Key findings
- Microsoft incorrectly suggested that users could uninstall Recall, but that was just a mistake.
- Intel faced challenges and ups and downs, presenting plans at IFA and later announcing changes to Arrow Lake.
- Also announced this week was a Raspberry Pi router with smartphone control, ExpressVPN on Windows on Arm, and the AMD Z2 Extreme chip for handheld gaming.
Phew – IFA has really kept us all busy at XDA. Everyone on the team has either been writing news about it, suggesting features about it, or even walking the hallowed halls and getting an up-close look at all the next-gen hardware. I think I've seen more press releases in the last few days than I have in the last few months.
But as is tradition, despite the full-throttle IFA events, there wasn't enough news to go around. So if you followed the big event and missed all the little details that fell by the wayside, here's a roundup of the five most important news stories this week.
5 Microsoft allowed us to uninstall Recall for a short time before taking the software away from us again
A brief moment of joy
A while ago, we learned that Microsoft might make Recall uninstallable. This sounded great on paper, but there were some oddities, such as the option not being available in other test versions of Windows 11. However, since the first people to discover this feature were from Germany, I attributed it to a possible conflict between Microsoft and the DMA, which would force them to add the ability to uninstall Recall.
While that would have been a disappointment for people outside the EU, the reality was far sadder. It turns out that Microsoft doesn't make Recall uninstallable. What the German company discovered was a bug that Microsoft says caused unintended behavior and has been fixed. Those who want a bit of AI privacy won't get their money's worth this time.
4 Intel experienced a week full of ups and downs
The company is doing everything it can
Intel has been struggling through difficult waters after its stock suffered a massive drop. Given recent layoffs and Raptor Lake's instability issues, investors have had trouble trusting Intel to make it through the next few years on its own, so things have been looking a little bleak for the company for the past few weeks.
There was some joy when Intel put up a big fight during IFA, showing off its plans to take on both Qualcomm and Apple. And the day after, all the excitement died down again when Intel announced that Arrow Lake would not be produced on Intel 20A as stated in the roadmap. So we can expect a bumpy ride as the tech world watches from the sidelines to see if Intel makes it out of this mess in one piece.
Bring your own router
If you're looking for a new project to tinker with, why not try your hand at making a PiFi? This handy little router works with any Wi-Fi-enabled device and even has built-in VPN and ad-blocking features. You can tweak all the settings using a smartphone app, and everything (including the router firmware) is completely free.
ExpressVPN is now fully equipped and ready to use
Windows on Arm has made great strides in recent weeks as third-party developers port their apps to the Arm architecture. While ExpressVPN's solution is to use Windows' emulation tools, the company claims it offers just as good performance as if it had built a fully native app. And given that we named ExpressVPN the best general VPN for speed it's good to see that it's available on Snapdragon devices, emulated or not.
Handheld gamers, rejoice
The AMD Z1 Extreme chip has made its way into the best Steam Deck alternatives but AMD isn't done yet. The company announced that it's working on the Z2 Extreme chip that will power the handheld devices of the future. We don't know much about it yet, but it's definitely exciting times if you like gaming on the go.