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Twitter Blue arrives in the US, leaves a lot for Android users to desire
Blessed to be undoing tweets
It's been speculated for many blue moons. Now, after testing the deep blue waters off of Australia and Canada since June, the Twitter Blue subscription service is finally crossing gulfs to New Zealand and the United States with a bevy of new bells and whistles though Android users will be left feeling a little blue with this launch.
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 launches the Nest Mini in New Zealand with BOGO deal until June 28
The first Assistant speaker to officially come to the country
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Despite being a stone's throw away from Australia, New Zealand seems to have been massively neglected by Google. The company's official Store in NZ barely carries a few Nest cams and Chromecasts, whereas it's nearly fully-decked for Aussies. Things are looking up for Kiwis, though, as Google has just launched the Nest Mini in their country and is offering a buy one, get one deal for the next few days.
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 Duplex is expanding to gather information from businesses in more international markets
If you're outside the US, it won't be taking your calls... yet
Google Assistant's Duplex service, which can make concierge calls to businesses for booking tables, appointments, or making general inquiries, is already available in some form in the United States and New Zealand. Now, we've learned it's been established in three more Commonwealth nations. But you should not expect a robot to save you a seat anytime soon, coronavirus outbreak or no.
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.
MX Player launches its free movie and TV streaming service in the US, UK, and 5 more countries
It offers slightly older content with ads
Most of us know MX Player as the best video player on Android, able to handle any file format, codec, bitrate, or subtitle extension. What you may have missed though is that MX also has an on-demand movie and TV show streaming service in India. It's now expanding availability to seven countries, including the US and UK.
Google's AI-based assistant that makes automated calls to businesses is starting to expand internationally. After a wide rollout in most US states, the service is now coming to New Zealand as part of a limited pilot.
Disney+, the company's announced premium subscription service, now has launch dates in five countries and distribution agreements with major over-the-top platforms. And if you don't live in the United States, we now know what you'll be paying per month in your region.
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- While a lot of Google services start out as US exclusives, many ultimately expand their reach internationally. But the nature of that expansion can vary wildly, and while some offerings are quick to find global support, others spread at a far more reserved pace. A couple months back we saw the first, early steps Google was taking to bring YouTube Premium discounts to students in more countries. Now that access is seriously expanding, with availability extending to students in an additional 20 countries:
Until today, YouTube Music Premium and YouTube Premium plans offered special pricing for students, though only in the USA. But now, the reduced cost option is available in eight new countries.
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:
Alexa, Alexa everywhere! Amazon is continuing to push its voice assistant and devices everywhere it can and the newest countries after the US, UK, Germany, Japan, India, Ireland, and Canada, to join in on the fun are Australia and New Zealand.Yesterday (sorry we're late on this), Amazon announced that its Alexa Skills Kit (to create voice commands for your service) and Alexa Voice Service (to integrate Alexa itself into your product) are coming to Australia and New Zealand. They're bringing along the three current Echo devices from Amazon's line-up, which are now up for pre-order at introductory prices, with even cheaper special 2-pack discounts. And I can only hope Amazon set up Alexa to answer with "Oi Oi Oi" everytime it hears you scream "Aussie Aussie Aussie!" otherwise it'd be a wasted opportunity.
Usually, when massive companies tell you "your opinion matters," it is a transparent way to placate people who complain. With Google Opinion Rewards, your opinion gets you pocket change, which is probably a fair bit more than you would get anywhere else. Digital pocket change, in the form of Google Play credits. All the better, as it doesn't run the risk of scratching your screen. Opinion Rewards has been available in the United States and several other countries for some time, though Belgium and New Zealand are joining the club this month.
iHeartRadio has been on a roll with new features over the past few weeks. It introduced paid Plus and All Access plans and promised support for Google Home, and now the service is ready for more novelty.
Android Pay supplanted Google Wallet as the contactless payment platform for Android a little over a year ago, but that was just the US release. It has since come to the UK, Poland, Australia, and more. Starting today, you can add New Zealand to the list. However, there's only one supported card right now.
Good afternoon, Aussie and Kiwi readers. If you've been drooling with envy at your American counterparts over the ad-free options in YouTube Red and bonus access to the YouTube Music app, you can stop it now. Both Google's support page and several Android Police readers report that the services are now live down under, available for anyone who'd like to sign up. It should be possible to begin a subscription from the web or the YouTube app.
Despite the fact that excitement for endless Angry Birds iterations and spin-offs more or less died over a year ago, the Angry Birds movie is scheduled to hit theaters next month. (Apparently creating a 90-minute CG movie, complete with Hollywood talent, marketing, and distribution, takes a lot longer than making a 2D physics game.) Developer Rovio is pumping up the promotion machine starting with Angry Birds Action!, a 2.5D twist on the classic slingshot formula. At the moment it's soft-launched in New Zealand, but the game should be heading to other territories well before the May movie release.
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We all love the Chromecast thanks to its cheap price and almost endless potential to turn any TV into a smart streaming machine. Last year, Google released an update to the original Chromecast with a few minor improvements as well as a Chromecast Audio that works with all Aux speakers. Now these new gadgets are available for purchase in the southern part of our planet: Australia and New Zealand.
Millions of people already consider Pandora the best way to discover new music. You create a station starting with an artist you like, and the site follows that up with songs sharing similar characteristics. You indicate whether you like or don't like a song, and the station gets smarter from there.
It may be taking longer than many potential customers would like, but Google is still working on bringing its goods and services to interested parties around the world. Today, those in New Zealand and Taiwan will be happy to find that the Play Store now has a "Devices" section in their countries.