Earlier today, Google announced the Pixel 5 and Pixel 4a 5G, both of which Verizon (Engadget’s parent company) will carry. But if you want to purchase the latter through the carrier, you’ll have to pay $600 or $25 per month on a two-year Verizon Device payment plan to get the device. That’s $100 more than the $499 Google plans to sell the Pixel 4a 5G through its website when the phone goes on sale next month.

You can chalk up the price hike on the fact Verzion’s version of the phone, the Pixel 4a 5G UW, has additional radios and antennas to take advantage of the carrier’s mmWave 5G buildouts. If you live in a city with mmWave coverage, you’ll get access to blazing-fast download speeds, but finding those areas can feel like a scavenger hunt. Here’s the other thing. For a $100 more, you can buy the Pixel 5 through Verizon and get a phone with a bigger battery, IP68 water resistance, Qi wireless charging, a 90Hz display and more RAM. Oh, and it too can connect to Verizon’s mmWave network.

The removal of Soli also means the Pixel 5 has a fingerprint sensor and a notch-less design, with a clean pinhole punchout adorning the phone’s 6-inch, 2,340 x 1,080 display. Thankfully, the screen still includes the 90Hz refresh rate of last year’s model. Anyone who has had to put with woeful battery life on the Pixel 3 and Pixel 4 will also be happy to learn the Pixel 5 comes with a larger 4,000mAh capacity battery.  

Some other notable tweaks include a rejigged primary camera system made up of 12-megapixel and 16-megapixel sensors capturing photos from wide and ultra-wide lenses. It wouldn’t be a Pixel launch without new software features for those cameras and Google didn’t disappoint. One new feature is a panning tool that there’s to help you capture smooth video. Rounding out the Pixel 5’s spec list is support for Qi wireless charging, a water-resistant design, 128GB of storage and a price tag that starts at $699.

Pixel 4a 5G

Google

Pixel fans will notice we didn’t mention an XL model above. That’s because there’s isn’t one this year. Instead, Google plans to release a more premium version of the Pixel 4a — or a more affordable take on the Pixel 5, if that’s how you want to look at things. The $499 Pixel 4a 5G surprisingly has many of the same marquee features as its more expensive sibling. Both phones feature Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 765G processor. They also have the same front and rear camera arrays. What you won’t get with the Pixel 4a 5G is support for Qi wireless charging, waterproofing and a 90Hz display. But it does come with a headphone jack. 

Chromecast

Google

Google’s new Chromecast comes with a remote. Yes, Google has finally listened to its customers, but there’s a lot more to its latest streaming puck than merely a new way to control things. Google has gone with an updated design that borrows from both the Chromecast Ultra and its colorful Nest Mini speakers. Inside, the puck features a new processor that allows it to play 4K HDR content at up to 60 frames per second. Additionally, there’s support for Dolby Vision and surround sound.  

As for that remote, it has a built-in microphone for quick and easy Assistant access. In terms of buttons, there are Back, Home, Mute, Power and Input keys, as well as a dedicated volume rocker. It also comes with shortcuts for YouTube and Netflix. Handy that. 

Where things get somewhat confusing is that the new Chromecast runs Google TV. The platform runs on top of Android TV and adds a new interface to the mix that borrows features from Google’s Play Movies and TV app. 

You can grab the Chromecast starting today for $50. 

Nest Audio

Google

Lastly, Google announced a new smart speaker called Nest Audio. Like the Nest Mini, the Nest Audio is covered in fabric. Google outfitted it with a 19mm tweeter and 75mm mid-woofer. The company says those components allow the Nest Audio to get 75 percent louder than the Google Home. It also produces 50 percent more bass than that speaker. 

On the device, you’ll find LED lights that turn on when you speak to Assistant. But there’s also a mute switch on the back of the speaker if you don’t want the digital helper turning on by accident. It also comes with a Media EQ feature that Google says will automatically tune your Nest Audio depending on what you’re listening to, and there’s support for multi-room audio.

You can also pair two Nest Audios to get stereo imaging, which will be tempting since a single speaker only costs $100.

Buy the Samsung Galaxy S20 Fan Edition at Best Buy – $600

Buy the Samsung Galaxy S20 Fan Edition at B&H Photo – $600

To be clear, the S20 FE isn’t just a Galaxy S20 in name only. It has Qualcomm’s flagship Snapdragon 865 processor, an AMOLED display with a 120 Hz refresh rate, 128GB of upgradeable storage and a 4,500mAh battery, same as the regular $1,000 model. To hit the lower price, Samsung reduced the RAM to 6GB from 12GB, lowered the display resolution to Full HD and swapped out the metal for a polycarbonate body. For folks who just want a powerful phone, that’s a pretty fair trade-off to pay $400 less.

Other desirable features include a 12-megapixel f/1.8 standard wide camera, a 12-megapixel, f/2.2 ultra-wide camera, an 8-megapixel telephoto camera with a 3x optical zoom (or 30x hybrid Space Zoom), and a 32-megapixel selfie camera. It’s also available in multiple colors like “cloud red,” “cloud navy” and “cloud mint.”

The Galaxy SE also comes with 5G connectivity, though the models offered on sale don’t support Verizon’s 5G mmWave network. None of the sites said how long this pre-order deal will last, but it’s no likely it will drop more than that before it starts shipping on October 4th.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

Microsoft is also working to bring other features that exist on other versions of Outlook (i.e. desktop) to iOS and Android. These include workspace booking, text prediction, weather data in your calendar and adding emoji reactions to your emails. That last one will start to roll out around the New Year, the company said.

Microsoft

To make it easier for people who use Outlook on their desktops to get the mobile apps, Microsoft also introduced a tool that makes it easier to sign into the service on your phone if you’re already logged in on your laptop. From Outlook on your desktop or browser, you’ll get a prompt to send yourself a text message to download the app on your phone. When you’re setting up the mobile app, you can scan a QR code on your laptop’s screen and Microsoft says it will securely transfer your credentials from your desktop to your phone.

Most of these new features will begin rolling out over the next few weeks, Microsoft said, with some slated to arrive further down the line.

Royole

Compared to its competitors, Royole has once again priced its phone-tablet hybrid rather aggressively. In China, Huawei’s Mate Xs — which also uses an outward-facing flexible screen — costs 16,999 yuan or about $2,510, which is significantly more than even the higher-end FlexPai 2. Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 2 is only asking for $1,999 in the US, but it’s still more expensive than Royole’s offerings.

In the same event, Liu finally shared detailed specs of the FlexPai 2. Just to recap, we already knew about the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 processor, 7.8-inch display (1,920 x 1,440), quad cameras and stereo speakers. When folded, you can either use the 5.5-inch “main” screen (1,440 x 900) which offers shortcut buttons along the hinge, or switch to the smaller 5.4-inch side (1,440 x 810) with the cameras next to it.

Royole

Speaking of, we finally have the camera specs: there’s a 64-megapixel f/1.89 main camera, a 16-megapixel f/2.2 ultra-wide camera, an 8-megapixel f/2.4 telephoto camera (3x zoom) and a 32-megapixel f/2.0 portrait camera. Much like its predecessor, the FlexPai 2’s camera app offers a dual-screen photography mode which lets your subject see himself or herself in the secondary screen.

Royole

Also revealed today was a touchpad located below the cameras. This can be used to wake the display with a double tap while on standby, and when using apps, a double tap toggles split screen mode with up to three screens, courtesy of Royole’s Android 10-based waterOS 2.0.

The rest of the fresh specs include the 4,450mAh battery (a bump from the previous 3,970mAh), the 6.3mm and 12.8mm thicknesses when opened and closed, respectively, the 339-gram weight (about 12 ounces) and 5G bands — these appear to be mostly China- and Europe-friendly.

Royole

Liu also announced that the FlexPai 2’s third-generation Cicada Wing FFD (Fully Flexible Display) turns out to be more durable than expected. The panel was originally tested to last for over 200,000 bends, which is the benchmark for the latest foldable phones. However, with the help of China’s National Institute of Metrology, this panel is now certified to last over a staggering 1.8 million bends. It’ll be interesting to see how Samsung will respond to this figure.

Royole

The foldable phone race has been going on for at least three years, but due to various manufacturing hurdles, there are still only a few contenders, with Samsung, Motorola, Huawei and Royole being the only brands available in this market at this very moment. That said, there’s no word on whether Royole will be bringing the FlexPai 2 to other markets. And even if you buy an imported version, chances are you still can’t side load Google services into the unit — as is the case with the original FlexPai.

There are also those who believe other form factors is the way to go, with LG offering a snap-on secondary screen as a more affordable alternative, along with the more recent twist-swivel-screen and, potentially, a slide-out screen in the near future. At the end of the day, it’s always good to have more options in the consumer market.

Samsung’s OLED display used in the Galaxy Z Fold 2 has the “world’s smallest curvature,” with a radius of just 1.4mm (1.4R), the company’s display division announced. That tight curvature allowed Samsung to build the Fold 2 with a smaller folded gap than the original model, allowing for a more attractive design while reducing previous problems like dirt entering the display.

Samsung also said that French firm Bureau Veritas certified the display for 200,000 folds, calling it a benchmark for future displays. That durability is apparently possible due to the multi-layered structure of the display that acts like a “cushion” when the panel is folded. However, Samsung also claimed that the original Galaxy Fold would withstand at least 200,000 folds, and it fell short of that in testing done by CNET.

Reddit users mtb_junkie and Yewtsan have suggested that disabling Bluetooth device scanning on the phone should help in at least some circumstances.

It’s not uncommon for brand new Android releases to have flaws, and we noted in our Android 11 review that the new OS appears to be buggy on the whole. The Android Auto issues appear to be particularly acute, though, and could be problematic if you depend on your phone to get around town. You may want to wait for the Auto app update and revisions to Android 11 itself before jumping in.

Samsung’s Galaxy S20 Fan Edition is a poorly kept secret, but there have been questions about availability — would it be widely available, or sell only to a limited audience? Americans, at least, might not have to look at the phone from afar. WinFuture’s Roland Quandt has discovered (via Android Police) multiple videos on Verizon’s website (disclaimer: Verizon is Engadget’s parent company) that suggest the Galaxy S20 Fan Edition is coming to the US. The clips only show renders of the lower-cost device in lavender, mint, navy and red, but their mere presence suggests the carrier is getting ready to offer the device.

Despite the Fan Edition name, the phone is expected to be a lower-cost alternative to the regular S20 rather than a device aimed at enthusiasts. It’s rumored to keep core features like a speedy 120Hz display, the Snapdragon 865 (in some models) and triple rear cameras, but would make a number of sacrifices to cut costs, including a lower-resolution 1080p screen, reduced RAM (either 6GB or 8GB), and an 8-megapixel 3X telephoto lens instead of a crop-based 48MP sensor.

Some apps, like Lightroom, simply refuse to acknowledge that second, bigger screen. When you launch it, it appears in the center of this display, looking just like it does on a smartphone. (Never mind the fact that Lightroom runs admirably on regular Android tablets.) AccuWeather treats the open Fold 2 screen as a tablet in landscape mode, so using the app requires turning the phone sideways. HBO Max, isn’t available for the Z Fold 2 at all right now. And Instagram — well, Instagram has always been notoriously bad adapting to different kinds of displays, so it’s no surprise it’s still pretty terrible here. The point is, unless you stick to a handful of known-good apps, expect a lot of inconsistency.

But what if you want to run multiple apps at the same time? A screen as big as this one just begs for clever multitasking tricks, and Samsung added quite a few of them. Multi-active window mode, which lets you squeeze up to three apps into an on-screen grid at a time, is back. (If you really want to go wild, you open up to five more in their own floating windows, but no human should ever need this.) This grid view can be tremendously helpful once you find the right combination of apps, and it’s relatively easy to save them as a preset in case you want to use them again later. You can also shuffle windows around so that one big app stretches along the bottom of the entire screen, with two smaller windows side-by-side above it. 

That improved flexibility is a welcome addition, but it still has its quirks. What if you wanted that big app window to take up the top half of the screen instead? Too bad. And some apps refuse to appear in those smaller app windows at all, which you’ll only ever discover after trial and error. The quirks don’t end there. One of the biggest software additions to the Fold 2 is the ability to copy and paste by dragging text or an image from one window and dropping it into another. It’s fantastic when it works, but — and tell if this sounds familiar — it just doesn’t work sometimes. 

Engadget

Dragging and dropping between multiple instances of the Office app works like a dream. So does dragging text from Chrome into Samsung’s Messages app. But trying to move a snippet of text from a browser into, say, Google Docs? Nope. Ditto for dragging and dropping into Notion, which I’ve come to rely on pretty heavily. There’s that pesky inconsistency again!

By now, it probably sounds like the Fold 2’s software is sort of a flop, and in some ways it is. But there are clever features that make use of the foldable gimmick. App continuity is a great example: it ensures that whatever you’re doing on that outer screen persists on the internal one when you open the Fold 2. Apart from the occasional compatibility issue, the transitions work well. This year, Samsung spent a little more time touting reverse app continuity, where the apps you’re using on the inside screen shift to the outer screen when the Fold 2 is closed. 

There’s no universal switch for it, though — you have to pop into the settings and select apps to make the inside-to-outside switch. That’s the right decision. I don’t want my PayPal information visible when I slam the Fold 2 shut, I do want to keep reading my Kindle book when I’m standing in line and suddenly need to use my other hand.

Then there are all those Flex mode features, which Samsung originally built for the Galaxy Z Flip.  Long story short, Samsung and partners like Google tweaked their apps to take advantage of that big display when the Fold 2 is propped open like a laptop. When you fold the phone while shooting photos, for instance, the viewfinder remains on the top half of the screen while the bottom half gives you access to camera settings and controls, along with a quick view of the photos you just took. Making video calls with Duo in Flex mode is a joy, too: The person you’re talking to fills half of the screen, leaving just the hangup button and some other options beneath it.

Motorola was always clear that the Razr is a “design-first” device, and it went to great lengths to recreate the visual vibe that its classic flip phones ran with for its first foldable. To pack some much-needed extras into this new model, though, Motorola had to make some changes: The new Razr is a little chubbier, and a features a “chin” that’s a bit less prominent than the original’s. Personally, these changes are enough to make the Razr just a little less visually striking, but they’re worth it when you consider what Motorola could pack in here as a result.

Motorola

For one, Motorola squeezed a better camera into the Razr’s top half. My biggest gripe with the original Razr’s 16-megapixel rear shooter wasn’t that it was bad, per se — it just wasn’t great compared to every other camera you’d find in a similarly priced phone. In response, Motorola chose a 48-megapixel camera for this new model, which should improve photo quality substantially. (Seeing as we haven’t even touched this thing yet, we’ll have to see about that.)

The somewhat pokey Snapdragon 710 found in the first Razr also is gone, replaced here by a more modern Snapdragon 765G and 8GB of RAM. That’s the same great-but-not-quite-premium chipset you’ll see in a new batch of affordable, 5G-friendly smartphones, like the OnePlus Nord, the TCL 10 5G, and certain versions of the LG Velvet. As I said, we’re not working with flagship power here, but the new Razr has everything it needs to run much more smoothly this time around.

And speaking of speed boosts, the new Razr was built to play nice with sub-6 5G networks, like those operated by its US carrier partners, T-Mobile and AT&T. (That’s right. Despite Verizon carrying the first Razr, there are apparently no plans for it to offer this significantly upgraded model.) Naturally, that extra horsepower and networking support are likely to impact power consumption, so Motorola also gave the new Razr a slightly bigger battery. I do mean slightly bigger, too — its full capacity tops out at 2,800mAh, up from 2,510mAh in the original. I suppose any improvement is a good thing, but it also means Razr owners are working with a battery that’s still significantly smaller than most other phones out there.