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
If you’re not using dark mode on your Android device, you might notice that Google Assistant is using a dark theme regardless, and Google says that’s intentional.
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Almost a decade after its launch, Google Hangouts is shutting down for good, as the web app will stop working later today.
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If you have a Wear OS 3 smartwatch, including the Google Pixel Watch or Samsung Galaxy Watch 5, a recent update to Google Maps appears to have broken the navigation shortcuts for home and work locations.
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The Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro have only been on the market for a few weeks now, but some early buyers have seen issues with Android Auto on Google’s latest flagships. Luckily, those issues should be fixed with recent updates.
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Google’s first true smartwatch lineup consists of three options between $230 and $350 which doesn’t leave a ton of room for each to be particularly different. This week, though, the Fitbit Sense 2 is down to $199, which makes it a compelling alternative to the Google Pixel Watch. Here’s why.
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AT&T has partnered with Samsung to launch a brand new tablet option for parents to give their children. The Galaxy Tab A7 Lite Kids Edition sports a low price tag, a rugged body, and the Google Play Store on board.
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Samsung launched its Android 13 update earlier this month on the Galaxy S22 series, and now the update is headed to users in the US.
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Google’s Pixel Watch has a limited number of bands available, and while the one that ships out of the box is pretty good, there’s room for improvement on comfort. The Pixel Watch “Woven” band is an obvious choice in that regard, but it seems a bit overpriced.
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The shutdown of Google Stadia is going to bring a few exclusive games down with it, but one exclusive is going to be able to escape the sinking ship. Wavetale, a “First on Stadia” title released in 2021, will make its way to PC and consoles in December.
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It’s been almost a decade since Pebble closed its doors, but support for the brand’s smartwatches has lived on. This week, Google itself has somewhat revived the official Pebble smartwatch app to bring support for the Pixel 7 series by adding 64-bit support to the app.
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Google Stadia is set to shut down in a matter of months after barely three years of availability. “What went wrong” is a complex question, but it seems Xbox’s Phil Spencer has an opinion on why Stadia didn’t succeed in the same way Xbox Cloud Gaming has, and, as someone who loved Stadia, I’ve got to say he’s dead on.
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Google Messages is the vehicle that drives the RCS chat experience for millions of Android users around the world, but that experience still isn’t completely done. After bringing end-to-end encryption, Google Messages still needs to support E2EE to group chats over RCS, and it seems that’s starting to show up.
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With a coming update to Windows 11, laptops and PCs are picking up the ability to automatically launch the hotspot on your smartphone as a part of the “Phone Link” feature, but it only works with select Android phones.
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It’s taken well over a year, but Google’s new Nest cameras finally have a Google Home web app. The experience is still rolling out, but here’s a quick look at what you can expect.
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Android 13 is starting to expand past the beta stage on devices from Samsung, Vivo, and more after launching on Pixels earlier this year. OnePlus, though, is just now releasing a schedule for when to expect Android 13 on more devices, but only in its beta form.
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Spigen has been one of the most reliable names in affordable smartphone cases for a long time now, and with the launch of the Pixel 7, the company has joined the Made for Google program. Here’s how this year’s lineup looks on Google’s latest smartphones.
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As it continues to face intense scrutiny for its practices with Android partners, Google has just struck a new deal with Amazon that will allow Android partners to produce Amazon Fire TVs.
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As Google moves towards the end of its Stadia cloud gaming service, Microsoft is touting more success with Xbox Cloud Gaming, now having said that over 20 million people have used the service, but there’s bad news about “Keystone,” the dedicated streaming device that could have further expanded that number.
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Amazon just announced a new update for Fire TV which will add deep integration with the company’s Luna game streaming service and its TV platform – it’s exactly the sort of thing Google should have done with Stadia too.
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As new hardware continues to bolster the Wear OS ecosystem, Peloton has just launched an official Wear OS app.
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In a relatively quiet move, Google Maps has removed a layer from its app that showed COVID-19 hotspots.
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Yesterday afternoon a magnitude 5.1 earthquake hit the San Francisco area, the largest in the area in the better part of a decade. But for those carrying an Android phone, there was an early warning to the earthquake for residents of San Francisco and the nearby areas.
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iMessage is a powerful messaging platform for iPhone users that changed the game for messaging, but over the years, it has also served as a lock-in tactic and even developed a prejudice between Android and iPhone users. In an interview this week, Apple’s Craig Federighi said that iMessage for Android would have been a “throwaway” effort that would have “held [Apple] back in innovating.”
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Ever since Google introduced a new lineup of Nest cameras to its smart-home lineup, there’s been a ton of confusion around the Google Home app, the Nest app, and which Nest Cam works where. Consider this your definitive guide.
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