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
The OnePlus Watch 2 was partially announced yesterday, with a first look and some key details being provided. Now, an FCC listing has revealed the battery size of the OnePlus Watch 2, giving us a chance to compare it to other devices.
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Waze appears to be rolling out a long-awaited feature, as new alerts in the app give notice of upcoming speed bumps and particularly sharp turns.
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Samsung made a splash this year with “Galaxy AI” being the big selling point of its new Galaxy S24 series, but it seems the company’s efforts aren’t over, with plans to bring AI to wearables such as the Galaxy Watch “in the near future.”
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With examples such as the Oppo Find N3 (aka the OnePlus Open) out in the wild, it’s ridiculous to think that Oppo could throw in the towel and give up on making Android foldables. But such a rumor was making the rounds recently, and Oppo says that’s false.
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The Android TV experience has been replaced at this point, but it’s still getting feature updates (for some reason). This week, Google is launching a new “Quick Access” row on the Android TV homescreen.
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The PlayStation Portal is a $200 wireless screen and controller that streams from a PlayStation 5. That’s all it does, with no local functionality. However, seemingly thanks to the PlayStation Portal’s Android base, the device was modded to run PSP games.
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Google debuted Circle to Search earlier this year as a big new AI feature in Android. While it’s only available on some devices, the feature does have one limitation that seems rather obvious, which is that Circle to Search is disabled if you switch your default assist app.
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While the first Android 15 developer preview was a bit underwhelming, new features still seem to be in the pipeline. One of those new additions may be the ability for Android to automatically hide incoming two-factor authentication codes from other apps on your device.
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Android 14 has been working behind the scenes on a new ability for apps to be assigned as Android’s default “note-taking” app, and while Google Keep has some early support for the feature, it’s not live yet. More recent versions of the app, though, now say that the lockscreen access functionality that this new role delivers is “coming soon.”
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For the past couple of years, the Asus Zenfone has been touted as one of the best Android phones thanks to its compact size in a sea of giant devices. But, now, Asus is teasing the launch of the Asus Zenfone 11 Ultra and touting its “ultra size” as a key selling point.
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The OnePlus Watch 2 has been officially announced, and while some key details are still being kept under wraps, we’ve got a first look at the product as well as its main focus – battery life.
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The Nothing Phone (2a) is coming soon with a budget focus and, as was reported months ago, the company’s first MediaTek chipset.
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After first being reported last week, Walmart has officially announced that it will buy TV-maker Vizio.
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Google has been using “The Bot” Android mascot for the past several months, and now you can finally have your own as the company has just launched an official Android figure in its merchandise store.
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The Xiaomi 14 Ultra is set to launch next week at MWC and, ahead of that debut, Xiaomi has shared a few camera samples from the device.
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Meizu has announced that it is “all in on AI,” with the company throwing in the towel on making Android smartphones.
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It’s, unfortunately, increasingly common for security cameras to have a glitch that exposes data from one user’s system and have that data show up in someone else’s app, but when it does happen, it usually has a minimal impact. Wyze, though, has confirmed that a recent outage led to the cameras of 13,000 customers being semi-accessible to other accounts.
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Recently Microsoft Edge was caught sneakily grabbing data from Google Chrome and other browsers following Windows updates, but there was also an apparent glitch going on where Edge would grab that data even if you didn’t give it permission. Now, that bug has supposedly been fixed.
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Huawei, still unable to use Google apps, keeps chugging along with more Android-based smartphones. This week, the company has confirmed plans to launch its next foldable, the Huawei Pocket 2.
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2021’s OnePlus Watch was a pretty incredible mess, with the smartwatch launching in an unfinished state lacking tons of features and more. But, now, OnePlus is officially teasing the OnePlus Watch 2, saying that “it’s time, to do it right.”
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Using a navigation app when out on the road is what just about everyone does nowadays, but these apps are useful for more than just getting directions from point A to point B. Google Maps has supported incident reporting for quite some time, but as we keep moving forward, the feature is becoming essentially useless due to neglect.
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Back in 2021, Google effectively rebooted its efforts with Pixel hardware with the arrival of the first Tensor processor. That’s led to some big changes but 2024 finally marks the year that the transition is entering its final stage.
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For years now, Google has offered the “Android File Transfer” app on macOS to enable users to access files and photos when plugging them into a Mac. But, suddenly, Google has hidden that tool from the official Android website.
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With the debut of Android 15’s first developer preview, there’s not much that’s new, but Google is making some small tweaks throughout. One of those tweaks is Android 15’s new ability to control keyboard haptics from the Settings menu regardless of the app’s setting.
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