Hasta La Gadget!

Welcome to a new newsletter, with a bit of a new direction. While our mid-week edition tackles news specifics, this end-of-the-week missive combines the biggest news with more context, more things to read and watch, recommendations, easter eggs, inside baseball and stuff that interests our readers, alongside the breaking news, reviews and features you expect from Engadget.

We’d love your feedback on what you’d like to see covered in these meatier editions — hit me up at tma(at)engadget.com.

Luckily for me, we kick things off with Samsung’s big Unpacked event, launching three new phones and teasing two — yes, two! — more coming soon.

Everything Samsung announced, including prices and launch dates (February 8 — I’ll save you a click), we collated here, but it was largely a fallow year for Galaxy S hardware, barring a substantially more powerful chip.

While the Galaxy S25 Ultra et al. might not thrill, Samsung managed to breadcrumb several devices with no launch date. First, at its San Jose event, the company revealed its mixed reality headset in person, finally — even if it was just a functionless headset for photos and gawping at.

Then there was the Galaxy S25 Edge — a device I didn’t think existed. (And something that wasn’t shown at my satellite event in London — we got a not-great projection mapping brand activation across London’s Thames river. Boo.)

Like Samsung did a year ago with its Galaxy Ring teaser, we got a fleeting glimpse of the rumored slim Galaxy phone, actually called the Galaxy S25 Edge. It’s slim, has two cameras and… that’s about all we know. Bloomberg reports it will cost less than the S25 Ultra when it arrives later this year.

Samsung/YouTUbe

And then there’s the mysterious teaser for some possible bifold device — see the screengrab above. This would be a foldable concertina, like devices we’ve seen from Huawei. Samsung teased the display tech back at CES 2022 and subsequent trade events. Is it now ready?

Will the company’s foldables become the new home for Samsung hardware innovation? Is the Galaxy Fold series now truly the new Galaxy Note?

— Mat Smith

The biggest stories you might have missed

• NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 review: Pure AI excess for $2,000

• Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra hands-on: Faster and way more… AI-ier

• Star Trek: Section 31 review: An embarrassment from start to end

Today, in 1984

The first Mac(intosh).

BBC

Apple demonstrated its first Macintosh computer in front of 3,000 people. Graphical computing on the Macintosh wasn’t as commercially successful as Microsoft’s DOS and Windows, but this was the first successful mass-market desktop personal computer with a graphical user interface, built-in screen and mouse. Yes, a mouse! The epic Ridley Scott-directed ad, 1984, also teased it. 

Time to watch that ad again.

President Trump and tech

The new leader got straight to work.

It was a busy first week for President Trump.

• The Trump Administration no longer lets asylum seekers make appointments with app

• Donald Trump pardons Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht

• Trump executive order rescinds Biden’s AI framework

• Trump delays TikTok ban for at least 75 days via executive order

• President Trump withdraws the US from the Paris climate agreement (again)

Reintroducing: Ask Engadget!

AMA or AEA.

Engadget

What can we answer for you that a hallucinating AI can’t? When is the best time to buy a new iPhone? Do I need a high-res screen on my gaming laptop? My smart home is trying to kill me. While Google/ ChatGPT/ social media can often help, we’re bringing back Ask Engadget. Whatever it is, I made my boss create an entirely new email address: askmat(at)engadget.com. So help me help you. (Keep me gainfully employed in an era of bots and AI.)

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-engadget-newsletter-123633309.html?src=rss

This year, Samsung unified the design language of its S-series flagships, making the S25, S25+ and the S25 Ultra look and feel the same (barring the camera). The curving sides of the S24 Ultra are finally gone, replaced with the solid, squared-off lines seen on the cheaper Galaxy S handsets. Flatter sides make the device easier to grip, slide into your pocket, or prop up when you’re trying to photograph them for a tech website.

I’ll be honest, they look like iPhones. And older Galaxy S phones. And, well, even older iPhones. Smartphones have hopped from flat to curves for as long as smartphones have existed.

Samsung

With Samsung, we’ve gripped onto rounded sides from the debut of Galaxy S (2010) through to 2015. Then, the Galaxy S6 (2015) had more flattened sides before the series returned to curves for the S8 (2017). It stayed that way until the more recent S24, with recent years gradually hammering out those curves. The S25 series, now, has flat sides for every model. 

Are flatter sides actually easier to grip? I don’t know. I’m a hypocrite. I’ve found multiple reviews and impressions pieces where I love flat sides. I’ve found the same number of stories where I loved curved devices. Why should you ever believe me again? I’m sure there are tech journalists who have stuck with one form factor being better, but I couldn’t find them.

Engadget

Each time it happens and the company explains its change, the designers say this lack of curves/ introduction of curves is better than whatever it was last year. In an interview with Vanity Fair in 2024, Jony Ive said that Apple chose rounded edges for the iPhone 6 series because they made larger phones feel less clunky. That was when the iPhone 6 Plus had a heady 5.5-inch screen, which seems… quaint in 2025.

My theory is that our hands get used to whatever phone form factor we’ve used for the last couple of years. That means when the design gets shaken up (or you swap to a different manufacturer), one has to pay more attention to holding it. But that effect fades.

If the two most significant, most influential phone makers have settled on flat sides, then there are reasons for it. Until there’s an even bigger reason to return, once again, to curves.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/curvy-sides-flat-edges-the-galaxy-s25-and-the-arbitrary-shape-of-smartphones-130047461.html?src=rss

Tesla has officially launched the redesigned Model Y in North America and Europe, a couple of weeks after the vehicle was announced for the Asia Pacific region. The new version isn’t replacing the original Model Y, though — at least not yet — and Tesla is selling both of them on its website. At the moment, you can only get the long-range all wheel drive launch series variant for the new Model Y in the US with prices starting at $46,490. The launch series is a limited edition release with exclusive badging on the rear liftgate, puddle light, doorsill plate and other parts of the car. 

While the new Model Y retains the older version’s proportions, it has rounder edges, with its smaller headlights and taillights bookending a redesigned lightbar. Inside, it has ambient lighting wrapping around most of the car, ventilated seats and a 15.4-inch touchscreen in the front. The second row seats have power recline and can fold flat. Passengers sitting in the back row will also have access to a Bluetooth-enabled 8-inch rearscreen display with a touch panel. 

The new long-range all wheel drive Model Y has an estimated range of 325 miles, has a top speed of 125 mph and can go from zero to 60 mph in 4.1 seconds. To compare, the old Model Y long-range AWD can reach 311 miles on one charge, has a top speed of 135 mph and can go from zero to 60 mph in 4.8 seconds. Deliveries for the new Model Y begin in March. If you’d still rather get the old version, its prices start at $31,490, though take note that it’s getting a $4,000 price hike in Canada. 

Tesla

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/teslas-new-model-y-arrives-in-the-us-055746103.html?src=rss

Threads is adding a new feature that lets users get a little more creative in remixing posts from other people. The app now has a “markup” tool that allows users to scribble on top of posts they want to reshare, Adam Mosseri shared in a post.

Markup abilities appear in the menu for quoting and reposting. But instead of simply quoting a post, it launches an editing tool where you can add highlights, arrows or doodles on top of a screenshot of the post. Mosseri said the feature is intended “so you can add your creative take” on posts, but the tools are fairly limited for now. You can only add yellow highlights or red arrows and doodles, though Mosseri said there would be “more to come soon” from Meta.

A Threads spokesperson confirms that the feature will function similarly to quote posts in that the original user is notified if someone chooses to mark up their post. You can also use the “who can reply and quote” setting to disable markups on your own posts.

The app is also making two other features it’s already previewed official: post scheduling and analytics. The features will likely be particularly useful for brands, creators and others who manage a professional presence on the site, which has so far lacked many of the more advanced business-focused tools Meta’s other platforms have. Both could also come in handy should Meta begin to introduce ads to Threads, a move that’s reportedly in the works for the beginning of 2025.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/threads-now-lets-you-scribble-on-top-of-other-users-posts-231129612.html?src=rss

Threads is adding a new feature that lets users get a little more creative in remixing posts from other people. The app now has a “markup” tool that allows users to scribble on top of posts they want to reshare, Adam Mosseri shared in a post.

Markup abilities appear in the menu for quoting and reposting. But instead of simply quoting a post, it launches an editing tool where you can add highlights, arrows or doodles on top of a screenshot of the post. Mosseri said the feature is intended “so you can add your creative take” on posts, but the tools are fairly limited for now. You can only add yellow highlights or red arrows and doodles, though Mosseri said there would be “more to come soon” from Meta.

A Threads spokesperson confirms that the feature will function similarly to quote posts in that the original user is notified if someone chooses to mark up their post. You can also use the “who can reply and quote” setting to disable markups on your own posts.

The app is also making two other features it’s already previewed official: post scheduling and analytics. The features will likely be particularly useful for brands, creators and others who manage a professional presence on the site, which has so far lacked many of the more advanced business-focused tools Meta’s other platforms have. Both could also come in handy should Meta begin to introduce ads to Threads, a move that’s reportedly in the works for the beginning of 2025.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/threads-now-lets-you-scribble-on-top-of-other-users-posts-231129612.html?src=rss