Stephen Hall

@hallstephenj

Stephen is Senior Editor at 9to5Google. You can find more of his current work on the flip side at 9to5Mac, as well as at 9to5Toys and Electrek.

If you want to get in touch with Stephen, be sure to follow him on Twitter and Google+. Or, you can send him an email at stephen (at) 9to5mac (dot) com.

Stephen has been covering Apple and Google for four years. He can be often found on the leaderboard of technology news curation website Techmeme, and has been cited by many major publications across the web including Wired, Re/code, Business Insider, CNET, BuzzFeed News, Computerworld, TechCrunchGigaOmPC World, PC Magazine, as well as newspapers like The Wall Street Journal and USA Today.

Stephen’s first big story came in September 2014 when he exclusively published all of the details of Google’s unreleased Motorola-made Nexus 6 smartphone weeks before it was announced.

For several years he closely followed Google Glass and published extensive coverage of the product’s roadmap in early 2015 followed by several scoops revealing details about the forthcoming “Enterprise Edition” hardware in July, as well as Google’s plans for its distribution. These reports were confirmed when Stephen reported in late 2015 that the device had finally surfaced on the FCC website. He was also the first to report that one unit of the new device surfaced on eBay.

In September of 2015, Stephen published details of Google’s forthcoming 2nd generation Chromecast and Chromecast Audio products, as well as details on their companion application. He also exclusively reported on Google’s plan to finally bring Spotify support to the Chromecast.

In December of 2015, Stephen reported that Huawei planned to introduce womens versions of its forthcoming Huawei Watch at CES 2016, as well as that Google was planning to introduce the gold variant of the Nexus 6P in the United States and begin selling the phone through Best Buy and other online retailers.

In March of 2016, Stephen exclusively reported that Tesla had at one point tested Google Glass in its Fremont, California factory, but had since moved to Vuzix hardware. He then published videos proving that Tesla had tested Glass.

Later in April of 2016, when Google’s Regina Dugan left the company to start an experimental hardware division at Facebook, Stephen detailed the story of her polarizing first meeting at Google.

Stephen Hall's Recommended Gear

January 28

GOOG: 823.31

-8.84
Stock Chart

In a memo sent to employees Friday (first obtained by Bloomberg), Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai criticized President Donald Trump’s recent immigration order, which restricts citizens of Syria, Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Somalia, Yemen, and Libya from entering the US. Pichai said that more than 100 Google staff are impacted by the order, and recommended they get back the US as soon as possible.

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January 27

GOOG: 823.31

-8.84
Stock Chart
9to5mac 

January 26

GOOG: 832.15

-3.52
Stock Chart

It feels like the first Google Pixel was just announced, but now we’re hearing more about the next-generation ‘Pixel 2’ from a source that has been reliable in the past. I mentioned yesterday that we previously heard Google Pixel would bring ‘waterproofing,’ a feature we’re now told is “still on the table.”

We’re also now being told, however, that Google is once again focusing intensely on the camera with Pixel 2, that the device is currently being tested with improved chipsets from two different manufacturers, and that it will bring a higher price. Finally, the same source says Google has lately been testing lower-end Pixel devices which would bring lesser specs and a much lower price tag.

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January 25

GOOG: 835.67

11.80
Stock Chart

Google just keeps adding cute features to its new Allo messaging app that are just that — cute. Recently, we’ve seen the addition of Allo themes and Fantastic Beasts stickersChrome Custom Tabs, selfie-generated sticker packs, and more. What better to continue the trend of surface-level features that don’t improve the experience than a new chat bot called “Lucky” that gives you GIFs?

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9to5toys 

Despite recent reports from the Associated Press and The New York Times saying that Trump moved on from his personal Samsung Galaxy phone, the latter publication has now published a piece saying that the President of the United States is still using his old Android phone — the one he has long been known to tweet from. The publication says that Donald Trump is still using “his old, unsecured Android phone, to the protests of some of his aides.”

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electrek 

We’ve been sitting on a tidbit about that HTC Halfbeak Android Wear smartwatch (which actually first leaked all the way back in October) for a while, and now it’s apparent that our source was right on the money. A quote that surfaced from an HTC exec this morning (via tbreak) says “we’re not going to have an Android watch,” and apparently, HTC has now confirmed that that’s accurate…

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January 24

GOOG: 823.87

4.56
Stock Chart

In a somewhat non-traditional manner, Google has today made official the dates and location for Google I/O 2017. This year’s developer conference will take place, once again, at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California, and will be three days: May 17, 18, and 19.

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9to5mac 

Update 3: It’s not clear who is getting these or why, but some smart developers who solved the puzzle early do indeed seem to be receiving free tickets to I/O (via Twitter DM from @GoogleDevs).

image_from_tweetbot

Update 2: The puzzle has been solved. No free tickets to be had. 😦

Update: Google’s I/O website has been updated for I/O 2017, although no details have been provided yet.

The Google Developers Twitter account tweeted out a cryptic message (with a link to a cryptic website) this afternoon, which means that Android and Google developers might have a chance to win something important — although we have no idea what that might be yet. The use of the ‘#savethedate’ hashtag, however, suggests that this might be related to Google I/O 2017.

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A new report today says that Huawei is planning a second generation Huawei Watch for potential launch at Mobile World Congress next month in Barcelona, Spain. The watch is said to bring a “sportier” look compared to the first device, as well as a to-be-expected 42mm size and a 1.4-inch display. One major feature mentioned in the report, however, sounds awfully familiar…

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9to5toys 

January 23

GOOG: 819.31

14.29
Stock Chart

Apple lured five-year VP of Technology at Nest and co-founder of Google X Yoky Matsuoka to work on its health initiatives in May of last year, but now she has seemingly jumped back over to the Mountain View, Company subsidiary. According to her LinkedIn profile, Matsuoka is now serving as Chief Technology Officer at Nest…

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electrek 

With the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 getting such bad press thanks to its tendency to explode, many assumed that the Note brand would be effectively finished after that device. Not so, says Samsung mobile chief Koh Dong-jin in a recent interview. The Galaxy Note 8 is confirmed to be on the way…

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