Stories you can only find on 9to5Google. Have a tip? Use the contact form above.
The latest version of the Google Home app for Android is rolling out this morning and it reveals two new codenames. Google Home 2.10 describes “Zion” — a “border router” with “built-in smart plug” — in-depth and “Speaker V,” as well as a “ultrasound proximity detection” feature.
Several days ago, Google itself accidentally leaked the names of both the Pixel 3a and the forthcoming Nest Hub Max. At the same time, the company accidentally revealed a potential rebrand for the smaller Home Hub to “Nest Hub”. We can now confirm that is indeed what’s happening when these products launch in the coming weeks.
In the last few weeks, Google developers have become less tight-lipped about the upcoming Pixel 4 phone, mentioning it twice in the Android Open Source Project. Today, another layer of the mystery has been unraveled to reveal the codenames of the Pixel 4, Pixel 4 XL, and a third, unknown Google device.
Notable Material Theme redesigns in recent weeks have included Gmail for Android and Google Drive. The next major one could be for the Play Store, with 9to5Google this evening successfully enabling a significant revamp for the app store with version 14.5.52.
According to a source familiar with the phones, the forthcoming mid-range Google Pixels are indeed called the “Google Pixel 3a” and the “Google Pixel 3a XL”, as was first rumored last week. We can also independently confirm some previously-rumored specifications and offer some more details about the devices…
Google Chrome is available on almost every possible platform, including Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, Fuchsia, and (to a lesser extent) iOS, which has lead to the browser being available on devices of all kinds.
Yet, one place Chrome hasn’t touched that its competitors has is the feature phones market. KaiOS is essentially based on Firefox, and Opera Mini is available for older Java and Series 30 based feature phones, leaving Chrome distinctly out of the market. A new “touchless” mode being created for Google Chrome is poised to push the browser into feature phone territory.
Earlier this month, Google provided the first demo of AR navigation in Maps for Android and announced that Local Guides will be the first users to gain access. Google this week is now reaching out to Local Guides on both Android and iOS.
On Tuesday, Google announced a mysterious keynote at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco on March 19th. The event comes as the Project Stream beta of a AAA console title ended in January, and amid the year-long rumors of Project Yeti. We can now confirm that Google plans to announce gaming hardware next month.
Android Q leaked earlier this month and confirmed a number of features like the system-wide dark mode and a renewed focus on privacy. We’ve since been able to get our own hands-on with Google’s next major operating system, and can reveal some upcoming functionality.
Google will launch a web client for its Duo video calling app in the coming weeks, according to a source familiar with the plans. This development ultimately means a much wider reach of devices that can access the growing service. Google Duo has, up to now, only been available in the form of an app from the Google Play Store or the iOS App Store, and on its Smart Display platform.
In recent weeks, the latest version of Google Discover has widely rolled out, while the Google app is testing more Material Theme and redesigned Assistant controls. The Google app now jumps from version 8.x to 9.x, with work underway in Google app 9.0 on the new Assistant for the car form factor, Interpreter mode on Smart Displays, and Podcasts.
Google will announce that it’s shutting down the shortlived Google Allo chat app “soon,” according to a reliable source familiar with the plan, although the timeline of the announcement may have been delayed by the backlash stemming from our report about ‘Hangouts classic’ being shuttered.
According to source familiar with the product’s internal roadmap, Google Hangouts for consumers will be shutting down sometime in 2020. That’s not surprising at all since Google essentially ceased development on the app more than a year ago. But just know, going into 2019, this is indeed your last year to keep using the beloved (?) legacy chat app.
Google is working on a rebrand of its Nest line of smart home products, according to a source. The discussions are still early, our source warned, and it’s still unclear when such a change would actually see the light of day.
While the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL have thoroughly leaked, Made by Google has repeatedly teased that there is more to “know.” Since the hardware has been fully detailed in “first looks” and even “reviews,” that leaves software features that are often under development until the very last second before the announcement.
Now, with less than 24 hours before the October 9th event, we can exclusively detail several upcoming AI-powered features for the Google Pixel 3 camera, including “Top Shot,” “Photobooth,” “Super res zoom,” and more.
If there’s one thing that the Google Pixel has been known for since its inception, it’s the camera. With the forthcoming Google Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL, the Mountain View company is tripling down with improvements across the board and some new ideas. Sources tell us there are upgrades to the rear shooter, a new Visual Core chip, a front-facing dual-camera setup w/ new ‘Super Selfies’, and more.
Details about the forthcoming Google Pixel 3 XL have been leaking out for several months now, and in recent weeks, that steady stream of information has kicked into full gear. Today alone, camera samples, a video of the phone charging wirelessly, and some high-res photographs surfaced, proving that there are several people that already have near-production units in hand.
9to5Google has learned that many of the leaks in recent weeks have come thanks to one Ukrainian seller, offering a large number of possibly stolen Pixel 3 XL units for $2,000 each.
Fortnite players everywhere are well aware that the popular game — which has been available on the App Store for quite a while now — has yet to hit Android. Now, we’ve learned a few tidbits about its imminent launch from a source familiar with the plan. The game will be available exclusively on the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 for 30 days and then arrive on other Android handsets shortly thereafter.
Along with the upcoming Messages for web feature, the latest version of Android Messages reveals that Google is working on a Material Theme for its default RCS client. We’ve managed to enable this under development look that brings the app in line with other recently updated Google services. There is also an in-progress revamp to search functionality that includes filters and GIF lookup.
You may have noticed that we got our hands on some as-yet unreleased Google app icons this week, and we’ve slowly been trickling them out as we’ve become a little more confident on what they might mean. While all we have are these little icons and their names for now, here’s the full gallery of all the ones we have and what they might mean for announcements at Google I/O next week…
We’ve been talking about Android P’s forthcoming navigation revamp here at 9to5Google for about a month, and just last week Google finally let the cat out of the bag itself in a leaked navigation bar in a screenshot on one of the company’s official blogs. Now, based on information from a source who has used the new UI, we have details on how it works and what it looks like.
Update: We’ve confirmed with two sources that the LG G6 production model in the US will have a 3,300 mAh battery, not a 3,200 mAh battery. We’re also told that the battery has “better layering between cells” to prevent Note 7-like disasters. There is at least one internal variant with a 3,200 mAh battery, but it’s not clear if that model will go public.
The LG G6 is far from being a secret at this point, with LG itself going as far as to confirm its ‘FullVision’ 18:9 5.7-inch display, offer a peek at the new LG UX 6.0 software, and send out a few teasers to various media outlets suggesting that it will feature ‘resistance’ and ‘reliability’. LG has also itself confirmed that the phone will have a 32-bit Quad-DAC like the LG V20.
But we haven’t seen all that many photos of the phone in the flesh, so we thought we would share a couple images we recently obtained from a source.
Regina Dugan recently left her position heading up Google’s Advanced Technologies and Projects group to lead a new hardware initiative at Facebook. That’s obviously not great news for Google, as Dugan was the head of many of the company’s growing ATAP projects (including Ara, the company’s ambitious modular smartphone project). But maybe it was inevitable.
Dugan’s position at Google has been a weird one from the start. Silicon Valley’s super-fast reckless “break things fast” mindset that she was quickly confronted with upon arriving at Google conflicted with her many years of experience at the United States government’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Recently, she highlighted this in a story of her first meeting at Google…
Before the Nexus 6P launched, it seemed — thanks to some early render leaks — that four different colors of the phone were going to be available for consumers. Come the Nexus event in September, only three colors (Aluminium, Graphite, or Frost) were available in most regions, with only Japan announced to be getting access to the last “Special Edition” gold variant. According to people familiar with the matter, the company is planning to soon begin selling the Nexus 6P via Best Buy, and finally launch the gold variant in the United States after only just recently making it available to Japanese customers through cellular carrier SoftBank…
