Google Maps has been updated with support for a couple of new features that are aimed at delivering an improved user experience while shopping and driving ahead of the upcoming holiday season. Users will be able to search for specific products on Google Maps, while checking availability before making their way to a store. The search giant has also updated its navigation app with support for ‘trailer-friendly routers’ that will help users avoid certain obstacles and tunnels in supported regions.

Google Maps Introduces New Shopping and Navigation Features

In a blog post highlighting features that were recently introduced on Google Maps, the company reveals that users can now get information about products they are looking for via the navigation app. Google Maps now supports a new Product Search feature that displays items from individual stores. Users can search for various products, including electronics, and see where they’re available.

Earlier this month, Google rolled out an updated feature that allowed users to ‘plan’ a trip using Google Maps, adding details such as restaurants, rest stops, coffee shops, gas stations and grocery stores. Now, users with electric vehicles will be able to add EV charging stations to their trip plan, and Google will automatically show charging stations compatible with their vehicle.

Meanwhile, a new trailer-friendly routes feature is designed to help people who are driving a car with an attached trainer. Users in North America with a 2024 Chevy Tahoe, Chevy Suburban and GMC Yukon can enter their trailer dimensions into Google Maps on their car’s infotainment system, and the navigation system will suggest routes without tunnels low bridges.

Other recently introduced features to Google Maps include weather disruption alerts (flooded or unploughed roads), delay reporting on local transport, and a “Cheapest” tab on Google Flights. Google has also touted other Maps features like Immersive View and integration with its AI-powered Gemini assistant, which can be used to plan routes or itineraries, respectively.

Starfield officially arrives September 6, but it has already begun breaking records on Steam. The expansive space RPG hit an all-time peak of 248,632 concurrent players, at the time of writing, which goes to show how impatient players have been for Bethesda’s latest. For the uninitiated, those who aren’t willing to wait for the official launch can purchase the Rs. 6,699/ $100 Premium Edition of the game and play it early. This is applicable across both Steam and Xbox platforms, with even Game Pass members willing to fork over $31.49/ Rs. 2,519 for early access, despite the title being essentially free for them.

The early access strategy is a great way for Bethesda to make additional profit out of Starfield’s sales, considering the Xbox Game Pass logo had been slapped onto it since the very beginning. During Microsoft’s trial against the US FTC in June, PlayStation head Jim Ryan claimed that the video game publishers he spoke to aren’t fans of Game Pass and that they unanimously agree with it being ‘value destructive.’

In addition to online multiplayer access and free games, the subscription service makes its first-party exclusives available day-one on the service. Since this clearly affects sales — as evidenced by Xbox raising the prices — adding paid bonuses such as unlocking the game early seems to be the right move. As per VG247, Starfield’s Premium Edition Upgrade is currently the best-selling product across Microsoft stores globally, which is only available to Game Pass subscribers.

In addition to impressive sales figures, players around the world have been experimenting with the game’s limits, with speedrunner ‘Micrologist‘ managing to blast their way through Starfield in less than three hours. Meanwhile, others have been trying to manually land their ships onto planets by flying through space for hours, only to simply clip through it and be met with emptiness that isn’t textured properly. Exploration in Starfield has been a subject of discourse, where instead of letting you freely roam around in space, the game forces you to fast travel and warp around to new solar systems or planets. The same goes for lifting off from a planet and heading into space, where you must open a menu and select a destination on the map before a cutscene and a loading screen plays out.

Despite its limitations in exploration, Starfield has been generally well-received, earning an 88 percent Metacritic score for the PC version and an 86 for Xbox Series S/X. As per director Todd Howard, the game is best described as ‘Skyrim in space’, and happens to be Bethesda’s first new universe in 25 years, taking you on a futuristic journey to explore 2330 outer space, its planets, and inhabitants. From humble beginnings as a space miner, you’ll join the Constellation — the last group of space explorers seeking some rare artefacts throughout the galaxy. It’s also got a jail system, religions to follow, and brings back the Persuasion system from Fallout 3 to help advance the story without combat, although a fully pacifist run is impossible.

Starfield is already out in early access for those who own the Premium Edition; for everyone else, the game releases worldwide September 6 across PC, Xbox Series S/X, and Xbox Game Pass.

Samsung Galaxy S25 series is expected to launch in early 2025 as a successor to the Galaxy S24 lineup. The existing lineup includes a base Galaxy S24, Galaxy S24+ and Galaxy S24 Ultra. The anticipated series is expected to arrive with similar variants. Leaked details about the purported Galaxy S25 series have been surfacing online for a while and the upcoming handsets are said to be slimmer than the company’s current flagship models. A tipster has now leaked some details regarding the chipset expected to power the lineup.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Series Specifications (Leaked)

The Samsung Galaxy S25 series handsets will be powered by Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, according to an X post by tipster Ice Universe (@UniverseIce). The tipster claims that the lineup will not include any Exynos 2500 and MediaTek Dimensity 9400 variants, suggesting all phones in all markets will feature the Snapdragon 8 Elite chip.

Currently, the Galaxy S24 series phones carry Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipsets, although in several markets (including India) the Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24+ come with an in-house Exynos 2400 SoC. As per the new leak, the upcoming Galaxy S25 series will exclusively feature the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset.

Recently Samsung Mobile President TM Roh announced at the Snapdragon Summit 2024 that future Samsung handsets will feature the newly launched Snapdragon 8 Elite but he did not specify the series or models that will get them. Since the S and Z series phones are the company’s flagship phones, the upcoming Galaxy Z Fold and Flip as well as the Galaxy S25 series models are expected to get this chipset.

Previous leaks suggest that the purported Galaxy S25 series phones will be slimmer than their Galaxy S24 counterparts. The vanilla version could measure 146.94×70.46×7.25mm, while the Plus variant may measure 158.44 x 75.79 x 7.35mm in size.

The top-of-the-line Ultra version could measure 162.82×77.65×8.25mm. In comparison, the base Galaxy S24 measures 147×70.6×7.6mm, while the Plus and Ultra options measure 158.5×75.9×7.7mm and 162.3x79x8.6mm, respectively. Another report suggests that the Galaxy S25 Ultra may come with Black, Blue, Green, and Titanium colour options. 

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