Android

Google has been trying to hit the right balance between form and function with its Pixel phones ever since the debut of Pixel and Pixel XL. While they excel in certain dimensions, a few shortcomings have let them down. Recently, Google has made certain moves that has stirred the internet and put experts into thinking about the company’s loss of faith in Pixel 4. Though Pixel 5 is on the charts - retiring the Pixel 4 and 4 XL even before the 2020 flagship has put a foot in the door - there has to be some kind of strategic brilliance or probably a move to rectify the bad decisions made in the past.

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Google has announced an Android TV update that, among other things, brings a home screen UI redesign that helps users find the content they're most likely to watch. As well, Google is making it easier for Android TV users to quickly sign up for services like EPIX NOW and Starz, offering a system similar to the way Fire TV users can subscribe to a new 'channel.'

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Soon Pokemon GO will have the glorious oddity of the Mega Pokemon. This temporary evolution mechanic appeared with Generation VI and included necessary Mega Stones and specific stones for each individual Pokemon which could go Mega. Users will likely find Pokemon like Mewtwo, Lucario, Aggron, and Ampharos able to Mega evolve once this mechanic is active in Pokemon GO.

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For the longest time, Samsung has been accused of being an Apple copycat. In fact, there was a years-long court case revolving exactly around that. It's not a one-way street, though, and there are definitely ways in which Samsung paved the road that Apple would later tread. Large screens and the S Pen immediately come to mind, with something like the iPad Pro combining both in the most extreme way. Unfortunately, Apple has since surpassed Samsung and the latter's newest Galaxy Tab S7+, while an impressive upgrade, still fails to regain its lost ground.

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Samsung just dumped a number of new mobile products this week, all of them premium, which you can easily tell by their price tag. That Galaxy Note 20 Ultra alone carries some of the best specs you'll see in the smartphone market, along with one of the highest prices as well. There is probably no doubt that these features, on their own, will deliver as advertised, perhaps save for the still questionable performance of Samsung's camera systems, but smartphones and their specs cannot and do not exist in isolation. For all the high-end and exceptional features its boasts of, the Galaxy Note 20 and especially the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra might come off as a bit tone-deaf to the world they've been born into.

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Amidst the flood of Samsung-related news and some bits and pieces of information about Google's own Pixel phones, Google almost silently announced the availability of Android 11 Beta 3. That near-silence belies the importance of this release as it is the final beta release before Android 11 finally goes gold this quarter. More importantly, this final beta also brings an important change to Android's Exposure Notification system that might raise some red flags about user privacy.

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It's easy to take for granted the power of word-of-mouth advertising but many people rely on customer or user reviews when deciding about a product or even an app purchase. Unfortunately, review systems have proven to be easily gamed or even inconvenient for people who do actually want to leave legit feedback. Google is rolling out a new In-App Review API for Android to fix the latter problem but it remains to be seen if it won't worsen the former in turn.

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The Pixel 4 is now but a memory, having formally and officially vanished from Google's store. And that's barely a year after it launched and without a new high-end flagship to take its place. Of course, the Pixel 5 is coming, no doubt about that, but the question has always been when. It seems that there will at least be a two-month gap when Google won't formally have a premium Pixel phone if its own accidental revelation of the Pixel 5 pre-order date is to be considered.

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This morning Blizzard released the latest expansion for the digital collectable card game Hearthstone. This latest expansion goes by the name Scholomance Academy, and it includes 135 new cards in total. With the launch of this set, gamers are able to claim a couple of free packs of cards after they play 25 cards in Play mode.

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Samsung has a new flagship, though the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra has the feel of something pretty familiar. Largest of the company's phones with its 6.9-inch Super AMOLED display, the S Pen enabled handset doesn't stray too far from last year's Note 10, only pausing to dip liberally into the aesthetic of the Galaxy S20 Ultra released earlier in 2020.

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Starting on Friday, August 7, 2020, at 1PM (local time), Pokemon GO will enter Enigma Week. This is a special week of bonuses and odd spawns activated by a successful "Ultra Unlock" during Pokemon GO Fest 2020. In this week, users will be able to attain some very, very rare Pokemon - not necessarily HELPFUL or POWERFUL Pokemon, but rare all the same.

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Google has discontinued the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL, taking the unexpected step of calling time on its Android flagship phones less than 10 months after they were released. The surprise decision comes only days after Google officially announced the upcoming Pixel 5, its new flagship that will include 5G for the first time, though that won't be released until later in the year.

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