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Google Maps appears to be opening the floodgates on the rollout of Immersive Navigation and support for a speedometer in Android Auto right now, as both features are showing up more broadly.

I write about smartphones, Android, and consumer technology for a living, but I can admit that I am addicted to the devices I use every day. I figured I need to have a firebreak and, hand on heart, it’s making me happier and healthier. If you use your phone too much, learn from my missteps.

Welcome to Pixelated episode 109. This week, Damien, Abner, and Will dive into everything Samsung announced at this week’s Galaxy Unpacked, the legacy of the original Pixel Fold, and whether flip phones have a future ahead of them.

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Pebblebee, known for its Android Find Hub / Apple Find My trackers, has just launched some new battery-free ID tags that help you recover lost bags, as well as give your pets a means of identification.

Qualcomm is hiking prices on its already-expensive Snapdragon chipsets, a move that’s likely to make price hikes on Android devices all the more common.

Anthropic says its Claude Opus 5 AI model is an improvement that takes less effort to deliver similar results as the nearly-banned Fable 5.

Ahead of the Pixel 11 launch, the Made by Google hardware division detailed how it’s impacted by the “severe, supplier-driven RAM memory crisis.” 9to5Google spoke this week with Google’s Vice President of Devices and Services, Shakil Barkat, about the situation and how that will affect what’s coming next month.

Following a report earlier today, Nothing says that it is not exiting markets, but it is making some key changes behind the scenes.

While the Galaxy Z Fold 8 series has just debuted, there are some rumblings of Samsung’s next non-folding flagships, with the Galaxy S27 series reportedly changing up the lineup and bringing camera upgrades too.

I’ve been lucky enough to have a car that has Android Automotive for the better part of five years, and in that time, it made me realize just how much better Android Auto is for most people despite its problems, bugs, and foibles.

Nothing is apparently set to stop selling phones in a swath of global markets due to declining sales, while its new Nothing Phone (4a) and Phone (4b) releases are struggling to find success.

Samsung is finally switching over to silicon-carbon batteries in the Galaxy Z Fold 8 series but, apparently, their lifespan is reduced by quite a bit.

After launching in May with AI Ultra, Gemini Spark is now rolling out to Google AI Pro subscribers in the US. It will “soon” be available to AI Pro members in other countries.

Google is looking at two fines from the European Union, which claims the company violated the Digital Markets Act with both Search and the Google Play Store.

Samsung’s new Galaxy Z Fold 8 series is here and, obviously, the company wants you to switch to its new foldable. And yet, Samsung is putting money in all the wrong places to accomplish that goal.

Following two big Google Health app updates, the Fitbit Air is getting its first post-launch firmware update.

Google Home today is rolling out the latest updates to Gemini for Home and the mobile app (July 23, 2026), while there’s also new Nest Cam firmware.

The “Google Pixel Flip” isn’t happening. That much is clear, but Samsung’s new changes to the Galaxy Z Flip 8 more or less feel like what Google would have done.