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.
On the first day of this year’s Games Developer Conference, Google introduced a handful of Android 12-specific features to improve the gameplay experience, including a game dashboard and the ability to get into titles much faster.
Expand Expanding Close
After an update last month focused on Wi-Fi management, the latest version of the Google Home app greatly improves the Nest Hello experience with more controls.
Expand Expanding Close
Google is rolling out a redesign of the dedicated Lens app on Android that greatly de-emphasizes the live viewfinder. Rather, the focus is now on analyzing existing images and screenshots in your camera roll.
Expand Expanding Close
Netflix and many other video streaming apps use Google-owned Widevine DRM to ensure content isn’t easily pirated on Android. An issue for the past few months sees some Google Pixel phones unable to stream Netflix in HD quality due to Widevine L3 being detected
Expand Expanding Close
Lens will be an important part of Google’s augmented reality future, but it’s one of the harder products to get people to continually use. That’s not due to a lack of trying on the company’s part, but the latest effort takes the form of straightforward online ads for Google Lens.
Expand Expanding Close
Compared to previous generations, the rollout of Google’s 2020 phone lineup was much more staggered given world events. Pixel 5 and 4a 5G stock on the US Google Store is now fluctuating in a sign that supply might be limited or nearing the end.
Expand Expanding Close
On-device machine learning offers a number of benefits from speed (lower latency) to privacy. To help increase adoption on Android, Google is now adding an “Android ML Platform” — primarily TensorFlow Lite — directly to Play services.
Expand Expanding Close
Google TV lets you like or dislike content in order to fine-tune homescreen recommendations. Last year, Google introduced an on-TV page to quickly improve recommendations, but it’s broken in a key way.
Expand Expanding Close
In June, it emerged that international law enforcement operated a company that sold encrypted phones to criminals. A new report today details that the FBI and Australian Federal Police (AFP) used a Google Pixel 4a running custom software for this operation.
Expand Expanding Close
Google Play services is responsible for a slew of user–facing capabilities, like account management and Chrome OS integration, while also providing third-party app developers with a number of background features. Google announced today that Play services is dropping support for Android Jelly Bean next month.
Expand Expanding Close
Qualcomm announced a “Snapdragon Insiders” community program for chip enthusiasts back in March. In a rather surprising turn of events, Qualcomm is now releasing a device called the “Smartphone for Snapdragon Insiders” in partnership with Asus.
Expand Expanding Close
In response to the lawsuit filed by attorneys general from 36 states and Washington DC over alleged Play Store antitrust practices, Google has issued a public-facing counter this evening.
Expand Expanding Close
In the US, Google is already subject to advertising and Search complaints. Several US states are now targeting the Google Play Store in a new antitrust lawsuit.
Expand Expanding Close
YouTube, which calls itself a “Google company,” has its own branding and design direction that’s independent from the broader organization. YouTube Studio is now getting a new icon that shares some similarity to YouTube Music.
Expand Expanding Close
Google’s recent advertisements for Pixel phones have been somewhat all over the place. Continuing that trend, the company today released a trio of short ads that focus on one feature each of “The Google Pixel.”
Expand Expanding Close
For the past year or so, Google has primarily focused on catering towards the enterprise video calling market to beat Zoom. Google Meet is now making a push for personal users with a set of fun effects, like filters and masks.
Expand Expanding Close
As the next major version of Google’s mobile OS progresses through the Beta Program, Android 11 remains the stable release throughout the summer. Google is now rolling out a more quiet July security patch to address bugs on the Pixel 3, Pixel 3a, Pixel 4, Pixel 4a, Pixel 4a (5G), and Pixel 5.
Expand Expanding Close
HBO — currently under WarnerMedia but soon to be a part of Warner Bros. Discovery — released the first “Official Tease” for what’s next from Succession today. Besides seeing how the Roy family picks up from the bombshell, we see that titans of industry in season 3 of Succession still use Android-powered Samsung phones, save for two characters.
Expand Expanding Close
In addition to a new Nest/Google Wifi update, the Google Home app is getting the last few remaining Wifi-related features from the old client that’s set to be deprecated.
Expand Expanding Close
In March, Google Maps AR navigation was updated to work inside complex buildings. After launching in some US malls, Google is expanding Indoor Live View to transit stations in Japan.
Expand Expanding Close
Google is readying a major overhaul of its smartwatch platform and provided an emulator “preview” of the underlying UI changes at I/O 2021. A Wear OS 3.0 redesign of the on-wearable Google Play Store is now beginning to roll out.
Expand Expanding Close
The camera is the obvious highlight of Pixel phones, and Google frequently works to advertise this. One way the Google Pixel team does this is through the Creator Labs program, which is now running a Photo Fund.
Expand Expanding Close
Lens will only become more important going forward, but Google’s challenge in the meantime is raising awareness about its extensive set of capabilities. Some tweaks to Google Lens now aim to simplify how visual search works.
Expand Expanding Close
A new month getting under way means that a new security patch is about to launch for Android devices. However, the July security update will be rolling out later than usual to Google Pixel phones.
Expand Expanding Close