GoKawiil
Tech News
A consumer tech guide explains that slowing performance and poor battery life on older Android phones is often due to a degraded battery rather than a failing device. It recommends replacing the battery—often for $10-$80 depending on repair method—rather than buying a new phone, and suggests using built-in battery-saving modes and keeping charge levels between 20 and 80 percent.
A roundup surveys the expanding foldable gadget category, noting the format traces back nearly a decade to Samsung's original Galaxy Fold, now in its eighth generation. It highlights that Google, Motorola and Apple (with its iPhone Duo) have since entered the foldable market, alongside various Chinese-made devices not officially sold in the US.
Samsung Galaxy phones display an H+ symbol in the status bar when connected to the HSPA+ network, a step between 3G and 4G. A plain H symbol, without the plus, indicates a different, older connection type on the same general network family.
Amazon is currently offering a $100 discount on the 256GB Samsung Galaxy S26 FE. The phone features a 6.7-inch 120Hz Dynamic AMOLED 2X display, 8GB of RAM, a triple rear camera system led by a 50MP main sensor, and a roughly 4,700mAh battery with wired, wireless, and reverse wireless charging. It ships with One UI 9 and Samsung's pledge of seven years of OS upgrades and security updates.
Korean leaker Lanzuk reports that Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 9 and Fold 9 Ultra will carry over camera hardware from their predecessors. The Fold 9 Ultra is said to keep a 200MP main, 50MP ultrawide, and 3x optical telephoto setup, while the standard Fold 9 reportedly retains a 50MP main and 50MP ultrawide dual-camera configuration.
CNET ran 120 hours of battery testing across 2026 smartphone models and found the iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max led the pack, alongside foldables like the Motorola Razr (2026) and Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8, which use silicon-carbon batteries for added capacity without bulkier hardware. The newly released iPhone Duo tied for the top result in one test, while overall average battery life across 2026 phones matched results from 2024 and 2025.
Samsung announced that its Galaxy Ring and Galaxy Watch devices received FDA approval in July for an upgraded sleep apnea detection feature. The AI-powered tool now tracks breathing disruptions hourly and can report mild, occasional or frequent apnea after users log at least five hours of sleep on two nights within a ten-day span. The feature is also rolling out to the Galaxy Watch 9, with Watch 7 and 8 support planned via future updates.
Android Authority's two-week review of the Samsung Galaxy S26 FE reports that it fixes last year's main complaint by upgrading the processor, but still ships with a meager 8GB/128GB base configuration, dated camera hardware, and a higher price than before. The design is nearly unchanged from the S25 FE, apart from a new camera island that the reviewer describes as made of cheap plastic.
Samsung has begun rolling out an improved sleep apnea detection feature to the Galaxy Watch 9, Galaxy Watch Ultra 2, and Galaxy Ring in the US and South Korea. The update follows clearances from the FDA and South Korea's MFDS, and arrives through the Samsung Health Monitor app. Instead of a simple yes/no result, the algorithm now tracks blood oxygen drops and breathing disruptions across two sleep sessions within a 10-day window to gauge severity.
Samsung's One UI 9 update changes how the Galaxy Z Flip's cover screen works, replacing the previous wallpaper-and-clock home view with a Now Brief dashboard or widget page after unlocking. Users on Reddit and Samsung's community forums say this makes it harder to return to their customized cover screen and has removed the ability to double-tap the unlocked screen to turn it off.
According to Korean outlet Chosun Biz, Samsung's first Android XR smart glasses, reportedly dubbed 'Intelligent Eyewear,' will launch in South Korea and the US by mid-December. The report says the glasses will initially skip China, Japan, and Europe, with wider availability possibly coming in 2027. Earlier reports had pointed to a late-November debut in South Korea.
Samsung's Certified Re-Newed program is now available on Amazon, offering 14 refurbished Galaxy phones from two generations, priced from $489 for the Galaxy S24 FE (128GB) up to $1,029 for the Galaxy S25 Ultra (512GB). Each unit passes Samsung's 147-point quality check, receives a new IMEI number, and comes with a one-year warranty.