Articles by Michael Allison

Christmas is right around the corner, and Google’s helping make it fun with its annual Santa Tracker.

What you need to know

Google has launched its annual Santa Tracker, just in time for Christmas.
Santa is being a bit health conscious, donning a purple mask in recognition of the global pandemic.
Googles Santa Tracker can be installed from the Play Store or as a progressive web-app if your browser supports it.

Christmas is here in just over a week, and Google’s Santa Tracker has made its annual appearance as we track the jolly red gift giver on his global journey from the North Pole.

Going over the Santa tracker site, you’ll notice a minor cosmetic tweak. That’s right, Santa and Mrs Claus are donning purple face masks (spotted by Android Police). It seems even the frosty North Pole isn’t immune from concerns of the coronavirus (though if he still plans on zooming through everyone’s house in a night, he’d best stock up on hand sanitizer.)

Google has also trotted out the usual…

Google just made using Meet on a Nest a lot better.

What you need to know

Google has made Meet better on the Nest Hub with a slew of updates.
These include a new grid view for group video calls, pinning callers, and a new overflow menu.
These changes are being made available immediately.

Using Google Meet for your holiday catchup? Granted, Google’s made that easier to do by making Meet free, but it’s also rolling out substantial improvements for Nest Hub (and other smart displays) this week when it comes to group calling.

The first feature is a useful visual tweak, from now, you’ll be able to see up to 4 people at once in Meet with a new 2×2 grid view. Not everyone will fit inside that grid, so Google’s also adding a new overflow menu where you can see all the call attendees who aren’t visible. If you do want to pay specific attention to someone, you can now pin them on your display to keep them front and center.

Here’s how it’ll look once you’re fully set up.

Aside from th…

The Galaxy S21+ design gets a confirmation with this hands-on video.

What you need to know

A new video shows off the upcoming Galaxy S21+, confirming earlier leaks and renders.
The video also serves additional confirmation that Samsung will be using the Snapdragon 888 in this phone.
Samsung is expected to launch the Galaxy S21 family in January.

As Samsung’s Galaxy S21 series gets closer to launch, we learn more and more about it. We’ve already seen the S21 Ultra and S21+ in images, but those were glimpses at best. A new leaked video (via WCCF Tech)shows off the phone in its entirety, albeit with some parts obscured to hide identifying information.

The video confirms many design elements we’ve seen in renders. There’s the near bezel-less screen on what may be Samsung’s most futuristic looking S-series phone yet. We can also see it’ll be coming with a punch-hole selfie camera and a flat-display. We do get a brief glimpse at the camera array, but the glass rear isn’t fully vi…

Stadia expands to more European countries for a total of 22 supported countries.

What you need to know

Stadia is now available in 22 countries as Google adds support for 8 more European countries.
Users in these countries can use Stadia starting today.
They include Austria, Czechia, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, and Switzerland.

Google has expanded the number of countries with Stadia support to 22 countries as it now includes support for Austria, Czechia, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, and Switzerland. It’s coming to those countries from today, and users who sign up will get a free month’s worth of Stadia Pro to try out games included in the Pro catalog.

Of course, you’ll need to pay out if you want to own one of those larger AAA gamesthat Stadia offers right now, but at least some titles like Destiny 2 are included in the Pro Pack. Pretty soon, you’ll also be able to play the hotly anticipated Cyberpunk 2077 on Stadia, so Google has some good tim…

Your Pixel 4 can feel like a Pixel 5 once this is installed.

What you need to know

Google is rolling out the December Pixel Feature Drop today.
It brings many of the features you’ll find on newer Pixels to the Pixel 3 and above.
Today also marks the last update for the Pixel 2.

Every three months for the past year, Google has been ladling out new features to phones on its Pixel line via its Feature Drops. It’s December, and so naturally, it’s time for another serving of updates.

Many of these new features will be familiar if you have a Pixel 4a 5G or a Pixel 5. For older devices, they’ll breathe new life into them and let users hold-off on upgrading for another year.

First, Google is rolling out Hold for Me and Extreme Battery Saver. Coming to the Pixel 3, Pixel 3a, and Pixel 4, Hold for Me lets the Google Assistant wait in the line and listen to that extremely annoying hold music for you while you do other things. Google says it saves an average of eight minutes of call-time…

All major music services are now represented on the Nest Audio. Google Assistant-enabled speakers now boast a wide array of music services.

What you need to know

Apple Music is landing on Google Assistant-enabled devices today.
Subscribers to Apple’s streaming service will be able to use Assistant to search up songs and queue up their playlists.
The rollout is limited to the U.S., the UK, France, Germany, and Japan.

Google today announced the launch of Apple Music on the Google Nest audio and other Google Assistant-enabled speakers and smart displays. It’s rolling out from today onwards, and you’ll be able to take advantage of this on the Nest Audio, Nest Hub Max, Nest Mini, etc.

Once you’ve linked your Apple Music account via the Google Home app, you’ll be able to do all the usual actions including playing songs, playlists, and albums via voice commands. You’ll also be able to use Nest’s multi-room speaker support for a surround-sound experience if you have compatible speaker…

LG wants to focus on the high-end after years of losses.

What you need to know

LG is moving the manufacture of its low and midrange phone to Chinese ODMS.
It’s doing so to save costs as the company moves towards focusing on its high-end products.
The company has seen 22 consecutive quarters of loss in its mobile business.

LG is reorganizing its mobile phone division in a bid to cut costs and tackle competition from firms like Oppo and Xiaomi, as per a Reuters report on Monday.

Going forward, LG will outsource the production of its budget phones to Chinese ODMs. Similar to decisions made by Samsung, it’ll be using Chinese ODMs to build those phones and sell them under its own brand. The company will instead focus its resources on building out a compelling high-end range.

LG has found some critical success with new phones in the form of the LG Velvet and the LG Wing, but the company has yet to pick up the sort of sales numbers it needs to be relevant. Xiaomi, on the other hand,…

Amazon’s Fire TV now helps you keep track of local news.

What you need to know

Amazon’s news app now supports local news starting today.
You’ll find it in New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta, Houston, Miami, Tampa, Boston, San Francisco, and Seattle
Amazon plans to reach almost 90 cities over the next year.

Amazon wants you to stay more in tune with your local news as it rolls out support for select news stations on the Amazon news app for Fire TV devices.

Announcing via blog post, Amazon said;

Starting today, live and on-demand local news will begin rolling out on Amazon’s news app in 12 major cities — initially available in New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta, Houston, Miami, Tampa, Boston, San Francisco and Seattle — including popular local stations CBSN Chicago, ABC7/WABC-TV New York, KIRO7 Seattle, and News 12 New York from news distributors such as ABC Owned Television Stations, CBSN, Cox, The E.W. Scripps Compan…

One man’s bloatware is another man’s in-box delight.

What you need to know

Facer will now come installed on new Fossil watches, specifically the Fossil Gen 5 and Gen 5e.
It’s a partnership that starts from this week and gifts Fossil users with easy access to a popular smartwatch customization tool
Facer will also give Fossil owners 30 free days of Premium membership.

Getting a new Fossil smartwatch? Facer, one of the nicest watch face customization apps, will now come pre-installed on Fossil’s smartwatches. We’ll see the fruits of this partnership from this week on new Fossil Gen 5 and Gen 5E watches.

The company announced the move on its blog, alongside with a few benefits for Fossil buyers:

Fossil watches with Facer pre-installed will also have a free 30 day trial to Facer Premium. It normally costs around £37/$50 for a year’s subscription.
Fast access to Facer out of the box without needing to install a separate app.
Curated watch faces, and access to Facer’s substantial…

Zen Mode is getting new sounds in collaboration with Tide.

What you need to know

OnePlus rolled out Zen Mode version 2.0.1.0 this week.
The new update brings with it five new ambient sounds to facilitate concentration while in Zen Mode.
The company delivered these sounds in collaboration with Tide, a an app focused on mediation.

Digital Wellbeing has been a large focus on most smartphone operating system for the past few years. OnePlus’s interpretation is called Zen Mode, and it’s a collection of features created to help you put your phone down and focus on the here and now. More specifically, it locks your phone and hides all notifications for a pre-arranged duration, keeping you distraction-free for up to an hour.

OnePlus announced Zen Mode 2.0.1.0, an update to the feature that adds ambient sounds to Zen Mode. These sounds were created in collaboration with Tide —an app that focuses on relaxation and meditation. It’s adding five sounds, dubbed; Jellyfishes, Light-Years, …