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This week’s top stories: Google ‘Wireless Device’ hits FCC, Galaxy Z Fold 4 leaks on Amazon, more

Kyle Bradshaw | Aug 6 2022 - 10:00 am PT

In this week’s top stories: an unknown ‘Wireless Device’ from Google appears at FCC, Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 details leak via Amazon, Pixel series August update gets delayed, and more.

A new device from Google was registered with the FCC this week under the vague descriptor of “Wireless Device.” Based on the evidence available, we offered quite a few plausible explanations for what this mystery Google product could be, including a new Nest device.

This leads us to believe that today’s Google “Wireless Device” is likely something in the Nest lineup. While Google effectively showed its hand at Google I/O for what to expect from Pixel in the fall, the company has not teased much of its next generation of smart home speakers, cameras, and more.

With just a few days left until its official unveil, the Galaxy Z Fold 4 appeared in a full Amazon listing this week. As you’d expect, the listing included quite a few official product images, specs, and other details about Samsung’s next foldable phone, most notably a reveal of the revamped S Pen.

The other image shows a new S Pen case for the Galaxy Z Fold 4 in a green-ish gray color that appears to match the phone within. The stylus also matches that color. That’s certainly notable, as black was the only and only option for last year’s S Pen. The case also has some sort of line alongside the S Pen, but it’s not immediately obvious what purpose that serves.

Breaking from the typical schedule, Google’s Pixel phones did not receive the August security patch this past Monday. While a “Pixel Update Bulletin” detailed the changes coming in that August patch, the only thing that has so far released is a minor fix to the July patch.

Google lists 40 CVEs across “Kernel components” and “Pixel” that are addressed by the 2022-08-05 patch level. Vulnerabilities range from moderate to critical and cover components like the kernel, modem, and camera.
However, this update was obviously postponed as OTA images did not arrive at 10 a.m. PT. Additional evidence of a delay comes from Verizon, which published details about an unexpected update for the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro.

Our APK Insight team discovered this week that Google TV is preparing to launch a set of 50 free streaming channels. An in-app graphic revealed a list of over half of those channels, with options available for news, sports, TV shows, and movies.

To be clear, these are distinct from other options available on Google TV today, as those integrations require you to download an app, while the new text says the channels are available “without the need to […] download.” More explicitly, the launcher refers to these as “Google TV Channels.”

Elsewhere in Google TV news, a support page has revealed that the Chromecast with Google TV may soon be getting an update based on the August 2022 security patch. However, the link to the bulletin for that update leads to an error page, making it hard to be certain of Google’s intended timeline.

On the one hand, it would be a bit surprising to see Google update the Chromecast again so quickly. That said, last month’s update only featured the May 2022 security level, meaning the August patch would be next in the schedule as it falls exactly one quarter of a year later.