You’ll undoubtedly have heard of Google Gemini, as it’s found within many of the best Android phones.
Essentially, Gemini is Google’s AI-powered virtual assistant that can do everything from answer questions, search the web and even create music. And it’s free to use too.
But what really is Google Gemini and how does it actually work? Which devices can you use Gemini on?
We explain everything you need to know about Gemini AI below. If you’re keen to see how Google’s assistant compares to some of the top dogs, then visit our Apple Intelligence vs Google Gemini and Claude vs Gemini comparisons too.
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What is Gemini AI?
Gemini was officially announced back in February 2024, as Google revealed it would replace its previous AI system, Bard.
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Although you might only know it as a chatbot, Gemini is actually the collective name for multiple AI models that fall under the same umbrella. However, the name “Gemini” refers to both the models and the public-facing chatbot.
Google Gemini
Essentially, Gemini is described as being the interface to a multiple modal LLM (Large Language Model) which can handle text, audio and image-based prompts. It’s based on Google’s research into LLMs which started back in 2013.
What can you do with Gemini?
Gemini can understand and answer user’s questions or their provided prompts with relevant results. For example, you can ask Gemini to create an email draft, summarise long-bodies of text and even write code.
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Gemini can also be used to generate images, create videos and even music with just a simple prompt. In addition, with the use of Gemini Live which is found within the Gemini smartphone app, you can have in-depth conversations with the AI system in real-time too.
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How does Gemini work?
Google breaks down the technicalities of how Gemini actually works into four stages:
Pre-training
Post-training
Responses to user prompts
Human feedback and evaluation
Google explains that its AI models are pre-trained on a “variety of data from publicly available sources”, although Google does disclaim that it applies “quality” and “safety filtering” to remove content that may violate policy.
After initial training, Google explains the LLMs are then put through additional steps to refine responses. Then there’s Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback, where the model learns to generate better responses based on “scores or feedback from a special Reward model” that’s trained on human preference data.
Once Gemini is then given a prompt by a user, it will call on its training and use external sources like Google Search to generate relevant responses.
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In the instance where Gemini gets something wrong or needs tweaking, then this is where the fourth stage kicks in. Basically, it relies on humans to flag any mistakes and identify areas for improvement too.
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Gemini Live. Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)
How to access Google Gemini
There are a few ways you can access Gemini, with the main being via its free-to-download iOS or Android app. That’s probably the easiest way to access the chatbot, and you’ll benefit from access to Gemini Live too.
Otherwise, you can access the chatbot via its website instead.
Does Google Gemini cost money?
While Gemini is free to use, you can unlock more features and up-to-date models by paying a subscription. At the time of writing, while the free version of Gemini runs on Gemini 3, you can upgrade to Google AI Plus to access Google’s most capable 3.1 Pro model. Not only that, but you’ll have access to Nano Banana Pro, alongside limited access to Google’s new video generator Veo 3.1, Gemini within Google apps and 200GB storage too. That’s the cheapest of the available plans, at £6.99/$7.99 a month.
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The next available plan is Google AI Pro, which includes everything found in Plus, alongside Google Home Premium (Standard), Fitbit Premium and access to Google Antigravity and Google Developer Programme Premium. This is slightly pricier at £18.99/$19.99 a month, but you will also see 2TB of storage too.
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Finally, the top-tier plan is Google AI Ultra, which will set you back a whopping £234.99 a month. However, you’ll get everything from the Pro plan, plus the highest limits for all Gemini features and models, YouTube Premium, Google Home (Premium Advanced) and 30TB of storage too.
Seattle-area quarterly VC deal activity from 2016 through Q1 2026, showing capital invested and deal count. Deal count dropped to 69 in Q1 2026, the lowest level since mid-2020, with total capital raised of $1.5 billion. (GeekWire Graphic / Data: PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor)
Seattle-area startups attracted about $1.5 billion in venture funding across 69 deals in the first quarter of 2026, according to the Q1 2026 PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor.
The deal count was the lowest since mid-2020, continuing a trend of venture capital concentrating into fewer, larger rounds, with a disproportionate share of the funding going into a smaller handful of promising startups, many of them in artificial intelligence.
By comparison, the Seattle region’s deal value was $2.2 billion across more than 100 deals in the first quarter of 2025, a year ago. At its peak in early 2022, the region logged 152 deals in a single quarter — more than double the latest figure.
It’s a pattern that is also playing out nationally. U.S. startups raised $267 billion in Q1, more than double the prior record, but five deals — including rounds by OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI — accounted for nearly three-quarters of that total.
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“VC has entered the era of consensus deals, and that dynamic will likely persist,” observed the authors of the PitchBook-NVCA report, released Wednesday morning. “Across all stages and series, a small portion of companies is vastly outraising the rest.”
The risk is that the concentration of capital in a shrinking pool of companies could leave much of the startup ecosystem starved for funding even as headline numbers look relatively healthy.
Q1 2026 VC deal activity by U.S. metro area. Seattle ranked seventh by capital invested and 10th by deal count. (PitchBook-NVCA Graphic)
Rankings: According to the report, the Seattle area ranked seventh in the country in the quarter by total capital raised, and 10th overall by deal count.
The region typically ranked No. 6 to 8 on both measures from 2017 to 2020, but has slipped in various quarters by different metrics in recent years. Austin, for example, has surpassed Seattle in deal value and Miami has overtaken it in deal count.
That’s a combined $580 million from a cluster of companies building rockets, orbital data centers, and spacecraft propulsion systems in the suburbs south and east of Seattle.
AI and infrastructure: Other big deals in the first quarter included a $300 million Series D for Temporal, the Bellevue-based developer infrastructure startup, and $100 million for Seattle-based Overland AI to scale its autonomous military ground vehicles.
Seven of the 10 largest Seattle-area deals in Q1 carried AI tags, mirroring a national trend in which 88.8% of all U.S. venture deal value went to AI companies, according to PitchBook.
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Other notable rounds included a $60 million seed funding for Entire, the developer platform launched by former GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke, who is based in the Seattle area.
What is Seattle, anyway?Xbow, an autonomous cybersecurity company founded by GitHub Copilot creator Oege de Moor, raised $120 million in a Series C round that valued it at more than $1 billion.
Xbow lists Seattle as its headquarters, but its address is a mailbox at a Pioneer Square co-working space, and its roughly 200 employees are distributed globally — one of the realities of the remote-first era, and a reminder that HQ designations don’t always reflect a meaningful local presence.
Recorded from the show floor at AXPONA 2026, the team from SVS breaks down their latest powered subwoofer, the SVS 3000 Micro R|Evolution, and why this compact design hits harder than it has any right to. We dig into the engineering behind the output, the tradeoffs of going small without sacrificing performance, and the bigger question hanging over it all is whether SVS is quietly undercutting its own lineup with each new release that raises the bar and resets expectations.
This episode was recorded on April 10, 2026 (the first day of AXPONA 2026).
STC-15 is the world’s first RNA-modifying enzyme inhibitor to reach human trials. Phase 1 showed durable tumour regression across multiple sarcoma subtypes. The $56M Series C is backed entirely by existing investors including Pfizer Ventures and M Ventures.
STORM Therapeutics, a Cambridge-based clinical-stage biotech targeting RNA modifications to treat cancer, has raised $56 million in a Series C round and dosed the first patient in a Phase 2 clinical trial of its lead drug, STC-15, in selected sarcoma indications.
The round was funded entirely by existing investors: M Ventures, Pfizer Ventures, Taiho Ventures LLC, IP Group plc, the UTokyo Innovation Platform Co., Ltd. (UTokyo IPC), and Fast Track Initiative (FTI).
STC-15 is a first-in-class, oral small-molecule inhibitor of METTL3 – an enzyme that methylates messenger RNA and plays a central role in cancer stem cell differentiation. It is the first RNA-modifying enzyme inhibitor ever to enter human clinical trials, having commenced its Phase 1 study in November 2022.
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METTL3 adds a chemical tag called m6A to mRNA, influencing how cells read genetic instructions; in certain cancers, this process is hijacked to keep malignant progenitor cells locked in a proliferative, undifferentiated state. Inhibiting METTL3 disrupts this process, pushing cancer cells towards cycle arrest and programmed death.
Sarcomas, cancers arising from bone or soft tissue including muscle, fat, cartilage, and blood vessels, account for 1% of adult cancers and 15% of paediatric cancers.
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They are notoriously difficult to treat because they frequently lack the driver mutations or immunogenic features that make most solid tumours amenable to targeted therapy or immunotherapy.
STORM’s thesis is that sarcomas are particularly dependent on METTL3-driven mRNA methylation for their growth and survival, making them a biologically compelling target for STC-15. In Phase 1, the drug demonstrated durable tumour regression across multiple sarcoma subtypes across dose levels between 60mg and 200mg taken three times weekly.
Full Phase 1 results are expected to be presented at a medical conference in 2026.
The Phase 2 monotherapy trial is designed to support a potential accelerated regulatory approval pathway for STC-15, and to build a foundation for expanding clinical development into additional oncology indications. The first patient has now been successfully dosed. The trial’s ClinicalTrials.gov identifier is NCT06975293.
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STC-15 is simultaneously being evaluated in a Phase 1b/2 combination study with LOQTORZI (toripalimab), a PD-1 inhibitor from Coherus BioSciences, across non-small cell lung cancer, head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, melanoma, and endometrial cancer, a collaboration announced in May 2025.
Jonathan Trent, MD of the University of Miami’s Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center and a clinical investigator on the trial, said STC-15’s mechanism “targets sarcomas at their vulnerability, reprogramming malignant cells toward cell cycle arrest and apoptosis.”
STORM CEO Jerry McMahon described the Phase 2 dosing as “a pivotal breakthrough in tackling cancers characterised by aberrant cell differentiation,” pointing to the unmet need in sarcoma where existing options remain limited.
From Kaby Lake to Core Ultra, we revisit Intel’s flagship CPUs to see how a decade of design choices shaped performance, power, and ultimately, how the company lost its lead.
Spigen OM104 MagSafe Phone Grip: The OM104 is a phone/grip combo accessory for MagSafe and Qi2 devices that comes with a flexible nylon strap to slide your finger through while holding your phone. Dual magnets and a robust metal construction make the OM104 feel like money well spent, and even after hours of sliding my finger in and out of the strap, it still feels soft, flexible, and most importantly, comfortable. It has one annoying design oversight. As you slide your phone in and out of your pocket, the nylon strap will start to droop down. The strap is longer than the grip itself, so when you close the kickstand, it’ll get pinched inside and won’t allow the stand to fully close. It’s comfortable to use, but that quibble knocks it down.
Casely MagRing: Unlike other metal grips we’ve tested, Casely’s MagRing is made of soft silicone. We find it more comfortable on the fingers. It also has a 360-degree swivel, so you can position the grip at virtually any angle. This is strictly a grip, so you can’t use it as a kickstand. Since the grip doesn’t fold in, your phone won’t lie fully flat on a surface. We also tested the MagRing+, which comes with a ring clip for attaching your keys. That comes in handy for quick trips to the grocery store or when you go to the gym and need a place to put your car keys and key fob. But Jacob prefers the standard MagRing, since he typically carries his keys in his pocket or bag. Casely has a few variations of the MagRing and MagRing+ in stock, but it appears to be on its last legs.
Smartish Wallflower: It isn’t perfect, but we still love it. The Smartish Wallflower comes with seven small suction cups that look like a flower, allowing you to attach your phone to a wall (or any other surface) and leave it be. It mostly works, but it largely depends on how heavy your phone is and what surface you’re attaching it to. We didn’t have issues with an iPhone 17 and drywall, but the iPhone 15 Pro Max attached to a particleboard cabinet was too heavy for the grip to manage.
If you’re looking to buy a new iPhone, you may be wondering whether to get the iPhone 17 or score a discount on last year’s iPhone 16. To help with that decision, here’s a breakdown of how the two phones compare.
The iPhone 17 starts at $829 — or $799 with carrier activation — the same price as the iPhone 16 when it debuted. But there’s a key difference: The iPhone 17 starts with 256GB of storage, double the 128GB base on the iPhone 16.
The iPhone 16 is now available at a $100 discount. So, is it worth saving some money or should you splurge on the newer phone?
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Here’s what to know about each device, from the cameras to the displays to the batteries. (If you’re looking for a slightly more affordable option, check out the iPhone 17E.)
Watch this: iPhone Air Review: A Joy to Hold, at a Cost
Screen differences
Some of the biggest changes between the iPhone 16 and 17 have to do with the display.
Apple says it shrunk the borders around the screen on the iPhone 17, expanding the display from 6.1 inches on the iPhone 16 to 6.3 inches on the iPhone 17 without expanding its dimensions. The new Ceramic Shield 2 cover on the iPhone 17 offers three-times better scratch resistance, according to the company.
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The baseline iPhone 17 gets a display with a 120Hz refresh rate, as opposed to the 60Hz display on the iPhone 16. That means the iPhone 17 finally supports an always-on display, so you can glance at the time, your notifications and Live Activities without waking the screen.
The iPhone 17 also gains an anti-reflective coating and a 3,000-nit peak brightness, compared to 2,000 nits on the iPhone 16. That should make it easier to see your phone in bright sunlight.
Camera differences
Both the iPhone 16 and 17 have a 48-megapixel wide-angle camera. But the iPhone 17 upgrades the ultra-wide camera from 12 megapixels to 48 megapixels.
The front-facing camera also gets an upgrade, going from 12 megapixels on the iPhone 16 to 18 megapixels on the iPhone 17. There’s a new Center Stage feature for the selfie camera that can automatically adjust from a portrait orientation to landscape to make sure everyone is in the shot. That means you don’t have to manually rotate your phone to its side anymore when there are more people to fit in the frame.
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Both the iPhone 16 and 17 have a Camera Control button on the side to quickly launch the camera, snap some shots and use Apple’s Visual Intelligence tool to learn more about what’s around you.
Processor and RAM
The iPhone 17 packs an A19 chip, an upgrade from the A18 chip in the iPhone 16. One key difference is that the iPhone 17 starts at 256GB, while the iPhone 16 started at 128GB for the same $829 price when it debuted.
Both phones also support the Apple Intelligence suite of AI capabilities, which includes writing tools, image generators and notification summaries.
Battery life
Apple doesn’t share specific battery specs, but it does measure longevity via video playback hours. The iPhone 16 supports up to 22 hours of video playback, according to Apple, while the iPhone 17 bumps that up to 30 hours.
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In CNET’s 45-minute endurance test, which includes streaming, scrolling through social media, joining a video call and playing games, the iPhone 17’s battery went from full to 98%. That’s just over the 97% the iPhone 16 scored last year.
And in a three-hour streaming test over Wi-Fi, which involves watching a YouTube video in full-screen mode at full brightness, the iPhone 17’s battery went from full to 89%. In comparison, the iPhone 16 dropped to 86%.
Anecdotally, the iPhone 17’s battery lasts over a day, even after taking photos, scrolling through social media, watching videos, texting, sending emails and more. The same can be said about the iPhone 16, so you likely won’t feel a huge difference between the two when it comes to day-to-day activities.
A new AI-powered Adaptive Power feature arriving with iOS 26 can help conserve the battery by making “small performance adjustments,” like “allowing some activities to take a little longer,” according to Apple.
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The iPhone 17 arrives with the upcoming operating system onboard, but you’ll also be able to download iOS 26 on the iPhone 16, as well as some older iPhones, once it becomes available publicly. That should help to stretch your battery life on either device.
Color options and design
What’s on the inside may be most important, but people also care what their phone looks like. Like the iPhone 16, the iPhone 17 comes in a range of fun colors: black, white, mist blue, sage (a light green) and lavender.
For comparison, the iPhone 16 is available in black, white, pink, teal and ultramarine. Both phones have an aluminum frame. Check out the spec chart below for a breakdown of each phone.
6.1-inch OLED; 2,556 x 1,179 pixel resolution; 60Hz refresh rate
Pixel density
460ppi
460 ppi
Dimensions (inches)
5.89 x 2.81 x 0.31 in
5.81 x 2.82 x 0.31 in
Dimensions (millimeters)
149.6 x 71.5 x 7.95 mm
147.6 x 71.6 x 7.8 mm
Weight (grams, ounces)
177 g (6.24 oz)
170 g (6 oz.)
Mobile software
iOS 26
iOS 18
Camera
48-megapixel (wide) 48-megapixel (ultrawide)
48-megapixel (wide), 12-megapixel (ultrawide)
Front-facing camera
18-megapixel
12-megapixel
Video capture
4K
4K
Processor
Apple A19
Apple A18
RAM + storage
RAM N/A + 256GB, 512GB
RAM N/A + 128GB, 256GB, 512GB
Expandable storage
None
None (Face ID)
Battery
Up to 30 hours video playback; up to 27 hours video playback (streamed). Fast charge up to 50% in 20 minutes using 40W adapter or higher via charging cable. Fast charge up to 50% in 30 minutes using 30W adapter or higher via MagSafe Charger.
Up to 22 hours video playback; up to 18 hours video playback (streamed). 20W wired charging. MagSafe wireless charging up to 25W with 30W adapter or higher; Qi2 up to 15W
Fingerprint sensor
None (Face ID)
None (Face ID)
Connector
USB-C
USB-C
Headphone jack
None
None
Special features
Apple N1 wireless networking chip (Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be) with 2×2 MIMO), Bluetooth 6, Thread. Action button. Camera Control button. Dynamic Island. Apple Intelligence. Visual Intelligence. Dual eSIM. 1 to 3000 nits brightness display range. IP68 resistance. Colors: black, white, mist blue, sage, lavender.
Apple Intelligence, Action button, Camera Control button, Dynamic Island, 1 to 2,000 nits display brightness range, IP68 resistance. Colors: black, white, pink, teal, ultramarine.
Apple will add at least four new iPhone Apple Intelligence features to Safari, Wallet, and more when it announces iOS 27 this June.
New Apple Intelligence features are rumored for iOS 27
That’s according to a new report, which cites code discovered on Apple’s backend servers. The new features are yet to be confirmed by Apple, but could bring additional functionality to a beleaguered Apple Intelligence feature set. Apple isn’t expected to announce the iOS 27 update until its June 2026 WWDC event. Rumor Score: 🤔 Possible Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums
Usually, you think of bird decoys as being a tool to lure birds to an untimely encounter with a hunter. However, [Interesting Engineering] has a story about robotic bird decoys in Grand Teton National Park that are helping restore the dwindling number of sage grouse in the park.
While some decoys are static, others are motorized to replicate mating rituals. The goal: lure real birds to safer areas to breed. Particularly, they want the birds to avoid areas around the Jackson Hole Airport. The robots are built with help from local students and robotics teams. While some of the construction is made of fabric and foam, actual bird feathers are also used.
The robots mimic lekking behavior, a courtship ritual where male grouse do repetitive motions combined with recorded mating calls. This attracts other grouse and, of course, results in chicks who will be raised nearby.
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Assuming the effort is successful, the same technique could help other areas where restored areas are difficult to repopulate. You can find more pictures on the Park’s Instagram, and the title picture is from that collection.
Usually, when we see something like this, the robot is trying to remove something dangerous to the endangered plant or animal, not attract them.
A slide from Snap’s investor update on highlights AI-driven efficiency gains, saying more than 65% of new code is generated by AI.
Snap is cutting 95 jobs in Washington state as part of a broader restructuring that will eliminate about 1,000 positions, or 16% of the company’s full-time workforce.
The Snapchat parent company filed a WARN Act notice with Washington’s Employment Security Department on Wednesday, showing layoffs across its offices in Bellevue, Seattle, and Vancouver, Wash. The cuts take effect between April 16 and June 16, according to the filing.
A filing with the state shows that the affected roles are heavily technical: predominantly software engineers, along with machine learning engineers, data scientists, product managers, and recruiting staff. Senior roles including a director of engineering for Snap’s AI platform and a distinguished software engineer are also on the list of people being laid off.
Rec Room employees who joined Snap were slated to work at Specs Inc., its hardware subsidiary focused on augmented reality glasses. It’s unclear whether any of those newly hired employees are among the 95 cut in Washington.
In addition to the planned job cuts, CEO Evan Spiegel told employees in a memo Wednesday that Snap is also eliminating more than 300 open roles it had planned to fill, and aims to reduce costs by more than $500 million by the second half of the year.
In the memo, Spiegel framed the cuts partly as an embrace of AI, saying advances in the technology allow smaller teams to do what once required larger organizations.
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In an investor update, Snap described the situation as a “crucible moment,” saying it is “squeezed between giants with enormous resources and nimble startups moving fast.” The company said more than 65% of its new code is now generated by AI, and that AI agents are answering more than 1 million support questions per month.
The restructuring follows pressure from activist investor Irenic Capital Management, which owns about 2.5 percent of Snap and pushed the company last month to cut costs and sharpen its strategy. Irenic also criticized Snap’s $3.5 billion investment in its Specs glasses, which has yet to deliver strong returns.
Snap’s stock closed up nearly 8% in trading Wednesday on the news, though it remains down about 25% since the start of the year. The company expects to incur $95 million to $130 million in restructuring charges, mostly tied to severance.
Yeah, we know, there’s a camera on your phone that does this and that. But these days its become trendy to turn towards older digital cameras in place of smartphones, and we can tell you from experience, that the joys of having a dedicated photographing contraption are many.
There’s plenty of cheap digital cameras on the secondhand market, but instead of fending off the clothes bros and other reseller types at the thrift store, stay home and build [Doruk Kumkumoğlu]’s Optocam Zero. Inspired by the Kodak Charmera and the like, [Doruk] aimed for something that’s playful, enjoyable, and intuitive to use.
Optocam Zero uses an auto-focus camera module and features eight photo filters. The screen dims when inactive to preserve battery life, but it can be charged back up with USB-C, and you can use it for the duration. And unlike my young adult camera, you don’t have to take out the SD card to see the pictures, just use the custom hotspot interface to transfer them.
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If you need to capture a cat yawning real fast, you might want to just use your phone instead, because takes 22 seconds for Optocam Zero to get camera-ready. But when you have a less spontaneous subject in mind, this thing looks like a great choice. Be sure to check out the excellent build guide (PDF) whether you build one or not.
We think the images from the Optocam Zero look pretty crispy. But if you want to go lo-fi, we have that, too.
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