Mobile

Google and Fitbit proudly announced yesterday that their $2.1 billion acquisition had been completed after months of regulatory scrutiny. Unfortunately for that deal, though, it may still face legal trouble as Google didn’t wait on approval from the US Department of Justice (DOJ) or Australian regulatory authorities before completing the Fitbit buyout. Between the November 2019 announcement…

This week we recap everything announced by Samsung today at the Galaxy S21 event from the trio of phones to new earbuds and a tracker. We then highlight the top things announced at an otherwise quiet CES 2021. Alphabet Scoop is available on Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Castro, Pocket Casts, Overcast, and through our dedicated RSS feed. New episodes of Alphabet Scoop are…

When the rumors began to swirl about Samsung’s Galaxy Buds Live, the promise of active noise cancellation (ANC) led me to believe the company was finally addressing a key omission from its lineup. However, those earbuds would ultimately offer an “open type” design that doesn’t seal your ear canal entirely. So while ANC was there, it wasn’t particularly effective. Enter the Galaxy Buds…

As RCS takes over the default messaging service on Android, Google Messages is leading the charge. Yesterday, Samsung and Google announced that Google Messages would be “native” to the Galaxy S21 but without going into detail on what that meant. Now, we’ve got a bit more context. In an interview with Engadget, Google’s Hiroshi Lockheimer further details that Google Messages on the Galaxy…