Amanda bought a Nexus 4 smartphone direct from Google, and put it in a case the next day. Like many other readers we’ve heard from, her phone plunged to its doom, shattering the screen. She had time on her side, though: it was only ten days since she had bought the phone, and Google’s posted return policy says that you can return a device in the first fifteen days “for any reason.” But is “because I broke it” a valid reason? [More]
Google’s ‘For Any Reason’ Return Policy Does Not Include ‘Because I Broke It’
By May 14, 2013
Don’t Even Think Of Letting Anyone Buy Or Borrow Your New Google Glass Specs
By April 18, 2013
So there you are, one of the first people to get their hands on the Google Glass. You’re tooling around like Geordi LaForge, taking photos or seeing maps or whatever, and your friend is all, “Hey, cool! Can I borrow those?” Stop right there, says Google. The first users of these specs are strictly forbidden from selling, loaning or otherwise letting anyone else touch them. [More]
What’s Behind Google Fiber’s Door No. 3? (Drumroll, Please)… It’s Provo, Utah!
By April 18, 2013
Google Fiber is rolling on again across the United States: After announcing Austin, Texas as its second city to officially join the family, the super speedy gigabit network is set to spread into Provo, Utah. It’ll give customers there another option for watching TV and surfing the Internet, and if we know anything in this confusing world, it’s that choice is a beautiful thing. [More]
Google Introduces Dead Man’s Switch For Your Accounts
By April 12, 2013
More than a decade ago, I had an online friend who abruptly disappeared, not answering e-mails or showing up on any of her favorite sites. Did she lock herself out of her accounts? Did her parents cancel their dialup? Did something happen to her? I never found out, and never would. What if you could prevent that? What if you could send a notice out to all of your contacts after you don’t log in to your accounts for a set period, and “will” your data to someone else? There are workarounds to do this, but now such a feature is built in to Google. [More]
I Lose A Really Useful Android Feature And Sprint And Samsung Pass The Buck
By April 10, 2013
We often hear from users of various Android smartphones complaining that their carrier or their phone manufacturer is keeping them away from the latest version of the operating system. Mark’s problem is sort of the opposite of that. He has the very newest release, Jelly Bean, but was horrified to discover that a feature he finds very useful at work was quietly discontinued. He can’t get an answer out of Samsung or his carrier, Sprint, about who decided to remove this feature or why. He just gets sent back and forth between companies. [More]
April Fools’ Day, Anyone? YouTube Is Shutting Down After 8-Year Quest For Best Video
By April 1, 2013
We’re just gonna go ahead and take everything we read today with a giant grain of salt, as it just so happens to be April 1. In an April Fools’ joke that would likely devastate anyone who’s a fan of funny cat videos or 10-hour loops of Kate Upton on a runway, Google announced today that it’s shutting down YouTube tonight. [More]
Google Promises Nexus 7 In 3-5 Business Days, Will Ship It 4 Days Later
By March 4, 2013
Silly Bryan: he got this idea in his head that “In Stock – Delivered in 3-5 business days” on the Google Nexus 7 ordering page meant that he could order a tablet and it would be delivered in 3-5 business days. He needed it within five business days, and placed an order. Instead of the promised two business days for processing, the tablet was set to ship out on Thursday when he’s leaving for the trip on Sunday. 2nd Day Air wasn’t going to work. [More]
Google Glass Taking Applications To Become America’s Next Top Cyborg
By February 20, 2013
If you’ve ever sat gazing out a window using just your own boring nature-given eyeballs and thought, “Oh, if only I were more like Geordi LaForge, and also I have lots of money to spare,” then Google Glass wants you. The company is taking the next step toward making its wearable computing devices a reality and is offering up the chance for tech-lovers to be among the first to try it. [More]
Shockingly, Customers Who Buy Google Products Expect Some Customer Service
By February 4, 2013
We’ve posted before about how Google’s idea of offering product support is to maintain some customer forums and peek in every once in a while. That’s understandable for free tools like Gmail and standard Google Voice, but customers who have paid Google for services expect more. For example, many of the customers who have paid to port their phone numbers to Google Voice so far this month have received an e-mail confirming that their port went through…then discover that people who call them are getting a message that the number has been disconnected. [More]
More Nexus 4 Phones Plummet To The Ground, Smash Themselves
By January 28, 2013
Google is always innovating. They’ve brought us the beginnings of a consumer fiber network, smart glasses, driverless cars, and even bringing donkeys back to life. One little-known Google project is the Nexus 4 smartphone, which is unlocked, shiny, and comes with its own field of gravity that pulls it to the ground, violating all known laws of physics. Or so our readers tell us.
No, That’s Not A Cyborg — It’s Sergey Brin Riding The NYC Subway Rails Wearing Google Glass
By January 21, 2013
While Star Trek: Next Generation actor LeVar Burton is no doubt waiting to take the Google Glass specs for a spin, it seems like for now Google’s co-founder Sergey Brin has taken it upon himself to test them out. He was snapped wearing the eyewear in the wild while cruising on the 3 train in New York City. [More]
Google Says Street View Car Didn’t Hit That Donkey Lying In The Road, It’s Just Sleeping
By January 16, 2013
So there’s this donkey, on a road in Botswana, right? And like, it seemed as if he was just going along on his little donkey way when along comes Google’s Street View car and what’s this? Suddenly he’s lying on the ground. That is the sequence of events some are citing while accusing Google’s car of hitting — and gulp, maybe killing — the poor fella. But Google says its own set of pictures shows that’s not the case at all. [More]
Gmail Decides That Gmail Messages Are Spam
By January 15, 2013
Checking his spam folder, Richard was a little surprised at the reason that this mail service, Gmail, gave for tossing one message into the junk pile. How did they determine that he probably didn’t want this message? Well, because the return address was Gmail.com, and “[they've] found that lots of messages from gmail.com are spam.” [More]
Report: Google & Yahoo May Be BFFs With Hollywood, But Both Place Ads On Piracy Sites
By January 2, 2013
Google and Yahoo might crow about supporting the entertainment industry, but a new report says that hasn’t stopped the two Internet giants from placing ads on sites with pirated movies, TV shows and music. The report looked at analysis of which sites have the most copyright infringement notices against them and found that Google and Yahoo are in the top 10 ad networks that support major piracy sites. Ruh roh. [More]
EECB Saves Nexus 10 Owner From Restocking Fee
By December 21, 2012
Shaunessy was displeased with his Nexus 10 tablet, and customer service couldn’t help. The tablet they set had light bleed around the edges: sort of a glowing gap at the corners. He returned the tablet to get a replacement, less glowy device, but the new one had the same problem as well. He gave up on the prospect of Nexus ownership, but there was a catch: returning both tablets meant paying a 15% restocking fee, or about $75. That struck Shaunessy as unfair, so he decided to appeal his case to a higher authority: a mass mailing to a dozen Google executives. [More]
Gift-Givers, Beware Of Google’s Short Return Window For Nexus Devices
By December 13, 2012
Are you buying a product from Google’s Nexus line as a gift this holiday season, or for an upcoming special event? It’s too late for reader Joan, but she wants everyone to know that you should probably make your purchase from somewhere with a looser return policy than the Google Play store if your gift-giving occasion is more than two weeks or so away. That’s because you can’t return items more than 15 days after purchase unless they’re defective. [More]
Newly Updated Google Maps App Finally Makes Its Return To iPhones
By December 13, 2012
Apple’s pride is still likely stinging just a bit from the Great Map Debacle Of 2012, but nevertheless, a new version of Google Maps is now available as an app for iPhone users on iOS 6. Google announced yesterday that the revised map had finally been approved by Apple and will now be listed in the company’s app store. [More]
Gmail Briefly Goes Down, Everyone Proceeds To Freak Out On Social Media As Per Usual
By December 10, 2012
It seems that noon is the magical time chosen by the Gmail elves to abruptly shut things down and throw everyone who uses it into a social media tizzy. We at Consumerist were right there with other Gmail users back during the Great Gmail Shutdown Of April 2012 when the site also crashed around noon ET, and today was like a giant flashback. Everyone make it back in once piece? [More]
