I’m old enough to remember a time when Google wasn’t the only search engine in town. You say, way back in the day, the search engine landscape was littered with a seemingly endless number of options, from Altavista to Webcrawler.
In the late 90s, Google came along and quickly implanted itself as the de-facto search engine. Thanks to its clever page-rank algorithm, Google managed to deliver more accurate and helpful search results than the competition. Google’s rise to search engine dominance was well-chronicled in Steven Levy’s In the Plex, but one of the more interesting aspects of Google’s ascension was its penetration of the mainstream vernacular. Google didn’t just change the way we used the web, it changed the way we talked. After a few years of dominance on the web, the word Google eventually morphed into a verb.
Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 has been released. And rereleased. The Moto Z and Moto Z Force have been released. The iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus have been released. Are there any upcoming new phones left to get excited about in the second half of 2016? Why yes, yes there are, and the world will get its first official look at them next Tuesday when Google hosts a press conference to introduce the Pixel and Pixel XL flagship phones. Of course, we don’t have to wait for anything official to take a peak at what Google has in store. More →
Next week, Google will unveil its first-gen Pixel smartphones set to replace the Nexus handsets we’ve grown so attached to. The Pixel and Pixel XL have been featured in numerous leaks this summer and are better known as the Nexus Sailfish and Nexus Marlin. They’re both HTC creations that will offer buyer high-end specs, premium build quality, and an iPhone-like pricing structure. After all, Google is looking to compete against the iPhone with the Pixels. More →
The Pixel phones will replace Google’s Nexus handsets this year, many recent reports have claimed, suggesting that the Nexus family of devices will be retired. However, Nexus isn’t as dead as we thought, as Google may be releasing several more Nexus brand devices in the very near future, complete with a few surprises. More →
Google’s official YouTube apps for iOS and Android are always wildly popular, but people who pay attention to app store rankings regularly see third-party YouTube apps come and go on the top free app lists. The official YouTube apps are so well-designed and they pack all the great features Google wants YouTube users to have, so why are Android and iOS users so interested in third-party apps? Simply put, people want the ability to save videos for offline playback, and Google’s official YouTube apps don’t support this key feature.
With a new app from Google called YouTube Go, Google has finally added this great capability. But there’s just one teeny, tiny problem: You can’t have it. More →
We’re just over a week away from Google’s fall event, where the company will unveil a bunch of new devices, including the Pixel smartphone family that’s supposed to replace the Nexus series. The Pixel and Pixel XL phones were featured in numerous reports and leaks in the past weeks, but today we have what looks to be the final press render for the handset.
Next Tuesday, Google is going to hold a massive launch event in San Francisco, where it is expected to debut two Android smartphones (Pixel and Pixel XL), the AI-powered Google Home personal assistant, the Google Wifi router, a Daydream VR headset and a 4K-capable streaming media player called the Chromecast Ultra.
Google has already started teasing its October 4th event where Pixel smartphones are meant to show up. But that’s not everything Google is announcing in early October. The most important thing the company might unveil is the Andromeda operating system, a merger between Android and Chrome OS.
Andromeda isn’t a commercial name, but rather an internal codename for the initiative, which will represent a major shift in Android strategy. Google will be able to take the best from both worlds and release other types of Android devices, including better laptops and tablets. The first laptop running Andromeda will come out next summer, per one report.
Google is one of the first companies to start testing autonomous vehicles technology. Unlike Tesla, which does it with the help of commercial vehicles, Google’s self-driving car fleet isn’t available to regular customers. But the cars do roam public roads, and they are involved in accidents from time to time. The worst such event happened a few days ago, and humans are apparently responsible for it.
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Google started teasing its October 4th mobile event a few days ago, and if you’re familiar with recent rumors you probably know two things about it: the Nexus phone is dying, and the Pixel phone will replace it.
Google will have other hardware on display during the event, but the company is also expected to unveil a massive milestone for Android. Andromeda, as a new operating system is internally called, might be the most important thing coming out of Google’s October 4th event.
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According to a new report from Android Police, Google is preparing to launch a new router carrying the name Google Wifi on October 4th alongside the new Pixel smartphones, Google Home and the 4K-capable Chromecast Ultra.
Come early October, Google will launch its 2016 flagship phones: these are HTC-made, Pixel-branded premium smartphones that will run a customized version of Android and cost you quite a bit more than you’re used to spending for a Google phone. They’ll also look very much like an iPhone 7, at least the front side — not that it’s a bad thing at this point. While many of the specs and features of the Pixel and Pixel XL are already known, a new report says the phones won’t be able to handle water spills very well at all.
If only Google had followed Apple’s lead here and made the phones water-resistant, instead of following Apple’s lead elsewhere. More →
