Google's Unbeatable Pixel Update Leaves Other Androids Behind
Pixel can't be caught — here's why. Getty Images
Google has warned that Android phones are again under attack , with another serious vulnerability leaving devices exposed to hackers. Within 24 hours, it confirmed that all compatible Pixels 'will receive these software updates starting today, and the rollout will continue over the next week in phases.' Good for Pixel — bad for everyone else.
This vulnerability is a memory issue first disclosed by Meta in March. As such, it's surprising to see this turn up to generate Android headlines two months later. But that also means there should be no delay in other OEMs applying the fix. Samsung has just issued details of its own monthly update and the fix is included. Forbes Delete Any Texts On Your Phone That Include These Messages By Zak Doffman
The twist is that this fix applies just to Android 13 and 14 — Android 12 and below are no longer supported, suggesting Android 15 is already patched. Pixels have already moved to the new OS and so this warning does not apply. Samsung is mid its One UI 7 rollout, with many millions of phones yet to upgrade. As such, it does apply.
Putting that aside, the challenge for Samsung is that it will run the latest monthly update across its global ecosystem through the rest of the month. And while its newest Galaxy flagships will be updated first, they're also the most likely to be on Android 15. Older phones still on Android 14 will wait the longest for this critical Android 14 fix.
Between the efficiency of monthly updates — including the use of seamless updates which again almost all Samsungs do without — and the expediency of the OS upgrade, it's again advantage Pixel, with other OEMs playing an unwinnable game of catch-up.
All eyes on Samsung's One UI 8 rollout, complete with the teased fix for the leaky Secure Folder issue, and whether this next OS upgrade can address the awkward optics of One UI 7 which seemed to teeter from one problem to the next. We're told this will be faster and closer behind Pixel, it really needs to, especially for $2000 flagships. Forbes Has Your Phone Been Hacked—This New Update Lets You Know By Zak Doffman
The bigger issue though is the oddity of Google supplying and competing with Android's other OEMs. With its control of Pixel's hardware through Android software, it has the full stack in the same way Apple does with iPhone. And while the Google-Samsung relationship is undoubtedly close and getting closer, Pixel is also undoubtedly more of a competitive threat than it has ever been before, especially in the premium category.
In China, there's talk of OEMs moving away from Android, as Huawei has already done given sanctions restricting access to U.S. technology. Whisper it quietly, but the best thing for Samsung might be to do the same, to create a genuine iPhone competitor, with access to Google's apps and services as needed — just as iPhones do now.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Gizmodo
29 minutes ago
- Gizmodo
To mark National Trails Day, you can try out a Hypershell X – the outdoor exoskeleton for everyone
You may have seen exoskeletons deployed for military, scientific, or medical use, but the X series from Hypershell is different: It's designed for anyone to use, to go farther and for longer with bionic assistance, on hikes and other outdoor adventures. Our own Kyle Barr has tried the Hypershell Pro X, and was impressed. An X exoskeleton will ordinarily set you back $1,000 or above, but Hypershell is partnering with the American Hiking Society (AHS) to mark National Trails Day on June 7, 2025. For the occasion, 30 Hypershell Pro X devices will be distributed to 10 hiking sites, where they can be tested by volunteers and walkers. Enter Now to Win a Hypershell Exoskeleton 'Hypershell was founded on the belief that technology should expand the boundaries of human movement, especially in the wild,' says Kelvin Sun, the founder and CEO of Hypershell. 'Our mission aligns deeply with that of the American Hiking Society, which has been the national voice for America's hikers for nearly 50 years. We're honored to stand with them in promoting access, adventure, and stewardship on the trails.' The Hypershell X The Hypershell X is a piece of outdoor gear quite unlike any other: The exoskeleton fits to your back, around your waist, and attaches to your legs. It then puts you on cheat mode as far as hiking goes, giving you faster speeds and extending your stamina—you can use it to complete walks you might not otherwise attempt, or to finish routes you can tackle in a faster time. For the hiking beginner, it gives you the confidence to get out on the trail. For the hiking expert, it levels up what you're capable of. For younger walkers, it can add years on, and for older walkers, it can take years off. The exoskeleton is there to help you move farther, stronger, and smarter, and it's designed to fit seamlessly into the way you move. You've got three models to choose from: The Go X, the Pro X, and the Carbon X. They offer increasing levels of performance and power, with Hypershell promising they'll give you up to 40 percent more leg strength and equal up to 30 percent less physical exertion. It can offset up to 30 kilograms or 66 pounds of weight, while battery range is good for up to 17.5 kilometers or almost 11 miles. The weight of the Hypershell X exoskeleton itself is a mere 2 kilograms or 4.4 pounds, or a little less if you go for the carbon fiber and titanium option—so it's definitely not going to weigh you down. As well as walking, because of its lightweight and unobtrusive nature, it's also suitable for running and cycling. Enter Now to Win a Hypershell Exoskeleton Underpinning everything is an AI MotionEngine, programmed to adapt in real time to your movement. Based on inputs from more than a dozen sensors, it figures out your next step, and then provides assistance to propel you forward. It's personalized too, so it learns your walking gait over time, and should feel more natural the more you use it. You wear the battery on your back, rucksack style, and when you're not using your Hypershell X it folds right down too for easy transport. With the battery weighing in at 400 grams or 0.88 pounds, you can easily pack spares too—giving you even more range across several hikes or several days. The exoskeleton offers quite a bit of control over how much assistance it actually gives you, and you've got three different modes of operation to choose between, to balance battery life and performance. What's more, it's IP54 rated, and can work in conditions as cold as -10 degrees Celsius (that's 14 degrees Fahrenheit). In our review, Kyle described the Pro X model as being easy to use, comfortable to wear, and effective at helping you to walk further with less effort. There are 'plenty of people who can benefit from this device' he concluded—including not just experienced hikers but those who are less likely to go walking due to inability, injury, or age. Enter Now to Win a Hypershell Exoskeleton The Hypershell X is an award-winner too: It picked up an Innovation Award as part of CES 2025, with its 'revolutionary and ultra-light ergonomic design' singled out for special praise. Exoskeletons are no longer the stuff of science fiction, the super-rich, or the army—and you might start to see them much more often on your hiking trails. National Trails Day Hypershell's partnership with the AHS is about making hiking more accessible, to everyone—people of any age, of all abilities. Those who might otherwise have considered getting out on the trail beyond them can take on the challenge, while experienced walkers can get a synthetic boost to their natural abilities. National Trails Day is the signature annual event of the AHS, and this year it falls on Saturday, June 7. The idea behind the event is to encourage people to get active outdoors, to connect with other members of their community, and perhaps to give something back to the trails in terms of tidying up a route and leaving it in a better condition than when you found it. You can find out more about National Trails Day here, and look up events happening in your local area. Typically, tens of thousands of people across the US get together for the day, advocating for public lands and trails, and enjoying some of the majestic splendor offered by the natural landscape all around us. These goals and passions fit in neatly with Hypershell and its X exoskeleton of course, and as part of National Trails Day this year, Hypershell will be at the Tahoe Rim Trail project near Big Meadow Trailhead in Lake Tahoe, California. The aim of the day is to introduce a new highway crossing reroute, which will improve hiker safety and mean a better overall experience for anyone using the route. Anyone attending the project event will have the chance to try on the Hypershell Pro X and take advantage of all the benefits it brings: Reducing strain and extending endurance, and from there supporting the admirable work being put into trail maintenance during this special day of outdoor gatherings. Enter Now to Win a Hypershell Exoskeleton Just turn up on the day to get involved and see if an exoskeleton could be the upgrade for you. You can get more information on all of this from the official Hypershell website, or the official American Hiking Society website—both have plenty of resources and plenty of information for you to check out, and there are gear giveaways you can take part in too.
Tom's Guide
31 minutes ago
- Tom's Guide
OnePlus 13s just got this useful Gemini feature — and not even Google Pixels have it
The OnePlus 13s is the first device to feature a lockscreen feature for Gemini that not even the best Android phones have access to. When the OnePlus 13s released in India, it was noticed that the phone features a new lock screen shortcut option that allows users to directly access Google Gemini. The 13s' Settings refers to this shortcut as 'Digital Assistant from Google,' but a shared screenshot from Android Authority shows a logo that is clearly Gemini's star icon. You can still access Gemini on many recent Android phones' lockscreen by using your voice, so there's an argument that the shortcut isn't entirely necessary. But this shortcut opens up the full app, letting you access your existing chats rather than starting a new query. This isn't the only AI feature coming with the OnePlus 13s, as it is the first device to feature new OnePlus AI features like OnePlus AI Mind, a space to collect screenshots, memos and more for easy future access, and Gemini integration with OnePlus apps. In terms of other hardware, the OnePlus 13s also comes with a 6.32-inch display, a 50MP main camera, a 50MP 2x telephoto lens and a 32MP selfie camera, making it an impressively specced, yet compact, flagship phone compared to other Android phones launched this year. All of this is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset and 12GB of RAM, alongside a surprisingly large 5,850 mAh battery. The fact that we haven't seen a similar lock screen shortcut for Gemini on Google's own Pixel phones already is interesting, as current Pixels only offer the usual shortcut options, such as the flashlight or camera. Google added a Gemini lock screen button in the Android 15 beta, as spotted by Android Authority, but it wasn't present in the final Android 15 release. We could see this change return as part of the ongoing Android 16 rollout, but so far, the only change noticed in the current beta is in the overall look of the UI, thanks to Google's new Material 3 Expressive design language. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. Unfortunately, the OnePlus 13s is currently only available in India and there's no indication that it will launch globally. However, while we might not see the device on store shelves over here, we would hope that Google still takes some ideas from it and incorporates them into its Pixel series, and that OnePlus introduces this option on its other phones soon.
CNET
40 minutes ago
- CNET
I Made These 10 Changes to My iPhone Settings Right After Installing iOS 18.5
Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) is coming next week, where a major announcement will no doubt tell what's new in iOS 19, (like if it will be named iOS 26). In preparation for what's coming, I like to make sure my current iPhone setup is working well. So, grab the latest iOS 18.5 update and revisit these 10 settings with me. Don't forget that iOS 18 includes the first Apple Intelligence features, so be sure to check out the ones you'll use most. Or if you have no current interest or want to wait before using the AI features, here's how to turn off Apple Intelligence. Watch this: 11 Hidden Features in iOS 18 06:44 For more on what's new in iOS 18, learn about improvements to the overhauled Calculator app and the Mail app. And don't forget to consult our iOS 18 upgrade checklist, which includes making sure you have a proper backup before upgrading. Turn off categories in the Mail app When it comes to something like email, everyone has their own way of dealing with the influx of messages. Traditionally, the Mail app has kept a chronological list, but that can get unwieldy if you also get scores of promotions, receipts and other types of email. The new categories feature creates virtual buckets for Primary, Transactions, Updates and Promotions, and guesses how your messages should be sorted. If that approach doesn't work for you, here are two things to try. • In the event that categories are somewhat useful, but you still want a chronological view of your Inbox, swipe all the way to the right of the categories and tap All Mail. • To turn off categories altogether, tap the three-dot menu (…) in the top-right corner, and then tap List View. Turn off Mail Categories from within the Inbox. (iOS 18.5 beta shown here.) Screenshots by Jeff Carlson/CNET Change the default buttons on the lock screen In real estate, location is everything, and the bottom corners of the iPhone lock screen are the prime spots, each an easy thumb press away when your device is still locked. Before iOS 18, those posts were held by the flashlight and camera buttons, with no way to change them. In iOS 18, you can finally replace them with other buttons -- or remove them entirely, a balm for folks who unknowingly activate the flashlight (believe me, there's a better way to turn it on). You can add buttons to recognize music via Shazam, enable Dark Mode, set an alarm/timer, enable Airplane Mode, open your Wallet, send money via Tap to Cash and more. Here's how: 1. On the iPhone's lock screen, touch and hold anywhere on the display until you see the Customize button. You'll need to unlock the phone using Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode. If it opens the home screen, swipe down from the center-top of the screen (not the right edge, which brings up Control Center. 2. Tap Customize and then choose Lock Screen. 3. Remove one of the buttons by tapping the – (minus) button on the icon. 4. To replace the button with another function, tap its space (now with a + icon) and then choose the one you want on the next screen. (You can also opt to leave that space empty with no button.) 5. Repeat those steps for the other button if you want to change it. 6. Tap Done when you're finished. 7. Tap the lock screen again to exit the customize mode. Remove a lock screen button by tapping the – (minus) button, and then choose a new control to replace it. Screenshots by Jeff Carlson/CNET Get important alerts using Prioritize Notifications For iPhone models that can run Apple Intelligence, a new option in iOS 18.4 is fast becoming one of my favorite AI features. Go to Settings > Notifications, and under Apple Intelligence, tap Prioritize Notifications. As new alerts come in -- and some days feel like they arrive in floods -- Apple Intelligence determines which ones are more likely to be important to you. For example, texts from people in your contacts could be flagged in favor of random scam messages. On that settings screen, you can enable or disable priority notifications for individual apps. In iOS 18.4, Apple Intelligence can prioritize notifications to grab your attention. Screenshots by Jeff Carlson/CNET Set up some of the new tasks available on the Action button The Action button on the iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 16, iPhone 16E and iPhone 16 Pro replaced the dedicated mute switch found on every earlier iPhone model with a configurable control. By default, it serves the same purpose -- hold it to turn Silent Mode on or off -- but you can configure it for other actions like opening the Camera app, performing multiple actions at once or even ordering coffee. The iOS 18.4 update adds Visual Intelligence as an option for the Action button. That makes the AI technology available on the iPhone 16E, which does not include the novel new Camera Control, but is now an option for any iPhone with an Action button. In iOS 18, the Action button gets new capabilities. You can bypass Control Center and choose a control of your choice, such as opening the Remote interface for navigating Apple TV or using Shazam to identify a song. To choose a different action for the Action button, go to Settings > Action Button. Swipe sideways to select and activate one of the available actions. For the Controls, Shortcut and Accessibility options, tap the Choose button to pick which specific action to run. iOS 18 now lets you program the Action Button with your favorite Control Center control. Screenshots by Jeff Carlson/CNET Give your home screen a radical new look You wouldn't think that putting icons where you want is a radical new feature, but that's because iOS has always had a locked arrangement. Apps get added from top to bottom, left to right. You could rearrange the order in which icons appear and move them to other screens, but that was about it. In iOS 18, apps can be positioned nearly anywhere. You no longer need to deal with a wallpaper image of your kids or pets being obscured by icons. They still adhere to a grid -- Apple isn't about to sanction anarchy -- but can be placed freely. Also, Dark mode finally applies to all of the iPhone's home screen, with options for coloring icons and affecting the brightness of the wallpaper image. Here's how to customize the looks. Arrange apps: Touch and hold the home screen to enter "jiggle mode," and then drag the icons to new positions. It will still slide them around to fill spaces, but with patience, you can move them into the spots you want. Position app icons where you want so this very good girl isn't covered. Screenshots by Jeff Carlson/CNET You can also quickly turn compatible apps into widgets that display more information. Maps, for instance, can be a map of your current location with shortcut buttons to search for places or bring up a list of nearby places (such as dinner spots). Touch and hold the app icon and look for a row of resize buttons in the menu that appears. Once expanded beyond the standard icon size, you can drag the handle in the bottom-right corner of the new icon. To get it back to its single icon size you need to touch and hold again and choose the single-icon button Some apps can be expanded into larger icons that act like widgets. Screenshots by Jeff Carlson/CNET Set Dark mode: If you've ever subjected yourself to the retina blast of black text on a white background late at night in a darkened room, you will appreciate the new Dark mode option for the home and lock screens. iOS has previously included a Dark mode, where light backgrounds switch to black or dark gray, text switches to white or light gray and other interface elements are dimmed to coexist in a dark environment. That's never been applied to the home and lock screens in any significant way -- only the dock and some widgets -- until iOS 18. First, touch and hold the home screen to enter jiggle mode. Tap the Edit button in the top-left corner and choose Customize from the menu. At the bottom of the screen, choose a mode for the icons and background: Automatic, Dark or Light (I'll get to Tinted in a moment). In Dark mode, the icons gain black backgrounds, and folders and the Dock become dark gray. (Developers have the option of making Dark mode icons for their apps. In the meantime, apps not yet optimized get a generally darker appearance.) In the home screen's Dark mode, icons and the background are given a darker treatment. Screenshots by Jeff Carlson/CNET In Dark mode, the background image also changes. Apple's default iOS 18 wallpaper dynamically changes from light to dark as the day progresses, or you can choose colors that offer both a light and dark option. If you use a photo, its overall exposure is reduced to dim the light output. If you want dark icons but aren't a fan of the dimmed photo treatment, tap the sun icon in the corner of the options sheet at the bottom of the screen to toggle back to Light mode just for the background. Tinted icons: A new and different option is to tint all of the app icons so they share the same color. In the Customize options at the bottom of the screen, choose Tinted as the icon style. You can then adjust the Hue (the slider with the color spectrum) and Luminosity (the slider with the dark to light range) to choose the color tint you prefer. Apply a universal tint to all app icons, with controls for adjusting the hue and luminosity. Screenshots by Jeff Carlson/CNET What if you want to match a color from a background image? Tap the eyedropper button and then drag the reticle to pinpoint the color you want -- the border indicates the selected color. The tint is applied not only to icons but to widgets as well. For a widget such as Photos, the images it displays show up as duotones to match the theme. Large icons: Do the labels below each app icon seem redundant to you? Now you can remove the labels and increase the size of the icons with one setting. Open the Customize options as described above and tap the Large button. Make the home screen icons larger and hide the app labels. Screenshots by Jeff Carlson/CNET After making any of these changes, tap anywhere on the screen to apply them and exit the Customize interface. Change up how the Control Center looks Control Center was once a convenient place to quickly access controls such as playback volume and Airplane mode, but under iOS 18 it's a configurable playground. You can position controls where you want, resize many to reveal more information and add new controls on multiple screens. Swipe down from the top-right corner to reveal the Control Center (or swipe up from the bottom on the iPhone SE). To enter edit mode, touch and hold or press the + button at the top-left corner. Just as with moving apps, drag a control to another slot on the screen to reposition it. Many of the controls also include a bottom-right handle that can resize the control -- in most cases, it reveals the name of the control and its current status (such as Flashlight Off). Rearrange the controls in Control Center and, for some, expand them to reveal more information (or just make the button a larger target for pressing). Screenshots by Jeff Carlson/CNET Control Center also now spans multiple screens. Swipe up to view controls for media currently playing, Home controls for smart lights and appliances and a page dedicated to the communication options that appear when you long-press the Connectivity block containing Airplane Mode, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Cellular and others. Look closely and you'll see that those screens are actually individual controls expanded to occupy the entire Control Center area. You can rearrange the order of those screens by moving their controls. Suppose you want Home controls to be the first swipe instead of Now Playing: In the editing mode, drag the large Home control up to the previous screen (Now Playing will shift to the right to make room). Some controls get their own screens, such as Home. Normally it's on the third screen, but here it's been moved to the second screen. Screenshots by Jeff Carlson/CNET To remove controls, tap the – (minus) button that appears. You can also add other controls: Tap Add a Control and scroll through the available options ranging from starting a Screen Recording to a host of accessibility options. Read more: All the new controls you can add to Control Center Lock or hide any of your sensitive apps Our phones carry some of our most sensitive data, and yet it's not uncommon to hand a phone to a friend to view photos or look up something online. That doesn't mean they're going to snoop, but it doesn't not mean they might be more curious than you're comfortable with. For data you want to ensure stays out of sight or to add a layer of protection in front of sensitive information, iOS 18 adds the ability to lock and hide apps. For example, let's say you keep an ongoing set of lists of gift ideas for family members in the Notes app. You can lock individual notes, but that requires a separate step. Maybe a few ideas were made as individual quick notes or drawings. Instead of micromanaging access, you can lock the entire Notes app by doing the following: Touch and hold the app icon you want to lock and choose Require Face ID or Require Touch ID (or Require Passcode if Face ID or Touch ID are not enabled) from the menu that appears. Confirm your choice by tapping Require Face ID (or similar) in the next dialog. Lock individual apps. Screenshots by Jeff Carlson/CNET To remove the authentication step, touch and hold the app and choose Don't Require Face ID (or similar). Nothing outwardly indicates that an app is locked -- you'll find out when you try to open it. There's one more level of app security available, which is to hide apps in a special locked folder. Touch and hold the app and choose Require Face ID and then tap Hide and Require Face ID in the dialog. Confirm the action by tapping Hide App on the next screen. The app disappears from the home screen and gets slotted into a Hidden folder at the bottom of the App Library (swipe left beyond your last home screen to view the App Library). To access apps there, tap the Hidden folder and authenticate with Face ID. When you choose Hide and Require Face ID to protect an app, it gets put into the Hidden folder in App Library (top). Tap the folder and authenticate to access the app (bottom). Screenshots by Jeff Carlson/CNET iOS 18 imposes some limitations on hidden apps. Some, such as many of the built-in ones like Notes or Reminders, can only be locked and cannot be hidden at all. Also, the Hidden folder locks itself when you launch an app or swipe away from the App Library. Turn off Loop Videos in the Photos app Many apps have implemented a small but annoying (to me) feature, and now Photos under iOS 18.2 has it too: Videos automatically replay when you watch them until you tap the Pause button. That can be fun once or twice, or when viewing short clips. I'm not a fan of having to take action to make them stop each time. Now I can take action once. Go to Settings > Photos, scroll down until you see Loop Videos and turn the option off. A video will play on its own but then stop at the end as it should. Turn off Loop Videos to stop every video from replaying automatically. Screenshots by Jeff Carlson/CNET If you'd rather the video didn't play at all until you tap the Play button, also turn off Auto-Play Motion in the same Settings screen. Adjust the view of your calendar Big new features like locking and hiding apps are great additions but so are the tiny changes that you encounter every day. The Calendar app includes two new ways to view your schedule. In iOS 18, when you're in the Month view in portrait orientation, pinch with two fingers to view more or fewer details. As you "zoom in," individual events appear as colored bars and then as labeled events with times, all while keeping the monthly grid of days and weeks. In the Calendar app's Month view, pinch to zoom in and see more details. Screenshots by Jeff Carlson/CNET The Day view, which breaks down your day hour by hour, now has a new Multi Day view that shows two consecutive days to give you context for what's coming without turning the phone into landscape orientation and viewing the Week view. Tap the View button at the top of the Single Day view and choose Multi Day from the popup menu. The new Multi Day view in the Calendar shows two days at once (right). Screenshots by Jeff Carlson/CNET Improve movie and TV show dialogue in the TV app Trouble hearing dialogue in movies and television shows isn't a new problem -- for example, the Apple TV has had a feature for a while where you can ask Siri, "What did she say?" and it will automatically back up a few seconds, turn on subtitles and replay that section of the video. You can even buy soundbars that can overcome muffled TV speech. There are a lot of reasons it's harder to hear dialogue, but the TV app in iOS 18 includes a high-tech workaround to make dialog easier to discern. While you're watching a video in the TV app, tap the More (…) button and then expand the Audio heading in the menu that appears; if the phone is in horizontal orientation, tap the Audio Adjustments button. Tap Enhance Dialogue and choose Enhance or Boost. They each dampen background noise and raise the dialogue's audio. Turn on Enhance Dialogue in the TV app to discern characters' speech better in noisy scenes. Screenshot by Jeff Carlson/CNET These are just a few new features and changes in iOS 18. Check out our broader coverage of Apple Intelligence, more impressions of the system after using it for months and how these all work together with the iPhone 16 models.
