Stephen is Growth Director at 9to5. You can find his current work at 9to5Mac, 9to5Google9to5Toys, 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.
Samsung is set to announce the Galaxy S7 Edge in just a couple hours, but the leaks (of which there have dozens) aren’t over yet. Now, we’re getting our first look at the retail box for the Galaxy S7 Edge, all but confirming several specs that have previously been speculated (via SamsungViet).
If you haven’t seen enough of the Galaxy S7 already, we’re here to fix that. In a new series of leaked renders (via @onleaks), we now have a look at every variant of both the Samsung Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge from several different angles. Another new image also recently surfaced showing — for the first time — the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge next to each other…
Very quickly, USB Type-C has this year become a part of every phone’s spec sheet. Either a new phone has USB Type-C, or it doesn’t. And it’s already being seen as a pro (or a con) when comparing phones against each other. Before the introduction of USB-C, pretty much every handset was assumed to have the previous connector, microUSB. And pretty much every phone did. Now, that’s changing.
With the Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P, and the OnePlus 2 before that, Android smartphones have recently begun adopting the new standard en masse, and as far as we know, many of the phones set to be announced in the coming months — including the HTC One M10 and the LG G5 — are going to make the jump. For me, supporting USB Type-C is absolutely a requirement for my next phone. Here’s why…
Moto X Pure Edition is one of the best phones that launched last year, and now you have even more reason to buy one. Just last month we gave it a “3 months later” second look (spoiler: we still think it’s great), but Motorola wants to make the deal even sweeter with a free Moto 360 Android Wear watch… Expand Expanding Close
Update: A new hands-on video shows the $4 iPhone clone in all its glory (embedded below).
We told you earlier today about the insane $4 Freedom 251 phone, and now at least one publication has managed to get their hands on the device. Initial impressions aren’t great, and it looks like this phone — unsurprisingly — is just a mess of copyright infringement. Not unlike many other low-end offerings from dozens of overseas manufacturers, the phone pulls a lot of “inspiration” from the Cupertino company’s smashing successes…
CRNreported over the weekend that Google is quietly shuttering its Google Play for Education program, and now we have confirmation of the plans via a statement made to TechCrunch. According to this statement, Google will no longer be selling Google Play for Education licenses effective March 31st of this year. That said, existing customers should not be seeing an interruption of services…
In what may be one of the oddest (and funniest) marketing videos that Samsung has ever made, a llama is seen going into a room by itself, “unboxing” the upcoming Galaxy S7, and then painting a picture of what it saw. That’s all I need to say about this, right?..
Earlier this year, we told you across severalexclusivereportsthat new Glass hardware was in development, namely a variant of the device reworked with the enterprise in mind. Now, a couple months after getting our first look at the device in the flesh, a newly-granted Google patent provides us yet another look at the elusive remnant of a less than ideal Glass of the past…
Sony has had a lot of pricing problems with the Xperia Z5, Z5 Compact, and Z5 Premium. It seems like the company thought that its phones somehow stood out from the crowd (which they do in some ways), but it’s clear that the market just doesn’t see it. After reducing the phones’ prices before even launching them, Sony has now dropped them yet again by $50 and $60…
Google has today uploaded its latest “Be together. Not the same.” ad to YouTube, and it’s a profound statement of how the company views its mobile platform, as well as how it views competitors. In the ad, dubbed “Monotune,” an unnamed pianist plays a tune in two versions: one using all the piano’s normal variety of keys, and the other on a special piano Google rigged to play the same note on all its keys…
According to a report over the weekend from Crain’s Detroit Business, Google/Alphabet is seeking an R&D site for its self-driving cars near Ann Arbor, Michigan. This report comes as FCC documents last month revealed that the Mountain View company was planning to bring the cars to four new cities. Kirkland, Washington officially became one of those locations two weeks ago, and as we noted, a location near Ann Arbor makes perfect sense to be one of the next bunch… Expand Expanding Close
BandPage, a startup whose goal is to make it easier for artists to connect with their fans, has today announced that it has been acquired by Google’s YouTube. “More than 500,000 musicians use BandPage to reach & build deeper relationships with music lovers everywhere,” the company says, and now it’s going on to build those relationships for YouTube instead…
Google recently pushed out an update to its Clock app, and this one’s a game changer. You know the clock widget that lets you put analog and digital clocks on your home screen? Until now, dragging it around and resizing the widget simply changed its alignment. Now, when you resize the widget, the clocks themselves actually change size too…
According to the latest U.S. smartphone market share numbers from Parks Associates, Apple is still well in the lead compared to competing manufacturers, holding a beefy 40% of the smartphone market. But the latest figures also show that Android OEMs are gaining ground on the dominant Cupertino, California-based iPhone maker. Now, Samsung holds around 31% of the market and LG is next in line with 10%…
A new patent that surfaced on Tuesday (via Qz) suggests that Google/Alphabet could have plans to use its self-driving car technologies for a truck-based delivery service. The patent describes an “autonomous delivery platform” for an autonomous truck with lockers (not unlike an Amazon locker), driving to a customer’s location to deliver a package… Expand Expanding Close