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As Amazon limits shipping of 'non-essential' items, every single one of its own products remains in stock
Awfully convenient, don't you think?
Amazon took the very unusual step of delaying shipments for non-essential items last week, but we live in unusual times as coronavirus sweeps the globe. It makes sense, though. You want people to be able to get food, clothing, health supplies, and other essentials. However, Amazon's technology products appear to be essential, too. Devices like the Fire TV, Echo speakers, and Ring Doorbell are all shipping immediately while competing products are more often than not delayed until late April.Getting products to your door in a day or two requires a great deal of logistical prowess, and Amazon began suspending non-essential shipments to its warehouses earlier this month. The subsequent delay in shipments to users is probably a result of that. We're not ruling out that Amazon has simply stockpiled its products in key locations to facilitate quick deliveries, but other companies didn't have the opportunity to do that—in category after category, Amazon's products ship in a few days while top competitors won't be out the door for a month. For example, All of Amazon's Fire TVs arrive in a couple of days, but most Roku boxes won't ship for weeks. Smart speakers like the Echo Dot and 3rd Gen Echo? On your doorstep day after tomorrow. Meanwhile, many of the other smart speakers on Amazon are delayed.
Some LTE-equipped tablets can take a real bite out of your wallet, but Verizon usually has one or two that won't break the bank. The carrier's latest offering is the Samsung Galaxy Tab A 8.4. This new tablet won't blow you away with its speed or features, but it's cheap and has Verizon LTE.
Marshall unveils compact 'Uxbridge' smart speaker, launching April 8 with Alexa support
Google Assistant coming in June
Marshall has launched a few smart speakers, including the hefty Stanmore II. The new Uxbridge speaker won't take up nearly as much room on your shelf, but it has the same classic Marshall styling and support for voice assistants. Although, it won't have Google Assistant at launch.
Most of us are spending more time at home these days as we cope with the coronavirus pandemic. Working from home isn't for everyone—it can get monotonous and boring, but some tunes might help. Here are some of our favorite Bluetooth speakers, all of which have quick shipping on Amazon even as the company scales back non-essential deliveries. A few of them are even on sale right now.
T-Mobile offering two free months of YouTube Premium
Another way to stay entertained during the pandemic
We're all looking for ways to pass the time as we stay inside during the COVID-19 pandemic. How about some YouTube? T-Mobile's latest "T-Mobile Tuesday" includes a solid discount on YouTube Premium. That discount is 100%. See? Solid. It's only for two months, but that could still mean plenty of ads you won't have to watch.
Niantic is trying to retune Pokémon Go for a world in which we're all staying inside to limit the spread of coronavirus. That may actually make the game more enjoyable for returning players. If you want to get serious about your Pokémon adventure, you might even consider buying the Poké Ball Plus, which is essentially a better version of the original Pokémon Go Plus. It's not cheap at $50, but it does do a lot of potentially useful things.
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LG's latest stab at making dual-screen smartphones a thing is the V60 ThinQ 5G, and you'll be able to pick on up starting this week. Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile have all announced preliminary launch details. T-Mobile and AT&T will be first out of the gate with Verizon bringing up the rear next week.
Google gave up on its last custom chat application a while back and went all-in with RCS. However, trusting carriers to work out the details was a disaster. That's why Google started deploying RCS itself a few months ago. The company has rolled the enhanced "Chat" functionality out in numerous regions, and now you can add Spain to the list.
Anyone who's spent time tinkering with Android devices will be familiar with the Android Debug Bridge (ADB) system. This command line tool lets you communicate with your device from a computer, but it usually requires a cable. With the second Android 11 dev preview, Google has finally added a proper wireless option for ADB.
Israel will use phone location data to identify and quarantine people exposed to COVID-19
The government expects "very large" numbers of people to be quarantined
Israel is gearing up for a new offensive in the fight against coronavirus, and it involves the unprecedented use of mobile phone location data. The country's cabinet passed the emergency law during an overnight session, allowing the government to use location data to find out where people with coronavirus have been and with whom they might have come into contact.
T-Mobile is about to boost LTE speeds by renting unused 600MHz spectrum
Dish, Comcast, and investment firms are just sitting on these licenses
COVID-19 is disrupting daily life in unprecedented ways. T-Mobile has already opted to close many of its retail locations, and now it wants to speed up your data. People may be relying on their mobile connections more than ever, so T-Mobile is renting some unused band 71 spectrum around the US.
Check your email — Google is sending $5 Play Store coupons to Google One subscribers
Get yourself something nice while you're stuck at home
Perhaps you, like many others, are cloistered at home and getting a bit bored. If you're a Google One subscriber, you may have a little surprise in your inbox. Google is sending out $5 vouchers that you can spend on anything in the Play Store.
Pokemon Go tweaks rules to reduce travel requirements in wake of COVID-19
Gotta catch 'em all (but not catch coronavirus)
Pokémon Go might never reach the insane heights of popularity it enjoyed shortly after release, but a lot of people still go out into the world and play it. That's perhaps a bit of a problem in the era of COVID-19. Niantic has rolled out some unexpected changes to the game, and they're probably aimed at making it more playable for people who want to stay home to avoid coronavirus.
Samsung just launched the Galaxy S20 series a few days ago, but you can already mosey over the Samsung website to grab the official kernel source. The Exynos variants popped up a few days ago, but now the Snapdragon variants are live as well. The open source code isn't going to do you much good if you're not a developer, but the result of making that code available might.
Google will release a 2nd-gen Chromecast Ultra with Android TV this year, according to report
And a remote, finally!
You don't have a lot of options if you want an Android TV box. There's the SHIELD, of course, but Google hasn't had its own Android TV hardware for several years. That will change in 2020, according to 9to5Google. Google will allegedly launch a new Chromecast Ultra this year, but this will mark a significant departure for the Chromecast family. This device will have an external remote control and full Android TV inside.
Ring will require two-factor authentication starting today (Update: Blink verifying emails)
It will also "pause" the use of third-party analytics
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Ring has dealt with its fair share of privacy snafus (and then some), but its latest move might allay some of your fears. The Amazon-owned smart home company has instituted a new login policy, effective immediately. Now, you'll need to enter a two-factor authentication (2FA) code every time you log into your account.
Quibi is a new streaming service with short films that can be viewed in portrait or landscape (Update: Partial launch lineup)
Launching on April 6 for $5-8/month
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Most of the professionally produced video you watch is filmed for a TV or movie screen—it's landscape. That makes sense, of course, because most screens don't rotate to portrait mode, that new Samsung spinning TV notwithstanding. However, your phone does rotate, and a new streaming service called Quibi wants to take advantage of that. Quibi will offer premium video content that you can watch in either portrait or landscape, and you can switch back and forth whenever you want.
B&O's new Beosound Balance speaker has Google Assistant and a $2,250 price tag
Yes, the same Google Assistant that runs on the $50 Nest Mini
Audiophiles have long been happy to spend what most of us would consider obscene amounts of money on speakers, and these ultra-premium products are slowly adopting "smart" features like Google Assistant. Bang & Olufsen has a new Assistant-powered speaker called the Beosound Balance. It'll cost you $2,250, but it probably sounds pretty good.
Motorola unveiled a few new G-series phones several weeks back, but there's another budget Moto phone on the horizon. The Moto G8 is official, and it shares a lot of features with the G Power and G Stylus. One thing it doesn't share is availability—this phone is only coming to Brazil, Europe, and a few other regions.
The internet is good for a lot of things like sharing photos, keeping in contact with distant relations, and preserving that dumb thing you said five years ago so it can come back to haunt you later. According to Twitter, that last part might keep people from tweeting as often as they'd like, so it's testing a feature called "Fleets" in Brazil. Fleets are basically Twitter's version of Snapchat Stories.