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AT&T has disclosed a data breach that occurred approximately two weeks ago, potentially impacting approximately 7.6 million current account holders and 65.4 million former account holders. The breach involved personal information such as names and Social Security numbers, but does not appear to include personal financial information or call history. AT&T is currently investigating the breach with the help of cybersecurity experts and has not found evidence of unauthorized access to its systems. The company will be reaching out to affected customers and offering credit monitoring and password resets. [Extracted from the article]

Of course, Samsung phones have had a portrait mode since Selective Focus arrived on the Galaxy S5, but it's never been better than on the S21 Ultra, with extremely crisp edges, clean lines against any background, and a pleasant background blur. DEPARTMENTS The Galaxy S21 Ultra is a new kind of value proposition from Samsung. But if you have a bigger budget, the S21 Ultra represents the best - the best of Samsung, the most powerful telephoto camera, and the best of everything Android has to offer at any price. [Extracted from the article]

FEATURES At a time when version updates are becoming less of an issue and major phone makers are finally beginning to guarantee years of updates, Google might have found a way to end Android fragmentation once and for all: by turning it into a service. Android features also seem to be the priority for Google's lineup of phones, rather than the phones' own specs or screens. [Extracted from the article]

In the S21's case, the triple-camera system is identical to the S20's, while Apple only slightly upgraded the wide-angle sensor on the iPhone 12 with a wider aperture (f/1.6 versus f/1.8). Samsung also beats Apple with base storage, offering 128GB in the S21 compared to the iPhone 12's 64GB, though you can upgrade to 128GB for $50. [Extracted from the article]

But the more interesting moves were inside the phone: Google opted for the midrange Snapdragon 765G rather than the 865, and the Pixel didn't lose a step. With timely updates, quarterly feature drops, and exclusive and "Pixel-first" features, Google has positioned the Pixel as the utmost Android experience at every price point. Google's 2020 Pixel moves were definitely surprising, but I don't think it means Google is giving up on its handset as an influencer in the Android universe. [Extracted from the article]

DEPARTMENTS The Google Pixel 4a 5G sits in a very awkward place in Google's 2020 smartphone lineup. DESIGN: BIGGER, SOMETIMES BETTER GLO:pcw/01dec20:81n1.jpg PHOTO (COLOR): The Pixel 4a 5G is the awkward middle child in Google's Pixel family. gl Based on its design, the Pixel 4a 5G is basically the Pixel 4a XL that we didn't get in August. GLO:pcw/01dec20:85n1.jpg PHOTO (COLOR): The Pixel 4a 5G has a new ultra-wide lens that can capture 107 degrees to fit more of the shot. gl Elsewhere, the Pixel 4a 5G's camera is everything you'd expect from a Pixel phone. [Extracted from the article]

DEPARTMENTS Few things in life are as annoying as finding that your Android handset refuses to install any more app updates because it's run out of storage. You'll find it inside the Files app on most phones - though it's called My Files on Galaxy phones - and it's a favorite hideout for miscellaneous junk files downloaded from the web or some other app. There are also several apps that can track your app usage and tell you which apps you're using the least, among them: App Usage (go.pcworld.com/ausg) and QualityTime (go. pcworld.com/ qltm). [Extracted from the article]

ESR MIMIC TEMPERED GLASS CASE Price: $17 from go.pcworld.com/esrc Colors: Clear Why we love it: We've always liked ESR's inexpensive and sturdy cases, and the Mimic case is no exception. ESR ESSENTIAL ZERO CLEAR Price: $10 from go.pcworld.com/esrz Colors: Clear Why we love it: The ESR Essential Zero Clear is one of the cheapest cases we've tried for the S20, and it's also one of the thinnest. BODYGUARDZ ACE PRO Price: $35 from go.pcworld.com/bdap Colors: Translucent black Why we love it: The BodyGuardz Ace Pro is a minimal case that looks good and eliminates the S20's slipperiness by giving it just the right amount of texture. [Extracted from the article]

Even when you're not using an app, iOS is smarter, quicker, and more intuitive than Android. I REALLY LIKE THE ANDROID STATUS BAR Speaking of notifications, my sojourn with the iPhone SE also made me appreciate the Android status bar even more. THE iOS HOME SCREEN CHEAPENS THE EXPERIENCE When Apple launched the iPhone in 2007, it also introduced the home screen grid as a place to access your apps easily. [Extracted from the article]

DEPARTMENTS There might not have been an I/O keynote (go.pcworld.com/ioky) to stream in May, but some new hot Google hardware might still be on the way. Based on leaked images (go.pcworld.com/lk4a), the Pixel 4a may be Google's first phone to adopt a hole-punch camera, which will be aligned in the upper left corner of the screen. Rather than regular and plus-size versions like every other Pixel phone, Google is rumored to be releasing the 4a in just a single size, reportedly around 5.8 inches (go. pcworld.com/rp58). [Extracted from the article]

A simple 30-second restart will give your phone an instant speed boost by freeing up your memory, killing background apps and processes, and unsticking any stuck apps. CHECK FOR ANDROID UPDATES While Google's own Pixel and Nexus phones update automatically in the background due to seamless updates that rolled out with Android's Nougat, most other phones do not. PERFORM A FACTORY RESET Cleaning out and decluttering your phone is one thing, but the only surefire way to make sure a bad app or background process isn't slowing down your phone is to erase all of your data. [Extracted from the article]

OnePlus 8 Pro: A great phone that's no longer a great value But even though OnePlus can claim the 8 Pro costs $300 less than the closest apples-to-apples comparison Galaxy phone, a four-figure sticker price is still much more shocking on a OnePlus phone than a Samsung one. BOTTOM LINE The OnePlus 8 Pro isn't just another OnePlus phone with high specs and a low price - it's a bona fide premium Android handset, with a price to match. [Extracted from the article]

FEATURES As a long-time freelancer and work-from-homer, I've owned a lot of routers in my quest for the speediest and most pervasive possible Wi-Fi. SUPERCHARGED EVERYTHING As with previous generations of Wi-Fi, your client devices will need to have Wi-Fi 6 adapters to squeeze the most benefit from a Wi-Fi 6 router. [Extracted from the article]

Killed by Apple: Dark Sky isn't alone in Android app graveyard DEPARTMENTS In a press release that was as surprising as it was terse, weather app and API purveyor Dark Sky announced that it had been acquired by Apple. XNOR.AI OK, so this isn't actually an app, but Apple's acquisition of Xnor.ai did mess up one of our favorite Android smart home apps, so it counts. [Extracted from the article]

LG has lagged somewhat with its smartphone displays, having only recently made the switch to OLED - so the V60 feels a bit behind the times, even with a screen size nearly as big as the 6.9-incher on the Galaxy S20 Ultra. LG did say that the V60 will come in "under the cheapest Galaxy S20 with the Dual Screen included", so assuming that means $950 or so, that's a good deal cheaper than the $1,400 Galaxy S20 Ultra and one of the cheapest 5G phones you can buy. That's even cheaper than the V50, which started at $1,150 without the Dual Screen accessory, so LG is definitely pushing value with the V60. [Extracted from the article]

DEPARTMENTS If you've already gotten your Galaxy S20 (go.pcworld.com/gs20), you've surely transferred over your apps, set up the home screen, and picked just the right wallpaper to show off your big beautiful screen. FINE-TUNE YOUR SPACE ZOOM Whether you're using 100X Space Zoom on the S20 Ultra or zooming to "only" 30X on the S20 or S20+, it can be extremely difficult to control with the standard two-finger pinch, even if you're using a tripod. [Extracted from the article]

FEATURES I have a confession to make: My favorite phone right now is the Samsung Galaxy S9 (go.pcworld.com/s9gl). Phones used to have so many new features people wanted to upgrade every year, but with the push into more screen, people are holding onto their phones longer. The larger issue is that phone makers are reserving their best features for phones with the biggest screens, essentially forcing consumers to buy more phone than they might want. [Extracted from the article]

DEPARTMENTS I feel like I need to give Samsung's Galaxy S20 Ultra two scores. (As shown in the S20 and S20+, above) gl GLO:pcw/01apr20:43n1.jpg PHOTO (COLOR): That's no moon, that's the 100X Space Zoom camera bump. gl Samsung has once again gone with an ultrasonic in-display fingerprint sensor on the S20 family. While 2X or 3X optical zoom is pretty standard for premium Android phones, Samsung says the S20 Ultra has a 10X "lossless" zoom that combines 4X optical and 6X digital zoom with AI to reduce the noise you'd normally get with digital zoom. GLO:pcw/01apr20:51n1.jpg PHOTO (COLOR): Space Zoom on the Galaxy S20 Ultra is far out. gl BOTTOM LINE There are three types of people who should spend $1,400 or $1,600 on the top-of-the- line Galaxy S20 Ultra: Samsung fans who will pay anything to have the latest and greatest handset. [Extracted from the article]

The S20 isn't Samsung's first 5G phone - the S10 5G and Note 10+ 5G both arrived last year - but it's the first Galaxy phone that's exclusively 5G. The S20 has a 4,000mAh battery, while the S20+ gets a 4,500mAh one, a nice boost from the 3,400mAh and 4,100mAh batteries in the S10 and S10+. [Extracted from the article]

Galaxy S20 Ultra hands-on: Samsung's pro phone is a monument to excess While it has the same 12MP, f/2.2, 120-degree ultrawide camera as the S20 and S20+, the wide and telephoto cameras are quite a bit different. Like the Huawei P30 Pro and other long-zoom phones with periscope lenses, the S20 Ultra's telephoto camera sits sideways in the device and refracts the light through a prism at a 90-degree angle. [Extracted from the article]

Android phones didn't just break the bank in 2019, they also broke speed, photography, and display records. Samsung and OnePlus delivered handsets that were as groundbreaking as they were gorgeous; Google pushed the limits of smartphone photography; and LG continued to march to its own drum, crafting some truly unique beats along the way. As the fronts of our phones have become overtaken by screens, it's become easier to distinguish them from the backs of phones, from the Pixel 4's square camera to the OnePlus 7T's circular bump. [Extracted from the article]

Upgrading to a 5G phone: When's the right time? The first phones equipped with Qualcomm's second-generation X55 5G modem will start hitting shelves in 2020, and it's a massive improvement over the X50 modem that powers first-generation 5G phones. The X50 modem was strictly a 5G modem, so it needed to be paired with a second 4G LTE modem alongside the Snapdragon 855 processor. The first crop of 5G phones are extremely expensive for two reasons: It's new technology, and the phones need to be very big to handle the battery and thermal requirements of the existing X50 modem. [Extracted from the article]

Each phone has a respectable battery, but the S10+ is the clear standout on paper: Galaxy S10+: 4,100mAh OnePlus 7T: 3,800mAh Pixel 4 XL: 3,700mAh iPhone 11: 3,142 mAh For example, I played a two-hour movie at max brightness with all ambient and adaptive brightness toggles turned off, and this is how much battery each phone used: OnePlus 7T: 17% iPhone 11: 19% Galaxy S10+: 19% Pixel 4 XL: 21% The results are pretty close, but those percentage points add up over the course of a day, especially because most people won't be using their phones to watch videos for 10 hours straight. The Pixel 4 XL obliterated the other phones, and the iPhone consistently came in last place, even if only by a second or two: Pixel 4 XL: 11 seconds Galaxy S10+: 19 seconds OnePlus 7T: 20 seconds iPhone 11: 21 seconds Granted, we rarely restart our phones - and the iPhone needs it even less often than the Android phones here - but I'd still like to see Apple get closer to the Pixel with the iPhone 12. Where things like the camera, design, and network compatibility used to drag down its predecessors, the 7T is a milestone for OnePlus, putting every other Android phone on notice - and the iPhone 11. [Extracted from the article]

Google may have delivered its most ambitious phone with the Pixel 4 XL, but it falls well short of nailing a top-tier phone experience. However, while the camera array is very much a fluid part of the iPhone 11 despite its size, the Pixel 4's camera bump feels like an afterthought that was tacked on after the phone's design was already finished. And in the photo opposite, the Pixel 3's digital zoom is basically just as good as the Pixel 4's 2X optical zoom. GLO:pcw/01dec19:72n1.jpg PHOTO (COLOR): Both the Pixel 4 (left) and iPhone 11 (right) brightened this super-dark nighttime scene, but Apple retains the shadows and spookiness while Google blows out the ambiance a bit. gl. [Extracted from the article]

With the ability to turn unusable low-light scenes into spectacular, backlit, frame-worthy photos, Night Sight was the prime example of just how far ahead Google was when it came to photography. Since Night Sight's launch, Samsung, OnePlus, Huawei, and LG have all developed low-light modes for their cameras. [Extracted from the article]

Microsoft recently gave us a sneak peek of the Surface Duo (go.pcworld.com/sduo), its first phone since the ill-fated Windows Phone, and it's unique. Microsoft's custom silicon would go a long way toward separating the Surface Duo from the pack, so the fact that Microsoft didn't say either way during its reveal is intriguing. Today's phones can pack half a terabyte of storage and 12GB of RAM at the high end, and Microsoft clearly wants the Surface Duo to be a work-first device. [Extracted from the article]

In the world of ultraportable 2-in-1 tablets that can work as hard as they play, there are but two options: the iPad Pro and the Surface Pro. And on October 2, Microsoft unveiled not just a refreshed Surface Pro 7 (go.pcworld.com/spr7), but the brand-new Surface Pro X (see page 7) (available from microsoft.com [go.pcworld.com/sfpx]), an always-on, always-connected tablet that seems solely designed to take on the 12.9-inch iPad Pro (available from apple.com [go.pcworld.com/ipdr]). However, both of Microsoft's Surface Pro X keyboards include a trackpad for controlling a cursor, while the iPad Pro's relies solely on touch, even with the keyboard attached. [Extracted from the article]

In fact, Google has allowed for blocking out roughly 25 percent of the bottom half of the left side of the screen (technically called a "vertical app exclusion limit"), so developers can still include slide-out menus without disrupting the Back gesture. The old version used app and cache data to predict which app or action you might want in a lengthy, disorderly list. In Android 10, sharing is broken down into logical panes: your frequent message recipients, followed by four suggested apps based on use, and finally an alphabetical list of all possible app destinations. That means an app won't be able to access location data unless you're explicitly using it, so you don't have to worry about being tracked by apps running in the background. [Extracted from the article]

When I questioned the fluctuating speeds, in fact, the Verizon representative told me that the 5G network is so finicky that if turned to face the node rather than use the Note with my back to it, Even though Verizon has already topped 2Gbps in some tests and hasn't placed a technical limit on how fast 5G can get, it's hard to imagine 5G delivering steady gigabit-per-second speeds based on the issues I experienced when basically using the network all to myself. [Extracted from the article]

The back of the Note 10+ repositions the camera array in the left corner - a first for the Note line - and introduces a new Aura Glow color that turns the back of your phone into a mirror prism. As far as the other three cameras go, you'll certainly take great pics with the Note 10+, but they're no better or worse than the other Galaxy phones Samsung sells. PHOTO (COLOR): The "hole-punch" selfie cam is much less offensive on the Note 10+ than it is on the S10+. PHOTO (COLOR): While both of these Night mode photos are soft, the Note 10+ (left) also grabbed too much of the red from the flowers and added a tint to the rest of the photo, while the Pixel 3 XL (right) had a more accurate color balance. [Extracted from the article]

The article evaluates the Galaxy Note 10+ smartphone from multinational conglomerate company Samsung.

The article presents a comparison of the midrange smartphones Galaxy A50 from Samsung and Pixel 3A from Google.

The article evaluates the 7 Pro smartphone from OnePlus.

The article discusses smartphone technology features that Apple borrowed from Google, Samsung, Microsoft, and Fitbit as of July 2019. Topics covered include its Dark Mode on the menu which Google and Samsung had already previously provided, its iPadOS download manager that the mobile platform Android always had, and its applications (app) store for the Apple Watch that Google had developed before. Also noted is Apple's iPad home screen widgets that Android had already featured.

The article evaluates the LG G8 ThinQ smartphone from LG Electronics.

The article discusses the two-factor authentication (2FA) system in protecting personal accounts. Topics covered include the system's combination of two of the three factors of something one knows, something one has, or something that one is, and information on the short message service (SMS), the authenticator applications (apps), the universal second factor (security key), and the Google Advanced Protection Program. Also given is information on biometrics and iCloud.

The author discusses technology firm Huawei's marketing strategy of luring customers to choose an upgraded and pricier smartphone model by offering a lesser-priced standard model, as in its P30 Pro and P30 models. Topics covered include inconsistencies in features in the two phones with the higher-priced one having upgraded features but without all the good features of its lower-priced sibling. Also noted are the similar strategies employed by Samsung, Apple and Google in their products.

The article evaluates the Samsung Galaxy S10+ smartphone.

The article lists six tips for those trying to master the Android 9 operating system on the Galaxy S9 and S10.

The article lists 7 tweaks that Android users can make to their phones to improve their performance including things to make one's data more secure, making sharing fast an easy, and improving Wi-Fi calls and gaming.

The article discusses five ways to clean up an Android phone by applying some home-tidying ideas offered by cleaning guru Marie Kondo. These include deleting ancient and unused apps and organizing the remaining apps so they can be found easily, deleting media files individually or clearing the cache inside Settings, and deleting duplicate, out-of-focus, and unmemorable photos.

On paper, Apple's iPhone 12 displays are pedestrian compared to those on most premium Android phones. Apple takes such care with the calibration of its displays to make them visually indistinguishable from the excellent WQHD displays on Galaxy phones and light years better than Google's 1440p Pixel phones. [Extracted from the article]