Send tips/talk to abner@9to5mac.com or @technacity (open DMs).
Abner Li has worked at 9to5Google since 2015 and in late 2020 took on the role of editor-in-chief. He is keenly focused on tracking what happens at Google, and is often the first to spot new features in Google’s ever-growing family of applications that are updated on a daily basis, including Search, Assistant, Maps, Workspace, Android, Chrome/OS, Wear OS, and YouTube Music.
To him, what Google does greatly impacts the technology space and modern life. Inside the company, he is particularly interested in the key products mentioned above, as well as services like Google Podcasts and Google Lens. Each are massive platforms that can be unwieldy to grasp, with Abner keenly bent on understanding their philosophy and future direction. He is most excited about Google’s plans for augmented reality glasses.
Abner spearheads the APK Insight program at 9to5Google to chronicle all changes in the company’s Android apps, often finding new features before they are officially announced. This includes redesigns and revamps, launches, and new products.
A big area of interest is Google’s hardware division, including Pixel, Fitbit, and Nest. He detailed all of the Pixel 3’s camera features before launch and scooped the 2nd-generation Nest Hub’s Soli-powered Sleep Sensing capability, including how it would integrate with Google Fit.
Recently, Abner detailed the Pixel Watch’s specs in full before launch, including bands and pricing. He also got wind of the Pixel Tablet’s ultimate form factor.
Back in 2020, Google announced that it would require all apps in the Play Store to use its billing system but later delayed that to this month. Google will soon allow Android apps to use their own payment system as long as Play Store billing is an option alongside it, with Spotify notably the first “User Choice Billing” partner.
Expand Expanding Close
Reports earlier this year said Google was making an aggressive manufacturing push for the Pixel 6. The company has historically never revealed numbers, but one possible indicator today comes from Pixel 6 case maker Bellroy.
Expand Expanding Close
One Google Search critique of late blames targeted SEO content for the declining quality of results. Google today pushed back against that claim by saying Search has “decreased the number of irrelevant results by over 50%” in the last seven years.
Expand Expanding Close
Since 2018, YouTube has offered a collection of free-to-watch movies that are supported by advertising. That YouTube library in the US is now expanding to TV shows with almost 4,000 free episodes.
Expand Expanding Close
After the death of Play Music, Google Play was left with applications, books, and television. The Play Store will soon drop Movies & TV on Android with the Google TV app being the new place to buy and rent content.
Expand Expanding Close
After updating the primary tab with interactive device toggles inspired by Android 11, the Google Home app wants to redesign the “Feed” to be more useful.
Expand Expanding Close
Under the auspice of spring cleaning, Google Photos is redesigning its Library and Sharing tabs over the coming weeks. There’s a focus on easier sorting of albums and shared content, as well as the introduction of various shortcuts.
Expand Expanding Close
Following a casual announcement last week, Steam for Chrome OS is officially rolling out in Alpha quality. Only a handful of new Chromebooks are supported, and switching to the Dev channel is required.
Expand Expanding Close
In addition to rolling out a redesigned device grid, the Google Home app is getting new centralized Privacy settings to “help you learn about and manage your household activity data.”
Expand Expanding Close
Besides announcing that the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro are now certified for C-Band on Verizon with the March security patch, Google also revealed that its older devices will not be getting the same stateside support.
Expand Expanding Close
After a two-week delay, Pixel 6 and 6 Pro owners today are starting to see the Android 12L update with the March Feature Drop roll out.
Expand Expanding Close
Over the years, Sync for reddit has proven to be one of the platform’s best third-party clients by always adopting Google’s latest design language. Sync for reddit’s next big redesign brings Material You and a tablet UI.
Expand Expanding Close
As classic Hangouts is set to go away for Workspace customers, Google continues to update Chat and Spaces with more capabilities. A small tweak sees Gmail for Android introduce new status bar icons that help differentiate notifications from Google Chat and Spaces.
Expand Expanding Close
You don’t get a second chance to make a first impression. The latest impression that Google wants to impart is that Android will power the wave of large screen devices to come. Besides proclamations, the biggest sign of Google’s commitment to this effort is Android 12L, a version of the mobile OS especially for foldables and tablets. It launched at the start of this month, but it has so far only been a drop in the ocean and feels like a missed opportunity for Google to make a big splash about where Android is heading.
Expand Expanding Close
Google Maps is partially down this morning with the outage particularly impacting its website and APIs for third-party applications that use Google’s location services.
Expand Expanding Close
Chrome on desktop has long offered the nifty ability to directly search other sites from the address bar. Google is making a pair of changes to Chrome Site search, including how you have to manually “activate” these shortcuts.
Expand Expanding Close
As of today, we’ve primarily seen Wear OS 3 in the context of Samsung’s One UI on the Galaxy Watch 4. New screenshots of Wear OS 3 provide another sneak peek at what could be considered the stock Google experience.
Expand Expanding Close
With the February security patch, many assumed that the Pixel 6 would be updated on the same day as all other Google phones going forward. Android 12L and the March Feature Drop obviously proved that was not the case, but the next Pixel 6 patch might be available on Monday.
Expand Expanding Close
Battery life is something that can always improve, and Google is introducing a handful of battery-preserving measures in its next mobile OS version. The most notable is a system notification in Android 13 for apps with excessive background battery usage.
Expand Expanding Close
Ahead of the first beta in April, Android 13 DP2 remains focussed on developers. With that in mind, we’re diving into today’s release of Developer Preview 2 to find what’s changed.
Expand Expanding Close
The next update to Android 13 is here with Developer Preview 2 (DP2) rolling out for Pixel phones today. This should be the last release before beta-quality builds commence next month.
Expand Expanding Close
Google offices worldwide can be quite unique and its latest building in Sunnyvale, California strived to be the “largest renovation project” in the world.
Expand Expanding Close
Following the appearance of a Z Fold last week, Star Trek: Picard is now using Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 3 to make a much more realistic Tricorder prop.
Expand Expanding Close
With Android 12, the Pixel Launcher introduced a new “Search your phone” capability. Google is now testing search results from Google Photos in the Pixel Launcher on Android 13.
Expand Expanding Close