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A Play Store app called Gadesk lets Galaxy Z Fold 8 owners run Samsung DeX's desktop interface directly on the phone's 7.6-inch inner screen, without needing an external monitor. The setup requires no rooting or sideloading, just installing the app and adjusting a few settings before DeX becomes usable standalone.
Android Authority's Andrew Grush says he still installs the third-party app AccuBattery on his Android phones, even as most performance-boosting battery apps have proven ineffective over the years. He explains that AccuBattery doesn't try to magically extend battery life but instead helps identify software or hardware issues causing excess drain, using pattern-recognition data gathered over time rather than the factory-calibrated data used by built-in OS tools.
Samsung's Galaxy Watch9 brings a new Snapdragon Wear Elite processor, Wear OS 7 with customizable widgets, and a raise-to-talk Gemini feature, alongside a modestly larger battery. Despite the bigger battery, real-world battery life stayed around 25 hours with always-on display enabled, similar to its predecessor. The reviewer calls it a solid but incremental update over last year's Watch8, better suited for those upgrading from older Galaxy Watches.
Android Authority's Paul Jones argues that despite the $350 Moto Watch Ultra's strong feature set—LTE eSIM, Wear OS 6, a 1.5-inch pOLED screen and Polar health tracking—its weaker processor and limited two-generation OS upgrade path make it a risky buy. Instead, he recommends five alternatives including the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra (2025), Google Pixel Watch 4, Samsung Galaxy Watch 9, Garmin Venu 4 and Amazfit Balance 2. The Galaxy Watch Ultra 2025, now around $330 on Amazon, is highlighted as the top pick for Samsung phone owners thanks to its rugged sapphire-glass build, 64GB storage, multi-day battery and four years of promised software updates.
Samsung is rolling out a new option letting Gallery app users sync photos and videos directly to Google Photos, replacing the native Microsoft OneDrive integration that shuts down September 30. The feature requires a compatible Samsung phone running Android 13 or later and a personal (non-Workspace, non-supervised) Google account, and is rolling out gradually with availability varying by device, region and account type.
Reviewers testing the new Galaxy S26 FE describe it as a competent mid-tier handset with respectable performance and build quality, but say its price undercuts the value proposition that made earlier 'Fan Edition' phones popular. The consensus points to Samsung positioning the device closer to its flagship pricing than to the budget-friendly tier fans expected.
Following Apple's unveiling of its $1,999 foldable iPhone Duo, Samsung's social media team launched a mocking campaign, calling the device 'so far, so same' and joking about 'reheated leftovers.' Samsung, which released the first mainstream foldable phone in 2019 and has since shipped around 20 models, is leaning on its years of foldable experience to needle Apple's late entry. Duolingo's owl mascot also joined in, joking about the 'Duo' name, while Apple executive John Ternus defended the device as an 'entirely new design' rather than 'two phones awkwardly stuck together.'
Samsung's new Galaxy S26 FE closely mirrors its predecessor, the S25 FE, with only minor design tweaks like a glossy back, a unified camera island, and slightly larger dimensions. The phone keeps the same 8GB RAM and 128GB base storage as last year's model but now costs $50 more, while switching to an Exynos 2500 chip.
Apple's Watch Ultra 4 introduces a revamped sensor system with five-second heart rate readings, an improved pedometer, and a new Readiness feature that combines recent activity and sleep data. Samsung's Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 counters with an expanded Vitals suite in its Health app, offering daily blood pressure estimates, a Heart Health Score, antioxidant readings, and trail-running hydration guidance. Both devices share core safety tools like Emergency SOS, fall detection, and alert sirens, though only Apple's watch adds crash detection.
Chinese regulator 3C has listed model numbers matching the Galaxy S27 Pro and S27 Ultra with 60W wired charging support. Separate battery filings suggest the two phones could pack 5,200mAh and 5,700mAh cells respectively, up from the current Ultra's 5,000mAh unit.
Samsung has released Gallery Assistant, a Good Lock module that adds seven new tools to the Gallery app on Galaxy phones, including size reduction, rotate and flip, image clipping, watermarking, image comparison, and PDF export. Many of these tools support batch processing, letting users apply the same edit to multiple images or videos simultaneously instead of repeating actions one by one.
Samsung has started rolling out a Google Photos integration within its Gallery app, adding a new 'Sync photos and videos' option under settings that lets users automatically back up their photos and videos through Google's cloud service. The rollout follows Samsung's earlier confirmation that it was ending its OneDrive backup partnership with Microsoft in favor of a new deal with Google, and the feature is currently appearing for some users on Samsung Gallery version 15.9.01.7.