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
Google Stadia will shut down for good in January, but Google is in the process of rolling out refunds to its customers. As of this week, Stadia refunds appear to be heading to customers in the UK, Europe, and Canada.
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Just a day after rolling out a fresh update to the Pixel Watch app with some Fitbit improvements, Google has confirmed that the Pixel Watch now supports Sleep Profiles on Fitbit Premium.
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Google Wallet is seeing one of its first major expansions since its launch as it brings mobile payments to Fitbit Sense 2 and Versa 4 as well as expanding into 12 new countries.
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Sky has just brought its Now TV streaming service to Android TV and Google TV with an official app.
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The new Google Home app is finally on its way and public preview sign-ups are live now, but the app is still only available for a few people. If you haven’t yet had a chance to use it, what do you still want to know?
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As the result of a privacy investigation launched by US states, Google will improve disclosures and controls around location tracking for Android users and account holders, as well as paying a $392 million dollar settlement.
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After a long delay, Google has finally released its redesign of Android Auto into beta as of this week. However, Waze users are getting the short end of the stick, as the app doesn’t yet fully support the Android Auto redesign’s best feature.
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Asus has confirmed its roadmap and schedule for Android 13 on its various smartphones. Here’s the full schedule.
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The Galaxy Tab S8 series just became the first set of Android tablets to pick up official support for Android 13, and the update starts its rollout this week.
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Qualcomm has always dominated the high-end smartphone space, but that’s slowly changing. MediaTek this week unveiled its Dimensity 9200 SoC for high-end Android phones, which appears to be a very strong option, but it’s happening as Google is also pushing its Samsung-produced Tensor chip forward. Could MediaTek turn out to be the better partner for Google?
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Ahead of the holiday season, Nvidia GeForce Now has debuted physical gift cards that allow you to gift priority access in person.
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Samsung continues to speed up its Android 13 rollout, this week bringing the update to the affordable Galaxy A73 as well as some early Galaxy Z Flip 4 and Galaxy Z Fold 4 users.
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The Google Home app started off as a solid way to manage your smart home devices, but as it has been flooded with new hardware and taken on the legacy of Nest, it hasn’t felt as though it was keeping up. Now, Google is moving toward a new Google Home app that makes some big promises, and we’ve spent a couple of days gathering a few first impressions.
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Google has been moving Android to a future that’s 64-bit only for years, but it’s been a slow process. After the Pixel 7 blocked installation of 32-bit apps last month, MediaTek has partially dropped hardware support for 32-bit on the Dimensity 9200, pushing Android one step closer to a 64-bit-only future.
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While Intel and AMD rule the premium laptop sector on ChromeOS, MediaTek has shown time and time again to be a pretty solid choice for entry-level Chromebooks. This week, MediaTek is announcing the Kompanio 520 and 528 chips, which improve display support among other things for affordable Chromebooks.
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Earlier this week it was revealed that a recent Galaxy Watch 4 update was bricking smartwatches, leaving them entirely useless. Samsung is now rolling out a fresh Galaxy Watch 4 update, seemingly to fix the problem, but some users are still running into issues.
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Following this week’s launch of Mediatek’s latest flagship chip for Android phones, Qualcomm is teasing the launch of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, which will apparently land on November 15.
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As it continues to expand Android 13 and One UI 5.0 to the masses, Samsung has just opened up the update to its affordable Galaxy A33 5G.
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After the abrupt shutdown of Google Stadia in September, Google is today starting the process of refunding players for their game purchases and hardware.
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The Pixel Watch is the first Wear OS smartwatch to integrate support for Fitbit, and it works fairly well on the whole. However, a bug with the Fitbit app and the Pixel Watch leaves calorie counts inaccurate, but Google is looking into it.
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While Pixel 7 and its Tensor G2 chip has only been available for a month, rumors are already coming out regarding the next generation. According to a new report, “Tensor G3” will stick with the same modem as the Pixel 7 series and pull from Samsung’s latest chip developments.
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Peacock is about to pick up a valuable new tool, as NBC is bringing local channel streaming to subscription holders starting this month.
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Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 4 series brings a ton of great features and excellent battery life, but it’s susceptible to bugs and problems just like everything else. One issue that some may face is a Galaxy Watch 4 that just won’t turn on. What should you do?
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Amazon Photos is one of the better alternatives to Google Photos thanks to its value, but its app has never been particularly impressive on Android. Now, almost exactly a year after a redesign on iOS, Amazon is giving its Photos app on Android the same treatment.
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