Compared to competing hotwords like “Hey Siri” and “Alexa,” the “Hey Google” wake word is downright clunky. Maybe it’s the guttural phonetics of the phrase, or perhaps it’s a subliminal objection to pledging corporate allegiance just to get some info. But whatever the reason, it’s high time Google let us invoke its digital assistants with a more natural phrase. After this week’s news, it’s looking more likely that could finally happen.
With Samsung’s next Unpacked happening on Wednesday, there wasn’t much left to learn about the Galaxy S25 — but the new phone’s updated Galaxy AI showed up in a number of leaks this week. Meanwhile, the clock was ticking on the US TikTok ban, and a bunch of last-minute news poured in. This all happened in a week with a lot of Gemini and Android 16 news, so it’s probably best if we dive right in.
Last Week’s Roundup
There’s almost nothing left to learn about the Galaxy S25 after last week’s news
Plus Android 15 updates and Kindle jailbreaks
When Google teased Android XR at the end of last year, one thing stood out in the demo videos: Users were talking to their AR glasses by saying “Hey Gemini,” not “Hey Google.” But this didn’t necessarily have any implications for Android or smart speakers — after all, Google is billing the OS as being developed with Gemini at its core.
This week, a major Galaxy AI leak for the S25 (more on that later) has given us hope that this new wake word will extend to phones. What appear to be official Samsung marketing materials were leaked by a reliable source, and though they’re in Portuguese, one features a prominent “Oi Google Gemini,” or “Hey Google Gemini,” in English. While the extra “Google” in the middle is worrisome, seeing the English-language Android XR video use the shorter wake word gives us hope that Google’s “Hey Gemini” wake word could debut this month.
The TikTok ban is here… or not
TikTok’s US fate has been unclear ever since the House of Representatives passed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act. After a flurry of last-minute news this week, the app’s future is still surprisingly uncertain.
First, we learned that owner ByteDance will likely render the app unusable if the ban goes into effect this Sunday, January 19. The gravity of this situation seemed to spur some American users to make the migration over to another Chinese social media app shortly after.
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If TikTok’s US ban goes through on Sunday, even sideloading might not work
ByteDance is said to be shutting the entire app down
By the end of the week, we learned that outgoing President Biden won’t enforce the ban and instead will leave it up to incoming President Trump. Trump is thought to be deliberating on a similar stance that could see a lack of enforcement under the new administration. This represents TikTok’s last and best hope to continue operation, as the week wrapped with the Supreme Court shooting down owner ByteDance’s last lifeline and upholding the ban.
Main Story
Supreme Court upholds TikTok ban ahead of Sunday’s deadline
It’s the end of road for ByteDance, unless it divests
The S25’s Galaxy AI might be more cobbled together than Apple Intelligence
Apple Intelligence is part Siri, part API — in fact, some of the more exciting functionality integrates iPhone features with external AIs like ChatGPT. As the Galaxy S25’s January 22 announcement date nears, it’s looking like Samsung might take some cues from its main competitor with the next generation of Galaxy AI.
One of the headlining new features is the Now Bar, an element of the One UI 7 lock screen that will reside between the quick access shortcuts. Towards the middle of the week, an extensive leak detailed something called Now Brief, a subset of the Now Bar, which is expected to use AI to summarize important information from the phone.
Much like Apple’s implementation, it doesn’t seem like Samsung will be developing all of these AI features in-house, as Now Brief was said to be powered by Google Gemini in the leaked materials. More direct evidence coming from an APK teardown suggested that Gemini will power even more of the new Galaxy AI, with a set of Samsung-specific extensions that will let Google’s LLM tap into One UI stock apps.
Main Story
S25 leak spills juicy details on Samsung’s new Galaxy AI features
Samsung’s biggest launch event of the year will see the debut of a slew of new useful AI features, as per leaks
Gemini got a lot more than a rumored wake word
With Samsung Unpacked looking like it could be a banner day for Google’s AI, Gemini found itself in the news quite often this week. For starters, the AI is now bundled into all of Google’s Workspace plans, eliminating the need for a separate add-on charge while increasing base prices across the board.
For regular users, Google partnered with The Associated Press to provide its AI with access to real-time information in an effort to “further enhance the usefulness of results displayed in the Gemini app.” While the usefulness of this partnership is yet to be seen, another Gemini change can be taken advantage of right away: Now, Gemini can control your smart home devices while your phone is still locked.
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Google Gemini’s new lock screen setting has a hidden smart home benefit
You can now control smart lights without unlocking
Android 16 rears its pretty head
Android 16 is due to see its first public beta build sometime this month, and it seems Google is getting the new version ready for the spotlight. The theme of this week’s news was aethetics, as a few slick UIs were spotted in development.
For one, the new predictive back animation could spread to button navigation, giving you a glimpse of where you’ll land before letting go of the back button. And even though Android 15 just overhauled the menu, there’s evidence that Google might tweak the volume sliders again in this year’s release. But perhaps the most visually intriguing development spotted this week was a new triple split-screen mode, which looks like it should be a boon for tablet multitasking.
Main Story
Android 16 may introduce triple split-screen mode for tablets
OnePlus-inspired multitasking spotted in dev preview