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.
With the help of mods, the Motorola Moto Z3 will be one of the very first 5G connected handsets. And all-in-all it’s actually a decent phone despite the snap-on mods feeling a little half-baked at times.
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Beating the upcoming Samsung Galaxy F to the punch by at least a few weeks, Xiaomi has released a video of a prototype folding smartphone live to the world via social media and it looks insane.
The Honor View 20 is arguably — still open to interpretation — the first true flagship smartphone of the year and it comes with a few core selling points, one of those being the massive 48-megapixel camera found around back. The Pixel 3, in contrast, has a 12-megapixel camera but it’s backed up by some of the best post-processing in the game by far.
Our question: does four times the megapixel count equal four times as good?
We’re seeing a seismic shift from notched smartphones to those with full-screens and so, Samsung has changed tact to offer and produce tech that fits this new industry aesthetic by unveiling its new ultra-slim 20-megapixel ISOCELL image sensors.
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DxOMark has been testing smartphone cameras for a while now, but has just introduced scoring for front-facing selfie cameras. The Google Pixel 3 and Samsung Galaxy Note 9 have hit the top of the very first selfie leaderboard with a score of 92 respectively. The iPhone XS Max sits much lower with an overall ‘Selfie Score’ of 82.
While it still seems as if tech brands caring about our ‘digital health’ is a little contradictory, it’s still neat to be able to get data on just how long we’re using our handsets.
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The original RAZR V3 flip phone was a phenomenal success. So seeing the company seemingly file and then obtain patents for a foldable Motorola RAZR 2019 smartphone is bound to attract attention.
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The world’s most popular messaging platform is implementing an odd method of stopping the flow of misinformation and ‘fake news’. WhatsApp users on Android and iOS will no longer be able to forward messages to more than five individuals or groups.
There are a number of Google Home Essentials that we want to uncover and build as we delve into the power of the Google Assistant and its services over time. And that includes the growing library of Assistant apps.
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The Honor View 20 might be on the horizon, but that doesn’t mean that the Huawei-owned company has forgotten about the previous model. Far from it, as Android Pie is now rolling out to the Honor View 10 in the United States.
The ever-popular Motorola G series has slowly become one of the best options for anyone looking for a new Android phone whilst having serious budget constraints. The Motorola G7 series looks to be no different now that we’ve had yet another glimpse of the device thanks to leaked renders and proposed European pricing just weeks ahead of a potential official launch at MWC 2019.
Don’t take test devices out in public if you want to keep them under wraps. That is our advice to OEMs in the lead-up to a major unveiling. Well, that hasn’t stopped what looks like the Samsung Galaxy S10+ from appearing on public transport in South Korea, giving us potentially the first glimpse of the biggest device in the Galaxy S10 lineup.
We can’t blame Apple for the notch trend, especially when the fantastic-yet-ultimately flawed Essential PH-1 had the display nodule before the Cupertino tech giant tampered with its own displays. The Honor View 20, though, is one of a coming wave of devices that are hopefully ridding us of one evil for a slightly lesser one by opting for a punch hole notch or display cutout rather than the previously seen nodule.
Just yesterday the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 started receiving the Android Pie beta. Now we are seeing that the Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ are also ready to get involved with the One UI open beta.
In any smart home, there are a few key components which are critical to its function. For those of us deeply invested in the Google Assistant ecosystem, the Google Chromecast is arguably at the core of any Google Home-powered entertainment system. It most definitely is one of your Google Home Essentials.
After we reported earlier this month that the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 could receive a beta program ahead of the official Android Pie rollout, we didn’t expect the program to open quite so soon. Even so, Note 8 users will be happy to hear that their handsets will get a taste of Pie and One UI at least in beta form — for now.
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The Android Pie update for the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 was scheduled for a January rollout but according to Samsung’s Turkish portal Guncelmiyiz, the update may have been pushed back to February 1 at the earliest.
Samsung Pay is causing some severe battery drain on some Samsung devices, with some users claiming battery usage as high as 60% in some cases. Samsung is yet to acknowledge these Samsung Pay issues officially.
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Whilst many of you will have never used WhatsApp, the Facebook-owned messaging platform is one of the biggest on the planet by some margin. To those of us who use the application daily, the upcoming addition of WhatsApp fingerprint authentication could be a welcome one. I can honestly say that I use nothing else and even all of my iPhone-using friends are the same here in the UK.
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Foldable smartphone tech was hot at CES, and whilst Samsung did not show off any folding display tech this year in the Nevada desert, they have dropped a massive hint that the February 20 Galaxy Unpacked event will prove to be the big reveal for the upcoming Samsung “Galaxy F” folding smartphone.
If you’re a Pixel 3 or Pixel 3 XL user and also a Netflix subscriber, then you might want to check your app to see the new HDR support for the Google handsets (via Android Police).
A rumored but very plausible OnePlus 7 leaked test device has appeared online courtesy of Slashleaks, where this unknown OnePlus unit is shown side-by-side with the superb OnePlus 6T.
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Smart home tech began for me with Wi-Fi controlled lighting, and there are a few companies that really shifted my own expectations of what I could do within my home with just a little bit of IoT tech. When the Google Home Mini entered my home over 18 months ago, I didn’t ever anticipate that I’d be spending upwards of $45 on a smart bulb but here we are with a thorough LIFX Mini review and it makes it a key addition to our Google Home Essentials series.
After rumors courtesy of the Korean Herald that Samsung would unveil the Samsung Galaxy S10 a week prior to Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the company has taken to Twitter to confirm the Galaxy Unpacked 2019 for the S10 event with a cryptic video.