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Samsung has historically held Unpacked in various major cities around the world, starting with Las Vegas in 2010, but the company has yet to host the event in its home country's capital city. Now, the tech giant has announced that it's holding Unpacked in Seoul for the first time. It has no specific date yet, but it will take place in late July at COEX in Samseong-dong, Gangnam. Samsung says it will unveil its next-gen foldable devices at the event, which means we'll most likely be seeing the Galaxy Flip 5 and the Galaxy Fold 5. 

"This year, Seoul was selected because of its role in influencing global trends with its dynamic culture and innovation, while it also reflects Samsung’s strong confidence in the foldable category," the company wrote in its announcement. 

The Galaxy Flip 5 might have a larger external display, based on the latest rumors, as well as a new hinge design that makes the crease on its display less noticeable. It'll also reportedly be powered by a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip, just like the Galaxy S23. As for the Galaxy Fold 5, it's also rumored to have a new hinge design that gets rid of its predecessor's gap, ensures both sides lie flat on top of each other when folded and makes the display crease less visible. The device could be powered by a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, as well. 

We have less than a couple of months to find out if those rumors are true — we'll update you when Samsung announces a specific date for the event. 

We’ve survived day one of Apple’s WWDC 2023, and we’re ready to talk about the company’s new Vision Pro mixed reality headset. In this bonus episode, Cherlynn and Devindra dive into their thoughts on Apple’s spatial computing play, as well as Devindra’s 30-minute hands on session with the headset. It’s undoubtedly the best AR/VR experience we’ve seen yet, but there are still plenty of issues Apple needs to solve.

Listen below or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you've got suggestions or topics you'd like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcasts, the Morning After and Engadget News!

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Credits
Hosts: Cherlynn Low and Devindra Hardawar
Producer: Ben Ellman
Music: Dale North and Terrence O'Brien

Today, Apple updated its developer program to allow anyone access to the beta operating systems. Pointed out by user iSoftware Updates on Twitter and confirmed by Apple’s developer program comparison page, OS beta releases can be installed without needing to pay the annual $99 fee for the Apple Developer Program. This means that eager users will be able to install the various betas starting today, including iOS 17, for free versus having to wait until July for the public beta.

Earlier today, Apple "accidentally" released the iOS 17 beta to the public, allowing those who weren’t part of the developer program access. This may have been an intentional move by Apple to prepare for the bigger change, allowing anyone access to the beta program.

​​Earlier this year, Apple made a change to how it distributes betas to developers. Previously, developers had to download and install a configuration profile on a per-device basis. But the system now allows users to install betas by simply checking an option within the software update settings directly on their devices. Despite the change, Apple still required you to pay $99 per year in order to gain access to the developer betas. Now, users that don’t want to pay the fee won’t have to wait for the public beta, which was always available for free but typically is released later than developer betas. This year, Apple says the public betas should arrive in July.

We highly discourage running betas on your main devices as there can be bugs and issues, especially early on in the cycle. These betas are intended for developers, who typically have secondary devices to test their applications against the new software. Certain betas, such as watchOS 10, tvOS 17, HomePod 17, and AirPods betas prevent you from rolling back to public, stable software. For those platforms, as soon as you install the beta, you’ll be stuck on it until the next public release comes out, which is typically available later in the fall. Definitely install these betas at your own risk. But those who aren’t risk-averse can download these now.

Apple has reportedly bought AR startup Mira. The Los Angeles-based company makes the AR headsets for Super Nintendo World’s Mario Kart ride and has contracts with the US Air Force and Navy. You may also remember the Mira Prism, the company’s smartphone-based AR headset that Engadget tried in 2017. Of course, Apple finally revealed its long-rumored AR headset, the Vision Pro, at its WWDC 2023 keynote on Monday.

The Vergereports that the acquisition was verified through posts on the private Instagram account of Mira CEO Ben Taft and that Apple also confirmed it. It isn’t yet clear what Apple paid for the startup — or what its plans are with the company. (Talent and patents are logical candidates following the Vision Pro announcement.) The Verge also reports that Apple has brought at least 11 of Mira’s employees into the fold and that former design chief Jony Ive once advised the startup.

Mira

Mira’s Air Force contract reportedly involves supplying the company’s Prism Pro headset for pilots at Travis Air Force Base in Northern California, allowing them to display augmented equipment instructions. Meanwhile, the AR device built for Nintendo World portrays virtual characters and animations from the game to make the ride feel like you’re inside the classic racing title.

In his 2017 hands-on with the Mira Prism, Engadget’s Devindra Hardawar found the phone-based device to be surprisingly immersive for its price (relative to that era). “Even though I only had a few minutes with the Prism, I was impressed with what I saw,” he said. “I’m used to trying on headsets that are too expensive for most people to buy, so it was a bit of a shock that it worked at all.” Fast-forwarding to this week, Hardawar describes the Apple Vision Pro as “the best mixed reality (VR/AR) experience I’ve had yet, delivering an unparalleled sense of immersion” while holding out reservations. “And yet, it’s still just a VR headset, with many of the issues endemic to the entire category.”

We're seeing artificial intelligence chatbots pop up all overthe place, and you may very well have access to one in Instagram in the near future. Reverse engineer Alessandro Paluzzi claims the platform has an AI agent in the pipeline. According to screenshots he shared (as spotted by ZDNet), the chatbot will be able to answer questions and give advice. You may have as many as 30 personalities to choose from too.

The chatbot could give those who find it difficult to write messages some help. It also seems you'll be able to bring the chatbot into a conversation you're having with someone by @-mentioning it.

It's too early to say exactly when or even if Instagram will roll out this feature, but there's no smoke without fire. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in February that the company had a team working on "AI personas" for Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp. Paluzzi has a good track record, too. He spotted evidence of a paid verification system in Instagram only a couple of weeks before Meta announced it.

1Password’s previously announced passkey feature is rolling out to users starting today. Passkey is the proposed solution to end passwords for good that’s finally starting to gain some momentum. The technology uses your device’s biometric sensors – whether that’s fingerprint or facial recognition – to authenticate you. It’s not too dissimilar to using biometrics to unlock your phone.

Announced via a press release, 1Password says that starting today, you’ll be able to add passkey logins via the password manager. For example, when you create a passkey for your Google account, 1Password will detect that and add it to your 1Password account. Then, when you need to log in to your Google account next, 1Password will automatically log you in. So, as long as your fingers aren’t wet or your face isn’t obscured, you won’t need a password. 

The company says that support will start with beta extensions for Safari on macOS, as well as Chrome, Firefox, Edge and Brave on macOS, Windows and Linux. You'll also be able to view, edit, move, share and delete passkeys on 1Password for Mac, iOS, Windows, Android and Linux. 

With the wide adoption of biometrics on phones, tablets, and laptops, this seems like a logical next step. If you were using a password manager like 1Password, you were likely already using biometrics to autofill logins on websites and apps. It sounds like passkeys will remove the step of having to autofill a username and a password, in addition to having to press the login button entirely.

Because 1Password is platform agnostic, it will work for those who regularly switch operating systems or entire ecosystems. Unlike Apple or Google’s current implementations, 1Password works and syncs across ecosystems. And just like any other item in 1Password, you’ll be able to share your passkeys with friends and family, and even set time limits on how long they’ll have access.

Until now, you've had to buy a Seagate card if you wanted to augment the fast internal storage of your Xbox Series X or S. Now, however, you have a slightly more affordable option. Western Digital has released a WD Black C50 expansion card line that starts at $80 for a 500GB model. That's $10 less than the recently price-cut Seagate equivalent, and easier to justify if you only need room for a few extra games. A 1TB card sells for the same $150 as its comparably-sized rival.

You'll need one of these proprietary add-ons if you want to add space for ready-to-play Xbox Series X/S games, which require solid-state drive cards that are as quick as the SSD built into the console. Conventional external USB drives can only be used to archive games or play Xbox One titles. That's fine if you only have a handful of active games at a time, but you'll want an Xbox-native card if you want access to many titles at short notice.

These cards are still costlier than the NVMe SSDs you can buy for a PlayStation 5. However, the price gap is now small enough that the storage format probably won't affect your choice of system. It's only an issue if you want 2TB of additional capacity. Western Digital doesn't offer a 2TB C50 card, and Seagate's $280 Xbox option is decidedly more expensive than PS5 options like Sabrent's $160 NVMe drive.

The Chinese startup Greater Bay Technology claims its latest EV battery can charge at normal speeds even in cold temperatures. Huang Xiangdong, co-founder and chairman, says the company’s new Phoenix cell uses superconducting materials and thermal management to heat from -4F to 77F in only five minutes, allowing the battery to charge “within six minutes in all weather conditions,” according toBloomberg. “The Phoenix battery not only addresses the long charging time for EVs, but other pain points,” Huang said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a hot day or a cold day, the Phoenix battery’s range won’t be affected.”

A loss of charging efficiency in cold weather has been a persistent obstacle in the EV battery space. Other automakers, including Polestar and GM, have tackled the problem by adding heat pumps — and German company ZF even prototyped a heated seat belt (or “heat belt”) to reduce the energy used for cabin heating.

The new Phoenix cell allegedly has a range of 1,000 km (621 miles). The company expects to launch the battery to the public next year in electric vehicles from Aion, China’s third most popular EV brand. (Aion falls under the umbrella of the state-owned Guangzhou Automobile Corporation, which Greater Bay Technology is incubated within.) In addition, Greater Bay Technology is reportedly “in talks with other carmakers to use the cell.” Summarizing Huang’s long-term vision, he said, “Once EVs can be driven and maintained like gasoline cars, then there’s a greater chance for mass adoption.”

Greater Bay Technology is a two-year-old startup valued at over $1 billion. Its first-generation battery is an extreme fast-charging cell currently equipped in Aion’s V Plus electric SUV.

Ubisoft is bringing its guitar-learning app to mobile devices this week. Rocksmith+ will be available on iOS and Android on June 9th, nine months after the service landed on PC. The company previously said the mobile app would arrive last fall. Meanwhile, there's still no word on when the Xbox and PlayStation versions will be available.

Rocksmith+ is designed to help folks learn how to play the electric, acoustic or bass guitar. Features include note detection, real-time feedback and practice tools. There are now more than 6,000 songs in the library, with more being added each month.

You'll need a subscription to use Rocksmith+. It costs $15 for one month, $40 for three months and $100 for a year. There is a seven-day trial available, but you'll need to sign up for the annual plan and swiftly cancel if you don't want to keep using the app after the first week.

Ubisoft also offers a free guitar tuning app on iOS and Android. You can connect your instrument directly or use your mobile device's microphone to make sure you're in tune. The app has more than 30 presets, so it can help you try a variety of non-standard tunings.

Acura is preparing to launch its first fully electric vehicle, the 2024 ZDX, and just announced integration with a full suite of Google products, including Android Auto. These features will be available on all ZDK trims and bring apps like Google Assistant and Google Maps to the vehicle, offering a “personalized and more streamlined” experience.

Google Assistant lets you issue voice commands while keeping your eyes on the road to initiate phone calls, text friends, set reminders, change the cabinet temperature and more. Of course, this is fully integrated with Android Auto, so use Assistant to play favorite media tracks, skip to the next track, rewind a podcast and download a wide range of third-party apps.

Acura

While Google Assistant isn’t a vast departure from any other iteration, this version of Google Maps boasts some features just for EV drivers. It offers optimized route planning with an emphasis on finding EV charging stations and an estimation of the charging time required to reach any destination. It even preconditions the battery when preparing to enter a DC fast charging station.

There’s a large center touchscreen that acts as a primary dashboard for navigation, media selection and the like. The touchscreen integrates with both Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, with regular “fast and secure” Over the Air (OTA) software updates to enhance various functionalities.

This move comes as auto giant GM begins phasing out Android Auto and Apple CarPlay in its vehicles to make room for the more robust Android Automotive software platform. The Acura ZDX and ZDX Type S EVs will be available early next year, with all sales taking place online and not at brick-and-mortar dealerships.