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Germany wants to extend your smartphone's lifespan with seven years of security patches
One less reason to replace your phone, but it could just be politics at play
When it comes to smartphones, we all wish updates arrived faster and for more extended periods of time. As performance continues to improve with each passing year, upgrading to a new phone every two or three years can start to feel like an unnecessary expense. It's also an environmental concern, as many try to reduce waste created from constantly replacing gadgets. To that end, the German government has proposed a new policy that would extend the lifespan — and repairability — of your device for years to come.
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.
Sonos could get a whole bunch of Google products banned in Germany — is the US next?
The Pixel 4a, YouTube Music, Nest speakers, and potentially more might be affected
You may have heard that Sonos and Google are involved in a dispute over patent infringement in the US, with Sonos claiming that the search company used its power to steal intellectual property when they first partnered up. The legal debate isn't limited by borders, though. Sonos also brought Google to court in Germany, where it has managed to enforce a preliminary sales ban of a whole bunch of Google products using the Cast protocol.
Mozilla's VPN service is expanding into Europe
France and Germany are first on the list, but it's pricier than elsewhere
Mozilla is trying to set itself apart from Google and Microsoft in the browser space with a focus on privacy and security. Part of that is a new product, Mozilla VPN. It came out of beta last year, but was previously only available in the US, UK, Canada, New Zealand, and Malaysia. It's now up and running in France and Germany as well.
LG support site details a very pokey Android 11 update plan
Some phones have a timeline as late as Q4 2021
So far, the only notable LG devices we've seen updated to Android 11 are the V60 and the Velvet (in South Korea, anyway). According to a support page on LG's German site, a few more phones will get the big software bump ... just don't expect them to be especially timely. Why would you, at this point?
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.
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Microsoft released its first Android phone back in 2020, the Surface Duo. It's the only modern Android device with two side-by-side displays (not counting the add-on cases for various LG phone), and even though it's still a questionable buy at its new 9 retail price, Microsoft plans to sell it in more regions this year, starting with Canada, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany on February 18.
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 adds Play promo code support for France
Argentina and Romania have been taken off the list for some reason
It's not something those of us in the US consider often, but promo codes for free apps can't be issued by developers globally. Instead, Google maintains a list of countries that are eligible. Today's update is the first we've posted about in over two years; it adds five countries, but takes two away.
Samsung One UI 3.0 beta ending for Note20, starting up for Galaxy S10 series
Android 11 is nigh for some
Samsung's One UI 3.0 on top of Android 11 edges closer to a stable release with news that beta testing has ended for some Galaxy Note20 devices. But with that end comes a new beginning: Galaxy S10 series devices are entering their own beta.
The Pixel 4a 5G finally became available for pre-order in the US a week ago, and now other countries are following suit. Though Japan got it first on October 15th, it's now available for pre-order in France, Germany, the UK, Ireland, Australia, and Taiwan, filling out the list of available countries announced at the Launch Night In.
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.
Samsung Pay bypasses the banks to roll out support widely in Germany
It should work with 'almost any German bank account'
Samsung Pay is rolling out in Germany, but with one major twist: Rather than relying on bank-by-bank support, which can take ages, the company is simply partnering directly with Visa and a fintech company named Solarisbank AG to roll it out for everyone at once. In short, that means basically anyone in Germany can set up Samsung Pay without their bank having to support it first.
COVID-19 tracing apps may fail to notify exposed users due to aggressive OEM battery saving measures
Showing once again that Google needs to enforce a standardized approach to background activity on Android
We've extensively reported on OEMs that needlessly kill useful background processes to save battery life, creating problems like missed notifications and alarms, aborted sleep tracking, broken upload schedules, and more. While all of these issues are annoying, they're not exactly life-threatening. However, as soon as we're talking about coronavirus tracing apps, missed exposure notifications could put you or others at risk, and it looks like that happened to the German COVID-19 tracking app, which hasn't been able to alert some people due to background restrictions.
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 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.
One UI 2.1 update starts hitting Samsung Galaxy S9 with June security patch in tow
Bringing many Galaxy S20 features to your two-year-old S9
The Galaxy S20 line came preinstalled with the Android 10-based One UI 2.1 packing a whole bunch of exclusive features. These are now trickling down to older Galaxy flagships as they get their own One UI 2.1 updates. The OS version landed on the Galaxy Note9 about a week ago, and it’s now time for the S9 to get the latest build, which also bumps its security patch level to June 2020.
Netflix is gradually easing bandwidth restrictions in Europe
Some regions are already getting the improved streaming bitrate
Netflix, along with several other online streamers, had to curb its video quality in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic that subsequently led people to move almost their entire life and communication online. Its restrictions have been in place since March in Europe, one of the hardest-hit regions, to ease the strain on network infrastructure. Now that the situation there is showing signs of improvement, Netflix has started removing those quality caps in some areas.
Huawei hangs onto Google apps with second P30 Pro re-release
Should we expect another one of these in 6 months?
As the U.S. continues to shun Huawei away from using any of its suppliers, the Chinese manufacturer is keen on retaining its foreign audience who are fans of their hardware but won't use an Android phone without Google apps. Enter the Huawei P30 Pro New Edition, the second reboot of the P30 Pro launched a year after the original P30 Pro came about.
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.