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Google's unstoppable march continues: the company just won't rest until every financial institution on the planet can use the Google Pay mobile payment system. Over the last few weeks we've been cataloging additional banks added to Google's various support pages, and there's been a notable uptick in new entries. That's especially true for Switzerland, where more than eighty banks added Google Pay compatibility last week.
The Pixel Buds A-Series come to 10 new countries next week
They'll be available in Australia, Japan, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Singapore, and the UK
The Pixel Buds A-Series are pretty freakin' sweet as TWE headphones go, hitting a great balance of price and features. Taylor Kerns said that at $100, they make the original and much pricier model "irrelevant," even with the loss of wireless charging. The availability for the low-price buds has been updated on Google's official support page, coming to nine new countries next week.
How to send money internationally with Google Pay
Transfers via Western Union are free for a limited time
The world feels like it's gotten smaller in recent decades thanks to technology, but we're far, far away from adopting a universal currency. Sending money across borders — from the US to India, for example — is still not as seamless as we'd like it to be. Google Pay wants to change this.
RCS support in Messages is spreading to more countries, including India
New additions: India, Canada, Kuwait, Ghana, Malawi, Philippines, South Korea, Tanzania, United Arab Emirates
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After Google deployed RCS (Rich Communication Services) in the U.S. without the help of the four three big carriers, the company seems to be set to repeat that effort internationally. People in multiple countries across the world report that they're able to use RCS features in the Messages app powered by Google's Jib servers. That might indicate that we'll soon see universal and worldwide RCS support from Google, regardless of country or carrier.
Today Google revealed a handful of new features rolling out in Google Pay for folks in Singapore, but buried inside the announcement was a bit of news that may ultimately apply to all of us: A self-explanatory "Split a Bill" feature that's being tested in Singapore before it comes to other countries. Singaporeans can also look forward to PayNow support at two more banks, they can purchase movie tickets at Golden Village and Shaw Theaters, and they can enjoy a new "scratchcard" rewards system.
Google Pay India picks up a tweaked design in beta with Flutter rewrite (APK Download)
Giving us a hint of dark mode and a lot of Product Sans
Google Pay’s Indian edition has been growing strong, and even expanded overseas recently to bring a similar experience to shoppers in Singapore. The app got a Material design facelift not too long ago and picked up a much-requested payment option just yesterday. Keeping up with that pace, Google has now rewritten the Pay India app from the ground up, bringing a few visual tweaks along with a host of under-the-hood changes to beta users.
Google Pixel Buds 2 are now available in Canada, the UK, and many more markets
The long, long wait is finally over
It was all the way back in October 2019 when the 2nd-generation Pixel Buds were revealed at Google's big annual hardware event, which seems like such a long, long time ago now. It wasn't until April this year that customers in the US could get their hands on a pair, and until today there's been no availability outside the States. If you live in Canada, the UK, or one of several other lucky countries, you should now be able to make an order.
Spotify has been working on proper lyrics support for ages. It likely takes this long to implement the seemingly simple feature in part due to licensing issues surrounding songtexts, which already led to a lawsuit against Google. Spotify seems to have finally found a suitable solution, as TechCrunch reports that the company is planning to roll out lyrics synced with music to 26 markets today. The US, Canada, and the UK aren't among these, though.
Google's handy Pixel Update and Software Repair tool now available in more countries
Still only works with the Pixel 3 and later, though
Google's Pixel Update and Software Repair tool is a mouthful, but it's an easy way to update or reinstall the software loaded on recent Pixel phones, and sometime recently it got a small tweak: Now the tool is available to people in more countries, with individual support for tons of specific carriers in each.
Google Pay gains support for 29 new banks and financial institutions in 22 countries (Update: 11 more banks)
Because carrying a wallet is so over
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Google Pay is compatible with a wide range of cards from various institutions around the world. Sadly, there are still a bunch of them that don't work with the contactless payment service. Thankfully, it is constantly gaining support for new banks and financial institutions, including the below 29, spread across 22 countries.
Google cuts back on Pixel Buds 2 color options for non-US countries
Oh So Orange looks to only be available in US at the moment
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If you've been waiting for Google to finally start selling its second-generation Pixel Buds, you may need to check your ensemble expectations if you live outside the United States. The company has cut down the number of colors it has listed for the 10 foreign markets the Pixel Buds 2 will be in.
Android Auto expands wireless compatibility to most supported countries
Only Japan and Russia are excluded
Some cars and head units are capable of displaying Android Auto from your phone wirelessly, but there are additional restrictions to the functionality — other than owning a compatible handset, you also need to live in one of the regions where the wireless connection is available. Luckily, the list of supported countries is expanding, and now you can use wireless Android Auto in almost all locations where the wired version is available, with only two exceptions: Japan and Russia.
YouTube Music and Premium are continuing their expansion across the world. After adding eight Middle Eastern countries in September, the service is now spreading to seven more markets in Asia. Most notable among these additions is Indonesia, the fourth most populated country in the world, and a potentially huge market for Google.
I'm a huge fan of mobile payments, mostly because it's convenient and I don't have to take my wallet with me to run small errands. Seeing Google Pay expand to more countries is always pleasant, especially when the services added include prepaid cards in addition to traditional banks. The list of supported services has further grown since our last post, as Google Pay now supports 25 more services in 14 countries in Europe, Asia, and Australia.To make it easier to read, we're sorted the new services and banks by country so you can find whether your financial institution has recently signed a partnership with Google Pay:
Until recently, Singaporean commuters had to use prepaid NETS Flashpay or EZ-Link accounts to hop on the MRT (the local subway) or the bus. Even though most debit cards on the island support either one of these payment systems, they had to be topped up separately, creating an additional burden for travelers — I remember the days when I lived in Singapore and had to go back to an ATM to transfer money from my current account to EZ-link after being denied entry to the MRT. However, thanks to a recent initiative by the Land Transport Authority, people can use contactless MasterCards to pay for transport. As such cards work with Google Pay, the latter seamlessly allows commuters to gain access to trains or buses without having to use a separate app.
Buying Google's gadgets can be very difficult if you live in a country where they're not officially available. Overpriced black markets, questionable imports, and difficulty of finding support are some of the issues you face. But after today, that won't be the case for Android and Google fans in Singapore as the official Store is now launched in their country.
Google Assistant's language support between different platforms is a confusing mess that I won't pretend to be able to understand, but the good news is that over the past year, more languages and variants have been added. We've seen Spanish and Italian recently, but today's addition is different: Assistant on phones should now work in Singapore English.
Without a doubt, Google's Opinion Rewards app is how I've bought most of the apps in my library. For the small price of a few surveys, you can usually get some Play credit tacked onto your account. We've had the app here in the States for some time now, but now a few other countries are joining the fold.
It's rare for our David Ruddock to call anything "absolutely stunning," let alone a blue and slightly orange phone of all things, but Samsung managed to extract that statement out of him when he had some hands-on with the Galaxy Note 7 (RIP). And David wasn't the only one to think that. So what's Samsung to do with this splendidly concocted color now that it can't market and sell it on the Note 7? Well, it's releasing it for its other flagship device, the Galaxy S7 Edge.
Slowly but surely, the creatures are coming. They advance, nation by nation, relentless, refusing to stop until the entire planet is their domain. Hundreds of millions have felt their impact. Politicians and titans of industry are not immune. And even mainstream news outlets are scrambling to find "22 Tips For Catching Pokémon - #12 Will Make You Scream!" Today developer Niantic continues its bid for global mobile gaming domination by expanding Pokémon GO to 15 new markets in Asia, including hundreds of millions of new potential players on iOS and Android.