Samsung's next smartphones (likely Galaxy S24) will be able to act as a webcam for your Windows PC. You'll get features like background blur and auto framing.

According to Samsung's press release, you'll have to pair your Galaxy phone to your Galaxy Book4 through Microsoft's Link to Windows app in order for this to work. I'm not sure if this feature is only available if you have the new Galaxy Book4, so I asked my PR contact to confirm.

Quote from the press release:

Users must link their phone to Galaxy Book4 through ‘Link to Windows’ on mobile and the Microsoft Phone Link App on PC and follow the set-up prompts. Galaxy smartphone must be OneUI 1.0 or above.

Samsung is partnering with Microsoft to bring Copilot integration to the Link to Windows app. If you pair your Samsung Galaxy phone to your Galaxy Book4 through Link to Windows, Copilot will be able to find, read, or summarize text messages right on your PC.

These capabilities mean you can let Copilot track down restaurant recommendations your friends have made in previous messages, search visitor reviews on your browser, then send a message to your partner to ask if they want to go for dinner that evening, all directly from your PC.

I asked my PR contact if this feature is a) limited to the Galaxy Book4 and b) only works with text messages and will share an update if I hear back.

Here are my first impressions of the new ROG Phone 8 Pro:

* It feels so much lighter, thinner, and better in hand than the previous models!

* The bezels are also much smaller, and the back has this nice textured layer that you can see but not feel underneath the glass.

* The corners are not nearly as sharp anymore! Holding the phone on a corner no longer hurts my palms.

* There's a neat AI wallpaper feature like on the Pixel 8 series. Like Google's version, you can choose from a few preset topics and also edit the prompt a bit (change the background, tone, and "inspiration"). Unlike Google's version, ASUS' AI wallpaper generator runs on-device using a Stable Diffusion model on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. Here's a video demo.

* Another neat use of AI on the ROG Phone 8 is semantic search. This also runs on-device and helps you search through your photos, settings, and apps. Here's a video demo.

* If you aren't a fan of the AOD but still like getting subtle notification alerts, the new "custom effect" option is for you. This displays notification icons on the AOD in the top left when the phone is charging. The ROG Phone 8 doesn't have a notification LED anymore, so this is useful if you don't want to use the full AOD.

* Contrary to some rumors, the AirTriggers feature hasn't been removed.

Here's the new ROG Tessen Mobile Controller, their new telescopic gaming controller that's compatible with all Android phones!

The neat part: it can be folded, making it much easier to carry. Hands-on video.

Wow - Google may be planning to ship a major kernel upgrade to all its (Tensor-powered) Pixel phones!

Current Tensor Pixels may be upgraded to Linux kernel 6.1, according to comments left on an AOSP patch by Google engineers. Tensor G1 and G2 Pixels currently run on Linux 5.10, while Tensor G3 Pixels run on Linux 5.15.

Tensor G4 Pixels (ie. the Pixel 9 series) may release with Linux kernel 5.15 but will also be upgraded to Linux 6.1.

Major kernel upgrades are rarely ever done for Android smartphones, even for Google. Google has had test branches for newer kernel releases for its Tensor Pixels, but you had to compile a kernel based on those branches yourself if you wanted to upgrade the major kernel version.

One big benefit of performing a major kernel version upgrade is it will make long-term support better in the future, plus it'll introduce new features.

(Thanks to akes29 on Twitter for the tip!)