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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.
Play Store accepting gambling apps in US and 14 other countries starting March 1
Non-gambling contests get a boost in new policies
Up to now, Google has only Android users in the U.K., Ireland, France, and Brazil to download apps from the Play Store to partake in real money gambling. But starting from this spring, the company will enact a policy update to expand their availability to 15 countries including the United States.
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.
Disney has announced that it's continuing Disney+'s international expansion in Europe. Starting today, the service will come to eight more European countries. This follows March's launch in the UK and other Western European markets. The platform also arrived in India shortly after.
Google Pay is now available for 25 new banks in 14 countries
Leave your wallet in your bag or pocket
Google Pay support is ever expanding among financial institutions, and that's both the case in the US and the rest of the world. As such, we've compiled a list of the latest international banks that have added their credit and debit cards to Google's contactless payment service, coming in at a total of 25 institutions across 14 (mostly European) 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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- OnePlus has posted a more complete statement to its forums, indicating that the layoffs aren't quite as extensive as rumored. According to the company, a total of 20 total employees are affected by the company's restructuring in Europe:
OnePlus has reportedly made severe staffing cuts in its European operations. While the tech brand has experienced massive growth in other markets over the past few years, it has also faced major headwinds across the continent in the same time which have led to previous rounds of layoffs.
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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.
Given the sheer amount of cars that now support Android Auto, you might be surprised to learn that the in-car software isn't actually supported everywhere. Today there are 40 countries that Android Auto is officially available in, with four of those added today and four added late last year.
As the story goes, Google isn't particularly good at making its own services and apps work together. Take YouTube Music for example. It took months for the streaming service to be available on Android Auto and as an alarm provider in the Clock app, and it still isn't integrated in Google Maps the way Spotify and Play Music are. But things are ever-so-slowly improving. You can (now) pick YouTube Music to be your music provider on Google Assistant and Home speakers in many, many more countries.
Google Pay users in the States have a pretty nice thing going for them, with the service supported by umpteen million financial institutions (give or take a million). But as we travel abroad, the situation's much more hit-and-miss. It's far from a sure thing that Google Pay is available in a country at all, and even where it is, the selection of partner banks can be pretty sparse. So today we're happy to share with you some progress towards remedying that situation, as new banks come online for Google Pay around the globe.
There are many digital ways to consume our photos and memories these days — browsing on our phones, casting to a large TV, showcasing on a Smart Display like the Google Home Hub — but if you want physical copies of your pics to flip through and enjoy, you will need to print them. Google Photos offers a photo book service in several countries, and now it's expanding to 14 more in Europe.
With its latest phone, OnePlus has graduated from 'flagship on a budget' to be a true contender for the best smartphone around. Check out Ryne's review if you don't believe me. Open sales started in the US several days ago, but it's now available to buy in Europe too.
Google Pay is continuing its expansion to various countries around the world. Today marks its official landing in four new nations in the Nordics: Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. With these additions, Google's mobile payment service is now available in 25 countries total.
At its I/O conference in May, Google announced that it would expand Home and Home Mini availability to seven new countries by the end of 2018. The smart speakers have already launched in Mexico, Spain, and, most recently, South Korea. Users from The Netherlands, Sweden, Demnark, and Norway will soon join the party.
Google has been testing more language support for Assistant in several countries including Denmark and Norway. Now, it seems that those two languages are either going live for everyone or nearly about to do so.
If there's any constant in the Android Police tips inbox I can rely on, it's that our Dutch readers are the most enthusiastic of the bunch. Any new feature launches in the country and we're bound to get inundated with emails, but this time, it's not just The Netherlands that should be happy, three other countries in Europe are getting YouTube Premium as well.
Up until recently, the Google Wifi router and mesh network system was only available in 7 countries on the Google Store: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, New Zealand, the UK, and the USA. The country availability support page of Google even officially attests to that. But Google Wifi is now up for sale in 5 more countries, mostly from Northern Europe.
Your opinion is worth something. Not much, but something. Companies are willing to pay for consumer feedback, and in this area, Google is no exception. It is happy to reward people for answering a few mundane questions. And now that offer extends out to people in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.