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  • DEAL: Galaxy Watch 8 Models Starting at $149 With Eligible Trade-in

    DEAL: Galaxy Watch 8 Models Starting at $149 With Eligible Trade-in

    Samsung is hosting deals on its lineup of Galaxy Watch 8 devices. Whether you want the entry Galaxy Watch 8 or the high-end Galaxy Watch Ultra, there are good savings to be had.

    Thanks to eligible trade-in savings (which are instant and not refunds), Galaxy Watch 8 can be had for as low as $149. That’s $200 off of the usual price. For those without a trade-in, Samsung is still offering $90 off. Galaxy Watch 8 Classic can be had for $249 with eligible trade-in ($250 off), and the Galaxy Watch Ultra can be snagged for $399 ($250 off). Take note that Samsung is elevating older Galaxy Watch models to increased trade-in values, turning your aging wearable into something that still has value.

    Samsung Account Owners: If you have a Samsung account, you might eligible for even greater savings. Selected accounts are seeing up to $270 in instant savings with no trade-in requirement, which is crazy good. For example, a trade-in would get you a max of $250 off your purchase of a Watch Ultra, while no trade-in would be $270 off. In Samsung’s upside down world, that makes perfect business sense.

    For those in need of a fresh Galaxy timepiece, follow the links below.

    Samsung Links: Watch 8 | Watch 8 Classic | Watch Ultra

  • Attendees of ‘Big Game’ Would Benefit From Having ‘Big Red’ This Weekend

    Attendees of ‘Big Game’ Would Benefit From Having ‘Big Red’ This Weekend

    There’s apparently a big football match taking place over the weekend down in Santa Clara, CA. As a 49ers fan, I don’t want to talk about it much. But Ookla is making me, thanks to the publishing of a Speedtest report for the Super Bowl. In it, it confirms that if you’re a Verizon (Big Red) customer who plans on attending the game, you might have a better time (better wireless experience) than those on T-Mobile and AT&T.

    The Super Bowl is a high-vis event, a perfect opportunity for carriers to showcase how their networks handle large amounts of traffic. In Ookla’s findings, Verizon’s median download speed was nearly double that of T-Mobile. Verizon came in at 1464 Mbps, while T-Mobile had a median download speed of 768 Mbps. Even AT&T bested T-Mobile by a smidge at 797 Mbps.

    These speeds are thanks to a lot of work that the stadium itself put into the distributed antenna system (DAS) in preparation to hosting both the Super Bowl and FIFA World Cup in 2026. According to Ookla, “Verizon improved its network with additional deployments of mmWave and C-band antennas throughout the stadium and in its parking lots.”

    If you’re lucky enough to enjoy the Super Bowl in person this year, have fun, regardless of which carrier you use.

    // Ookla

  • Samsung Wipes $400 Off Galaxy Z Fold 7

    Samsung Wipes $400 Off Galaxy Z Fold 7

    The best Galaxy Z Fold 7 deal is an instant $400 off discount. You could also maximize savings to $1,000 off with a trade-in.

    We are still talking about Galaxy Z Fold 7 deals in early 2026 because this is the best foldable on the market. If anyone were to ask me if a foldable was worth buying, I would say, “Only 1 of them is – the Galaxy Z Fold 7.” Samsung, as you all know because we keep talking about it, absolutely crushed it with the Galaxy Z Fold 7 (our review).

    There is just too much good going on with it, that buying it at a $400 off discount (buy it here) makes a lot of sense. You get a foldable that is so thin it feels like a normal phone in hand. But of course it isn’t, because you can unfold it into a mini tablet. The cameras have been upgraded, the software is far better than Google’s for a foldable device, and you’ll get updates on it for years and years to come. But again, the star here is the hardware. Samsung made a foldable phone that feels better than most non-foldables because of its weight, thinness, and overall design. It’s an incredible device.

    So, at $400 off instantly and without the need for a trade, you get a Fold 7 with 256GB storage for $1,599. The 512GB and 1TB models are also discounted by $400.

    Need $1,000 off instead of $400 off? Well, you could trade a Galaxy Z Fold 6 or Galaxy S25 Ultra and get that discount. That is also an instant price drop, so you’d pay just $999 today if you have one of those phones to get rid of. Should you ditch those for the Fold 7? That’s exactly what I did and I haven’t regretted it for a second.

    Samsung’s Fold 7 Deal Link

  • Thursday Question: Galaxy Ultra Owners, Do You Even Use the S Pen?

    Thursday Question: Galaxy Ultra Owners, Do You Even Use the S Pen?

    Word on the street is leading us to believe that due to the S Pen included with the Galaxy S26 Ultra, Samsung may be running into an issue implementing the magnetic charging coils that are required to adopt and implement the Qi2 charging standard — something to possibly do with the digitizer, but that’s speculation and not confirmed. For us, that’s an issue, because we love the magnets found on the Pixel 10 series and latest iPhones.

    Discussing internally, I told Kellen that I’d be completely fine with Samsung ditching the S Pen and providing the internal magnets instead. When using an Ultra device, I basically never utilize the S Pen, but that could just be me. That could also lead to a bigger battery for the phone, so there’s that.

    Galaxy Ultra owners, how often are you using the S Pen? All the time? A couple of times a month? Never? Samsung likely has internal figures that help weigh its decision on ditching the stylus, and since they keep including it, I assume people are using it. But who are these people? Are you really able to do a lot that you can’t manage with your finger?

    S Pen or magnets: Which would you prefer?

  • Google Says AirDrop for Android Coming to More Phones Soon

    Google Says AirDrop for Android Coming to More Phones Soon

    AirDrop for Android will arrive on other Android phones this year, not just Pixel devices.

    When Google surprisingly launched AirDrop support on the Pixel 10 last year, we sort of assumed they would eventually bring the functionality to more devices. We’ve already seen signs of it coming to the Pixel 9, but being a part of Quick Share should mean a general Android availability. After all, Quick Share is the official sharing platform of Android with a big piece of that becoming the standard by way of Samsung. It only makes senses that this type of feature expands beyond the Pixel line.

    This week, Google apparently told media in Taipei that they will expand AirDrop on Android to “a lot more devices” in 2026. They are working with partners to expand it “into the rest of the ecosystem” and should provide announcements around that “very soon.”

    And that’s all he said, but that “very soon” piece of this could suggest an announcement at any moment. It’s February and there isn’t much happening in the world of tech. However, Google tends to time bigger Android announcements with Pixel Feature Drops releases. For those keeping track, the next big quarterly Pixel update is set to arrive in March and that should mean a Pixel Feature Drop. In recent years, Google has often done an Android Feature Drop at the same time to share new Android platform features with everyone. If I were a betting man, I might look to early March for this expansion.

    Who else is using AirDrop from their Pixel 10 on a daily basis? I sure am still.

  • Buzzkill: Galaxy S26 Ultra Won’t Have Built-in Magnets

    Buzzkill: Galaxy S26 Ultra Won’t Have Built-in Magnets

    Leading up to today, the general consensus was that the entire Galaxy S26 lineup would feature built-in magnets, bringing the devices in line with those from competitors like Apple and Google. Those magnets help align the charging coils, as outlined by the Qi2 standard. Now, we’re learning that everything we saw which gave us that impression might’ve been misleading, at least with regard to the Galaxy S26 Ultra.

    We saw magnetic charging pucks and other magnetic accessories, making it easy to believe that Samsung was simply onboard for magnets inside the Galaxy 26 Ultra. According to independent sources of @UniverseIce, who has a solid track record for all things Samsung, “Galaxy S26 Ultra ultimately does not include built-in magnets inside the device. Magnetic functionality still relies on magnetic cases.”

    A reason for this is not provided, but it’s being speculated that the lack of magnets is due to the S Pen digitizer. There’s no way for us to confirm this, as Samsung doesn’t answer questions on unannounced devices, but you can believe it’ll be the first thing we ask company representatives when given the opportunity.

    Regardless of why, this is disappointing news. Both Apple and Google have cellphones with built-in magnets, which help with wireless charging efficiency and speed, but this news also means we can’t use some of our favorite accessories. That’s the big bummer for us.

    Meh. I’m upset.

    // @UniverseIce

  • There’s a Reason You Haven’t Seen a New Pixel Watch Update

    There’s a Reason You Haven’t Seen a New Pixel Watch Update

    Pixel Watch updates remain on a mostly quarterly schedule rather than monthly as we enter 2026.

    When the Pixel Watch, Pixel Watch 2, and Pixel Watch 3 first arrived on the scene, Google seemed invested in pushing out updates to them on a monthly basis, just like they did with Pixel phones. However, at the end of 2024, they made the decision to slow releases, likely because watches aren’t exactly like phones and the need for monthly security patches wasn’t necessary. They switched to a schedule that was closer to quarterly.

    It has now been just over a year since they made that move, so we wanted to remind folks of this in case you were out looking for a new Pixel Watch update. All of the Pixel phones and foldables and tablets picked up the February update yesterday, but the watches were all left as they were. As of today, there is no February Pixel Watch update.

    There are a couple of things you should know about your Pixel Watch and software. For one, the original Pixel Watch is no longer receiving updates, reaching its end-of-life stage in October of 2025. It was updated in October of last year along with the Pixel Watch 2, Pixel Watch 3, and Pixel Watch 4.

    For the Pixel Watch 2 up through the Pixel Watch 4, all devices are still supported and should see more updates going forward. All of these watches last received an update in December 2025.

    When will the next Pixel Watch update arrive? Well, since switching the cadence in November 2024, Google has taken both 3-month and 2-month breaks between updates, plus they weirdly issued updates in consecutive months from March-April to fix some pretty serious bugs. In other words, Google is doing its own thing and there hasn’t been much consistency in the last year. Hopefully, we see that change soon, but for now, there’s a good chance we’ll get an update in March when the next Pixel Feature Drop arrives on phones.

    We’ll keep you up-to-date on Pixel Watch updates.

  • Amazon’s Alexa+ Now Free to All Prime Members

    Amazon’s Alexa+ Now Free to All Prime Members

    In February of last year, Amazon launched Alexa+ in early access, its generative AI-powered assistant. This week, Alexa+ is now available to all users in the US. What’s even better, it’s completely free to Prime members.

    What to do with Alexa+: Alexa+ is designed to complete tasks that most other AI services offer, but it’s specific in the sense that people invested into the Amazon ecosystem of services and smart home devices can benefit more greatly. For example, Alexa+ can order takeout, find restaurants and book reservations, book a ride, schedule home repairs, as well as automate smart home services. Alexa+ ties in nicely to the Ring ecosystem, with one example being the alerting of unusual patterns around your home.

    If you have Ring, Echo, or Fire TV devices then the upgrade seems like a no brainer.

    How to get started: Prime members can start using Alexa+ by saying, “Alexa, upgrade to Alexa+” or by logging into their Amazon account at Alexa.com. Alexa+ is priced at $20/mo, but again, it’s free to Prime members. Non-Prime members can access a free tier of the assistant via the Alexa app or at Alexa.com.

    Have you used Alexa+ yet? Is it worth dabbling in?

    // Amazon