Android developers who distribute apps on the Google Play store can now use third-party payment systems in many European countries. The measure applies to the European Economic Area (EEA), which comprises European Union states as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. However, the policy will not apply to gaming apps, which still need to use Google Play's own billing system for the time being.

Google is making the move after the EU's legislative arm, the European Commission, passed the Digital Markets Act (DMA) this month. Along with the Digital Services Act, the law is designed to rein in the power of big tech by, for instance, prohibiting major platform holders from giving their own systems preferable treatment.

The DMA isn't expected to come into effect until sometime in 2024. However, Google's director of EU government affairs and public policy, Estelle Werth, wrote in a blog post that the company is "launching this program now to allow us to work closely with our developer partners and ensure our compliance plans serve the needs of our shared users and the broader ecosystem."

The move partially reverses a policy that required all in-app payments to be processed through the Play Store's billing system. Developers who opt for a different billing system won't be able to avoid Google's fees entirely. However, Google will lower the service fees it charges them by three percent.

Google says that 99 percent of developers qualify for a fee of 15 percent or less. The others typically pay 30 percent. The fees Google charges would drop to 12 percent (or lower) or 27 percent, respectively, if they select a third-party billing system. Developers may end up paying around the same amount in fees anyway, depending on what the alternative payment provider charges.

Developers will also "need to meet appropriate user protection requirements," Google says. The company plans to allow gaming apps to use alternative payment systems in the EEA sometime before the DMA comes into effect.

Google has long resisted the idea of opening up the Play store to alternative payment providers in the face of pressure from multiple sides, but the EU forced its hand in this case. The company adopted a similar measure in South Korea last year after the country passed a law requiring Google and Apple to offer third-party payments.

Snapdragon-based Wear OS smartwatches haven't typically kept pace with rivals from Apple and Samsung. The Wear 4100+ was built using relatively old manufacturing processes, and the performance was rarely noteworthy. Qualcomm appears to have taken some of those criticisms to heart, though, as it's introducing Snapdragon W5 Gen 1 and W5+ Gen 1 chips (so long, Wear branding) that not only promise much-needed speed and battery life improvements, but might expand the range of wearables that use the company's technology.

The star of the show, the Snapdragon W5+ Gen 1, makes the leap from a 12-nanometer system-on-chip in the 4100+ (already somewhat outdated by 2020) to a cutting-edge 4nm design with much newer Adreno 702 graphics and support for 2,133MHz memory, albeit with the familiar quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 architecture. The new W1 AON co-processor, meanwhile, has moved from 28nm to 22nm, uses the newer Cortex-M55 architecture and includes the Bluetooth functionality previously reserved for the more demanding main SoC. There are also low-power "islands" in the main chip that let audio, navigation and WiFi run without waking other components, while new Deep Sleep and Hibernate states lean almost exclusively on the co-processor when tasks only require the bare minimum of computing power.

Qualcomm

The result, according to Qualcomm, is twice the performance with 50 percent greater battery life in typical use. You can expect more uses of 3D on your watch (such as maps and Memoji-style watch faces), and you might not have to worry about your wristwear dying before the day is over. AI-based tasks like real-time image recognition and voice assistants should get a boost, too. And when the W5 line has up to a 35 percent smaller footprint, it should allow for slimmer, smaller watches.

The regular Snapdragon W5 Gen 1 is basically a W5+ without the co-processor — it's up to third-party chips to fill in the gaps. While the W5+ is aimed mainly at Wear OS smartwatches, the W5 is geared more toward kids' watches, medical devices and other worn devices that might not be as demanding. In a chat with Engadget, Qualcomm's Smart Wearables head Pankaj Kedia said he saw the W5 line opening a "series of new opportunities" to reach brands and device categories that were previously off-limits.

You won't have to wait long for the first products based on the platform. Oppo will release a Snapdragon W5 Gen 1 watch within the next 30 days, while Mobvoi is preparing a W5+ Gen 1 smartwatch for the fall. There are 25 more designs already on the way, Qualcomm said. While the company didn't name any of these other customers, it won't be surprising if some of the better-known Wear OS watchmakers adopt the technology in the months ahead.

Apple could soon compensate MacBook owners for their troubles with faulty "butterfly" keyboards. Reutersreports Apple has agreed to pay $50 million to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging that it knew about and concealed the unreliable designs of keyboards on MacBook, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models released between 2015 and 2019. If a judge approves the preliminary deal, Apple would pay customers who needed repairs in California, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, New York and Washington.

The company won't have to admit wrongdoing as part of the settlement. It will have to continue offering free keyboard repairs for four years after purchase.

Apple introduced the butterfly keyboard in 2015 with the 12-inch MacBook. It was meant to enable ever-slimmer laptops without compromising stability, but the design quickly developed a reputation for extreme sensitivity to debris. Keys would get stuck or lose responsiveness if even tiny dust motes or crumbs slipped underneath. The company took steps to mitigate the problem (such as membranes) and eventually began reverting to more conventional keyboards starting with the 16-inch MacBook Pro from late 2019. Apple acknowledged that some were having problems and launched repair programs, but maintained that the majority of customers had no issues.

As with many class-actions, you shouldn't expect a windfall if you're affected. Attorneys said they expected a $395 payout if you've had to replace multiple keyboards, $125 for one full replacement and $50 if you only replaced key caps. The lawyers may also claim up to $15 million of the $50 million settlement in legal fees, which could limit the money available for MacBook owners. While the payouts aren't absolutely necessary when Apple has previously offered refunds for repairs, they're more likely to be symbolic than practical.

Transit app Moovit is aiming to be more helpful when it comes to helping users get to their destination. Starting today, the app is rolling out more personalized trip-planning features in 3,500 cities across 112 countries to build on its existing route suggestions.

One of new functions is called Smart Cards. Intel-owned Moovit will populate travel suggestions on the home screen based on factors such as your location, the time of day and week, your previous activity and items you mark as favorites. For instance, if you're out and about and you have your home set as a favorite destination, Moovit will automatically suggest the best transit options to get back there. On the flip side, if you have your work address saved, the app will offer transit suggestions for traveling there during weekday morning commute hours.

A "recent trips" card will display transit options for destinations you've searched within the last 30 days on the same day of the week and at around the same time. You'll also get transit suggestions for a nearby stop that you've marked as a favorite and departure details for nearby stations. In addition, you'll have the option to return to your last trip itinerary. You can swipe between all these cards, which will appear just below the search bar.

Moovit

Another of the three new features is called Smart Trips. You'll be able to set your preferred transit options when you set up the app or through the preferences menu on the Suggested Routes screen. That should be useful for those who, for instance, prefer not to take the subway. While you can select transit options in Google Maps, it's on a trip-by-trip basis. Being able to save preferred modes of transport should save Moovit users some time.

The last of the new features is Smart Returns. You can quickly select a trip back to the last location you departed from. You'll be able to set a departure time for the return journey on the Itinerary screen and receive a notification with suggested routes when it's time for you to get going.

The Atari brand recently turned 50 and the latest way that its current owner, Atari Interactive, is marking the occasion is with a Lego kit for its most popular console. The Atari 2600 set will be available on August 1st and it costs $240/€240.

The Atari 2600 debuted in 1977 as the Atari Video Computer System (the name was changed in 1982). The Lego kit is based on a four-switch version that arrived in 1980. The set has 2,532 pieces. It includes a moveable joystick that Lego says feels like the original. 

Lego

There are cartridges for Asteroids, Adventure and Centipede that you can slot into the main body. There's a matching buildable mini model for each game and the cartridges can be stored in a holder. Sliding open the front panel reveals a pop-up scene of an '80s gaming room, which is a fun detail.

Atari is celebrating its milestone in other ways. For one thing, it teamed up with Cariuma for a sneaker collection. This fall, it will release a collection of 90 games from the Atari 2600, 5200, 7800, ST, Jaguar and Lynx on the Atari VCS mini PC, modern consoles, Steam and the Epic Games Store.

Amazon's long-running campaign against fake reviews just enjoyed some success. TechCrunchreports that Amazon has sued the administrators of more than 10,000 Facebook groups for attempting to coordinate fake reviews in exchange for free products or money. The group operators tried to recruit people in the US, UK, four European countries and Japan. One of the larger examples, Amazon Product Review, tried to avoid detection by "obfuscating" letters in phrases used to detect activity like this. Meta pulled the 43,000-member earlier this year.

The legal action comes after roughly two years of pinpointing rogue Facebook groups. Amazon said it would use info obtained during the discovery process to identify the perpetrators and pull fake reviews stemming from these communities.

Amazon has been suing fake review peddlers since 2015, and ramped up its efforts in recent years. The online shopping giant reported over 1,000 paid review groups to social networks in the first quarter of 2021, or three times the volume it reported a year earlier. The company argued that reports and lawsuits weren't enough to stop fake reviews, however. It believed that a more permanent solution would involve a stronger "public-private partnership" between online shops, social networks and law enforcement.

Whether or not Amazon can meaningfully deter fake reviews is another matter. This latest bust underscores the scope of the problem — it's easy to create a social media group that goes undetected for long enough to do significant damage. UK regulators certainly aren't convinced Amazon is doing enough, and have opened an investigation into the firm's approach to bogus review content. Amazon is fighting a battle that might be difficult to win under ideal circumstances, and it's not clear if the company's existing strategy is effective.

The biggest news in the camera industry this month is that Nikon is reportedly halting development of new SLR cameras, marking the end of a 63-year run. From now on, it will focus exclusively on mirrorless Z mount models like the Z6, Z50 and recently-launched Z9 flagship.

This is a seismic industry change, as Nikon has a storied history with SLRs going back to the iconic Nikon F launched in 1959. But it’s not the only company going in this direction: Canon already confirmed that the EOS-1DX Mark III will be its final flagship DSLR, and Sony moved to selling only mirrorless cameras last year.

Until recently, reflex cameras were regarded as a better option than mirrorless for action photography, so what happened? Simply put, mirrorless models improved so dramatically over the past couple of years that they rendered DSLRs moot.

A lot of pro photographers are holding onto their DSLRs, and the main reason is speed. As we explained several years ago in our Upscaled series, reflex cameras have dedicated autofocus sensors under the mirror. They’re extremely fast, so they allow for high burst shooting speeds with accurate focus on each shot. Canon’s 1DX III, for example, can shoot at up to 16 fps with AF and auto exposure enabled.

Many serious shooters still prefer an optical viewfinder, too. They want a subject view they can trust and believe that a physical view via a prism and mirror is superior to an artificial electronic display. The drawback, of course, is that you can’t see the image when you shoot it because the mirror lifts up to block the display.

The last big thing is battery life and handling: Flagship DSLRs have heavy bodies and big grips that make for stable shooting platforms, particularly with the massive telephoto lenses used by sports and wildlife photographers. They’re also covered with dials and buttons for easier handling. And the optical viewfinder obviously doesn’t drain the battery, so DSLRs can shoot many more photos on a charge.

Engadget

That’s been true even until recently, but the latest mirrorless cameras have allayed most of those concerns. The most important change has been the introduction of stacked sensors. Those have much faster readout speeds that allow for rapid burst shooting and more accurate autofocus. They also produce less rolling shutter in electronic mode, reducing skew in photos and wobble in video.

Canon’s EOS R3 is a great example of that. It’s a bit slower than the 1DX Mark III DSLR in mechanical shutter mode but far faster with the electronic shutter, and delivers more resolution. Sony’s A1 is even more impressive, letting you fire off 50-megapixel RAW frames at 30 frames per second.

Perhaps the most vivid display of stacked sensor power is Nikon’s new flagship Z9. It lets you shoot RAW 46-megapixel images at 20 fps with the electronic shutter and doesn’t even have a mechanical shutter. By comparison, Nikon’s flagship D6 DSLR can handle 14 RAW images per second, but at 21 megapixels, they’re less than half the resolution.

The viewfinder issue is also largely resolved. Not long ago, mirrorless EVFs tended to be laggy, low resolution and choppy, while sharing a problematic issue with DSLRS – the viewfinder would black out when you took the picture. Now, all three of the above models have sharp and fast OLED display switch smooth refresh rates of at least 120Hz and up to 240Hz. And all offer blackout-free shooting in most conditions. All that arguably gives professionals a view superior to an optical viewfinder.

Engadget

Finally, cameras like Nikon’s Z9 and the Canon R3 are just as substantial as their DSLR counterparts and match them control for control. And if you want a professional camera that isn’t huge, Sony offers small, great-handling cameras like the A1 and A9.

Battery life is still an issue for mirrorless cameras next to DSLRs, though. The Nikon D6 can shoot a colossal 3,580 shots on a charge, while the Z9 is CIPA rated for just 770 – and that’s very high for a mirrorless camera. For the time being, mirrorless will always be at a disadvantage, but the situation is improving.

All told, with those key improvements in stacked sensors, improved EVFs and better handling, mirrorless models can now go toe to toe with SLR cameras. In nearly every other category, however, they’re actually superior.

Take autofocus. Though DSLRs have fast dedicated phase-detect AF sensors, mirrorless models have many more phase-detect pixels directly on the main sensor. In Canon’s case, every single pixel is used for AF. That allows for quicker and more accurate autofocus, in theory.

Engadget

With their hybrid phase- and contrast-detect pixels directly on the sensor, modern mirrorless cameras also win on AI smarts. Most can do subject, face and eye detection with humans, birds, animals, cars and more. That’s particularly useful for action photography to track fast moving subjects – an area that has traditionally been dominated by reflex cameras. And with the latest processors and stacked sensors, these features are finally good enough to use in real-world pro shooting.

As mentioned, some of the best mirrorless cameras now eliminate the viewfinder blackout that plagues DSLRs. And the stacked sensors also heavily reduce rolling shutter that can result in wonky, distorted photos. They’re now good enough to allow shooting of fast-moving subjects, with the advantage of being silent if you’re working at a golf tournament, for example.

Perhaps the biggest benefit is video. Photographers in many different areas are being asked to do that on top of photos, whether they do weddings or work for major news and sporting agencies.

Engadget

DSLRs like Canon’s 5D helped prompt the trend to shooting high-quality video with consumer cameras and recent models like the 1DX III can handle video well. However, by and large, mirrorless models are superior. Nikon’s Z9, the Canon R3 and Sony A1 can stand up to most cinema cameras, making them true double threats. That’s thanks to the incredible video autofocus systems, resolutions up to 8K, RAW video capture, top-notch audio capabilities and more.

On top of all that, most mirrorless cameras (unlike DSLRs) have in-body stabilization so you don’t need to worry about having that feature on the lens. And speaking lenses, those designed for mirrorless cameras tend to be smaller, lighter and optically superior, because the back is closer to the sensor.

Then there’s the issue of price and cost. Mirrorless cameras are less complex than DSLRs, so they tend to be cheaper. Nikon’s Z9, for instance, costs $1,000 less than the D6, and the Canon EOS R3 is $500 cheaper than the 1DX Mark III.

Finally, with the decline of the camera market kicked off by smartphones, it doesn’t make a lot of sense for manufacturers to build both DSLRs and mirrorless cameras. Now, they appear to be concentrating on one technology in the interests of profitability.

Wrap-up

Engadget

Photographers may feel sad that DSLRs appear to be coming to the end of their road, particularly if they just bought one. Don’t panic yet, though – while Nikon and Canon appear to have stopped designing new DSLRs and lenses, they’ll continue to manufacture and sell existing models.

The key thing driving this is that mirrorless has not just caught up to, but will soon blow past reflex mirror tech. For example, Sony recently unveiled new sensors that can gather double the light of current stacked sensors, paving the way for fast shooting, even in low light. And you can expect much faster image processors, better EVFs and smarter AF systems in the near future.

In other words, future mirrorless tech could make you forget that digital cameras ever had mirrors inside. Then, we may only ever see them in their original glory – with a roll of film inside.

You don't have to wonder when Samsung will hold its next Unpacked event — the company all but spelled it out. As The Vergenotes, Samsung Mobile has posted a simple puzzle teasing an Unpacked presentation on August 10th. You just have to match a grid of characters to their corresponding colors (which conveniently match typical Samsung phone colors) using the above guide to get an "081022" date.

The timing lines up with a recent leak by Evan Blass, who shared a teaser image for an August 10th Unpacked event. Samsung appears to have forced Blass to remove the picture.

There may not be much mystery as to what the event will bring. Rumors have swirled for months that Samsung will introduce the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Galaxy Z Flip 4, with OnLeaks' unofficial renders suggesting they'll be subtle evolutions of the company's existing foldable phones. Further OnLeaks images (along with other leaks) suggest Samsung will unveil the Galaxy Watch 5 and a titanium-clad Watch 5 Pro. While we wouldn't rule out surprises, the clues so far point to the company sticking to last year's script.

Ultimate Ears brought its in-ear monitor (IEMs) expertise to true wireless earbuds in 2020 with the UE Fits, a set of buds with fancy tech that molds the tips to fit your ears. Despite the interesting premise, the earbuds didn't deliver on a lot of the basics you expect from an audio accessory these days, namely subpar audio and limited features. The Logitech-owned brand is back with a new take on custom-fit buds, only this time the company is making the process more like how you would order a set of IEMs with the UE Drops.

Indeed, the main attraction of UE Drops is the custom fit, which is coordinated via the company's FitKit. Once you place your order, Ultimate Ears will ship you a FitKit that the company says includes the "technology and information" to guide you though the process of taking your "earprint." More specifically, the kit shows you how to take impressions of your ears with an app, just like you would if you were ordering a set of the company's CSX IEMs. A set of eartips are molded to your ears with a warming process that looks similar to the light and heat method for UE Fits, only this time they're attached to a contraption you plug in. You then return the impressions and your pair of UE Drops are built to those specifications. You can expect to receive your pair about 2-4 weeks after the FitKit is received back at the factory. 

Inside, 9.2mm drivers power the sound the UE describes as "revered by music professionals and music lovers alike." There's no active noise cancellation (ANC), but the custom-fitting tips should provide better passive noise isolation than most off-the-shelf earbuds. However, there is a transparency mode, allowing you to tune into your surroundings as needed. Dual beamforming microphones on the water- and sweat-resistant buds are there for calls, plus handy features like on-board controls, in ear detection and wireless charging are here too. 

Ultimate Ears says you can expect up to eight hours of battery life with 14 additional hours in the case. A quick-charge feature offers one hour of use in five minutes. You can check your battery status in the UE Drops app, where you can also choose between sound presets, manage connected devices, configure voice controls and more. 

The UE Drops are now available in the US via the Ultimate Ears website for $449, which means you'll pay a premium for that custom-tailored fit. The company says UE FitKit and UE Drops apps are available for both Android and iOS devices. 

YouTube is making it that much easier to buy on impulse from your favorite channel. The internet giant now lets creators link their Shopify stores, making it easier to snag merch. You'll know if a product is in stock, and you won't even have to leave a video to check out if a YouTuber is based in the US. If there's a must-have hoodie or yoga mat, you can order it moments after you see it.

You'll see the enhanced shopping from eligible creators — that is, they need to have at least 10,000 subscribers (or an official artist channel), monetization, a focus on non-child content and a largely spotless policy violation record. You can't launch your YouTube channel and store at the same time, then.

YouTube told Engadget it won't take a cut of Shopify-linked sales. Even so, the company is clearly hoping that the seamless experience will encourage you to shop through video pages. That, in turn, might spur creators to build up a large-enough audience that they can share a storefront and boost their bottom line. This might also help YouTube fend off competition from Instagram and others that already help you shop through social media posts.