Technology - Google News

Your Phone is Filthy. Here's How to Clean it - The New York Times
Microsoft Your Phone now supports cross-platform copy and paste and RCS on the latest Samsung phones - Android Police
The best-sounding true wireless headphones we've heard yet - CNET

Your Phone is Filthy. Here's How to Clean it - The New York Times

Posted: 12 Mar 2020 10:00 PM PDT

The coronavirus is here, and it's showing no signs of letting up. One of the best ways to protect yourself is to keep your hands clean and off your face, but it's hard to maintain constant vigilance.

Keeping your phone sanitized is another smart way to keep germs off your fingertips. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers your phone a "high-touch surface," which could make it a carrier of the virus.

But cleaning your phone — thoroughly, I mean — is not as straightforward as it might seem. There are all sorts of nooks and crannies, delicate glass and intricate protective cases.

1. The Don'ts …

Any sort of moisture can interfere with your phone's function. Apple recommends that people avoid using spray cleaners or heavy-duty products.

No bleach, no aerosol sprays. You need your phone to work, even if you want it clean.

Also — and this probably goes without saying — don't dunk your phone into any sort of liquid, anti-bacterial or otherwise. It won't end well for either of you.

2. The Dos …

A gentle wipe with a product that has 70 percent isopropyl alcohol will do just fine. Apple recommends Clorox, and the C.D.C. says household disinfectants registered by the Environmental Protection Agency are effective.

Wear disposable gloves to clean, the C.D.C. recommends, and wash your hands thoroughly after you're done. Like your phone, reusable gloves might harbor virus particles, rendering them effectively useless.

And don't forget your phone case.

Wipe it down, in and out, through and through. Let it dry before reassembling it.

You might also consider changing a bit of your behavior. AT&T suggests sharing photos through texts, instead of passing the phone around, and using devices like headphones and technology like Bluetooth to keep your phone away from your face.

Why?

This might be the best thing you can do all day. This outbreak is fast-moving and research is, by nature, slow to catch up. As a result, the C.D.C. does not yet know exactly how long the virus can cling to a surface, but evidence suggests it could be "hours to days."

And phones are, well, gross. A 2017 study published in the journal Germs found a host of bacteria, viruses and pathogens on 27 phones owned by teenagers. The scientists wrote that they "hypothesize that this may play a role in the spread of infectious agents in the community."

Safe is always better than sorry.

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Microsoft Your Phone now supports cross-platform copy and paste and RCS on the latest Samsung phones - Android Police

Posted: 13 Mar 2020 04:13 AM PDT

Microsoft and Samsung partnered up to bring us an enhanced version of the Your Phone service that connects Android phones with Windows machines. The Korean company promised to add even more exclusive improvements to the syncing utility for the Galaxy S20 and the Z Flip, like cross-platform copy and pasting and RCS support. As part of the latest Windows 10 Insider Preview Build announcement, the partners took the chance to make good of that word.

Cross-platform copy and pasting lets you transfer text and images seamlessly across devices. On your Windows machine, you can use the familiar ctrl + c and ctrl + v keyboard shortcuts or the right-click menu while you can tap and hold on your Samsung phone to make the respective dialog pop up. The feature is available in Your Phone's settings if your PC is running the Windows 10 April 2018 update or higher. It's also only available in "select markets," but unfortunately, Microsoft doesn't state which.

If your carrier supports it, you can now also send and receive RCS messages on your linked Windows PC, provided you use Samsung Messages as your default app. The desktop OS automatically marks messages as read on your phone, so you don't have to swipe away redundant notifications. This RCS relay is exclusive to the Galaxy S20 series and the Windows 10 April 2018 update or higher.

Additionally, the update allows your phone to display a black screen when you're mirroring it to your PC to save power. To view your screen on your handset again, just press the power button, activate Bixby, or swipe over the display. This is supported on any Samsung device capable of screen mirroring.

The features should already be available in the Your Phone app on your Galaxy S20 or Z Flip. If not, make sure you're on the latest production or beta build, which you can get over at APK Mirror. Should you still not be able to get copy and paste to work, you might be in an unsupported region.