News and notes on the latest from Google.
Android Auto, Google’s solution to providing a driver-friendly interface on a car’s head unit, is set to get a design overhaul. This design overhaul will incorporate elements of Google’s Material Theme and come with a new dark theme.
According to a report from 9to5Google, Google appears to be working on a new and simple way to share files between a variety of devices including Chromebooks, Android devices, smartwatches, and even iPhones. Google’s calling this “Fast Share” and it’s similar to Apple’s AirDrop for iOS and Mac.
Continue reading “Google is working on “Fast Share” to share files with nearby devices”
RCS has been considered to be the successor to SMS and possibly even a competitor to iMessage ever since Google had announced it. Google’s been working hard to widely roll it out, but carriers? Not so much. Now, Google is finally taking charge of the RCS rollout—sort of.
Google has been redesigning its apps one by one to match its new Material Theme. A few months back, Gmail and G Suite received a Material redesign. Now’s the time for the app that really needs it: the Play Store. Earlier, 9to5Google was able to get us some early pictures of the redesign, but now, it’s officially rolling out to users.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard that the United States Government added Huawei to its “Entity List.” This prevents American companies from doing any type of business with Huawei without explicit government approval. To comply with this order, Google has to stop providing Huawei with Google services like the Play Store, Gmail, and anything else that requires the Play Services Framework.
Continue reading “The Huawei and Google dilemma: A complete rundown of everything”
Today, OnePlus held an event to reveal two new smartphones: the OnePlus 7 and OnePlus 7 Pro. This is a first for OnePlus because they have always launched one flagship at a time. The OnePlus 7 is a small step up from the OnePlus 6T and comes with mainly spec bumps. The OnePlus 7 Pro, on the other hand, is OnePlus’ flagship that OnePlus can actually pit in front of its competitors.
Continue reading “OnePlus 7 and 7 Pro: Everything you need to know”
Customer service isn’t every company’s cup of tea, but Google just took it to a whole new level. Reddit user /u/Cheetohz returned a defective white Pixel 3 for a refund. He didn’t receive a full refund, but he ordered a replacement anyway. Instead of sending him one replacement, Google sent him ten—yes, you read that right—ten Pixel 3s.
Continue reading “Google accidentally sent someone ten pink Pixel 3s instead of one”
Last year, the EU had hit Google with a €4.3 billion antitrust fine. One of the reasons was that Google makes Android phone manufacturers install the Google Search app and Chrome as a condition for allowing them to offer access to the Play Store and other Google services. According to the EU, this helped Google’s monopoly over web search. Google did split Android, Chrome, and Search to comply with regulations, but now Google will also start presenting prompts to Android users in Europe with an option to download other search apps and browsers.
Continue reading “Google introduces Android search and browser app choices for users in Europe”
Google has been redesigning its apps one by one to match its new Material Theme. A few months back, Gmail and G Suite received a Material makeover. Now’s the time for the app that really needs it: the Play Store. The redesign isn’t out yet, but 9to5Google was able to forcefully enable it.
Continue reading “The Play Store’s Material Theme redesign is coming soon, and here’s how it looks”
YouTube TV is YouTube’s own service that offers the streaming of live TV channels including local sports and news. When it first launched, it cost $34.99 a month which then increased to $39.99 in February 2018 (existing subscribers were grandfathered, however). Starting today, YouTube TV’s monthly pricing is increasing to $49.99 for all subscribers and eight new channels are being added.
Continue reading “YouTube TV increases its monthly price to $50, adds eight new channels”
