Fossil has launched the Michael Kors Access Gen 6 lineup of Wear OS smartwatches in the Indian market. The new smartwatches are essentially the same as the Fossil Gen 6 lineup that went on sale in the region late last month, but they offer a more premium design.
Michael Kors Access Gen 6: Specifications
Specification
Michael Kors Access Gen 6
Build
Stainless steel
Size(s)
44mm
Display
1.28-inch AMOLED
326 PPI
SoC
Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 4100+
RAM & Storage
1GB RAM
8GB storage
Battery & Charging
4-pin USB fast charger with a magnetic puck
Fast charging support (80% in just over 30 minutes)
Connectivity
Bluetooth 5.0 LE
Wi-Fi
GPS
NFC
Sensors
Accelerometer
Gyroscope
Compass
Altimeter
PPG Heart rate sensor
SpO2
Off-body IR
Ambient light
Audio
Built-in speakers and microphone for calls
Software
Wear OS by Google
Other features
Customizable watch faces and buttons
Interchangeable straps and bracelets
Swimproof
Like the Fossil Gen 6 lineup, the Michael Kors Access Gen 6 features Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Wear 4100+ SoC, a 1.28-inch display, 1GB RAM, and 8GB of onboard storage. However, it’s only available in a single 44mm size variant. The Access Gen 6 supports all the fitness tracking features that you get with the Fossil Gen 6 smartwatches, including blood-oxygen monitoring, continuous heart rate monitoring, various workout modes, and more.
As mentioned earlier, the only noteworthy difference between the Fossil Gen 6 and the Michael Kors Access Gen 6 models is the design. The latter is a more premium offering that features stainless steel bracelets, sparkling pavé accents, and more. Therefore, it commands a higher price. The Gen 6 Bradshaw starts at ₹24,995 and goes up to ₹32,495. It is available through select online and offline retail stores in India. For additional details, check out our coverage of the Fossil Gen 6 lineup.
The Michael Kors Access Gen 6 is a Wear OS smartwatch that packs Qualcomm's Snapdragon Wear 4100+ SoC, a 1.28-inch AMOLED display, and features a premium design.
The Michael Kors Access Gen 6 Bradshaw is also available for purchase in the US. If you’re interested in getting one for yourself or a loved one, you can follow the link above.
Google Stadia is a platform that I have personally enjoyed quite a lot, though it’s hard for it to overcome some of its biggest technological barriers. It’s hard to say where the platform stands exactly, and many feel right in saying that the writing has been on the wall ever since the company shut down its in-house game studio. When Stadia first launched, Google not only promised the service would be the future of gaming, but also that they were committed to developing first-party titles that would be exclusive to the platform. However it seems Google isn’t done yet trying to push it, as for a limited time only, you’ll get a free Stadia Premiere Edition with any $59.99+ purchase.
The Stadia Premiere Edition comes with a Stadia controller and a Chromecast Ultra, both of which make it much, much easier to play Stadia on your TV. Stadia’s Phone Link makes it possible to not use the official controller, but it’s much easier to get the bundle if you plan on playing a lot on your TV. Typically it costs $79.99, meaning you more than get your money back with this deal.
To claim a Stadia Premiere Edition, you’ll need to purchase a game or game bundle on the Stadia store for $59.99 USD or above between September 26, 2021 12:01 am PT, and October 10, 2021 11:59 pm PT. The offer is also available if you pre-order a game or game bundle for $59.99 USD or above that launches on Stadia between September 26, 2021 12:01 am PT, and October 10, 2021 11:59 pm PT. Codes that can be used for redeeming your Stadia Premiere Edition will be sent out by October 20th and must be redeemed by November 20th.
This offer is valid in the U.S., U.K., Ireland, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Austria, and Switzerland. There are many games you can choose from, such as the newly-released FIFA 22 or you could pre-order Far Cry 6. Let us know in the comments which you choose!
Most of us at XDA agreed last year that the standard iPhone 12 was the best iPhone option for most people because the differences between it and the iPhone 12 Pro mostly came down to a single telephoto camera, which wasn’t enough to justify the extra $200 in our opinions. But this year, Apple widened the gap between the Pro and non-Pro iPhones by giving the iPhone 13 Pro several more features than the standard iPhone 13, while keeping the price gap between models the same as last year.
Is the standard iPhone 13 still the best iPhone for most people?
Click to expand: Apple iPhone 13 Series Specifications
Apple iPhone 13 Series: Specifications
Specifications
Apple iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Mini
Apple iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max
Build
Aluminum mid-frame
Glass front and back
“Ceramic Shield” for front glass
Stainless steel mid-frame
Glass front and back
“Ceramic Shield” for front glass
Dimensions & Weight
iPhone 13 Mini:
131.5mm x 64.2mm x 7.65mm
141g
iPhone 13:
146.7mm x 71.5mm x 7.65mm
174g
iPhone 13 Pro:
146.7mm x 71.5mm x 7.65mm
204g
iPhone 13 Pro Max:
160.8mm x 78.1mm x 7.65mm
240g
Display
Super Retina XDR OLED:
iPhone 13 Mini: 5.4″
iPhone 13: 6.1″
60Hz
Super Retina XDR OLED:
iPhone 13 Pro: 6.1″
iPhone 13 Pro Max: 6.7″
ProMotion 120Hz refresh rate
SoC
Apple A15 Bionic
Apple A15 Bionic
RAM & Storage
RAM not disclosed
128GB/256GB/512GB
RAM not disclosed
128GB/256GB/512GB/1TB
Battery & Charging
Battery size not disclosed; Approximate size from regulatory filings:
iPhone 13 Mini: 2,438 mAh
iPhone 13: 3,240 mAh
Wired charging up to 20W
Wireless charging up to 7.5W
MagSafe charging up to 15W
Battery size not disclosed; Approximate size from regulatory filings:
iPhone 13 Pro: 3,125 mAh
iPhone 13 Pro Max: 4,373 mAh
Wired charging up to 20W
Wireless charging up to 7.5W
MagSafe charging up to 15W
Security
Face ID
Face ID
Rear Camera(s)
Primary: 12MP wide, f/1.6 aperture, 1.6μm
Secondary: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4 aperture
Primary: 12MP wide, f/1.5 aperture, 1.9μm
Secondary: 12MP ultra-wide, f/1.8 aperture
Tertiary: 12MP telephoto, 3x optical zoom, f/2.8
LiDAR camera
Front Camera(s)
12MP TrueDepth camera system
12MP TrueDepth camera system
Port(s)
Lightning
Lightning
Audio
Stereo speakers
Stereo speakers
Connectivity
5G (sub-6 GHz and mmWave)
Gigabit LTE with 4×4 MIMO and LAA
Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) with 2×2 MIMO
Bluetooth 5.0
5G (sub-6 GHz and mmWave)
Gigabit LTE with 4×4 MIMO and LAA
Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) with 2×2 MIMO
Bluetooth 5.0
Software
iOS 15
iOS 15
Other Features
Dual physical SIM or Dual eSIM support
Dual physical SIM or Dual eSIM support
About this review: Apple loaned me all four iPhones to test. This review was written after using the iPhone 13 as my main phone for six days, and as my secondary phone for another week. Apple did not have input in this review.
iPhone 13: Hardware & Design
The iPhone 13 continues the boxy, flat sides design language Apple is introducing across all of its devices. It’s got a 6.1-inch OLED screen interrupted by a notch. The front side is covered by what Apple calls “Ceramic Shield” technology.
Around the back, we have a slightly glossy glass back (but still doesn’t attract fingerprints as much as, say, an iPhone X or Galaxy S10) with a dual-camera system consisting of a 12MP main (wide) lens and a 12MP ultra-wide lens. Both rear cameras’ sensors are new and larger than the iPhone 12’s sensors.
The flat railing around the iPhone 13 is crafted out of aluminum and it has a matte finish that I prefer over the Pro’s glossy stainless steel railings. But I’ll elaborate on the differences between the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro in the next section.
iPhone 13’s matte aluminum chassis (bottom) compared to the glossy stainless steel chassis of the 13 Pro (top).
Whether in real-world scenarios or benchmark numbers, the A15 Bionic beats the Snapdragon 888+
Inside the iPhone 13 is the A15 Bionic silicon, and it’s the most powerful mobile SoC hands-down. Whether in real-world scenarios (like exporting/rendering videos) or benchmark numbers, it beats the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888+ quite easily. Apple’s A15 Bionic bleeding-edge processing power is also what makes the new “Cinematic mode” possible. This is one area where Apple truly leads heads and shoulders above the rest. And with the iPhone 13 series, you get the same chip across all four phones, so there are no real compromises to be had in choosing a cheaper phone over the other. You can read more about the performance in our iPhone 13 Pro review.
iPhone 13 (left) and iPhone 13 Pro (right).
Apple does not disclose RAM or battery size, but thanks to third-party teardowns, we know the iPhone 13 runs on 4GB of RAM and a 3,240 mAh cell. Both of these numbers are small compared to Android phones but worry not — the iPhone 13’s UI zips around fine and battery life is strong. This is another testament to the A15 Bionic’s efficiency and Apple’s unrivaled hardware-software synergy.
Overall the iPhone 13 is light at 174g and sort of easy to hold. I say “sort of” because the iPhone 13 is still slightly wide at 71.5mm (2.81-inches) horizontally, so the hard corners of the flat sides will still dig into your palm. There’s just no getting around this: flat sides with angular corners do not feel as comfortable in the palm as rounded, curvy sides (like on the iPhone 11 or almost every Android).
Display
Let’s elaborate on the screen a bit more: the 2,340 x 1,080 panel looks great, with a maximum brightness of 1,200 nits. It refreshes at 60 Hz only, but Apple’s 60Hz is better optimized than Android’s 60Hz in my opinion, so animations and UI fluidity doesn’t feel as outdated as, say, picking up a 60Hz Android device today.
The iPhone 13 is the third phone from the left.
The notch is smaller, but it almost doesn’t matter because Apple’s UI does not take advantage of the extra space. You’re still getting the same number of icons and information in the areas next to the notch. The only time you will “see more” is if you’re watching a video that’s zoomed in to expand the entire screen.
iPhone 13 vs iPhone 13 Pro: What are the differences … and do they matter?
As mentioned, there are a myriad of differences between the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro:
Chassis material: iPhone 13 uses an aluminum frame; iPhone 13 Pro uses a stainless steel frame
GPU: iPhone 13 has a four-core GPU; iPhone 13 Pro has a five-core GPU
Weight: iPhone 13 weighs 174g; iPhone 13 Pro weighs 204g
Screen refresh rate: iPhone 13 display has a 60Hz refresh rate; iPhone 13 Pro display has a variable refresh rate up to 120Hz
Camera array: iPhone 13 has two rear cameras (wide and ultra-wide); iPhone 13 Pro has three rear cameras (wide, ultra-wide, and telephoto)
Camera image sensor size: iPhone 13’s wide camera uses a smaller image sensor than iPhone 13 Pro’s wide camera image sensor
Camera aperture: iPhone 13’s ultra-wide camera has a slower aperture than iPhone 13 Pro’s ultra-wide camera
Macro mode: iPhone 13 has no macro mode; the iPhone 13 Pro’s ultra-wide lens can double as a macro sensor
Battery capacity: iPhone 13’s 3,227 mAh battery is larger than the iPhone 13 Pro’s 3,095 mAh
Everything else not mentioned above is identical across the two phones: selfie camera hardware, CPU, software, overall dimensions, etc. Whether these differences matter should vary from person to person. I’ll share my opinions on whether they matter to me:
Chassis material: The stainless steel frame should be sturdier in theory, but when we drop our phones we are likely more concerned with the screen’s durability than the frame? I also like the look and feel of the matte coating Apple gave to its aluminum frame than the glossy, fingerprint-magnet stainless steel material.
GPU: The Apple A15 Bionic is already complete overkill for a smartphone SoC, I’m not sure the extra GPU brings many benefits unless you do heavy, serious mobile gaming or video editing sessions.
Weight: I find the iPhone 13 easier to hold because it’s 30g lighter.
Screen refresh rate: Right now, the differences between 120Hz and 60Hz on the iPhones are minor, because it’s only really noticeable in first-party apps thanks to a bug. Apple has promised to open up 120Hz to all apps, so I think this will matter down the line. High refresh rates are always good.
Camera array: Before this year, I would say the non-Pro iPhones skipping the telephoto zoom lens is fine because Apple’s previous 2x telephoto zoom was mediocre anyway. But this year, Apple improved the Pro telephoto cameras to 3x optical and 15x digital zoom, so I think it matters. I enjoy zooming 5x, 10x into things around the city. The standard iPhone 13’s digital zoom looks bad beyond 2x.
Camera image sensor size: The 13 Pro having larger image sensors matter if you enjoy natural bokeh when shooting objects up close, or if you take low light photos often. The iPhone 13 will have to resort to night mode more often. The good news is Apple’s night mode works seamlessly, and well.
Camera aperture: The iPhone 13 ultrawide’s slower aperture means that in low light conditions, it will have to resort to night mode more often than not. This matters to me, but I’m guessing not many.
Macro mode: Being able to get closer to an object/subject when shooting or filming is important, so I’d say it matters that the iPhone 13 omits the macro shooting capability.
Battery capacity: Despite the difference in battery size, I find battery life between the standard iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro to be similar — I think the variable refresh rate of the Pro models helps it conserve battery.
iPhone 13: Cameras
As mentioned earlier, the iPhone 13’s rear cameras gain larger sensors compared to last year’s iPhone 12 cameras, but the increase in size is not as significant as what the iPhone 13 Pro got. In other words, the iPhone 13’s main camera sensor is larger, but still smaller than the iPhone 13 Pro’s main camera sensor.
The iPhone 13's rear cameras gain larger sensors compared to last year's iPhone 12
A larger sensor size brings two benefits: it pulls in more light, which benefits night photography/videography, and larger sensors bring shallower depth-of-field, which creates stronger separation between an object and background. The latter is noticeably in the below samples.
You can see the iPhone 13 Pro’s image shows the strongest natural bokeh, creating a sense of depth separation between the camera and the things behind it (soda can, iPhone box, and plant). The iPhone 12, with the smallest sensor of the three, has the faintest amount of bokeh, resulting in an image that looks flatter. The iPhone 13 is somewhere in between — while there’s decent bokeh for the plant, the soda can and iPhone box are not as nicely separated from the camera.
For the most part, if you are shooting in ideal conditions (good lighting that’s not too harsh), iPhone 13’s dual-camera system produces great images that look very close to the iPhone 13 Pro in quality. The iPhone’s selfie camera is mostly the same as before, it produces shots with consistent balance and natural skin tones without any of the beautifying tricks that Android brands resort to.
The Pro over-exposure problem
The over-exposure problem is thankfully less severe on the standard iPhone 13
In my review of the iPhone 13 Pro, I highlighted the fact that the phone has a tendency to over-expose in certain situations. This is particularly noticeable when shooting high-contrast scenes, like neon lights-drenched Hong Kong night scenes, or shooting towards the sun on a sunny day. I concluded the problem was likely due to Apple dealing with new, larger sensors and not having had enough time to fine-tune software yet.
I’m happy to report the problem is less severe on the standard iPhone 13, ironically because the iPhone 13’s camera hardware is not as powerful as the Pro’s. Both the iPhone 13’s main and ultra-wide cameras have smaller image sensors than the Pro’s and in the case of the ultra-wide, the 13 shooter has a slower aperture too (all of which means the iPhone 13 cameras take in less light than the 13 Pro).
You should be able to see in the above samples that the iPhone 13 Pro blows out the sky in the first set and neon light logo in the second set. The iPhone 13 image, ironically, looks slightly better because its image sensor is smaller. But this is a niche situation (I purposely shot against the sun to test exposure in the first set). For the most part, the Pro cameras will be better as soon as the sun sets, or if we step indoors and the lighting isn’t perfect.
Low light shots
So the iPhone 13’s cameras do not take in as much light as the Pro models, but the iPhone’s night mode is still so good. Night mode kicks in seamlessly, for example, unlike many Android phones which require you to swipe a few times to turn it on. When you let night mode work its magic, the iPhone 13’s low-light image can look almost as good as the 13 Pro. But if you turn off night mode, then you can see the iPhone 13 Pro’s main camera produces a brighter image.
This is even more noticeable if shooting with the ultra-wide. If we don’t use night mode, the iPhone 13’s ultra-wide produces a far darker shot.
Now you might be asking “if night mode is so good then why bother testing without night mode?”. Well, night mode isn’t always ideal. Because you have to wait 2-3 seconds for night mode to capture, that means if you’re shooting action scenes, or shots with lots of moving things, night mode could produce a wonky blurry shot. Ultimately, night mode is good insurance, it’s still better to just have a camera that can natively take in more light.
Zoom shots
Since the iPhone 13 doesn’t have a zoom lens at all, this means any zooming will be digital zoom, and Apple caps it at 5x. In other words, don’t expect much: any phone with a zoom lens will produce sharper zoom images than the iPhone 13.
As I wrote earlier: the iPhone 12 missing the zoom lens last year wasn’t that big of a deal because the iPhone 12 Pro only had a mediocre 2x zoom lens anyway. But the iPhone 13 Pro this year got a big upgrade to a 3x zoom lens (with a larger sensor) that can digitally zoom up to 15x. So compared to the Pro this year, the iPhone 13’s lack of zoom is a more glaring omission.
Cinematic Mode
The best new camera feature to the iPhone 13 in my opinion is “Cinematic mode.” I’ve written about this feature in several articles already, and the gist of it is that it’s portrait mode for video: when you film a clip in Cinematic mode, you can choose to focus on an object/subject in the foreground or background, and then Apple’s A15 Bionic will use its neural engine to process the scene and produce an artificial bokeh (blur) in the out-of-focus areas.
This feature is not perfect — trained eyes will be able to spot it’s not a real bokeh from a real full-frame camera right away — but it’s good enough in certain conditions that it does add cinematic flair to what otherwise used to be flat-looking smartphone videos. The ability to change focus points on the fly also allows the iPhone 13 to pull off a “rack focus,” — a cinematic trick in which the focus shifts from an object/subject in the foreground to background (and vice versa).
iPhone 13: Software
The iPhone 13, like all the other iPhone 13 models, run iOS 15 out of the box, but within days, it received an update to iOS 15.1. This newest version of iOS is mostly an iterative upgrade over iOS 14, bringing the same visual elements and changes, such as the App Library (Apple’s version of the Android app drawer) and widgets on the homescreen.
New additions to iOS 15 include a new FaceTime app that allows you to send a link to Android phone owners to join the call. FaceTime is not widely used in Hong Kong, but from my testing it works.
There are minor visual overhauls, like a redesigned notification panel that will display contact photos, as well as larger app icons. But let’s face it, iOS’ handling of notifications is still inferior compared to Android.
There’s a new Focus mode in iOS 15 that essentially allows you to set specific profiles (like “work,” “weekend,” “night”) and then allow only specific contacts and apps to reach you when you’re in that mode.
One of the more useful new additions to iOS 15 is its spotlight search can now search within the photos you’ve taken too. For example, I can search “photos Los Angeles” and it will show me photos I’ve taken while in Los Angeles, directly within the search results.
Overall, iOS is a smooth and fast OS with the best app ecosystem as well as the best third-party accessory ecosystem around. However, most of my gripes with iOS are still here. The lack of a truly free homescreen grid, the inability to get rid of notification bubbles, the fact that I have to swipe all the way from the upper right corner to access control center.
iPhone 13: Battery life and other bits
The battery life on the iPhone 13 is great, thanks to the larger cell. In a week of use, the phone can last me a full 14-hour day consistently, with only really heavy usage weekend days resulting in me needing to top up before my night is finished. Apple promised better battery life, and it did deliver. Surprisingly, there is not much of a difference in battery life between the iPhone 13 and the iPhone 13 Pro: I expected the regular device to last longer, but it’s just about the same on both. The variable refresh rate on the iPhone 13 Pro (and the iOS bug limiting the higher refresh rate to just Apple apps) helps the Pro conserve battery. So there’s no real and immediate battery benefit in getting the regular iPhone 13 over the iPhone 13 Pro.
Gaming and watching videos on the iPhone 13 is a solid experience. Obviously, the phone is powerful enough to handle any game, and the stereo speakers sound excellent. But I find the 6.1-inch screen with a notch a bit cramped, likely because I’m usually using a 6.7-inch Android with a hole-punch instead.
iPhone 13 Conclusion: Good value, but it’s clearly the little brother this time around
At a time when every top Android flagship reaches or well surpasses the four-digit price range, the iPhone 13’s $799 starting price can be considered a very good value, especially since Apple has doubled the base storage this year to 128GB instead. Is the iPhone 13 worth the wait for older iPhone users? It is.
At a time when every top Android flagship reaches the four-digit price range, iPhone 13's $799 starting price is good value
However, while last year’s iPhone 12 kept close enough to the 12 Pro in features and power, this year’s iPhone 13 is clearly a level below the iPhone 13 Pro. It’s one thing to lose out on the zoom lens, but to also lose the macro lens, 120Hz refresh rate, and noticeably smaller image sensors? This makes the iPhone 13 not quite an Apple flagship. It’s an almost-flagship, the way the Galaxy S21 and Pixel 5 are almost-flagships to my (admittedly very nitpicky) eyes.
The iPhone 13 Pro is the phone that truly shows off what Apple wanted to flex this year. But if you really cannot (or refuse to) pay more than $800, then the standard iPhone 13 is still a fine option. You’re still getting the best SoC and video capabilities in the smartphone space.
Google recently started testing a new Material You home screen widget for YouTube Music. The new widget has a series of circles instead of a simple row of buttons. It displays the album art in the middle, with a like button and a play button along the edges. While that widget is yet to roll out widely, Google has started testing another home screen widget for the app that shows your recently played songs.
Google added this new widget in YouTube Music version 4.48.51. However, it’s currently disabled by default. XDA’s Mishaal Rahman managed to enable the widget manually and captured the following screenshots.
As you can see, the new 4×2 YouTube Music widget shows the album art and name of the current song, the like button, and the play/pause button in the top row, along with the album art for five more songs in the bottom row. Vertically expanding the widget adds another row with five songs.
Although the widget should show recently played songs in the second and third rows, it only shows the currently playing track in all tiles in the attached screenshots. That’s probably because the widget is still in development or due to the fact that Mishaal tested it with uploaded tracks. Google will likely address this by the time the widget starts rolling out to users.
(Screenshot: Futur3Sn0w)
It’s also worth noting that the new YouTube Music widget supports Android 12’s dynamic theming and automatically adjusts its color based on the dominant colors from the current wallpaper. Furthermore, a screenshot shared by tipster Futur3Sn0w reveals that the widget can display even more tracks on third-party launchers. This suggests that the sizing of the widget is dynamic, but it’s limited to ten slots on the Pixel launcher.
As mentioned earlier, the widget is disabled by default in the current YouTube Music release. We expect Google to enable it in a future update.
Google has been experimenting with gestures and motion detection for the past few years now. The Pixel 4 had a dedicated Soli sensor on the front that could detect certain gestures. These gestures then triggered a particular action on the phone like changing music tracks, silencing calls and alarms, etc. Essentially, Google was trying to showcase how you can perform actions on your phone without actually touching it. While Google ditched the Soli sensor on subsequent Pixel phones, it added the feature to the Nest Hub (2021).
The Nest Hub (2021) uses the Soli chip to track your sleep, detect sleeping patterns, and recognize coughing/snoring. In addition, since the Soli sensor can detect motion, it lets you use certain hand gestures to interact with the Nest Hub. At launch, the Nest Hub supported gestures to play/pause music and snooze alarms. Now, Google is working on adding another gesture to the mix.
(Screenshots: 9to5Google)
Currently, the Nest Hub can detect two gestures — an air tap to play/pause music and a left/right swipe to dismiss timers and alarms. Now, the Google Home app has added a third gesture that will let you browse through your photos by swiping left or right in front of the screen. As reported by 9to5Google, the feature is listed on the app but is not yet live on the second generation Nest Hub.
If you’ve enrolled your device into the preview program, you will most probably have to wait for the next preview version of the software to drop before you can add this new gesture. Such gestures make a lot of sense on devices like the Nest Hub that rest on a table at your bedside or in the living room. It’s easier to navigate via gestures on a device with a large screen, and the use cases seem more practical than implementing it on a smartphone as Google did with Pixel 4.
Google Photos is the gallery app of choice for a lot of users since it offers a good set of features and seamlessly syncs media from all your devices. The auto-backup feature on Google Photos is a blessing if you use multiple devices, and if you own a Pixel device, you can also use the locked folders feature in the app to secure sensitive images. Recently, Google has added yet another new feature to the app that may not seem significant but can surely be helpful to a lot of people. The feature in question lets you edit the date and time of media directly on the Google Photos app.
If you’ve clicked a picture or shot a video and the date and time shown in the app aren’t accurate, you can now change it to the correct details within the app itself. Previously, Google Photos did not have this ability built-in, which meant users had to use third-party apps to modify the date and time. However, Google has now rolled out this feature on both the Android and iOS versions of the app.
Twitter user Adil Ahmed Channa recently spotted this change. As you can see in the attached screenshots, the new edit button appears next to the date and time when you swipe up on an image in Google Photos. You can tap on it to modify the date and time. The iOS version of the app doesn’t have an edit button, though. So, you have to tap on the date and time to make changes.
It’s worth noting that this feature has been available on the web version of Google Photos for quite a while now, and it’s great that Google is finally bringing it to the mobile version. If you don’t see the feature on your device, you can try updating to the latest version of Google Photos from the Play Store link below.
OPPO, OnePlus, and Realme announced their Android 12 rollout plans shortly after Google officially announced the software release yesterday. While OPPO and OnePlus also rolled out the first ColorOS 12 and OxygenOS 12 betas to the Find X3 Pro and OnePlus 9 series, Realme only said it would release Realme UI 3.0 based on Android 12 to its GT series soon. Realme is yet to share a definite timeline, but a new report suggests that it could soon launch the Realme GT Neo2 in Europe with Android 12 preinstalled.
For the unaware, Realme launched the Realme GT Neo2 in China late last month. However, the Chinese variant came with Realme UI 2.0 based on Android 11 out of the box. But leaked live images of the international variant procured by GSMArena show the device running Realme UI 3.0 based on Android 12. This leads us to believe that Realme could launch the device in Europe and possibly India with Android 12 preinstalled.
(Image: GSMArena)
The About phone section of the Realme GT Neo2’s (model number RMX3370) settings shown in the attached image clearly states that it’s running Realme UI 3.0 based on Android 12. The photos also give us a look at the updated UI, including the homescreen, location permission pop-up, media output selector, and quick settings, which align with the changes introduced in Android 12. The update also appears to include new icons, wallpapers, and layouts.
(Images: GSMArena)
While Realme it yet to share official info about the changes coming in Realme UI 3.0, these images give us an idea of what to expect. The Android 12 release might also include some of the new features that OPPO introduced in ColorOS 12. We expect Realme to announce a release timeline for the update, along with a detailed overview of the new features, in the coming weeks. We’ll make sure to let you know as soon as we receive more information.
What are your initial impressions of Realme UI 3.0? Are you looking forward to the update? Let us know in the comments section below.
