Microsoft News Roundup: Galaxy Z Fold 4 ‘Windows Phone,’ Xbox responding to PS5 price hike, and more
With all the news that rolls out, it’s easy to miss a few tidbits here and there. Luckily for you, we gather together the biggest news from Microsoft land into a roundup at the end of each week. From a Samsung Galaxy Fold 4 being turned into a Windows Phone to Microsoft responding to the PS5 price hike, here are the biggest news stories from the past seven days.
Windows Phone lives… kind of
Windows Phone is dead and it isn’t coming back. Now that I’ve ripped that band-aid off, it’s time to focus on the pseudo return of the lost phone OS. YouTuber Mark Spurrell converted his Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 into a Windows Phone by using a combination of the Square Home and Win-X Android launchers. The end result was a Galaxy Z Fold 4 that looked like a device running Windows Phone 8.1 when closed and Windows 11 when opened.
The Galaxy Z Fold 4 can’t run two different launchers normally, but Spurrell worked around that limitation by using Bixby Routines.
In related news, our executive editor Daniel Rubino shared five things he loves about the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 (and five things he hates) as a Surface Duo 2 user.
Xbox won’t match PS5 price hike
Sony announced that the price of the PlayStation 5 would increase in several markets. While the United States is currently excluded from that list, the cost of the PS5 went up or will soon go up in Europe, Japan, China, Australia, Mexico, and Canada. Naturally, people wondered if Microsoft would follow suit with increased prices for the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S.
Those concerns were put to bed, at least somewhat, with a statement by a Microsoft spokesperson to Windows Central.
“We are constantly evaluating our business to offer our fans great gaming options. Our Xbox Series S suggested retail price remains at $299 (£250, €300) the Xbox Series X is $499 (£450, €500),” they said.
Microsoft did not promise that its console pricing would remain the same going ahead, but it confirmed that the cost of the Series X and S will remain the same for now.
HP unveils Dragonfly Folio G3
HP announced several devices this week, including the “world’s most powerful commercial AIO” and a 4K streaming webcam. The biggest news of the week, however, was the HP Dragonfly Folio G3. That business-oriented 2-in-1 has a similar form factor to the HP Elite Folio but packs much more powerful specs.
The Dragonfly Folio G3 features a 12th Gen Intel U-series processor, an OLED display, and an 8MP AI camera. Our executive editor Daniel Rubino said he was “blown away by it” in his first look at the device.
“So far, the Dragonfly Folio G3 is the most exciting laptop I’ve handled this year. Actually, something else is coming that is very interesting, but in terms of being pragmatic, functional, and likely something you would buy, I think HP hit it out of the park,” said Rubino.
Gamescom 2022 took place this week in Cologne, Germany. There, Microsoft and several major companies throughout the industry showed off the best Xbox games. Our Senior Xbox Editor Jez Corden was on the show floor and the rest of our team covered the event remotely.
The list of titles shown off is massive, but the ones that turned the most heads were Microsoft Flight Simulator, Sea of Thieves, A Plague Tale: Requiem, Age of Empires IV, and Minecraft Legends.
You can recap all of the biggest news from the event by checking out our Gamescom 2022 live blog.
Review roundup
With gadgets galore coming out all the time, our team of experts is always on the hunt for things to review. From routers to tablets to standing desks, here’s everything we reviewed this week:
