Samsung’s 128GB Galaxy Tab S6 Lite now on sale for just $330

Samsung released the Galaxy Tab S6 Lite last year as a slightly cheaper alternative to the Galaxy Tab S6, with an LCD screen instead of AMOLED and lower-power hardware. It has been succeeded by the Tab S7 and Tab S7 FE, but it’s still a great tablet for media streaming and light productivity. Now you can pick up the 128GB version for just $329.99 at B&H Photo, a savings of $80 from the original price. That’s also $20 lower than the current cost on Amazon.

This model of the Galaxy Tab S6 Lite has an Exynos 9611 chipset, 4GB of RAM, 128GB of internal storage, and a 10.4-inch 2000 x 1200 LCD screen. There’s also a microSD card slot for adding more storage, plus an included S Pen stylus for drawing. The tablet supports Wi-Fi 5 (sadly not Wi-Fi 6), Bluetooth 5.0, and USB Type-C for charging and data transfer. Samsung also included a feature on the Tab S6 Lite that isn’t available on the Tab S7 or Tab S7 FE: a headphone jack.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite (Wi-Fi)

This tablet has a 10.4-inch LCD screen, an included S Pen, 128GB of storage, and 4GB RAM. Not a bad deal at all for $329.99.

Buy at B&H Photo

Samsung confirmed last year that the Tab S6 Lite would get at least three years of Android OS updates, so it should receive Android 12 and 13. Even though it has largely been replaced by the Tab S7 and Tab S7 FE, it’s still a great purchase at this price.

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Google Photos adds a storage management tool ahead of unlimited backup changes

That dreaded day is about to arrive. Unlimited backup storage for Google Photos will be gone soon. Google has offered users free, high-quality backups for all photos and videos for probably as long as we can remember. And that was precisely one of the biggest selling points of the platform. Google even went so far as to offer free backups for full quality pictures rather than just high-quality ones as a perk for Pixel owners back when the first Google Pixel smartphones came out. Now, though, while you can still use Google Photos for free, you’ll be limited to however many pictures can fit in the 15 GB that is offered to all Google accounts for free, and if you need more than that, you’ll have to pay.

Google Photos is, however, adding tools to help free users have an easier time with that 15 GB of storage, or even for those paying for more storage. Google is adding a new storage management tool that can help you keep a check on your Google Photos storage and get rid of pictures that you might not want to keep. The app will analyze your pictures looking for things like blurry photos, screenshots, and large videos that you might not want to keep in the cloud. Then, it will give you the option to review and delete these pictures so that they don’t count against your Google account’s storage.

Google would also like to remind you of some other things they’re doing to make the transition easier. Pictures that you upload to Google Photos from today before June 1st will not count against your Google Storage even after that date and will still enjoy the unlimited benefit: it will only apply to new pictures you upload to the platform. After the changes come into effect, users will also get features like an estimate on how much will you be able to fit in your storage, easy options for getting more storage (the 100 GB tier costs $1.99 a month), and the “High quality” category will be renamed to “Storage saver” to differentiate it from full quality pictures, which already count against your phone’s storage.

If you have a Google Pixel phone, you might have better luck with unlimited backups. Users of all Pixel phones from the Pixel 5 down to the original 2016 Google Pixel will still get unlimited high-quality backups, and if you were promised unlimited, original-quality backups when you bought your phone (a benefit Google doesn’t offer anymore with new Pixel phones), Google will honor that as well. The original Google Pixels will get unlimited, original-quality backups indefinitely, the Pixel 2 lineup got them up until January 16th, 2021 (and they’ll still get unlimited storage saver backups indefinitely), and the Pixel 3 lineup gets them up until January 1st, 2022, after which you’ll only get unlimited storage saver backups going forward.

We’re bummed to see Google end unlimited backups, but these changes do go a long way towards providing greener pastures for free users that plan to keep using Google Photos.

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Microsoft is adding themes to the Windows 10 touch keyboard in Sun Valley

The touch keyboard has been a feature of Windows since Windows 8, but it’s never been terribly good. The problem is that it tends to respond differently to different kinds of apps, and it’s just not as seamless as modern operating systems like iPadOS and Android. Microsoft is set to change that with this fall’s Sun Valley update, which is the visual overhaul that we’re getting with Windows 10X being dead.

Sun Valley is a big visual overhaul of Windows 10. It’s going to focus on making the touch experience better. This is something that Microsoft really hasn’t done since it went way overboard with Windows 8. When Windows 10 shipped in 2015, the company scaled back a lot of its touch efforts in an effort to win back the faith of customers. Unfortunately, it was to the detriment of people who bought products like the Redmond firm’s own Surface Pro.

As spotted by Windows Latest, it seems that Microsoft is also making some big visual changes with the touch keyboard. You’re going to be able to set a background for the keyboard. In fact, if you look in C:\Windows\Web\touchkeyboard, you’ll find four designs, each with light and dark theme options.

That’s not all. You’ll be able to change the colors of the keyboard, change the size, and more, features that were spotted by Albacore. Unfortunately, while you can find the wallpaper images in File Explorer, you won’t find these new features yet.

If any of that sounds familiar, it should. A lot of this is pretty similar to what you might have seen from SwiftKey, which is a Microsoft-owned keyboard application on Android. SwiftKey has seen over 500 million downloads through the Google Play Store alone. With significant success on the Android end of things, it makes sense that Microsoft would bring some continuity between it and the touch keyboard. In fact, many would argue that the company needs to do that more often, such as with its Outlook apps.

The Windows 10 Sun Valley update is set to arrive later on this year. We should see it as part of the Windows 10 version 21H2 feature update that’s going to arrive in the fall. However, if you’re a Windows Insider, you should get to see it a lot sooner. As we know, new versions of Windows 10 are set to RTM in June and December, and then they head to the Beta channel the month after that for servicing until they’re released.

Sun Valley is more or less ready to go. Microsoft is just holding it back because it wants to show it off at a big event in June. Sadly, Windows still isn’t important enough to take the stage at Build, which takes place this week. After that big event in June, the whole visual refresh should be dumped on Windows Insiders, and then it should go to the Beta channel shortly thereafter.

It would seem that the folder of touch keyboard backgrounds discovered by Windows Latest was left there by Microsoft. As mentioned, Sun Valley is ready to go, but it’s being stripped out of Windows 10 preview builds. It would seem that some things remain.

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Here are all new emoji changes in Android 12 Beta 1

Another round of Android betas is here. During Google I/O 2021, Google introduced to the world a closer look at how Android 12, the upcoming version of Android, will look like and function once it’s out. While Android 12 has been out as a developer preview for a while, we hadn’t get seen the full extent of the UI changes that were coming with it. And Android 12 is one of the most outstanding updates in several years. It brings more radical improvements than even Android Pie, released in 2018, did, in terms of both functionality and looks. Material You is the most radical redesign to the original Material Design guidelines since they were first introduced back in 2014 with Android 5.0 Lollipop. There are other changes, however, that have gone unnoticed. One of them is a new emoji revamp.

Google revamps their emojis pretty much yearly, given that new versions of the Unicode standard are released every year with new emojis. However, Android 12 also brings some minor improvements to existing emojis as well to make them look more standard and in line with other emoji designs from other companies (design standardization is important to ensure the same emojis can convey the same message across all platforms regardless of who designed them). Some of these changes are immediately noticeable, while others are more minor and harder to notice at a first glance.

Some of these changes include the Coconut emoji now showing only half of the drupe, the Mount Fuji emoji getting rid of the water and the reflection, the Alarm clock and the Shopping cart getting more realistic designs, the Toolbox emoji being closed instead of open, the Smartphone emoji getting a revamped design, and so on and so forth. In total, there are over 389 emojis that have been revamped in Android 12, and most of these changes are made so that they don’t look out of place compared to emojis in other platforms.

You can check out the full Android 12 emoji design changes in Emojigraph if you want to check them out in closer detail.

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Verizon subscribers can now get free games on iOS and Android

Carriers often offer some pretty cool perks to get you to stick with them. Of course, with the smartphone market in the U.S. depending heavily on carriers and carrier support (something that has both pros and many cons), these carriers need these perks to stand out from the tight competition. Often, these perks come in the form of discounts on either smartphones or cell plans, but Verizon has an interesting one now, at least if you’re a smartphone gamer. Now, Verizon users can enjoy a free Google Play Pass subscription for getting free games (and perks on games) on the Google Play Store.

Verizon announced the new perks today. Google Play Pass launched in 2019 as a subscription model for the Google Play Store. Subscribers are able to play paid games and use paid apps, as well as enjoy other bonuses such as no ads or in-game purchases on some games. For $4.99 a month, it’s a pretty good value, especially considering that over 800 apps and games are currently available through Play Pass and are fully accessible for free once you’re a subscriber. If you’re a Verizon user and you’re on an unlimited plan, you can enjoy Google Play Pass at no added cost to you for 6 months. If you’re on either the “Play More” or “Get More” plans, the benefit is extended from 6 months up to 12 months.

If you’re an Apple user, Verizon has you covered as well—this benefit is also extended to Apple Arcade, Apple’s equivalent to Google Play Pass that also happens to cost $4.99 a month. Just like Google Play Pass, Apple Arcade gets you a catalog of free, ad-free games that are fully accessible to you as long as you’re a subscriber to the service. The same terms for free Google Play Pass also apply for free Apple Arcade.

Sounds good? If you’re a Verizon user on an eligible plan, check out the official blog post for more information.

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Xbox consoles will be getting support for Dolby Vision on Apple TV and Spotify Video Podcasts

Xbox consoles aren’t just amazing for gaming. With an AMD Zen 2-based CPU and Radeon-based RDNA 2 graphics, the Xbox Series X and the Xbox Series S are ought to be great. But game consoles also often serve as all-purpose media consumption boxes as well, which is why you can use streaming services like Netflix, Disney+, and Spotify on it. And the experience for those will be stellar as well, with the Xbox Series X being capable of 8K video output and Dolby Atmos sound, as well as passthrough audio, which got added recently. Now, the Xbox lineup is getting a few improvements to its streaming capabilities.

The news was recently published on Xbox’s official blog. First up, Dolby Vision support is coming to Apple TV. Support for streaming content on Apple’s video streaming platform, Apple TV, was recently added to Xbox consoles last year. Now, if you enable Dolby Vision on your Xbox console and you have a compatible display to go along with it, you can enjoy shows like Ted Lasso, Mythic Quest, See, and The Mosquito Coast in Dolby Vision, meaning richer visuals, deeper blacks, and improved sound combined with Dolby Atmos support.

Additionally, Spotify Video Podcasts are now available on these consoles as well through the Spotify app. While Spotify is usually an audio-only experience, support for adding video to podcasts was added last year. Now, users can enjoy video on supported podcasts that have jumped on this feature, like The Misfits, Higher Learning with Van Lathan & Rachel Lindsay, and That was fun? with Addison & Sheri right from the Spotify app. If you’d rather only listen to it, though, you can also do so by playing Spotify in the background.

Microsoft also casually announced that apps like Discovery+, Paramount+, and IMDb TV are now available from the Xbox store, so if you’re a user of any of these three streaming services, you can now check them out on your Xbox as well.

If you have an Xbox, be sure to check all of this out!

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Apple details its WWDC plans with a June 7 keynote for iOS 15 announcement

Apple’s WWDC 2021 event is set to kick off on June 7. Today, the Cupertino firm detailed the highlights in the schedule. Just like every year, there’s going to be a keynote on day one at 10am PT.

And that’s the big one. Apple is going to announce everything that’s going to come with iOS 15 when it ships later this year. That’s not all though. We’ll find out about watchOS 8, tvOS 15, and macOS 12. Indeed, macOS now gets new version numbers every year, something that changes last year for the first time in over a decade.

The main keynote will be streamed on Apple.com, through the Apple Developer app, through the Apple TV app, and on YouTube. Yes, gone are the days that you need an Apple device just to watch.

At 2pm PT on June 7, Apple is going to hold its Platforms State of the Union keynote. This one is only available through the Apple Developer app and website, but it’s still free for everyone. Indeed, the whole show is free for everyone, not just the keynotes.

Apple is promising over 200 sessions from its show, including in-depth sessions and labs. There are benefits for members of the Apple Developer Program, as they can get one-on-one lab consultations. The company also said that its engineers will be available all week in the forums.

One other scheduled event that was noted is the Apple Design Awards. This is where the company highlights “artistry, craftsmanship, and technical achievement” from developers. This might be worth tuning in even if you’re not a developer. If you’re the type to watch a movie because it got an award, you might want to try out an app that got an award. These will also be highlighted in the App Store, of course.

Finally, there are going to be special events, although Apple didn’t go too deep into saying what that means. After all, the whole show is kind of a special event. There are also Pavilions, which are meant to be a way for attendees to explore the show.

But once again, the big event at WWDC 2021 is the keynote, which is June 7 at 10am PT. If you’re excited about what your Apple product will be able to do later this year, you should check it out.

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