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Much has been made of Huawei's troubles in the US market over the last year. Its AT&T launch was torpedoed by the US government, and intelligence officials have regularly warned against using Huawei (and ZTE) devices. Over in Europe, there isn't the same sort of paranoia. Huawei has continued growing at an astounding rate, surpassing Apple in the second quarter of 2018.
We all know that the supposed "unlimited" plans offered by US carriers actually impose a large number of limits. So, you might as well get something for putting up with them. US Cellular's new Unlimited with Payback plan comes with an interesting offer. Use as much data as you want, but you can get $10 back on your next bill if you keep your usage lower.
It looks like an early shipment of Pixel 3 XL units "fell off a truck," and a Russian blog managed to snag one of the units. That means it's time for a new Pixel leak, and no more of this public transit spy shot stuff. Not only do we see the device and accessories in greater detail, there are sample images and confirmation of wireless charging as well.
For the last year or so, Microsoft has offered Xbox owners a subscription option called Xbox Game Pass. It comes with unlimited access to more than 100 Xbox One and Xbox 360 games, as well as some other perks. Now, you can manage your Game Pass account and content from the comfort of your Android phone by downloading the new Game Pass app in the Play Store.
[Update: Registration now open] Google announces Android Dev Summit on November 7-8 in Mountain View
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- Registration is now open for the Android Dev Summit. To sign up for two days of deep technical sessions with the Android engineering team, those interested must head to the event page and request an invite. The request process isn't too daunting, but Google does ask for (optional) links to GitHub, Stackoverflow and Twitter profiles. Other than that, information is still sparse. But the event page does promise the Android engineering team speakers will be the "best in the biz," and throws out the possibility of a party to conclude the two-day, career-building event.
Google I/O was just a few months back, but Google has another developer-focused event coming up later this year. The Android Dev Summit will be a smaller event that eschews the flashy demos and giveaways that attract non-devs to I/O. It's happening at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View on November 7-8.
Phone manufacturer Doogee mostly sticks to cheap, uninteresting devices that fly under the radar. It does occasionally pop up with some weird piece of hardware like the sliding Mix 4 or the ruggedized S60. Today, Doogee is getting in on the latest smartphone fad: gaming phones. The S70 keeps the questionable rugged styling from the S60 and adds upgraded specs and a gamepad attachment.
The world can be a depressing place, and the news we all consume reflects that. It can make things seem rather hopeless as you scroll through your headlines, but Google Assistant is here to help. A new feature is rolling out that delivers some "good news" when you ask for it. Just say "Hey Google, tell me something good."
For better or worse, online mobile shooters are gaining in popularity with titles like Fortnite and PUBG attracting millions of players. Now, one of the pioneers of mobile shooters is looking to get a piece of the action. Madfinger Games has announced Shadowgun War Games. It's a competitive online shooter but not a battle royale title.
Fitbit has released two smartwatches in the last year, but it's not done with simpler fitness tracking products. It's announcing a new, more capable fitness tracker this very day. Fitbit's latest update to the Charge line blurs the line between fitness trackers and smartwatches with a better screen, notifications, and even a few apps.
Assistant-powered displays are a thing now, and they may actually be a pretty good thing. However, Google itself hasn't announced any smart display products. That could change later this year, according to a new report.
Twitter has a long and complicated relationship with the app developers who connect to its platform. As far back as 2011, Twitter said devs should avoid making apps that feature the same functionality as its own clients, and the now-infamous token limit came along in 2012. After temporarily pausing the rollout of new APIs earlier this year, Twitter is now moving ahead.
The Play Store has long warned about the dangers of downloading large apps and games over mobile data. Just one big download can wreck your capped data plan. Now, the Play Store appears to have sprouted a new menu option to control this. You can now choose network download preferences.
If you've been a Wear OS user for a while, odds are you've noticed that wearable apps in the Play Store are sometimes not very good. Google is looking to change that, and asking nicely didn't work. Soon, the app quality guidelines that rolled out with Wear 2.0 will become mandatory.
Google has launched numerous products infused with AI technology, and it looks like health and fitness is its next target. Google is working on a health and wellbeing coach fittingly called "Google Coach." The name could change before launch, but Google already has a lot of ideas in the pipeline for how this service will work.
Everyone wants to make an iPhone clone these days. Well, that's not exactly new, but it's harder to clone the iPhone X without screwing it up. That's why you can't turn around without seeing a poorly implemented screen notch. Motorola is the latest to take a swing at it with the P30. This phone leaked yesterday, and now it's official in China.
New tunes are arriving on Google Home devices today with the addition of Pandora Premium to the supported Assistant music services. After connecting your account, Assistant across all your devices can stream music directly from Pandora with new premium features. You can even give Pandora Premium a try for free.
YouTube TV started with only a few supported markets, but it's expanded rapidly. The latest service area is Kingsport-Johnson City-Bristol, Tennessee. With today's addition, Google's live TV service now has 100 service areas.
Every carrier now has a robust and mature 4G LTE network, so it's almost time to start rolling out a new wireless standard. 5G service will start popping up at the end of this year, but there won't be phones until 2019. Sprint and LG had partnered to launch what they claim will be the first 5G phone in the US. The unnamed device will reportedly arrive in the first half of 2019.
Google bought Zagat about seven years ago, but it let the company go earlier this year after basically ignoring it. Such sales often involve purchasers that only want a company's brand, but Zagat appears to be chugging along. There's even a newly refurbished Android app today.
It has become tradition for Google to release the source code for its annual I/O app refresh in the months following the event. Today is the big day for the 2018 variant, and Google says it made some big changes this time around. Developers can take a peek at the code to get a better handle on Google's best practices for app development.