As we approach the one-month mark for Made by Google 2024, the Pixel 9 series leaks continue, and today we have European pricing.

The upcoming Google Pixel Watch 3 will bring about some nice upgrades, including smaller bezels and more

Possible colors for the Pixel Buds Pro 2 have now leaked.

With Made by Google 2024 next month, the Pixel Watch 3 has arrived at the FCC for regulatory approval.

The Pixel 9 series is now rumored to adopt an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor. Since the Pixel 6’s switch to an under-display fingerprint sensor, people have complained about unlock performance being a regression from the days of Pixel Imprint. Performance has improved over the years, but the Pixel 9 series is now rumored to adopt an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor.

According to a new report, Google's Tensor G5 chip has reached the "tapeout" stage at TSMC, signaling the design is nearly finalized.

Details of this month’s security fixes can be found on the Android Security Bulletin: https://source.android.com/docs/security/bulletin/pixel

What’s included

The July 2024 update includes bug fixes and improvements for Pixel users – see below for details.

Camera

• General improvements for camera stability under certain conditions *[2]

System

• General improvements for system stability and performance in certain conditions *[3]

User Interface

• Fix for back gesture navigation not working in certain conditions *[1]

Device Applicability

Fixes are available for all supported Pixel devices unless otherwise indicated below. Some fixes may be carrier/region specific.

*[1] Pixel 5a (5G), Pixel 6, Pixel 6 Pro, Pixel 6a, Pixel 7, Pixel 7 Pro, Pixel 7a, Pixel 8, Pixel 8 Pro, Pixel Fold, Pixel Tablet
*[2] Pixel 8 Pro, Pixel 8
*[3] Pixel 8 Pro, Pixel 8, Pixel 8a

According to a new report, Google will be using the same display panel on Pixel 9 as Apple plans to use on iPhone 16 Pro.

Google had a prototype foldable ready a year before the Pixel Fold and we finally know its design and specs.

Bought a Pixel 4a second hand since it's the last Pixel with a headphone jack that isn't too big for me, and I'm hoping to keep it as long as I can.

Unfortunately, it's about time for me to replace the battery. I tend not to treat my battery too well (can't be bothered to keep it between 20% and 80%, but it's supposed to be consumable, right?) and I'm not sure if replacement batteries will hold up as well over the years. So I'm wondering if it's fine to just replace the battery and pop the whole thing back into my case without gluing the screen, so future repairs are a bit easier and won't involve the risk of breaking the screen while prying it off.

For reference, I'm using one of those cases with an interlocking front and back, so it ought to hold itself together and not fly apart if I drop it. (edit) I guess what I'm looking for is experience as to whether the newly introduced slack between the glass and body tends to make make the screen more fragile or put undue strain on flex cables.

I very recently bought a used Pixel 6 with a replacement screen, not thinking too much of it. I even made sure that the screen looked good during pickup.

One thing I missed though, was that apparently my Pixel doesn't have a fingerprint sensor anymore. I did some research, apparently it's quite easy to break the fingerprint sensor (or some places simply just don't include a sensor in the repair?) when replacing the screen.

Today I also noticed (through Show refresh rate in developer options) that my screen will only do 60 Hz as well.

Also I have stupidly high battery drain, I'm not 100% if that's related though.

Long story short, learn from my mistakes and either don't buy a used phone with a replacement screen or carefully test all functionalities associated with the screen, mainly high refresh rate and the fingerprint sensor.

I used to be able to press the microphone button on my home screen and say "Start 5-minute timer" and it would start the timer.

Now, when I do that, it does a Google search for "Start 5-minute timer".

How do I get that functionality back?

I don't want to open an app, and I don't want to use a number pad or anything to enter the number.

EDIT: Thank you! I went into the Gestures section of Settings, and now I can long-press the power button to get the desired behaviour. This might even be more convenient than tapping the mic icon!

The March 2024 Google Pixel Update and the March 2024 Feature Drop for all supported Pixel devices running Android 14 is starting to roll out today.

Update 3 months later:

I’m using Smart Launcher since my last post here. It’s great. I even bought the pro version. It’s not super “stock-y”, but that’s absolutely fine. I like that you can customize a lot of things!

The combo widget shows upcoming alarms and bank holidays. Also (somewhat) location-aware weather.

I think I stick with it.

Now that the Google search bar on the homescreen has become uttery useless there is no real reason to have it anymore and it is annoying anyways, so I am in search for a launcher that resembles the stock Pixel launcher.

Especially the "combo widget" that shows the time, the date, position-weather, tasks, warnings, timers, etc. all in one place.

Launchers I tried so war that don't seem to have such a widget and seem not to be able to use that widget:

• Nova
• Lawnchair
• Niagara
• Hyperion

Those are all great launchers, but this specific functionality (basically the only feature I use on my homescreen besides one single icon for one app) seems to be missing in all of them.

So my question is: does someone know a launcher that comes with an unobstrusive "combo widget" like the stock widget as described, that also allows me to remove the now useless search bar from the home screen?

revisiting my review https://programming.dev/post/868117

now that android 14 is out.

First, we have this quote on Android 14 from Dave Burke "And I don't know, we may not have talked enough about this, but we've done a ton of work to reduce CPU activity in background apps."

Yes. This is nice. The overall experience is now appropriate. Less weird lag and chunky performance. The poor multitasking software combined with chunky performance was miserable. Now it's at least tolerable if not totally great.

Battery life is less unpredictable. I can consistently get a full days usage with no concern. Not exactly sufficient for traveling without concern but manageable. Instead of needing to stay tethered to a battery pack you only need one just in case.

A huge issue I had previously was the fingerprint reader. Happy to report than the reader now works predictably and reliabily. Up to the limits of a silly power button reader. No longer frustrating.

The software performance is all great but what about updates to better support the screen size and multitasking? Sadly, nothing to note. Still fairly miserable but certainly less janky.

Screen utilization and layout is still unsuitable. Lots of wasted screen space. Rotation controls are more suggestions and insufficient.

Multitasking is the real trouble tho. Will going back actually take you back? Or is the forward gesture required to go back to the previos activity? Impossible to say. Might as well be random. So you try the app switcher and the preview shows an app I the state you want to go back to. Switch to the app aaaaand the preview was a lie. The app resumes in some pseudo random state.

Overall the OS update is great. However there is no patching of software that will make up for the hardware deficiencies. And unfortunately, the software updates still don't enable effective multitasking.

7/10

For the US...

Droidlife has a source that says the 8 and 8 Pro are $699 and $899 respectively.

but...

9to5Google's source says $699/$999.

Also, sorry for barrage of posts to the community today. There was a ton of info put out there this morning and weekend.

There's a lot of info in the link above, including the lengthening of the updates. The link confirms security updates for 7 years, but the 5 year OS update is still a rumor at this point.

In a curious bit of branding, the Pixel 8 Pro will reportedly feature what Google calls a “Super Actua display” that has up to 2,400 nits of peak brightness.

Sorry for linking to that social media platform. That platform has the only source. The source does have a good track record.