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 cloud gaming platform Amazon Luna has been hemorrhaging games as of late, but the platform appears to be adding one of the world’s most popular games, Fortnite, in an unexpected move.
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Foldable smartphones are coming en masse this year, and it seems Motorola is set to debut its latest Razr as soon as June 2023.
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Since being acquired by Google, there have been some head-scratching changes with Fitbit, some of which seem to be pushing some long-time fans away. Are you sticking with Fitbit?
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The biggest partner for Google TV, TCL, has reportedly surpassed LG as the largest TV brand (behind Samsung).
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It’s been known for a little while now that Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy Z Fold 5 will be launching with a brand-new hinge design, and it seems that new design will lead to a drastically thinner folding smartphone, as Samsung has been able to cut down on the thickness considerably.
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Satellite connectivity is going to be commonplace in many future smartphones, but as of today, it’s really only in Apple’s iPhone 14 series. But for an affordable price, the Motorola Defy Satellite Link adds this valuable connectivity to existing Android and iOS smartphones via Bluetooth.
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Satellite connectivity has been a big deal in the smartphone industry in 2023, with Qualcomm announcing “Snapdragon Satellite” for smartphones in January and Samsung debuting its take on the tech for Exynos chips. Now, MediaTek is laying out its plans for satellite connectivity, which will show up in actual devices quite soon.
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Canada is preparing a new bill that, if signed into law, would require Google to pay publishers for using information from their content. In response, Google is testing a complete block of news content in Search in Canada with a subset of users.
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One of the best video editors from iOS, LumaFusion, is today officially launching on Android with support for ChromeOS.
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In its first major update of 2023, Google TV is revamping its homescreen to remove multiple tabs from the homescreen, but also introducing better curation for movies and shows.
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After months of build-up, YouTube has today officially announced that podcasts will soon be distributed through YouTube Music as part of a push for podcasting on the platform as a whole.
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AI has taken the world by storm in recent months, and the next steps are still to come. For Google, though, further expansion of AI in Search by way of Bard could represent a huge increase in cost.
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According to a new report, Samsung will apply strong water resistance to its upcoming Galaxy Tab S9 lineup.
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According to a new report, Samsung’s next Galaxy Watch 6 will move back toward a design with curved glass, just like Google’s Pixel Watch.
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YouTube has experimented a few times as of late with changing up its offerings for content quality, and this week it seems to be testing out a new “1080p Premium” tier that ups the quality.
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Satellite connectivity is one of the “next big things” in smartphones following Apple’s debut of the feature in its iPhone 14 series last year. Now, Samsung is throwing its hat in the ring, with two-way satellite connectivity in smartphones powered by the modem that happens to be in Google’s Pixel 7.
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Stripe today announced that it would expand support for NFC payments on smartphones to Android, after launching the functionality on iOS last year.
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The arrival of Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 smartphones has also brought forth UFS 4.0 storage, which provides real speed improvements. According to a new report, Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 5 will upgrade to that speedy storage, but the Galaxy Z Flip 5 may be limited.
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Rovio announced this week that it will remove the “Classic” version of Angry Birds from the Google Play Store, effectively cutting off Android players.
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The arrival of S Pen support on the Galaxy Z Fold 3 is part of what sealed the death of the Galaxy Note, but we’re still waiting on the ability to house a stylus inside of Samsung’s flagship foldable. Apparently, those hoping for an S Pen silo to arrive in the Galaxy Z Fold 5 will be left waiting yet again.
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The reinvented Bing fueled by ChatGPT certainly has a lot of interest, and Microsoft is now opening it up to a whole new set of users as Bing for Android and iOS opens up support for the AI experience.
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Samsung’s Bixby voice assistant has always been mocked in comparison to Google Assistant, but Samsung has built out the feature to include some genuinely useful features. This week, Samsung has announced a major update for its assistant that centers around voice and text interactions.
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It was only a matter of time, but it seems one Android manufacturer is just about ready to debut its clone of the iPhone 14’s Dynamic Island feature, with an upcoming Realme device adding the feature.
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Google has struck a deal with Vodafone, a major telecommunications company in Europe, which will expand the footprint of Pixel and Android TV and will update RCS for customers across the continent.
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