Technology

The Galaxy Note 8 is Samsung’s latest flagship phone, and it’s been getting a warm reception despite last year’s issues with the Note 7. Samsung eventually canceled that phone because of battery fires, but the Note 8 seems to have a different issue: it’s freezing when owners try to make …

The Pixel 2 XL hasn’t had a smooth launch. The phone’s display has had various problems, including distorted or undersaturated OLED panels (our own Ryan Whitwam argued this was never a problem at all), a “black smear” problem, and a quickly appearing issue with burn-in that surfaced well before it …

Apple is famous for coming up with clever engineering tricks to cram more components inside a smartphone. The new iPhone X with its edge-to-edge display and compact front-facing camera cluster presented some unique challenges, though. As is tradition, iFixit has pulled the latest Apple gadget apart to see what makes …

A huge merger between Broadcom and Qualcomm could be in the works, with Broadcom acquiring the massive SoC manufacturer for an estimated $100B, Bloomberg reports. Broadcom and Qualcomm have been at loggerheads before, with the latter paying the former $891 million in cash from 2009-2013 after a judge ruled Qualcomm …

Want to exercise more, but lack motivation? An app called Lazy Jar, aimed at Fitbit owners, may be able to help. The app actually penalizes you a monetary amount if you fail to meet the fitness goals you’ve set for yourself, in terms of metrics like steps per week, miles …

Did WhatsApp go down for you earlier today? You weren’t alone. The Facebook-owned messaging service experienced a roughly hour-long global outage on Friday, which led to difficulties in accessing the app and sending messages to friends. While no online service is immune to the occasional hiccup, this outage was notable …

All major web browsers include features that let you block common tracking methods, but tracking users is big business. It’s understandable advertisers have come up with some clever ways to quietly follow you around the web without cookies or ad tokens. One of the most devious techniques is known as canvas …

Ever since device manufacturers began kicking phone display resolutions into the stratosphere, I’ve had my doubts about whether this was ultimately to the advantage of the end user. The problem is simple: While different display technologies have different pixel densities and your chance of seeing pixels at the same resolution …

In the face of fierce competition from Spotify and Apple Music, Pandora has been growing its in-app subscription revenues, according to new data from Sensor Tower. The streaming music service earned the number one spot on the chart of top grossing apps in Q3 2017, excluding games. It’s the first …

Historically, gaming-focused smartphones and tablets that run Android haven’t sold well. Nvidia took a serious shot at creating a gaming market for Tegra-powered devices, and even went so far as to help with game-specific optimizations on multiple titles. But it’s historically been the case gamers care less about whether SSAO …