smartphones

Nothing Phone 3 arrives July 15 with a tiny dot matrix rear display

android, Nothing, smartphones, Tech / Kris Guyer / July 2, 2025

Nothing, a startup from OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei, has announced its first flagship phone since 2023. The company bills its new Nothing Phone 3 as a “true flagship” device, but it doesn’t have the absolute best hardware you can get in a mobile device. Neither does it have the highest price, clocking in at a mere $799. That’s shaping up to be a good value, but it’s also the highest price yet for a Nothing phone.

A few weeks back, Nothing teased the end of its trademark Glyph interface. Indeed, the Nothing Phone 3 doesn’t have the illuminated panels of the company’s previous phones. Instead, it has a small dot “Glyph Matrix” LED screen. It’s on the back in the upper right corner, opposite the camera modules. Nothing has a few quirky games and notification icons that will flash on the screen, and it can be used as a very low-fi selfie mirror. Nothing is committed to the new Glyph screen, going so far as adding a button on the back to control it.

The rest of the design maintains the Nothing aesthetic, featuring a clear glass panel with a visible mid-frame and screws. The phone will come in either black or white—Nothing isn’t really into colors. However, the company does promise the Phone 3 will be a little more compact than the 2023 Phone 2. The new device is 18 percent thinner and has symmetrical 1.87-millimeter bezels around the 6.67-inch OLED screen. That panel supports 120 Hz refresh and has a peak brightness of 4,500 nits, which is competitive with the likes of Samsung and OnePlus.

Nothing’s first “true flagship”?

Nothing has continued releasing budget phones during its break from high-end devices. While the Nothing Phone 3 is supposedly five times faster than the Phone 3a, it probably won’t be able to keep up with the fastest phones on the market today. Rather than the top-of-the-line Snapdragon 8 Elite, the Nothing Phone 3 has a Snapdragon 8s Gen 4, which was released earlier this year to expand premium silicon features to slightly cheaper phones. It doesn’t have Qualcomm’s new Oryon CPU cores, and the GPU is a bit slower. However, it’ll be faster than most devices in its price range. The specs are rounded out with 12GB or 16GB of RAM and 256GB or 512GB of storage.

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Android 16 review: Post-hype

android, android 16, Features, Google, Reviews, smartphones, Tech / Mike M. / June 30, 2025

Competent, not captivating

The age of big, exciting Android updates is probably over.

Android 16 is currently only available for Pixel phones. Credit: Ryan Whitwam

Google recently released Android 16, which brings a smattering of new features for Pixel phones, with promises of additional updates down the road. The numbering scheme has not been consistent over the years, and as a result, Android 16 is actually the 36th major release in a lineage that stretches back nearly two decades. In 2008, we didn’t fully understand how smartphones would work, so there was a lot of trial and error. In 2025, the formula has been explored every which way. Today’s smartphones run mature software, and that means less innovation in each yearly release. That trend is exemplified and amplified by Google’s approach to Android 16.

The latest release is perhaps the most humdrum version of the platform yet, but don’t weep for Google. The company has been working toward this goal for years: a world where the average phone buyer doesn’t need to worry about Android version numbers.

A little fun up front

When you install Android 16 on one of Google’s Pixel phones, you may need to check the settings to convince yourself that the update succeeded. Visually, the changes are so minuscule that you’ll only notice them if you’re obsessive about how Android works. For example, Google changed the style of icons in the overview screen and added a few more options to the overview app menus. There are a lot of these minor style tweaks; we expect more when Google releases Material 3 Expressive, but that’s still some way off.

There are some thoughtful UI changes, but again, they’re very minor and you may not even notice them at first. For instance, Google’s predictive back gesture, which allows the previous screen to peek out from behind the currently displayed one, now works with button navigation.

Apps targeting the new API (level 36) will now default to using edge-to-edge rendering, which removes the navigation background to make apps more immersive. Android apps have long neglected larger form factors because Google itself was neglecting those devices. Since the Android 12L release a few years ago, Google has been attempting to right that wrong. Foldable phones have suffered from many of the same issues with app scaling that tablets have, but all big-screen Android devices will soon benefit from adaptive apps. Previously, apps could completely ignore the existence of large screens and render a phone-shaped UI on a large screen.

Advanced Protection is a great addition to Android, even if it’s not the most riveting. Credit: Ryan Whitwam

In Android 16, apps will automatically adapt to larger screens, saving you from having to tinker with the forced aspect ratio tools built into Google and Samsung devices. Don’t confuse this with tablet-style interfaces, though. Just because an app fills the screen, it’s no guarantee that it will look good. Most of the apps we’ve run on the Pixel 9 Pro Fold are still using stretched phone interfaces that waste space. Developers need to make adjustments to properly take advantage of larger screens. Will they? That’s yet another aspect of Android 16 that we hope will come later.

Security has been a focus in many recent Android updates. While not the most sexy improvement, the addition of Advanced Protection in Android 16 could keep many people from getting hit with malware, and it makes it harder for government entities to capture your data. This feature blocks insecure 2G connections, websites lacking HTTPS, and exploits over USB. It disables sideloading of apps, too, which might make some users wary. However, if you know someone who isn’t tech savvy, you should encourage them to enable Advanced Protection when (and if) they get access to Android 16. This is a great feature that Google should have added years ago.

The changes to notifications will probably make the biggest impact on your daily life. Whether you’re using Android or iOS, notification spam is getting out of hand. Every app seems to want our attention, and notifications can really pile up. Android 16 introduces a solid quality-of-life improvement by bundling notifications from each app. While notification bundles were an option before, they were primarily used for messaging, and not all developers bothered. Now, the notification shade is less overwhelming, and it’s easy to expand each block to triage individual items.

Google has also added a new category of notifications that can show progress, similar to a feature on the iPhone. The full notification will include a live updating bar that can tell you exactly when your Uber will show up, for example. These notifications will come first to delivery and rideshare apps, but none of them are working yet. You can get a preview of how these notifications will work with the Android 16 easter egg, which sends a little spaceship rocketing toward a distant planet.

The progress notifications will also have a large status bar chip with basic information visible at all times. Tapping on it will expand the full notification. However, this is also not implemented in the first release of Android 16. Yes, this is a recurring theme with Google’s new OS.

More fun still to come

You may notice that none of the things we’ve discussed in Android 16 are exactly riveting—better security features and cleaner notifications are nice to have, but this is hardly a groundbreaking update. It might have been more exciting were it not for the revamped release schedule, though. This Android 16 release isn’t even the Android 16. There will be a second Android 16 update later in the year, and some of the most interesting features aren’t arriving as part of either one.

Traditionally, Google has released new versions of Android in the fall, around the time new Pixel phones arrive. Android 15, for example, began its rollout in October 2024. Just eight months later, we’re on to Android 16. This is the first cycle in which Google will split its new version into two updates. Going forward, the bigger update will arrive in Q2, and the smaller one, which includes API and feature tweaks, will come at the end of the year.

Google has said the stylish but divisive Material 3 Expressive UI and the desktop windowing feature will come later. They’re currently in testing with the latest beta for Android 16 QPR1, which will become a Pixel Drop in September. It’s easy to imagine that with a single fall Android 16 release, both of these changes would have been included.

In the coming months, we expect to see some Google apps updated with support for Material 3, but the changes will be minimal unless you’re using a phone that runs Google’s Android theme. For all intents and purposes, that means a Pixel. Motorola has traditionally hewed closely to Google’s interface, while Samsung, OnePlus, and others forged their own paths. But even Moto has been diverging more as it focuses on AI. It’s possible that Google’s big UI shakeup will only affect Pixel users.

As for desktop windowing, that may have limited impact, too. On-device windowing will only be supported on tablets—even tablet-style foldables will be left out. We’ve asked Google to explain this decision and will report back if we get more details. Non-tablet devices will be able to project a desktop-style interface on an external display via USB video-out, but the feature won’t be available universally. Google tells Ars that it’s up to OEMs to support this feature. So even a phone that has video-out over USB may not have desktop windowing. Again, Pixels may be the best (or only) way to get Android’s new desktop mode.

The end of version numbers

There really isn’t much more to say about Android 16 as it currently exists. This update isn’t flashy, but it lays important groundwork for the future. The addition of Material 3 Expressive will add some of the gravitas we expect from major version bumps, but it’s important to remember that this is just Google’s take on Android—other companies have their own software interests, mostly revolving around AI. We’ll have to wait to see what Samsung, OnePlus, and others do with the first Android 16 release. The underlying software has been released in the Android Open Source Project (AOSP), but it will be a few months before other OEMs have updates.

In some ways, boring updates are exactly what Google has long wanted from Android. Consider the era when Android updates were undeniably exciting—a time when the addition of screenshots could be a headlining feature (Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich) or when Google finally figured out how to keep runaway apps from killing your battery (Android 6.0 Marshmallow). But there was a problem with these big tentpole updates: Not everyone got them, and they were salty about it.

During the era of rapid software improvement, it took the better part of a year (or longer!) for a company like Samsung or LG to deploy new Android updates. Google would announce a laundry list of cool features, but only the tiny sliver of people using Nexus (and later Pixel) phones would see them. By the time a Samsung Galaxy user had the new version, it was time for Google to release another yearly update.

This “fragmentation” issue was a huge headache for Google, leading it to implement numerous platform changes over the years to take the pressure off its partners and app developers. There were simple tweaks like adding important apps, including Maps and the keyboard (later Gboard), to the Play Store so they could be updated regularly. On the technical side, initiatives like Project Mainline made the platform more modular so features could be added and improved outside of major updates. Google has also meticulously moved features into Play Services, which can deliver system-level changes without an over-the-air update (although there are drawbacks to that).

Android I/O sign — Android version numbers hardly matter anymore—it’s just Android. Credit: Ryan Whitwam

The overarching story of Android has been a retreat from monolithic updates, and that means there’s less to get excited about when a new version appears. Rather than releasing a big update rife with changes, Google has shown a preference for rolling out features via the Play Store and Play Services to the entire Android ecosystem. Experiences like Play Protect anti-malware, Google Play Games, Google Cast, Find My Device, COVID-19 exposure alerts, Quick Share, and myriad more were released to almost all Google-certified Android devices without system updates.

As more features arrive in dribs and drabs via Play Services and Pixel Drops, the numbered version changes are less important. People used to complain about missing out on the tentpole updates, but it’s quieter when big features are decoupled from version numbers. And that’s where we are—Android 15 or Android 16—the number is no longer important. You won’t notice a real difference, but the upshot is that most phones get new features faster than they once did. That was the cost to fix fragmentation.

Boring updates aren’t just a function of rearranging features. Even if all the promised upgrades were here now, Android 16 would still barely move the needle. Phones are now mature products with established usage paradigms. It’s been almost 20 years since the age of touchscreen smartphones began, and we’ve figured out how these things should work. It’s not just Android updates settling into prosaic predictability—Apple is running low on paradigm shifts, too. The release of iOS 26 will add some minor improvements to a few apps, and the theme is getting more transparent with the controversial “Liquid Glass” UI. And that’s it.

Until there’s a marked change in form factors or capability, these flat glass slabs will look and work more or less as they do now (with a lot more AI slop, whether you like it or not). If you have a recent non-Pixel Android device, you’ll probably get Android 16 in the coming months, but it won’t change the way you use your phone.

Ryan Whitwam is a senior technology reporter at Ars Technica, covering the ways Google, AI, and mobile technology continue to change the world. Over his 20-year career, he’s written for Android Police, ExtremeTech, Wirecutter, NY Times, and more. He has reviewed more phones than most people will ever own. You can follow him on Bluesky, where you will see photos of his dozens of mechanical keyboards.

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Android phones could soon warn you of “Stingrays” snooping on your communications

android, android 16, Google, smartphones, Tech / Kris Guyer / June 28, 2025

Smartphones contain a treasure trove of personal data, which makes them a worthwhile target for hackers. However, law enforcement is not above snooping on cell phones, and their tactics are usually much harder to detect. Cell site simulators, often called Stingrays, can trick your phone into revealing private communications, but a change in Android 16 could allow phones to detect this spying.

Law enforcement organizations have massively expanded the use of Stingray devices because almost every person of interest today uses a cell phone at some point. These devices essentially trick phones into connecting to them like a normal cell tower, allowing the operator to track that device’s location. The fake towers can also shift a phone to less secure wireless technology to intercept calls and messages. There’s no indication this is happening on the suspect’s end, which is another reason these machines have become so popular with police.

However, while surveilling a target, Stingrays can collect data from other nearby phones. It’s not unreasonable to expect a modicum of privacy if you happen to be in the same general area, but sometimes police use Stingrays simply because they can. There’s also evidence that cell simulators have been deployed by mysterious groups outside law enforcement. In short, it’s a problem. Google has had plans to address this security issue for more than a year, but a lack of hardware support has slowed progress. Finally, in the coming months, we will see the first phones capable of detecting this malicious activity, and Android 16 is ready for it.

Android phones could soon warn you of “Stingrays” snooping on your communications Read More »

Google left months-old dark mode bug in Android 16, fix planned for next Pixel Drop

android, Google, smartphones, Tech / Tim Belzer / June 14, 2025

Google’s Pixel phones got a big update this week with the release of Android 16 and a batch of Pixel Drop features. Pixels now have enhanced security, new contact features, and improved button navigation. However, some of the most interesting features, like desktop windowing and Material 3 Expressive, are coming later. Another thing that’s coming later, it seems, is a fix for an annoying bug Google introduced a few months back.

Google broke the system dark mode schedule in its March Pixel update and did not address it in time for Android 16. The company confirms a fix is coming, though.

The system-level dark theme arrives in Android 10 to offer a less eye-searing option, which is particularly handy in dark environments. It took a while for even Google’s apps to fully adopt this feature, but support is solid five years later. Google even offers a scheduling feature to switch between light and dark mode at custom times or based on sunrise/sunset. However, the scheduling feature was busted in the March update.

Currently, if you manually toggle dark mode on or off, schedules stop working. The only way to get them back is to set up your schedule again and then never toggle dark mode. Google initially marked this as “intended behavior,” but a more recent bug report was accepted as a valid issue.

Google left months-old dark mode bug in Android 16, fix planned for next Pixel Drop Read More »

Adobe finally releases Photoshop for Android, and it’s free (for now)

adobe, Adobe Photoshop, android, Apps, Google, smartphones, Tech / Kris Guyer / June 4, 2025

Adobe has spent years releasing mobile apps that aren’t Photoshop, and now it’s finally giving people what they want. Yes, real Photoshop. After releasing a mobile version of Photoshop on iPhone earlier this year, the promised Android release has finally arrived. You can download it right now in beta, and it’s free to use for the duration of the beta period.

The mobile app includes a reasonably broad selection of tools from the desktop version of Adobe’s iconic image editor, including masks, clone stamp, layers, transformations, cropping, and an array of generative AI tools. The app looks rather barebones when you first start using it, but the toolbar surfaces features as you select areas and manipulate layers.

Depending on how you count, this is Adobe’s third attempt to do Photoshop on phones. So far, it appears to be the most comprehensive, though. It’s much more capable than Photoshop Express or the ancient Photoshop Touch app, which Adobe unpublished almost a decade ago. If you’re not familiar with the ins and outs of Photoshop, the new app comes with a robust collection of tutorials—just tap the light bulb icon to peruse them.

Photoshop on Android makes a big deal about Adobe’s generative AI features, which let you easily select subjects or backgrounds, remove objects, and insert new content based on a text prompt. This works about as well as the desktop version of Photoshop because it’s relying on the same cloud service to do the heavy lifting. This would have been impressive to see in a mobile app a year ago, but OEM features like Google’s Magic Editor have since become more widespread.

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Samsung drops Android 16 beta for Galaxy S25 with more AI you probably don’t want

AI, android, android 16, samsung, smartphones, Tech / Rejus Almole / May 29, 2025

The next version of Android is expected to hit Pixel phones in June, but it’ll take longer for devices from other manufacturers to see the new OS. However, Samsung is making unusually good time this cycle. Owners of the company’s Galaxy S25 phones can get an early look at One UI 8 (based on Android 16) in the new open beta program. Samsung promises a lot of upgrades, but it may not feel that way.

Signing up for the beta is a snap—just open the Samsung Members app, and the beta signup should be right on the main landing page. From there, the OTA update should appear on your device within a few minutes. It’s pretty hefty at 3.4GB, but the installation is quick, and none of your data should be affected. That said, backups are always advisable when using beta software.

You must be in the US, Germany, Korea, or the UK to join the beta, and US phones must be unlocked or the T-Mobile variants. The software is compatible with the Galaxy S25, S25+, and S25 Ultra—the new S25 Edge need not apply (for now).

Samsung’s big pitch here might not resonate with everyone: more AI. It’s a bit vague about what exactly that means, though. The company claims One UI 8 brings “multimodal capabilities, UX tailored to different device form factors, and personalized, proactive suggestions.” Having used the new OS for a few hours, it doesn’t seem like much has changed with Samsung’s AI implementation.

One UI 8 install — The One UI 8 beta is large, but installation doesn’t take very long. Credit: Ryan Whitwam

The Galaxy S25 series launched with a feature called Now Brief, along with a companion widget called Now Bar. The idea is that this interface will assimilate your data, process it privately inside the Samsung Knox enclave, and spit out useful suggestions. For the most part, it doesn’t. While Samsung says One UI 8 will allow Now Brief to deliver more personal, customized insights, it seems to do the same handful of things it did before. It’s plugged into a lot of Samsung apps and data sources, but mostly just shows weather information, calendar events, and news articles you probably won’t care about. There were some hints of an upcoming audio version of Now Brief, but that’s not included in the beta.

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Motorola Razr and Razr Ultra (2025) review: Cool as hell, but too much AI

android, Features, Foldables, Motorola, smartphones, Tech / Kris Guyer / May 15, 2025

The new Razrs are sleek, capable, and overflowing with AI features.

Motorola’s 2025 Razr refresh includes its first Ultra model. Credit: Ryan Whitwam

For phone nerds who’ve been around the block a few times, the original Motorola Razr is undeniably iconic. The era of foldables has allowed Motorola to resurrect the Razr in an appropriately flexible form, and after a few generations of refinement, the 2025 Razrs are spectacular pieces of hardware. They look great, they’re fun to use, and they just about disappear in your pocket.

The new Razrs also have enormous foldable OLEDs, along with external displays that are just large enough to be useful. Moto has upped its design game, offering various Pantone shades with interesting materials and textures to make the phones more distinctive, but Motorola’s take on mobile AI could use some work, as could its long-term support policy. Still, these might be the coolest phones you can get right now.

An elegant tactile experience

Many phone buyers couldn’t care less about how a phone’s body looks or feels—they’ll just slap it in a case and never look at it again. Foldables tend not to fit as well in cases, so the physical design of the Razrs is important. The good news is that Motorola has refined the foldable formula with an updated hinge and some very interesting material choices.

Razr Ultra back — The Razr Ultra is available with a classy wood back. Credit: Ryan Whitwam

The 2025 Razrs come in various colors, all of which have interesting material choices for the back panel. There are neat textured plastics, wood, vegan leather, and synthetic fabrics. We’ve got wood (Razr Ultra) and textured plastic (Razr) phones to test—they look and feel great. The Razr is very grippy, and the wooden Ultra looks ultra-stylish, though not quite as secure in the hand. The aluminum frames are also colored to match the back with a smooth matte finish. Motorola has gone to great lengths to make these phones feel unique without losing the premium vibe. It’s nice to see a phone maker do that without resorting to a standard glass sandwich body.

The buttons are firm and tactile, but we’re detecting just a bit of rattle in the power button. That’s also where you’ll find the fingerprint sensor. It’s reasonably quick and accurate, whether the phone is open or closed. The Razr Ultra also has an extra AI button on the opposite side, which is unnecessary, for reasons we’ll get to later. And no, you can’t remap it to something else.

Motorola Razr 2025 — The Razrs have a variety of neat material options. Credit: Ryan Whitwam

The front of the flip on these phones features a big sheet of Gorilla Glass Ceramic, which is supposedly similar to Apple’s Ceramic Shield glass. That should help ward off scratches. The main camera sensors poke through this front OLED, which offers some interesting photographic options we’ll get to later. The Razr Ultra has a larger external display, clocking in at 4 inches. The cheaper Razr gets a smaller 3.6-inch front screen, but that’s still plenty of real estate, even with the camera lenses at the bottom.

Specs at a glance: 2025 Motorola Razrs
	Motorola Razr ($699.99)	Motorola Razr+ ($999.99)	Motorola Razr Ultra ($1,299.99)
SoC	MediaTek Dimensity 7400X	Snapdragon 8s Gen 3	Snapdragon 8 Elite
Memory	8GB	12GB	16GB
Storage	256GB	256GB	512GB, 1TB
Display	6.9″ foldable OLED (120 Hz, 2640 x 1080), 3.6″ external (90 Hz)	6.9″ foldable OLED (165 Hz, 2640 x 1080), 4″ external (120 Hz, 1272 x 1080)	7″ foldable OLED (165 Hz, 2992 x 1224), 4″ external (165 Hz)
Cameras	50 MP f/1.7 OIS primary; 13 MP f/2.2 ultrawide, 32 MP selfie	50 MP f/1.7 OIS primary; 50 MP 2x telephoto f/2.0, 32 MP selfie	50 MP f/1.8 OIS primary, 50 MP ultrawide + macro, f/2.0, 50 MP selfie
Software	Android 15	Android 15	Android 15
Battery	4,500 mAh, 30 W wired charging, 15 W wireless charging	4,000 mAh, 45 W wired charging, 15 W wireless charging	4,700 mAh, 68 W wired charging, 15 W wireless charging
Connectivity	Wi-Fi 6e, NFC, Bluetooth 5.4, sub-6 GHz 5G, USB-C 2.0	Wi-Fi 7, NFC, Bluetooth 5.4, sub-6 GHz 5G, USB-C 2.0	Wi-Fi 7, NFC, Bluetooth 5.4, sub-6 GHz 5G, USB-C 2.0
Measurements	Open: 73.99 x 171.30 x 7.25 mm; Closed: 73.99 x 88.08 x 15.85 mm; 188 g	Open: 73.99 x 171.42 x 7.09 mm; Closed: 73.99 x 88.09x 15.32 mm; 189 g	Open: 73.99 x 171.48 x 7.19 mm; Closed: 73.99 x 88.12 x 15.69 mm; 199 g

Motorola says the updated foldable hinge has been reinforced with titanium. This is the most likely point of failure for a flip phone, but the company’s last few Razrs already felt pretty robust. It’s good that Moto is still thinking about durability, though. The hinge is smooth, allowing you to leave the phone partially open, but there are magnets holding the two halves together with no gap when closed. The magnets also allow for a solid snap when you shut it. Hanging up on someone is so, so satisfying when you’re using a Razr flip phone.

Flip these phones open, and you get to the main event. The Razr has a 6.9-inch, 2640×1080 foldable OLED, and the Ultra steps up to 7 inches at an impressive 2992×1224. These phones have almost exactly the same dimensions, so the additional bit of Ultra screen comes from thinner bezels. Both phones are extremely tall when open, but they’re narrow enough to be usable in one hand. Just don’t count on reaching the top of the screen easily. While Motorola has not fully eliminated the display crease, it’s much smoother and less noticeable than it is on Samsung’s or Google’s foldables.

Motorola Razr Ultra — The Razr Ultra has a 7-inch foldable OLED. Credit: Ryan Whitwam

The Razr can hit 3,000 nits of brightness, and the $1,300 Razr Ultra tops out at 4,500 nits. Both are bright enough to be usable outdoors, though the Ultra is noticeably brighter. However, both suffer from the standard foldable drawbacks of having a plastic screen. The top layer of the foldable screen is a non-removable plastic protector, which has very high reflectivity that makes it harder to see the display. That plastic layer also means you have to be careful not to poke or scratch the inner screen. It’s softer than your fingernails, so it’s not difficult to permanently damage the top layer.

Too much AI

Motorola’s big AI innovation for last year’s Razr was putting Gemini on the phone, making it one of the first to ship with Google’s generative AI system. This time around, it has AI features based on Gemini, Meta Llama, Perplexity, and Microsoft Copilot. It’s hard to say exactly how much AI is worth having on a phone with the rapid pace of change, but Motorola has settled on the wrong amount. To be blunt, there’s too much AI. What is “too much” in this context? This animation should get the point across.

The Ask and Search bar appears throughout the UI, including as a floating Moto AI icon. It’s also in the app drawer and is integrated with the AI button on the Razr Ultra. You can use it to find settings and apps, but it’s also a full LLM (based on Copilot) for some reason. Gemini is a better experience if you’re looking for a chatbot, though.

Moto AI also includes a raft of other features, like Pay Attention, which can record and summarize conversations similar to the Google recorder app. However, unlike that app, the summarizing happens in the cloud instead of locally. That’s a possible privacy concern. You also get Perplexity integration, allowing you to instantly search based on your screen contents. In addition, the Perplexity app is preloaded with a free trial of the premium AI search service.

There’s so much AI baked into the experience that it can be difficult to keep all the capabilities straight, and there are some more concerning privacy pitfalls. Motorola’s Catch Me Up feature is a notification summarizer similar to a feature of Apple Intelligence. On the Ultra, this feature works locally with a Llama 3 model, but the less powerful Razr can’t do that. It sends your notifications to a remote server for processing when you use Catch Me Up. Motorola says data is “anonymous and secure” and it does not retain any user data, but you have to put a lot of trust in a faceless corporation to send it all your chat notifications.

Razr Ultra and Razr (2025) — The Razrs have additional functionality if you prop them up in “tent” or “stand” mode. Credit: Ryan Whitwam

If you can look past Motorola’s frenetic take on mobile AI, the version of Android 15 on the Razrs is generally good. There are a few too many pre-loaded apps and experiences, but it’s relatively simple to debloat these phones. It’s quick, doesn’t diverge too much from the standard Android experience, and avoids duplicative apps.

We appreciate the plethora of settings and features for the external display. It’s a much richer experience than you get with Samsung’s flip phones. For example, we like how easy it is to type out a reply in a messaging app without even opening the phone. In fact, you can run any app on the phone without opening it, even though many of them won’t work quite right on a smaller square display. Still, it can be useful for chat apps, email, and other text-based stuff. We also found it handy for using smart home devices like cameras and lights. There are also customizable panels for weather, calendar, and Google “Gamesnack” games.

Motorola promises three years of full OS updates and an additional year of security patches. This falls far short of the seven-year update commitment from Samsung and Google. For a cheaper phone like the Razr, four years of support might be fine, but it’s harder to justify that when the Razr Ultra costs as much as a Galaxy S25 Ultra.

One fast foldable, one not so much

Motorola is fond of saying the Razr Ultra is the fastest flip phone in the world, which is technically true. It has the Snapdragon 8 Elite chip with 16GB of RAM, but we expect to see the Elite in Samsung’s 2025 foldables later this year. For now, though, the Razr Ultra stands alone. The $700 Razr runs a Mediatek Dimensity 7400X, which is a distinctly midrange processor with just 8GB of RAM.

Razr geekbench — The Razr Ultra gets close to the S25. Credit: Ryan Whitwam

In daily use, neither phone feels slow. Side by side, you can see the Razr is slower to open apps and unlock, and the scrolling exhibits occasional jank. However, it’s not what we’d call a slow phone. It’s fine for general smartphone tasks like messaging, browsing, and watching videos. You may have trouble with gaming, though. Simple games run well enough, but heavy 3D titles like Diablo Immortal are rough with the Dimensity 7400X.

The Razr Ultra is one of the fastest Android phones we’ve tested, thanks to the Snapdragon chip. You can play complex games and multitask to your heart’s content without fear of lag. It does run a little behind the Galaxy S25 series in benchmarks, but it thankfully doesn’t get as toasty as Samsung’s phones.

We never expect groundbreaking battery life from foldables. The hinge takes up space, which limits battery capacity. That said, Motorola did fairly well cramming a 4,700 mAh battery in the Razr Ultra and a 4,500 mAh cell in the Razr.

Based on our testing, both of these phones should last you all day. The large external displays can help by giving you just enough information that you don’t have to use the larger, more power-hungry foldable OLED. If you’re playing games or using the main display exclusively, you may find the Razrs just barely make it to bedtime. However, no matter what you do, these are not multi-day phones. The base model Razr will probably eke out a few more hours, even with its smaller battery, due to the lower-power MediaTek processor. The Snapdragon 8 Elite in the Razr Ultra really eats into the battery when you take advantage of its power.

While the battery life is just this side of acceptable, the Razr Ultra’s charging speed makes this less of a concern. This phone hits an impressive 68 W, which is faster than the flagship phones from Google, Samsung, and Apple. Just a few minutes plugged into a compatible USB-C charger and you’ve got enough power that you can head out the door without worry. Of course, the phone doesn’t come with a charger, but we’ve tested a few recent models, and they all hit the max wattage.

OK cameras with super selfies

Camera quality is another area where foldable phones tend to compromise. The $1,300 Razr Ultra has just two sensors—a 50 MP primary sensor and a 50 MP ultrawide lens. The $700 Razr has a slightly different (and less capable) 50 MP primary camera and a 13 MP ultrawide. There are also selfie cameras peeking through the main foldable OLED panels—50 MP for the Ultra and 32 MP for the base model.

Motorola Razr 2025 in hand — The cheaper Razr has a smaller external display, but it’s still large enough to be usable. Credit: Ryan Whitwam

Motorola’s Razrs tend toward longer exposures compared to Pixels—they’re about on par with Samsung phones. That means capturing fast movement indoors is difficult, and you may miss your subject outside due to a perceptible increase in shutter lag compared to Google’s phones. Images from the base model Razr’s primary camera also tend to look a bit more overprocessed than they do on the Ultra, which leads to fuzzy details and halos in bright light.

Razr Ultra outdoors. Ryan Whitwam

That said, Motorola’s partnership with Pantone is doing some good. The colors in our photos are bright and accurate, capturing the vibe of the scene quite well. You can get some great photos of stationary or slowly moving subjects.

Razr 2025 indoor medium light. Ryan Whitwam

The 50 MP ultrawide camera on the Razr Ultra has a very wide field of view, but there’s little to no distortion at the edges. The colors are also consistent between the two sensors, but that’s not always the case for the budget Razr. Its ultrawide camera also lacks detail compared to the Ultra, which isn’t surprising considering the much lower resolution.

You should really only use the dedicated front-facing cameras for video chat. For selfies, you’ll get much better results by taking advantage of the Razr’s distinctive form factor. When closed, the Razrs let you take selfies with the main camera sensors, using the external display as the viewfinder. These are some of the best selfies you’ll get with a smartphone, and having the ultrawide sensor makes group shots excellent as well.

Flip phones are still fun

While we like these phones for what they are, they are objectively not the best value. Whether you’re looking at the Razr or the Razr Ultra, you can get more phone for the same money from other companies—more cameras, more battery, more updates—but those phones don’t fold in half. There’s definitely a cool-factor here. Flip phones are stylish, and they’re conveniently pocket-friendly in a world where giant phones barely fit in your pants. We also like the convenience and functionality of the external displays.

The Razr Ultra makes the usual foldable compromises, but it’s as capable a flip phone as you’ll find right now. It’s blazing fast, it has two big displays, and the materials are top-notch. However, $1,300 is a big ask.

Is the Ultra worth $500 more than the regular Razr? Probably not. Most of what makes the foldable Razrs worth using is present on the cheaper model. You still get the solid construction, cool materials, great selfies, and a useful (though slightly smaller) outer display. Yes, it’s a little slower, but it’s more than fast enough as long as you’re not a heavy gamer. Just be aware of the potential for Moto AI to beam your data to the cloud.

There is also the Razr+, which slots in between the models we have tested at $1,000. It’s faster than the base model and has the same large external display as the Ultra. This model could be the sweet spot if neither the base model nor the flagship does it for you.

The good

Sleek design with distinctive materials
Great performance from Razr Ultra
Useful external display
Big displays in a pocket-friendly package

The bad

Too much AI
Razr Ultra is very expensive
Only three years of OS updates, four years of security patches
Cameras trail the competition

Motorola Razr and Razr Ultra (2025) review: Cool as hell, but too much AI Read More »

Samsung reveals the super-slim Galaxy S25 Edge with a laughably small battery

android, samsung, smartphones, Tech / Kris Guyer / May 14, 2025

While the body of the phone is just 5.8 mm thick, the camera modules stick out a few millimeters more, making the phone quite wobbly when you set it on a table. The cameras have to stick out to leave more space for the internals, which are pretty powerful. Inside, this phone is essentially unchanged from the other S25 phones, with a Snapdragon 8 Elite, 12GB of RAM, and either 256 or 512GB of storage. The battery will be a problem, though.

S25 edge side with pencil — It is very, very thin. Credit: Samsung

While the S25+ sports a passable 4,900 mAh cell, the super-slim S25 Edge has just 3,900 mAh of juice. That is a problem because the Snapdragon 8 Elite is a flagship processor designed for speed. While it’s relatively efficient in low-power mode, it will devour the Edge’s battery in short order if you’re playing games or multitasking. A 20 percent reduction in battery life compared to the Galaxy S25+, which is a one-day phone, is a tough sell.

Most smartphone manufacturers could never justify making such a strange, niche device. This is Samsung showing off its engineering skills, and the S25 Edge does look neat. But the novelty of a super-slim phone will probably wear off when you have to start plugging it in to get a boost mid-afternoon. It doesn’t even charge very fast, topping out at a mere 25 W. And you’ll be paying $1,099 for the privilege, which slots the Edge between the S25+ ($1,000) and the S25 Ultra ($1,300).

If you want a phone that is thin at the expense of everything else, you can order the Galaxy S25 Edge from Samsung or Best Buy. It comes in black, icy blue, and silver colors and will ship on May 30.

Samsung reveals the super-slim Galaxy S25 Edge with a laughably small battery Read More »

Samsung’s Android 15 update has been halted

Android 15, samsung, smartphones, Tech / Mike M. / April 15, 2025

When asked about specifics, Samsung doesn’t have much to say. “The One UI 7 rollout schedule is being updated to ensure the best possible experience. The new timing and availability will be shared shortly,” the company said.

Samsung foldables — Samsung’s flagship foldables, the Z Flip 6 and Z Fold 6, are among the phones waiting on the One UI 7 update. Credit: Ryan Whitwam

One UI 7 is based on Android 15, which is the latest version of the OS for the moment. Google plans to release the first version of Android 16 in June, which is much earlier than in previous cycles. Samsung’s current-gen Galaxy S25 family launched with One UI 7, so owners of those devices don’t need to worry about the buggy update.

Samsung is no doubt working to fix the issues and restart the update rollout. Its statement is vague about timing—”shortly” can mean many things. We’ve reached out and will report if Samsung offers any more details on the pause or when it will be over.

When One UI 7 finally arrives on everyone’s phones, the experience will be similar to what you get on the Galaxy S25 lineup. There are a handful of base Android features in the update, but it’s mostly a Samsung affair. There’s the new AI-infused Now Bar, more expansive AI writing tools, camera UI customization, and plenty of interface tweaks.

Samsung’s Android 15 update has been halted Read More »

After market tumult, Trump exempts smartphones from massive new tariffs

Apple, Google, Policy, smartphones, syndication, tariffs / Mike M. / April 13, 2025

Shares in the US tech giant were one of Wall Street’s biggest casualties in the days immediately after Trump announced his reciprocal tariffs. About $700 billion was wiped off Apple’s market value in the space of a few days.

Earlier this week, Trump said he would consider excluding US companies from his tariffs, but added that such decisions would be made “instinctively.”

Chad Bown, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said the exemptions mirrored exceptions for smartphones and consumer electronics issued by Trump during his trade wars in 2018 and 2019.

“We’ll have to wait and see if the exemptions this time around also stick, or if the president once again reverses course sometime in the not-too-distant future,” said Bown.

US Customs and Border Protection referred inquiries about the order to the US International Trade Commission, which did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

The White House confirmed that the new exemptions would not apply to the 20 percent tariffs on all Chinese imports applied by Trump to respond to China’s role in fentanyl manufacturing.

White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said on Saturday that companies including Apple, TSMC, and Nvidia were “hustling to onshore their manufacturing in the United States as soon as possible” at “the direction of the President.”

“President Trump has made it clear America cannot rely on China to manufacture critical technologies such as semiconductors, chips, smartphones, and laptops,” said Leavitt.

Apple declined to comment.

Economists have warned that the sweeping nature of Trump’s tariffs—which apply to a broad range of common US consumer goods—threaten to fuel US inflation and hit economic growth.

New York Fed chief John Williams said US inflation could reach as high as 4 percent as a result of Trump’s tariffs.

Additional reporting by Michael Acton in San Francisco

After market tumult, Trump exempts smartphones from massive new tariffs Read More »

Nothing on Phone 3a Pro design: “Some people will hate it”

android, Nothing, smartphones, Tech / Rejus Almole / February 25, 2025

Nothing, the smartphone venture from OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei, is on its third generation of Android smartphones. The Nothing Phone 3a and 3a Pro will be officially announced on March 4, but there won’t be much left to reveal. Not only has Nothing teased the phones a few times, there’s also a new video highlighting the Nothing Phone 3a Pro’s design. In it, Nothing’s design team speaks at length about how they tried to incorporate the chunky camera module, but what they came up with is going to be divisive.

As we approach 20 years since the iPhone made touchscreen smartphones the default, the form factor is very fleshed out. Some of today’s most popular smartphones have almost reached the point of anti-design—flat, unremarkable bodies that are intended to be covered up with a case. There’s something to be said for that when most people slap a sheet of plastic on their phone and only remove it once in a blue moon. Nothing, however, designs phones with transparent panels and glowing “Glyphs” that are intended to be seen. In the case of the 3a Pro, there’s also a camera module so big it’s sure to stand out.

People generally want big screens and big batteries that don’t make phones too thick or heavy. Some components have shrunk or been dropped entirely to free up space (a moment of silence for the dearly departed headphone jack). Camera modules, however, can’t shrink infinitely. Smaller lenses and sensors have an impact on image quality, so expensive phones often have gargantuan camera arrays that can make phones top-heavy. For example, look at the Google Pixel 9 series, which features a camera bump that towers above the rest of the back.

The Nothing Phone 3a Pro isn’t a flagship device, but it’ll have more cameras than the Nothing Phone 3a that will release at the same time. The new design video shows off the phone’s three rear-facing sensors: a 50MP primary, an 8MP ultrawide, and a 50MP periscope telephoto (focal length unknown). The Nothing Phone 3a Pro has three of those glowing Glyphs on the back, framing the enormous camera module. The phone’s PCB also needed some tweaks to make room for the folded periscope assembly, which is much thicker than the other sensors.

Nothing on Phone 3a Pro design: “Some people will hate it” Read More »

niantic-uses-pokemon-go-player-data-to-build-ai-navigation-system

Niantic uses Pokémon Go player data to build AI navigation system

AI, AI ethics, Biz & IT, chatgpt, chatgtp, large geospatial model, large language model, machine learning, mobile games, niantic, Pokémon, Pokemon GO, smartphones, video games, Visual Positioning System / Mike M. / November 19, 2024

Last week, Niantic announced plans to create an AI model for navigating the physical world using scans collected from players of its mobile games, such as Pokémon Go, and from users of its Scaniverse app, reports 404 Media.

All AI models require training data. So far, companies have collected data from websites, YouTube videos, books, audio sources, and more, but this is perhaps the first we’ve heard of AI training data collected through a mobile gaming app.

“Over the past five years, Niantic has focused on building our Visual Positioning System (VPS), which uses a single image from a phone to determine its position and orientation using a 3D map built from people scanning interesting locations in our games and Scaniverse,” Niantic wrote in a company blog post.

The company calls its creation a “large geospatial model” (LGM), drawing parallels to large language models (LLMs) like the kind that power ChatGPT. Whereas language models process text, Niantic’s model will process physical spaces using geolocated images collected through its apps.

The scale of Niantic’s data collection reveals the company’s sizable presence in the AR space. The model draws from over 10 million scanned locations worldwide, with users capturing roughly 1 million new scans weekly through Pokémon Go and Scaniverse. These scans come from a pedestrian perspective, capturing areas inaccessible to cars and street-view cameras.

First-person scans

The company reports it has trained more than 50 million neural networks, each representing a specific location or viewing angle. These networks compress thousands of mapping images into digital representations of physical spaces. Together, they contain over 150 trillion parameters—adjustable values that help the networks recognize and understand locations. Multiple networks can contribute to mapping a single location, and Niantic plans to combine its knowledge into one comprehensive model that can understand any location, even from unfamiliar angles.

Niantic uses Pokémon Go player data to build AI navigation system Read More »