Valve updates its shipping windows for Steam Decks again

Valve has been doing an excellent job of getting its Steam Deck console into the hands of more people. If you’ve been patiently waiting, there could be some good news. The company announced changes through its OnDeck Twitter account, letting everyone know that deliveries that were previously estimated for Q4 might now be fulfilled in Q3.

This means that if you were previously scheduled to get your Steam Deck from October through December, you could now potentially expect it to arrive by the end of next month. With that said, there is a small catch with the newly updated timeline. Unfortunately, not everyone will be bumped up to the Q3 timeframe. It will be completely dependent on when you reserved your console.

Great news! We are making more Steam Decks than ever, and have just updated shipping window estimates for reservation holders. If you were previously in the Q4 (Oct-Dec) window, take a look – you might be in Q3 now!https://t.co/AcuGmUy8LN pic.twitter.com/KinXBnFMSb

— Steam Deck (@OnDeck) August 24, 2022

Valve has continued to impress, continuously pushing up reservation windows for those patiently waiting. While shipments felt like they were being delivered at a snail’s pace at one point, Valve seemed to really turn the corner in June, announcing that it had completed its order for Q2 and was moving on to reservations in Q3. The company would add that it would be more than doubling shipments for the next round.

Last month, Valve issued a new update, stating that it was ramping up production and that it would be able to fulfill orders sooner due to improvements in the supply chain. It even boldly claimed that it would fulfill all existing pre-orders by the end of the year. Because of this, many folks who were previously in the “Q4 or later” category were bumped up to Q3. Those in the “later” part were bumped up to Q4.

While it has done an impressive job with shipments, it has also done an excellent job of improving the console through software. The firm has released several updates, improving the console’s performance and reliability. It has even managed to offer proper support for Windows through updated drivers, despite stating that it wouldn’t. If you are curious about the status of your order, you can head to the Steam Store to check to see whether your position in the queue has been changed.

---

Source: Steam Deck (Twitter)

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Will there be a Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Ultra?

Samsung recently unveiled the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Galaxy Z Flip 4 along with a new lineup of Wear OS smartwatches during its mid-year Galaxy Unpacked event. Ahead of the launch, we saw various leaks about the new smartwatches, suggesting that the Galaxy Watch 5 lineup would include a new top-of-the-line variant with a titanium case and sapphire glass. Some speculated that this could be the Galaxy Watch 5 Ultra, but that wasn’t the case. Although the Galaxy Watch 5 lineup includes a new flagship model with a titanium case and sapphire glass, Samsung did not go with the ‘Ultra’ moniker for this variant.

The all-new Wear OS smartwatch lineup from Samsung includes three models — the Galaxy Watch 5 (40mm), the Galaxy Watch 5 (44mm), and the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro (45mm). Since we haven’t seen any leaks about a fourth Galaxy Watch for this year, it’s safe to say that there won’t be a Galaxy Watch 5 Ultra. If you eagerly waited for one, you can go with the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro instead. It’s a rugged version of the regular Galaxy Watch 5, featuring a larger 1.4-inch display and a bigger 590mAh battery pack.

The Galaxy Watch 5 Pro is the top-of-the-line Wear OS smartwatch from Samsung for this year.

The Galaxy Watch 5 Pro also features an improved D-Buckle Sports Band, which is more durable than the silicone strap on the non-Pro variant. In terms of features, the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro offers everything you get with the regular model, along with GPX support that allows you to record and share your hikes with fellow-trail lovers on the Samsung Health app. If you’re into hiking or cycling, you can also use the smartwatch to track download hiking and cycling routes for offline use and utilize its Track Back feature to get back home safely.

Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro

The Galaxy Watch 5 Pro is the latest flagship Wear OS smartwatch from Samsung and, while it doesn't have the 'Ultra' moniker, it still offers some improvement over the regular Galaxy Watch 5.

Pre-order at Samsung.com

The Galaxy Watch 5 Pro will go on sale in the U.S. starting August 26. It will be available in two standard colorways — Gray Titanium and Black Titanium. The Gray Titanium variant features a matching gray strap, while the Black Titanium model comes with a black band. Samsung is also offering the watch in a special Golf Edition model, which has a black case and a white strap. The Galaxy Watch 5 Pro comes in Bluetooth and LTE variants priced at $449.99 and $499.99, respectively.

The post Will there be a Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Ultra? appeared first on XDA.

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Google Play Games on Windows comes to more countries with lower system requirements

Google has announced that Google Play Games beta on Windows is available in a couple more countries starting today. The service originally launched back in March in South Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, and now it’s also expanding to everyone in Thailand and Australia. The service is still in beta, but Google has also made some improvements to make Play Games more accessible on Windows.

Now, the app has lower system requirements, so more hardware configurations should support it. For one thing, you no longer need a dedicated GPU in order to run Google Play Games, so devices with integrated GPUs should be just fine. Google recommends at least Intel UHD Graphics 630 (or equivalent), which is an integrated GPU that’s already a few years old, so most PCs should be fine.

Google has also changed the CPU requirements, so instead of eight logical cores, it now requires four physical cores. This will enable support for processors that only have one thread per processor, which could include some lower-end CPUs, and even some older mid-range processors like the AMD Ryzen 5 4500U, which has six physical cores but only one thread per core (thus, only six logical cores).

Finally, Google has also lowered the storage requirements, so you should be able to use Google Play Games with just 10GB of free internal storage, as opposed to the 20GB that were required previously.

As Google continues to work towards a full release of Google Play Games on Windows, this will ensure many more people are able to play these games on their PC, in addition to their phones. Since its initial launch, Google says it has more than doubled the catalog of Android games available on PC, with over 50 titles now supported. These include some popular games such as Summoners War, Cookie Run: Kingdom, and Last Fortress: Underground.

If you’re in any of the supported regions, you can sign up for the Google Play Games for Windows beta here. You can also register your interest for when the service launches in other markets in the future,

The post Google Play Games on Windows comes to more countries with lower system requirements appeared first on XDA.

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Valve updates its shipping windows for Steam Decks again

Valve has been doing an excellent job of getting its Steam Deck console into the hands of more people. If you’ve been patiently waiting, there could be some good news. The company announced changes through its OnDeck Twitter account, letting everyone know that deliveries that were previously estimated for Q4 might now be fulfilled in Q3.

This means that if you were previously scheduled to get your Steam Deck from October through December, you could now potentially expect it to arrive by the end of next month. With that said, there is a small catch with the newly updated timeline. Unfortunately, not everyone will be bumped up to the Q3 timeframe. It will be completely dependent on when you reserved your console.

Great news! We are making more Steam Decks than ever, and have just updated shipping window estimates for reservation holders. If you were previously in the Q4 (Oct-Dec) window, take a look – you might be in Q3 now!https://t.co/AcuGmUy8LN pic.twitter.com/KinXBnFMSb

— Steam Deck (@OnDeck) August 24, 2022

Valve has continued to impress, continuously pushing up reservation windows for those patiently waiting. While shipments felt like they were being delivered at a snail’s pace at one point, Valve seemed to really turn the corner in June, announcing that it had completed its order for Q2 and was moving on to reservations in Q3. The company would add that it would be more than doubling shipments for the next round.

Last month, Valve issued a new update, stating that it was ramping up production and that it would be able to fulfill orders sooner due to improvements in the supply chain. It even boldly claimed that it would fulfill all existing pre-orders by the end of the year. Because of this, many folks who were previously in the “Q4 or later” category were bumped up to Q3. Those in the “later” part were bumped up to Q4.

While it has done an impressive job with shipments, it has also done an excellent job of improving the console through software. The firm has released several updates, improving the console’s performance and reliability. It has even managed to offer proper support for Windows through updated drivers, despite stating that it wouldn’t. If you are curious about the status of your order, you can head to the Steam Store to check to see whether your position in the queue has been changed.

---

Source: Steam Deck (Twitter)

The post Valve updates its shipping windows for Steam Decks again appeared first on XDA.

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Will there be a Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Ultra?

Samsung recently unveiled the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Galaxy Z Flip 4 along with a new lineup of Wear OS smartwatches during its mid-year Galaxy Unpacked event. Ahead of the launch, we saw various leaks about the new smartwatches, suggesting that the Galaxy Watch 5 lineup would include a new top-of-the-line variant with a titanium case and sapphire glass. Some speculated that this could be the Galaxy Watch 5 Ultra, but that wasn’t the case. Although the Galaxy Watch 5 lineup includes a new flagship model with a titanium case and sapphire glass, Samsung did not go with the ‘Ultra’ moniker for this variant.

The all-new Wear OS smartwatch lineup from Samsung includes three models — the Galaxy Watch 5 (40mm), the Galaxy Watch 5 (44mm), and the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro (45mm). Since we haven’t seen any leaks about a fourth Galaxy Watch for this year, it’s safe to say that there won’t be a Galaxy Watch 5 Ultra. If you eagerly waited for one, you can go with the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro instead. It’s a rugged version of the regular Galaxy Watch 5, featuring a larger 1.4-inch display and a bigger 590mAh battery pack.

The Galaxy Watch 5 Pro is the top-of-the-line Wear OS smartwatch from Samsung for this year.

The Galaxy Watch 5 Pro also features an improved D-Buckle Sports Band, which is more durable than the silicone strap on the non-Pro variant. In terms of features, the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro offers everything you get with the regular model, along with GPX support that allows you to record and share your hikes with fellow-trail lovers on the Samsung Health app. If you’re into hiking or cycling, you can also use the smartwatch to track download hiking and cycling routes for offline use and utilize its Track Back feature to get back home safely.

Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro

The Galaxy Watch 5 Pro is the latest flagship Wear OS smartwatch from Samsung and, while it doesn't have the 'Ultra' moniker, it still offers some improvement over the regular Galaxy Watch 5.

Pre-order at Samsung.com

The Galaxy Watch 5 Pro will go on sale in the U.S. starting August 26. It will be available in two standard colorways — Gray Titanium and Black Titanium. The Gray Titanium variant features a matching gray strap, while the Black Titanium model comes with a black band. Samsung is also offering the watch in a special Golf Edition model, which has a black case and a white strap. The Galaxy Watch 5 Pro comes in Bluetooth and LTE variants priced at $449.99 and $499.99, respectively.

The post Will there be a Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Ultra? appeared first on XDA.

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Google Play Games on Windows comes to more countries with lower system requirements

Google has announced that Google Play Games beta on Windows is available in a couple more countries starting today. The service originally launched back in March in South Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, and now it’s also expanding to everyone in Thailand and Australia. The service is still in beta, but Google has also made some improvements to make Play Games more accessible on Windows.

Now, the app has lower system requirements, so more hardware configurations should support it. For one thing, you no longer need a dedicated GPU in order to run Google Play Games, so devices with integrated GPUs should be just fine. Google recommends at least Intel UHD Graphics 630 (or equivalent), which is an integrated GPU that’s already a few years old, so most PCs should be fine.

Google has also changed the CPU requirements, so instead of eight logical cores, it now requires four physical cores. This will enable support for processors that only have one thread per processor, which could include some lower-end CPUs, and even some older mid-range processors like the AMD Ryzen 5 4500U, which has six physical cores but only one thread per core (thus, only six logical cores).

Finally, Google has also lowered the storage requirements, so you should be able to use Google Play Games with just 10GB of free internal storage, as opposed to the 20GB that were required previously.

As Google continues to work towards a full release of Google Play Games on Windows, this will ensure many more people are able to play these games on their PC, in addition to their phones. Since its initial launch, Google says it has more than doubled the catalog of Android games available on PC, with over 50 titles now supported. These include some popular games such as Summoners War, Cookie Run: Kingdom, and Last Fortress: Underground.

If you’re in any of the supported regions, you can sign up for the Google Play Games for Windows beta here. You can also register your interest for when the service launches in other markets in the future,

The post Google Play Games on Windows comes to more countries with lower system requirements appeared first on XDA.

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Does the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 support 5G?

Samsung’s new Galaxy Z Flip 4 is shaping to be one of the best foldable phones you can buy in 2022. The new clamshell phone offers almost all the flagship features you’d expect from a high-end device, including the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 chipset, an OLED panel with support for up to 120Hz refresh rate, and more. You may be wondering if the new Galaxy Z Flip 4 supports 5G or not. The short answer to that question is yes, the Galaxy Z Flip 4 supports 5G.

That’s right, the new Galaxy Z Flip 4, just like its predecessor, supports 5G, meaning you can use it on 5G networks if it’s available in your region. The support for 5G, however, may vary depending on the choice of your carrier. The phone supports both mmWave 5G and sub-6GHz 5G, but it may be limited to just one or the other based on the carrier support. The support for mmWave 5G may be limited to a few regions as not all carriers support the ultra-wideband 5G network. In such cases, the Galaxy Z Flip 4 will only be able to connect to sub-6GHz 5G network.

Samsung is yet to disclose the list of 5G bands supported by the Galaxy Z Flip 4 itself, but we were able to compile a list of supported bands from regulatory filings and carrier information. The Galaxy Z Flip 4 supports n2, n5, n12, n25, n30, n38, n41, n48, n66, n71, n77, n258, n260, and n261. The Galaxy Z Flip 4 units, in case you’re wondering, will work perfectly fine with all major carriers in the US including Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T, and more, as you get support for all the necessary 5G bands used by these carriers.

It goes without saying that the same phone sold in different regions might have different 5G bands. So it’s best to buy the Galaxy Z Flip 4 in the country you live in. If not, then make sure your device has all the relevant bands to support 5G in your region.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 deal for XDA readers

For a limited time, Samsung is offering free memory upgrade and a free case on pre-booking of the Galaxy Z Flip 4. In addition, XDA readers also get a $100 Samsung Credit and up to $900 enhanced trade-in credit on eligible devices. Click on the link below to activate the offer.

Buy from Samsung

If you’re planning to buy the Galaxy Z Flip 4, then be sure to stop by our Galaxy Z Flip 4 deals page to see if you can snag a good deal on your purchase. If you’ve already picked up the phone, then consider buying one of the best Galaxy Z Flip 4 cases to protect it as foldables are generally more fragile than conventional phones.

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