Kyle Bradshaw joined 9to5Google in 2018 with a special interest in Google’s Fuchsia OS, rooted in his experience of being the first to offer a visual preview of the revolutionary design of the in-development operating system. Since then, his attention has broadened to include the secrets hidden within other areas of Google’s public codebases.
By reading the public Fuchsia code, Kyle was able to prove the existence of the Nest Mini and the Nest Hub Max months ahead of their respective announcements. With evidence from Chromium, he reported on Google’s since-canceled efforts to create an offshoot of Android designed for “touchless” feature phones.
In 2018, Kyle reported on three distinct Made by Google Chromebooks in development, the Pixel Slate, the Pixelbook Go — a full year before its release — and “Meowth,” the original version of the Pixel Slate that was canceled due to Intel’s delays that year. For ChromeOS itself, Kyle was the first to demonstrate the upcoming light theme redesign in action.
Looking at the early evidence of the Pixel 5’s specs, Kyle accurately predicted in February 2020 that the Pixel 5 might not be a traditional “flagship” phone. In 2021, he reported that Google’s next headset would be the “Pixel Buds A.”
Kyle was the first to report that the Pixel 6 would mark the debut of Google’s in-house processors, later revealed to be the Tensor chips.
Kyle contributes to the APK Insight column at 9to5Google, discovering the hidden changes in Google’s apps. These efforts have revealed hotly anticipated features, details about upcoming devices, and unexpected connections between companies.
He can be reached for tips or just friendly chat by Threads, Mastodon, Bluesky, or email. If you’re looking for his other works or side projects, head over to Kyle’s personal portfolio.
One of the hallmarks of Android 12’s Material You redesign is the usage of your current wallpaper’s colors throughout your favorite apps. Google Chrome is the latest app to begin respecting your Material You colors on Android 12.
Update 3: Google’s Material You retheme of Chrome for Android is now available in an even more in-depth option, replacing the white background with a suitable color.
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Samsung had a strong showing this week at its Galaxy Unpacked event, showcasing their latest foldable phones alongside a pair of Wear OS-based smartwatches. Here are the many ways to pre-order the new Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Z Flip 3, as well as the best deals for each of them.
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Samsung’s latest affordable wireless earbuds, the $150 Galaxy Buds 2, offer active noise cancellation, wireless charging, and more.
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Google is launching its “Material You” design language later this year, but ahead of that, the Files by Google app has gotten a noticeable redesign with Material You elements.
Update: Files by Google now also respects Android 12’s Material You dynamic colors.
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This week, Google took the wraps off of its fall smartphones, the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro, offering each in three colorways. Now that we’ve seen official renders of the Pixel 6 series, what’s your favorite color?
Update 8/7: The results are in, here are your favorite colors for the Pixel 6 series.
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In this week’s top stories: Google gives an early preview of the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro, the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 has some of its battery specs leak, new wallpapers arrive for Pixel phones, and more.
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Every good operating system needs a web browser, especially as more and more apps move to the web. To that end, Google is preparing to bring the full Google Chrome browser experience to Fuchsia OS.
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A “Wireless Streaming Device” from Google passed through the FCC on Thursday, which many have taken to mean a new Chromecast is on the way, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.
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The latest update to Stadia for Android, version 3.28, works toward taking screenshots and accessing Assistant with third-party controllers, joining parties from your phone, and more.
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Google One, Google’s subscription service that gives you increased storage for Drive and Photos, is set to become available in a discounted bundle with Play Pass.
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Google Chrome for desktop is set to gain a handy screenshot tool, complete with Google Lens integration, which should replace screenshot extensions.
Update: The Google Lens integration is now live in pre-release builds of Chrome.
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Chrome OS is preparing to offer access to the calendar from the quick settings area, complete with your Google Calendar events.
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Google has launched a fantastic animated homepage Doodle featuring the letters of “Google” practicing COVID-19 prevention methods, including wearing masks, staying socially distant, and getting vaccinated.
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Qualcomm appears to be preparing a Snapdragon Wear 5100 chip to power the next generation of Wear OS watches.
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Ahead of the launch of the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 series, we’re learning that Wear OS will soon be able to support “alternate” assistants, such as Bixby.
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Yesterday, Google unveiled this fall’s Pixel 6 series phones, leaving quite a few questions unanswered. To get to know the Google Pixel 6 and 6 Pro a bit better, let’s take a look at their official wallpapers, which also tell us the phones’ resolution.
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One of the more whimsical aspects of Waze is the ability to see your car represented on the map with a 3D model. It seems Waze is getting ready to celebrate the upcoming release of Halo Infinite by including two of the game series’ classic vehicles.
Update: Almost two weeks after being spotted by our team, Waze has made Halo vehicles officially available in the app.
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In teasing the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro, Google has shown off what looks to be a new homescreen widget for Google Keep, complete with a Material You design.
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Earlier this year, we leaked that Google’s next flagship phones, the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro, would run on a Made by Google ‘Whitechapel’ chip instead of one made by Qualcomm. Today, Google has formally unveiled its first Whitechapel hardware as the “Google Tensor” chip.
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While most Pixel fans are eagerly anticipating the upcoming Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro — confirmed to be an overhaul of the Made by Google phone series — the Android 12 Beta includes clues to what Google phones will come after that. These possibly include a foldable Pixel and the presumed Pixel 6a.
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Google’s decision to only include a severely limited amount of storage in the Chromecast with Google TV is already standing in the way of updating my apps.
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Google and Jetbrains have released the first stable build of Jetpack Compose 1.0, the new Kotlin-based UI framework for Android.
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The latest version of Android Studio, codenamed Arctic Fox, is now out of beta and includes the ability to easily pair Wear OS emulators, as well as a variety of new tools for Jetpack Compose.
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Google is developing a new iOS app called “Switch to Android,” which should be able to copy the most important data from your iPhone and bring over your apps.
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