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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.
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 Opinion Rewards expands to Hong Kong and Malaysia
The move follows expansion to Chile, Poland, and the United Arab Emirates earlier this year
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Google Opinion Rewards had a rocky ending to 2019, with many users' credits expiring without warning or explanation. That was soon rectified by placing an expiration date beneath your balance, though the explanation for the whole debacle was too little, too late. Moving past the controversy, Google's forging ahead in the new decade by making Opinion Rewards available in Chile, Poland, and the United Arab Emirates.
Google Play Points availability expands to Taiwan and Hong Kong
The program is now available in five regions
Google Play's loyalty program, Play Points, launched in Japan in late 2018 before making its way to South Korea the following spring and the US in the fall. Now, the program is expanding to two additional Asian regions: Taiwan and Hong Kong.
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.
Google Pay's international expansion is improving. Although not at the same rate as its US bank and credit union support, the mobile payment service keeps steadily adding more institutions and card options for its users around the world. So if you live somewhere where Pay has already launched but your bank wasn't supported before, take a look at the new additions and see if it now is.
We're only a few days away from Google's long-awaited October hardware event, but the leaks haven't stopped. A store in Hong Kong has already started selling the Pixel 3 XL for HK$15,880 (around $2,030 US), and Engadget borrowed one of the devices for an early hands-on.
Nokia climbed aboard the screen notch bandwagon a few months back with the X6, a China-exclusive phone with a 5.8-inch display and a chin. Now, that same piece of hardware is launching in a few more markets as the Nokia 6.1 Plus. It has the same specs and design, but this is an Android One phone.
Despite all having the name "Samsung Galaxy S8," there are in fact several different variants of Samsung's flagship phone. But all the S8 devices worldwide have one of two processors - the Qualcomm 835, or the Exynos 8895. TWRP for the Exynos models arrived in April, but now it's time for the Snapdragon variants.
Samsung graciously upped the Galaxy S8's base storage to 64GB this year, but it's sticking with 4GB of RAM. You want more? Hopefully you live in certain markets like China and South Korea. You might have another option that doesn't require moving across the globe very soon. An unlocked version of this phone is launching soon in Hong Kong, which means it'll probably show up elsewhere via reselling.
Samsung has been slowly but steadily adding new markets to Samsung Pay, which is now supported in more than a dozen countries. That includes a few new ones today. Residents of Sweden (previously in beta) and the UAE can start making payments today. There's also early access (i.e. a beta) for Samsung Pay in Hong Kong and Switzerland.
Android Pay has slowly been growing to more and more regions, and now has finally reached the city of Hong Kong. This makes Hong Kong and Singapore the only regions in Asia supported by Android Pay.
OnePlus started selling smartphones a few years ago with an invite system, which allowed it to carefully manage its supply chain. It was also hugely annoying for people interested in actually buying phones from OnePlus. The OnePlus 3 was launched sans invite, and it's a much more attractive option because of it. However, OP says it can't keep up with demand, so it's pausing sales in Europe and Hong Kong for a month.
About a month ago we spotted two new entries in the country availability listings for the new Chromecast and Chromecast Audio: Taiwan and India. Today both of those are coming true (though India is somewhat conditional - see below), and you can add Hong Kong into the mix. For both Hong Kong and Taiwan, the streaming gadgets are now available on their respective Google Stores. The Chromecast 2015 and Chromecast Audio are HK$349 (around $45 USD) in Hong Kong and NT$1445 ($44.75) in Taiwan.
After launching in Japan earlier this month, Netflix is set to expand its Asian presence in early 2016 by adding 4 countries to its availability map. If you live in South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, or Taiwan, you'll be happy to know that the video streaming service is coming to your neck of the woods (or rainforest) next year. At least you'll no longer be forced to VPN your way to the US to get Netflix working.
Readers in France and Germany, head on over to your local Google Store if you're looking for an Android-powered set-top box. The Nexus Player, the only Android TV device widely available even six months after the introduction of the platform, is now on sale in your respective countries. Well, sort of: it's "coming soon" with a price of 99 Euro (only about 5% more than the US price). According to Google's hardware availability page, it should go on sale at any moment.
After its introduction at CES, the curvtastic LG G Flex 2 is almost ready for primetime. The phone has been available for pre-order on Sprint in the US for a few days with a free Quick Circle case, but its global rollout is about to commence. It will first be offered on "major carriers in the United States, Hong Kong, Singapore, France, Germany, and the U.K," according to an LG Press Release, followed by key markets in North and South America, Europe, and Asia.
With all the limited promotions, holiday sales, and convoluted pre-order schemes, you'd think that OnePlus would get it freakin' over with and just sell the flagship One phone directly to consumers already. And they will... for just one day. Considerably less than one day, in fact, since the promotion will actually only be available for two hours, 7-9PM Eastern Standard Time. That's in North America - in Europe it will go on sale at 7-9PM Greenwich Mean Time, and in Hong Kong and Taiwan it goes on sale from 7-9PM Hong Kong Time (presumably tomorrow, since it's already passed for the 20th).
The landlocked European country of Austria and the Chinese island megacity of Hong Kong don't have a lot in common, but this morning (or this afternoon, depending on where you are) they can come together and bond over cheap Google streaming gadgets. The Chromecast just launched on the respective Play Stores in both territories, making it easy to get a hold of one without importing it or bribing your American buddies.
Google Play gift cards are only available in a handful of countries around the world, but now they have made their way into Hong Kong. Here they are on Google Play in increments of 200, 500, and 1000 Hong Kong dollars.