Articles by Michael Allison

Telegram has seen an upsurge as people revolt against WhatsApp.

What you need to know

Telegram has reached 500 active million users this week.
The company says it says 25 million users join over the past 72 hours
Migration to more privacy-focused messaging apps accelerated this week as Facebook’s new terms of service created fears over WhatsApp user data

Messaging app Telegram today hit 500 million users, a milestone the company had been inching towards slowly ever since it crossed 400 million users back in 2020. While it was always going to get here inevitably, the company attributed this growth to massive uptake over the past 72 hours, with more than 25 million new users signing up within that time frame.

It’s very likely that this is a direct response to the backlash against Facebook over its new terms of service for WhatsApp. The company last week issued a notice tying the user data closer to its parent company in countries outside of Europe. Facebook later issued stateme…

Veteran leaker Evan Blass says the phone will launch in March or April.

What you need to know

New renders showing off the Oppo Find X3 Pro have leaked online.
The renders show off the color choices and camera layout of the upcoming phone.
Oppo will launch the Find X3-line in early spring 2021.

Oppo is planning to enter 2021 swinging, and new leaked renders put a visual to the already impressive-sounding Oppo Find X3 Pro (via Evan Blass).

Back in December, reports had already emerged with details regarding the phone, painting an impressive picture. Like all the best Android phones of 2021, it’ll be powered by a high-end Qualcomm chip, specifically the Snapdragon 888 that’s also set to feature in the S21. It would have a massive 6.7-inch QHD+ OLED display running at 120Hz. It would also support 10-bit color to display photos captured on the camera.

Camera wise, there’ll be a quad-camera layout, with a pair of 50MP wide and ultra-wide cameras, a 13MP telephoto lens with 2x zoom…

OnePlus has two new phones that give you 5G and a large screen for less.

What you need to know

The OnePlus N10 5G and N100 are now available for pre-order.
They’ll ship out to pre-order purchasers on January 15th.
OnePlus will throw in a free pair of wireless earbuds as a bonus for early adopters.

OnePlus’s two newest phones, the Nord N100 and the Nord N10 5G are now available for pre-order. Starting at $180 for the Nord N100 and going up to $300 for the Nord N10 5G, these are the cheapest phones the Android OEM currently makes, and they are aimed at those who want the OnePlus brand without paying OnePlus prices.

When it comes to the specs of the duo, you get large screens on both, with the Nord N10 5G coming with a 6.49-inch FHD+ display with a 90Hz refresh rate, a Snapdragon 690 processor with 5G onboard, and 128GB of storage paired with 6GB of RAM. The N100 has a slightly larger 6.52-inch display, but it’s a HD+ one, and you’ll get a much weaker Snapdragon 460 processor. It’…

Google had sold a Verizon exclusive Pixel 4a 5G with the white colorway.

What you need to know

The Pixel 4a 5G will now come in Clearly White from late January.
Google had earlier sold a variant of the handset in that hue for Verizon customers who paid $100 extra for the privilege.
Now, it’s being made broadly available to all.

Like the Pixel 4a, the Pixel 4a 5G launched in a singular Just Black colorway. Sure, there was a model of the Pixel 4a 5G that was in white, but it was a Verizon exclusive. Again, like the Pixel 4a, Google is now making an additional color variant of the 4a 5G available for purchase months after launch. It’s still the same Clearly White variant that Verizon sells, but it’s now coming to all customers.

The Verge spotted a now-defunct link for the upcoming phone on B&H, and was late able to confirm with Google that the phone would be launching at the end of the month, specifically the 28th of January.

Google’s Pixel 4a 5G remains one of the best pho…

Google set to continue building helpful technlogy with a thoughtful new use for an old gimmick.

What you need to know

Google is making a new Nest Hub with Soli on board, as per a new report.
The report also adds the upcoming Nest Hub will use the technology to track sleep.
A Soli-equipped Nest Hub was spotted in the FCC this week.

Google may have stripped Soli from smartphones with the Pixel 5, but it’s working at putting it to better use with other products. An FCC listing already leaked the upcoming Nest Hub with a Soli chip, but a new report from 9to5Google adds a little more detail to the story of the chip’s inclusion.

Citing sources close to the matter, 9to5Google reports that the Soli radar technology would be used to power sleep tracking in this nest hub. Smart displays like this are often used as alarm clocks and bedroom speakers, so using Soli to help users track their sleep could stand out as a unique selling point.

It’s a step up from what Google used Soli for in t…

JBL unveils a whole slate of personal audio devices this CES.

What you need to know

JBL today unveiled new updates to its personal audio line, including on-ear headphones, over-ear headphones, and true wireless earbuds.
It’s also launching a new Tour line, aimed at business customers.
These new products are rolling out from March.

JBL makes some of the nicest headphones, and the company today expanded its lineup with new updates to the Live series, the launch of a new Tour series, and an addition to the Reflect series.

The more interesting ones consumer wise in this launch are the update to the JBL Live series with the inclusion of the new JBL Live Pro+, JBL Live 660NC, JBL Live 460NC, and the Live Free NC. These run the gamut from truly wireless earbuds to over-ear headphones, to on-ear headphones.

JBL is touting their new smart ambient technology, paired with active noise canceling, this allows buyers to listen to engage with the real world without needing to take their ear…

Google expands the availability of a very useful productivity feature.

What you need to know

Google today announced changes to the comment interface of its Google Docs app.
Now, Smart compose and autocorrect suggestions are enabled when working with others.
Google launched smart compose and autocorrect in other parts of the Google Docs app in 2020, noting that the tool had saved over 3 billion keystrokes for Gmail users.

Google’s AI and ML smarts permeate most of its products, from productivity to entertainment. Most relevantly on the former side, the company has been dabbling with smart creation tools like Smart Compose and autocorrect. There, Google uses all the data its AI has learned to help users create work faster and more accurately, helping them “cut back on repetitive writing, reduce the chance of spelling and grammatical errors, and even suggest relevant contextual phrases.”

Today, this is being expanded to the comments section of the app. Google says that these chang…

Google is making its underrated podcasts app better for desktop users.

What you need to know

Google has updated the Podcasts desktop app to add a recent episode view.
It now matches the Android app more closely in terms of features.
Google late last year included an RSS option for podcast aficionados to help aid curation for podcasts that were not immediately discoverable via search.

Google this week updated the Podcasts web app with a new recent episode view. It’s a change that brings the app closer to the mobile experience and continues Google’s trend towards making the app more fleshed out after a bare-bones launch.

9to5Google this week reported that the change was now widely available, something we were able to confirm. Now, when you open the Google Podcasts desktop web app, you’ll be able to see the latest updates to your favorite podcasts with a new “latest epsodes” view in the subscriptions crousel. You’ll see the episode artwork, its title, runtime, and a short snippet …

The messaging platform records its first outage of the year on the first week of the year.

What you need to know

Slack has gone down for many worldwide.
The company this morning confirmed connectivity issues preventing customers from sending messages or connecting to Slack as a whole.
Slack says it’s investigating the issue and plans to have a fix soon.

They say start the year as you mean to go on, but perhaps Slack shouldn’t take that too literally. The communications platform is now experiencing slowed down service, preventing some people from sending or receiving messages.

The company acknowledged this outage at around 10 AM ET, sharing the following update on its status page:

Customers may have trouble loading channels or connecting to Slack at this time. Our team is investigating and we will follow up with more information as soon as we have it. We apologize for any disruption caused.

As more and more people work from home, remote communication systems like Slack are…

Samsung’s Galaxy Buds Pro are revealed in full before January 14 launch.

What you need to know

Samsung is said to be launching the Galaxy Buds Pro alongside the S21 next week.
Someone managed to grab a pair before launch and has posted a hands-on video, sharing eveything about the device.
The Buds Pro are the successor to 2020’s Galaxy Buds and Galaxy Buds Live.

Samsung is unveiling a new slate of devices next week, including the Galaxy S21, the Galaxy Buds Pro, and possibly a Galaxy Smart Tag tracker. A YouTuber has pre-empted the launch of the upcoming device, unpacking the earbuds in a video showcasing everything before the Unpacked event.

YouTuber Digital Slang purchased the device via a Facebook seller, spending over 24-hours with it and sharing his first impressions.

From the video,Digital Slang found the sound, the ANC, and the battery life of the earbuds impressive. He also enjoyed the touch controls, noting that they were sensitive and easy to use. He also praise…