Ben Schoon is a Senior Editor at 9to5Google, working for the publication as one of its primary news writers since 2016.
In 2013, Ben helped start an independent tech publication where he learned the skills used at 9to5Google including writing, product photography, and videography. He is located in the city of Winston-Salem in North Carolina where he lives with his wife Melissa. Ben is an avid disc golf player.
He primarily covers Android products, including Google Pixel devices, Samsung Galaxy smartphones, as well as devices from OnePlus, Oppo, Motorola, and more. Beyond just covering news about these products, Ben also spends time using these products himself, speaking from experience with the articles he writes. Some of Ben’s most recent hands-on reviews include; Pixel 8 Pro, Pixel Watch 2, Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5, Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, Motorola Razr+, HP Dragonfly Pro Chromebook, and more.
Ben is also a leading source for information about Google’s Android TV, diving deeply into important parts of the platform including its powerful Operator Tier, explaining future changes to the platform, and reviewing its products such as Chromecast with Google TV, Nvidia Shield TV, and more.
In 2019, Ben leaked one of the first in-person photos of the Pixel 4 before later revealing the Recorder and Pixel Themes apps months ahead of launch. In 2020, Ben also reported on multiple upcoming Pixel devices including Pixel 5a and the first report of Google working on a foldable Pixel smartphone. That same month, he was also the first to correctly report the $49 price point of what became the Chromecast with Google TV.
Ben Schoon is active on Twitter, @nexusben, but can also be found on Instagram and LinkedIn. For questions or tips, you can email him directly, and his portfolio is also available online.
Email: schoon@9to5mac.com | Encrypted Email: benschoon@protonmail.com
As we start a new year of Samsung products, leaks are starting to reveal upcoming plans on the company’s next smartwatch. Apparently, the Galaxy Watch 7 will see a minor upgrade to its Exynos chip this year.
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As AI changes up the voice assistant business, Amazon is reportedly looking to start charging a paid fee for Alexa as soon as this Summer.
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The original OnePlus Watch was almost impressively not-good, but it seems the company is admitting it was wrong with a new Wear OS watch coming right around the corner.
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Samsung’s new Galaxy S24 series skipped support for the new Qi2 standard, and it seems you might run into issues using MagSafe-style cases on the Galaxy S24 Ultra as well, at least at launch.
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AI is the big selling point of the new Samsung Galaxy S24 series, and one of the features is support for AI-generated wallpapers. But an annoying little watermark takes away from those wallpapers just a bit.
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When Google brought gesture navigation to Android, it kept a “gesture hint” in place as a little bar that sits at the bottom of the screen. Some brands, including Samsung, have offered the ability to remove the gesture navigation bar from view or use an entirely different form of gestures, but both are being removed with the Galaxy S24 series.
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YouTube TV seems to be rolling out some tweaks to its app which include fixing quirks with the live guide as well as maybe removing the previous channel shortcut that just debuted a few weeks ago.
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As a part of its huge AI push, Samsung is launching a new transcription option in its Voice Recorder app which works similarly to Google’s Recorder app on Pixels, but it’s not quite as good.
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Voice assistants on our smartphones are an expected part of the device, but as AI takes over, they’re changing. Samsung, though, isn’t killing off Bixby for its new Galaxy AI suite, but it’s also not changing anything either.
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The Galaxy S24 series has arrived and, with that, Samsung’s usual pre-order perks and bonuses. Trade-ins have become an ever-more-important way to save on a new phone, and if you’re still holding on to a Galaxy Note, the time may have arrived to make the switch, as Samsung’s Galaxy S24 offers are actually pretty compelling for those devices.
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AI is the big selling point of Samsung’s new Galaxy S24 series, but the new, rather good suite of Galaxy AI features may eventually come with a cost, the company has confirmed.
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Apple took ages to adopt the always-on display on iPhone, but when it did the company adopted a new idea in showing your wallpaper in color. Now, Samsung is doing the same thing with the always-on display on the Galaxy S24 series.
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Qi2 was announced over a year ago now as the next big thing in wireless charging, bringing the same array of magnets used for Apple’s wildly popular MagSafe to any other device as an industry standard. But we haven’t see it debut in any hardware yet, and Samsung’s new Galaxy S24 series isn’t changing that as all three devices lack support for Qi2.
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Google and Samsung announced at CES last week that Nearby Share and Quick Share will merge, and that new version is already live out of the box on the Galaxy S24 series.
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In an unexpected twist, Samsung’s Unpacked event today for the Galaxy S24 series has revealed the “Galaxy Ring,” a new fitness tracker.
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After years of customer complaints about its Exynos chips, Samsung went all-in on Qualcomm Snapdragon with last year’s Galaxy S23 series globally. But, just a year later, Exynos is back in the Galaxy S24 series.
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Samsung has just announced its new, more expensive Galaxy S24 Ultra. What’s new? At a glance, not much, but there are a few key points we took away from our hands-on time.
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In case you hadn’t heard, AI is the big selling point Samsung is betting on for its new Galaxy S24 series. “Galaxy AI” is a suite of features powered by Samsung and Google, and they seem to be integrated quite well based on our hands-on time. Here’s a full list of Samsung’s new Galaxy AI features.
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Long-term updates have been a struggle on Android phones for a while, but Google broke new ground last year with the Pixel 8 series getting an industry-leading 7 years of major updates – that beats even the iPhone. Now, Samsung is matching that with 7 years of updates on the Galaxy S24 series.
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Samsung has just announced the Galaxy S24 Ultra, its latest flagship phone, which gets new specs, a slight redesign, and a higher starting price. Here’s what you need to know.
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While Google’s switch to Tensor chips in Pixels has brought a lot of good, Samsung’s manufacturing process has certainly held Pixel phones back when it comes to efficiency. It’s been previously reported that Google Tensor will move over to TSMC in the future, and new details show progress on that effort.
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Tap-to-pay support was once relatively rare among banks, but over a decade on the scene has expanded support for Google Wallet to virtually every bank. Recently, though, Google Wallet has expanded to around 40 more banks, as well as adding support for Venmo cards.
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Google TV is currently rolling out a new option for “Call notifications,” which lets select apps send calls to your TV.
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Apple’s war on Beeper, an app that tried to bring iMessage to Android, is now seemingly causing some users to see their Macs blocked from using iMessage entirely.
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