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When I first heard whispers about the Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold, I immediately felt conflicted. On one hand it felt like the natural evolution of bi-fold phones like the Z Fold 7. But on the other, all this fancy tech comes with an even higher price around $2,500 based on current conversion rates from Korean won not to mention the added bulk you get from a third folding panel. So even as someone who has used a foldable as my daily driver for almost a decade straight, it felt like Samsungs latest high-end phone was going backwards in terms of both portability and affordability. But then at CES 2026, I got a chance to go hands-on with the Galaxy Z TriFold and all of my concerns pretty much instantly disappeared because with this thing, flexing is believing.My initial consternation comes in large part from using the Z Fold 7, which hit a major milestone this year thanks to a revamped design that doesnt come with any added size or weight even when compared to comparable candybar-style phones like the Galaxy S25 Ultra. Thats a major breakthrough considering how hefty and chunky the original Galaxy Fold was back in 2019. And when you compare the Z Fold 7s dimensions (7.58 ounces and 8.9mm thick when folded) to the new TriFold (10.9 ounces and 12.9mm when folded), theres no doubt that Samsungs new flagship foldable comes with a lot of extra bulk. To put things into context, we have to go back several generations to the Z Fold 5 just to find a comparable phone with similar thickness (13.4mm). And even then, that handset is still significantly lighter than the TriFold at 8.92 ounces. There's simply no denying that the Z TriFold (left) is a much bulkier device than the Z Fold 7 (right). Sam Rutherford for EngadgetBut then I opened it up and my concerns were quickly pushed aside because suddenly youre greeted with 10 inches of vivid AMOLED goodness. As a phone that can pull double duty as a tablet, the jump up from the Z Fold 7s 8-inch main display cannot be understated. Not only does it make multitasking so much easier, when combined with Samsungs DeX desktop mode, you basically get a miniature laptop experience from a device that fits in a pocket. Especially if you dont mind carrying around a travel-friendly mouse and keyboard. Plus, you can connect the TriFold to an external display (either wired or wirelessly) to access even more screen space. Way more than with the Z Fold 7, I can honestly see myself leaving my PC at home and using the TriFold as my primary work device. Another important but easily overlooked upgrade on the Galaxy Z Trifold is the 4:3 aspect ratio for its 10-inch main display. Compared to the Z Fold 7 and its almost perfectly square screen, you just get so much extra room on the sides for widescreen movies and shows. I tested this out by watching the trailer for Christopher Nolans The Odyssey, and even though that movie uses a super wide aspect ratio due to being filmed entirely on IMAX cameras, the viewing experience was just so much better. Peak watchability is something the regular Z Fold line has sort of left by the wayside as the company moved to larger exterior displays, which resulted in the series primary screen becoming more square. The one downside though is that the TriFold may make you more of a resolution snob, as its a lot easier to tell the difference between 1080p and 2K or 4K on a larger 10-inch panel. The final pillar of the TriFolds kit is all the engineering that Samsung put into making it easy to open and close. Simply moving from one hinge to two while adding a third folding panel undersells the complexity of its design. Samsung actually uses two different types of magnets that push or pull depending on where they are, which makes accessing the TriFolds primary display practically just as easy as on the Z Fold 7. Thats no small feat. Opening and shutting this thing is just so satisfying on a tactile level, and thats before you consider that theres basically no downgrade in terms of image quality. While theres only one way to unfurl the TriFold, which might seem confusing at first, Samsung addressed that too by throwing up a warning and making the whole phone vibrate if you try to do it wrong. And then there are components like the glass-reinforced carbon panels Samsung uses to add strength and durability to its chassis while keeping it as thin as possible. The one potential concern in the future is that unlike Samsungs older foldables, theres not as much room for improvement to shrink its dimensions much further, as the TriFolds slimness is currently limited by the size of its USB-C jack. So if the next model wants to make big gains there, it may need to go completely portless.Here's what The Odyssey trailer looks like on the Z TriFold (right) compared to the Z Fold 7 (left). It's such a better experience. Sam Rutherford for EngadgetOn a certain level, I kind of hate how much I like the Galaxy Z TriFold. I really dont want to go back to bigger, heavier phones that are even more bulky and expensive than the Z Fold 7. But the appeal is impossible to deny and for people who love a good multitasker, I can easily see how these tradeoffs are worth the upside of Samsungs latest apex foldable. The Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold is currently on sale in South Korea, though were still waiting for official pricing and availability for the US and North American market.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/samsung-galaxy-z-trifold-hands-on-flexing-is-believing-at-ces-2026-224343480.html?src=rss
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I met up with a few people from Google at the Encore Villas during CES (which is just 2,500 feet from my hotel but took 28 minutes to walk to, thanks to Vegass pedestrian-averse design [also I got lost]). Once there, I saw what more Gemini will mean for people with a Google TV. The AI integration ranged from useful to probably unnecessary. The most useful bit, for me at least, came at the end. Its admittedly a boring, but now you an adjust your TVs settings just by talking. In the demo, Salahuddin Choudhary, Googles Gemini for Android product lead said, Can you boost the dialogue? and Gemini changed the mode accordingly, without leaving the golf game he was watching. I asked if it could turn off motion smoothing, the first thing I adjust on a new TV (and sometimes other peoples). Yes, it can. The deep dive Gemini feature could prove fairly useful, too. With it, asking for general information turns into a mini lesson on the subject, complete with generated images and narration. When Choudhary asked Gemini to explain the Northern Lights to [his] eighth grader, the screen filled with the standard Gemini answer: a brief definition and images and video tiles for further exploration. But a small Dive deeper button on the screen led to a narrated and illustrated tour of the science behind the phenomenon. My kid is at the age where he asks me questions I cant answer about the fundamental makeup of the universe maybe this could help.The Google TV demo at CES showed an answer on the science behind how the northern lights are created Amy Skorheim for EngadgetGoogle Photos is getting a much deeper integration with Google TVs, too. Choudhary asked for pics from a trip to the beach and snapshots of happy people amongst the sea and sand popped up on the screen. One particular shot would make a nice screen saver, I was told, and he asked Gemini to give the photo an oil painting makeover using the Remix feature. However, if you want your photo recast in a way not offered with Remix, you can use Nano Banana. Choudhary turned one of the personal photos into a cartoon just by asking. Using Veo turned the same image into an short (if slightly glitchy) animation of a person playing fetch with the dog in the photo. Google TV used Neo to recast a picture as a cartoon.Amy Skorheim for EngadgetYour ability to generate video will depend on your Gemini subscription tier, but I was told a purchase of a Google TV device would include most of the other AI capabilities that I saw demonstrated. Id classify the photo manipulation and video generation as decidedly less useful that the other features, but my kid would probably get a kick out of messing with them for a while. For people who use Gemini a lot, being able to do so on the biggest screen in the house may appeal. Ditto for those who like seeing your Google Photos in a giant format. Some folks will appreciate the AI image manipulation and generation, Im sure, but Im mostly excited about the admittedly boring part of not having to leave a show to boost the brightness of a scene. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/home-theater/google-tvs-new-gemini-features-range-from-useful-to-unnecessary-222900001.html?src=rss
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A viral Reddit post purportedly from an employee of a "major food delivery app" may actually be an AI-generated hoax, The Verge reports. The post itself, and an image of an employee ID card the poster, u/trowaway_whistleblow, shared with The Verge, where both flagged as being likely AI-generated when run through online AI detectors and AI assistants like Gemini and Claude.Given the inflammatory nature of the post, it's not hard to see why it received over 80,000 upvotes in the four days it's been up in r/confession. The post includes a series of striking claims about the unnamed food delivery company, like that its "Priority Delivery" option doesn't actually change delivery speeds, that it sorts delivery drivers based on their level of desperation and that it steals tips from drivers. The post doesn't name a specific company, but there's enough real world evidence of driver mistreatment including misleading pay structures that subsidize driver's base pay with tips that it sounds true.Holy fucking shit is right! This is not DoorDash, and I would fire anyone who promoted or tolerated the kind of culture described in this Reddit post. Theres so much wrong with this post. - Dashers are not human assets.- Having a metric like a "Desperation Score is an https://t.co/tStwfQAcpI Tony Xu (@t_xu) January 3, 2026 Executives from DoorDash and Uber Eats have both denied the claims in the post. "This is not DoorDash, and I would fire anyone who promoted or tolerated the kind of culture described in this Reddit post," DoorDash CEO Tony Xu wrote on X. When The Verge reached the poster over Signal, the employee badge u/trowaway_whistleblow provided also appeared to be AI-generated, and notably featured the text "Uber Eats" on it rather than "Uber." The poster provided similar faulty evidence to Platformer writer Casey Newton.No one is being directly harmed by this particular AI-generated Reddit post (other than maybe the companies training AI models on Reddit data), but if there's anything this whole debacle makes clear, it's that the reputation of food delivery apps remains tarnished, to say the least.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/viral-reddit-post-critical-of-food-delivery-apps-may-have-been-ai-generated-210558754.html?src=rss
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