It wouldn't be February without a peek at Google's next mobile OS. Sure enough, the company has released the first Android 14 developer preview (DP1) to help app creators target the new platform. This time around, the initial priorities are accessibility, battery life and security. You can scale fonts to a much larger size (200 percent versus the earlier 130 percent), and smarter scaling makes text more readable. It's easier to set preferred languages for apps, and developers can be more accommodating to people who speak gendered languages like French.

Android 14 DP1 also includes some under-the-hood improvements that can make the most of your battery and screen. There are tighter controls on alarms, foreground tasks and internal broadcasts, all of which can reduce power consumption. It should also be easier to build apps for foldable phones and tablets, so you may see software that makes better use of your hardware's visual real estate.

And yes, Android 14 can block users from sideloading very old apps. Google will require that apps target at least Android 6.0 (Marshmallow), as some malware is written for older versions to avoid a permissions system introduced in 2015. This won't prevent you from running apps that are already installed when you upgrade the OS, and you can use command line instructions to force installations. However, you may have to look for alternatives if there's an ancient app you'd hate to give up.

This first preview is available through the desktop Android emulator as well as the Pixel 4a, Pixel 5 and newer Google phones. The first Android 14 beta should arrive in April, and Google expects "platform stability" (read: release candidates) in June. As always, the developer previews don't represent the sum total of what the new platform will bring. We'd expect Google to reveal more conspicuous changes at its I/O conference in the spring.

Are you considering the OnePlus 11, but want something to sweeten the deal? You're getting what you wish for. Amazon is offering a free $100 gift card if you pre-order the phone in any color or configuration by February 12th. That could be helpful for buying the Buds Pro 2 ($180), a case or other accessories you may need.

The OnePlus 11 is, in some ways, a return to form for the brand. For just under $700, you're getting a fast, long-lasting phone with a vivid display and speedy 100W charging. The cameras are improved over its predecessor, too. Combine this with four years of major OS updates and you're getting a phone that can easily compete against some more expensive phones.

You're still getting what you pay for. While the OnePlus 11 is faster than the Pixel 7, its cameras aren't on par. There's no wireless charging, and you can't get more than 256GB of storage. If you mainly care about performance and battery life, though, OnePlus' device is difficult to beat at this price point — particularly if you aren't keen on importing phones like the Xiaomi 13 Pro.

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Bing may be back. Microsoft announced yesterday it’s partnering with OpenAI to enhance Bing with its AI technology. However, Microsoft also had a surprise up its sleeve: The next release of Bing will tap into a new next-generation language model the company claims is "much more powerful" than ChatGPT and designed specifically to excel at search.

During its event, Yusuf Mehdi, the company's consumer chief marketing officer, demoed the new Bing, asking it to compare the most influential Mexican artists and their best-known paintings. Bing displayed its response in a new side panel with annotations and weblinks. Later, Mehdi asked the search engine to compare three pet vacuums while listing the pros and cons of each model.

With the chat feature, you can ask Bing to create a five-day travel itinerary for you, including links to accommodation, flights and things to do. The new Bing is already available to preview. You can visit Bing.com – which I haven’t done since 2009 – to try a few sample queries and sign up for the waitlist for when it launches in earnest.

– Mat Smith

The Morning After isn’t just a newsletter – it’s also a daily podcast. Get our daily audio briefings, Monday through Friday, by subscribing right here.

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The Nintendo Switch has now outsold the PS4

It’s the third best-selling console ever.

The Switch just leaped over both the Game Boy and PlayStation 4 to become the third bestselling console of all time. The console had sold 122.55 million units by the end of 2022, Nintendo announced in its earnings report, so it’s now only behind the DS and PlayStation 2 in lifetime sales. Nintendo said last year the transition to its next console was "a major focus." It could start becoming a more urgent one soon.

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Microsoft's new Bing and Edge hands-on

It's like ChatGPT built right into your browser.

Through a partnership with ChatGPT -maker OpenAI, Microsoft is adding more advanced AI conversation models to power updates to both Bing and its Edge web browser. The company's keynote happened at a breakneck pace, but fortunately, Engadget’s Cherlynn Low got to test things out right after.

With the new Edge, a button on the top right gives you access to the new Bing's chat feature in your browser. But it goes beyond just answering your questions without having to leave the pages you're browsing. Edge can help make sense of the sites you're looking at and make research or multitasking much easier. You can use a new Compose function to create posts, emails and, apparently, even essays, and while the results are pretty similar to ChatGPT’s, they could be incredibly convenient.

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OnePlus 11 review

A back-to-basics flagship phone.

Engadget

The OnePlus 11 has everything we loved about OnePlus in the past: a powerful processor, a vivid screen and the return to a competitive price tag. The headline feature remains the fast-charging technology, cranked up to 100 watts. The cameras are improved, if not quite among the best smartphone shooters. But at this price ($699), it’s difficult to complain.

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Google will blur explicit images in search by default

It's one of several upcoming features the company announced on Safer Internet Day.

Yesterday was Safer Internet Day, and Google says it's working to blur explicit images in search results for all users as the default setting, even if they don't have SafeSearch switched on. SafeSearch filtering is already the default for signed-in users under 18. It’ll encompass nudity as well as violent content.

Elsewhere, Google is adding another layer of protection to the built-in password manager on Chrome and Android. The company says if you have a supported computer, you’ll have the option to require biometric authentication before filling a saved password into a form. The same feature will also let you "securely reveal, copy or edit passwords" you’ve saved in the password manager without having to punch in your main password first.

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Samsung's latest 77-inch S95 QD-OLED TV generated some buzz at CES this year thanks to brightness levels up to 2,000 nits, 144Hz refresh rates and more. Now, the company has revealed that you'll pay to get those premium features: $4,500 for the 77-inch model, with shipping set to start in the US on February 15th. 

As mentioned, Samsung's 2023 QD-OLED TV lineup will supposedly hit up to 2,000 nits of peak brightness, a bit more than LG's latest OLED models and approaching Mini-LED TVs. That's thanks to a new QD-OLED Panel from Samsung Display, which uses a new "HyperEfficient EL" OLED material and Samsung's IntelliSense AI. The TVs will also be more energy efficient and offer more accurate colors, according to Samsung Display. 

The 144Hz refresh rate will make it great for gaming, as it already offers the lowest input lag you can get on any TV or monitor at just 0.1 milliseconds. As HDTVTest's Vincent Teoh pointed out, the 77-inch S95C will come with an external connect box, which allowed Samsung to make the panel extremely thin and reduce bezel sizes down to the bare minimum. However, as with all other Samsung TVs, it doesn't support Dolby Vision, using Samsung's HDR 10+ instead. 

The price is a bit more than LG's comparable 77-inch G2 model from last year, priced at $4,200. If you order before February 20th, though, Samsung will throw in free installation worth around $200. The company has yet to reveal pricing across the rest of its lineup, but last year's 55- and 65-inch models cost $2,200 and $3,000, respectively.

Canon is adding a new, more affordable entry point into its RF mirrorless camera ecosystem. Alongside the full-frame EOS R8, the company unveiled today the EOS R50, an APS-C RF mount camera that will start at $680 when it goes on sale later this year. Canon didn’t send over a full spec sheet, but judging from the information the company did share, the R50 could quickly become a go-to for many beginners.

The camera features a 24.2-megapixel sensor capable of capturing uncropped 4K video footage at up to 30 frames per second. The R50 can also shoot 1080p video at up to 60 frames per second and S&Q-style slo-mo footage at up to 120 frames per second. What’s more, Canon claims the camera can capture a full hour of continuous footage. Despite its modest price, the R50 also includes the company's excellent Dual Pixel autofocus technology, with built-in subject detection for people, animals and vehicles. Best of all, the tech is available for both stills and video.

Canon

You don't get any log modes, but it does have HDR PQ which also gives you 10-bit video — not bad for a budget camera. Other video features include a microHDMI port for external video, both microphone and headphone ports, and UVC compatibility for direct webcam streaming. 

Burst shooting speeds are great at this price as well: 12 fps in electronic first-curtain shutter mode (there's no full mechanical shutter) and 15 fps in electronic shutter mode, both with servo AF. It'll only capture 13 C-RAW+JPEG files in a burst though, likely due to the slow UHS-I SD card support. There's no in-body stabilization (IS) at that price, but it can use the IS built into lenses or digital stabilization (with a crop) for vlogging. It also has an OLED viewfinder, which many cameras in this price range don't, though resolution is fairly low at 2.36 million dots. 

Canon

At the same time, Canon is expanding its RF lens lineup to add new crop sensor glass. The RF-S55-210mm is a compact telephoto lens with a full-frame equivalent field of view between 88mm and 336mm. It features a variable f/5 to f/7.1 aperture, four-and-a-half stops of built-in optical stabilization and close-focusing capabilities. The RF-S55-210mm IS STM isn’t the fastest option in Canon’s RF lens stable, but it does add some much-needed choice on the APS-C side of things.

At $680 for body-only, the R50 slots under the EOS R10, which was previously Canon’s most affordable RF mirrorless camera. Effectively, the R50 is a more capable version of the EOS M50 Mark II that’s less than $100 more expensive and doesn’t limit you to Canon’s dead-end EF-M mount system. It’s also competitive against Sony’s ZV-E10 and Nikon’s Z30, which cost about the same but don’t offer an electronic viewfinder. The EOS R50 will arrive later this year. In addition to selling the body on its own, Canon will bundle the camera as part of a Content Creator Kit that will ship with a microphone, 18-45mm kit lens and grip for $800.

Canon has put Sony and its other rivals on blast with the launch of the $1,500 24-megapixel EOS R8, its cheapest full-frame camera yet. Released alongside the $680 R50 APS-C model, it's targeted to photographers and video creators on a budget. However, it's got some impressive features like uncropped, oversampled 4K video up 60 fps, shooting speeds up to 40 fps and Canon's excellent Dual Pixel autofocus. 

On the photography front, the R8 can shoot at up to 6 fps with the first-curtain electronic shutter (like the R50, there's no fully mechanical shutter) or a whopping 40 fps with the electronic shutter. That sounds great, but rolling shutter may be an issue in electronic mode for fast moving subjects. It can capture up to a very respectable 100 C-RAW + JPEG files at a time to the single UHS-II card slot. The autofocus systems looks strong, using Canon's Dual Pixel AF along with AI subject detection for people, animals and vehicles. 

Canon

For video, you can capture 4K video up to 60 fps with 6K oversampling, or Full HD at up to 180 fps — quite impressive considering the price. Editing-friendly ALL-I capture is supported up to 4K 30p with a 470Mbps data rate. It supports up to two hours of continuous recording with no 30-minute limit, though 4K 60p and 180 fps Full HD shooting times are thermally limited to around 30 minutes. You can shoot 10-bit HDR PQ or Canon Log-3 video, so this would be the perfect budget vlogging camera if not for the overheating situation. It also has focus breathing compensation (for select lenses).

The main thing missing compared to the $2,500 EOS R6 II is 5-axis in-body stabilization. However, it does have optical stabilization with supported lenses and Canon's Movie Digital IS, which works in concert with lens stabilization. 

Canon

Other features include a micro-HDMI port that supports up to 4K 60p, mic and headphone ports, an LP-E17 battery (no CIPA battery life provided yet) and USB webcam support. The 3-inch, 1.62 million dot display flips out for vloggers, but the OLED electronic viewfinder is a low-end unit with 2.36-million dots of resolution.

Despite the low price, there are no red flags I can see on the R8 (pending a full review, of course). At a full $1,000 below the R6 II, it looks like a great camera particularly for vloggers and content creators. Canon also introduced a budget full-frame kit lens, the RF24-50mm f/4.5-6.3 IS STM, selling by itself for $300. The EOS R8 goes on sale in the spring of 2023 for $1,500, or $1,700 with the aforementioned lens. 

The age of generative AI is upon us, and this week alone Google and Microsoft made major announcements around their respective products for the masses. While Google unveiled an "experimental conversational AI service" called Bard yesterday, Microsoft had a fuller slate of news to share at its event in Redmond, WA today. Through a partnership with ChatGPT maker OpenAI, Microsoft is adding more advanced AI conversation models to power updates to Bing and Edge. 

The company's keynote today happened at breakneck pace, with demos whizzing by so quickly there was barely enough time to make sense of the updates. Thankfully, I was able to briefly check out a full demo here with Dena Saunders from Bing Engineering. It was nice to see everything at a more comprehensible pace, but it was unfortunately restricted to a set of scripted examples. I'll be getting access to the preview through my own whitelisted accounts in a bit so I will be updating this post with my personal impressions, but for now, I can break down at least what the updates look like on a demo computer.

In general, there are four new areas of change coming to Bing (and we'll get to Edge later): Search, Answers, Chat and Create. The first update is the new search box. Instead of your typical long, one-line bar, there is now a box more similar to those on Twitter or Facebook that prompts you to ask Bing anything. The character limit is now 1,000. The idea is to make the process of looking for answers something more conversational — similar to Google's approach for years now. 

When you submit your query, results are now displayed a bit differently. On the left is a column with your typical "answers" just like how you see it on Bing now. On the right, however, is a box that explains how the system found those answers. I initially thought this was similar to what Google does in its "About this search" panels, but I was wrong. This box is a home for the AI and fills up with text that appears in real time, complete with animation and a "Stop responding" button in case you don't have the patience to see the AI's explanation. 

The third and fourth parts are the more interesting updates. Chat, for example, is a new way you can get solutions to the problems you're looking to solve. You can access the Chat page from the Bing results page by tapping the Chat button above the answers or by scrolling up (swiping down on touchscreens). 

This story is developing, please refresh for updates.

Microsoft's oft-forgotten search engine is about to get a new lease on life. As expected, the tech giant announced on Tuesday that it is partnering with OpenAI to enhance Bing with the company's AI technology. However, Microsoft also had a surprise up its sleeve: the next release of Bing will feature a new next-generation large language model the company claims is "much more powerful" than ChatGPT and designed specifically to excel at search. The new Bing offers a chat function and an expanded search bar that allows you to input up to a thousand characters. 

Underpinning the search engine is a new proprietary technology Microsoft is calling the Prometheus Model. Among the benefits of Prometheus are more relevant search results, according to the company. Microsoft claims the model will also make using Bing safer and allow the company to update search results more quickly.    

Developing...

You didn't have to wait too long to get Razer's largest Blade systems to date. The company has revealed that the new Blade 16 and Blade 18 gaming laptops will be available tomorrow, February 8th. The 16- and 18-inch systems respectively start at $2,700 and $2,900, although the configurations launching this week are strictly high-end models with RTX 4080 or 4090 graphics — you'll have to spend at least $3,600 ($3,800 for the 18-inch model) to get something quickly. The 'entry' variants with RTX 4060 or 4070 GPUs will be available February 22nd.

Each portable has its own set of tricks. The new Blade 16 has a unique dual-mode mini-LED display that can switch between a media-friendly 4K 120Hz picture and a gaming-oriented FHD+ (1,920 x 1,200) 240Hz image. The Blade 18, meanwhile, is a giant desktop replacement with a six-speaker spatial audio setup. Both use 13th-gen Intel Core i9 HX processors, and their RTX 40 series mobile graphics run at full power — a peak 175W for the RTX 4080 and 4090. You won't do much gaming on battery, then, but this could save you from buying a tower PC for demanding games.

Accordingly, Razer is updating its Synapse software to enable CPU overclocking on the Blade 16 and Blade 18. You can modify the core voltage, the maximum wattage for boost power and even the time that boost is allowed to run. Don't expect the results you'd get from overclocking a desktop (you're working within the limits of a laptop chassis), but this may help you squeeze some extra frames per second out of your machine.

Today is Safer Internet Day and Google is marking the occasion by revealing features designed to, well, make it safer to do things on the internet. The company says that, in the coming months, it will blur explicit images in search results for all users as a default setting, even if they don't have SafeSearch switched on. SafeSearch filtering is already the default for signed-in users under the age of 18.

However, you'll be able to adjust the settings if you're signed in, aged 18 or over and you'd prefer to see butts and stuff in search results (the filter is designed to blur violent images as well). According to screenshots that Google shared, the blur setting will mask explicit images, but not text or links. The filter setting covers up all three.

Google

Meanwhile, Google is adding another layer of protection to the built-in password manager on Chrome and Android. The company says that if a user has a supported computer, they'll have the option to require biometric authentication before filling a saved password into a form. Google noted that folks can also use the feature to "securely reveal, copy or edit passwords" they have saved in the password manager without having to punch in their main password first.

The company says it's bolstering privacy protections in the Google app for iOS too. Soon, you'll be able to secure the app using Face ID to keep prying eyes away from your data.