Italian. Tech geek, video games, photography and music lover, comics-based movies enthusiast, and a sucker for good design.
Amateur photographer (VSCO, 500px), writer and reporter for 9to5Google.
Power users love shortcuts. Especially when managing multiple operations across several apps, keyboards allow quick access to specific actions with handy combinations of buttons, and some have become so common and used even among regular people that it’d be hard to think of software that doesn’t take advantage of them.
For better or for worse, however, Google seems to be removing the very common key that allows the Backspace button to move back to the previous page in Chrome…
Google’s I/O developer conference is in full swing, and the company is giving most of its products significant updates. Yesterday, on stage, we saw the final touches being put on Android N, its new VR dedicated platform and a 2.0 update for Wear, however Android Auto was not mentioned.
As it turns out, The Verge reports, Auto too is indeed getting a few sweet upgrades, from support for the “Ok Google” hotword recognition to functionalities that let the standalone app be all you need to use it in your car…
Machine learning — a branch of Artificial Intelligence that studies pattern recognition and computational learning — is at the core of many of Google‘s products. Everything from voice search to Maps‘ Street View down to Inbox‘s recently introduced Smart Replies (which are making their way into the just announced Allo) take advantage of machine learning’s incredible capabilities.
However, Google too seems to acknowledge, “great software shines brightest with great hardware underneath”. This is why, over the past several years, the company has worked on a custom ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit) named Tensor Processing Unit (TPU), and it is unveiling it today…
At Google I/O‘s keynote yesterday, one of the highlights of the final unveiling of Android N was all about Virtual Reality. While no “Android VR” headset was announced, the search giant introduced Daydream, a VR platform that will be available within Android N.
According to Clay Bavor, which debuted Daydream on stage, as many as eight big-name partners are already onboard: Samsung, HTC, LG, Xiaomi, ZTE, Asus, Alcatel and Huawei, and today, the latter OEM is giving us some more information about its integration with Google’s VR vision…
Google had already showed us a glimpse of functionality in Android that made the platform capable of streaming apps from the Play Store without actually installing them — like with AdMob’s ad platform, for instance.
The feature had been rumored for a long time now, and games already took advantage of something similar, but today, the company has formally announced it under the “Android Instant Apps” name…
As expected, Android N made an appearance at today’s I/O conference. Following the announcement of N’s final name decision being dependent on users, Google got into the release itself.
While the final build is not yet ready, and will come towards the end of the summer, the company is today releasing a third preview that finally qualifies as “beta”…
Following the announcement of its Assistant digital helper as well as the Amazon Echo‘s competitor Home, Google is now focusing on messaging and videos.
Allo was the first app announced at I/O 2016, and now Duo, a mobile exclusive one to one video service has been unveiled…
Since the introduction of Material Design exactly two years ago at I/O 2014, Google has put a lot of emphasis on design, and streamlining even seeming minutiae like icons has become a priority.
Today it’s the turn of Google Play‘s Developer Console (via Android Police)…
Samsung‘s relationship with design is indeed a complicated one. I sometimes look at my Galaxy S7 edge and just marvel at its elegance and aesthetic beauty, and then there’s this bizarrely “gold” colored Galaxy S7 Active leaked earlier today. The Korean company simply doesn’t cease to amaze me — in one way or the other.
Thanks once again to Evan Blass, in fact, we now have the pleasure to look at the upcoming “gold” colored Galaxy S7 Active pictured above, which features a design that arguably ranges from “distinctive” or “particular” to downright “ugly”…
Hugo Barra, a former VP at Google and now Vice President of Global Operations at Xiaomi, has today announced on Twitter that he — or at least the Chinese firm — will be back at Google’s upcoming developer conference…
Sony‘s moves in the mobile space continue to be somewhat confusing, as the company’s dedicated division continues to underperform, but that is not stopping the Japanese firm cranking out new and increasingly weird smartphones.
Today is the turn of the XA Ultra — which we had previously seen rumored as C6 Ultra — which packs fairly unique specs, namely its 16MP front facing camera and a monster 6-inch panel…
We are hours away from Motorola‘s event in New Delhi, where the Lenovo-owned company is expected to fully unveil its new Moto G4 and Moto G4 Plus smartphones.
As it often happens, however, the closer we get to an event the more leaks tend to pour, and this time it’s no exception…
We had heard that the EU was planning to levy a substantial fine on Google for its alleged favoring of its own services in search over those belonging to competitors last year already, and the Telegraph is reporting that the European Commission is now estimating a hefty €3 billion ($3.4b) tag…
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The extremely popular messaging service WhatsApp — which now counts over a billion active users — is growing as an increasingly more complex and feature rich app.
After launching things such as end-to-end encryption, Google Drive support for backup and even a desktop client last week, it now seems like it is looking to enter the video-calling space…
For those who are fairly experienced in the app world, joining betas is always exciting and fun — since it allows people to access the latest features and design tweaks — despite the usual presence of bugs.
With the rollout of version 6.7 of the Play Store, Android Police first spotted, Google will now allow you conveniently see if you’re in a beta testing group from within the Store itself, leave and join potential betas, and even give developers some feedback regarding the latest build…
Few things have made the case for an interesting use of the NFC chips inside our phones like contactless payments. Revived by Apple with the introduction of Apple Pay in late 2014, mobile-based transactions have seen an interesting resurgence ever since.
Companies like Samsung and LG have come up with proprietary solutions, but Android users have all found a home under Google‘s very own rooftop with Android Pay. Initially launched in the US alone, the service is now expanding, and after recent promises of a forthcoming launch, it looks like the green light for the UK may be imminent (via Telegraph)…
With the announcement of the Apple Watch‘s “Force Touch” first and the iPhone 6s‘ 3D Touch after, Apple introduced a new, intriguing way to interact with our screens, matching interesting software features with the pressure-sensitive panel behind the actual display.
Predictably, despite some devices like Huawei‘s Mate S or ZTE‘s Axon Mini already supporting some sort of similar, proprietary technologies, Google was rumored to be working on a system-wide implementation for all Android OEMs to use. However, as Recode reports, the support for such a feature seems to have been put momentarily on hold…
We all know that the Galaxy S7 is a capable smartphone. A pretty awesome one, in fact; so much so that we have even suggested that it may represent the very end of the “Smartphone 1.0” era.
It nails almost everything one would want their most used pocket-computer to have: a stunning design, a gorgeous display, fantastic battery life, surprisingly solid software, a few other features here and there, and most of: all a jaw-dropping camera…
As messaging becomes an increasingly more important part of our daily lives, so do the particular languages that we use to communicate on our digital platforms — and few “particular” things have become as influential as emojis.
However, up to this point, most of them have been designed with generally male-like physiognomies, and to address this issue, Google has proposed that Unicode add up to thirteen new emojis to the existing characters to “highlight the diversity of women’s careers”…
Despite having unveiled its new Xperia X lineup at MWC earlier this year — replacing its Z series of flagships — Sony seems to have taken a confusing path. The X Performance, which is the highest-end model of the three, can’t claim to be a true successor to its older Z5 brother, because of both largely identical specs and scarce worldwide availability.
In the UK, for instance, the X Performance is the only unavailable model of the family. According to a Sony spokesperson, however, the device “may ultimately make it to the country” (via TechRadar), while fans of big phones may soon get their hands on the C6 Ultra model, a 6″ monster that @OnLeaks is now showing in all of its 3D-rendered glory…
Google‘s upcoming I/O event gathers a lot of anticipation from developers all over the world. Likewise, Android enthusiasts that are not directly involved in coding still very much look forward to the event.
That means — despite their relatively hefty price tag — when tickets become available, they generally sell out in minutes. However, as an Android Police tipster shows, it looks like Google is still pushing out last-minute invites to some lucky applicants…
In the middle of seemingly stalling profits and a general slowdown of the smartphone industry — like Apple‘s notable first quarter of YoY growth drop in years — Samsung seems to be enjoying a moment of sunshine bathing.
Eleven months after losing the leadership to the Cupertino giant, the Korean manufacturer has climbed once again to the top of the US vendors’ list, as per a Counterpoint Research report (via Business Korea)…
With the mass distribution of NFC chips (and even fingerprint readers) in most phones, mobile payments are becoming increasingly popular.
Google‘s own Android Pay — as well as a series of other services, like Samsung‘s — has been live for some time in the US, and it looks like Uber is now sending emails out to customers regarding their own implementation of the payments service…
A common trend among flagship devices this year has been the introduction of USB-C, a new standard that allows a single port to convey functions such as charging and data transfer with higher speeds and power capacities, all while being conveniently reversible.
Samsung, however, has uncharacteristically remained out of the conversation — either to avoid controversy or not to cause compatibility issues with its Gear VR — and brought the Galaxy S7 (and S7 edge) to the market with an “old” microUSB connector. The Galaxy Note 6, SamMobile reports, is however looking like it’ll change things…