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Stephen Hall

stephenjhall

Stephen is Growth Director at 9to5. You can find his current work at 9to5Mac, 9to5Google 9to5Toys, Electrek, and more. If you want to get in touch, follow me on Twitter. Or, email at stephen (at) 9to5mac (dot) com, or an encrypted email at hallstephenj (at) protonmail (dot) com.

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Some Google Pixel 2 XL units already have a display burn-in problem, including ours [Update]

Avatar for Stephen Hall Oct 22 2017 - 2:01 pm PT
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Let’s just say things have only gotten worse and worse over the last couple of weeks for the Google Pixel 2 XL and its display. In our initial review, we gave the display perhaps not the most flattering description (“honestly pretty mediocre”), but it seems it might actually be worse than we thought.

After just a week or two of most press reviewers using the phone, there’s apparently a problem with screen burn-in from the software nav buttons. Reports of early buyers of the 2 XL having this problem are flooding in on social media, and yes, our units have the issue too.


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PSA: Google will actually sell products in its pop-up shops opening this week

Avatar for Stephen Hall Oct 17 2017 - 2:10 pm PT
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Google will be selling products at its brick-and-mortar pop-up shops starting this year, Google has confirmed to The Verge. We’ve known about these pop-up shops set to open this week since earlier this month (and Google’s site said “Shop”, so we assumed you’d be able to shop), but now we know for sure that you’ll be able to walk in and purchase some of Google’s new products.


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Google warns you not to cut the Pixel Buds cord, because it does sort of seem purely cosmetic

Avatar for Stephen Hall Oct 17 2017 - 9:56 am PT
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At Google’s October 4th event earlier this month, there was one question about the Pixel Buds I overheard at least a few times. Does the cord on the Google Pixel Buds actually carry audio and power, or was it just a cosmetic or functional design decision?

The answer seemed pretty obvious to me. Clearly the Mountain View company would have preferred the buds to be entirely wireless if not only to seem with-the-times. But if things weren’t clear enough for you, Google has our answer. Yes, the Buds need that cord.


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Review: Google Home Mini at $49 joins the Chromecast in Google’s collection of insta-buy hardware

Avatar for Stephen Hall Oct 10 2017 - 9:56 am PT
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Last year I said that the first Google Home was a great start, but not yet functionally up to par with the comparable offerings from Amazon. Google has all but caught up since then. The feature set of the original Google Home is fleshed out — it works with just about as many third-party services as you could want — and now Google has introduced a smaller, cheaper Home to take on the Echo Dot.

The short version is this: The new Google Home Mini joins the Chromecast as another impulse buy in Google’s hardware lineup.


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This week’s top stories: Google Pixel 2 and 2 XL official announcement and first thoughts, Google Home Mini pre-orders, more

Avatar for Stephen Hall Oct 7 2017 - 1:24 pm PT
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In this week’s top stories: Google announced its latest Made by Google product lineup, including the new Pixel 2 and 2 XL, a couple new Google Homes, the Pixelbook, and more. We touched on how the Pixel 2 and 2 XL’s numerous design discrepancies feel like a weird step back to the Nexus days. The super-cheap Google Home Mini is also now available for pre-order…

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