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Google Opinion Rewards brings its free Play Store credit to five more countries
Your next Android game is on the house
Paid apps and games usually only cost you a few bucks, but that's still money you can put towards your next coffee or beer (you know, depending on the time of day). Google Opinion Rewards makes it easy to pick up a movie rental or to splurge on in-app purchases in your favorite games just by answering a few simple questions. If you've been waiting for it to arrive in your region, you might want to check out today's updated list.
Android Auto rolls out to 6 more European countries
Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and Sweden, since you asked
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Although a bunch of cars now come with advanced navigation systems, these can rarely beat the simplicity and expansibility of Android Auto. Sadly, though, Google's in-car service isn't globally available, leaving many users unable to properly use their favorite services from their ride's dashboard. Thankfully, Android Auto is expanding to 36 more countries, making it seamless to get directions, play music, and interact with Assistant, thanks to native integration with your car's infotainment system.
Samsung's watches now support ECG monitoring in 32 more countries
It still requires a paired Samsung phone
Samsung's Galaxy Watch3 and Watch Active2 both have hardware support for ECG monitoring, but it is taking a long time to show up for everyone, since the feature has to be approved by each country's health agencies. It was exclusive to South Korea until September of last year, when it was enabled for use in the United States, and now it's coming to 32 more countries.
Google Pay adds support for 24 new banks in 23 countries
Forget your wallet, grab your phone — you've got Google Pay
Google Pay continues to expand its support to additional international banks. To help you keep track of which financial institutions have added their credit and debit cards to the service, we've compiled a list of recent additions. Since we last looked in July, Google's added 24 new banks in 23 countries.
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.
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Google Pay already supports a plethora of credit cards from a multitude of banks all over the world, but there are still many institutions left that don't work with Google's payment system. It's great to see that the number of compatible banks is rising internationally, and today, we can report a whopping 62 newly added banks — though about half of these are savings banks located in Denmark.
Whether it's adding support for more banks or public transit cards, Google Pay is expanding, both in the US and across the world. The service continues to grow as fifteen more European, Asian, and Australian banks' payment cards now work with it.
Little by little, Google's been making YouTube Premium and YouTube Music available to more and more users. Sometimes that means making the services available on new devices, or offering discounts to lower the barrier to entry. But a lot of the time, it's just about rolling them out to new countries. So far this year we've seen expansion into India, South Africa, and Latin America, and today that trend continues with a push further into Europe.
Despite Google Pay already supporting around 2,000 banks and credit unions in the US and not nearly as many internationally, US support continues to grow at a pace greater than all other countries combined. Since we last posted about international Google Pay additions last month, nine banks in ten countries are now on the supported list.
Beyond being your awesome digital photo archiver, Google Photos offers to print copies of your pics if you prefer to keep those memories in a physical album. After launching in May of 2015 in the US, Photo books expanded to seven more countries over time (Canada, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, and Spain), and they're now reaching five more.
Promo codes are a great way for developers to give paid content on the Play Store to certain people. But for whatever reason, these codes can't be issued everywhere, and Google has a list of countries that they can be given out in. After adding eight countries back in May 2017 and, more recently, three earlier this month, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Israel, and Romania have made it onto the list.
Following rumors that Google's digital wallet service Android Pay would be launching this month in Brazil and the Czech Republic, Google has made the news official today. With the Brazilian launch, this is Android Pay's first foray into South America.
Android Pay seems set to launch in Brazil next week, and it looks like that may not be the only country where the payment service will be rolling out to on November 14. According to press invites, Google will also be hosting an event in Prague on that same day where it will likely be revealing details on the expansion of Android Pay into the Czech Republic.
Jelly Bean Updates Roll Out To Unbranded UK, Switzerland, Luxemburg Galaxy S IIIs And Branded Ones In 8 Other Countries
The pace at which Samsung is pushing out Galaxy S III Jelly Bean updates is picking up steam in Europe
The pace at which Samsung is pushing out Galaxy S III Jelly Bean updates is picking up steam in Europe with the much anticipated arrival of Android 4.1.1 for unbranded UK handsets. The Brits aren't the only ones getting it today - in fact, the list is quite sizeable. Here, check it out:
European O2 and Vodafone Galaxy S III owners, it's finally your turn to check out Jelly Bean first hand. Following last week's updates on Hutchison Whampoa networks (Three/3/H3G), now O2 and Vodafone joined the party and started pushing out Android 4.1.1 to Galaxy S IIIs in at least the following locations:
According to a Czech press release unearthed by The Verge, Microsoft may be readying native Office apps for Android. As of right now, the only programs that have mobile versions on the Play Store are OneNote and Lync. Otherwise known as "the ones very few people care about." If this report is to be believed, though, we may see native versions of the entire Office suite.
While Android users in Czech, Israel, Poland, and Mexico have been happily buying apps from Google Play for some time now, up till today, devs in these countries haven't been quite so lucky. In fact, they haven't been able to publish any apps, unless they were free.
[Updated] Google Starting To Flip The Switch On Purchasing Paid Android Market Apps In New Countries
Last week, Google announced that over the next 2 weeks, support for purchasing paid apps was coming to 18 more countries: Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Israel, Mexico, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, Sweden, and Taiwan.