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 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.
I’ve been all-in on Google’s smart home ecosystem for the past several years, but with the soft reboot in 2021, things started falling apart, and frankly, I was getting tired of it. Over the past couple of months, I’ve been prepared to throw out my entire Nest ecosystem and move on to something else. But with new hardware and a revamped app that shows the company is actually listening to customers, Google just earned a second chance.
The next step in building out the smart home is coming with the Matter standard, and it continues to make big promises. Today, the Matter 1.0 standard is officially launching and opening up certification, one of the last remaining steps before the formal launch of Matter for consumers.
Google is expanding support for its initiative to help you save money and use renewable energy with the Nest Thermostat, as Nest Renew is now available to anyone in the US.
Android 12 is still a very new version of the platform, but Samsung is launching the update for its Galaxy devices less than a month after Google’s own Pixel phones. More devices will be updated over the coming months, and Samsung has confirmed a preliminary list of devices that will be updated.
The Google Store is one of the best places to pick up new Pixels, and just in time for the Pixel 6a and Pixel Buds Pro to go on pre-order, Rakuten has started offering cash back on Google Store purchases.
Matter is a new standard for smart home devices that’s making huge promises for the future, and Google is a core part of that. Alongside the announcement of its revamped Google Home app, the company is also confirming this week that it will update its Nest speakers, smart displays, and routers to help control Matter devices. It’s also showing off how you’ll be able to set up Matter devices from Android.
Ahead of the launch of Matter and its smart home reinvention later this year, Google has some big new announcements for the Google Home app, including support for a website where you’ll be able to view live feeds for Nest cameras, and unlock more powerful script editor automation in the future.
If you’ve purchased any of Google’s new Nest cameras in the past year, you’re probably familiar with the awful experience that comes with trying to view recordings. With its redesigned Google Home app, the company is finally fixing the problem by stealing the history page from the old Nest app.
Google’s Pixel Watch is set to cost $349 as we’ve reported, but what about its bands? According to a new early hands-on, the Pixel Watch “Active” band will cost around $50.
Smartwatches are very personal devices and, as such, how they look is very important to many potential buyers. With the upcoming Pixel Watch, the screen bezels have become a polarizing design element – even a deal breaker for some.
Google purchased Fitbit in 2019 to the tune of $2.1 billion in an effort to “invest more in Wear OS.” Almost three years later, we’re finally set to see the culmination of that purchase in the Pixel Watch, a smartwatch that merges the best of Fitbit with the best of Wear OS. But ahead of that launch, it increasingly feels like that long-awaited device is coming at the expense of dedicated Fitbit smartwatches. Here’s why.
The Google Pixel Watch has seen a huge number of leaks in the weeks leading up to its official announcement, and now yet another batch of promotional materials shows off what comes in the box with the Pixel Watch and reiterates the battery life.
The Pixel 7 series is expected to bit a fairly light update over the prior generation, but a new spec sheet hints that the camera could bring a bit more of an update than previously expected.
In what is perhaps the biggest Pixel Watch leak yet, a gallery of official-looking images show off the various bands, watch faces, and Fitbit support, among other things, of Google’s upcoming smartwatch.
Well, it’s been quite a week, hasn’t it? Stadia is dead and with it, this weekly column. So to close things out, let’s take a look at Stadia’s stats one final time.
Google Stadia abruptly shut down yesterday in a move that came as a surprise to players and Stadia employees alike. Apparently, Stadia game developers were also shocked by the news, but Google might be working to do the right thing.
The Pixel Watch is set to debut in less than a week, and we know it’s going to be a pricey option. Now, we’re getting a clearer picture as to what the Pixel Watch will cost in the UK and Europe, as price details surface.
As a final offer to its players and its publishing partners, Google Stadia is dropping one more batch of new games. Available now, remaining Stadia Pro members can claim these six games.
As Stadia shuts down, Google is giving out refunds to anyone who invested in Stadia hardware or purchased games on the platform. Along with that, the developers of Embr, one of the only early access titles to have been launched on Stadia, are giving Stadia players a free Steam key.
Stadia is dead. After three years of ups and downs, the platform has been confirmed to shut down early next year, and Google has immediately stopped selling all hardware related to its gaming efforts. While the Stadia Controller is dead, we still wish Google would unlock support for using it over Bluetooth.
Last year Google debuted a new battery widget on Pixel phones that shows how much juice is left in your phone and its connected devices. Now, in an update, the Pixel battery widget is also showing a time estimate for how long the remaining battery will last.
