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
Samsung has been massively improving its support timelines over the past few years, but older devices haven’t all gotten the same level of extended updates. As such, Samsung has just officially cut off the Galaxy Note 10 and Note 10+, with updates ending as of this month.
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Google Maps is picking up a handy new trick for organizing your favorite places, as locations in your Saved Places lists can now be marked with emoji.
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The Wear OS 4 update isn’t particularly major, but it does include some nice quality of life changes. On Samsung’s Galaxy Watch series, One UI 5 Watch includes the ability to create app folders within the app drawer.
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We’ve already seen the Pixel 8 Pro on a couple of occasions, but as we start counting down the days to Google’s October 4 event, the leaks keep coming, now with a new, pretty high-res look at the upcoming flagship.
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NFL Sunday Ticket is one of the biggest deals in sports, and the fact that it’s available on YouTube and YouTube TV is great for customers. However, in the lead up to the first games, YouTube is being more than a little pushy in advertising NFL Sunday Ticket in its apps.
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A bug with Android Auto is causing users to see audio quality for music muffled and otherwise cut down drastically following the use of Google Assistant, phone calls, and other features.
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The OnePlus Pad made its debut earlier this year as the company’s first Android tablet, but there may be another, more affordable option in the pipeline.
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Apple is apparently set to ditch leather cases on the iPhone 15 series and, in its place, adopt a new “woven” fabric case as 9to5Mac reports. That’s a style of case that Google Pixel users are quite familiar with, so here are a few things to keep in mind as Apple prepares to revive the cases Google never should have killed off.
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WhatsApp is the biggest messaging service on the planet, but also one that’s had effectively the same visual look for several years now. Soon, though, WhatsApp may get a shockingly major redesign.
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Google’s Pixel Buds Pro first launched in mid-2022, and later this year we’re expecting a new update to the hardware by way of some new colors. But that has the question circulating: Should Google be releasing a “Pixel Buds Pro 2” sequel?
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TVs have gotten incredibly affordable in recent years, but not every option is worth the cost savings. TCL, though, has built much of its success on affordable sets, and the 2023 TCL S Class S4 with Google TV is a testament to just how good of a TV you can get for an affordable price tag.
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Following up on the debut of the functionality early this year, Roku appears to be testing a new homescreen layout which brings the “Continue Watching” row to the forefront.
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Just a week after the update landed on Galaxy Watch 5, Samsung is now rolling out its One UI 5 Watch update to the Galaxy Watch 4 series with Wear OS 4 in tow.
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This week, Google announced that it would discontinue its Pixel Pass subscription service after less than two years – before subscribers could actually reap some of the benefits of the subscription they thought they had been paying for.
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Google is preparing to add two new colors to its Pixel Buds Pro, with “Porcelain” and “Sky Blue” set to join the lineup alongside Pixel 8 this Fall.
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Google announced early this year that Wear OS and Android would launch a new “Watch Unlock” feature that would allow smartwatches to keep your connected phone unlocked. In its latest update to Wear OS 4, Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 5 series seems to gain support for the upcoming feature, which, several months later, still has not launched.
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Instagram is one of the most popular social platforms in the world, but it has long missed out on a UI for tablets and other bigger displays. That’s finally changing…
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Samsung’s Exynos chips have, for a while, led to issues with Galaxy phones from overheating to performance quirks and more. That’s why the decision to go for Qualcomm Snapdragon chips globally on the Galaxy S23 series was praised, but rumor has it, Exynos could return for Galaxy S24.
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OnePlus has today announced that it will launch OxygenOS 14, the brand’s skin on top of Android 14, on September 25.
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Google announced Wear OS 4 back in May, and the update saw its debut on Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 6 which debuted earlier this month. Now, Wear OS 4 is rolling out to its first existing smartwatches, the Galaxy Watch 5 and Watch 5 Pro.
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If you have a Chromebook, you might also be able to score free access to Nvida’s GeForce Now cloud gaming service, as Google is teaming up with the company to offer a freebie.
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Samsung pulled the plug on its Galaxy Note lineup in 2022, pushing the best aspects of the beloved phones into its “Ultra” flagship, as well as giving the foldable Galaxy Z Fold and Z Flip into the Note’s old release date. For anyone still hopeful the Note would return, though, those hopes have certainly been dashed at this point.
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Earlier this year Google announced that Search would start, by default, enabling a SafeSearch setting that blurs sexually explicit images and content that appears in search results. Now, the company is confirming that the change has been rolled out.
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Samsung launched its Android 14 beta program earlier this month with the Galaxy S23 series, and it’s now getting its second update as well as support for more countries.
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