got a €11 million ($11.9 million) bill under the current arrangement. ByteDance has not publicly announced how much it owes.

Meta takes issue with the European Union regulators’ methodology for choosing each company’s fees. “Currently, companies that record a loss don’t have to pay, even if they have a large user base or represent a greater regulatory burden, which means some companies pay nothing, leaving others to pay a disproportionate amount of the total,” a Meta spokesperson remarked. Failure to comply with the fee could lead to a fine of up to six percent of a company’s global revenue.

The DSA went into effect in 2023, with Meta’s and ByteDance’s VLOP designations came alongside other major sites, like Google and X, formerly known as Twitter. Along with the fee, VLOPs must comply with specific regulations like transparent advertising and content moderation, sharing data with the European Commission and cooperating with an annual independent audit.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/meta-and-tiktok-sue-to-get-out-of-paying-the-eus-fee-for-policing-content-123511827.html?src=rss