Samsung has begun taking pre-orders for its 500Hz OLED gaming monitor
It won't make you a better gamer, but Samsung's latest gaming monitor entices those hunting for faster refresh rates. The company's newest Odyssey OLED G6, which Samsung claims is the world's first OLED gaming monitor with a 500Hz refresh rate, is now available for pre-order in Southeast Asian markets, with a global rollout due to follow later this year. Samsung first announced the display, along with its sibling with 4K resolution called the Odyssey OLED G8 , right before CES 2025 in January.
The monitor is up for sale in a silver colorway on Samsung Singapore's site for around 1,500 Singapore dollars, or around $1,150. The Odyssey OLED G6 is expected to see its first shipments starting May 18. For certain gamers, a high refresh rate could mean the difference between life and death in competitive first-person shooters like Counter-Strike 2 or Valorant . With most professional gamers using monitors that have a 240Hz refresh rate, Samsung's latest offering has more than double the speed to emphasize more responsive and smoother gameplay. Beyond its groundbreaking refresh rate, the Odyssey OLED G6 has a 2,560 x 1,440 resolution and a response time of 0.03ms for less motion blur and ghosting in fast-paced action games.
As with any OLED monitor, burn-in is a serious drawback that leaves a faint impression of a bright image even when the screen is blank. To combat this, Samsung includes its OLED Safeguard+ technology, which uses a cooling system to lower operating temps and a detection system that automatically reduces the brightness of static images like logos and taskbars. Samsung put its Odyssey OLED G6 up for pre-order first in Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia, and will roll it out in phases to other countries.
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The Verge
39 minutes ago
- The Verge
The OnePlus Pad 3 tablet is still perfect for play and still awkward for work
When OnePlus first introduced its tablet to the world, it impressed with high-end specs at an affordable price. Now, with the OnePlus Pad 3, the company is refining that formula. This latest model brings modest hardware upgrades — including a larger, sharper display, a bigger battery, and an updated smart keyboard — along with meaningful software improvements that help it inch closer to rivals like Samsung and Apple. Yet the verdict remains largely the same: it's an excellent Android tablet for entertainment, and just okay for light productivity. But at $699.99, $150 more than the original, it raises the question: does it still offer the same value? A year ago, my answer might've been no. But in today's climate of tariffs and rising costs across the board, the Pad 3 still holds its own — especially against similarly specced competitors like the $749.99 Galaxy Tab S10 FE. Whether it's the right buy for you ultimately depends on what you want out of your tablet. The OnePlus Pad 3 features a larger 13.2-inch LCD display with a slightly sharper 3392 x 2400 resolution, making movies and shows look more vibrant. It's housed in a slimmer, flatter aluminum frame that's easier to carry, though at 675g, it's heavier than the 13-inch iPad Pro and too cumbersome to hold comfortably for long reading or viewing sessions. The new eight-speaker system — featuring four woofers and four tweeters positioned around the device — is even louder, delivering a more immersive audio experience for YouTube, games, and streaming. OnePlus has also improved battery life with a slightly larger 12,140mAh cell. The battery dropped just 15 percent after a couple of hours with two apps and a couple of tabs open, suggesting it can easily last more than a day. OnePlus says it can charge from 0 to 100 percent in 92 minutes, with a 10-minute top-up delivering 18 percent. In my testing, it charged from 20 percent to 80 percent in 76 minutes, going up by 20 percent within 20 minutes — nearly as fast as promised, and still impressive. Most users likely won't notice a huge leap from the Pad 2. The experience is more iterative than game-changing — but that's not necessarily a bad thing. The 7:5 aspect ratio was still ideal for reading Adam Grant's Think Again, while the 144Hz refresh rate ensured smooth visuals while I caught up on the last season of You and played games like Asphalt Legends and Block Blast! The screen still tops out at 900 nits, making it usable outdoors. Under the hood, the Pad 3 retains the same Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor, with options for 12GB RAM and 256GB storage or 16GB RAM and 512GB. Performance is snappy and more than sufficient for most users. The OnePlus Pad 3 ships with OxygenOS 15, the company's operating system based on Android 15, and it's here where the most interesting improvements lie. OnePlus' software has trailed behind rivals like Samsung, Google, and Apple, but OxygenOS 15 represents a significant step forward, particularly for light productivity. One of the most notable upgrades is how well the Pad 3 now plays with Apple devices — a rarity in the Android world. It supports screen mirroring and easy sharing of files and live photos with Macs or iPhones, making it especially appealing for mixed Apple-Android households. As an Apple user, I found the Mac Remote Control feature surprisingly useful (when it actually worked, which I'll dive into shortly), as it lets you view and control your laptop or desktop in real time, transfer files between devices, and access PC files remotely from the tablet. Setup is straightforward: download the O+ app for Mac or Windows, sign into your OnePlus account, and ensure all devices are on the same Wi-Fi network. Once configured, the connection is quick, though not always consistent. At the time of writing, I've struggled to reconnect my MacBook Air. Input lag and a slightly blurry mirrored display make this feature less ideal for media or video calls (especially since the Pad 3's 8MP front camera underwhelms), but it remains useful for turning the tablet into a secondary display or quickly accessing files without relying on cloud storage or messaging apps. It also made it easier for me to use the Pad 3 over my laptop for more tasks, reminding me of Samsung's DeX — though OnePlus' version requires an internet connection, unlike DeX, which works offline with just a cable. OxygenOS 15 also supports Google's AI tools. Circle to Search is finally onboard, letting you instantly look up anything on screen with a gesture. Google's Gemini Assistant is easily accessible via the power key or a dedicated Smart Keyboard shortcut. Other features feel basic but genuinely helpful, from writing tools that polish your text to a voice note cleanup feature that strips filler words from transcripts while preserving your original audio. OnePlus also added basic photo editing tools like AI Detail Boost and reversible edits, making photo retouching easier. The Pad 3 still falls short for serious productivity. While the larger screen and Open Canvas multitasking system — which debuted on the Pad 2 — let you run up to three apps side by side or stack and float them (something I found especially helpful when reading and taking notes), the overall experience remains limited by Android software constraints. A lot of Android apps — Slack and Airtable, for example — still aren't optimized for large displays. Beyond new features, OnePlus' software stands out thanks to a much-improved update policy — making the Pad 3's price hike a bit easier to swallow. It now comes with three Android version updates (starting with Android 15) and six years of security patches, two more years than the Pad 2 offered. That makes it a safer long-term investment. Still, Samsung promises seven years of OS and security updates for the Tab S10 FE Plus, so for a tablet at this price, it'd be nice to see OnePlus go even further. Finally, like its predecessor, the Pad 3 can be purchased with a set of accessories. The unchanged Stylo 2 stylus works just as well as before, but to accommodate the tablet's larger size, you'll need the $199 Pad 3 Smart Keyboard or the $49.99 Pad 3 Folio Case. The latter feels very similar to the previous version, but the Smart Keyboard sees more noticeable changes. It now features larger keys that make for a more enjoyable typing experience, along with useful extras like a built-in NFC receiver for quick file sharing and a dedicated key to launch Google's Gemini AI assistant. While the keyboard was great for typing emails, it's not ideal for heavy work. My main issue was the trackpad — though roomy, it often disrupted productivity by making text selection difficult and frequently triggered unintended shortcuts, like accidental screenshots. The keyboard's stability also needs improvement; it still connects via pogo pins, which work well on a desk but feel unstable on your lap. Thankfully, Bluetooth support lets you detach and use it wirelessly. The OnePlus Pad 3 is even better suited for binge-watching, reading, streaming music, and light multitasking than before. The improved software update policy also makes it more future-proof. Software limitations prevent it from being a true laptop replacement or productivity powerhouse, but then again, few tablets are. Photography by Sheena Vasani / The Verge Agree to Continue: OnePlus Pad 3 Every smart device now requires you to agree to a series of terms and conditions before you can use it — contracts that no one actually reads. It's impossible for us to read and analyze every single one of these agreements. But we started counting exactly how many times you have to hit 'agree' to use devices when we review them since these are agreements most people don't read and definitely can't negotiate. To use the OnePlus Pad 3, you must agree to: Additionally, you have the choice to opt in to OnePlus' User Experience Program, System Stability Improvement Program, Google's location services, and Google's device maintenance features. To use the Pad's camera, you must agree to the Camera Statement of Use.
Tom's Guide
4 hours ago
- Tom's Guide
AI on phones feels too much like homework — and Apple should use iOS 26's redesign to fix that
Tech companies, especially the ones that make and sell phones, have been telling us how important AI is for several years, and offering a range of new AI-powered features that promise to make our lives easier. But despite promising that, it seems a bunch of those companies forgot the most important thing about new features — making sure people can actually find and use them. As someone who's spent a great deal of time reviewing new phones, nothing irritates me more than being told about new AI features and then having to do a bunch of research to figure out how to access them. Even Apple, a company that has made its own AI suite a lot more transparent, is guilty of this in some regard. And since iOS 19 (or iOS 26) is set to redesign the entire Apple ecosystem, WWDC 2025 is a chance for the company to make AI feel less like homework and transform it into something a lot simpler and more intuitive. I'll preface this with an admission that not all AI features are difficult to find. If it involves going through some kind of voice assistant, like Google Gemini or Siri, then AI capabilities are literally only a voice prompt away. Similarly AI photo editing features, like Google's Magic Editor, have long been available in photo gallery apps, like Google Photos or Apple's equivalent. But at the same time, considering all these features have been around for quite some time, their location and functionality have already been ingrained into our collective memories. Plus, once you know about one of those features, you can often find similar ones in the same spot. Or in the case of voice assistants, physically ask it about the kind of things it can do. There's also a bunch of AI working in the background that the user doesn't actually need to initiate. All that processing that happens to your photos? AI has a hand there, just as it does in helping translate foreign languages for you. We've also seen AI applied to software that helps manage the battery and displays, to help phones run more smoothly and efficiently. None of this is the flashy AI that gets promoted in keynote speeches or TV commercials. It's the boring stuff that makes your phone run and perform better, without you even realizing what's going on. But if a company is trying to add some fuel to the AI hype train, the focus ends up on the new and showy AI features that look and sound good. The problem is phone makers haven't put much consideration into helping users find the darn things. One good example I've found in this area are specialist translation apps — ones that do more than Google Translate. Samsung's Interpreter Mode is the one I've noticed this with most recently, offering the ability to translate two-way conversations happening in two different languages. I know that it exists, Samsung has talked about it at great length, but looking at a Galaxy S25, it's nowhere to be seen. It's not in the app drawer, nor the home screen, nor is it one of the default apps in the Quick Settings menu. Instead you either have to use the search bar to find Interpreter Mode, or change the Quick Settings features to include it — which isn't ideal when you only have 6-8 slots to choose from. The more I think about Galaxy AI features Samsung has talked about, the more I realize that I also have no idea where they are. The same is true for Apple Intelligence, Google Gemini and the countless other AI features that have been added to smartphones in recent years. I made a point of criticizing this in my review of the Xiaomi 15 Ultra, but the problem is a lot more widespread than that — and it's like phone makers don't realize this is a complete hindrance. In the days when new AI features weren't all that common, this probably wouldn't be so bad. Users get the time to get to grips with new features as they arrive, and by the time the next big software update comes around it'll be second nature. But the sheer number of new AI features being added to phones, and with little communication on how they work, makes this much more difficult. The distinct lack of official guidance on how to use new AI features is definitely getting in the way of me wanting to use them — and I doubt I'm the only one who feels that way. If phone makers really care about us using AI features more regularly, then this needs to change. I've often spoken about my severe lack of interest when it comes to using AI on phones, and a big part of that is due to the fact it's usually so difficult to find any of the new features. Back in the day, Apple would proudly declare that "it just works," with die-hard fans parroting that line for several years. But when your new smartphone comes with homework, it certainly isn't passing the intuitiveness test with a particularly good grade. Apple's not the only party guilty of this, but with WWDC set to majorly shake up how Apple software works, be it on iPhone, Mac or another Apple product, it's in a position to try and help users use Apple Intelligence without doing a thesis-load of research first. Who knows, maybe making AI actually intuitive can help make up for all its AI missteps over the past year.
Tom's Guide
6 hours ago
- Tom's Guide
Does your OLED TV look funny? Here are 5 common issues and how to diagnose them
OLED TVs aren't perfect. Despite their reputation of being some of the best TVs money can buy, OLED displays are susceptible to some odd visual quirks that range from minor blemishes like color banding to major issues like image retention. Having been in the TV-testing business for over a decade, I've seen everything from the earliest OLED models all the way up to the latest and best OLEDs on the market today and have needed to troubleshoot a fair number of them over the years. Here's a list of the strange oddities you might encounter with an OLED TV and whether or not they're worth worrying about. Though not a prevalent issue in recent years, some OLED TVs — particularly WOLED TVs used by LG and Sony — demonstrate minor color tinting when viewed a few feet away from a head-on position. Typically, the effect is most pronounced when the screen displays white a or near-white picture, like during the broadcast of a hockey game. The white portions of the picture will subtly shift into a pale pink or green, shifting as the viewer moves. As mentioned, it's been a few years since I've seen this issue, but folks with OLED TVs from around 2021 to 2023 might notice it from time to time. The cause of the tinting isn't one for concern. Fortunately, the cause of the tinting isn't one for concern, most likely having to do with variance in manufacturing. Based on reports across the web, the severity of the issue appears to be random, and I can personally attest that I've never witnessed a case so severe as to compromise the picture entirely. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. While the above photo has been edited to illustrate the issue, it's plain to see that the OLED depicted is struggling to display a dark gray screen without saddling the left and right sides of the picture with a bold, pink column. Unfortunately, in my experience, this visual artifact tends to be more noticeable than the off-axis tint detailed above. This is because it tends to rear its head during any dark scene with low color saturation. In other words, a background wall doesn't need to be gray for the discoloration to appear. Black-and-white content will bring it out almost immediately. Much like the off-axis color tinting, this problem affects OLED TVs seemingly at random. However, not once have I seen the issue manifest on quantum dot-enhanced OLEDs like Samsung's excellent flagship, the S95D OLED TV. This leads me to believe that QD-OLEDs aren't as susceptible to the root cause. In my experience, QD-OLED TVs like the Samsung S95D tend to exhibit fewer visual quirks than TVs with WOLED panels. The S95D (one of our favorite OLEDs of its year) delivers an incredible picture and a sensational suite of features for gaming, streaming and beyond. To check your OLED TV for this issue, switch off your lights and, on your OLED, pull up this Dirty Screen Effect YouTube video uploaded by Sunil Raman. This short clip will start with a 100% black screen and gradually move up the grayscale until it displays 100% white. The dark gray-colored slides at 5% to 20% are particularly useful at coaxing out the pink tint. As far as I know, if you do discover pink-colored blotches, it can't be addressed outside of replacing the TV. Above is a close-up of a QD-OLED TV panel displaying a black-and-white checkerboard pattern. If you look along the edges of the black squares, you'll notice green- and magenta-colored rows of pixels. This is a result of QD-OLED's triangular subpixel structure, which places the green subpixel above red and blue. Fortunately, this minor, near-imperceptible color fringing is not a substantial mark against QD-OLED TVs. In general, you're most likely to notice this fringing when light-colored title cards or subtitles are on screen. Unless you intend on using a QD-OLED display as a monitor (or if you plan on regularly sitting very close to a QD-OLED TV), it's not a cause for concern. On rare occasions, I've seen OLED TVs arrive out of the box with vertical or horizontal banding across most or all of the screen. They usually manifest as straight lines of varying widths. Like the localized pink tint, this banding is most noticeable when large portions of the picture are white or gray. In my experience, OLED banding tends to work itself out after about five to ten hours of use. While it's frustrating to see these imperfections shortly after setting up a brand-new TV, I've got some good news: In my experience, OLED banding tends to work itself out after about five to ten hours of use. In the past, when I've reached out to LG about one of its TVs exhibiting this banding, a representative has recommended that I run the display's pixel refresher. Known as Pixel Cleaning on LG OLEDs (or Pixel Refresh on Samsung OLEDS), this process automatically adjusts the luminance of pixels depending on whether or not an unevenness is detected. Be warned, however: I would not manually run these pixel-cleaning features with any regularity. They can be aggressive over time — akin to scouring your display — and there's a good chance your OLED TV is already running a lighter, preventative version of the feature automatically when it's off. If none of these measures eliminates the TV's banding issue, I would brush up on the warranty and reach out to customer service. Burn-in is the only one of these issues that happens as a direct result of how an OLED TV is used. It describes the ghostly image of previously viewed content, now embedded within the display after many hours of use. Due to the organic nature of OLED displays, they're particularly susceptible to burn-in — or at least they were. Burn-in was something of an OLED boogeyman in the early days of the technology, but brands have built up plenty of defense against the issue in the years since. For instance, all major OLED-makers offer a pixel-shifting feature that occasionally (and subtly) moves the picture to ensure that each pixel is switching things up from time to time. The aforementioned pixel refreshing cycle remains an option, too, if you're noticing some image retention taking place. In general, the OLED TVs of today are far better equipped to prevent burn-in than earlier models. In general, the OLED TVs of today are far better equipped to prevent burn-in than earlier models. However, it still wouldn't hurt to give your TV a rest every now and then, particularly if you play games with static HUDs, or watch content with chyrons and/or tickers. If your OLED TV is exhibiting burn-in, it might be covered by the brand's standard warranty. LG, for instance, offers a one-year warranty on most of its OLED TVs which ought to cover burn-in, but the likelihood that you'll be dealing with OLED burn-in that soon is very, very low. Personally, I wouldn't let the prospect of burn-in stop me from shopping for an OLED TV. Nor would I let any of these issues dissuade me. The truth is, no TV is perfect — regardless of display technology. Due to the nature of their hardware, OLED TVs certainly need to be coddled a bit more relative to their LCD/LED counterparts, but those TVs come with their own potential quirks, too.
