Google Pixel

After the September Pixel Watch update to Wear OS 5 ran into issues, Google released a fix in November and said its wearables would have to wait until March for another update.

Google’s excellent Pixel 9A is suffering from an early bug, but luckily it’s a minor one. The selfie camera’s viewfinder has an unwelcome flicker in dark scenes, as if it’s struggling to find the right exposure — something I’ve spotted on my own 9A. The good news is that photos themselves are unaffected.

That’s according to Soniya Jobanputra, a product management director for the Pixel series. Google’s new blog post highlights some of the behind-the-scenes thinking on the Pixel 9A’s redesign, and there are some interesting tidbits in there about the new camera bar and iris color option, which is apparently inspired by the Pixel 3A’s “purple-ish” hue. Now bring back the contrasting colored power button, you cowards.

The Information reported the layoffs, which struck the Platforms and Devices team, responsible for Android software, Pixel hardware, and more. They follow a voluntary buyout in January, and in a statement Google blames the move to combine those teams in April 2024:

Google’s new affordable phone has survived mysterious component issues and Trump’s tariffs to arrive in US stores today at its promised price of $499. Despite the tariff pause, that’s no longer a given.

Google isn’t shipping the Pixel 9A until April 10th, as 9to5Google notes, but that didn’t stop the PBKreviews channel from acquiring and disassembling one. As phones go, this one looks fairly easy to take apart, although as noted in the video’s description, it may not be easy to replace the charging port.

People on Reddit are complaining they’ve missed work after their Pixel 9 alarms didn’t wake them up. Some claim they told Gemini to “stop” a timer or just to hush it, and it would unexpectedly disable all their alarms, too. This isn’t the only time we’ve heard problems with mobile device alarms recently (iPhone, Pixel Watch), have you noticed any issues?

Until now, you’ve only been able to use the scanner when the display is on, either by waking it or by using the phones’ always-on display feature. Now, Android Authority reports that after testing a settings option to enable screen-off fingerprint unlocking on Pixel 9 phones, Google has expanded that test to other Pixel phones in the third Android 16 beta.

We got some very limited hands-on time with the Pixel 9A before its announcement today. That news came with an unusual disclaimer that the 9A isn’t going up for pre-order yet; Google is investigating a “component quality issue” before putting the phone on sale sometime in April. For now, it seems all we can do is admire this “peony” pink 9A from afar.

Google’s new affordable phone has leaked repeatedly already, but it’s back again in new images shared by Evan Blass on X. They’re mostly marketing images and renders of the purple model — supposedly dubbed “Iris” — and closely match the design we’ve seen before, complete with an almost perfectly flat camera bump.

The rumored on-device — “even Google can’t see it” — AI assistant can pull data from other Google apps to provide a contextual and more “personalized” take on Google Assistant that’s exclusive to Pixel devices. It was reportedly going to launch with the Pixel 9 lineup but never materialized. A version of Pixie is now expected to arrive with the Pixel 10, according to Android Authority, under a new “Pixel Sense” branding.

In addition to adding features for pro photographers, the second public beta of Android 16 being released today lets you quickly access Google Wallet by double pressing your device’s power button, as discovered by Android Authority’s Mishaal Rahman.

Android Authority shared images of what appear to be Google’s cases for the upcoming Pixel 9a, and their design tracks with renders showing the device without the Pixel’s distinctive camera bar. The Pixel 9a is expected to launch next month with a potential price increase for more storage.

According to Android Police, T-Mobile has added Google’s latest phones to its beta test of direct-to-cell satellite service powered by SpaceX’s Starlink. iPhones and a select few Samsung phones were already in the beta.