Tag: Windows 11

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Mobile Syrup

Samsung unveils Galaxy Book2 Pro, Pro 360 with 12th Gen Intel chips and Arc

Samsung has unveiled its latest Windows laptops, the Galaxy Book2 Pro and Book 2 Pro 360, at MWC. The new laptops build on last year’s Galaxy Book Pro with new features, improved hardware, Windows 11 and more.

There’s plenty to unpack with the Book 2 Pro and Pro 360, but before we dig into specs, there are some highlight features worth making note of. Chief among them is Samsung’s ‘Multi Control,’ which allows Galaxy Book users to control their Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 with the Galaxy Book’s keyboard and mouse.

If that seems familiar, it’s probably because it’s practically identical to Apple’s ‘Universal Control’ feature. That said, Apple’s Universal Control hasn’t actually launched yet — it’s still in beta and, at this rate, it seems like Samsung might actually beat it to the punch.

Samsung also touted the security features of its new laptops. Another highlight was the 87° 1080p webcam with ‘Auto Framing’ that tracks subjects to keep them in frame, like Apple’s Center Stage. Bixby will also make its way onto the Book 2 Pro and Pro 360 so you can continue to not use it on your laptop as well as your smartphone now.

Samsung Galaxy Book 2 Pro in Silver and Graphite.

As for specs, the Book 2 Pro and Pro 360 both seem loaded. Both laptops sport 12th Gen Intel Core i5 or i7 chips with Intel Evo certification, up to 32GB of RAM, and up to 1TB of storage. All the laptops use Intel’s Xe integrated graphics, although the 15.6-inch Book 2 Pro will also have access to Intel Arc graphics.

On that note, both laptops some in 13.3- and 15.6-inch options with SuperAMOLED FHD (1920×1080 pixel) screens, with the Pro 360 offering a 360° hinge and S-Pen support (thankfully, one comes in the box). The laptops support Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.1, fingerprint authentication and more. The 15.6-inch Book 2 Pro also has 5G available.

Galaxy Book 2 Pro in ‘tent mode’

Overall, these new Galaxy Books look impressive, although it, unfortunately, looks like they’ll come loaded with Samsung software like last year’s Galaxy Book. For anyone deeply committed to the Samsung ecosystem, that may be welcome, but for everyone else, it’s more bloat to uninstall from your new PC.

Samsung says the Galaxy Book 2 Pro and Pro 360 will be available in ‘Silver,’ ‘Graphite,’ and ‘Burgundy’ (only for the Pro 360) and will launch in April.

Images credit: Samsung

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Mobile Syrup

First major Windows 11 update brings improved apps, taskbar changes

The first big Windows 11 update is now rolling out to users with several new features, including Android apps (in preview), new Notepad and Media Player apps, and more.

As reported by The Verge, the Android apps public preview is available in the U.S. – bad news for any Canadian Windows 11 users eager to start installing Android apps on their PC. The preview will allow users to install apps from Amazon’s Appstore, which is far more limited than the Google Play Store. However, there are unofficial ways to get the Play Store up and running for those who want to.

Next, Microsoft’s redesigned Media Player and Notepad apps arrive with this update. We’ve covered the Media Player changes before (check that out here). As for Notepad, the updated app now supports multi-step undo, has an improved search interface, and supports dark mode.

The Verge highlighted several improvements coming to the taskbar. The Windows 11 taskbar has been a sore point for many since it dropped several basic (yet arguably integral) features for a frankly modest design update.

Taskbar improvements include making the time and date available on multiple monitors, a return of the weather widget, and a new mute/unmute feature available for Microsoft Teams calls. Teams will also get a new, integrated button to share specific apps or windows directly from the taskbar.

For all the improvements, other basic features are still missing. For one, the ability to pin the taskbar to the left, right, or top of your display (a particular sour point for me). Hopefully, future updates will restore these features.

Speaking of future updates, it’s worth noting that Microsoft moved both Windows 11 and 10 to an annual update cycle, but this first big Windows 11 update won’t be the last one for the year. And, despite the change to the update cycle, Microsoft plans to add new features to Windows 11 more frequently.

On the surface, it sounds confusing – an annual update schedule with more frequent feature updates seems counterintuitive – but I understand it to be more like Google’s Pixel Feature Drops. In other words, one big annual update (like Android 12 or 13, but for Windows) and smaller updates with new features dropping regularly.

Still, given how often Windows updates seem to break things, I’m curious to see if this new approach to updates works out or causes Microsoft more problems in the long run.

Source: The Verge

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Mobile Syrup

First major Windows 11 update brings improved apps, taskbar changes

The first big Windows 11 update is now rolling out to users with several new features, including Android apps (in preview), new Notepad and Media Player apps, and more.

As reported by The Verge, the Android apps public preview is available in the U.S. – bad news for any Canadian Windows 11 users eager to start installing Android apps on their PC. The preview will allow users to install apps from Amazon’s Appstore, which is far more limited than the Google Play Store. However, there are unofficial ways to get the Play Store up and running for those who want to.

Next, Microsoft’s redesigned Media Player and Notepad apps arrive with this update. We’ve covered the Media Player changes before (check that out here). As for Notepad, the updated app now supports multi-step undo, has an improved search interface, and supports dark mode.

The Verge highlighted several improvements coming to the taskbar. The Windows 11 taskbar has been a sore point for many since it dropped several basic (yet arguably integral) features for a frankly modest design update.

Taskbar improvements include making the time and date available on multiple monitors, a return of the weather widget, and a new mute/unmute feature available for Microsoft Teams calls. Teams will also get a new, integrated button to share specific apps or windows directly from the taskbar.

For all the improvements, other basic features are still missing. For one, the ability to pin the taskbar to the left, right, or top of your display (a particular sour point for me). Hopefully, future updates will restore these features.

Speaking of future updates, it’s worth noting that Microsoft moved both Windows 11 and 10 to an annual update cycle, but this first big Windows 11 update won’t be the last one for the year. And, despite the change to the update cycle, Microsoft plans to add new features to Windows 11 more frequently.

On the surface, it sounds confusing – an annual update schedule with more frequent feature updates seems counterintuitive – but I understand it to be more like Google’s Pixel Feature Drops. In other words, one big annual update (like Android 12 or 13, but for Windows) and smaller updates with new features dropping regularly.

Still, given how often Windows updates seem to break things, I’m curious to see if this new approach to updates works out or causes Microsoft more problems in the long run.

Source: The Verge

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Mobile Syrup

Microsoft updating Windows 11 volume indicator to match new design

Microsoft will finally update the volume indicator in Windows 11, replacing the blocky black bar that’s been in Windows since Windows 8 back in 2012.

Along with the volume indicator, Microsoft will update the brightness, camera privacy, camera on/off and airplane mode indicators to match the more modern Windows 11 design. I can’t help but wonder why none of these things made it into Windows 11 at launch, considering the main benefit of Windows 11 was the new design. Still, it’s good to see these changes will finally make their way to Windows 11.

The new indicators will follow Windows’ light/dark mode theming and appear when users press the volume or brightness keys on their keyboards.

Microsoft will also test a new call experience in the Your Phone app on Windows 11. The changes here include a new in-progress call window, updated icons, fonts, and other UI changes that better match Windows 11.

These changes will arrive first as part of Windows 11 preview build 22533, which was released to Windows 11 Insiders on the Dev Channel on January 12th.

It’s not clear when Microsoft plans to push these changes out to the stable version of Windows 11. The Verge suggests they could come in a monthly update and to expect the changes to arrive sometime this year.

Images credit: Microsoft

Source: Microsoft Via: The Verge

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Mobile Syrup

Microsoft testing improved AirPod support in Windows 11 Insider build

Microsoft rolled out a new Windows 11 build to ‘Dev channel’ Insiders with a few minor new features. Most notable among them is an improvement for Apple’s AirPods earbuds and headphones.

Spotted by XDA Developers, Windows 11 Dev channel build 22526 brings added support for wideband speech across AirPods, AirPods Pro and AirPods Max. That should mean users will enjoy improved audio quality for voice calls when using AirPods devices with Windows 11.

Of course, the change might be a ways out from hitting the stable Windows 11 channel. XDA notes that the changes in ‘build 22526’ are not tied to a specific Windows OS release, which means they could arrive in any future update (for example, the fall feature update).

Other small but notable changes include Microsoft experimenting with showing ‘Alt+Tab’ as windowed instead of fullscreen and an experiment to index more file locations to improve search in File Explorer.

Source: Microsoft Via: XDA Developers

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Mobile Syrup

Microsoft tests moving more options from Control Panel to the Settings app

A long-running problem with modern versions of Windows — like Windows 11 and Windows 10 — is that there are two versions of several important apps. Perhaps the best example is the Settings app and Control Panel. Settings fits aesthetically with Windows’ modern design while Control Panel is the go-to destination for power users thanks to its functionality.

However, new tests in beta builds of Windows 11 include expanded Settings options that will hopefully help replace Control Panel functionality by moving it into the Settings app.

As spotted by The Verge, Microsoft moved some advanced network settings into a new Settings page. Those include folder sharing options, printers and network discovery options. Moreover, some entry points to the network and device settings in Windows 11 now send users to the Settings app instead of Control Panel.

Another change applies to links that previously send users to the Control Panel to uninstall apps. Those now lead to the Settings app. Plus, the options for uninstalling Windows Updates now reside in the Settings app instead of Control Panel.

However, it remains to be seen whether these changes will prove detrimental to certain use cases. Part of why the Control Panel has stuck around for so long is because of legacy and business needs. Microsoft needs to strike a balance between moving and updating these settings to modern Windows standards without reducing functionality.

Source: Microsoft Via: The Verge

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Mobile Syrup

How to reset your Windows 11 computer

Sometimes, you need to reset your Windows PC. There are a ton of reasons for it — maybe something isn’t working properly, so you want to reset and try to fix it. Or perhaps you need to return a work or school PC and you want to clear your data off it. Or, maybe you want to start fresh and clear out years of digital clutter in one fell swoop.

Whatever the reason, Windows has a somewhat approachable reset tool. Before we get into how to use the reset tool, I want to note that this article will focus on Windows 11 since it’s the newest (and current) version of Windows. Most of these steps should apply to previous versions of Windows (very little, if anything at all, has changed here since Windows 10), but some things may look a little different.

With that said, let’s get into it.

How to reset Windows

First things first, you need to open Settings then scroll down and click ‘Recovery.’ There are a few troubleshooting tools here you can play with, but for the purpose of this article, we’re going to go straight for ‘Reset this PC.’ Click the ‘Reset PC’ button to open the reset tool.

If for some reason you can’t access the settings app, you can boot your PC into the Windows Recovery Environment by holding the Shift key and clicking restart. Then click Troubleshoot > Reset this PC to get to the reset tool.

Once you open the reset tool, you’ll just need to click through and select a few options. Don’t worry, I’ll explain them as we go.

The first choice is between ‘Keep my files’ and ‘Remove everything.’ If you’re just looking to try and fix and Windows issue and don’t want to lose anything, the first option for you. Anyone wanting to clean house — for example, on a work laptop you’re giving back to IT — you’ll want option two.

Next up, the reset tool will ask how you want to reinstall Windows. You can choose to reinstall from the cloud via an internet connection or use a local reinstall from files stored on-device.

I almost exclusively use the local restore to avoid waiting for a download (although the estimated 4GB size Microsoft lists isn’t huge). As someone who regularly resets review units to return them once I’ve finished testing, I’ve also never had an issue with using local reinstall. That said, there may be instances where cloud reinstall is the way to go, so make the selection based on your needs.

Next up is the ‘Additional settings’ screen, which lists out the current reset options you’ve selected. However, there are almost always more options worth looking at if you click ‘Change settings’ at the bottom of the list.

For example, if you’re doing a reset and keeping your files, clicking ‘Change settings’ will give you a toggle to restore preinstalled apps and settings that came with your device.

When doing a full reset, on the other hand, this section includes an option to ‘Clean data.’ It takes longer, but it fully removes your files from the drives. I highly recommend cleaning your drive if you’re doing this before giving away that device as it should help prevent someone from recovering any of your personal files down the line.

Finally, the last screen in the reset tool will give a summary of what will happen when you reset. This should include all the options you’ve selected so far. Review the list and, if everything looks good, click ‘Reset’ to start the process. Depending on your device, the size of your drives and other factors, the reset can take anywhere from a few minutes to an hour or more. If you’re resetting a laptop, you should plug it in and leave it plugged in throughout the process.

That should be it. You’ll need to wait while Windows runs through the reset process. When it’s done, you’ll either be able to go back to using your computer (if you kept your files) or run through the whole initial set-up process again, as if you just bought a new computer.

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Mobile Syrup

Microsoft testing new, streamlined way to change default browsers in Windows 11

Microsoft will eventually undo changes in Windows 11 that made it more difficult for users to select a different default browser.

Unfortunately, the improved browser switch tool is still in testing. It’s not clear when Microsoft plans to roll out the updated default browser selection, so it could still be a little while before Microsoft fixes the issue.

Rafael Rivera, the developer behind EarTrumpet, a Windows app that improves the volume control menu, shared the new Windows 11 default browser selector on Twitter after discovering it in the Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22509. There’s a button at the top of the browser page in the ‘Apps’ part of the Windows 11 settings in Rivera’s screenshots. Pressing that button will set the browser as the default.

Aaron Woodman, vice president of Windows marketing, confirmed to The Verge in a statement that the company “streamlined the ability for a Windows Insider to set the ‘default browser’ to apps that register for HTTP:, HTTPS:, .HTM, and .HTML.”

Windows 11 ditched the simpler Windows 10 default browser switcher, which let users click on the default browser option and select a different browser from a list of installed browsers. Instead, Windows 11 makes users pick a browser from a list of all apps and then set it as the default for each individual file type the browser can open (HTTP, HTML, PDF, etc). The Windows 11 process is more tedious and confusing than it was on Windows 10 — the change was generally met with backlash from users and rival browser makers. Some, like Firefox, added new buttons to help streamline the process.

Those interested can read a lot more about the Windows 11 default browser process here, or a guide on how to change the default here.

Microsoft shouldn’t need to backtrack — it should never have made this change

Although the new default browser switcher in Windows 11 is an improvement, it’s hard to commend Microsoft for fixing a problem it made for itself. The company has a long history of adding changes, prompts and other annoying roadblocks to try and make people use its Edge browser (or dissuade people from switching to another browser). Most recently, Edge started showing prompts when users try to download Chrome.

  1. Microsoft’s revamped Edge browser is actually pretty good (excluding a few odd additions like the ‘buy now, pay later‘ feature in the U.S. that has people understandably upset). As MobileSyrup’s resident browser geek, I find Edge offers better performance than Chrome and generally, it works better for how I work.
  3. That said, Microsoft’s constant attempts to force people to use Edge and hinder switching to other browsers sour many people on Edge before they ever try it. Those same features even get in the way of me using Edge since I prefer to use the beta version to get early access to new features. Microsoft’s browser-switching roadblocks almost always get in the way of me going from default Edge to beta Edge.

Source: Rafael Rivera (Twitter) Via: The Verge

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Window 11 ditches cool-looking 3D emoji for boring 2D versions

Source: https://medium.com/microsoft-design/emotionality-at-work-398182387adc

Microsoft’s new emoji are headed to Windows 11 this week as part of a new, optional OS update. However, the new emojis look a little flatter than they should.

If you followed much of the Windows 11 development, you’ve likely seen the wild 3D emoji Microsoft was developing. The emoji looked fantastic and I was quite disappointed when I made the jump to Windows 11 and they weren’t available.

Now that the new emoji are coming to Windows 11, Microsoft has managed to disappoint again by releasing 2D versions of the excellent 3D emoji. As you may have already guessed, the 2D versions are not nearly as good as the 3D ones. While the 2D emoji lack the 3D elements that really made the set pop, I do think the new 2D emoji are generally better than the 2D Windows 10 emoji.

It’s also worth noting that Microsoft updated a post on its design blog from July about the new 3D emoji to note that Windows 11 will have 2D versions of the emoji instead. Despite the change, that blog post still says Microsoft “opted for 3D designs over 2D and chose to animate the majority of [its] emoji.”

Image credit: The Verge

The Verge points out that the change could be caused by Microsoft’s ‘color font format‘ for displaying emoji in Windows. It’s a vector format that allows for greater scalability, but also has file-size benefits for flat emoji, compared to something like a bitmap format, such as what Apple uses for its emoji.

Although Windows 11 won’t get the 3D emoji, that doesn’t mean Microsoft won’t use them elsewhere. The company is still expected to add the 3D and animated versions of the emoji to products like Teams. Whatever happens with the emoji, one thing is clear: you’ll need Windows 11. In the blog post update, Microsoft says it “still offers an assortment of emojis for Windows 10 customers,” implying the new emoji set won’t roll out to Windows 10.

Along with the emoji, the new Windows 11 update includes several bug fixes. You can learn more about it here.

Header image credit: Microsoft

Source: Microsoft Via: The Verge

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Mobile Syrup

How to automate dark mode on Windows 11

Windows 11 has been out for a bit now and, while I generally like it (and thankfully haven’t had too many issues with it), there’s one big disappointment for me: no automatic dark mode.

I really like using my phone in light mode during the day and dark mode at night and I’d love to have similar functionality on my PC too. Windows 11 also has fantastic light and dark themes, which made me want to do this even more. Thankfully, there’s a fairly simple way to do it if you’re willing to download some third-party software.

My app of choice is ‘Windows Auto Dark Mode,’ but there are other solutions out there too. Windows Auto Dark mode, however, is free and offers a lot of customizability (plus, it already supports Windows 11). Before we go much further, most of this should apply to Windows 10 too — if you want to automate dark mode on your Windows 10 PC, these steps should work too.

How to set up Auto Dark Mode

To start, download Windows Auto Dark Mode from GitHub (click this link and scroll down to the ‘README’ file, then click ‘Download’). Once downloaded, run the setup file provided (it’s a ‘.exe’). Windows may show a warning about installing the software (the developer notes on the README page that it’s because of a missing signature licence). I’ve been running the app for weeks without issue, but if you’re really concerned you can also download a Microsoft-verified version of the app directly through the Windows Store if you’re running Windows 11 (unfortunately, I can’t link to a Microsoft Store page so you’ll have to open the Store app and search for it yourself).

Once everything is set up, you’re good to start automating your dark mode. When you open the Auto Dark Mode app, there are five main options in the menu, so we’re going to run through them in order.

Time

The Time section is all about setting when you want your PC to switch between modes. I ran with the custom hours section and basically set my computer to stay in light mode while I’m working and switch to dark mode after I finish work. However, you can also set Auto Dark Mode to change with sunset and sunrise.

Switch Modes

This section includes some options to prevent the switch between light and dark mode if certain conditions are met. First, there’s an option to prevent switching while gaming. If you game a lot, I’d recommend toggling this option on because I’ve found that Windows hits the GPU pretty hard when doing the switch. On a few occasions, I’ve experienced pretty extreme lag because my PC switched from light mode to dark mode while I was in a game.

Similarly, there’s an option to automatically enable dark mode on a battery-powered device when it’s unplugged, which could be helpful in saving power on devices with an OLED screen.

Apps

The apps section includes controls for app and system behaviour when switching themes. From here, users can choose whether to have apps and the system follow the system theme or do their own thing. Interestingly, there are also controls for changing Microsoft Office apps specifically. Some of these options won’t matter if you use a Windows Theme (we’ll get into that a little more below).

Finally, this section includes a link to download the Dark Reader browser extension, which converts websites to dark theme. You can configure Dark Reader to follow system settings, which means you can automate it with this tool too.

Personalization

This might be the most important part of the app. When I used Auto Dark Mode on Windows 10, it would change the built-in Windows dark mode switcher. The first ‘Pick a wallpaper’ option allows you to assign a wallpaper for light and dark modes.

When I first set up Auto Dark Mode in Windows 11, I found it didn’t quite work right with using the built-in system toggle or with any of Microsoft’s built-in Windows themes. Instead, the optimal solution for me was to create a ‘Light’ Windows theme and a ‘Dark’ Windows theme and then use Auto Dark Mode to switch between those. That doesn’t appear necessary anymore, with all of the Windows 11 themes showing up properly in the app for me now.

That said, I think the best way to use Auto Dark Mode is still to switch between themes. This gives you more flexibility since you can use either the included Windows 11 themes, download new themes or build your own.

To do that, open the Settings app > Personalization > Themes. There will likely be a few options there already. You can also click the ‘Browse themes’ button to get more from the Microsoft Store. To build your own, click on the four options next to the preview (‘Background, Color, etc).

I usually just change the background and colour and leave the others as default, but you can change things up as much as you want. One important note: when you open the colours section, make sure you select the ‘Light’ or ‘Dark’ for the ‘Choose your mode’ option. When you’re done, click ‘Save’ and name your theme.

Once you’re happy with your themes, head back to the Auto Dark Mode app and set one as your Light Theme and one as your Dark Theme. Auto Dark Mode will switch between those options automatically at the time specified in the ‘Time’ section.

Settings

Finally, the Settings menu features a few important items to make note of. First up is auto-updates, which I would advise turning on to make sure the software is kept up to date and nothing breaks.

Another section worth looking at is ‘Autostart.’ This will make sure Auto Dark Mode starts up when you turn on your computer. I encountered a couple issues where Auto Dark Mode wouldn’t switch back to Light mode if I turned off my computer in Dark mode and then turned it back on after the set time to switch back to Light mode. Checking the ‘Use logon task instead of startup entry’ fixed that problem for me. Your mileage may vary, however.

Aside from a few minor issues I encountered when first setting up Auto Dark Mode after Windows 11 came out (most of which appear to be fixed now), Auto Dark Mode works quite well. If you’re like me and like to change up your theme at night, this is a super helpful little tool. You can learn more about it on GitHub.