Phone Scoop - Latest News

Walmart and Sam's Club will start accepting contactless / tap payments at select locations starting August 24, with all locations accepting them by the end of the year. This will extend to the company's fuel stations by mid-2027. This will include Apple Pay, Google Pay, smartwatches with NFC payment, and contactless/tap plastic cards. The company, one of the US's largest reta...

Fairphone has started selling its sustainable, repairable phones directly in the US, starting with the new Fairphone (Gen. 6+). Previous Fairphone models were only available in the US via partner Murena, which pre-loaded its own /e/OS, a "de-Googled" version of Android. Fairphone will now ship its phones directly to the US with a standard Google version of Android, with softw...

Google has announced the Pixel 11 series of phones, with the same general design and three options as last year's Pixel 10 series, but with a few upgrades. All three are powered by Google's new Tensor G6 chip, which Google claims delivers 25% faster web browsing, 15% quicker app launches, and AI processing that's up to 3.5x faster and 3.5x more power-efficient. Fast Qi 2.2 25...

Google has made a good number of improvements to its flagship foldable phone, while keeping the book-style design mostly the same. As expected, the price has ticked up by $100 to start at $1,899, although for the next two weeks, Google is offering a free Pixel Watch 5 (worth $399) or $350 Google Store credit. The new Pixel 11 Pro Fold is 10% lighter and ~1mm thinner th...

Google has introduced its newest smartwatch, the Pixel Watch 5, with a long list of improvements over the Pixel Watch 4. The watch's GPS system now compensates for nearby buildings and real-time weather conditions when calculating location. Google claims this offers 2x accuracy in challenging environments, outperforming high-end competing smartwatches. New health features inc...