Damien is 9to5Google‘s resident Video Producer and has over a decade of UK media experience. He worked within the sports industry and with numerous sports-focused publications — including golfing publication National Club Golfer — prior to joining the 9to5Google team.
After completing a BSc in Computer Science at the University of Hull with a major focus on data analytics and UX, he joined the Press Association (now PA Media), developing growing sports data products for the Barclay’s Premier League. These’s data packages included the now-defunct ACTIM Index which eventually evolved into the EA Sports Player Performance Index.
While working with the UK’s largest media agency, he attained a MA in Journalism at Sheffield Hallam University after completing his studies in 2014. This is where a love affair with all things videography surfaced after a brief stint in student TV. A major interest and constantly growing know-how of technology and videography have seen Damien lead 9to5Google’s official YouTube channel since 2018. He previously hosted the 9to5Google Daily podcast from 2019 to 2021.
Damien’s expertise and focus area lie in a number of beats including Android and OEM software updates, mobile applications, smartphone and accessory reviews, and just about anything that makes a modern mobile nerd tick. He says that he is “platform agnostic” despite primarily using Android devices and attempts to regularly test the iOS waters to better understand the nuances of the tech he covers on a day-to-day basis.
Outside of the tech space Damien is an avid supporter of his boyhood soccer team Hull City and is even a fully qualified Barista — with 3 years of experience making speciality coffee. Be sure to follow him on Threads, Bluesky, LinkedIn, and Instagram for insights and upcoming video updates and tidbits. If you are interested, you can also check out just what video gear he is currently using on his dedicated Kit.co page.
Inbox is dead, long live Inbox! Well, despite the love for Inbox by Gmail, it finally ceases to function for the vast majority and will now simply be a relic of email organization likely broken down and scavenged for parts by the real Gmail team.
Ahead of Verizon’s 5G network launch on April 11 in select US cities, the company is now rolling out support for it’s only 5G capable smartphone — the Moto Z3.
Inbox by Gmail is officially dead. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be resurrected in a roundabout manner. Yes, you heard that right, at the moment you can still use Inbox simply by using an older version. Alternatively, if you’re confident enough (and rooted) you may be able to extend the lifespan of Inbox even further.
Get ready, the ability to get your Google Assistant to call your local eateries to make reservations is now rolling out to non-Pixel devices and iOS in the United States. Google Duplex is now slowly being pushed to devices that don’t have the Google logo embossed upon them.
Spotify is testing further integration with Google Maps as well as a Sleep Timer, and song sharing.
With more and more handsets adopting OLED panels over LCD, we have to contend with a few cons over the obvious pros. OnePlus has clearly understood this when it comes to OLED brightness and display flicker.
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The Google Assistant is arguably the most powerful and the outright best digital assistant on the market — of course, we would say that! As part of our Google Home Essentials series, our express aim is to help you find an array of must-have kit for your Google-powered smart home.
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Player Unknown: Battlegrounds or PUBG for short was arguably one of the standout games of the battle royale genre and quickly became one of the most popular games on Android and iOS when it launched last year.
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We’ve had a steady stream of leaks of the already confirmed Motorola P40, but thanks to the ever-busy @OnLeaks, we’ve now got a much closer look at the alleged Motorola P40 Power.
After plenty of speculation and leaked device renders, the Nokia X71 has now officially launched in Taiwan.
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While we don’t necessarily see too many Sony smartphones hitting the market as of late, it’s still worrying for the industry to see the brand closing a smartphone factory in China.
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To mark Gmail turning 15 years old (Happy birthday Gmail!) Google is adding a few new abilities to the best email platform on the market. We are finally getting the option to schedule emails in Gmail natively alongside the rollout of Smart Compose to more devices.
While the Pixel’s Call Screen feature isn’t available outside of North America just yet, the feature might be heading to Motorola and Nokia handsets running Android One in the not-too-distant future.
The Google ARCore platform is proving to be a much more widely adopted augmented reality platform than previous efforts.
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The Huawei P30 Pro looks to be a real camera contender. It’s racked up the highest DxOMark score ever seen with a total score of 112 — and that’s with four rear-facing cameras. Meanwhile, the 6-month-old Pixel 3 only has one rear-facing camera that is backed up by some of the best post-processing on the entire market. But how do they stack up against one another?
The Google Material Theme began rolling out to Google.com on the desktop web in late November with a pill-shaped Search field on the results pages. Earlier this month, that new Search bar made its way to the iconic homepage. Google is now testing Material Theme icons alongside each Search category on the web.
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Android Q might be a pretty big update over Android Pie, but it is still very early in the testing phase. After the first beta revealed that you could only swipe away notifications in a single direction, Google has mentioned that a future release will add a setting to change that direction.
The world of Android tablets is not exactly in good health. Yes, there are plenty of options, but not many that are easy to fully recommend. That said, Samsung has very quietly unveiled a brand new Galaxy Tab A 8.0 that even includes S Pen support (via XDA-developers).
After an extended wait, anyone with an AT&T or T-Mobile Galaxy S8 or S8+ should now be receiving the Android Pie update — along with all the One UI extras.
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For all of Huawei’s questionable comparisons between itself and the iPhone throughout its entire launch keynote, its flagship, the Huawei P30 Pro, is most definitely more of a contender within the top-tier Android space — which is currently no doubt occupied by the Samsung Galaxy S10.
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The upcoming Lenovo Z6 Pro could be the first smartphone to market with a 100-megapixel camera if a new statement by the company is to be believed.
OEMs are now racing to outdo each other in the folding stakes. The latest to be showcased is the impressive Xiaomi foldable phone, which utilizes a dual outward fold rather than a single inward or solitary outward fold.
Google is giving all basketball fans the ability to tune into March Madness for free simply by asking your Smart Display, Home Hub, Google Home, or simply the Google Assistant to play the game.
The latest Oxygen OS open beta program update for the OnePlus 5, OnePlus 5T, OnePlus 6 and OnePlus 6T bring an array of software enhancements and improvements alongside some neat tweaks.