The Apple vs Samsung legal patent war, so far won by Apple, at least according to the favorable pre-trial verdicts the company got, already has an unwanted effect on the overall Galaxy S3 user experience. Samsung is rolling out a firmware update that dumbs down the search app of the phone – instead of getting local and web results when performing a search you’ll only get web results after the update is applied.

Update 2 – March 26, 2020 6:00 p.m. Eastern time – A Google spokesperson has now issued an official update on what happened with its online services today: “Some of our users experienced a service disruption today, as a result of a significant router failure in one of our data centers in the South Eastern US, causing network congestion. As a result, Google services running in that data center were directly impacted and were unavailable until our engineers rerouted the traffic and moved those services to alternate facilities.

Google announced today the launch of Newsstand, a news and magazine reading app that combines the functionality of Currents and Play Magazines, and will eventually replace them both. The app, which is pretty similar to Currents, is now available in the Play Store. For users in the countries where Play Magazines is available (U.S., Canada, U.K. and Australia), Play Magazines will update and change its name to Newsstand, while in the rest of the world, the app will coexist (at least for now) with Currents.

TL;DR Google will better enforce rules requiring that apps and games on the Play Store use its in-app purchase system. Android 12 will make it easier to use third-party app stores, however. This comes just as Apple and Google are taking heat for removing Fortnite over in-app rules. Google has a reputation for looser app policies than Apple, but that might change to some degree with an impending crackdown.

If you’ve ever been on a long road trip with multiple people, you’d know that keeping your mobile devices charged up can be a hassle. For those situations, we’d recommend trying out the Mpow Intelligent Car Charger. Packed with 6.6 amps of power and three separate USB ports, this sleek car charger will have no problem charging up to three of your USB devices at the same time. It supports both 12V &18V input for optimized charging, no matter what device is plugged in.

Android O is hot off the production line, and app developers are scrabbling to learn the powerful new capabilities. Even if you’re not a developer yet, you can get straight to the front line of app building through The Android O & Java Developer Mastery Course. The latest operating system for Android was only fully released in the last month or two, so it’s a great time to get on the app gravy-train.

TL;DR Realme will reveal the Realme 3 in Q1 2019, a company executive reportedly said. The executive added that they didn’t see any value in punch-hole cameras and triple cameras. The company is also apparently working on a 48MP smartphone. Realme had an impressive debut year, delivering some capable phones at affordable price-points. And it looks like the company could be in for a great second year on the market.

Owners of Sony Xperia Z3 and Xperia Z3 Compact Android handsets that have a locked bootloader, it is your lucky day. At least, it is if you’ve been hoping to root your device. A clever dev over at the XDA-Forums has scored himself a touch of bounty for working out the xploit. Sorry… exploit. The method is not intended for the international Xperia Z3 and Z3 Compact devices, which come with unlockable bootloaders, and are rather easily tinkered with by the AOSP and ROM enthusiasts.

The first half of next year should get very interesting  for mobile devices. We’re expecting the Qualcomm S4, NVIDIA Kal-El, Texas Instruments OMAP 4470, and Samsung’s new Exynos 4212 chips to arrive then. But, even if these devices will all arrive in the first half of 2012, we don’t know the exact dates–and that might make a difference. For example, if one of them is 30% better than the other, but arrives in June, while the other arrives in January, then it might not mean much, because the January chip will probably have an upgraded version by June, too, and might equal or even surpass the original “better” chip.

LetsGoDigital We’ve seen numerous slider phones in the last 18 months, with devices from Xiaomi and Huawei ruling the roost. These phones mostly feature the same slider design that’s been a fixture since the feature-phone days. But a new Samsung patent filed at the World Intellectual Property Office and spotted by Let’s Go Digital suggests a rather different take on the sliding design. The patent shows a bendable screen that actually slides into place.