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Google feels like it's been deprioritizing the consumer side of Stadia more and more, something that was already apparent with the closure of its first-party studio SG&E in early 2021 and the arrival of a white label Stadia-powered game on AT&T. But as gamers wonder why Google is seemingly no longer interested in negotiating access to third-party blockbuster titles, a new report suggests that its attention has shifted towards courting companies like Peloton, Capcom, and Bungie for white label deals under the name Google Stream.
Google One's VPN is pretty okay, according to independent auditors
A 19-page report on the VPN's security concluded that it's in line with the competition
There are a lot of VPN services that claim god-like powers of privacy and security, with perhaps less than compelling evidence to back up those claims. No one doubts Google's technical ability to create a virtual private network, but given the company's status first and foremost as an advertiser, you'd be forgiven for being skeptical of the VPN built into the Google One service. According to an independent audit, it's pretty okay. Which is nice.
App usage went up 40% during the pandemic, according to report from App Annie
Consumer app spending is also up 25% on the Play Store year-over-year
According to a recent report from App Annie, app use is up an incredible 40% year-over-year in Q2, driven in no doubt due to the ongoing pandemic. Between needing more apps for better work-from-home workflows and boredom from simply being stuck at home, the time we're spending using apps reached an all-time high of 200 billion hours during April, making last quarter the biggest yet for both app use, downloads, and consumer spending.
Google reportedly wants to turn the Pay app into a shopping portal
Google Shopping already exists, but let's not go there
Google Pay is the primary method of contactless payments on Android devices, but Google might have greater ambitions for the app than just storing all your credit cards. A new report from The Information claims the app could become a shopping portal, if retailers and delivery companies sign on.
Report: Amazon's working on a Stadia competitor, but it might be delayed due to coronavirus
Project Tempo's timing could be pushed out to 2021
The New York Times reports that Amazon will follow in Stadia's footsteps with its own cloud gaming service, currently code-named Project Tempo. Details are sparse, but Amazon's general plans were confirmed just earlier today, with the service expected to launch this year — though coronavirus could push it back.
According to a report published yesterday by Bloomberg, Samsung's redesign of the Galaxy Fold has been completed. This follows a recent interview with Samsung CEO DJ Koh, in which he asked for "a bit more time." No release date is set, but according to Bloomberg, it may arrive by the upcoming holiday season.
Most smartphone OEMs have been predicting that the market is set to slow down a bit in 2019, but based on last year's numbers, Xiaomi may end up being an exception. The company saw an astounding 118.1% increase in international revenue, with total revenue increases of 52.6%. That works out to 174.9 billion yuan in revenue, or around 26 billion dollars. When all was said and done, the company made around two billion dollars in gross profit last year.
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- Mishaal Rahman, one of our buds over at XDA Developers, tracked down the specs for the tablet:
Bloomberg is reporting that Walmart is "moving into iPad territory," in its plans to make a children's tablet. This clearly low-end device from a retailer known for its cheapness somehow constitutes — and I feel the need to quote Bloomberg again here — an "iPad rival."
Google's first-party hardware options may be set to ramp up this year according to a recent report. Based on the details, we might see new product lines as well as refreshes of existing ones. In addition to the already known, upcoming, cheaper Pixel "Lite," Nikkei is reporting that Google plans to release its own wearables (plural), a Google Home refresh, and security cameras this year.
Earlier this year, it was rumored that Google was planning on releasing up to three variants of an upcoming Pixel watch. Details at the time even included three separate codenames and chipset specifications. According to an exclusive report published earlier today by Tom's Guide, that may not be the case anymore.
Rumors of Google's attempted return to China have been around for years, but things really started getting going within the past few days. To be specific, there have been reports that Google is working on censored versions of its Search and News apps. We're now hearing that Google is in talks with Tencent, Inspur, and some other Chinese companies to introduce its Cloud service to the Chinese market.
HTC has not been doing well lately, to say the least. The company is currently laying off 1,500 employees, and its June sales were down 68% from last year. Now there are reports that HTC is exiting the Indian market, which the company is denying.
We exclusively reported late last month that the LG V40 would have five cameras in total - three on the rear and two on the front. As strange as it sounds, the V40 may not be the only next-gen flagship with that many sensors. A report coming out of South Korea is claiming that Samsung's Galaxy S10+ will have the same number of cameras on board, and in a similar configuration as well.
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Sometimes, the best thing you can do is stay positive. As mothers everywhere are fond of saying, "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all." That's a good philosophy, but most of us probably forget to practice it, and Facebook is rolling out a new tool to allow people to hide that sort of content from its site. According to a report published by TechCrunch, Facebook is experimenting with a new "downvote" button, but it's actually just a "report" button.
The smart speaker wars are in full swing, with Amazon and Google dominating most of the market. Amazon's Alexa assistant was first on the scene, but Google Assistant is making progress, particularly with the Home Mini and third-party speakers. According to a report from The Information, Amazon is working on its own AI chip designed to make Alexa-powered devices respond quicker.
OpenSignal's bi-yearly carrier report for the US was just released, and T-Mobile's rampage from last year seems to be continuing. Although both Verizon and AT&T are seeing some recovery in network speed after the reintroduction of their unlimited plans last year, T-Mobile has again topped nearly every category in OpenSignal's testing. Sprint, though still in 4th overall, is also making great strides in both speed and availability.
It's no secret that the tablet market has been shrinking for several years now. The IDC has been tracking data like this for quite some time now, and is reporting that this trend hasn't changed for quarter 2 of 2017. That being said, sales increases from companies such as Amazon, Apple, and Huawei have slowed this decline to 3.4%, or 37.9 million worldwide shipments. That's noticeably better than the 8.5% decline we saw for 1Q17.
Remember when everyone thought tablets would replace PCs, at least for average consumers? Yeah, that didn't happen. In fact, the opposite is happening. In a report from the International Data Corporation (IDC), worldwide tablet shipments in Q1 2017 have dropped 8.5% compared to Q1 2016, with just 36.2 million devices shipped.
As the release dates for arguably the two most prominent Android flagships approach, more and more details about them are spilling out as well. For our latest leak, South Korea-based ETNews has revealed that the G6 will be making its consumer debut on March 10th, and the Galaxy S8 a few weeks later on April 21st.
Quite a lot of us have done away with the landline telephones that used to be a staple of homes in the developed world. A 2013 survey concluded that over 40% of US households had ditched their standard landlines phones, driven by younger users relying exclusively on their cell phones. But according to a report in the Wall Street Journal, both Google and Amazon are looking to revive the landline (well, VOIP line anyway) as a bonus feature in their voice-controlled Wi-Fi speakers, the Google Home and Amazon Echo/Tap/Echo Dot.