Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?
Nadeem Sarwar / Digital Trends
One of the lost object-tracking updates that appeared for Android phones this year was the ability to locate them even when they run out of juice. The convenience is shipped as part of Android’s Find My Device system. It, however, appears that Samsung’s next flagship will miss out on that convenience.
The folks over at Android Authority did some code sleuthing and spotted details of a disabled Bluetooth-finding protocol. Owing to the inactive status, the phone won’t appear on the location-finding map once it runs out of battery juice. Before we proceed further, do keep in mind that these are pre-launch details about unreleased hardware, so the situation might change down the road.
As for the feature itself, which Android serves as “Find your offline devices,” it relies on Bluetooth and location proximity data from nearby Android devices. The idea is not too dissimilar from how Apple’s own Find My network works for millions of devices across the globe, relaying their location so that users can find misplaced gadgets.
Google won’t say how exactly location finding works for devices that have run out of juice and gone offline, except for a vague “specialized Pixel hardware” on one of its store listings. The feature is active by default and supports the recent wave of Google hardware, including the Pixel 9 and Pixel 8 series phones.
Please enable Javascript to view this content
What it does, however, is piggyback off the network pings from nearby devices, which subsequently relay their location on the Find My Device network. To enable it for your phone, follow this path:
Settings > Google > All Services > Find My Device > Find your offline devices
Users can pick an offline finding range from two options: With network in high-traffic areas only and With network in all areas. Google’s support page mentions that offline devices will be discoverable “for several hours” after they run out of local power.
“When others detect your items, they securely send the locations where they detected them to Find My Device,” explains the company. As far as the Galaxy S25 Ultra goes, Samsung is reportedly going to equip it with the second-generation Corning Gorilla Glass Armor protective shield.
Moreover, the design has been slightly overhauled, thanks to rounder corners and a splash of new colors. Internally, things don’t appear to be changing dramatically, save for your usual year-over-year iterative updates.
The camera hardware will be a familiar affair, led by a 200-megapixel main camera. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite SoC will lead the charge, but aspects like charging pace and battery capacity are not receiving any noticeable upgrades, as per leaked material.
Nadeem is a tech journalist who started reading about cool smartphone tech out of curiosity and soon started writing…
A new leak teases how thin the Galaxy S25 Slim will be — and it’s impressive
The Samsung Galaxy S25 “Slim” has been part of the rumor mill for a while now. If you’ve missed it, here’s what you need to know: It almost certainly does exist, and it’s expected to launch sometime during the middle of 2025, instead of next month like the rest of the Galaxy S25 lineup. And now, we have a better idea of just how thin this phone might actually be.
Well-known tipster Ice Universe shared the information on Weibo, stating that its thickness “may be 6.x mm.” In other words, the leaker isn’t sure of the exact thickness, but expects it to fall between 6mm and 6.9mm.
New renders provide a clear look at the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra and S25 Plus
Samsung has taken steps in the past to handle leaks, but that hasn’t slowed the flow of information this year. The Samsung Galaxy S25 lineup barely has any secrets left given all the information we’ve seen emerge over the past several months, but now we have mostly clear renders of the Galaxy S25 Plus and Galaxy S25 Ultra.
Tipster Evan Blass shared the renders on X, and the images show the differences in design between the flagship devices. The Galaxy S25 Plus has corners with a more distinct curve, while the Galaxy S25 Ultra has more angular corners.
The Samsung Galaxy S25’s release date is all but confirmed
We’ve speculated a lot on when the Samsung Galaxy S25 will officially launch, and there have been no small number of rumors. Now, though, we have everything but an official announcement as a leaked event poster states that Galaxy Unpacked will be held on January 22, 2025.
Evan Blass, a tipster with a reliable and proven track record, first shared the information on X. Since the initial post, the image has been removed due to a copyright claim, but you can see what it looked like below. The date on the poster lines up with previous leaks that also place the event on January 22, giving us almost a guarantee on the date.
