Metro by T-Mobile wants to give you unlimited wireless AND a 2026 Samsung phone for just $40 per month — here's the deal

androidcentral.com Sep 18, 2026

Metro by T-Mobile wants to give you unlimited wireless AND a 2026 Samsung phone for just $40 per month — here’s the deal

Curated by Shubham · TechCapsules · Sep 18, 2026

AI-summarised brief · reviewed before publication

Patrick, the eCommerce Editor at Android Central, transitioned from independent bookstore work and freelance writing to full‑time tech journalism in 2020. He joined Android Central in 2022 as the Deals and Commerce Writer, now overseeing eCommerce coverage and major sale events. Patrick specializes in simplifying complex tech purchases, aiming to reduce buyer’s remorse. His background spans writing for the Chicago Tribune, The Hill, BestReviews, and OddityMall, and he enjoys outdoor activities and caring for a polydactyl cat.

💡 Why It Matters

· Patrick’s expertise helps consumers navigate the often confusing tech marketplace, turning intricate carrier and device choices into clear, actionable advice.
· This clarity can save shoppers significant time and money.

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After the iPhone Duo, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 just got even…

An overseas report indicates the Galaxy Z Fold 8 experienced a 10% sales lift after Apple unveiled its foldable iPhone Duo. Samsung’s Fold 8, already breaking pre‑order records, benefited from price differentials and immediate availability, especially in South Korea where the Duo costs a million won more and lacks a 1 TB option. The report notes consumers “waiting and seeing” before deciding, with the Fold 8’s quicker release and lower entry price tipping the scale.

💡 The surge shows how launch timing and pricing can sway consumer choice in the foldable market, underscoring the strategic advantage of early availability over a high‑profile competitor.

androidcentral.com · Sep 18

Google continues to fix Android 17 issues with a QPR2 Beta 5…

Google began rolling out Android 17 QPR2 Beta 5 to eligible Pixel devices, delivering a series of bug fixes ahead of the final platform‑stability milestone. The update targets unexpected reboots during continuous UI scrolling in media‑heavy apps, a missing volume‑slider UI when casting, and an HDR toggle that remained active despite user settings. Additional patches correct a Bluetooth‑device‑type icon glitch, stray background highlights in search fields, a Private Space unlocking error, a power‑button shortcut that froze the touchscreen, camera panorama crashes, and Bluetooth audio distortion after calls. Testers with Pixel 6a, 7, 7 Pro, 7a, Pixel Fold or Pixel Tablet receive build vCP41.260828.005.A6; all other supported Pixels receive vCP41.260828.004.A8.

💡 The fixes clear the last technical hurdles before Android 17’s stable release, ensuring a smoother user experience for the flagship Pixel lineup.

androidcentral.com · Sep 18

Google just put the latest AI models through a brutal coding test…

Google unveiled Android Bench 2.0, a new benchmark that evaluates large language models on complex Android development tasks such as upgrading dependencies, adding major features, and building apps from scratch. The test introduces long‑horizon tasks that can take days to complete and shifts from a binary pass‑or‑fail to continuous scoring. Early results show GPT‑6 Astra leading with a 28% pass rate, while Gemini 3.8 Flash achieved only 8%. The benchmark aims to better gauge AI capabilities for real‑world software development.

💡 The benchmark forces AI models to tackle multi‑day coding projects, revealing practical strengths and gaps that smaller tests miss. It provides developers with clearer guidance on which models can reliably handle the full lifecycle of Android app creation.

9to5google.com · Sep 18

Google Keep update tweaks the homescreen widget on Android

Google has released version 5.26.365.x of its Keep app for Android, redesigning the “Note collection” homescreen widget. The previous Material You‑era sidebar that offered shortcuts for text, list, audio, drawing and photo notes has been removed and replaced with a circular floating‑action button (FAB). Tapping the FAB opens a pop‑up menu, mirroring the interaction of the smaller “Quick capture” widget and adding a second tap for note creation. The new edge‑to‑edge layout displays more of each note, eliminating the empty space that was common in full‑width homescreen configurations. The update follows the earlier rollout of Keep Live for Google AI Plus, Pro and Ultra subscribers and is being distributed through the Play Store.

💡 The streamlined widget reduces visual clutter and aligns Keep’s quick‑capture workflow with Google’s broader UI consistency, encouraging faster note‑taking directly from the home screen.

9to5google.com · Sep 17

Google goes in-depth, and a bit NSFW, on Noto 3D emoji as…

Google Design released a detailed overview of its Noto 3D emoji set, explaining that each character was hand‑drawn, sculpted, and debated to preserve emotional clarity while minimizing extraneous detail. Research guided the removal of complex anatomical features that slowed emotional processing, limiting each emoji to three essential details. The team shifted from flat icons to three‑dimensional forms that emphasize silhouette and posture, updating animal emojis like the raccoon. Noto 3D now expands beyond Pixel devices to Android, Google apps, and partners such as Lenovo, Xiaomi, and OnePlus.

💡 The rollout demonstrates Google’s commitment to refining visual communication, potentially setting a new standard for emoji design across the industry.

9to5google.com · Sep 17

Android Bench 2.0 focuses on long-horizon tasks, agent evaluations

Google unveiled Android Bench 2.0, a benchmark designed to assess large‑language models’ ability to perform software development tasks on Android. Unlike the first version, which measured incremental changes such as bug fixes, the new suite evaluates complex work like building new features, creating apps from scratch, and porting cross‑platform code to Android. Scoring shifts from binary pass/fail to a continuous metric that weighs functionality, visual fidelity, regression avoidance, and adherence to instructions, applying penalties for deviations. Tested models include Gemini 3.7/3.8 Flash, OpenAI GPT‑6, Anthropic Fable 5.1, Kimi K3, and Qwen 3.8 Max, with GPT‑6 Astra achieving the highest 28 % pass rate under the tougher criteria. No model reached a perfect score; the best achieved 80 % completion on cross‑platform porting.

💡 By quantifying how well AI agents can deliver end‑to‑end Android development, the benchmark exposes the current limits of code‑generation models and sets a measurable target for future tooling that could automate weeks of engineering work.