Would you pay $400 for an Android TV box from one of the most controversial names in streaming? - Related to google, pay, maps, vehicles, can

Android users can now personalize their vehicles in Google Maps navigation

Existing options have consisted of a directional arrow, and three basic vehicles.

After first testing on iOS, Maps beta on Android adds five new vehicle designs with new color options.

Not every change we’re looking forward to from mobile apps needs to reinvent the wheel. While it’s great when an app delivers some useful new functionality, we can also get just as excited about clever tweaks to an app’s design. Google Maps has been working on just such an upgrade to the way it displays your vehicle while helping you navigate, and it’s finally starting to become available on Android.

So far, when you’ve been using the navigation view in Google Maps, the icon used to represent your current position defaults to a blue arrow. If you tap on that icon, you can choose from some basic alternatives: a car, SUV, and pickup truck. But that’s been about the extent to which you’ve had any ability to customize things.

Last fall, we saw Google Maps on iOS begin offering a much more fleshed-out interface for customizing how your vehicle is represented while navigating. That includes not just a whole lot of new, much more detailed and real-looking vehicle models, but the ability to customize those in eight different colors.

While that was great for Apple individuals, we’ve been waiting ever since for the same options to arrive for Google Maps on Android. And while they’re not still not ready to make their grand public debut, 9to5Google has spotted that they’re finally available for testing, with the new icon options available in the latest Maps [website] beta. All told, you’ll find five new vehicles available for customization. Just as we saw on iOS, the three old models remain as they were, and cannot take advantage of the new colors.

We know — this is an entirely inconsequential change truly doesn’t affect how we’ll use Maps. But when we do use it, maybe we’ll end up having just a little bit more fun, seeing our own vehicle (or a close enough approximation) depicted just the way we like it.

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Would you pay $400 for an Android TV box from one of the most controversial names in streaming?

Pinewood would run Android TV and offer an interface that attempts to unify content from all your streaming services.

Commensurate with the organization’s premium speaker pricing, Pinewood could sell for as much as $400.

When it comes to hardware for streaming video, you’ve got plenty of affordable options on the lower end, but what about the more premium space? We’ve got last year’s $100 Google TV Streamer as sort of the diving line between those cheap and pricy models, and while you could move up to the $150 NVIDIA Shield TV or $200 Shield TV Pro, those are both getting a little long in the tooth. What about some fresh blood? We may just have a new option before you know it, as a analysis outlines plans for a TV streaming box from Sonos.

You’re probably familiar with Sonos as the once-lauded manufacturer of reasonably premium soundbars and home audio solutions. Not only has competition gotten a lot fiercer in that space from more affordable alternatives, but Sonos made a few big missteps when it came to its apps, seriously harming the brand’s reputation. Now as the organization looks to what’s next for it, it’s developing a streaming box codenamed Pinewood.

Pinewood would run Android TV but focus on what sounds like a bespoke interface designed to collate content from all your streaming subscriptions all in one centralized, searchable spot. You know: Pretty much what everyone, Google included, has been trying to do for years (to varying degrees of success).

The hardware is described as a relatively plain-looking small black box (not unlike the NVIDIA Shield, below), but equipped with a bevy of HDMI connections, which could be key to Pinewood’s role not just as a source for streaming content, but as a hub for your entertainment devices. Low-latency processing could help things like game consoles connect with Sonos speakers with minimal lag. And speaking of speakers (no pun intended), Pinewood could scratch a major Sonos itch by letting clients connect multiple discrete Sonos speakers to use as a multi-channel setup, rather than leaning so heavily on soundbars.

Admittedly, there’s some potential there. It sounds like Sonos is interested in tackling some issues that should absolutely resonate with consumers — assuming it can actually pull this ambitious effort off. But even if it does, will it be able to do so at a competitive price point? Sonos has never really been known for its affordability, and Pinewood could cost anywhere from $200 up to a near-inconceivable $400.

While companies like NVIDIA have established that people will pay a premium for the best streaming hardware, Sonos is going to have a very high performance bar to clear if it has any hope of convincing shoppers that dropping $400 on Pinewood is a smart upgrade.

Other Pinewood details this study shares include support for Wi-Fi 7, gigabit Ethernet, and the inclusion of a hardware remote. We haven’t heard any specific ETA, other than that Sonos plans to launch the device “in the coming months.”.

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Downsizing: Why on Earth did I switch from an iPhone Pro Max to the iPhone 16?

Usually, such an upgrade path would quickly be labeled a "downgrade" by even the most open-minded Apple fans, but here we are.

iPhone 16 range. Let me guide you through the ups and downs of switching from an aging top iPhone to the most affordable standard new model in therange.

Screen refresh rate: Zero issues, surprisingly.

Back when I was using the buttery-smooth 120Hz iPhone 13 Pro Max , I thought that I would never be able to go back to a phone with a 60Hz refresh rate.

Not even two days in with the iPhone 16 , and my mind didn't even register the display "downgrade". Sure, some apps really do appear choppier, especially when scrolling through long lists, but it doesn't take long to rewire your brain to get accustomed to the lower refresh rate on the iPhone 16 .

Yes, I agree that putting a 60Hz screen on a phone released in 2024 and intended to be used well until the end of the decade is a major crime against tech humanity. Aside from the audacity of the act itself, I don't really find a problem with the smoothness of the iPhone 16 display.

The Action Button is a bigger nuisance than expected.

Previously, with the standard ring switch on the iPhone 13 Pro Max , I could quickly and effortlessly flick between the silent and ring modes. I could do that without even looking at the phone, with my arm and hand twisted at a nearly impossible angle, at any time of the day-night cycle. I could even quickly check if my phone were set to silent by simply feeling the position of the switch with my fingertips, no need to look at the display. If there was one universal iPhone feature that translated superbly between generations, it was that ubiquitous switch.

Although I thought I'd love the new Action Button, I actually hate it. Yes, there's a lot of potential for personalization and mapping custom activities and apps to this button, but nothing beats the standard mute/ring functionality. At the same time, from a usability perspective, my quality of life has deteriorated.

For example, when I'm watching YouTube videos in landscape mode, I always mistake the Action Button for the volume up key, which has never happened before when I was using the iPhone 13 Pro Max . Additionally, if your phone's in your pocket, you can no longer touch the side to know if it's set to ring or be silent. You must now press the button and count the haptic vibrations, a single one for ring and multiple for silent.

I've used the Camera Control button once.

I just checked my Photos app, and it turns out I've taken 155 photos and videos in January 2025. Can you guess how many of these were with the new Camera Control button? I can tell you the exact tally––four pictures and one video, and that's because my hands were wet.

I simply can't bring myself to use the new Camera Control button for a combination of reasons.

Chief among these is the non-ergonomic positioning of the button, which is too low when held in portrait mode and too much towards the middle of the phone when held in landscape mode. You can blame it on my large hands, but I blame it on Apple for placing this new hardware element in such an awkward place.

Apple Intelligence is a major disappointment.

Apple hasn't rolled out the most intriguing Apple Intelligence feature yet, but I'm already totally done with the corporation's foray into artificial intelligence.

The new Writing Tools are a major meh, Genmoji and Image Playground were fun for a total of 40 minutes combined, and Visual Intelligence with the Camera Control button is too little, too late. The ChatGPT integration for Siri is the path of least resistance for Apple, a cover-up of its impotent and useless smart assistant.

Sure, apparently, a smarter and significantly more capable Siri will soon be available with the iOS 18 .4 software upgrade. elements like personal context, on-screen awareness, and complex cross-app interactions will be coming to Apple's smart assistant, but I am bearish about the potential improvements to the assistant.

Apple has burned us before, overpromising and underdelivering, especially when it comes to Siri. I have an inkling the assistant will remain the middleman between me and the AC units at my home, responsible for turning them on and off.

I'm surprised the most obvious difference is the biggest one.

Just like a four-year-old, I keep getting surprised by the most obvious things these days, and one of the most shocking upgrades that the iPhone 16 reintroduced in my life is the boon of a compact phone. Shocking, I know.

After lumping around an iPhone 13 Pro Max for years and being used to its large size, switching to an iPhone 16 was a revelation. Phones can be compact and lightweight (who would have thought, right!) and there's no need to put up with the large and tedious size of something you use multiple days every day.

Sure thing, I've sacrificed a couple of inches of screen real estate and the battery life might be slightly worse, but that also led to an attitude adjustment: now I spend slightly less time on my phone, which is a big plus.

By downsizing from the iPhone 13 Pro Max to the iPhone 16 , I technically lost access to a whole telephoto camera. A world-ending cataclysm for some, a minor inconvenience for me. In any case, the 2X sensor-cropping option on the iPhone 16 kind of made up for the lack of an optical 3X telephoto zoom.

At the same time, the iPhone 16 takes slightly improved photos and videos and lets you capture both live photo and portrait data, which is a great feature for me. The new Photographic Styles are cool and neat, but not something significant.

Conclusion: Should you go down the illogical upgrade process?

For me, this experience proved you shouldn't get too complacent with what you're used to and shouldn't settle comfortably for too long.

Did I love everything with the iPhone 16 ? No, not at all, but I didn't love many aspects of the iPhone 13 Pro Max either, so things kind of even out.

After using a large iPhone for such a long time, it's normal to go with the much newer successor model, but… it doesn't have to always be this way.

Free will is still available to us all, so falling "victim" to standard stereotypes can be easily avoided.

Ironically, just a couple of months ago I was pretty convinced that there were zero reasons to upgrade from the, which I still believed to be a pretty adequate ex-flagship, yet here I am holding anin my pocket.

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