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.
Google has today launched a new Google Play Music All Access family plan at today’s September 29th event. This is a move to take on competitors like Spotify and Apple, and will allow users to use the service across 6 accounts for just about $15 per month…
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Google has today confirmed that it’s introducing the next entry in its Pixel line: the Pixel C. This tablet, unlike the Pixel devices that preceded it, will launch not with Chrome OS, but with Android — 6.0 Marshmallow to be exact. The device also offers a detachable keyboard — taking on the likes of Microsoft’s Surface and the iPad Pro — and comes with the same high-quality build found with the original Pixels. And like the original Pixels, this device isn’t a Nexus; it’s completely made by Google in-house, and there’s no tramp stamp from any other OEM to be found on its body.
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As we exclusively reported earlier this month, Spotify is teaming up with Google to — finally — introduce support for the Chromecast. Now, as the event is nearing kickoff, some users are already noticing their Chromecast devices appearing in the Spotify Connect list, although the feature doesn’t seem to be working quit yet.
As you can see above, it looks like Spotify is going to include Google Cast devices in the same list as other Spotify Connect devices (via Reddit). However, as of right now at least, try to cast your stream to a Chromecast simple results in the following error message: “Spotify is not support on this device right now.”
Google is sure to make mention of Spotify’s new support for its platform at its event scheduled to kick off at 9 AM PT. If you want to keep in the loop on this as well as new Chromecast hardware, new Nexus devices, and more, be sure to head over and watch the livestream when it becomes available.
Google’s planning to introduce new Chromecasts, new Nexus devices, and plenty of other goodies at its September 29th event today, and thankfully, the company is livestreaming it for those who won’t be there in the flesh. If you’ve got a chance to watch along (although there probably isn’t much we don’t already know), head below the break…
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Update: They’re here. Are you going to grab the Nexus 5X or the Nexus 6P?
As we sit here on the eve of Google’s September 29th event, and with almost every single detail of what the company is planning to announce already leaked, there is only one question that remains: Which of the two Nexus devices are you planning to buy? Follow along as we round up the details of each phone, and be sure to vote in the poll below…
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While details about the Nexus 5X — and its brother, the Nexus 6P — have been making the rounds for several weeks now, today brings a full spec sheet for the former. Many of these details were previously leaked, but this document (via Reddit) essentially reiterates what we saw before and adds a few little details to be gleaned — including the phone’s RAM…
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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 we’ve learned thanks to a new report that Google is planning to make these exact three features official at its Nexus and Chromecast event tomorrow…
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Google is planning to launch a large, 10.2-inch tablet with the Pixel brand attached, according to a report this morning from Android Police. Interestingly, this device is said to be launching later this year not with Chrome OS, but rather with Android Marshmallow. The device will also purportedly sport a detachable keyboard — a la the iPad Pro or the Microsoft Surface — and will pack the same quality build and lightbar found with the Chromebook Pixel. And, since this is a Pixel device and not a Nexus, the hardware is going be 100% Google’s…
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According to a new report out this morning from Android Police, Google is planning to launch a new Google Play Music All Access family plan at tomorrow’s event. This is a move to take on competitors like Spotify and Apple, and will allow users to use the service across 6 accounts for just about $15 per month…
And that’s pretty much all we know about it that this point. For quick comparison, Spotify’s family plans range between $15 and $30, with the lower end of that being for just two accounts. Apple Music, on the other hand, offers exactly the same deal that Google is planning to launch tomorrow — $15 a month for 6 users.
Tomorrow’s event is set to be packed with new Chromecasts, the new Nexus 5X and 6P, as well as other announcements. If you need to catch up, be sure to head over and read our full roundup, where we’ve outlined all the new products and features coming to Google’s product lineups.
Google’s September 29th event — the company’s biggest press-facing event since Google I/O 2015 — is scheduled to kick off tomorrow. And while there are definitely some things that haven’t managed to hit the rumor mill quite yet (or maybe not?), a lot of the company’s biggest announcements for tomorrow aren’t secret. The company is planning to reveal two different Chromecast devices, we’ll certainly see the unveiling of the company’s Nexus 5X and 6P, and we’ll hear about the official launch of Android Marshmallow among many other announcements…
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Update: Even more details have now arrived, thanks to surfaced FCC documents and a developer on the XDA-Developers forum who has managed to get ahold of a leaked system image. According to these sources, the Nexus 6P will have a microSD card, and will also have optical image stabilization, Fi-compatible multi-carrier support, F2Fs stock, and T-Mobile WiFi calling out of the box.
The upcoming Nexus announcements are some of the more eagerly awaited of the year (at least in the Google space), but — as is the case with almost every other Android phone announced over the last few years — there aren’t many secrets that will make it all the way to September 29th. Yesterday, a confidential slideshow outlining Nexus 6P features was publicly posted on image sharing site Imgur, and now that same slideshow has made its way to Google Docs. Although yesterday’s leak gave us pretty much all the information you could possibly hope to get before an official debut, it looks like we now have even more tidbits on our hands…
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Although Google isn’t yet rolling out Android Marshmallow to the masses (it’s currently rumored that the rollout will begin on October 5th), many users are this morning waking up to an automatically-updated Google Now Launcher, sporting a design that might be familiar to those who have taken a look at the Android M developer preview…
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Google has an event scheduled for September 29th, at which the company is expected to launch its upcoming lineup of Nexus phones, new Chromecast hardware, and more. The two new Nexus devices are surely going to ship with Android Marshmallow, and that means that over-the-air rollout of Marshmallow to older devices is set to begin sometime soon as well.
According to leaked schedule from Canada’s second largest mobile carrier, Telus, the day that’s set to happen is October 5th…
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After many months of leaks, BlackBerry has finally made the Android-powered “Venice” slider smartphone official. The phone is officially coming to market as the Priv (as was leaked yesterday), a suitable name considering its privacy and security focus, and it’s going to be available later this year…
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At this point it’s just about once a month that an app on the Play Store manages pass 1 billion installs. This month, the app to reach this milestone was Google Play Newsstand.
Not many apps have reached this number, and third-party apps from Facebook are the only outside of Google to do it. As you might expect, other popular Google-made apps like Google Maps and Gmail, alongside Hangouts, Play Music, and others, managed to pass the 1 billion mark a while ago.
Passing 1 billion installs isn’t very exciting for Play Newsstand considering the app comes pre-installed on most Android phones, but it’s worth noting that not all of Google’s stock apps have come anywhere close to this milestone. Google Docs, for example, which comes shipped on all Nexus devices and others, is only in the 50-100 million range.
The Huawei Watch is definitely an Android Wear watch, but it does have a few features that set it apart from its competitors. Even though it may be priced a little on the steep side compared to other offerings in the space, Huawei has truly seized this opportunity to further prove that it is serious about building hardware for Android platforms. The Huawei Watch is the watch to beat right now, and there are at least 5 reasons that’s the case…
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Google’s Sundar Pichai has taken to the Indian YouTube channel today to welcome Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Google headquarters.”It is an honor to welcome Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Silicon Valley this weekend,” Pichai said in the video. “I hope Prime Minister Modi’s visit will energize people in Silicon Valley.”
He puts emphasis on Google’s hope to bring the next billion users online, with the majority of those coming from developing smartphone markets in India, China, and elsewhere. He also outlined a couple of Google’s initiatives intended to make this happen, including Android One. Modi will be visiting Google HQ later this week.
According to a couple reports out this morning, the long-rumored Android-powered “Venice” smartphone on the way from BlackBerry is going to be called the “Priv” when it actually launches…
.@evleaks Confirmed by N4BB: http://t.co/xhZ8PxEwXa
— Evan Blass (@evleaks) September 24, 2015
We’ve seen photos of the phone leak from multiple sources over the last month or two, and a couple of weeks ago a full gallery of shots surfaced showing the phone from all angles. We also recently saw a blurry cam picture taken by someone attending the Toronto Film Festival, showing the same Venice phone we’ve seen elsewhere, but with what looks to be case attached. Along the right side of the device in that image (and the others leaked in the full gallery), you can see two volume buttons aligned just like the ones of the Venice images that just surfaced last month.
If you want to see the phone in action, someone managed to post an entire hands-on video with the phone last week. Additionally, PhoneArena has revealed several specifications of the device, including a 1440 x 2560 QHD resolution display, 3 GB of RAM, an 18-megapixel main camera with optical image stabilization, and a battery somewhere in the range of 3,000 mAh. The software is clearly Android Lollipop, and BlackBerry will probably include security-related features and pre-packaged apps.
As the leaks continue to get more and more common, we’re definitely nearing its official announcement…
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We just saw the Huawei Nexus 6P colors earlier today, and now the same source has shared stock imagery showing the upcoming Nexus 5X from LG. While the white variant was all but confirmed (and a black version easily assumable), this image shows that Google is preparing to launch a green-ish blue color as well — lining up pretty well with previous rumors of a “mint” color.
According to an earlier report out of Android Police citing a “reliable source,” LG’s upcoming “Nexus 5” (which we’ve recently learned is actually called the Nexus 5X), will sport a Snapdragon 808 processor, a 5.2-inch 1080p display, 3 GB of RAM, a 2700 mAh battery, support for USB-C, a 12.3-megapixel main camera sensor, and a 5-megapixel front camera.
As is the case with the Huawei Nexus 6P (and the Chromecast 2nd gen. & Chromecast Audio, which we exclusively leaked last week), we’ll know more about Google’s announcements on September 29th.
Pebble Time and Pebble Time Steel both launched earlier this year to mixed reviews, and now the company behind two of the most-funded Kickstarter projects ever is at it again. Today, Pebble is launching the Pebble Time Round, its first circular smartwatch…
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