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.
Have you ever gotten a text message but didn’t quite feel like responding right away, then in the course of your day you end up forgetting that message altogether? It certainly happens to me more than I care to admit. The latest Google Messages beta, version 5.2, brings reminders so you don’t forget to message your loved ones back, along with a fun little easter egg.
Just a few short months after the release of the Pixel Slate, Google formally announced that they were getting out of the business of making tablets. Many took this as a bad sign for the future of Chrome OS tablets, thinking that Google wouldn’t bother developing tablet-specific features. However, evidence has come to light pointing to Google working on bringing something similar to Android 10’s gesture navigation to Chrome OS tablets.
For Android developers who like to keep up with the latest features, there are two major events hosted by Google that are not to be missed — Google I/O and the Android Dev Summit. Today being the latter event, Google has brought Android Studio 4.0 to the Android Dev Summit with an early developer preview of Jetpack Compose.
Since the unveiling of Android 10, dark mode has been one of the most hotly requested features for almost every app. As of today, Twitter is finally rolling out their AMOLED-black “Lights Out” dark mode on Android, but you might need a trick to enable it.
The Google Pixel 4 and 4 XL should be arriving to pre-order customers this week, which means, according to Murphy’s Law, at least one of those customers will break their shiny new flagship. Thankfully, the folks at uBreakiFix will be ready to perform same-day repairs on the Google Pixel 4.
In this week’s top stories: Google’s hardware lineup reaches maturity with the 2019 Made by Google event, we get a (very) early hands-on with the 2nd generation of Pixel Buds, Sling TV launches free content, and more.
Earlier this week, Google announced an official launch date for its Google Stadia streaming service. While we’re still just over a month from that date, more games are continuing to be announced for Stadia, and the latest game to join the fun is Monster Energy Supercross 3.
Late last year, Samsung and Canonical partnered on an app that allowed select Galaxy phones to run a full Linux desktop on top of Android. Less than a year later, Samsung has announced that they’re discontinuing the Linux on DeX program, coinciding with the update to Android 10.
Today was the big Pixel 4 launch event, where Google confirmed all the juicy details we’ve been tracking about the phone for the last few months. However, the fun doesn’t stop there. One of the main features of the phone, Motion Sense, is now set to get a demo game, Headed South, created by ustwo, the developers of Monument Valley, in collaboration with Google.
Following the Made by Google event this morning, an update rolled out to the Google Store, which included a variety of new hardware like the Pixel 4, Pixelbook Go, and new Nest hardware. But it’s not all good news, as some other products have been cut to make room for the new. Specifically, the Google Daydream View has been removed from the Google Store.
Today is the Made by Google event, and among all the hardware announcements, the company also rolled out new features and a new pricing structure for their Nest Aware subscription.
For years, Google has been the driving force behind Chrome OS, making expensive, but visionary hardware to light a fire under other OEMs to compete, with the Google Pixelbook being the case in point. This year, Google is making their vision for Chrome OS hardware accessible to buyers of all varieties with the Google Pixelbook Go, starting at $649, and also offering high-end upgrades like a 4K display.
The Made by Google event is just minutes away, bringing with it the proper reveal of the latest Google and Nest hardware. However, we need not wait for the event to learn about the pricing of some of these devices or even plunk down a pre-order, as B&H Photo has already listed the Google Pixel 4, Pixelbook Go, Nest Mini, and Nest Wifi on their storefront.
We’re now less than an hour away from the Made by Google event, and we’re already fairly confident in what devices Google will be announcing. This morning, four of those products, the Google Pixel 4 (and 4 XL), Nest Mini, Nest Wifi Router and Nest Wifi Point, have all hit the Bluetooth SIG.
Tomorrow is the big day of the Google Pixel 4 launch event, otherwise known as the Made by Google 2019 hardware event, and we’ve already learned quite a bit about everything Google will be showcasing. Based on what we know so far, what announcement are you most looking forward to?
Despite the name, Google Pay isn’t just about payments, but it also aims to let your Android phone replace other cards in your wallet like rewards cards and transit cards. The latest cards to join Google Pay are transit cards from Cubic, well-known for their Clipper cards in San Francisco.
Google is honoring the 218th birthday of Belgian physicist and an early inventor of animation Joseph Antoine Ferdinand Plateau with three different animated doodles. Check them out!
In this week’s top stories: Google Camera 7.1 leaks out revealing some more Pixel 4 features, our Stephen Hall gets some hands-on time with a Google Pixelbook Go prototype, Android 10 receives its first security patch, and more.
Over the past two years, we’ve closely followed the development of Google’s Fuchsia OS and the various hardware products it supports. Thus far, these products have almost all been Made by Google devices like the Pixelbook and Nest Hub, used simply as testbeds for Fuchsia on various form factors. But if Fuchsia is to ever succeed, Google will need to partner with other companies on developing their own Fuchsia-based hardware and software projects.
This week in Fuchsia Friday, we take a look at the various Google partners that have looked into Fuchsia OS, including familiar names like Samsung and Sony.
Next week is the big Made by Google event where Google will reveal the Pixel 4 and the Pixelbook Go side by side. To help these devices feel like they’re in the same family, Google is sharing some of the Pixel 4’s wallpapers to Made by Google Chromebooks, both new and old, including the Pixelbook Go.
Just over a week ahead of the Google Pixel 4 launch, we’ve obtained what will likely be the official version of the Google Camera app to launch on the new phone. Google Camera version 7.1 preps the previously seen “Dual Exposure” controls, adds info on the downsides of saving depth data on the Google Pixel 4, and the exact apps compatible with “Social Share.”
Update 10/10: Another new feature, “Frequent Faces,” has been uncovered in an unexpected place.
Over the past month, we’ve been slowly learning more about what the Project Soli powered “Motion Sense” on Google Pixel 4 can and can’t do. Now, we’ve found evidence of how Google would open Motion Sense on the Pixel 4 to app and game developers, including a Unity game engine plugin.
Before you can use your debit or credit card with Google Pay, your bank needs to come to an agreement with Google. The latest batch of 16 US banks to support Google Pay includes E*Trade Bank.
Every Android device comes preloaded with a few different sets of apps, some chosen by the OEM, some by the cell carrier, and usually a set of Google apps. We’ve now learned precisely which apps Google has mandated inclusion on Android 10 and Android Go phones with Google services, which includes some surprising additions.