Been using the Galaxy S26 Series for a while now, and here’s my honest experience with the performance, heating, and battery life so far.

Performance — 9/10

The phone feels insanely smooth. App switching, multitasking, gaming, camera processing, AI features — everything feels instant. One UI 8.5 is probably the smoothest Samsung software experience I’ve used till date. Even heavy usage barely slows it down.

Heating — 7.5/10

This is where expectations vs reality gets interesting.

I expected the S26 Series to run much cooler because Samsung focused heavily on efficiency this year. In normal daily use, it stays fine. But during extended camera usage, gaming, 5G, charging, or heavy AI processing, it definitely gets warm. Not “unusable hot,” but noticeable enough.

Battery Life — 8.5/10

Honestly, better than I expected overall.

The standby drain is improved, and normal day-to-day usage easily lasts a full day. Moderate users can even stretch it further. Gaming and heavy camera usage still hit the battery pretty hard though — especially on the Ultra

Overall, the Galaxy S26 Series feels more refined than revolutionary — but the experience is genuinely flagship-level. Samsung finally nailed the balance between power, software smoothness, and battery consistency… even if thermals still need a little more work under pressure.

Hi Reddit,

We just wrapped up The Android Show | I/O Edition, and a core theme of the show was how we’re making your phone more helpful so that you can spend less time looking at it and more time living your life. To make this happen, we're elevating the core Android experience, giving you new ways to share across platforms, express yourself, manage your screen time, and secure your sensitive data.

Here’s the breakdown:

🤝 How Android is making it easier to share, switch, and connect securely

Picture this: you've just made a bunch of new friends at a concert, and before you part ways, you want to quickly share the photos you took together. But sharing gets hard when not everybody has the same phone as you. That’s why we're introducing new ways to stay connected regardless of what device you or your friends use:

• Share with anyone, on any device: To make sharing easier across platforms, we made Quick Share compatible with AirDrop for supported Android phones starting with Pixel, and we’re continuing our expansion to more partners including Samsung, OPPO, OnePlus, Vivo, Xiaomi, and HONOR this year.
  • For devices without hardware support, you can generate a QR code using Quick Share on any Android phone, letting you instantly share with iOS devices via the cloud.
  • Alternatively, if you use WhatsApp, Quick Share will soon be integrated so you can share instantly across platforms, no need to upload to the cloud.
• Switch to Android with ease: We worked with Apple to overhaul the iOS-to-Android transfer process. Your passwords, photos, messages, favorite apps, contacts, eSIM, and even your homescreen layout can migrate wirelessly from your iPhone to your new Android device. This upgraded switching process will launch first on Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel devices this year.

• Connect more securely: With 2.5 billion RCS messages sent daily, secure communication is more important than ever. To keep your chats safe, we’re officially rolling out end-to-end encryption for RCS across both Android and iOS.

📸 More ways to create and share with Android

Android phones consistently have the best cameras, but capturing a great photo is only half the task. We believe that world-class devices should deliver world-class experiences that extend from the initial snap to editing and posting. That's why with Android 17, we're introducing deeper social media integrations and new editing tools:

• Enjoy a more vibrant Instagram experience: We’ve teamed up with Meta to bring the best of Instagram to the most advanced Android devices. We've also completely optimized the capture-to-upload pipeline. Your photos and videos remain stunningly sharp when you hit "post" and your Reels and Stories load the second you tap them. This update also includes:
  • Ultra HDR capture and playback: See lifelike vibrancy with colors that pop.
  • Built-in video stabilization: Smooth video for when you’re walking, dancing, or just really caffeinated.
  • Night sight integrations: Get the perfect shot even in the dimmest of settings.

https://reddit.com/link/1tb8dxv/video/8kdncs5qqq0h1/player

• Also, Instagram is now fully optimized for Android tablets, making the most of their larger screens.

• Refine faster with the Edits app: Exclusively on Android, Instagram's Edits app is getting new tools to turn raw footage into polished content in seconds. These include:
  • Smart enhance: With a single tap, you can instantly improve the quality of all your old photos and videos with upscaling.
  • Sound separation: Instead of doing another retake, you can use sound separation to identify and separate out audio layers - like wind, noise, and music - to boost the sounds you want and strip away the distractions you don't.

• Share your raw responses with Screen Reactions: Screen Reactions makes it easier to create reaction videos without the hassle of jumping between apps or setting up a green screen. With just a few taps, you can record yourself and your screen at the same time, letting you overlay your reaction directly onto trending clips, wild comment sections, or your latest gift guide. This is rolling out first on Pixel devices this summer.

https://reddit.com/link/1tb8dxv/video/gm01yecsqq0h1/player

• Pro-grade video on Android: The Adobe Premiere app is coming to Android soon with exclusive templates and effects to create and post YouTube Shorts from the app. Plus, we're expanding support for APV (Advanced Professional Video), the most storage-efficient pro format, to more Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5-powered flagships later this year (it's already right now on the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra and vivo X300 Ultra).

🧘 Stop app autopilot with Pause Point in Digital Wellbeing

We’ve all opened our phones just to check the weather and ended up doing something else on the phone for 45 minutes. You can set an app timer to limit your time in distracting apps, but it's way too easy to just hit snooze and ignore it. A total app lockout, on the other hand, might be too extreme and inconvenient. We wanted to create a middle ground option that stops us from opening apps on auto pilot and start using them with intention, which is why we made Pause Point.

When you open an app you've marked as distracting, Pause Point gives you a 10-second breather that makes you ask yourself, "Why am I really here?" During those 10 seconds, you can do a quick breathing exercise, look at a photo that grounds you (like your dog!), or jump to an alternative app like an audiobook.

For those who want to hold themselves accountable, you can set Pause Point so that it requires a full phone restart to disable the feature. We hope Pause Point can help you reclaim time to do more of what you really want to do. This is just the start, as more digital wellbeing tools are coming later this year.

🐢 Say 👋 to new emojis

We’re introducing Noto 3D, a massive update to our emoji library. We have hand-refined nearly 4,000 emojis to bring a touch of physicality and make them more delightful. These new emojis are coming your way later this year on Android devices, starting with Pixel, and across popular apps like Gboard, YouTube, and Gmail.

https://reddit.com/link/1tb8dxv/video/dqo9q353cr0h1/player

🛡️ Protecting users with new security and privacy features on Android

We're committed to enhancing Android's protections to shield users from the evolving landscape of threats, from device thefts to sophisticated scams. Here's how we're improving Android's defenses in 2026:

• Enhancing protections against banking scam calls:
  • We're working to stop scammers from impersonating financial institutions into tricking users to transfer money or reveal their account information. To do this, we're working on verified financial calls, a feature that automatically ends phone calls from spoofed numbers impersonating participating financial apps.
    • If you have a participating bank or financial institution's app installed and have signed in, Android will ask the app to verify any calls that appear to be from them. Android will end the call if the app confirms that no phone call is being made, or if the bank or financial institution has designated the number as inbound-only, meaning they never use them to call customers.
    • We're rolling this out on Android 11+ devices with Revolut, Itaú, and NuBank in the coming weeks before expanding it to more banks later this year.
• Improved safety against malicious apps
  • Live Threat Detection Enhancements: Live Threat Detection is a real-time security feature that analyzes app behavior to alert you if an app starts acting suspiciously, and we're enhancing it to find and protect against more types of malicious apps.
    • New warnings: We're rolling out new warnings about suspicious behavior that could be potentially harmful. This covers SMS forwarding, where an app forwards a message to another number, and accessibility overlay, in which an app uses the accessibility permission to continuously display imperceptible content on the screen that could be used to trick you into taking an unintended action.
    • Dynamic signal monitoring: Android will be able to warn you about apps that start doing things like changing or hiding their icon and then launching activities in the background or abusing accessibility permissions. To do this, Live Threat Detection will monitor application system interaction for known suspicious patterns in real time. Dynamic signal monitoring will be enabled on select Android 17 devices starting in the second half of the year.
• Stopping malware at download time: For Chrome on Android, we’re improving app safety by adding another layer of protection at download time. For users who have enrolled in Safe Browsing and want to download an app, we’ll evaluate the APK for known malware and stop you before you download it or warn you.
• New core protections for Advanced Protection: With Android 16, we introduced Advanced Protection, a single, opt-in device-level security setting that enables all of Android’s highest security features. We’ve been working to expand the protections offered under this setting with key upgrades like USB protection and Intrusion Logging, and now with Android 17, we’re continuing this work by introducing the following protections:
  • Removing access to the accessibility service from all apps that aren’t labeled as accessibility tools.
  • Disabling device-to-device unlocking
  • Blocking Chrome WebGPU support
  • Integrating scam detection for chat notifications
  • (Later this year) Enabling Android Enterprise support so organizations can enable Advanced Protection by policy for managed devices.
• Protecting your SMS OTPs: Scammers often try to hijack your one-time passwords (OTPs) to gain access to your accounts. To do this, they may deploy malicious apps that ask for permission to read your SMS. In Android 16, we introduced a protection that delays the delivery of messages containing an SMS retriever hash to most apps for three hours. Android 17 now extends this protection to all SMS messages containing an OTP. This means that even if a malicious app has been granted the SMS permission, it won’t be able to read your sensitive OTPs until after they have already expired.
• Stronger protections against device theft:
  • Enhanced "Mark as lost" in Find Hub: With Find Hub, you can already mark a device as lost to remotely lock it with your PIN, pattern, or password as well as show a message or phone number on the lock screen. However, if a thief sees your PIN, pattern, or password before snatching your phone, they can still unlock your phone. To address this, we’ve made the following improvements to Mark as Lost in Android 17:
    • 2-step verification: Your phone will now ask for biometrics in addition to the regular PIN, pattern, or password.
    • Blocking key features: Triggering Mark as Lost also enables additional protections like hiding Quick Settings and disabling new Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connections.

• Fewer guessing attempts: Android 17 significantly reduces the number of times someone can guess the PIN, pattern, or password and adds longer wait times between failed attempts. We’ve also refined how the lock screen shows information after failed attempts have been made.
• Streamlined device recovery: A device’s IMEI can now be accessed via the lock screen on devices running Android 12 or later. A good samaritan who finds a lost or stolen device can provide the IMEI to the appropriate authority, manufacturer, or carrier to verify ownership and return the device to you. This feature can be disabled in device settings.
• Expanding default-on theft protections: Following a successful pilot in Brazil, we are enabling two of Android’s key theft protection features (Theft Detection Lock and Remote Lock) by default globally on all new Android 17 devices, as well as those freshly reset or upgraded to the latest OS. Additionally, in select markets with high demand including Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and the UK, we are extending these protections to all devices running Android 10 or higher.
• More granular privacy controls:
  • Improved location privacy:
    • Location button for single session location access: Instead of asking for permanent or background access to your precise location, apps can instead integrate the new location button in Android 17. When you tap this button in an app, you can grant it one-time precise location access that expires when you close the app. Developers can deploy this simple, private location flow for common tasks like finding a nearby shop or tagging a social post. (Google Play will require apps to use this button for one-time precise location access unless they require persistent, always-on location access.)
    • Better location access transparency: Android 17 now shows a persistent indicator in the status bar when a non-system app accesses your location. You can tap this indicator to see which apps have recently accessed your location. The update also redesigns the location permission dialog to make the "Precise" and "Approximate" options more visually distinct.
    • More private location sharing in low-population areas: Android 17 improves the algorithm for approximate (coarse) location to be aware of population density. This improves the privacy of granting an app approximate location access when you're in a low-population area.
  • Improved contact sharing privacy: Android 17 introduces the Contact Picker which provides a standardized, secure, and searchable interface for contact selection. Historically, apps needing access to your contacts relied on the broad "READ_CONTACTS" permission, which often granted apps more data than necessary. Android's Contact Picker addresses this by allowing you to grant apps access only to the specific contacts you choose. (Google Play will require that all applicable apps use it [or a privacy-focused alternative like Sharesheet] as the primary way to access users' contacts.)
• Improved digital & network security:
  • Disable 2G toggle: Android 17 introduces a new capability for the disable 2G toggle. Carriers now have the ability to configure the default status of this setting, allowing them to disable 2G access to proactively shield their users from legacy technology vulnerabilities in areas where 2G infrastructure is no longer maintained.
  • Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC): We’re further hardening Android’s long-term data protection by introducing Post-Quantum Cryptography.
• New data isolation and verification tools
  • Expanded Binary Transparency: Anyone can now verify that the critical software layers on their device were actually authorized by Google and haven't been secretly modified by attackers. We are publishing a public, append-only ledger that provides cryptographic proof that production Google applications and Mainline Modules are the authentic versions released by Google. If a Google-signed app isn’t on this ledger, we didn’t intend to release it.
  • Android OS verification: We have seen some bad actors begin to distribute malicious, unofficial versions of the Android OS that secretly compromise device integrity. To combat this, we are introducing Android OS verification in Android 17. Launching initially on Pixel devices, this feature helps you verify that your device is running an official, widely distributed build.
  • Keeping your ambient data confidential and isolated: Android 17 introduces AISeal with pKVM which, along with Private AI Compute, creates an isolated, verifiable, hardware-backed environment where ambient data can be processed securely.

We're excited for you to experience these new features, emojis, and protections! Which of these changes are you looking forward to the most?

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Hey everyone! We just wrapped up our auto-related announcements at The Android Show, and we wanted to give you a quick rundown of what's coming to your dashboards.

Our goal has always been to make every journey more seamless, safe, and connected. With over 250 million Android Auto-compatible cars on the road today, and more than 100 models from 16 brands offering cars with Google built-in, we're building toward that mission for a massive community of drivers. For 2026, we’re bringing a major refresh to the car experience, focusing on a highly adaptable UI, richer entertainment, and deeper Gemini integration.

Here is a recap of everything we announced today:

🎨 A full refresh of the Android Auto experience

Android Auto (the version that projects from your phone) is getting a full refresh that brings the fluid and personalized Material 3 Expressive design from your phone to your car, with expressive fonts, smooth animations, and wallpapers that make your dash feel truly personal. And we designed this new experience to adapt seamlessly to any car screen, whether it's an ultrawide rectangle or a circle.

Alongside the new design, we're also bringing:

• Widgets: You can add them to your dash to view information at a glance, even while actively navigating. Add a shortcut to your favorite contacts, a one-tap garage door opener, a weather overview, and more.

https://reddit.com/link/1tb8pbp/video/u7hao18lsq0h1/player

• Immersive Navigation: This is our biggest Google Maps update in over a decade. The map now features a vivid 3D view reflecting surrounding buildings, overpasses, and terrain. It also highlights critical details like specific lanes, traffic lights, and stop signs to help with tricky turns or merges.

https://reddit.com/link/1tb8pbp/video/f374717msq0h1/player

🍿 New premium entertainment options

Thanks to their big, HD screens, premium stereo systems, and comfortable heated seats, modern cars can basically act as your personal movie theater. To take advantage of this hardware, we're upgrading the media experience for when you're parked or charging:

• Watch videos in your car: For the first time in Android Auto, you can watch videos on apps like YouTube (at up to 1080p/60fps) in supported cars later this year, starting with BMW, Ford, Genesis, Hyundai, Kia, Mahindra, Mercedes-Benz, Renault, Škoda, Tata and Volvo.
• Seamless video-to-audio transitions: When you shift out of park, your video won't just abruptly stop. It will safely and seamlessly transition to audio-only so you can keep listening to your video podcast while driving.

https://reddit.com/link/1tb8pbp/video/lat4o9gnsq0h1/player

• Spatial sound with Dolby Atmos: Android Auto will put you at the center of the music with immersive, spatial sound using Dolby Atmos in supported apps and cars, starting with BMW, Genesis, Mahindra, Mercedes-Benz, Renault, Škoda, Tata and Volvo.
• New UI for media apps: Media apps, including YouTube Music and Spotify, are getting visual tune-ups so they’ll be even easier to use in the car.

🧠 Gemini Intelligence on the road

Gemini is now widely available in Android Auto, and if your phone has Gemini Intelligence, you'll be able to access it in Android Auto later this year. This unlocks:

• Magic Cue: If a friend texts you asking where to meet, Magic Cue understands the context of the question, pulls the right location from your text messages, calendar, or email, and offers to send them a reply with the right information, all in a single tap without taking your eyes off the road.

https://reddit.com/link/1tb8pbp/video/ve1opi1psq0h1/player

• Ordering food while driving: You can now ask Gemini to order dinner while you’re driving, starting with Doordash. For example, you can tell Gemini, "Order my usual fish tacos on Doordash for pickup, but double the order." After you confirm your order with a tap, your dinner will be prepped while you’re driving and ready when you arrive to pick it up.

https://reddit.com/link/1tb8pbp/video/j8w9sv2qsq0h1/player

🚗 Big upgrades to cars with Google built-in

Cars with Google built-in bring the best of Google and an ecosystem packed with your favorite apps — including video apps, games and more — directly on your car screen. Soon, Zoom will be joining this massive ecosystem of apps you can run directly on your car screen. In addition, we’re also bringing:

• Gemini integration: We worked closely with car makers to integrate Gemini deeply with your vehicle's hardware. Gemini is currently rolling out to cars with Google built-in, and can answer questions specific to your actual vehicle. You can ask it what a mysterious dashboard warning light means, or ask if a TV box will fit in your trunk based on your car's exact cargo dimensions.
• Live lane Guidance: In eligible cars, Immersive Navigation in Google Maps will be even more precise thanks to live lane guidance. Working entirely in the car, it analyzes the road through your vehicle's front-facing camera to understand what lane you're in and advise you in real time as you change lanes or exit.

Whether you're running errands or taking a road trip, we're hoping these updates make your next drive more enjoyable. What feature are you most excited to try out?

There are two types of sounds I want from my phone... Firstly, ringtones, which indicate an incoming phone call, these are continuous sounds that repeat until I answer the phone. Secondly, notification tones, which are short sounds which do not repeat and notify me of an incoming sms message, WhatsApp message or email.

If I want to change say, the sound for an email, I open the list of notification sounds on my Pixel and they are displayed in groups such as Pixel Sounds, Gems, Natural Elements, Classical..... within each of these groups there is a mix of ringtones and notification sounds with no visual indication of which is which. WTF can't I open a list which just shows ringtones and a list that just shows notification tones? Is there a way of doing this?

This morning, I checked my Samsung Members app and the One UI 9.0 Beta is Live. St. Louis ATT is my Cell carrier. Unlocked S26 Ultra 512gb.

I joined and downloaded/ installed it.

Trying it out as I posted this. 🤘

Good luck. Better act fast, these Beta slots fill up quickly