Google Pixel

“Device Personalization Services” is the method through which Google delivers and updates features like Now Playing (on Pixel), Live Caption, and smart actions in notifications to Android devices. This app, updated via the Play Store, is now being renamed to “Android System Intelligence,” at least on Google Pixel phones.

With the Pixel 6, Google is “ready to invest a lot in marketing,” and that started with the first online ad on Wednesday. It’s continuing the momentum with a Pixel 6 UK ad campaign that sees “Google Pixel” be the “proud sponsor” of a new British television show that premiered this week.

With Beta 4.1, Android 12 is almost ready to launch, but until then Android 11 with the September security patch is now available for the Pixel 3, Pixel 3a, Pixel 4, Pixel 4a, Pixel 4a (5G), Pixel 5, and Pixel 5a.

Google ads for Pixel phones have been all over the place as of late, and the latest one about the 5a with 5G’s headphone jack parodies old Jony Ive product videos, but seemingly without realizing its own product history.

Our review of the Pixel 5a found that Google’s latest phone was closer to the Pixel 5 than the Pixel 4a 5G, as was widely expected during the rumor cycle. Those similarities unsurprisingly extend to the build, according to a Pixel 5a teardown today.

With the Pixel 5a officially launching in the US and Japan today, Google has published the Android 11 factory images for customers that have already received the phone.

Old smartphones can be a collector’s item to the right person, but often, they end up sitting in a drawer. If you’re a big fan of the Android platform and, specifically, Google’s Pixel lineup, then this neat Google Pixel wall art from Grid Studio might just be for you.

With the fall 2021 consumer hardware announcements — read: Pixel 6 — set to arrive sometime in the coming weeks, there are likely some Googley phones coming up that you’re interested in! So what are you to do with all your old Pixel 2? Or Pixel 3? You should trade it in, and we’ve put together all the best trade deals for Google Pixel, Samsung Galaxy, and more below…

With the December 2020 Feature Drop, Google made it so that your Pixel phone charges slowly at night to preserve battery health. Pixel users have had hit or miss experiences with Adaptive Charging, and Google now looks to have tweaked how it works on Android 12.

After officially releasing new backgrounds to mark International Friendship Day last week, Google has released new Pixel wallpapers for August that celebrate Indigenous Peoples and specifically Australia’s nature. 

Besides on-device processing for faster commands, a new interface was one hallmark of the new Assistant that first debuted on the Pixel 4. The look very much reflected how Google wanted Assistant to be in the background. That’s now changing, as the new Google Assistant’s original UI is disappearing this weekend.

While the Android 12 Beta has improved in stability over recent releases, Android 11 still provides the most reliable experience. Google is now rolling out the August security patch for the Pixel 3, Pixel 3a, Pixel 4, Pixel 4a, Pixel 4a (5G), and Pixel 5.

During Alphabet’s Q2 2021 earnings, Sundar Pichai talked quite a bit more about Google’s consumer hardware efforts than usual. The CEO teased the upcoming fall Pixel lineup, some highlights, and long-term strategy.

The US smartphone market is dominated by names like Apple and Samsung, but others such as Google and OnePlus have been trying to make a meaningful impact in it for years now. As we near the Pixel 6 and its “soft reboot” of Google’s lineup, new stats on the US smartphone market in the first half of 2021 show that Google is actively losing market share while OnePlus is seeing a surge in popularity.

Given that we’re nearing the end of the 2020/21 Pixel lineup, Google ads for its phones are in an odd spot and have to be generic to not raise awareness about hardware that will soon be out of stock. The latest Google ad rather interestingly talks about the health features of the Pixel with brief Fitbit appearances interspersed throughout. 

Google is alerting Pixel 4 XL owners that it’s running an extended repair program for the 2019 flagship phone. It’s specifically limited to four countries and applies only to “certain power-related issues.”