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.
Intelligent Active mode has been a feature of Sony’s Xperia line for years now, but it looks like the Japanese company is just continually making improvements. Surely benefitting from the rest of the Xperia Z5’s camera enhancements, the below videos demonstrate just how good Sony’s SteadyShot with Intelligent Active mode is…
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Motorola said earlier this year at the launch of the 2nd generation Moto E that the phone would get at least some number of software updates after purchase. But today, with the company’s announcement of the phones that would be getting Android Marshmallow, there was one device curiously missing: The new Moto E…
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Samsung’s Gear S2 smartwatch — and its brother, the Gear S2 Classic — are undeniably cool entries into the wearables space. And as we reported would be the case a couple of weeks ago, they both have now launched in the US. You can grab the Gear S2 and the Gear S2 Classic from a variety of retailers, including Amazon, Best Buy, and more…
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Earlier this month, we exclusively detailed Google’s intention on introducing a 2nd generation Chromecast (and Chromecast Audio), and earlier this week, the Mountain View company made them official. We of course grabbed both the new Chromecast and the Chromecast Audio, and below you’ll find our quick unboxing video of the former…
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The number of vulnerabilities found in Android’s Stagefright just grew, and this time devices from as far back as Android 1.0 are vulnerable to attack. This first vulnerability, affecting almost every Android device, is in “libutils” — and that’s just one of the vulnerabilities recently discovered by Zimperium. Another vulnerability was found in libstagefright that makes Android devices running software versions later than 5.0 vulnerable as well…
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LG last night announced its LG V10 smartphone alongside the forthcoming LG Watch Urbane 2nd Edition, but today the company held an event in New York City to show off the new products. We were on the ground at the event to take a look at the goodies, and below you’ll find a photo gallery and a hands-on video with the new Watch Urbane…
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Android Studio 1.0
Google has today released Android Studio 1.4 in the stable update channel. As has been the case since the software was first released in beta just about a month ago, the update features new design tools such as vector assets, a theme editor, new project template features, new performance monitors, and more…
Some of the new design tools, as outlined at the Android Developers blog:
Vector Assets:
Starting with API 21, you can use Vector Drawables for image assets. For most apps, using VectorDrawables decreases the amount of density dependent drawables you need to maintain, and will also give you sharp image assets regardless of the screen device densities your app supports.
Theme Editor:
We understand that managing your app theme and style can be a bit complex. With Android Studio 1.4, we are releasing a preview of the Theme Editor to help with this task. This first version of the Theme Editor is focused on editing and updating the material theme colors (
colors.xml) in your app project.
Project Templates:
We know many of you use the New Project Wizard app templates to start a new app project or to quickly add an activity to an existing app. To help with the visual design of your apps, we updated the app templates to include the Android Design Support Library alongside the AppCompat Support library.
There are also two new monitors: You’ll find one for GPU rendering and another for networking, which can monitor both GPU rending performance and the network usage of your app, respectively. Finally, Google says that it’s making taking advantage of a Firebase mobile backend even easier with the latest version.
You can grab Android Studio at the Google Developer website, and if you already have it installed, you’ll find that version 1.4 should be available right now.
Nest Weave, the communications protocol that Nest uses to make its connected home devices talk to each other, definitely isn’t new. But as of today, Nest is making it part of its Works with Nest program so that third-party hardware makers and developers can use the protocol in their own products…
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If you’re wondering what’s next from LG, this might just be it. It’s the LG V10 that we’ve been hearing about for quite some time now, and these new renders might just be our best look yet. As we’ve seen before, the phone seems to sport a dark and rough look, with a textured back and an auxiliary display around front with some app shortcuts…
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Google has today announced that it is acquiring Jibe Mobile, a team that’s now getting on board to help Google bring Rich Communications Services (RCS) to a global audience. As per the company’s Android blog:
As part of this commitment, we’re also very excited to announce that the Jibe Mobile team is joining Google to help us bring RCS to a global audience. Jibe is a leading provider of RCS services and they’ll continue helping carriers easily deploy RCS to their users. We can’t wait to work with them and build on the great work that they’ve already done.
If this all sounds like a foreign language to you, you’re not alone. RCS, like SMS, is a carrier-based standard for messaging. And while messaging apps like Hangouts, Facebook Messages, WhatsApp, and others are gaining popularity, standard messaging via carrier tech is still more than common.
Basically, RCS intends to be the next SMS. SMS is just falling behind in its capabilities in a world where people expect to be able to send videos, photos, and other content easily to friends. RCS hopes to fix that, and Google is working with many partners to aly the groundwork to roll the technology out more widely.
However, the features available in SMS haven’t kept up with modern messaging apps. Rich Communications Services (RCS) is a new standard for carrier messaging and brings many of the features that people now expect from mobile messaging, such as group chats, high res photos and more.
Many leaders in the wireless industry have already put great work into laying the foundation for RCS, and we’ve heard from many of them that there are ways Android can help. We’re excited to team up with mobile operators, device makers and the rest of the Android ecosystem to support RCS standards and help accelerate their deployment in a more consistent way. We’re already working closely with many of our partners on implementing RCS, and look forward to growing the RCS ecosystem together.
Here’s what Jibe had to say on their blog:
As a good friend once told me, if you want to do something big, start with something small — a single, singular challenge you can lead, and rally others to support.
For Jibe — a company we founded in 2006 — that lesson came true today with the announcement that we’ve been acquired by Google. The big opportunity we saw at the start: to change the way people communicate using their mobile phones.
The “small” challenge we focused on: the future of messaging, the super simple mode for communication that’s favored by billions of people, all over the world.
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Nvidia has come out today to announce several ways that its SHIELD Android TV set-top box is about to get way better. Rounding out the list, we have mention of game streaming service GeForce NOW, a debut of the device in Europe, a partnership with Google Fiber, cast support for more services such as Spotify, and home theater upgrades…
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During the announcement of Google’s Chromecast Audio yesterday, the company made sure to mention that music subscription leader Spotify will soon be one of the many music streaming services supported by the platform. With many Apple Music subscriptions renewing (or not renewing) and Google unveiling a $35 dongle that retrofits our existing home speakers with Wi-Fi, some are rightfully wondering: What about Apple Music?
According to statements from one Googler (via TrustedReviews), Google has no bar on any platform joining in on supporting Chromecast, and the Mountain View company has already directly asked Apple to play along…
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If you’ve been waiting on Google Now to Tap to be available to those running the Android M Developer Preview, the wait is over. Besides a few days when Developer Preview 3 first launched, those running the developer version of M have been left without access to the feature. Now, it seems that Google is finally opening the floodgates…
Google Now on Tap is the latest big feature to come to Google Now, allowing users to quickly find more information about just about anything on their screen. If you’re reading an article about Donald Trump, Now on Tap can give you more info about him and links to his social media profiles and website, for example.
At this point, I’d suggest waiting until October 5th for the official rollout of Android Marshmallow to Nexus devices. But if you’re super antsy and just want to try out Google Now on Tap right now, you can head over and read our guide on how to install the Developer Preview 3 factory image. It’s not too tough, if you have the time.
Alongside the new Chromecast and Chromecast Audio, Google also today introduced a new version of its Chromecast app. It’s not a drastic departure from the previous version, but it does bring some notable new features including a new “What’s On” section that suggests content from the apps you have installed, support for image feeds from Facebook, Flickr, and other sources, voice search for content, and more…
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If you’re one of the many excited to get one of Google’s new Nexus devices, but you would rather pay for one over time rather than outright (or if you’re just looking to become a Project Fi subscriber), I have some good news. Although not exactly mentioned in detail today, you can grab either phone from Project Fi on an installment plan…
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Although all the Chrome and Nexus festivities are over, Google has now posted its livestream video from earlier this morning on YouTube for replay. Along with the Nexus 5X and 6P, Google also unveiled a pair of new Chromecasts, the Pixel C tablet, a new Chromecast app, new features for Google Photos, and more…
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If you’re frantically trying to figure out how to buy the new Google-y product goodness, you’re not alone. Alongside two completely new $35 Chromecasts, Google has today announced the new Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P.
Here are some quick links
Google has also added a listing for the ZenWatch 2, although it’s not yet available:
While the two new Chromecasts are currently showing as leaving the warehouse within a couple of days, both Nexus phones are set to ship sometime later in October. The Nexus 6P, in fact, has already slipped to 5-6 weeks from 2-3 for most models.
Along with the 2nd generation Chromecast that Google unveiled today, the company also showed off an audio-focused version of the device. Not to be confused with Google Cast for Audio, which is Google’s platform for making speakers and other audio hardware directly compatible with the Chromecast, “Chromecast Audio” is a Chromecast itself that will plug into your speakers by way of 3.5 mm headphone jack…
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Google has today announced its 2nd generation Chromecast. Along with a completely new form-factor and design, the device offers improved WiFi and connectivity features, new “feeds” for displaying content on-screen while your device is in standby, and “Fast Play,” which allows your devices to connect to Chromecast faster and easier than ever before…
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Last week we told you that a teardown of the latest version of Google Photos revealed some interesting new features: album collaboration, people labeling, Chromecast support, and more. Now, Google has announced today at its September 29th event that it is making these exact three features official…
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