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
With the launch of the Pixel 7a earlier this month, Google also released a limited edition case for the new phone that had a touch of Material You and was free with pre-orders. After using it for a bit, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s a crying shame this thing won’t live on for other phones.
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The Motorola Razr+ is a promising and futuristic foldable flip phone, and its signature feature is the ability to run full apps on the outer display. Here’s what you can and can’t do on that display, and some of its special tweaks.
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After countless leaks lately, the Motorola Razr (2023) and Motorola Razr+ have arrived, with new hardware, impressive features, and more. After spending some time with both phones this week, I feel they’re the foldable flip phones that finally nail the vision of what this form factor should be.
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The Motorola Razr+ is the company’s revived and reinvented foldable smartphone, and it’s coming to the United States and other countries on June 23 for $999. Here’s what you need to know.
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WhatsApp is preparing new updates on Android, with support for group profile pictures, as well as some new Material Design elements.
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Following lots of leaks and teasers, Motorola just announced the latest generation of the Razr foldable with the Razr 40 and Razr 40 Ultra going official in China.
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Google today announced a major Wallet expansion that adds the ability to manually add any barcode or QR code, adds support for IDs in new states, and more.
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Carl Pei’s Nothing is preparing for its second Android smartphone, and this week the company has confirmed several details about the device, including that Nothing Phone (2) will get updates for a few years, and have a bigger screen.
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Android 14 is still in development but chugging along on Pixel phones and select other devices. Behind the scenes, though, Samsung is also working up Android 14, which is expected to be called One UI 6.0, and a recent app update is giving some hints on the company’s progress.
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We’re just a couple of short days out from the launch of the new Motorola Razr, with the “Ultra” foldable having leaked countless times in recent weeks. Today, yet another Motorola Razr leak details water resistance, which seemingly won’t be able to match Samsung’s flip phone.
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At Google I/O 2023 it was announced that the much-needed Google Home app redesign would start rolling out globally. Do you have it yet?
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A few weeks after its more affordable sibling debuted, Motorola is launching the Moto G Stylus 5G (2023), a $400 Android phone that would be rather compelling if not for a key flaw.
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The OnePlus 11 is getting a unique new color option in India, as “Marble Odyssey” makes its debut soon.
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High-end smartphones continue to take over bigger swaths of the market, and Samsung’s Galaxy S23 Ultra was the most popular high-end Android phone in Q1 2023.
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The Google Pixel Fold finally debuted earlier this month and is set to go on sale in a matter of weeks. But, as we’ve known for a while, it wasn’t the only Pixel Fold iteration on the books, and now Google’s own Ivy Ross is shedding some light on the matter.
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In the wake of the launch of the TicWatch Pro 5 last week, discounts are easy to find for the previous-generation TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra and TicWatch E3 – you probably shouldn’t buy either one, though.
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Arm has just announced its latest CPU and GPUs for smartphones, with the Cortex-X4 set to be a big jump forward that’s already confirmed to be in place for MediaTek’s next Dimensity chip.
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Call Screen is a feature on Pixel phones that allows the phone to manually, or automatically respond to spam calls using the Google Assistant. Now, Google is working to simplify the feature’s settings, for better or worse.
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Foldables are finally hitting their stride, with a summer full of foldable smartphones just about to begin.
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For the past couple of months, articles have been going around calling out a problem with “Android TV” boxes sold online that are full of malware, often ignoring that “Android TV” isn’t the same thing as “Android TV OS” from Google. Now, Google is responding and showing you how to ensure your Android TV device is secure and safe from these sketchy practices such as malware.
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NFL Sunday Ticket is seeing its first-ever shake-up this season with the popular sports package moving over to YouTube TV and YouTube after over a decade attached to DirecTV. However, Google’s big deal won’t apply to businesses showing those games, as DirecTV will still be the distributor.
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Android smartwatches have been in a rough state for years now as they’ve watched the Apple Watch become an absolute juggernaut to compete against. But the debut of Wear OS 3 and some proper hardware has breathed new life into Google’s efforts and has also now given us the TicWatch Pro 5, a powerhouse smartwatch that literally outlasts the competition.
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YouTube TV is preparing for the launch of NFL Sunday Ticket, and ahead of the season’s start, the platform is removing limits on how many concurrent streams you can have going in your home.
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We know pretty much everything there is to know about the upcoming Motorola Razr foldable, but a new video is showing it all off in one neat package, along with a new name for the device.
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