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.
With unique features like RCS messaging and a handy web client, Google Messages has become an essential SMS/MMS app for Android. It seems that later this year, Google intends for its Messages app to stop working on uncertified Android devices.
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Across the United States, the third Monday of January is set aside as a day of service and community in honor of Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. This year, Google is joining in the celebration with a homepage Doodle depicting the past and present fights against racial injustice.
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Google’s second-generation Pixel Buds offer a fantastic fit and comfort, but could it be better? That’s the question that Comply is aiming to answer with their foam tips for the Pixel Buds. Let’s check them out!
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In this week’s top stories: we help the Google Assistant go Super Saiyan in Dragon Ball Z easter egg, take an early look at an upcoming revamp of Nova Launcher, catalog the best new features of OnePlus’s OxygenOS 11.0 update, and more.
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Samsung had a strong showing this week at its Galaxy Unpacked event, showcasing its latest smart home devices, accessories, and, of course, phones. Here are the many, many ways to pre-order the new Samsung Galaxy S21, S21+, & S21 Ultra, as well as the best deals for each of them.
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Cyberpunk 2077 was one of the most anticipated games of 2020 and subsequently one of the buggiest messes, befitting of the kind of year 2020 was. The latest update to Cyberpunk 2077, patch 1.06, is now available to Stadia players, fixing some of the biggest Stadia-specific bugs, including the weapon sticking issue.
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The latest update to the Google Stadia app for Android, version 2.52, includes a teaser for a mysterious “Project Hailstorm,” a new way to play games from the couch with friends or family, a full revamp of the Explore tab, and more.
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Today’s Google Doodle is a cute animation celebrating Dr. James Naismith and his invention of basketball in 1891.
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Today, Samsung announced the Galaxy S21 series, complete with ultra-wideband (UWB) technology to better connect to your other smart devices. The next great example of how to use the UWB on the Galaxy S21+ and S21 Ultra is to use it as a car key for your next vehicle from Ford, BMW, and others.
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Side-by-side with the announcement of the Galaxy S21 series phones, Samsung has announced its latest and most premium set of wireless earbuds, the Galaxy Buds Pro, complete with both noise cancellation and amplification.
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The classic arcade-style multiplayer fighting game Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game has returned and is available now for Google Stadia.
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Last year, we found that Android Auto was working to let you add a bit of flair to your car’s entertainment system through wallpaper support. Ahead of that feature’s launch, Google has added a collection of car-related wallpapers with the latest update to the Android Auto app.
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The Samsung Galaxy S21 reveal event is just a few days away, and today Qualcomm might have given us a preview of one piece of that phone’s hardware with its latest in-display fingerprint sensor, which is both larger and faster.
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Google Chrome will soon have an experiment that will automatically try to connect to the HTTPS versions of website URLs that you type into the address bar instead of the insecure HTTP version.
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Today, TCL is announcing a trio of Android tablets to be released over the next few months, including a model using a NXTPAPER display, their competitor to color E Ink.
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In this week’s top stories: One UI 3.0 loses the option to hide the camera notch, the January 2021 security update arrives for Google Pixel phones, a likely Nest Hub successor passes through the FCC, and more.
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OnePlus made a splash with the original OnePlus Nord phone, making its hardware and OxygenOS experience available at a more accessible price point. For those who perhaps aren’t a fan of OxygenOS or want their device to last longer than the official updates, LineageOS 17.1 is gaining support for the OnePlus Nord.
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The latest update to Google Photos points to the app offering a free trial to Google One’s increased storage quota.
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An update to Google Play Services beta points to smartwatches and possibly other wearables being used to collect and share COVID-19 exposure notification info.
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Since the game’s launch, it’s been clear that Stadia’s version of Cyberpunk 2077 runs surprisingly well, and noticeably better than the last-gen versions. Today, the experts at Digital Foundry have formally put Stadia to the test comparing its Cyberpunk 2077 versus the Xbox Series X.
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Last year, Lenovo launched the Lenovo Tab P11 Pro as a high-end competitor to the iPad Pro and Samsung Galaxy Tab S7. Today, Lenovo is following that up with a mid-range Android tablet, the Tab P11, due out later this month.
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Google is working to make it possible for third-party Android developers to create their own custom Tiles for their Wear OS apps.
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While Google’s Cast ecosystem is fairly open, allowing connections from both Android and iOS devices, Apple’s AirPlay isn’t nearly as easy. Here’s how to connect to AirPlay devices from an Android phone or tablet.
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Stadia, Google’s still-teething game streaming service, is now over a year old, but it still has many needs and significant room to grow. Here are some of the biggest areas that we see Stadia focusing on for their 2021 road map.
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