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This week’s top stories: Google Play Music store shuts down, Carl Pei leaves OnePlus, more

Kyle Bradshaw | Oct 17 2020 - 6:00 am PT

In this week’s top stories: Google officially shuts down music sales in the Play Store, Carl Pei leaves OnePlus, Google Camera 8.0 can be installed on older Pixels, and more.

Google Play Music took another large step toward being shut down this week, with the Google Play Store app fully removing the ability to buy music. Previously, you could buy songs to listen to within Play Music or download as MP3s for your favorite player.

Looking ahead, Play Music will lose the ability to stream content around the world later this month. Google will keep Play Music playlists, uploads, purchases, likes, and other data until December to give users a chance to migrate to YouTube Music using the transfer tool. All data will be removed after that.

While OnePlus fans eagerly awaited news of the latest phone from the company with the OnePlus 8T, another interesting bit of news was brewing. Starting out in credible rumors before being formally confirmed, it was discovered this week that OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei has left the company, following rumors of a dispute between Pei and fellow co-founder Pete Lau.

In any case, it’s hard not to be impressed by what Pei did in his time at OnePlus. The company, not-so-subtly backed by BBK and Oppo, started out in relative obscurity and quickly grew on the backs of enthusiast-focused devices with affordable prices and top-of-the-line specs. In the past few years, the prices have gone way up, but the phones have also gotten increasingly better. The OnePlus 8 Pro from earlier this year, for example, finally nailed the flagship experience.

On the Google Pixel side of news this week, the Pixel 5 began reaching customers’ hands which has also meant that the latest Google Camera app update has reached the internet. However, unlike versions past, Google Camera 8.0 is not easy to sideload onto older Pixel phones. We’ve provided a guide to doing so, but most people will likely not want to follow through with it.

That said, there will always be those who want to get their hands on things early. Normally, when an update like this becomes available, you can simply download the APK file from a trusted website or publication and immediately install it on your phone. However, with Google Camera 8.0, Google seems to have made a few changes to the way the app is designed that make it a bit more challenging than usual to install.

In other OnePlus news, the company has had a change of heart since the launch of the OnePlus 8 earlier this year. Where that previous phone came with Facebook apps and services pre-installed, the new OnePlus 8T, released just months later, is free of the offending Facebook apps out of the box.

Generally speaking, actions like this are not common. After all, OnePlus was probably raking in a fair bit of cash from a deal with Facebook. The decision actually came directly from feedback from fans and the media. Specifically, an op-ed piece from Input “made its way to the very top.”

OnePlus 8T First Impressions: A really great phone that only has one reason to exist

Lastly, our Damien Wilde has had a chance to get his hands on the OnePlus 8T, and shared his thoughts on the new phone. While the phone is undeniably great, it’s hard to justify the OnePlus 8T’s existence with the only upgrade being “crazy fast” 65W charging.