Items tagged with NASDAQ:GOOG
Google today announced the availability of its long-anticipated (and very late) Pixel 4a budget smartphone. The device uses legacy 4G LTE connectivity, but comes with a very enticing $349 price tag. However, Google also announced two other smartphones that have been expected based on previous leaks: the Pixel 4a (5G) and Pixel 5. With regards to the Pixel 4a (5G), Google says that the smartphone will launch this fall with a $499 price tag. In other words, you’re looking at a $150 upcharge to go from 4G LTE to 5G technology. The standard Pixel 4a comes with a 5.81-inch OLED display, 6GB of RAM, 128GB of storage and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 730G SoC. We don’t at this point know...
Read more...
Following a barrage of leaks and rumors over the past several weeks, Google today officially unveiled the Pixel 4a, an affordable phone that is somewhat the antithesis to those pricey flagships that command a grand or more. In this case, the pre-release chatter was spot on—the Pixel 4a can be had for just $349, and it is available to preorder right now. You can preorder the Pixel 4a at Amazon or direct from Google, both of which have it listed for $349. To put that price into perspective, Apple's iPhone SE starts at $399, and the OnePlus Nord starts at €399 (it's not listed in the US yet). Not that these three phones are exactly the same by any stretch, but on pricing along, the Pixel...
Read more...
Google is on the cusp of launching some new Pixel phones, including the Pixel 4a and Pixel 5. Leaving little to the imagination, both have been the star of separate leaks this weekend, with official looking renders (and a concept video) and pricing information, and even some specifications to tide you over until Google officially unwraps its upcoming handsets. Starting with the Pixel 4a, Twitter user and leaker Ishan Agarwal got his mitts on what look to be official press renders (as in, not unofficial mock ups), as shown above. The shots are consistent with past renders we have seen, and in all likelihood are the real deal. According to Agarwal, the Pixel 4a will feature a 5.81-inch OLED display...
Read more...
It's virtually impossible for a smartphone maker to keep its devices secret today as the supply chain is packed with sources looking to share information about unannounced devices. Sometimes details of products surface from manufacturers through mistakes that lead to order pages, and advertisements being posted early. The official Made by Google Facebook and Twitter pages were updated with a new cover image recently that, at first glance, may seem like a mistake. The new cover images show what appears to be an advertisement with some of the words in the bolded main sentence redacted out. A Google Store landing page features a similar main bolded section of text. Under the bolded main sentence...
Read more...
Google is bringing a biometric security mechanism to its Chrome browser on Android, after rolling it out to Windows Hello earlier this year. Once in place, users with Android phone will be able to authenticate web purchases using biometric inputs supported by their handsets, such as fingerprint scanning and facial recognition capabilities. This will make confirming credit card details quicker, easier, and overall more convenient. That is assuming you choose to save your credit card information to your Google Account. If so, rather than having to punch in the CVC number on the back of your card before having Chrome autofill the credit card details in a web form, biometric authentication will serve...
Read more...
Those who own Samsung devices are very familiar with Bixby and the Galaxy Store, however, these kinds of features may soon no longer be on Samsung devices. Rumor has it that Samsung is considering adopting Google products such as the Google Assistant and Play Store in the future. The Samsung Galaxy Store was first launched in 2009, while a version of Bixby was introduced in 2017. Although Samsung is one of the largest smartphone makers in the world, these kinds of features have received mixed reviews from users. Google has tried for several years to persuade Samsung to adopt products like its Google Assistant. Android is the operating system on Samsung devices, but Samsung has so far refused...
Read more...
A rather strange bug has reared its ugly head that could impact those who are removing some Google Assistant devices from their network. One of the first things that many people do when getting rid of a Google Assistant device is to revoke the device's access to a Google account. However, some users have discovered that revoking access to Google Assistant devices can wreak havoc on a smart home set up, potentially deleting everything in its wake. The issue was first seen by users of the TiVo streaming dongle that were revoking access to their Google account for the device. Once access was terminated for the TiVo streaming dongle, the users noticed their Nest devices had been de-linked from their...
Read more...
Is the wait nearly over for the mid-range Google Pixel 4a smartphone? After months of leaks involving not only images of the device but also its retail box, we recently were made aware of regulatory approvals for the Pixel 4a from various government agencies. Today, it looks as though the final “official” launch date has been revealed by a highly reliable source: Jon Prosser. Prosser has a pretty solid track record when it comes to gadget leaks, and his sources have “100% confirmed” that the Pixel 4a will launch on August 3rd, which is next Monday. Prosser’s declaration that August 3rd is the magic day for the highly anticipated Pixel...
Read more...
A new report has surfaced that claims Google is doing something rather dubious to help develop and advance its own apps. According to the report, Google has been collecting usage data on rival apps from Android phones under a project called Android Lockbox. Google has allegedly collected sensitive Android user data for use inside the company since at least 2013. The report surfaced from The Information, and alleges that an internal team within Google tasked with tracking worldwide usage of first-party Google apps uses the Lockbox data on third-party apps to show executives how Google's apps are competing against rivals. Google often accesses the Lockbox information in preparation to roll...
Read more...
The most popular web browser around is Google Chrome, and lots of Android users who prefer the browser will be glad to hear the latest news about a new feature. A report indicates that Chrome Canary for Android will get a scheduler feature for downloads. This will allow users to schedule a download to happen when they aren't using their device in the middle of the night or any other time of their choosing. The new feature is called "download later" and offers a download dialog that allows users to choose a specific date and time in the future. The image seen below shows what the interface would look like and provides options to download now, when on Wi-Fi, and an option to pick a date and time....
Read more...
When you spend top dollar on a flagship smartphone, you not only expect premium build quality, but also that the device will give you at least a few trouble-free years of use. However, this isn't the case for some Google Pixel 4 XL owners that are reporting a rather alarming design flaw with their devices. First brought to our attention by the folks over at Android Police, the back glass panel on some Pixel 4 XL devices are starting to separate from the phone's chassis. For those not familiar with the Pixel 4 XL, like many smartphones that have wireless charging capabilities, the back panel is glued into place. For whatever reason, the glue is starting to fail on these phones, which is causing...
Read more...
There's a lot to like about the Google Chrome OS and the lower-priced desktop and laptop devices that run it. Currently, typical Chrome OS devices look more like traditional laptops or tablets, however, that could be changing with a new rumor suggesting that Google is working on a dual-screen Chromebook. Google's dual-screen Chromebook is reportedly code-named "Palkia." It's described as having two touchscreens and a trackpad. Dual-screen laptops aren't new, as there are Windows laptops on the market today that have a secondary screen in the keyboard area to allow users to view more content at once. Microsoft is also at work developing an operating system specifically for dual-screen devices...
Read more...
It is said you learn something new every day, and for me, I just learned there is a World Emoji Day. I also learned that World Emoji Day is today, July 17 (so now I do not have to fret if I learning nothing at all new tomorrow). To celebrate the occasion, Google announced it will be adding all 117 new emojis from the Emoji 13.0 update to Android 11, while Apple is likely to do the same with iOS 14 (the company previewed 13 of them). That's a lot of emojis. They are also varied, with everything from a pinching finger to ninjas and brides, and everything in between. There will also be a wide assortment of cute animals, of course, along with foods, drinks, activities, toys, and the list goes on...
Read more...
You might have a wildly cool tattoo on your arm or wherever you chose to place it, but does it serve double duty as an interactive touchpad? SkinMarks do, and Google is working with researchers from Saarland University in Germany to hone the technology, which essentially turns human skin into electronic touch interfaces. These are temporary tattoos, not permanent ones, that users can apply similarly to any temporary tat. As in, you take a piece of paper with the temporary tattoo on it, place it somewhere on your body, and wet it down with a sponge. Then peel off the paper carefully, leaving behind a tattoo that is easily removed, or essentially disintegrates over time. What makes SkinMarks unique,...
Read more...
It has been over 16 years since Google first introduced Gmail, which remain in beta for several years. The overall Gmail experience has changed quite a bit since then (as has the web as a whole), and will continue to evolve with the times. In fact, the version of Gmail available to Android users is getting redesign, with some features already trickling out. The big additions to Gmail on Android are Google Chat and Google Meet. Interestingly enough, iOS users are getting first dibs on a new Meet tab, which will be widely available within the two weeks weeks and is "coming soon" to Android. The Meet tab highlights scheduled calls in a My Meetings list, and tapping on Meet URL from that view opens...
Read more...
The anticipation has been building towards the release of the Pixel 4a for months, and every time that we get closer to a [expected] release, nothing happens. The latest tease comes from Google itself, as it has leaked a previously unseen image of the Pixel 4a at its online store. The high-quality render doesn't show the entirety of the phone, but we can see enough (the upper half) from the front and back. The image of the back confirms the single primary camera and LED flash within a much larger square pod, along with an optical fingerprint sensor. On the front, we can spy a selfie camera nestled with a cutout in the upper left-hand side of the display. Also visible are relatively thin...
Read more...
When it comes to Google's family of hardware products, everything can and will be leaked at some point prior to launch. Last year's Pixel 4 was leaked so far in advance that Google made light of the situation by providing an official render of the device that confirmed the previous leaks. Today, it's time for Google's 2020 family of smartphones to get the leak treatment, and this source is Google's own software. In this case, the leak comes from the Google Search app, which includes references to some interesting unreleased products. The folks from 9to5Google uncovered not only the expected Pixel 4a and Pixel 5, but also the Pixel 4a (5G). If the leak is...
Read more...
Details on a Nest-branded speaker that will replace the Google Home have leaked recently. Rather than continue to ignore the leaks, Google has released a video that gives a glimpse of what the Nest Team is working on from home. In the background in the early scenes of that video, we see the Nest Speaker that has been leaked and will replace the Google Home. The Nest Speaker is seen in the video comes in both light blue and coral colors. A gray color has been spied in regulatory filings. While little is known about the hardware details of the Nest Speaker, speculation suggests that users can link a pair of them for stereo sound (as seen in the video below). Past Google Home smart speakers have...
Read more...
The researchers at Check Point Security are warning about a new strain of the Joker Dropper malware that has found its way into the Google Play Store (again). Unfortunately for unassuming Android users, Joker is a rather old piece of malware dating back to 2017, which keeps "reinventing" itself to circumvent security protections put in place by Google. The latest version of Joker is using nefarious means to subscribe its Android victims to premium services, which pads their monthly cell phone bills with additional charges. In this latest iteration, Joker hides its code in the Android manifest file for an app. By going this route, Joker doesn’t need to access a command and control (C&C)...
Read more...
A lot of Android fans have been wondering when the next iteration of the mobile operating system, Android 11, will exit beta and officially launch. Google recently published a video for the "Hey Google" Smart Home Summit, and in that video was a precise date for the launch of Android 11: September 8th. The date was tipped in an official "Checklist for September 8 Android 11 launch." That checklist instructed developers to tell users about the Android 11 launch and update marketing assets to include Android controls along with sending an email to users and a notification from the app. The slide also instructs the developers to ensure that it's easy to link their devices to Google and to improve...
Read more...
App stores are imperfect places, and serving as a reminder of this, a cybersecurity firm based in France alerted Google to the discovery of over two dozen malicious Android apps hanging out in the Play Store. Fortunately, Google was quick to banish the apps. However, if you already have any of them installed, you should wipe them from your phone or tablet right away. In this case, the apps are prone to stealing your Facebook login credentials. "When an application is launched on your phone, the malware queries the application name. If it is a Facebook application, the malware will launch a browser that loads Facebook at the same time. The browser is displayed in the foreground which makes you...
Read more...
Back in late June we got a glimpse at what we can expect with the upcoming Pixel 5 family thanks to a few leaked third-party case renders. What was really interesting about the leak is that it appeared to show that Google was moving back to a rear-mounted optical fingerprint sensor instead of the Face Unlock tech that it pioneered with the Pixel 4 family. That biometrics switch-up is seemingly confirmed by the appearance of a new crop of renders of the Pixel 5 from Pigtou. The renders show that the optical fingerprint sensor in centered in the upper half of the back panel. This placement is familiar to those who routinely use a Pixel 3a or Pixel 3 smartphone, and is a break from in-display fingerprint...
Read more...
