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Apps are using scummy ads to bypass Google Play and install without your consent
Just in case full-screen ads weren't invasive enough
Ads on Android devices are already annoying enough. Playing the "free" version of certain games gets you a full-screen ad every time you change levels or die. But so far, scummy ads have mostly been contained to their own, scummy sandbox where they can't get out unless you tap them. Today, though, they're crossing a new line, as a growing number of reports reveals efforts to install apps without user intervetion nor Play Store notifcation.
Google is considering Apple-like anti-tracking features for Android
A report says this is still in early internal talks
According to a report from Bloomberg, Google is exploring its own alternative to Apple's anti-tracking features to be introduced in an iOS 14 update. The company is in early internal talks on how it could limit data collection and cross-app tracking on its operating system, trying to balance its interests as an advertising company and users asking for more privacy.
Despite being the largest advertising company in the world, Google hasn't made many unique or interesting ads for its own products. The company switched things up last month with a new 'Pixel vs. Pixel' campaign, a set of adorable videos pitting Pixel phones against a pug named Pixel. Now there are seven new fun videos in the series, comparing software features, price, and other factors.
Cute Pixel videos pit Google's phone against an adorable pug
Google would very much like the phone to win the duel... as if
Google has thought it smart to pit its latest Pixel 4a against an adorable pug. According to the company's marketing material, which spans eight short videos, the phone comes out winning each and every time. This is how they lie to you, people. Everyone knows who the fair winner should be.
Robert Downey Jr’s OnePlus 8 Pro commercial features an epic water fight
Splish splash, my OP8 is taking a bath
About a year ago, Iron Man star Robert Downey Jr and OnePlus joined forces (and exchanged money) to promote the manufacturer's products, starting with the OnePlus 7. The collaboration is still alive and well as a clip has surfaced, showing the actor wielding a Glacial Green OnePlus 8 Pro while he's racing to a birthday party — he also has a video shoot to finish and a suit to buy before he can go there.
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Samsung's next foldable phone, the Galaxy Z Flip, has already been leaked quite a bit. The company has yet to say anything about the Z Flip publicly... until now, anyway. A commercial for the device aired during the Oscars Academy Awards show tonight, giving us a first look at the phone outside of leaked images and videos.
As spotted on Reddit late last night, Google has started running advertisements in Times Square showing off the orange "coral" Pixel 4. The ad invites us to "set a reminder for October 15," the date of Google's upcoming Made by Google event, also set in New York City, at which the phone is expected to be announced.
In case you were living under a rock this past week, it was hard to miss Samsung's big reveal for the Galaxy Note10. It was all over social media, news sites, televisions, and... notification trays. That's right, Samsung is once again spamming Galaxy phones with advertisements, this time for the Note10.
Google took an unprecedented step in the smartphone industry and launched its new midrange phones Pixel 3a and 3a XL for half the price of its flagship while still retaining the same camera quality the regular Pixels are loved for. Of course, the company didn't miss the chance to rub that fact into its competitors' noses and launched an ad campaign comparing the fictional $999 "Phone X" with the $399 Pixel 3a, implying that it takes way better pictures in the dark.
Smartphone marketing can be hard, just ask Huawei or OnePlus circa 2014. Today it's Xiaomi that is pushing cringe onto potential customers, tweeting out a video so bad that the company deleted it. Just in case you missed it, here it is:
For some, the Super Bowl is all about the event itself: watching two teams play the last football game of the season — or see who ends up playing the Patriots in their last game of the year, if you're a cynic. For many others, including myself, it's just an excuse to get together with your friends, eat a bunch of unhealthy foods, and watch some frequently amusing, high-budget ads. If you're in the latter camp, Amazon pushed out one of its Super Bowl commercials for you to check out early, and it's pretty funny.[EMBED_YT]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8y-1h_C8ad8[/EMBED_YT]I won't spoil all the jokes, but the premise of the minute and a half-long video is a pair of Amazon employees admiring the Alexa microwave — as one does — while they discuss all the other failed Alexa-powered hardware that preceded it. As you'd expect, each has some immediately obvious and funny flaw. Also, Harrison Ford gets upset with his dog.Sure, it's no Tide ad, but I laughed.Source: Amazon
In an age where smaller screen bezels are a selling point, a few companies have been caught modifying the appearance of their phones in adverts. One recent example was the Lenovo Z5, which had no bezels and no notch in the initial images, but the real phone had substantial bezels and a notch. The latest company do this is OnePlus, which seems to be trimming the 6T's bezels in advertisements.
Google is on a marketing blitz with the Pixel 3 and 3XL, mostly showcasing the phones' fantastic camera performance. We've seen Eminem's 'Venom' music video, a few cringy Jimmy Kimmel clips, and other media recorded with Google's new flagships. The company also partnered with Condé Nast to use the Pixel 3 across some of its magazines and sites — including a video where a chef crammed a lot of butter into a Thanksgiving turkey.
Google has made countless advertisements for Chromebooks, but none of them have directly pointed out flaws in traditional operating systems like Windows and macOS - until now. The company just released a new Chromebook commercial that calls out its competitors for being annoying, buggy, and slow.
Note9 details and leaks have been picking up steam in recent days, and the latest addition to the growing pile of evidence surrounding the new phone comes courtesy of renowned leaker Ice universe. Just earlier today he showed off what is claimed to be a print advertisement picturing "the new super powerful Note," stylus and all.
Advertising can get pretty stale these days, so it's always nice to see something different. ASUS took "different" and ran with it, throwing 89 ZenFone 5s on dancer Ian Eastwood to advertise the ZenFone 5/5z. The result is... quite the spectacle.
Back in December, T-Mobile uploaded a two minute-long short to its YouTube channel, in the style of classic stop-motion specials like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. It mostly consists of T-Mobile CEO John Legere telling a story about how he saved the US wireless industry from the "abominable carriers." It's a mostly harmless video, but AT&T has decided to file a complaint with the National Advertising Division over it.
Super Bowl commercials cost fortunes for companies to run, leading to some of the most invested and creative advertisements you'll see all year. This year's Super Bowl ads are off to a good start, with Amazon already showing its ad for Alexa on YouTube. It turns out that Alexa has quite a few famous substitutes lined up for when she loses her voice.
Google's new Home Max speaker is pretty great. It can become deafeningly loud, and includes Google Assistant. The only downside is the price - $400 is quite a lot for a speaker. It looks like Google is trying to sell more of them, because the company has placed a small ad for the Home Max on Chrome's New Tab Page.
These days, many advertisements try to be truly different to stand out from the crowd and get people talking. Nokia seems to be attempting this approach with its new ad, which features a guru teaching an apartment renter about the arts of minimalism and 'Phone Shui.' In other words, Nokia is pushing its pure Android angle.