Google Pixel 9, 9 Pro, and 9a owners just got a huge free Gemini upgrade that adds impressive Astra capabilities to their smartphones.
As we reported yesterday (April 7), Gemini Visual AI capabilities have started to roll out for Samsung S25 devices, and now Pixel 9s are also getting the awesome features.
So what is Gemini Astra? Well, you can now launch Gemini Live and grant it access to your camera, and it can then chat about what you see as well as what's on your smartphone's screen.
Gemini Astra has been hinted at for a long time, and it's immensely exciting to get access to it via a free update.
You should see the option to access Gemini's Astra capabilities from the Gemini Live interface. If you don't have access yet, be patient, as it should be available to all Pixel 9 users in the coming days.
While I don't personally have access to a Google Pixel 9 to test Gemini Live's Astra prowess, my colleague and TechRadar's Senior AI Editor, Graham Barlow, does.
I asked him to test out Gemini Astra and give me his first impressions of the new Pixel 9 AI capabilities, and you can see what he made of it below.
Hands-on impressions with Pixel 9's new Gemini Astra capabilitiesOnce you’re in Gemini Live you’ll notice two new icons at the bottom of the screen – a camera icon and a screen share icon.
Tap the camera icon and Gemini switches to a camera mode, showing you video of what your phone is looking at, but the Gemini Live icons remain at the bottom of the screen.
There’s also a camera reverse button, so you can get Gemini to look directly at you. I tapped that, and asked Gemini what it thought of my hair, to which it replied that my hair was “a lovely natural brown color”. Gee, thanks Gemini!
I tested Gemini Live with a few objects on my desk – a water bottle, a magazine, and a laptop, all of which it identified correctly and could tell me about. I pointed the phone at the window towards a fairly nondescript car park and asked Gemini which city I was in, and it instantly, and correctly, told me it was Bath, UK, because the architecture was quite distinctive, and there was a lot of greenery.
(Image credit: Future)Gemini can’t use Google search while going live, so for now it’s great for brainstorming, chatting, coming up with ideas, or simply identifying what you’re looking at.
For example, it could chat with me about Metallica, and successfully identified the Kirk Hammett Funko Pop I’ve got on my desk, but it couldn’t go online and find out how much it would cost to buy.
The screen share icon comes up with a message prompting you to share the screen with Google, then when you say "Share screen" it puts a little Gemini window at the top of the screen that looks like the phone call window you get when you start to use your phone while you’re on a call.
As you start to interact with your phone the window minimizes even further into a tiny red time counter that counts how long you’ve been live for.
You can keep using your phone and talking to Gemini at the same time, so you could ask it, "What am I looking at?", and it will describe what’s on your phone screen, or "Where are my Bluetooth settings?", and it will tell you which parts of the Settings app to look in.
It’s pretty impressive. One thing it can’t do, though, is interact with your phone in any way, so if you ask it to take you to the Bluetooth settings it can’t do it, but it will tell you what to tap to get you there.
Overall I’m impressed by how well Gemini Live works in both of these new modes. We’ve had features like Google Lens that can use your camera like this for a while now, but having it all inside the Gemini app is way more convenient. It’s fast, it bug-free, and it just works.
You might also likeIt has been a long wait for One UI 7 (Samsung’s version of Android 15), and while the update is now rolling out to some devices, others might be waiting months.
This is according to a post on Samsung’s Korean site (via SamMobile), which states that the Samsung Galaxy S24 series, Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6, Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6, Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition, Galaxy Z Fold 5, Galaxy Z Flip 5, Galaxy Tab S10 Plus, Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra, Galaxy S23, Galaxy S23 Plus, and Galaxy S23 Ultra will all get the update in April.
So, if you own one of those devices then you shouldn’t have long to wait. But if you have a Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4, Galaxy Z Flip 4, Galaxy Tab S9, Galaxy Tab S9 Plus, Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra, Galaxy S23 FE, Z Fold 3, Z Flip 3, A34, A35, S22, 22 Plus, S22 Ultra, Tab S8, S8 Plus, S8 Ultra, S21, S21 Plus, S21 Ultra, Galaxy A16, Galaxy Quantum 5, or Galaxy Quantum 4, then you’ll apparently have to wait until sometime in May.
Worse still, owners of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE, Tab S9 FE Plus, Galaxy A53, A33, A25, A24, A15, Quantum 3, Jump 3, Jump 2, Buddy 3, Galaxy Tab A9, Tab A9 Plus, Tab Active 5, Tab Active 4 Pro, and Wide 7 will apparently be waiting until sometime in June.
The Samsung Galaxy S24 is first in line for One UI 7 (Image credit: Future | Roland Moore-Colyer) Timings may varyHowever, it’s worth noting that this list is specifically for South Korea, so timings may differ a bit elsewhere – and indeed an earlier list from Samsung Czechia did include some differences. So some of these devices may get updated sooner where you are – but it’s not impossible that some may also get updated later.
Whenever you get the One UI 7 update though, it should be worth the wait. New features include the likes of Now Brief, which provides an AI-powered summary of your day ahead, and the Now Bar, which brings important real-time updates from apps to the lock screen, a bit like Live Activities on iOS.
One UI 7 also brings some new camera features, including AI-powered tools like Audio Eraser and Best Face. Though note that not all features will arrive on every device, with some requiring more recent and powerful hardware.
You might also likeDenon has announced two pairs of true wireless earbuds; one with an open-ear design for environmental awareness, and one with hybrid active noise cancellation and transparency modes.
The new Denon AH-C500W and Denon AH-C840NCW earbuds come with Bluetooth LE Audio, Auracast and multi-point pairing, and they're both rated IPX4 for water resistance. Both offer strong battery life and feature Denon's 'FreeEdge' 12mm drivers.
These should be very impressive earbuds: we've previously reviewed the AH-C830NCW from 2022 and we really loved the sound quality. Our only major gripe was the "unremarkable" noise cancellation of those ANC buds, and Denon's had three years to work on that to rival the best noise cancelling earbuds.
The AH-C500W earbuds have an open design so you can hear the world around you (Image credit: Denon) Choose your fitThe open earbuds are the Denon AH-C500W, and they promise up to 24 hours of listening time from a single charge with a fast charge adding an extra hour of playback in just 10 minutes. The drivers are 12mm and there are dual microphones in each bud for clear calls.
They're open-ear in the same sense as the AirPods 4 are – they sit just outside the ear canal, with no tip inserted inside (unlike many of the best open earbuds that leave a bigger gap between your ear and the speaker). And then the ANC buds, the AH-C840NCW, are like the AirPods Pro 2 (and most of the best earbuds) in that they're a similar design but with the in-ear isolating tips.
The ANC buds, the AH-C840NCW, use their charging case to deliver battery life of 35 total hours, and they charge faster than their siblings: the extra hour of playback takes just five minutes from flat. There are three eartip sizes included.
The pair have similar designs to the AirPods models referenced above, but have two tempting elements that make them a great alternative. The first is more likely useful for Android users, and it's Bluetooth LE Audio support, which is capable of higher quality and better stability than regular Bluetooth (though support is still thin on the ground). Bluetooth Auracast support is also nice as a future-proofed option.
The other element is the price. The AH-C500W are £99 / $99 (about AU$208) and the AH-C840NCW are £159 / $159 (about AU$334). These are the kinds of prices that AirPods fall to when they hit record-low prices, so by having these as a starting price, Denon has a nice edge. Both sets of buds will be available to buy from 15 April 2025.
You might also likeIt seems clear that the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge is on the way, but how much is it going to cost? If the latest leak is accurate, the super-slim handset could be the second most expensive phone in the series, just behind the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra.
This comes from listings on two online retailers, Zanetti and Epto, spotted by 91mobiles. They put the pricing at either €1,361.41 or €1,363.90 for the 256GB version of the Galaxy S25 Edge, and €1,487.99 or €1,490.90 for the 512GB variant.
There's not much point giving you currency conversions for those prices, as they're unlikely to reflect the pricing elsewhere in the world. The main takeaway is that those prices are above the €1,246.99 starting price of the Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus in Italy.
That means the Galaxy S25 Edge pricing may well exceed the $999 / £999 / AU$1,699 that you can get the Galaxy S25 Plus for – even if these two retailers disagree about exactly how much money you're going to have to part with for the final S25 phone to launch.
The waiting game (Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)This isn't the first time we've heard pricing rumors around the Galaxy S25 Edge. Information that emerged last month pointed to a price somewhere between €1,200 and €1,300, which lines up neatly with what we've heard in this latest leak.
All this is assuming the Galaxy S25 Edge is actually going to see the light of day again. We were given a brief glimpse of it at Samsung Galaxy Unpacked in January, and then again at the MWC 2025 trade show in Barcelona in March.
Since then, there's been talk of technical issues with the phone's production, and the rumored launch date has been pushed back from April 15 (next week) to May 13. Let's hope those issues can be resolved sooner rather than later.
There's lots to look forward to if and when the phone actually does appear. It's rumored to be bringing with it a vapor chamber cooling system, a bundled Gemini Advanced subscription, and impressive internal specs, as well as its ultra-thin chassis.
You might also likeTrump’s tariffs are already having an effect, but it’s unlikely to be one that the US President had anticipated. According to a report from Bloomberg, Apple customers are panic-buying iPhones ahead of what they fear could be steep price hikes.
Bloomberg cited “Employees from different Apple locations across the country” who reported that Apple Stores were filled with customers over the past weekend.
These buyers were seeking to snap up iPhones to beat price rises that could potentially happen as a result of the US tariffs, Bloomberg said, with some Apple employees saying they were being bombarded with questions on the matter.
Right now, most iPhones are made in China, which is due to be hit with 54% tariffs over the coming days. That could rise to as much as 104%, as per Trump’s latest threat, which might be spurring shoppers to buy now.
Impossible to predict (Image credit: Apple)Interestingly, there’s very little consensus on how the tariffs will affect Apple. Late last week, Rosenblatt Securities claimed that the iPhone 16 Pro Max could end up costing $2,300 – up from its current $1,599 price – thanks to the tariffs, with iPhone and Apple Watch costs shooting up 43% across the board. The analysts predicted similar 42% and 39% rises for the iPad and AirPods, respectively.
Yet a competing analysis has just emerged that suggests the price rises might not be as severe as has been feared. According to a report from analysts at UBS (via AppleInsider), the iPhone 16 Pro Max could see a price hike of up to $2,062 – still a hefty margin over the regular $1,599 price, but not as wince-inducing as the $2,300 alternative suggested by Rosenblatt Securities.
Part of that comes down to how Apple will deal with the tariffs. The company has a long history of keeping prices the same through thick and thin – the flagship iPhone has cost $999 since 2017, after all. It’s likely that it will put pressure on its suppliers to lower costs, and could absorb some of the price increases itself, Bloomberg reports.
That said, Apple is not averse to pushing up prices where necessary, something it did in the UK after the Brexit referendum caused market uncertainty, for example. Ultimately, Trump’s tariffs have resulted in so much uncertainty that predicting what will happen to the iPhone’s price is a fool’s errand, although it does mean that some degree of panic buying is understandable.
You might also likeAlmost every Nintendo Switch owner is aware of the dreaded Joy-Con drift, where the thumbsticks of the controllers can register false inputs after even just light use.
It was one of the biggest complaints with the original Nintendo Switch console and, while Nintendo did begin to offer free Joy-Con repairs in both the US and UK, many were hoping that the Joy-Con 2 controllers of the Nintendo Switch 2 would feature a revised design intended to address these issues.
One possible solution that has been posed by many would be the implementation of Hall effect technology, which removes the need for physical contact between components to increase durability in the long term.
Unfortunately, we now know that the Joy-Con 2 will not feature Hall effect technology. This was confirmed by Nintendo of America's senior vice president of product development and publishing Nate Bihldorff in a new interview with Nintendolife.
"The Joy-Con 2 controllers have been designed from the ground up," he said. "They're not Hall effect sticks, but they feel really good."
Bihldorff was also evasive when asked whether the Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller will use Hall effect parts, which would indicate that it doesn't.
This is definitely bad news for those concerned about the durability of the Nintendo Switch 2 and, in my eyes, seems like a massive missed opportunity. What's the point of redesigning the entire console if you're just going to make the same mistakes as the first time around all over again?
Still, it might not be the end of the world as there are other technologies available that can help prevent drift.
TMR (Tunneling Magnetoresistance) thumbsticks, for example, rely on magnets that, like Hall effect components, remove the need for physical contact between parts. Hopefully we will learn a little more about the Joy-Con 2 controllers in the coming weeks.
You might also like...Audio-Technica's latest open-back headphones come with a price so low I had to check it wasn’t a misprint: the ATH-R30x headphones are just $99 / £85 / AU$219. That's a very low price for a set of headphones with this kind of specification.
The ATH-R30x promise to deliver reference-quality audio, so they're targeted primarily at content creators and home-based music producers. That's me! And according to Audio-Technica, the new model delivers pro-level performance without the pro-level price tag of many of the best wired headphones.
(Image credit: Audio-Technica) Audio-Technica ATH-R30x: key featuresThe ATH-R30x are one of three pairs of reference headphones launched by the brand: they're launching alongside the ATH-R50x and the flagship ATH-R70xa, both of which attracted rave reviews.
Like those headphones the ATH-R30x offer a natural, neutral open-back listening experience – which can be just as attractive to audiophiles on a budget as creators. The driver here is 40mm, which is very slightly smaller than the one in the R30x's siblings, and unlike the other models the cable isn't removable.
Audio-Technica says that the "meticulous" transducer design "translates every diaphragm movement directly into sound" to deliver a spacious soundstage with natural clarity. Frequency response is 15Hz to 25kHz, impedance is 36 ohms and the sensitivity is 92dB.
I haven't heard these headphones yet but the hi-fi and music production blogs have, and they've said that these are very credible studio headphones: for example, Recording Magazine says they are "highly enjoyable" and "deliver outstanding sound at an incredible price."
The ATH-R30x are available from today, 8 April 2025.
You might also likeIt looks like Nintendo of America president Doug Bowser has confirmed the price of the Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour.
Welcome Tour was unveiled during the exciting Nintendo Switch 2 Direct last week, where the company finally revealed the release date for the upcoming console - June 5, 2025 - and several launch titles, such as Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza.
The price of Welcome Tour, a piece of launch day software featuring a series of mini games, was notably absent from the showcase; however, in a new interview with The Verge, Doug Bowser has now seemingly confirmed that it will cost $9.99, which he thinks is a "fair price".
"As this game was being developed, what’s been packed into it is a depth of minigame experiences," Bowser said.
"They’re very deep, they’re very repeatable. And so, as we looked at that depth of play experience and opportunity, we felt that $9.99 was a fair price to ask for that."
The price of the Nintendo Switch 2 was also missing from the Direct, so we didn't learn that the console will cost $449.99 / £395.99, or $499.99 / £429.99 for a Mario Kart World bundle, until after the broadcast.
Pre-orders are scheduled to open on April 8 in the UK, however, Nintendo has announced that it has delayed Switch 2 pre-orders in the US from its original April 9 date as it assesses the impact of tariffs imposed by the Trump Administration.
Nintendo confirmed it will share the new pre-order date soon and that the console's launch date is unchanged.
You might also like...ChatGPT 4o's image-generation capabilities have been the talk of the town over the last week or so, but it looks like free users might get hit with a downgrade very soon.
OpenAI is currently testing watermarks in a new version of the ChatGPT Android app and it looks like free users are going to be the ones to suffer.
Shared by @btibor91 on X, code in version 1.2025.0912509108 beta references "image-gen-watermark-for-free", hinting at upcoming watermarking presumably for users on the ChatGPT free plan.
This watermark implementation comes off the back of ChatGPT server overload following the release of 4o's impressive image-generation capabilities and the viral use of the platform to create Studio Ghibli-esque imagery.
Up until this point, the Studio Ghibli-style images have had no watermarking, causing huge concern among creatives as the ethics of AI image generation has once again been called into question.
Now it looks like you'll need to pay for ChatGPT Plus, which costs $20 / roughly £16 a month, in order to get full access to 4o's image-generation tool without watermarks and without a minuscule 3-a-day limit.
ChatGPT updates- Student Plus referral program now also available for Colombian students (Universidad Nacional de Colombia)- new mentions of "shared posts" in addition to shared conversation, canvas and deep research in the web app- the new ImageGen watermark is mentioned… pic.twitter.com/j4sYfWJXLBApril 5, 2025
Not confirmed, but likely (Image credit: Future / ChatGPT)While it's possible that OpenAI is just testing watermark capabilities in the beta release of the ChatGPT Android app, this implementation is likely to occur sooner rather than later.
There has been significant backlash following the viral trend of anime images that resemble Studio Ghibli, and this looks to be the first step in addressing those copyright concerns.
While ChatGPT Plus is already a compelling value proposition for those who use AI frequently, including a watermark on images generated by free users could see an increase in paid subscriptions.
That said, we don't know what these watermarks look like as of yet, and depending on how large they are it could be a positive step in regulating AI-generated images on social media.
You might also likeOne of the more consistent rumors we’ve heard about iOS 19 is that it will usher in a major redesign, and look quite different to iOS 18 as a result. Exactly what it will look like, however, is disputed.
Leaker Jon Prosser claims to have a good idea though, having followed up an early look at the possible design of Apple’s upcoming software with a new YouTube video (via AppleInsider), showing a mock-up of iOS 19 that’s supposedly based on a more recent build.
If the video is accurate, iOS 19 could be taking some inspiration from Android, as the app icons are shown as being more circular than in iOS 18, bringing them more in line with some Android skins.
Other changes include a more glass-like design, with some translucent elements to the interface, and some visionOS-inspired parts, such as a new pill-shaped bar at the bottom of many built-in apps.
Don't count on thisYou can see all this in the video, but it’s worth taking these images with a serious helping of salt. For one thing, Prosser has a mixed track record – he has accurately leaked some things in the past, but he's also been very wrong about others.
For another thing, when Prosser previously leaked iOS 19, Apple watcher Mark Gurman (who has a much better track record) posted on X saying the images aren’t representative. This time around he simply reposted that message, so he’s seemingly no more confident about Prosser’s updated iOS 19 information than he was about the original leak.
Who’s right here? We probably won’t know for sure until WWDC 2025 in June, where Apple is likely to announce the new operating system. Given Gurman’s better track record though, we’re skeptical of this leak.
It’s worth noting, though, that Gurman himself has said to expect a redesign of some kind, so we’re likely to see big changes in iOS 19 – it just might not look like this.
You might also likeGoogle recently rolled out its AI-powered Scam Detection feature to Pixel phones, and now the feature is coming to the Pixel Watch, bringing alerts directly to your wrist in real-time.
From today, Pixel Watch 2 and 3 users will be able to get Scam Detection alerts directly on their wrist, meaning they don't have to take their phone out of their pocket while on a call in order to receive the alerts.
Scam Detection uses AI to detect conversation patterns commonly used by scammers as they happen. While it's not 100% accurate, and scammers often switch up their approach, if the AI picks up anything fishy, it'll alert you with a notification, sound, and vibration.
Previously, that would work on the Pixel Phone, and now it works on the Watch too. It means you can take calls from unknown numbers directly from your wrist with more confidence, and it is a brilliant extension of this very helpful feature.
Pixel Watch scam detectionThere are many ways to deal with scam calls, but Google's AI-powered solution is definitely one of the most novel solutions and much more effective than simply choosing to ignore calls or silencing calls from unknown numbers.
To get it to work on your wrist, you'll need either a Pixel Watch 2 or 3 connected to a Pixel 9 or later. The two devices will need to be paired via Bluetooth for the feature to work, and Scam Detection only works in the US for calls in English.
Scam Detection is turned on via your Pixel Phone's Settings under Scam Detection. Once turned on, you'll hear a beep at the start of the call and intermittently during calls so that you know it's working.
The latest Scam Detection addition is another reason the Pixel Watch 3 (and its predecessor) are some of the best Android smartwatches you can buy, especially when paired with a Google phone.
You may also likeAfter major slides in equity trading across the world, any slight uptick in stock prices will only repair part of the destruction of trillions of dollars in investor wealth over the past few days.
(Image credit: Lee Jin-man)
Microsoft pushes out its monthly round of updates later today (likely imminently), and the patch for Windows 11 version 24H2 is set to come with some important fixes.
As Windows Latest reports, the cumulative update for April delivers the resolution of an annoying File Explorer bug, and more besides.
As a quick reminder, File Explorer is the app in Windows that powers the very folders and files you work with on the desktop likely on a daily basis. The bug means that when users click the three-dot icon in the top menu bar (to access extra options), the flyout menu extends upwards rather than down.
What this means is that if the File Explorer window in question is near the top of the screen, the menu actually goes off the top of the desktop, so you can’t click on some of those extra options, as they’re not visible.
Windows Latest further outlines some other fixes Microsoft is providing with the April update, and that includes the cure for a problem where a Windows 11 24H2 device would wake from sleep and immediately crash with a Blue Screen of Death. (Perhaps soon to become a Black Screen of Death).
Another issue with coming out of sleep mode, where a 2-in-1 laptop would change its screen orientation to portrait mode randomly, has also been remedied – likely a driver-related issue with the orientation sensors.
(Image credit: Future) Analysis: Fixing the holesThese are some useful fixes, then, and Microsoft will possibly deliver more with the April update for Windows 11 24H2, too. We shall have to see the full patch notes when the update actually lands.
The File Explorer issue may not have been a huge problem, as it was easy enough to work around. By this, I mean if a File Explorer window had a menu flying off the top of the screen, you could simply drag that window down lower on the desktop to see the full contents of the three-dot menu.
Still, that’s clunky, and not something you should have to do at all. What’s odd is the rather baffling nature of this bug – how did this go wrong in the first place? – and the time Microsoft took to fix it. This gremlin has been present in Windows 11 since November 2024, in fact.
On top of that, Windows Latest notes that Microsoft is currently deploying bug fixes (or at least some of them, including this one) as a controlled rollout. In other words, not every Windows 11 user will get this to begin with, and you may have to wait. Officially, this cure became available with the preview update of this imminent patch – released late in March – and the bug fix was only provided to a limited number of folks with that rollout.
Hopefully, from today, every Windows 11 user will see this problem - and the other aforementioned bugbears - ironed out in swift fashion.
Speaking of ironing, there’s still work to be done smoothing out further wrinkles with Windows 11 24H2 – some of which have been very weird affairs indeed – but hopefully Microsoft will start to get fully on top of all the issues for the latest incarnation of its desktop OS as we come towards the middle of 2025.
You may also like...The CDC teams that supported local sexual assault prevention groups were 'wiped out' in RFK Jr.'s overhaul of the Department of Health and Human Services.
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Colleges are recognizing the importance of this growing pool of potential students.
Eighteen states count mail-in ballots that are received after Election Day, but a new order by President Trump challenges the practice.
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Lawyers say the government is trying to gain a legal advantage as it tries to expel noncitizens over their pro-Palestinian activism.
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The YouTube star PlaqueBoyMax built his following the usual way, livestreaming opinions on music and news. What's unusual is his latest move, which tests the modern meaning of the word "creator."
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