Articles by Harish Jonnalagadda

See where you’ve traveled with Google Maps.

Google Maps has a nifty Timeline feature that lets you browse the places you’ve visited along with the routes traveled. The Timeline received a good overhaul in 2015, and Google has since added the ability to collate images you’ve taken at particular locations, allowing you to get a better overview of all your travels. This feature certainly comes in handy if you’re looking to see all the images you took at a particular location or if you’re trying to get a highlight of your weekly or monthly activities. Here’s how to view your location history in Google Maps.

How to view your location history in Google Maps
How to disable location tracking

How to view your location history in Google Maps

Launch Google Maps.
Tap your profile picture on the top right corner.
Tap Your Timeline.
Tap Today to open the calendar and view a particular day.

Swipe left or right to switch months.
Tap a date to view your location history. You’ll see the ro…

Android 12 is drifting ever closer to its final release on Pixel phones, with beta 4 available now.

Android 11 made significant improvements to Google’s mobile OS, adding tools like chat bubbles, conversation notifications, and a built-in screen recorder. But most of its improvements were in the backend, making it rather unexciting compared to iOS 14’s flashy changes. This year, it’s Android 12 that’s making a flashy entrance.

Labeled by Google as “the biggest design change in Android’s history,” Android 12 has a colorful redesign called Material You. The new OS customizes and enlivens your phone screen without needing an Android launcher or icon pack. Beyond that, Android 12 will add quality-of-life improvements like a Privacy Dashboard, scrollable screenshots, faster animations, smarter notifications, and tons of other long-requested features.

Android 12 should arrive in about a month, at least on some of the best Android phones, including all Google Pixel phones. It’s curre…

Here’s what we know so far about Qualcomm’s 2022 flagship chipset.

The best Android phones in 2021 share one thing: they are all powered by the Snapdragon 888. Qualcomm’s 5nm chipset managed to deliver huge gains in performance while retaining the efficiency figures of the Snapdragon 865, and that allowed this year’s flagships to stand out.

But as is always the case in the semiconductor industry, there’s always something new on the horizon. We’re already starting to learn more about the Snapdragon 895, Qualcomm’s flagship chipset for 2022. Qualcomm will likely announce it this December, and it will power most of next year’s flagships. Here’s what we know so far.

Jump to:

Hardware
Launch date
List of devices

The ultimate flagship

Galaxy S21 Ultra

$1,000 at Samsung
$1,000 at Amazon
$1,000 at Best Buy

Still the flagship to beat

The Galaxy S21 Ultra delivers all the upgrades you want. With a QHD+ AMOLED panel featuring a 120Hz refresh, Snapdragon 888 with global 5G ban…

The feature is coming to Samsung phones first, with wider availability kicking off at a later date.

What you need to know

WhatsApp is allowing you to transfer your chat history between platforms.
The messaging platform says it is working with device manufacturers as well as Google and Apple to enable the transfer.
The feature is debuting on Samsung phones, and will make its way to Android and iOS devices.

WhatsApp is one of the best messaging apps around, but a key feature omission was the ability to switch between platforms. Users on Android have to start over from scratch if they want to switch to iOS, and the same holds true the other way. Well, WhatsApp is now addressing this issue by introducing out the ability to transfer chat history between Android and iOS.

WhatsApp made the announcement during Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Z Flip 3 launch event, and while the feature will initially be rolling out to Samsung phones running Android 10 and above, it is coming to both An…

Synology now has a password manager, and it is surprisingly good.

These days, you need a password manager to secure your online presence. With security breaches occurring more and more often, you cannot risk reusing passwords on more than one site. Thankfully, this is where password managers are particularly useful; we’ve already highlighted the best password managers, and there’s now a new entrant in the field from an unlikely source.

Synology makes the best NAS for home use, and the Taiwanese manufacturer recently rolled out a big update to its OS, DSM 7.0. Synology also has a cloud storage service called C2, and it’s now introducing a password manager that’s a part of the C2 family, dubbed C2 Password. It is a free password manager that has a similar feature-set as 1Password, BitWarden, and other leading password managers, and the differentiator is that it is free to use. So let’s take a look at what’s on offer, and whether you should consider using the service.

What is C2 Pass…

The Exynos W920 is now official, and it promises significantly better performance.

Samsung is ready to roll out the Galaxy Watch 4, and if the numerous leaks over the last three weeks have been any indication, it will be among the best Android smartwatches. We got a good look at the design of the Galaxy Watch 4, and Samsung has now detailed the hardware powering the smartwatch.

The Galaxy Watch 4 and Galaxy Watch 4 Classic will be powered by the Exynos W920, a 5nm wearable chipset designed to deliver much better performance while being more efficient. The W920 has two Cortex A55 cores — the same cores you’ll find on your phone — and an Arm Mali-G68 GPU, with Samsung noting an uptick of 20% from the CPU and an insane 10x boost in graphics performance. There’s also a 4G LTE Cat. 4 modem for cellular connectivity, and built-in GPS.

The W920 is built on a 5nm extreme ultra-violet (EUV) node at Samsung SLSI — just like the flagship Exynos 2100 powering the global Galaxy S21 seri…

Not able to see older messages on WhatsApp? You’re not the only one.

WhatsApp just rolled out two new features to its platform: multi-device beta that lets you stay logged in to four devices at once without requiring your phone, and View Once photos and videos that disappear after they’ve been opened once.

But with the update to WhatsApp beta 2.21.16.9, there is a peculiar bug that prevents you from seeing older chat messages. I noticed the bug over the weekend: in any given conversation, I can only view the last 25 messages, and then I get an infinite loading icon that doesn’t do anything.

Having just switched over to a new device, I figured something went wrong with the import, so I deleted the app and did a fresh restore, but the problem persisted. Thankfully, it doesn’t look like the chat history itself is affected; I was able to access older messages by using the search feature. But right now, there’s no way to scroll up in a conversation to access messages older than a few d…

WhatsApp is one of the best messaging apps for Android, and what makes it a particularly great choice is the focus on privacy and security. The latest privacy feature to make its way to the platform is “View Once” media; you can now send photos and videos that will disappear after they’ve been opened once. The feature is now available to all WhatsApp users around the world, so let’s take a look at how to send View Once photos and videos in WhatsApp.

How to send ‘View Once’ disappearing photos and videos in WhatsApp

Launch WhatsApp.
Select a contact or group chat to whom you want to send View Once media.
Tap the Attach button at the bottom.

Choose Camera if you’re looking to record a video or take a photo, or hit Gallery if you want to send media that’s already on your device.
Select the media you want to send.
Hit the One-time icon at the bottom to set the media as View Once.

You’ll see a dialog box that says the photo or video can only be viewed once. Hit Ok.
You should …

Looking for the best wireless earbuds to pair with your Galaxy S21? You’ve come to the right place. The Galaxy Buds Pro launched alongside the S21 series, and they perfectly complement the phone. You’ll also find plenty of options across various price segments, so let’s take a look at the best wireless earbuds for the Galaxy S21.

The new standard

Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro Bluetooth Earbuds

Staff Pick

With the Galaxy Buds Pro, Samsung is taking things to a new level. The earbuds offer active noise cancelation on par with the best Sony and Bose deliver, and you get a secure fit with excellent sound quality, wireless charging, IPX7 resistance. These buds also last eight hours on a full charge.

$170 at Amazon $170 at Best Buy $170 at Walmart

Also great

Samsung Galaxy Buds Live True Wireless Earbuds

The Galaxy Buds Live launched with the Note 20 series, and they continue to be a solid alternative, particularly at the discounted price. They also have active noise cancelatio…

Google is introducing phones that feature custom silicon — just like Apple and Samsung.

Google makes some of the best Android phones money can buy, and a large part of what makes its phones stand out is the cameras. Although Google hasn’t changed the hardware sensor itself in over three years, it was able to leverage its software prowess to deliver truly outstanding photos from Pixel phones — including the $350 Pixel 4a.

While Google likes to focus on software as a differentiator for its phones, the company is now turning to custom silicon to give Pixels an added edge. With the Pixel 6 announcement, Google has confirmed that the upcoming Pixel 6 and 6 Pro will run its custom Tensor SoC, a custom silicon platform that offers huge gains in on-device AI.

The custom chipsets could end up eventually powering all of its phones and even its Chromebooks, and with it set to debut in the Pixel 6 later this year, we don’t have to wait long to find out what’s in store. Here’s everything y…