Pixelated - 50 Days Later, It's Still a Phone

Episode Date: October 2, 2026

Welcome to Pixelated episode 119. This week, Ben Schoon fills in for Damien as we discuss our first Pixel 11a leak and the first 50 days of the flagship Pixel 11 series. We also dive into our thoughts on Amazon's new $80 button-equipped Kindle case, and Abner's love of remotes. Enjoy the show? You can listen to our weekly members-only Pixelated Pro bonus episode by signing up for 9to5Google Pro for just $5 per month, or about $1 per episode. Sponsored by Proton Unlimited: Pixelated listeners can save 30% on an annual subscription to the company’s suite of privacy-friendly services by signing up using our link. Thanks to Proton Unlimited for sponsoring the podcast. Subscribe YouTube Podcasts Pocket Casts Spotify Amazon Music Apple Podcasts Overcast Hosts Abner Li Ben Schoon Will Sattelberg Listen to more 9to5 Podcasts The Sideload 9to5Mac Happy Hour Electrek Space Explored Feedback? Drop us a line at [e-mail], leave a comment on the post, or reach out to our producer. And for even more Android discussion, dive into the official 9to5Google forums!

Welcome to Pixelated episode 119. I'm your host, Will Saddlebird. This week, Ben Shone fills in for Damien as we kick off by discussing our first leaked look at next year's upcoming Pixel 11A. Does it look exactly like last year's device? Do we immediately date ourselves with some very bad pricing predictions? The answer to both of those questions is yes, but you'll still want to hear our discussion anyway. Then we turn back to the Pixel 11, now 50 days out from its launch. What did Google's latest flagship series nail and what would we consider a fail?

Plus, some thoughts on Amazon's new Kindles and their $80 button-packed cases. It all starts right after this message from our sponsor, Proton. Grab your phone and take a look at your app drawer right now. You've probably found yourself relying on these same old apps and services since the Nexus days. And what suited you best back then might not be the right choice in 2026. Luckily, Proton can help bring you into a privacy-first ecosystem built for our modern age. Proton offers practically every service you could possibly need under the sun across every platform, including email, calendar, file storage, password management, document editors, and, of course,

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That's proton.combe. Thanks to Proton for sponsoring Pixelated. Hello everybody. I am not here on the podcast this week, as you probably have realized, because I'm currently on a quest in Spain of all places to try and get hold of a sealed inbox LGG watch. You remember the original Android Wear version? It has a little, well, I guess it has a soft spot in everybody's heart. And I've taken on the mantle a little bit like Abner and his quest to try and get a Nexus Q, a sealed Nexus Q. I'm trying to do the same currently for the LGG watch.

So yeah, that's why I'm not here this week. So if you don't ever hear from me again, please alert the authorities for the first. Secondly, I'm very much aware that Abner, Will, and their special guest, they've got you in good hands. So enjoy the episode, have some fun, and hopefully I'll be back next week. In all one pieces, all my digits attached, everything, all that kind of stuff. I've not been kidnapped or anything like that. Hopefully, fingers crossed. Yeah, speak to guys next week.

Well, Damien is out this week. attempting to one-up Abner's Nexus Q purchase by finding an unopened LGG watch box. But in the meantime, to talk about various pixel leaks, pixel updates, 50 days since the Pixel 11 launch, it's our own very own Ben Shown. How's it going, Ben? It's good. Good to have you. And of course, Abner's here too.

Hi, Abner. For the record, the LGG watch was the original Androidware. watch, we should have all bought, and I kind of regret getting the Moto 360. I do not regret getting the Moto 360. I was right. That watch was, the G-watch was ugly. The G-watch had an always-on display. What was the third one? I can't remember. Samsung gear. Yeah. I know I've said this. I had the G-watch and the 360. The Moto 360 is the only smart watch I've ever gotten compliments on. No, no. I don't have ever gotten compliments. The stupid Texas instrument...

I still have my... The stupid Texas instrument processor The performance was bullshit from day one. It's terrible. But what a nice looking smart watch. No, no. It was horrible performance. Horrible.

And now we have this. We're not talking about that. It's just we're not. For the lack of video, this is the Motor Watch Ultra, which is a kick in the face to the Motor 360. Yes, it is. Yes, it is. But yeah, the Motor 360, I used mine in the ocean and it obviously broke because it was not that high IP rated. But still, I managed to get a brand new one for Motorola support, customer support. That is a win. That's the kind of win you don't hear about these days. It's the kind of customer service that just does not exist anymore. Speaking of not existing anymore, purple phones.

Not really a thing right now, but they will be if this pixel 11A leak tells us anything. Ben, you wrote the article. Tell me a little bit about this pixel 11A leak. So as per usual, we have the CAD-based renders, which is the case basis for a new phone, and it shows the pixel 11A,

and it looks exactly the same as the 10A, which looked almost as exactly the same as the 9A. So Google seems happy with that design, which I know Abner's happy about. I am absolutely happy. And the fact that it's rumored to be a Tensor G6, that should bring all the AI features from the past few gens that we've missed out. Yeah, I am absolutely ready to switch that as my dairy driver. I am still using a 10A as my work phone alongside the Pixel 11 Pro. and I absolutely prefer the 10A feel.

I don't blame you. And the change this time is that it's said to come in purple. They mocked it up in like a dark purple, but who knows what it will actually look like? Right. I wouldn't mind if we get purple-ish back, but whatever. The pantone people have apparently decided that this year it's all darker shades,

and as seen by the iPhone, and I guess by the pixel kind of. Disagree with that trend. It's too, too not vibrant. There's such a, it's such a, like, hard mind toe,

I guess, because it's like, on one hand, I get, I get so tired of the pastels sometimes and the bright, like, every phone looking like an Easter egg

sometimes can, and I don't mean, I don't mean, like a hidden secret. I mean, a literal Easter egg can get a little, tired, I guess.

But at the same time, I don't disagree with you that the darker colors sometimes just don't look as good as the past... Like, there's a reason that these companies do lean on pastels. I think they look generally better, even if it's easy to get tired of. I like this darker mock-up. Like, I don't know if that's what the phone will look like, but I kind of vibe with it. The only question would be, would I get tired of this after, you know, maybe not a month, obviously, but would I, after six months kind of be...

In the same way that, like, I liked the red... pixel 10A, that's the model I have. Barry. Yes. It's, yeah, Barry. It is very loud. It is, it is like a very like vibrant like in your face device that not everybody's going to vibe with. And also you might not just want all the time, which can make some of these louder colors a bit controversial. Again, quickly jumping in here as they edit to say that the pricing

theorizing you're about to hear the three of us do, despite being recorded less than 30 hours before this episode is going to be released is already willfully out of date, as Google raised the price of the Pixel 10A to $600 on the morning of Friday, October 2nd. I'm leaving an end for posterity's sake, but if you don't want to hear us try to get something that seems guaranteed to at least start at $600, you can jump ahead to 1337. How much do you think this is going to be? It's not going to be $4.99 again, no way. inevitably it's going up I just I think

I think oh man okay I think 550 is a win I think 550 is a win 550 at 128 gigs at 1 28 gigs at 1 28 yeah

yeah I just don't yeah I mean I would love to see them do 256 at 550 obviously but yeah I think if they can nail a $50 price bump and it's got a better processor and maybe a slightly larger battery and maybe a slightly better camera sensor or something.

And that's it? I mean, magnets would be huge. You know, I would justify that. I could see 50 bucks in this. I mean, look, literally right before we started recording, Ben published an article about the Galaxy S-26 going up $100 in price. So like, it's, if Google can,

just raise its budget device by 50 bucks. I think that's a really big win and will only attract people who are going to complain about any price hike no matter what. If it's 600, I don't even know what to say because like I want to be like 600 for an A series device would be ridiculous

but also I need to acknowledge that like the market is completely out of whack. Like just because I can look at something and be like that's a stupid price no one should pay it. It's also like, okay, but if someone needs a phone next year, this time next year, is this going to still be the like, well, these days, a mid-range budget phone is $600, so that's what you're paying.

Like, I don't know, like maybe. Yeah, and it's only getting worse. I saw something the other day about, you know, through 2027 and 2028, like it's only going to get tighter the supply. Yeah, I don't see an ending. Yeah, same. I don't see an ending either. I think if they can hit 550, I think they keep the camera exactly the same.

I think it's literally just a processor bump. At 600, I would want some camera upgrade or larger battery or whatever. So, yeah, I at least want a camera upgrade if it's at 600. But I think it doesn't happen either way because I think the processor is just what, I think the processes ends up being a $50 upgrade, and they justify with all the software features it unlocks. You're right. You're right. It's a market. It's just so annoying because it's like, you just have to rethink the market that we have lived in for. I mean, realistically, like a decade now. Like, I, you know, I know, I've watched the A series go up in price over the 2020s, but those price X kind of came with the leaps I'm sort of describing where I'm like, oh, better sensor. Oh, better. Honestly, if it's 599, it's still kind of a win.

Like if you make a direct comparison, Samsung's comparison is the S-26FE, which is $700. Yeah. For objectively a worse phone. And even the A57 is $600. Like if they can keep it at $600, especially if they throw in magnets or something, it's fantastic. That's my next question.

I don't think there's magnets. I don't think there is either. Is there anything that hints at this device being physically larger? No, it's going to be the same thickness. They wouldn't necessarily... The pixel 9 to 10 kept essentially the same thickness, or maybe went up 0.1, I think, 0.1 millimeters. But it was very...

They made the fold thinner. They made the fold thinner. And I think also... Or maybe this is what I'm thinking of. I'd have to go back and check, but I think maybe the 11 series shredded that 0.1 millimeter back down. So it can be done without increasing the thickness too much, in theory, I don't know the exact, like,

I don't know the architecture of the pixel 10A, so I'm not going to pretend, but my gut says no. My gut says they want to keep that as a premium feature. They want to be like, if you want that, you have to upgrade out of the A series to the regular Pixel 11. But also the iPhone added it. Yeah. That's true. The iPhone did add it in their six, and that, oh my, is that phone actually $600 anymore?

Is that phone $700? $699. The, the, um, 17, 17, 799. 699. See, oh, that gives Google a lot of leeway to be like, we're still $100 cheaper than Apple and probably can even still just do what we're describing with just a processor bump and then nothing else and get away with it other than from, you know, people who like to yell in the internet like me.

But, yeah, man. I mean, at 600, what I would tell people to do is to go buy a 10A while you can, because obviously it's going to be significant. Like, even post-launch, like, if the 11A's out at 600. I don't know. The process is giving, the fact that it's a two-year-old G4 at this point, that's giving me a bit of pause. Again, if you don't care about the AI features, perfectly fine,

but I feel like we're getting to a point where, yeah, no, that makes sense. Let's jump back in time a little bit then. Let's go from the 11A2, the Pixel 11, which as we're recording is hitting 50 days since launch, since the launch event, I think, right? Yeah, 50 days since the launch event. And I wanted to touch base with both of you. And Ben, I know you have not been on the pixel as your daily driver as much as Abner and I have, but how are we feeling?

50 days into the 11 series. How are we feeling? I am so bored with the physical design. I am, so this is what we left out, out of the bonus, this was in the bonus episode, rather. I put on a case on my 11 Pro because I am just tired about how it feels. And I'm slightly ruined by, like,

I'm still holding the iPhone there every single day. So that's kind of has a knock on effect. but I'm just so bored of this design and I'm sure I'd be bored of the iPhone design too. Can I ask you this, Avenor, actually? Because I have not asked you this. If Google, and I don't think they will, I don't think this will happen.

But if Google in the next generation came out with an iPhone Air-esque pixel, would that be your daily driver? If it had all the same, let's say it has all the same sacrifices as the current air, would you switch to, okay? And if that was the only one they would make, I would keep using it the next year too. Wow.

I don't blame you. Like it's the, you know, I've held your error and then I've held like one or two others, but have not, have not used one myself. But it's like, it is a striking design. It is nice to have a thin and light phone that is still big. Like it's, I get the appeal, you know, like it's, I wouldn't, I wouldn't say no to seeing what Google did with that kind of idea, you know? That being said, they absolutely should not do this.

even I. No, they should not. Well, that's the thing, right? It's like, but also, I would need it to not be running on tensor because I do feel like, even with the efficiency gains that I think the last couple generations have made, you would feel you would feel tensor through a thin and light pixel. You would feel that heat in the way that I felt, maybe not this to this degree, but the, I'll never forget just like, I felt like I was touching the chipset.

The first-gen pixel fold would get so hot. It was like, I could feel it. through the glass is terrible. Yeah, I will say that the 11 Pro Fold Tensor Heat was never an issue. I actually feel like I've had more heat issues on my Fold 8. Really?

Than I had on the 11 Pro Folds. But also I've been using a... Is it just a thinner chassis or is it a processor thing? No, I think the current Snapdragon just runs warm sometimes. Interesting. Because I have... Every Snapdragon phone you I've used this year has been...

It's run a little bit warm. Like, it's not hot. It's not... your G2 and a pixel fold hot, but it's, it gets warm. I would be more concerned about the battery life, personally. Yeah. Yeah. I don't think, I don't think Google would be able, until they do silicon carbon, I don't think Google can fit a big enough battery in a thin and light phone to make it work, even as well as an error.

So yeah, Will, how is the pixel you have been going? I like it. Like, this is my first, this is the first, as I said, a big pixel I've been on since the Pixel 8 Pro, so I've waited three generations to come back around to a large screen pixel. I like it. It's not a revolution. It's a design that I think we're all very familiar with. Obviously, Abner is bored by it. I'm a little bored by it too.

But it's like, the magic of pixel, in my opinion, on the Android side of things, is that it's just unlike even Samsung and certainly other brands go listen to me. rant about briefly about a Lenovo tablet I'm reviewing in the bonus episode last week. But like, like the amount of times that sometimes you're like, like my, okay, my software expectations have are pretty high these days. Like I, I no longer am really willing to forgive like annoying quirks or bugs on various builds of Android. And this is like Pixel is by far the cleanest of these. Like there's very few major hiccups. will run into, and probably of any brand, including Apple, frankly.

Like, I think iOS is bugier than, than, than, at least, I've really used iOS 27, but iOS 26, definitely bugier than the last couple, uh, pixels for sure. Yeah, absolutely. So there, there's something to be said about, like, just how reliably, like, I can pick up this phone and just know the experience I'm going to get is, like, good and reliable. And, like, I'm not going to get some weird, like, pop-ups. or annoying notifications or bloatware outside of like, unless you want to call like some of the AI stuff.

But yeah, I don't. So yeah, I just like such a reliable phone that it's difficult for me to, like, it's impossible for me to hate. It's also difficult for me to like find things to like really heat praise on. Even the camera system, which I like a lot and I think it's the most fun camera system Google has shipped in ages. You know, after a while, it's like you kind of settle. You're like, yeah, I found.

the, I found the style I want to shoot with like I'm not going to swap it up very often and so like even that excitement kind of dies down. That is absolutely the under, underrated, overrated. It's like, yeah, once you pick a style, you pick a style, you don't really switch.

So in some sense you just set a UI and you just set a filter and be done with it. Which is it's not as, okay, so my context of this and why I was so excited going in was like a very earliest days of Instagram when you had like all those when like filtering

your photos as like a thing people did all the time that was fun before posting but that's that's not what we have today I'll kind of build on what Will was saying is you know about how it's kind of for me I think what I realize is it's become like the standard because I'm the only one of us who's been like actively pushed off of the pixel 11 since it came out. Yes. For a little while I, when I started it, I was trying the 11 Pro Fold as like, I want that to be my daily driver because it is nice to have a foldable as my daily that I don't have to carry an extra phone with me.

Right. But the fold eight got me back because it's just very good. I like the new form factor. But I was carrying the 11 Pro XL as my secondary as like my better camera. really enjoyed it. And I did kind of slip into this, like, it's just on my person. It's just the pixel I have on me, which is nice because it is predictable, reliable. You know, I'm going to have my good camera.

I'm going to have all the features that I want to have on me. As you and I have discussed on numerous occasions, will, I still find little quirks in every other Android phone that the pixel gets better, like the notification history shortcut and the being able to use the finger, sensor to open the phone, even if its face unlock unlocks it. The phone I was pushed onto, which I can't publicly talk about, even though it's officially announced at this point. So you can figure out which one that is.

Has both of those issues. I can't access my notification history quickly. I can't press the fingerprint sensor and unlock the phone. And more on that, the review. I like the pixel a lot as my secondary phone, especially, because it is that predictable, reliable thing. But when I get pushed onto another phone, I find myself, like, weirdly enjoying it more

because I'm, like, finding the things I like, or I'm figuring out the things that are different versus the pixel is just such a known static quantity at this point. Yes, yes. So, yeah, I think before we jump onto the 11 pro fold, which I also have as a personal unit, the base 11. That is

feels a lot like the 11 Pro but I just would have to say that the minimal camera bar is nice. You barely feel it. I still think that the future of pixel design is moving to a completely flat fat look and

I welcome that. Yeah, I hope they do because I mean everyone is copying the pixels camera bar design poorly I add yes editorially but they are doing it I don't expect the you know I don't know if the the big big flexion the the pro series will ever yeah camera bum just just size you know dimension wise but like no I agree it's really nice to see it's not just that Google is like the only

company even trying to ship a phone without a camera you know only putting the bump in that needs to be there, which was actually one of my big complaints about the base 10 was that I didn't feel like the camera performance was on par with the size of that camera bump. And obviously it wasn't based on the 11 this year. But, you know, you look at all of the, you know, you look at Apple and you look at, you know,

we've seen S27 Ultra Leaks and they're, you know, Samsung's camera bar redesign, which is just a blatant iPhone pro knockoff. Like, I don't, what are we doing, guys? Like, do you have any ideas that are your own Samsung? Like, you got out of this bubble at the end of the last decade. Why are you so far back into it? Anyway, it's a different rant for a different time. They all do it poorly, and it's like, you set it down on a table,

and they all still wobble except the pixel. I don't understand why, like, why do these companies all think, like, phone, is it just a case thing? It's like, it has to be a case thing. It stabilizes. don't get it. Like, you can make your user's life better. It doesn't, like, stop the case from still going on the phone.

I just don't understand. Like, I really wish these companies, if they're going to copy, would do it properly. Yes, I agree. Because, again, that phone that I'm using right now has a giant camera sensor on one side and then has another thing on the opposite side. And they made the opposite side thinner for no reason. When they could have just had the whole thing, the uniform. In terms of making things thinner, you have in pro fold.

It is so noticeable that one half is thinner. So I mostly use it. Well, I use it as a phone for a few days. But then I kept it open and it's now a tablet. World's most expensive tablet. It's not that much more expensive than Samsung's new tablet. Just saying. It feels weird that the other side is thinner.

It just feels weird. I wonder if that's how you end up with the iPhone duo being thicker than like its competitors. Is that they just wanted it to be. Yeah. They wanted it to be uniform, which I don't even think it's a terrible decision because any foldable I've ever used where the two sides are not uniform and thickness. Like it is noticeable. It does kind of bother me. And so like I want I don't know.

I'd have to look at the measurements of each side and compare it to the thicker side of the. of the pixel 11 pro fold god three years in and still such a month of the name yeah I could totally see Apple being like we're just going to take the hit

on this being a millimeter and a half thicker than the competition but then it won't be like Google's and the uniform now obviously Google is not the leader in this category so to compare it you know it's not a great comparison because you can look at Samsung et cetera et cetera Chinese OEMs

and be like well what about them but Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised. The thing I still find an interesting, like every time I look at the 11 pro fold is that the thinner half is the one with the magnets and you wouldn't expect it. Like that's the part that always... Push all the components to the other side, maybe?

Maybe, maybe it's just because, you know, you already have a camera bump, so you have some more room to play with, but it's just, it, that's the part that always gets me and still infuriates me about Samsung's, you know, take on magnets. Is that like... Why is that the thinner side?

How did you pull that off? Hey folks, if you're enjoying Pixelated, don't forget to sign up for 9 to 5 Google Pro for ad-free episodes and to gain access to our weekly bonus show, Pixelated Pro. This week, I tell Ben and Abner all about the custom TV service I've built on my NOS to bring back that cable feeling. We discussed the sense of relief that 2025 laptop purchases have brought us throughout 2026 and explain why it's a bad idea to hire Simon Kinberg

to write Star Wars episode 10. I'll give you a hint. It rhymes with Bark Helix, and he adapted it both times. Sign up today for just $5 per month or about $1 per episode at 9 to 5 google.com slash pro. So yeah, that is the hardware at the glands.

So diving straight into software, highlight this week Google released QPR 2, beta, 6.1, And it finally brings messaging support for highlight, which is absolutely, it's still pixel glow ingrained into my mind. Yeah, and honestly, it's kind of useful. I've been using it for the past two days or so, and I have absolutely responded to notifications using, because I saw the light flash,

and it is more prominent than the AOD. Yeah. I'm not on the beta, so I've not used it. How, like, is it easy, is it as easy to customize as like the phone call stuff? Yeah, you can turn off one or the other for each contact. It's still five colors. It blinks twice, which I was kind of curious, like, how they would adjust that, or whether it'd be like continuous glow or something,

but it works. Two flashes seems pretty prominent, catches your eye. Yeah, I don't know. It's, again, they should have been there from day one, and we're not expecting this to launch until December-ish. But yeah, this is like finally reaching the 1.0 status of highlight, And I just, yeah, I just, I just don't, I just don't understand why this wasn't ready for launch.

Like, it's such a basic, like, I have never, I have not been able to get over it. And not helping things is that Highlight is the Pixel 11's ad campaign right now. Like, I'm watching a lot of football and I'm seeing a lot of advertisements. And the phone ads I'm seeing are the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max. I assume the duo ads probably start this month ahead of launch. Although, who knows? I never really saw an iPhone air ad during football, so maybe they're just not going to do it.

Yeah. And then the pixel, well, and then the fold eight, Samsung's really pushing the fold eight, and the pixel 11, but the pixel 11 ads are all that highlight ad where they're knocking on the glass at the cafe or whatever. Like, that's the one they keep showing over and over again. and that ad is like it's not bad. I think it's like a,

I've kind of warmed up to it as a concept. The problem is that, you know, the feature doesn't really, it kind of will once messages is there, but the feature doesn't really line up with like, the promise of the ad, like fully silencing everything.

Like I know it ends with a phone call from the babysitter or whatever, and therefore it is establishing that it's a phone call notification light, at least at the, moment, but you mentioned the two blinks that that should be customizable. Like, all of this should be customizable in a way that, like, Google does not seem to want to allow for. And I just, it's, it's just, I wish I had a better understanding of the, of the philosophy Google wants to do here, because they are, they have always pushed Android as this, like,

open space for, for you to make it what you want to be. But the, but the pixel experience feels very locked down and curated in a, in a completely, it's just how, like, they want you to use the tools how they've designed them. Yeah, no, I don't mind that opinion. It's opinionated. And I feel like the pixel extension over Android allows that. But when you're opinionated, you have to, the ideas that you choose people have to be good. They have to be solid. They have to be fully thought out and fit people's lives. And I think that still

requires some tweaking. Yeah, it's, it's, I also just think it's a market thing. Like, because I, the thing this compared there in my head, what highlight is the closest to is the action button on the last few generations

of iPhones in that. It is, it is a button that does, I mean, it can do a bunch of things, but it does one thing at a time. And, And you would think like, oh, certainly, I mean, put aside that it's Apple, but certainly a company building the shortcut button would allow me to assign whatever app I want to it or, you know, very, yeah, double tap, like whatever, you know, triple tap, various shortcuts. And I can make this like a really powerful, like, uniform button. No, it's one thing.

You press and hold for whatever the one of eight actions that you've assigned to it are. And that, that's how highlight feels where it's like, even with the messaging thing. It's like, oh, did you want like a wide-reaching notification light back on your phone, even though we've kind of built this as a quote-unquote like digital well-being feature? Like, too bad, man. It's a digital well-being feature. And it's designed to only alert you to a handful of people through a handful of, and by handful, I mean one soon to be two forms of communication.

I don't know. It's just, it's weird for me as a longtime Android person and a longtime pixel person and a nexus person before that to look at this and be like, why does this phone series keep reminding me so much of the iPhone more than other Android devices? Yeah, speaking of the action button, it's, I set mine to open Google lens.

I always found that ironic. Can you set it to open apps? I actually don't know this. Yes, you can. The shortcut, it's actually pretty very powerful. You can do it. You can open apps. Well, Siri shortcuts is nuts.

That's the thing about Apple is that they'll either go full restraint you're able to do series where you're like, what? Yeah, it's just a macro app built into iOS and I'm like,

huh, it really is just all or nothing with you guys, isn't it? Like, it's so strange. So what's crazy about that is that that means that Apple's version of that action button is like more advanced

than the clones because like I know the one that One Plus and Opel we're doing you cannot set it to open an app. No, you couldn't. And it was the same, it was, Otherwise, the same UI and the same options except for there was obviously no Siri shortcuts because there are no series shortcuts on a on a one plus one.

I still, man, should I switch back to the one plus 15? No, I shouldn't. It's not a very good phone to go out on, is it? I know there's a one plus 16. It's not real. It's not real. So, yeah. So yeah, that's highlight.

Lamber, is that how, how has everybody's a dog? of it. Ben and I feel like you're going to have very different answers on this. I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I'm, I, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I don't know, I'm, I still, I still was not a huge, I, you know, just speak and let it, uh, I found myself, like, talking more and more, instead of sending quick messages with it, um, although I still was not a huge fan. of like it changing the words I was using. Like if I gave an explanation of something and then it shortened it or lengthened it or whatever. I wasn't I'm a friend of that. But being able to just tap the button, start talking, and trust that it's going to send a message

that is what I was saying, thought-wise at least, was good. And I do miss it on everything else and wish that it would expand, at least to the full date. Yeah, in terms of accuracy, see. It's a step up over the previous one. I don't think I've had

a typo from Rambler, which is saying something. And I think that is a trade-off I'm going to have over not having it stream in real time and getting a transcription. 50 days in, I've mostly gotten over that, I think.

But yeah, it's it's I'm surprised it's not being advertised. more. Let's put it that way. Will? Look, I'm not a voice to text person in general. Like, it's just not how I have ever really used my phone.

But even at home, it's rare. The car is really where I do this the most. As far as Rambler goes, I think it's, I haven't used it a lot since the review period and it's sort of twofold. It's not because it's a bad feature

just to like get that out of the way. I think Rambler's impressive. The first thing is that I think I need the like on-screen text appearing, just like how my brain works. I start to like lose my train of thought as I'm talking. I'm sure that's a learning curve and I could get used to it, but it's as someone who is already not really using this like doesn't use voice to text very often, it's an even bigger ass for me to be like learn to learn to use it all the time and also learn to get used to not seeing your words as you're using it. And then the second thing was that my, my vision of Rambler was, oh, like, you can open, like, the notes app and just start, like, stream of conscious, like, just get, you know, I was trying

to do it for my D&D campaign is what I was trying to do. And I spat like two and a half notes of, or two and a half minutes of thoughts into it. And it's, it, it lost a bunch of context and summarized a bunch of stuff. And, and, like, I basically had to, like, rewrite half of it anyway. And it sort of killed my enthusiasm for it because I saw it as a better way to, like, get stuff down on paper without having to, like, type or have to think about what I'm saying. And it's not really there yet or and or I'm using it wrong. It might just, maybe it's just not for that. But, again, it's a good feature.

I just don't know if it fits what I'm personally looking for. Ironically, keep live, which they recently added to the workspace apps, is what it sounds like you want in that and in that specific scenario. But yeah, it's, again, I'm surprised it's not advertised as much as

it's a good feature. It's like a genuinely good AI feature that taps all into the potential of AI. But like Will you were saying, that hasn't really appeared in ads, as it? No, it's really just highlight. And I'm surprised because

a big advancement in how you text your friends, would feel to me like a better selling point or at least a more fully rounded selling point, but I think highlight is just easier to show. It is. It's a, look,

like I said, I don't know if I liked that ad much during the event itself, but I have warmed up to it in terms of, I've seen it, I've seen it like a dozen times now and I'm like, Google addressing a point of complaint

that a lot of people have in terms of how their phones invade their personal lives these days and just how annoying, notifications are. And it's presenting a real solution that doesn't require you to go through mountains of settings menus to get your phone working how you want it to both get the alerts you need and get none of the ones you don't. Lamberra is like the biggest Gemini intelligence feature, which otherwise I still haven't really found myself delegating.

like using the app action stuff not really there yet it's probably it's more so of a thing during trips have anybody been using magic capture a lot no I have not I still can't even think of a place I would use that I used it outside of like last week I used it once

to capture a most a mostly video thing for somebody using like a machete to do a champagne bottle. That was kind of fun. And ironically, I really like how minimalist the magic capture UI is. But yeah, in terms of like Gemini,

what is this, Pixel 11 Pro with Gemini Intelligence, I feel like that's how they're selling it. Not the biggest. The AI stuff hasn't hit. Yeah. Again, beyond Rambo, which is under and the... nice. Yeah, I don't I don't know what to make of Google's

like you know we don't we don't have a lot to say about about Gemini 4 necessarily so I'm not talking I'm not talking so much about the underlying models but it's been a busy week or so week and a half two weeks of

like consumer AI products like from meta and then these dots from open AI and it really it continues to feel a little bit like at least on that front of, I don't know, like a cute little agentic AI thing on your pixel feels like a Google feature to me. Like, I'm surprised that they haven't figured this out and it'll probably come, but it's another

way that it just feels like Google is still playing catch up and or launching, you know, tools that feel just like very, look, they're all throwing spaghetti at the wall, but Google really feels like it's throwing spaghetti at the wall and it's aiming for places that other people have already hit. That's a sweaty analogy, but there you go. I don't know. I'm, I'm, I'm, it's strange to say that Google feels behind on the consumer AI race when this phone is only 50 days old and like there's nothing like I'm not signing up for dots or for muse necessarily, but that's the talk of the town right now. And it just feels like you compare it to what, how people are talking about Gemini. I don't know if people are talking about Gemini. It's just,

it's weird. Yeah, it's, I'm kind of surprised we didn't see Open AI's hardware play this week, but yeah, just to touch on the craze that is Muse and Open AI dots. So Gemini Spark exists. It was the major I.O. announcement in May.

It is currently still only available to AI Pro and AI Pro and AI Ultra. So it's still a paid feature I conceptually I never the split within Gemini so there's a chat tab

and there's a Spark tab I've never that hasn't really made sense to me it does appear they're aiming they're about to simplify it and integrate Spark more closely but I just think it should be a built in Gemini feature

Muse being a hit is really surprising to me. Agreed. One from a privacy perspective because apparently we're never learning what kind of company method is. It's crazy. And

Muse was launched as a separate app because meta-AI is nothing. Yeah, there is a meta-AI app. It has gotten no traction. Any traction that it does have is done by shoehorning into WhatsApp and

Instagram. So Meta was able to do a clean straight app because the original one was doing nothing. He's getting zero traction. I'm sure Muse is like a good simplified experience right now,

but for how long? Because the boat always comes with meta as seen by Instagram. Also the new I got has no personality. the bloat, the privacy problems, the security problems. I mean, we've already seen some of that. I've seen horror stories of muse.

Accessing your messages. I am not at a point, like, I'll just be straight up. I'm not at the point where I'm ready. And I think I said this with Alison Johnson on the side load this week when we're talking about Muse. But I'm not at a point where I'm ready to hand, you know, full control of anything over to any kind of agentic AI system. Like I have used them. Like I have used agentic AI applications. They are always on ask for permission every time.

I don't, I don't care if I have to, if the prompt sits there for 20 minutes waiting for me to say, okay, go for it. Like, I do not understand handing. I think it was,

I think it was not, sorry to, sorry to mention John Gruber on an Android podcast, but I think it was John Gruber who made a comparison to like handing someone your laptop. would you be comfortable just handing someone your laptop and like walking away? And the answer's like, no. No, absolutely not.

It's like it's the same thing even though, you know, it's sure, it's ones and zeros, but it's the same sort of level of unpredictability and like not knowing what this like bot is going to do with what you're handing them. So I, yeah, I'm very concerned about like, or not concerned, but like I, I wouldn't do it. Like I don't see the security protocols in place that would make me feel comfortable just being like, yeah, I'll just let this robot do whatever they want on my computer. So I just, but like, people don't care. Clearly, people are just excited to do this.

They're signing for muse and instinct and, and, and all of these other, you know, fresh-faced, like, we're going to manage your life. We're going to, we're going to book you a reservation at a popular restaurant, which is the example all of these companies keep using for some reason. Is it that, like, is that much of a problem in New York, L.A., and, and mostly San Francisco because that's apparently everybody's main concern in San Francisco

is getting into the hottest restaurant is the lesson I'm learning from how H&A is discussed. Look, here's the thing. I will say a few years ago I went to I went to God, I don't remember the place. Just look up whatever ramen place in SF has a Michelin star

and lines down the street. I've been there. It was delicious and worth the wait. Not that we really had to wait. got there early. We got there right before closed or open, but I get it. But also, you know, it's like travel itiner. It's just like guys, like this is not a problem that

most people actually face in their lives. Like, you got it, you got to broaden this out. So I don't know. And maybe that's why Google hasn't struck in this to bring it, to bring it back to Google in the pixel. You know, their agentic AI stuff is like pretty slim at the moment. Like they're dancing around it

and they're promising more to come. But maybe they really want to just like nail the consumer side properly, but I I don't know, I'm skeptical. I've been back and forth on, you know, being like, oh, Google's leading consumer AI and Google's behind in Consumer AI. And I would say I'm pretty squarely in the ladder camp right now,

even though I think it's the playing field itself is a bit of a mess. Yeah, it's, it's, it's back and forth every week. Nobody is, it's just, it's back and forth. I put it that way. Maybe they move, it's because, they move slow. Like Google clearly moves slower than Open AI and Anthropic

and at the moment Meta's just, meta just has a lot of noise going on right now, so it's easy for them to be up there. But like at the same time, Google's better off than Amazon, which feels like an also, also, also ran at this point for whatever they want to do with Alexa. So there are worse places. And co-pilot. Look at co-pilot. Aren't they killing that branding? Didn't I see, did I see that?

They killed. They're killing the PCs, bro. Pilate Plus PC branding, which was always stupid and meaningless. Yeah. Man, let me into, give me a week at all of these companies, a week each, at all of these companies, I was straighten it out. I would walk in, I'll be like, copilot, I already forgot. What was it, co-pilot plus PC? That's nothing.

That's less than nothing. Like, Google Book is better branding, and I think that's better brand. It's so much less than nothing, because literally all it was was a measure of, how much NPU power they had. And the only feature it unlocked was recall, which they delayed for a year. It's amazing how they messed it up. They could have had some.

They could have genuinely had something. I mean, I just, that is just a company that I think is, is lost in the sauce right now. I have no idea what Microsoft is doing. If Microsoft ever gets a viral hit in A LaMuse, I will be shot. They just,

they don't have product sense. At the end of the day, You can't, you can, so they did hire a lot of people to get, like, build up the AI org, but. It's a management issue. Yeah, institutionally, they don't have product sense. Like, Amazon has no product sense because they just put everything on the home page. It's wild. And Microsoft.

Amazon has no product sense because they launched Kindles today. Their big new feature is that you have to buy a case to get your buttons back. They're like, we hear everybody. We hear everybody. You all want buttons back on your Kindles. Here is an $80 case for the new Kindles that brings your buttons back. You're welcome. That's what you wanted, right?

That company is another one where I just want them to make a small one. Oh my God, they made a remote. They made a Kindle click. Oh, this is amazing. I think the remote, is the remote not old or not like a second, gen version? I don't know. It looks like, it kind of looks like the daydream remote.

I get, I just don't understand why they don't. Just give us, give us buttons back. I don't know. These companies, I, again, give me a week at all of them. I'll straighten it out. I'll bring buttons back or get rid of copilot. No, I'm over buttons. No buttons.

Oh, I couldn't disagree more. I give me a thousand buttons. I love a button. Give me a click, give me a physical, tactile. Solid state is the first thing. Solvit State stuff doesn't break. Not for everything. Not for everything. Not for everything. But as long as we're talking a physical thing that I can click,

Abner, I'm fine with it being like, yeah, like I assume when you say Solid State, you're talking like the MacBook track pads kind of thing, right? Yeah, those are fine. I'm fine with that. God, we are way off topic. This should have been a bonus speech. From the record, just to, I'm just, I'm the idiot that buys every Kindle. for all reasons. I get it. I'm always tempted.

So, you know what? And maybe we're going to talk a little more about this and other stuff in the bonus. Let's wrap up here. Any final pixel 11 at 50 days thoughts? No? Not on Pixel 11. They're good phones, but it's, it just feels, it feels like Google's treading water a little bit with this generation,

which makes it good if you're upgrading from older, older devices. but after 50 days, more so than even other recent pixel launches. It really just even all the new stuff kind of blends into the background and you're just left with another new pixel. All right. That does it for the main episode this week, guys. We are going to head on over to the bonus show. You can sign up for that at 9 to 5 google.com slash pro, I believe.

We'll have already done an ad read for it anyway. So we will see you over there. I want to thank Ben for joining us on this journey, which is not complete, but he's still got a half an hour to go, buddy. But, yeah, Ben, thank you for filling in for Damien this week. And yeah, we will talk to everybody else in the next one. Bye. Bye. Bye.

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