Several OEMs used the recent Windows 11 launch as a chance to bring new laptops to the market. Acer was one of the first PC makers to unleash a trio of new Windows 11 laptops, including the Acer Aspire Vero and the Acer Nitro 5. The company has now announced that it’s bringing six new laptops to India that come with Windows 11 pre-installed.
Acer is adding new laptops to its Swift, Aspire, and Spin series in India. In terms of the specifications, the new models are identical to Acer’s current global offerings, with the operating system being the only exception. Here’s a brief overview of Acer’s latest laptops in India.
Acer Swift X
First off, we have the Acer Swift X (SFX14-41G) powered by the AMD Ryzen 5 5600U Hexa-core processor. It has a base clock of 2.3GHz and a max boost clock of 4.2GHz. It comes with 16GB RAM and a 512GB SSD. For graphics, Acer has equipped this model with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050. The new Acer Swift X features a 14-inch FHD IPS panel with 100% sRGB color gamut coverage. It is priced at ₹86,999.
Acer Swift 3
Acer has two Swift 3 variants on offer — one with an 11th Gen Intel Core i5-1135G7 processor and another with an AMD Ryzen 5 5500U processor. The Intel SKU carries an EVO certification and comes with support for Thunderbolt 4, Wi-Fi 6, and more. The rest of the specifications are identical, though. Both laptops can be configured with up to 8GB RAM and 512GB SSD. You also get a 14-inch FHD panel with a max brightness of 300 nits.
The Acer Aspire 5 is available in a variety of configurations with both Intel and AMD processors. The Intel variants feature an 11th Gen Core i5 processor, while the AMD models pack the Ryzen 5 5500U. The base variant of this model comes with 4GB RAM and a 512GB SSD. All variants offer a 14-inch FHD IPS panel. The Acer Aspire 5 series starts at ₹57,999.
Next up, we have another mainstream notebook under Acer’s Aspire lineup — the Acer Aspire 3. It’s powered by an 11th Gen Intel Core i5 processor and has Iris Xe graphics. The laptop comes with hybrid storage, up to 8GB RAM, and a fingerprint reader to add an extra layer of security. The Aspire 3 is a fairly basic laptop that starts at ₹55,999.
The Acer Spin 5 is one of the best convertible laptops available in the market, and it now comes with Windows 11 out of the box. It is one of the more powerful laptops in Acer’s portfolio, featuring an 11th Gen Intel Core i7 processor, up to 16GB RAM, and up to a 1TB PCIe Gen 4 SSD. The 13.5-inch IPS touch panel has a 3:2 aspect ratio, which Acer calls a “VertiView display.” You also get a stylus with this machine to take full advantage of that convertible form factor. The Acer Spin 5 starts at ₹99,999.
Acer Spin 3
Lastly, we have the Acer Spin 3, which is another 2-in-1 convertible laptop. This laptop is powered by 11th Gen Intel Core i5 processors with up to 8GB RAM and 512GB SSD. It features a 13.3-inch display with a 16:10 aspect ratio, which means it is not as tall as the Spin 5’s display. However, you do get a stylus with this machine to power your creativity. The Acer Spin 3 starts at ₹74,999, making it slightly more affordable than the Spin 5.
According to Acer, all these laptops are now available on its website or through exclusive partners. However, at the time of writing, only three of the new models were available on the company’s website. We’ll add links for the other laptops as soon as they go live.
Small isn’t always better – in fact, we’ve been conditioned to believe that bigger is always better. When people see a bigger screen, they assume a better camera or better photos even if the camera hardware isn’t anywhere near as good. Or when you hear of a higher processor number – or more RAM for example – it’s easy to assume that this directly translates to better. So bigger, equals better, right?
Except sometimes, bigger isn’t better. Take Apple’s event last month: there were two iPads launched. The diminutive iPad Mini 6 with its 8.3-inch screen and the iPad 9 with its larger 10.2-inch screen. You could be forgiven for assuming that the 9th generation iPad would be the better one, but in Apple’s lineup, the iPad Mini 6 is the small and mighty challenger that is arguably the best iPad for almost everybody right now.
It’s shocking to say that but I’ve gone through every iPad Pro over the past three generations and none of them have served much more than being a glorified media player. Once I have a TV in my bedroom, the iPad Pro would often get relegated even further.
So why then, is the iPad Mini basically the best tablet I’ve ever used? Why can’t I put it down? After 10 days of usage, including eight (and counting) where the iPad Mini has helped me get through my current hospital stay, this is why the iPad Mini 6 is the best portable tablet for productivity. And why, everyone should buy one, especially if you can grab one of these excellent iPad Mini 6 deals.
The iPad Mini 6 is the best small tablet ever made, and also the best iPad that Apple has ever made. It combines the very best of the larger iPad Pro, with the portable form factor that the rest of the iPad range is missing. As a result, you have the professional yet portable tablet you’ve always wanted.
Alongside your iPad Mini 6, you’ll also want a case and probably a keyboard. We’ve rounded up the best iPad Mini 6 cases but Apple doesn’t do an official keyboard case, so instead, we recommend buying the official silicon cover and pairing it with the Apple pencil and the wireless magic keyboard. This is the combination I used and it worked really well. There are other keyboard cases and standalone keyboards for the iPad Mini 6, in case you want to see your other options.
Designed for the iPad Mini, this is a great case to keep your tablet propped up especially when paired with a Bluetooth keyboard. It comes in a range of colors to really accessorize your iPad Mini!
If you're getting the iPad Mini and want to take notes with ease, or use it as a diary, the 2nd generation Apple Pencil is a must and it'll charge wirelessly as well from your iPad Mini as well!
I've tried a few different keyboards with the iPad Mini but this is the one I'd pick every time. It has full support for all the keyboard shortcuts on iPadOS and it works better than any third-party option.
I was taken aback by how much Apple improved the latest generation of the iPad Mini. Generally, the iPad Mini has been a device that would see a combination of different parts of the rest of the iPad experience into a smorgasbord device that was part iPad, part iPhone. However, the iPad Mini 6 is different.
The iPad Mini 6 is more than just a mash-up. It’s a cohesive product with its own place in the iPad lineup
How so? It feels like a cohesive product in a way that Apple has never made before. Instead of just some random collection of parts, the iPad Mini deservedly received more stage time than the 9th generation iPad and the reasons are clear. This is a revamp of the complete experience and it’s more iPad Pro-Mini than just a mini iPad.
The new changes include a slightly larger 8.3-inch screen inside a body that’s virtually the same size body as the previous-generation iPad Mini. The screen uses a Liquid Retina IPS panel with scratch-resistant glass, true-tone, and a wide color gamut. Aside from the 120Hz refresh rate found on the more expensive iPad Pro, the iPad Mini display has the rest of the same hallmarks that make the iPad Pro screen so impressive for media consumption. There’s also a few stunning iPad Mini 6 colors that make this fun and quirky to use.
The design feels very 2021-esque for Apple, incorporating the same glass front and aluminum back and frame found on the new iPhone range. It’s much lighter and more pleasant than the iPad Pro, and there’s a big difference in the joy of using the iPad Mini vs the iPad Pro.
The camera bump is larger which is to be expected from the new 12MP single wide-angle camera with f/1.8 aperture and autofocus. Many people – like my late father – believe that a device with a bigger screen like the iPad must mean that it has a better camera. We’ve all been to a wedding where someone stands up with a giant iPad to take photos – the cameras themselves aren’t great but the iPad Mini 6 goes a decent way to improve this. Similarly, video recording is pretty impressive, supporting up to 4k @ 60fps, 1080p @ 240fps and with gyro-based electronic image stabilization. You won’t be buying the iPad Mini 6 for the camera, but if you happen to believe a big screen equals a better camera, this starts to go a long way to delivering on that experience. At least now those photos won’t suck anymore.
Flagship specifications for flagship productivity
Where the iPad Mini 6 is not as good as the iPad Pro, yet still incredibly impressive in its own right, is in the processor: it’s powered by the same Apple A15 processor found in the new iPhone 13 range. Flagship performance at an incredible price, and this is very much a flagship processor that’s better than anything else at this price. The A15 can stand against any flagship Android smartphone processor, let alone the traditionally lower-specification processors used in the entry and mid-level Android tablets.
What the Apple A15 allows Apple to do, however, is create the ultimate portable productivity powerhouse. The iPad Pro isn’t the type of device that you can carry in your pocket – the iPad Mini 6 is definitely that device. Suddenly, a salesperson can have a pocketable device that has all the power of a productivity champion and doesn’t need anything else. Simply pull it out, open up a spreadsheet, presentation and do most things you’d do with the larger iPad Pro, all in a smaller, more portable form factor.
The A15 lets Apple create the ultimate portable productivity powerhouse
I spent a total of 6 days in the hospital, out of which the first two I used my Galaxy Z Fold 3 for all things work including sending messages, video calls, spreadsheets, viewing data reports and even writing an article. Then I had my iPad Mini delivered to me in the hospital and my workflow suddenly changed.
The form factor is made for two-handed typing but crucially, unlike the iPad Pro, the iPad Mini is small enough that Apple has kept the split keyboard option. The result is that you can fire open the split keyboard and tap away with two thumbs. For these six days, I couldn’t put the iPad Mini 6 down and I still absolutely love it. For the two days I was at home – before ending up back in this hospital – the iPad Mini still never left my side, and I would sit on the couch to use it for most of the same things I used it for while in hospital.
Thanks to an outstanding promo where Apple will offer you $200 to buy and activate the cellular version of the iPad Mini, you basically get it for almost the same price as the regular Wi-Fi version and this one contains all the 5G goodies you’d want from a connected tablet. Take it from someone who sat in a hospital bed with really bad Wi-Fi – having a connection option beyond just Wi-Fi comes in handy when you absolutely need it.
I’ve not traditionally been one to use the mobile connectivity on my iPad, but as I begin to spend more time on a train – vs driving – and as I’ve been in hospital, it’s become clear to me that it’s worth having. During my time in the hospital, I noticed that as I was moved to a different room, the cell signal rapidly changed so with the eSIM on board, I was able to swap the iPad from Verizon to T-Mobile and still remain connected. Similarly, when roaming, it’s incredibly useful to be able to just sign up for service from the iPad without needing to pay a visit to a local carrier store.
iPadOS 15 is polished and great at multitasking
I’m a huge skeptic of Apple’s ability to create a cohesive multitasking experience that is intuitive and worth using. When iPadOS first came out, it was shocking and the iOS multitasking experience has always left a lot to be desired. This is why iPadOS 15 took me by surprise – Apple has developed a multitasking system that’s polished, refined, and ready for almost everything. More importantly, it convinced me of two other facts: with a few tweaks, Apple is ready to launch a foldable device and pertinently, Safari is a better mobile browser for professionals than Chrome. The latter is the biggest and most shocking takeaway for me after using the iPad Mini and comparing it to the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3.
As an entire generalization, iOS – and therefore the early versions of iPadOS that were bigger versions of iOS – has never truly felt like it was designed for a power user. Compared to Android, iOS is inherently less featured but it’s designed that most features a user could ask for are still available. It took Apple over ten generations of the software to finally support widgets, and these still remain fairly static with a single input supported: tap. There’s no interactivity with widgets, these are more for show and displaying information than being super useful, yet they are a part of the iPad Mini experience I use a lot.
For most users, the core purpose of widgets on iPadOS will actually prove to match their use case. For me, while I do miss the interactivity of Android widgets, and the sheer breadth of options as developers get creative, my most common use case for widgets has always been to just display information. Show me what’s important and then I’ll decide if I want to activate it from there.
The thing I like most about iPadOS is multitasking. This single statement is shocking to me because of the aforementioned belief that it wasn’t very good but there are a couple of ways that Apple has done multitasking really well. First, it’s the addition of the dock, which looks very similar to the Windows dock and the pinned apps menu found on Samsung’s Fold 3. A half swipe from the bottom of the screen brings you to all your key apps, but also to the App Library. After ten plus years of the belief that no one needs an App Library, it’s nice that iPadOS and iOS have an App Library! A prominent position to the right of the dock means you’re always only a couple of taps away from any app.
More to add to this that I am really really liking! When you open the recent apps menu, you can swipe left and see all the open floating windows and easily close them as well. You can also swipe up and close apps from the floating app window in previous tweet #iPadOS15#iPadMini6pic.twitter.com/hyv833ouzX
The resizing of windows, how the multitasking interacts in the same way that any other window does, and the cohesion of this experience within the rest of the OS makes the multitasking experience far more useful than you might expect. Unlike the larger iPad Pro, the smaller size of the iPad Mini display scales this really well. The iPad Pro still feels like it’s missing a few things to really take advantage of the larger display, whereas the multitasking feels near perfect on the 8-inch iPad Mini.
Why Safari is so much better than Chrome
Where the iPad Mini is setting the standard for mobile professionals is with Safari. Take it from someone who’s used the Galaxy Z Fold 3 for weeks and uses Chrome on their Mac every day: Safari on the iPad Mini is mobile browsing done right.
There are a few simple reasons how Safari ends up setting the standard that Chrome can’t compare to, and sadly they point to a big difference in how Google and Apple approach tablets. Google’s response to tablets as a whole will ultimately be the downfall of next-generation experiences like the Galaxy Z Fold 3, and Apple should definitely consider launching a version of Safari for Android devices.
First, Safari supports multiple instances so you can launch two, three, four, or even more entire instances of Safari, each supporting up to 500 tabs, separate spaces, etc. I use it no differently from the browser on my Mac, except I’m on the iPad. This means you’ve got the ability to do split-screen browsing, have Safari alongside several different apps in multitasking view, and sync bookmarks, passwords, and more to the desktop version of Safari. Of course, the desktop sync only works if you also use Safari on Mac. But if Apple was to launch Safari across all platforms again – having removed it from Windows many years ago – I would actively consider switching, especially considering how much of a battery drain Chrome continues to be.
Safari on the iPad Mini is browsing on the go done right and sets a bar that Chrome fails to match
Second, Safari defaults to a desktop experience on all websites but most importantly, allows you to adjust the zoom. Unlike Chrome on Android tablets and the Galaxy Z Fold 3, which only allows me to toggle the “Request Desktop View” mode and doesn’t let me force zoom in or out, Safari lets you use the browser on the iPad – and on the iPhone for that matter – no differently to how you would on the Mac. As far as a professional experience goes, Safari is, without doubt, a much better experience than Chrome on mobile devices can offer.
Compare this experience with mobile Chrome on the Galaxy Z Fold 3 which is probably the biggest competitor that Android has to offer. Both devices offer a great multitasking experience, but Chrome on Android only works with a single instance, doesn’t support the force zoom features, and is generally a mobile browser, while Safari for the iPad Mini is basically a desktop version of Safari on the go.
iPad Mini 6: The not-so-good bits
Sadly no technology is perfect, and no product is perfect either. Even something painstakingly crafted to have no identifiable flaws on paper will be inherently flawed in some way, and the iPad Mini 6 has a few flaws that definitely leave me wanting.
iPad Mini 6 battery life is all-day for most people, unless you never put it down
The first is battery life. My love affair with the iPad Mini 6 is only questionable because I don’t want to put it down. Hence, the battery life proves that it’s not really all-day battery life. If you are a heavy user intending to use this as a primary portable tablet and use it excessively during the day, then you will probably need to charge it during the day.
Yet, for most people, the battery life will prove to be acceptable. It can easily last between 6 and 9 hours of screen on time and if you don’t use it at full brightness, this can increase by a further 25%. My top-line battery life while mostly reading at a low brightness was 11 hours screen time with a total battery life of 18 hours. By any phone standard, this is great battery life, but for tablet users, you might be expecting more.
Charging is fast enough, especially at faster speeds than before. The 19.3 Wh battery can be charged from empty to full in around 2 hours using the 30W charger that comes in the box. It’s mostly a consistent charging experience in terms of the correlation between battery percentage and time taken; in our testing, the iPad Mini charged to 15% in ten minutes, 60% in 50 minutes, 77% in 70 minutes, and 90% in 95 minutes. The final ten percent took a further 20 minutes, with iPadOS tapering charging speeds towards the end.
The idea here is that if you need a quick top-up, you can hit the 25% mark very quickly, the 50+% mark with ease and you won’t really need to fully charge unless overnight. Apple’s optimized battery featuring will slow things down in the final 20% if you’re charging overnight once it recognizes what time you’re likely to want to first use the iPad, but I disabled this straight away as my use case is far more varied than that, especially while reviewing.
I’m also not a huge fan of the Apple Pencil. The way it interacts with iPadOS is great for many reasons, but there are also several occasions where I’m trying to use it to scroll or browse, and it thinks I’m trying to scribble something. When the Pencil is physically attached to my iPad, it won’t display the on-screen keyboard and instead thinks I’m trying to scribble. Unlike all the actions built into the S Pen on the Galaxy Z Fold 3, Apple really hasn’t taken the concept of the Apple Pencil beyond just writing and it’s a shame as there’s a lot of potential still. Yet, it’s nice to see new additions to iPadOS try to address this slightly, with a swipe up from the bottom left corner using the pencil taking a screenshot quickly. The Apple Pencil is great, but it’s not something you absolutely need, or should even really want alongside your iPad Mini.
Unlike the latest iPhones and the larger iPad Pro, there’s no 120Hz adaptive refresh rate on the iPad Mini and many users have discovered a jelly scrolling issue where the right side of the display scrolls at a slightly different speed to the left. In my time with the iPad Mini, this has been noticeable – as has several parts of the OS where it downscales into a weird aspect ratio – but not so much as to detract from the experience. Chances are you’ll notice it, but you won’t be bothered by it.
Is the iPad Mini a blueprint for a foldable iPad?
The iPad Mini is great for so many reasons yet it also raises a big question about where the lineup goes from here. Unlike the rest of the iPad range, the Mini has seen the least refreshes and the latest generation of the iPad Mini is good enough that there’s no need for Apple to make any changes for at least a couple of years. But, what comes after that?
The technology industry has come a long way since Apple launched the first iPad Mini. Back then, 8.3-inches was considered huge and not necessarily portable. Now, you have an 8-inch display in a folding form factor on the Galaxy Z Fold 3 that fits inside your pocket. With Samsung putting so much marketing importance behind its foldable, its inevitable that Apple will need to follow.
The iPad Mini is the blueprint for an Apple foldable and I can’t wait. For now, everyone should buy the Mini.
The real question then is – what will an Apple foldable look like? Is it basically an iPad Mini that folds and can make phone calls? Is it just a larger version of the iPhone 13 Pro Max? I for one, hope it’s the former as the iPad Mini basically offers the blueprint for exactly what Apple needs to do with its foldable; instead of approaching a foldable like a phone, Apple – and Samsung for that matter – should absolutely be approaching them as small tablets or computers that get smaller, vs phones that get bigger.
In a couple of years – or whenever Apple chooses to dip its toe into a foldable device – there’ll be little need for the standard iPad Mini form factor as foldable displays should have matured and become more ubiquitous. If Apple can basically package the iPad Mini experience into the Pro Max version of an iPhone, it has a winner on its hands. Support for the Apple Pencil, the incredible multitasking, and just the overall Pro experience would result in one of the best experiences you can have.
The iPad Mini 6 is the best small tablet ever made, and also the best iPad that Apple has ever made. It combines the very best of the larger iPad Pro, with the portable form factor that the rest of the iPad range is missing. As a result, you have the professional yet portable tablet you’ve always wanted.
In the meantime, the iPad Mini offers exactly this: the best portable productivity experiences that money can buy. I love my Galaxy Z Fold 3 and it will always be in my pocket, but now the iPad Mini is going to always come with me in my bag or jacket pocket. That it has made such a large impact on my life in such a short space of time says a lot about the iPad Mini: it’s so good, you won’t want to put it down.
Apple revealed iOS 15 back in June, during its opening WWDC21 keynote. While the update wasn’t as packed as we had hoped it would be, it still brought some significant improvements to the table. One of these additions is Find My support, even when iPhone is turned off. However, it is only available on select models. So why isn’t this feature supported on all iPhones running iOS 15, and how does it exactly work?
All the iPhone needs to have Find My enabled while it is “off” is some basic power control as well as a Bluetooth chip that can send Bluetooth LE advertisements. Moreover, these advertisements require secret key material bound to the Apple ID on the iPhone.
So when a supported iPhone is powered off, Find My runs in the Bluetooth chipset via a custom applet. The rest of the device is completely off, so only this chip is awake and running on low power to transmit BTLE beacons. While the article mentions AOP (always-on processor), Hector Martin says in a Twitter thread that the Find My service, while powered off, has nothing to do with it.
If you’re wondering why all iPhones running iOS 15 aren’t supported, it seems that the feature requires iPhones to write a series of pre-computed cryptographic beacons to the UWB chipset. So older iPhones with no U1 chip can’t support the feature. This mechanism is similar to that of the AirTag, and Naehrdine states:
On the AirTag, this key material is stored via the U1 chip. Apple calls the nRF on the AirTag “Durian” for a reason. They don’t like it, they don’t trust it, but it’s cheap and low-power. Most time, U1 is on sleep, and from time to time they wake it up.
As a result, powered off iPhones can still be found when approached by another internet-connected, Find My-enabled device. The dead iPhone securely transmits the required identification information to the connected device via Bluetooth. The latter then sends the data to Apple servers. The owner of the dead iPhone can then see the reported location on the map, where another connected device had passed.
Find My while powered off is a significant upgrade to the existing feature. Not only does it helps you locate your iPhone after it shuts down, but it also allows you to track thieves even if they power off the device.
What do you think of this new feature? Have you ever depended on Find My to locate a lost or stolen device? Let us know in the comments section below.
AT&T has shared via text today that it is dropping Spotify from its “Unlimited &More Premium” plan as well as finally killing off their WatchTV service.
Reports began showing up on Twitter and Reddit saying that texts were sent out about the shutdowns.
AT&T has offered a choice of premium services as free perks for customers of its “Unlimited &More Premium” plan since 2018. It appears they have now decided to drop Spotify from the list of available entertainment options. Existing users that chose the Spotify perk will have their subscription end on November 6th. AT&T suggests these users switch their perk to free HBO Max.
They’ve also shared a shutdown date of November 30th for their WatchTV service. WatchTV was a streaming tv service launched by AT&T at the same time as their Unlimited &More plans in 2018. It was offered for free to customers who signed up for one of those two new plans at the time. WatchTV stopped accepting new subscribers over a year ago, so the shutdown was inevitable.
A user on Reddit has shared the text they received from AT&T about the shutdowns:
“Hi, it’s AT&T. WatchTV will be going away on Nov 30 along with your paid Spotify subscription on Nov 6. You can contact Spotify directly to sign up to continue service. The good news is we’ve got you covered with HBO Max at no additional charge. To sign up and start streaming HBO Max, visit att.com/spotifyupdates for more information and options regarding your account.”
Google launched the Live Transcribe app back in 2019 to aid the hearing impaired in their social interactions. The app makes everyday conversations easier by converting speech to text in real-time. It supports over 70 languages and dialects, and it also gives users the option to add specific words that Google might not recognize and alert them if someone in the vicinity calls their name. While these features make the app a great tool for the hearing impaired, it has one minor issue. The app currently requires an active internet connection to perform all these features. But Google is preparing to address that in a future update.
An APK teardown can often predict features that may arrive in a future update of an application, but it is possible that any of the features we mention here may not make it in a future release. This is because these features are currently unimplemented in the live build and may be pulled at any time by the developers in a future build.
A teardown of version 4.6 of the Live Transcribe app suggests that Google is adding offline transcription support to the app. New strings regarding the in-development feature reveal that it will allow users to download language packs for offline transcription. After downloading the language pack, users will be able to perform real-time transcription in that language, even while offline.
<string name="downloading_offline_pack_from_scribe">downloading_offline_pack_from_scribe</string>
<string name="language_pack_button_available_content_description">Downloaded %s</string>
<string name="language_pack_button_downloadable_content_description">Download %s to transcribe without internet</string>
<string name="language_pack_button_downloading_content_description">Downloading %s</string>
<string name="language_pack_downloading_no_network_error">"Can't download. No internet connection."</string>
<string name="param_transcribe_offline_off">off</string>
<string name="param_transcribe_offline_on">on</string>
<string name="pref_offline_transcription">pref_offline_transcription</string>
<string name="speech_offline_enabled">App is offline. Transcriptions and sound events are still available.</string>
<string name="speech_offline_enabled_sound_events_off">App is offline. Transcriptions are still available.</string>
As mentioned in the strings, the feature will let users download more than one language pack, which will prove beneficial for multilingual users. Note that the feature is still in development, and Google hasn’t shared a release timeline at the moment. We’ll make sure to let you know as soon as the feature starts rolling out with a future update.
It’s worth noting that Live Transcribe v4.6 brings Material You dynamic coloring support on Android 12. However, it doesn’t include any other Material You design changes.
If Microsoft Edge is your browser of choice, you’re going to have an improved typing experience from now on, thanks to a new update. Microsoft has integrated its popular service — Microsoft Editor — right into the Edge browser now. If you’re unaware of Microsoft Editor, it’s an add-on that checks your content for misspelled words and grammatical errors. Although Microsoft Editor has been available as an extension on the Edge Add-ons site for a while, Microsoft has now announced that they’re integrating the service directly into the Edge browser to make the experience more seamless.
The feature is still under testing, so it’s currently available to Insiders in the US and only supports English. If you’re using either the Dev version or the Canary build of Edge on your Windows PC, you should be eligible for this update. Once you enable the feature, typing inside a text field will cause red squiggly lines to appear underneath misspelled words. If there’s a grammatical error or the Microsoft Editor thinks you can write a sentence in a better way, you will see a blue line instead.
If you wish to see the suggested improvements and corrections, click on the underlined items, and you will get an option to either accept the suggestion or ignore it. Microsoft says they’re working on expanding this feature to other languages and regions too. So if you want the feature to support your preferred language/region, head over to Menu > Help and feedback > Send feedback and let Microsoft know.
This is a good initiative by Microsoft, and it greatly benefits Edge users who type a lot of content (like me!) but don’t have access to third-party extensions to check for spelling and grammatical errors. If you type out a lot of e-mails too, you will certainly appreciate this feature.
It’s Cybersecurity Awareness Month, and companies are taking this opportunity to make their products safer for users. We’ve already seen Mozilla add password auto-fill support on Firefox for Android. Now, Google wants to make your online experience more secure by introducing critical improvements to how you sign in on different apps and services. The most notable of these changes is a feature that lets you easily access your saved passwords via the Google app on your smartphone.
In a recent announcement, Google revealed that you will now be able to access passwords saved in Google’s password manager more conveniently. If you’re an ardent Chrome user, you would already be familiar with the password manager built into the browser. It lets you store passwords whenever you sign up on a new website, allowing you to quickly log in the next time you visit that website.
The same password manager is also available on other products, including Android and the Google app. But it doesn’t allow you to access your saved passwords on these platforms. However, with an upcoming update, Google is adding the ability to let you access your saved passwords directly from the Google app.
Following the update, you will be able to access the password in a much simpler way by just opening the Google app on your smartphone. This is especially useful if you’ve used Chrome’s auto-fill feature to generate a complex password for a service you signed up for and you don’t remember it.
While accessing your saved passwords through Chrome isn’t all that complicated, the new update will make the process even simpler. Once it starts rolling out, you should see the Password Manager in the Google app menu. Currently, Google hasn’t shared a release timeline for the features. We’ll update this post as soon as we have more information.
