Ben Schoon is a Senior Editor at NewGeekGuide, working for the publication as one of its primary news writers since 2016.
In 2013, Ben helped start an independent tech publication where he learned the skills used at NewGeekGuide including writing, product photography, and videography. He is located in the city of Winston-Salem in North Carolina where he lives with his wife Melissa. Ben is an avid disc golf player.
He primarily covers Android products, including Google Pixel devices, Samsung Galaxy smartphones, as well as devices from OnePlus, Oppo, Motorola, and more. Beyond just covering news about these products, Ben also spends time using these products himself, speaking from experience with the articles he writes. Some of Ben’s most recent hands-on reviews include; Pixel 8 Pro, Pixel Watch 2, Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5, Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, Motorola Razr+, HP Dragonfly Pro Chromebook, and more.
Ben is also a leading source for information about Google’s Android TV, diving deeply into important parts of the platform including its powerful Operator Tier, explaining future changes to the platform, and reviewing its products such as Chromecast with Google TV, Nvidia Shield TV, and more.
In 2019, Ben leaked one of the first in-person photos of the Pixel 4 before later revealing the Recorder and Pixel Themes apps months ahead of launch. In 2020, Ben also reported on multiple upcoming Pixel devices including Pixel 5a and the first report of Google working on a foldable Pixel smartphone. That same month, he was also the first to correctly report the $49 price point of what became the Chromecast with Google TV.
Ben Schoon is active on Twitter, @nexusben, but can also be found on Instagram and LinkedIn. For questions or tips, you can email him directly, and his portfolio is also available online.
Email: schoon@9to5mac.com | Encrypted Email: benschoon@protonmail.com
According to reports out of Korea, Samsung is expecting the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Flip 7 to outsell their predecessors by a healthy margin, while the company is acknowledging that a fraction of users might actually be interested in the Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE.
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After surfacing for sale recently, Xiaomi has finally, quietly taken the wraps off of the Xiaomi TV Stick (2nd Gen), its first streaming stick with Google TV support.
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The Wireless Power Consortium has today announced the next evolution of Qi charging with “Qi2 25W,” a faster charging option that will soon include some “major Android smartphones.”
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Available starting today, Nothing is releasing its latest affordable smartwatch in the $99 CMF Watch 3 Pro. It has a few key upgrades, but obviously trades the functionality of Wear OS for its much more affordable price point.
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Following leaked images of the base Pixel 10’s colors as well as Google’s own official unveiling, another leak is now showing off the rest of Google’s subdued Pixel 10 Pro colors, including a gold-accented “Jade” colorway.
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Wyze has just launched a new “Lamp Socket v2” accessory that lets users power their cameras using a simple light bulb fixture, while also making those bulbs smart in the process.
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Google has just released a new Android figure, reviving the old “Noogler” design for the modern age with its iconic propeller beanie cap, the updated “The Bot” design, and a fun little Android lanyard.
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Ahead of the anticipated release of its One UI 8 update, Samsung has just issued a ton of new Good Lock updates, including some major changes for “Home Up.”
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Samsung has been making big promises around the Galaxy Z Fold 7’s improved durability, but perhaps one of the biggest upgrades comes in the display which, according to Samsung, is now rated for 500,000 folds.
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The big appeal of Waze is the crowdsourcing of reports of road incidents such as traffic, objects on the road, and, of course, speed traps. It’s often possible for multiple Waze reports to show up in the same location, though, and Waze is now set to start combining those into a single alert.
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A new leak shows off a revived “Moto 360 (2025)” smartwatch that brings back the iconic name, but there’s no word on whether or not if runs on top of Wear OS.
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A few months after it first started rolling out, Google is now pushing the Pixel 4a battery update on users who had previously avoided it.
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If you’re looking to get one of Samsung’s new foldables but don’t want to do a trade-in to lower the price, Amazon is offering up to $300 gift cards with the purchase of Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Flip 7, making it a good alternative to Samsung’s own offers.
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Ahead of its launch next month, the first official-looking renders of the base Google Pixel 10 have hit the web, revealing the four colors in Google’s lineup – including a striking blue colorway – and all but confirming the triple-camera array.
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Google this week revealed that Nest Aware, the service required to make the most out of Nest Cam, is getting a major price hike, and it’s a tough one to accept as the hardware just keeps aging.
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Months after its siblings, the Galaxy A56 is finally going on sale in the US today, Samsung says, though you might still need to wait a little bit.
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A partial outage appears to be hitting various Google services today, including Workspace, Gmail, Gemini, Nest, and other products powered by Google Cloud.
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According to recent reports, Google’s upcoming Pixel Watch 4 is apparently set to include improvements to blood oxygen tracking, offer some form of satellite communications in emergencies, and support Android 16’s notification cooldown feature.
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The Android tablet market was devoid of decent options for a long time, but we’re finally seeing new options pop up. Lenovo’s Legion Tab is what really garnered attention earlier this year, but after spending a few weeks with the Redmagic Astra, I think it’s clear that this is a near-perfect version of a compact Android tablet, thanks in large part to its specs and OLED display.
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Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 7 marks an important point for the company’s foldable efforts. Not only is it quite literally half as thin as the original, but it’s also finally caught up to the competition. But this launch also means something else. The race for the “world’s thinnest foldable” is over at this point, and that means it’s time for Samsung and others to focus on something else in the post-Galaxy Z Fold 7 world.
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The Essential Phone (PH-1) is a weird little blip on Android’s history. Gone, but not totally forgotten. However, one of the few remaining traces of the Essential brand has now been wiped from Twitter/X, as Nothing has its own plans for the branding.
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Nothing has just announced new updates to Essential Space, its AI-powered hub, which includes support for Google Calendar as well as updates to the new “Flip to Record” feature on Phone (3).
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Following a reported deal earlier this year, OpenAI has confirmed that it will start running ChatGPT on Google Cloud services.
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Honor claims that its Magic V5 is “the world’s slimmest foldable,” but a comparison between Honor’s device and the Galaxy Z Fold 7 seems to show that Samsung’s device is actually just a bit thinner.
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