Google

Google announces two new flagship Nexus smartphones: The Nexus 5X and the Nexus 6P

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

As has been widely expected, Google revealed two new smartphones in its Nexus line today at a press event in San Francisco. The two new phones—the Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P—are new flagship phones that feature the pure Google experience without any outside bloatware, third-party skins, or apps. Nexus phones are historically rated very high, and it doesn't seem like that will be changing.

The new Nexus phones sport better cameras with low light performance being a key focus point. They also feature fingerprint sensors on the rear of the device that look similar in design to Touch ID. Both phones will run Google's latest Android Marshmallow update.

The Nexus 5X is manufactured by LG and is a plastic body 5.2" phone sporting a 1080p display. The larger Nexus 6P is made by Huawei. It features an aluminum body (frost white, aluminum, and graphite), and a 5.7" screen with a 1440p display. Both phones are capable of shooting 4K video.

Pre-orders for the new Nexus phones start today. The Nexus 5X starts at $379 unlocked, and the larger Nexus 6P starts at $499.

Google’s Keep app makes its way into App Store

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 24, 2015

Following its Android debut nearly two and a half years ago, Google's note-taking mobile software, called Keep, is now available to download from the App Store.

Featuring Google's Material Design, the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad app offers a nicely rounded set of features commonly found in other note-taking apps but with less bloat and clutter. Needless to say, Keep benefits tremendously from seamless integration with other Google products and technologies.

Notes created in Keep can be accessed, edited and managed on iOS, Android and on the web, via a Keep web app. Google Keep is a free download so give it a try and let us know how you like it in comments.

Angered Android fans vent their frustration at Apple in ‘Move to iOS’ reviews on Play Store

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 17, 2015

Apple's new 'Move to iOS' app is now available on Android and a lot of fans of Google's mobile platform have already posted hate-spewing reviews on the Play Store. The app lets people switch over from Android to iOS by wirelessly migrating their data, settings and personal information to an iPhone.

The vast majority of reviews have nothing to do with the app itself and instead criticize Apple's closed ecosystem and walled garden approach.

In venting their frustration at Apple, angered Android fans are taking advantage of Play Store reviews to ridicule Apple, call its fans 'iSheep', criticize the iPhone's battery life and diss the Apple Watch as an overpriced luxury device in an apparent absence of any real arguments.

Review: Mia for Gmail is the perfect replacement for Google Notifier

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 14, 2015

If you need a fast and lightweight email client for Gmail without the bells and whistles (and bloat) of Apple Mail, you should give Mia for Gmail a whirl. Mia is a minimalist desktop email client for OS X by Stéphane Quéraud.

As opposed to copious minimalist Gmail clients that however wrap the web interface inside native OS X code, Mia provides the full native experience and sits right in your Mac's menu bar rather than run in Safari or Google Chrome.

In addition to showing you most recent emails, Mia allows you to compose new messages and jump through all your inboxes with unbelievable quickness. All in all, it's the perfect replacement for Google's defunct Gmail Notifier app.

Google and Twitter target Facebook’s Instant Articles with ‘accelerated mobile pages’

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 11, 2015

Internet giant Google and the micro-blogging platform Twitter have joined forces as they gear up to launch their own take on Facebook's quick-loading Instant Articles for mobile users, according to Peter Kafka and Mark Bergen of Re/code.

Launching this fall with a small group of publishers, these articles should appear on mobile phones almost instantaneously without the annoyingly long loading times.

Judge green-lights $415M settlement in Apple, Google anti-poaching lawsuit

Cody Lee ∙ September 3, 2015

US District Judge Lucy Koh handed down final approval late Wednesday for a settlement between Apple, Google, Adobe and Intel, and their former employees. The payout is said to be worth around $415 million, and should effectively end the long-running Silicon Valley anti-poaching suit.

For context, in 2011, employees of the aforementioned tech firms filed a class action lawsuit against the companies for anti-competitive labor practices. The suit alleged the firms conspired to avoid hiring each other’s workers in an effort to curtail salaries, costing workers $3 billion in wages.

Google releases standalone Street View app for iPhone and iPod touch

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 3, 2015

A month ago, Google promised to release a standalone Street View mobile app “early next month.” Today, the Internet giant has made good on that promise as the all-new Google Street View app just hit the App Store (actually, it soft-launched in August 2014, but today's update feels like a whole new app and anyone can use it now).

Available for the iPhone and iPod touch, it lets you browse and enjoy Google's awesome street-level photography.

With this software, you can move and pan around by dragging your finger on the screen and even upload your own 360-degree photography to Google Maps to share your photo spheres with the world.

Google Photos for iOS gains photo reordering, selective backup, better sharing and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 3, 2015

Less than two weeks following a refresh that brought out a Timehop-like feature for rediscovering your photos from the past, Google Photos for the iPhone and iPad on Thursday received another noteworthy update.

The new Google Photos 1.3 for iOS introduces four distinct improvements to your photo-management workflow, like the ability to reorder photos in your library and another one letting you selectively back up individual photos and videos.

Android Wear for iOS found incompatible with Apple’s HealthKit

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 2, 2015

Google's Android Wear for iPhone software debuted earlier this week and while we suspected ahead of its release it might not offer tight integration with iOS like the Apple Watch does, I don't think many people expected it to be incompatible with HealthKit, Apple’s platform for developers of health and fitness apps.

Sadly, that's exactly what transpired here.

As discovered by BuzzFeed, the decision to make Android Wear incompatible with HealthKit was entirely Google's as the search company wants iOS users who own Android Wear devices to log their steps and physical activity through its own Google Fit dashboard.

Google Maps updated with new Street View features, custom map viewing, and more

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

Less than a month adding a new Night Mode feature to its Maps app, Google is back with a host of new features for its popular iOS navigation app. The latest update to Google Maps, version 4.10.0, brings new features like new Street View thumbnails, custom maps, and support for six additional new languages.

Of course, Google also took the opportunity to update the Maps app with its new logo. Not only will you find the new Google logo inside of the Google Maps app, but the Mountain View, CA company has also updated its popular app with a brand new app icon.

Have you checked out Google’s new playful logo yet?

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 1, 2015

As part of its massive restructuring effort, the Internet giant Google on Tuesday showed off its brand new logo. While the Mountain View company has refined its logo multiple times over the past seventeen years, today's announcement marks the biggest visual change to Google's brand identity thus far.

The new logo reflects the fact that people now interact with Google across many different platforms, apps and devices, the company argues.

Check out the new logo and identity family and tell us in comments how you liked them.

Google+ Collections are now available within Google’s native application for iPhone and iPad

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 31, 2015

Google+ Collections are now available within the just-updated Google+ app for the iPhone and iPad, which also contains performance improvements and bug fixes.

Introduced back in May of this year, Collections is basically a feature of Google+ that allows you to group your posts around shared interests and passions. After going live in the official Google+ app for Android and on the web, Google+ Collections can now be browsed on your iPhone and iPad.