Pixelated - A Made by Google Grumble

Episode Date: July 9, 2026

Welcome to episode 107 of Pixelated, a podcast by 9to5Google. This week, Damien, Abner, and Will dive headfirst into some Pixel speculation following the official announcement of this year's Made by Google. From phones to smartwatches to pondering what might surprise us, it's shaping up to be an interesting event. Enjoy the episode? You can listen to our brand-new weekly Pixelated bonus episode by signing up for 9to5Google Pro! 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

Welcome to Pixelated episode 107. I'm your host, Will Saddlebert. This week, we are returning to a route to dive headfirst into some Pixel 11 speculation. With made by Google confirmed for just a little over a month from now, Damien Abner and myself talked through all the leaks, rumors, and expectations surrounding Google's next hardware launch. It's all coming up after this word from our sponsor, Proton.

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So, gents, we have made by Google set for August 12th. Do we feel as though this is an exciting made by Google or is it kind of like a rerun of a rerun? Because I feel like there's a lot of people are kind of saying that currently. but I don't know. I'm excited. I'm always excited about me by Google. I mean, you guys tell me what you think. So, for my guess, from a logistic standpoint, they are doing an evening event. It reminds me of during the pandemic when they had launched night in. But that was actually during the day, wasn't it? So I guess it's a little bit different. I think it was a night for me, so we'll give them a pass on that one. Always night in some part of the world. You are correct. So yeah, they're doing a later event, August, 12.

12th, like you said, is a week earlier than last year. They've been moving up back and forth a week in New York once again. We'll see if they continue the celebrity host kind of thing. So remains to be seen. I'm sure we'll be talking more about that later on. But we see pictures of a gold phone, maybe the Dune color in the teaser invite. But other than that, they haven't really. leaked anything major. They haven't teased anything major. Like even right now, there isn't

a teaser site on the Google store yet. This is, this was just the press invite coming out on Tuesday. Do you know what's weird about that is I, I'm trying to wreck my brain. Did they do something last year where they teased it on the, there's nothing on socials from Google yet, which I find fascinating. Yeah, not yet. No, this is just five weeks out. So I guess they'll start, they'll absolutely start into August it'll be well teased but maybe this is another week before that happens but yeah this is just the press invite

teasing the next generation of pixel lives which is I guess in the grand scheme of their advertising that's pretty tame yeah I mean you mentioned leaks didn't you I don't know how you feel about this will but I'm kind of like I'm got this is making me

I mean we know that there's potentially going to be some similarities was last year. But I quite like that we haven't had a full hardware leak at this point, like anyone out there running around with the device. I like that. This could mean a better launch for everyone if that stays the same. I don't know. It's a five weeks out. Do you know how this is? Yeah, I've probably jinxed it now, haven't I? Absolutely. You can't jinx what was already set in stone. This thing is going to leave. You know, Damien, I really like your rerun of a rerun quote, I suppose, because it is a little hard not to feel that way. I think, you know, even, even the most dedicated, you know, hardware fans, which I would say I am, I am one, I'm always more

interested in hardware than software, to be honest, are, at least these days are pretty forgiving on, okay, like, like you can do a talk year. You can do a TikTok refresh cycle and, and I'm, I'm happy, but, you know, I would love to, you know, if I have a pixel nine, I would love to see what, what is upgraded on the pixel 11 because although two years is pretty rapid to upgrade this year, it's certainly not unheard of and lots of us are used to that two year cycle still. So it is maybe a bit of a bummer for pixel nine owners in particular that this, you know, is going to be a very similar phone. And I mean, I mean, you know, we talk about leaks, but like you can judge it based on the event teaser. Like that is, that is at the very least the same

basic shape and design of the pixel 9 and 10 series. And it's annoyingly shiny. It's annoyingly shiny, which is like, honest to God, if the pixel 11, the only, like, design, you know, put aside whatever pixel glow ends up being, the only design change was that the, it was, everything was Matt, both models were all Matt. Yeah, I'd be thrilled. I'd honestly be thrilled. but it clearly isn't happening

because yeah these are some shiny frames that we're seeing shiny and gold yeah and gold yeah what do you think of the color

like I'm looking at it right now I kind of I'm okay I'm gonna play devil's advocate here I'm a little bit indifferent to the shiny sides of the pixel nine and ten series because

because I'm going to play the straight man here we will put our phone in a case anyway. So, like, does it matter? Like, I currently have, I think, well, okay, I'm going to go back on what I just said. I have my pixel 10 proxel on the desk right now, and it isn't in a case.

But that is a very rare rarity. That was because I was filming with it earlier. Ordinarily, it's in a case. I never see the shiny rails. The only thing I see that shiny is the back of the camera bar, which I quite like is Matt. Again, I'm 100% just criticizing myself. Now my point's falling apart.

I say it out loud. But I can see the shiny bit at the bottom where I plug in to charge. Beyond that, I'm absolutely fine with it. I don't really care as much as I maybe probably done like four or five years ago. I think I cared more. Abner, do you want to take this? I cared more two years ago, but it's the fundamentally their rationale is that shiny equals premium and they clearly believe that. They clearly still believe that. And it's not practical. They're not doing this. practically it's a style thing. And once the style thing, you can't really, it's their style thing. Well, it's a style thing that Apple started. Like, we have to be honest, this trend started with Apple, where they had the base. Did they start? Yeah, the base for a couple years, the base iPhones

had had glossy, or excuse me, glossy backs with, with, I believe, Matt frames, and the pros had glossy frames with Matt backs. I definitely had an iPhone. I had, I had, I had, I had, I had the iPhone 14 pro, I think at one point, or no, 13, 13 pro, 14 pro. And that, that device had, I believe I had it in purple, and that was like a matte frosted purple glass back with shiny rails, very, very similar to, to the design that the pixel is using today. And Apple's moved away from that, starting with their, with their move into titanium. And even, you know, now that titanium is gone, I believe everything is still pretty matte. but but even removing Apple from the the equation because I don't think it's necessary.

The the real answer is the pixel 10A, which is all matte. It's using plastic, sure, but while it certainly doesn't feel as premium, obviously, as that, or maybe look as premium as the fresh out of the box pixel 10 Pro XL. It's also a device that like rules to use without a case. Like you are not going, it never feels even in, you know, look, it's been a hot summer. right even in like pretty warm temperatures and i have i have sweaty hands i will admit i i never feel like the pixel 10 is like grimy you know or like like slippery because because it's 89 degrees out and uh in the sun and i'm i'm you know i've been working outside or something and that is that is

not true for a caseless pixel uh 10 pro or even really the the regular pixel 10 because it's got the glossy back glass right like it's i i prefer that to be honest with you that's the other problem. I want a pro, but if I'm going, if I have to pick my poison, I actually prefer the glossy glass with the matte frame. Um, so yeah, I don't know. I, I understand, I'm, I'm throwing in the towel, right? Like, if they were going to change this, uh, this was the year, uh, I'm sure it will change eventually with a refresh design, maybe on the pixel 12, but I'm not, you know, this is my one complaint about it. I will not do it again, uh, come review season. It, it is just like Google sees this as their differentiator and I just kind of disagree with it, but that's okay. Yeah. Yeah, I don't think

it's a bad deal. I mean, looking at the image, if you are listening to this, go over to the site, go check out Abner's invite, the lucky devil. He has a direct invite with the image on it. I think the color choice is very, very interesting. It's almost like we've seen, we've definitely seen a move away from the wilder colors. And I have the, and I don't even know what it's called. I know it is the P-green pixel 10-pro. I have the Moonstone pixel 10-pro Excel, and I kind of flip-flop between them. I liked the really out-there colors for a long time.

Yeah. But I'm now starting seeing myself more warming towards these kind of colors. I remember seeing the desert titanium iPhone, and this looks eerily similar to that kind of tonal thing. And I think is this a first time we've had anything that's like, probably, I mean, if it is all gold, do we have a yellow pixel 6 pro that was kind of like this, more of a goldy color?

I can't remember what the color was actually called. My mind goes to the pixel 7 pro, and with that green back by the gold frame, I regret getting that color instead of just getting white or black. Yeah, I think this is, I think they did age as well as you. A yellow, sort of sunny pixel. Sort of sunny, yeah, that's what I would call it yellow and orange, not so much, not so much gold. Yeah, well, that was the one I wish I'd have picked in that color, but this is one of those things.

We're only getting a teaser of this one. We know what the hardware's going to potentially look like. I think you should talk about that. They're keeping the fundamental hardware the same for another year. I think I'd say that this is probably the last year. They can do that. but then again, the reason they move to this iPhone design

is because of the durability upgrades, battery, structure improvements. Yeah. I don't think it changes that much even a major redesign. Yeah, what does it look like? Did they put curves on it again? I quite like the boxing nature of it.

I like that it's thick and I like that it maybe a little bit. Okay, so some people might want it a bit thinner. I was going to say, I'm the person who opened this by pushing back on the TikTok talk type of thing. So let me let me say I the core design I do have no problem with. You know, we did the mat discussion, putting that aside. The thing that I want, it's got, it's not even so much, I would like it thinner. I really would like it lighter.

These phones have to get light. I mean, look, man, I published a leak. We had a leak this morning as we're recording. of the the Galaxy Z Fold 8, which is the wide one. That's now just the standard fold 8. And that thing is allegedly 200 grams, which is about the same weight as the pixel like 10 series, basically. And like it's got a whole second 7.6 inch screen in there, man.

Like it's got like like it's got a hinge. You know, it's not that much bulkier. And when it's unfolded, it's way thinner, obviously. The battery sizes are about the same allegedly. it's 4,800 million per hours in that phone. And like, I need Google to figure out how to get this thing lighter. Like, I don't know. Materials, internals, something.

But, like, that's my number one critique about this design. And I don't think we're going to see a change this year because we didn't really see a change last year. And the early, like, any early dimension leak that we've seen for this basically says, yeah, it's about the same size, shape, and weight as the previous do. So that's my big critique. I, when I complain about recycling designs,

it's not even so much that they're keeping this because it is, I agree with you, it's a good design. I still think my favorite might be the Pixel 8 Pro, but we talk about that

at a different time. But I do like this design. I just wish it was a little bit more comfortable in my pocket, especially with that camera bar, man. When you add that camera bar to its width,

it really does protrude if you were wearing any, any type of, like, pants or slacks that are, like, remotely, like, even a little tight on you, you know? I mean, I would say, I would be the fashion police there and say you probably shouldn't be wearing skinny jeans and skinny pants. I'm not wearing, no, no, I'm talking about, like, I'm talking about, like, it protruding from soup pants because soup pants are, like, not skin tight soup, just, like, like, that sort of, like, those, that sort of material, like, you just see this, like, lump sticking out of your

leg. Like it's, it's, it's, because you don't really, the rest of the, the, the phone and pants is like, because this is a stupid communication. But it, it's, it's, it's lighter, it's thin enough that, like, it can kind of blend in and also everybody has a phone in their pockets. They get used to it. But then with the pixel specifically, you just get this, like, lump sticking out of your leg that, you know, the average iPhone user doesn't have. I just, I think you've just admitted to wearing muscle fit clothing, which is quite funny. I guess so. I guess, I guess, I think, my, my, pants are too tight. I think you mentioned...

Buckling I'm the editor and I can cut all of this and make me sound like I'm winning the argument. I'm not arguing, hey, go for it. You do whatever you're comfortable in. I think just going back to the thickness of weight again though, I personally think

just from what Google have had problems with the hardware and I looked over behind me which sadly you can't see me doing, I'm looking at all of my previous devices on a little kind of rack that I have of every single previous pixel phone And I'm trying to think in my brain, what were the hardware problems with each one? Durability tended to be one of those issues we had with the previous gen,

because they went to that fully curved sides things. Hey, we can talk about it until the cows come home. It is more comfortable. But you have that protruding area of glass that can crack, fracture, slip out. I've had the adhesive melt, which is my own fault, left it out in the sun while on vacation with the Pixel 6 series and had to kind of like reheat the glue and set it back again. Oh, my God. I have not had, and I'm touching my desk now, touch wood,

I have not had a hardware problem or a hardware fault since Google moved to this design. So as long as this reduces, if they say we're going to stay with a thick phone for a little bit longer and it means potentially they're going to pack some more battery in there and it makes it heavier, yeah, I don't care because at the end of the day, they needed to address their hardware faults,

and they've done that. At the end of it, I mean, we're probably, we're probably looking, we're definitely thinking into it too deep. The biggest change is probably going to be pixel glow. There is no indication in this invite, which I'm surprised at. I'm surprised I didn't tease it. I'm sure we'll get one soon.

I just can't tell, because like the rumor is, it's a ring around the camera sensor, right? I can't tell if that's what I'm looking at here with that, like, it's the light hitting it, but am I,

am I secretly seeing where those lights are going to be? Or is the rumor wrong? You know what I mean? Like, it's one of those things. too, because the ring that it should be is there. It's just not lighting up. Yeah. Yeah, I kind of want it to be an LED strip,

but then I'm like, it has nothing have done it previously in the last couple of years, and people hated it. People just said gimmick straight away. I don't know, does that diminish what Google do? I no doubt anything that Google does here with regards to separating the design, it's going to get called a gimmick. And I don't try not to use it personally, the term gimmick, because sometimes it is, I mean, it's, they would call it a,

USP and that falls into marketing speak. But we've had so many phones that look the same. Surely we've got to have something new. I don't know how you feel about Abner because you've not seen there nothing phone, have you? I've seen it briefly when we were all at Mountain View. But I don't know. I think the broader trend I'm thinking about is screenless devices with the Fitbit Air and the Google Home speaker, which has its own ring of lights.

I do think speaking more broadly I do think there's somewhat of a backlash towards being too much on your phone people want to be content people want to simplify that kind of thing so following that logic and thinking how it applies to phones

I guess that is turning over your phone and just having having it being able to flash for very important occasions, I still wouldn't turn over my phone. I think the AOD, the always on display, is minimis enough, so to speak, though I can see why other people disagree. The pixels have a long time had the flip-to-shush feature

that activates the ND when you turn over your phone. So for the people that do that, I guess that gives you the ability to unwind a little bit. That is something I'm definitely curious in testing to see how much of a signature feature this becomes, how much of how integral this is becomes with the pixel experience because I am wary right now from a, are they really commit to this or is this one, two-year thing and they're done?

and I don't know, apps have to support it, notifications have to support it. So we'll see how deep of an investment Google makes. But I guess on the other side of that, if they are putting the globe on Google books, when that happens. So I guess there's more of a broad ecosystem differentiators slash story. Yeah.

I think one piece of integration, I think, that could work. and this is just me spitballing here is they could use sunrise alarm for the pixel glow and I think that would be kind of cool to see because it would be a lot softer if it is an LED strip but beyond that

I can't necessarily see anything apart from maybe video if it's like a soft fill light I think that was one of the best things about nothing from one where you could kind of put it as a really soft fill light and do really high quality video in low light for that but I'm kind of not

I mean hey we're going on rumors aren't we're going to rumors and leaks that keep shift and don't form themselves until the last minute. So I'm going to save judgment on that, I think. Well, the problem is, it's going to, I agree with you, Jamie. It's going to be called a gimmick no matter what.

And it kind of is a gimmick, no matter what. And I don't mean that gimmick has a negative connotation. Yeah, I don't necessarily meet it in a negative way. I meet it in a very neutral way of just, there's not really a way to put lights on the back of a phone, no matter how inventive and useful you can find certain elements from it, whether it's notification alerts or a sunrise alarm or even a fill, which I think is by far the most useful thing, which would be a fill light. I agree with you. Yeah. But even still, there's no way for it to not come off a little bit as gimmicky. And that's, that's okay. But I agree with Abner. It's it really depends on, okay, like, if you're going to do this, are you going to, are you committing to this?

Are you sticking to this? Or is this the temperature sensor that it's replacing, right? Like, is it, is it three years of the, of pixel glow? And then with the pixel, oh, I got to do my math now. 14, 11, 12, 13. 14, with the pixel 14, you know, do we see something else replace it? Like, I, I may be, obviously no way to know. But I'm not, I'm not down or out on pixel glow.

I, to be honest with you, I'm a sucker for silly RGB lights. places they normally aren't. It's the gamer in me. But, yeah, I'll just have to see how they sell it. I guess the best parallel is, again, going back to the past. We had notification LEDs for quite a long time. But to your point, always on displays, have kind of replaced them. Yeah, it's, I don't know, there are, I guess if you want to try this now,

there is the flash notifications feature. that will brighten your screen if you want to get a taste of it and see, okay, I guess at the end of the day, it's like, it's an, it's, if you don't want to use it,

you want to be able to use it, you don't have to use it. It's like it does not impact your experience in any way. Same with the temperature sensor, but then again, people are very mad at having a hardware thing they didn't use. I think that's a good definition of gimmick,

by the way, is basically like, thing that's nice to have, but certainly is not necessary or it's not going to make or break the relationship you have with this phone. Like that's where I'm coming at this thing when I call it a gimmick. Again, in a very neutral light. I guess like, to me it goes back to the idea of commitment. Like, if they're doing this, make this an Android feature.

Make sure Samsung supports it. Or Samsung has some equivalent back. Nothing. Give them their credit and support. it OS wide so that app developers, notifications can take advantage of etc. That to me would be a sign

of solid commitment that this is an Android ever feature, not just a pixel, and that this is in it for the long haul. Until they show that, I don't know how much to care about this. And again, it comes out to utility,

which I don't think I'm going to turn over my screen. as somebody that doesn't use a case, I'm not doing that. I'm not putting my hard grass on whatever surface. Right. I never do that. I don't do it.

Yeah, I mean, I mean, you know, my phone might be faced on sometimes on a couch or something. But yeah, I agree with you on any kind of hard service, you know, even when it's in a case, I don't really put it on its face, you know? I do it all the time. I do all the time. I have a script for anyway. Well, and that's why all of your phones are broken.

Yeah, probably. The durability is down to me being an idiot with my phones. Yeah, so PixelGlow will save judgment for that when it comes. I think obviously we can't judge on what we don't know, which is, hey, that's half the game. What do you think about in terms of like other hardware? We know that we know that PixelWatch 5 is probably going to be happening. We've had a leak today on that with some colors and potential pricing. Let's get into what we expect from the Pixel Watch 5. I mean, I think we talked about it briefly on the pod.

Like, we haven't really heard much about it in general. This is like the first time any information. I think we only talked about it when Randy Pitchford tweeted it. I think that's the only time we've really talked about it. I think. I think, that's so weird. I know. I just think it's probably going to one of those, like,

I think the Pixar Watch 4 is that final evolution. All this is going to be is more of the same, right? They're not going to be making any major changes. The processor is like the biggest thing we can see or assuming from Qualcomm's announcements unless they were really just referring to the upcoming Galaxy Watch when they announce everything at MWC

that or it we see that that tensor equivalent chip or whatever but a new chip okay unless a new chip reads to multi-day battery to like a week's worth of battery life. I don't think that's going to change anything meaning for you about the experience. And I think we're still away from that.

And with battery chemistry, technology, ultimately needed, but neither here nor there. So to what Damien said, it's this, we're entering the final evolution. The Apple Watch has stayed the same for stretches. And I know, I guess I'm highlighting a flaw in my mental model. with me being so bothered by the, me getting bored by the phones working the same. By the same time, I'm perfectly fine with the watch.

Century's staying the same for the past five years. Is it because the watch shape is based on, like, traditional watches. Those have existed, you know, wristwatches have existed for, you know. Yeah. I don't know. I'm not even going to pretend to know how long the wrist watches has been on the market. I'm not going to even pretend. Probably two or three hundred years, but I feel like.

I don't want to say a number. I'm going to sound like an idiot. I mean, you raise a good point there, Rabna, though, because when you think about it, good design is timeless. If Google thinks they've landed on something with the Pixel 11 series, and particularly the Pixel Watch 4, and they think it's a timeless design, then by all means, just they're going to lean into it. And I think that's, in some of it, okay, take away the fact that people want to see

something new all the time and consume and consume and consume, I genuinely think it takes some serious cahones. to do that because you're saying we are happy with our products, we're going to continue with it. You could go down the Sony route with their Experia line and they kind of settled on this 21 by 9 design and to screw everybody else. I think Google has settled on two pretty solid designs

for their phone, for their watch, and it's absolutely fine for them to stay in their lane and keep improving and iterating. Yeah. Do we eventually see something like an ultra or like a rugged version? I'm not going to lie. I don't think it really work. I think if they do it,

it'll be under the Fitbit banner somehow. I think it would work better in that space because a rugged watch for this dome-like design, this pebble-like design for the Pixel Watch isn't going to work because there's just so much on show. And it kind of ruins the aesthetics. And I don't think it fits with the rest of the pixel watch lineup.

I don't think we need. I think that's probably one of the fairest assumptions I can make. It fits with everything they've done, soft, soft touches, curves. And then the phones are quite square. It's quite a stranger. Google is also, Google is not like a rugged.

I don't think of Google. Like, I don't associate them with like backpacking or hiking. And you can make that argument for Apple and Samsung too. But they've gone into this market. And I feel like in both of their cases, they're already existing watch designs lent themselves better to becoming ruggedized smart watches. And I agree with you.

I don't think that's true for the current pixel watch design. And because because so much of what makes it an elegant design is the opposite of what you would want in a rugged piece of hardware. Yeah. And so I almost wonder if they're best off kind of just being like, look, that's a niche market as it is. If you want that, like your pixel phone does work with, you know, with what Samsung's making. Like you can go buy the Galaxy Watch Ultra. you can, you know, if you don't want to stick with WearOS, like, I'm sure Google would like you to, but you could go buy a Garmin watch and like have an okay time with that on Android. And so like those, I wonder if Google just sees those options is already, that niche is filled in a way. And so do they need to roll out? Like, and maybe they will. Like, I'm not putting it aside. But I agree with you that maybe they just see the design as this is the best all, you know, well-rounded design. It's certainly, I think it's the best one, the best smartwatch. by far that looks good with, with, um, uh, I think it looks in every, every situation.

It looks good. Well, right. It works really well with, with athletic wear. It works with casual wear. It works with formal. That's the word I was looking for. For like, far beyond anything Samsung or Apple has made. I think the Pixel Watch five looks best in formal situations compared to other smart watches. Um, and maybe they're happy to, to kind of have that, you know, that number one trophy, right? Like they are the the designer good looking smart watch and maybe they don't need to be rugged. The bad mechanism could be better. The bad mechanism could be better.

Well, I mean, if we're critiquing things, I will. Yeah, I'm not. I have never liked the band mechanism. But that's that's neither here nor the overall look and feel of the of the watch is is more of what I'm thinking of. But yes, yes, they should improve that. So charging is probably set. They're going to use the same dock, which I've been fine with. like we said, battery.

You can get more than a day of usage as is on the current one, especially on the 45. So I think until we get a generational leap in battery technology, that's probably where we're at and I'm fine with that. Satellite we got last year.

That's the big thing. So I do say I have, when I went back to the pixel watch tree, just for testing. The curvature, the flat screen does make a difference. So that's something that if you have an older watch upgrading to the four or five, we'll make that difference obvious to you. But I guess, I don't know, it's software.

It's another software here, which is the same of the phones. And we'll talk about that in future episodes. but we know the Gem 9th intelligence upgrades that are coming. We can always get voice, speech attacks can always improve. But again, from a pure hardware's perspective, looks the same. Maybe the chip's faster. But other than that, we don't know what they want to do with that extra processing power or efficiency or whatever that comes to a new chip.

They're going to have to show something different because of the latest leak is that they're potentially going to be a problem. price hike of like $50 on everything. That's definitely. I mean, we didn't really talk about it, but that the prices are, you know, we've had leaks for price hikes for both the phone and the watch. Either way, like whether or not those are completely accurate, it doesn't really matter. It's happening.

Like, it's happening across the board. The iPhone price is absolutely going up in September, if not before that, but I do think they're trying to drag it out to September. I think Google's kind of doing the same thing where they're trying to just get through the Pixel 10 series. before they say, here's the Pixel 11. It's, you know, somewhere between $100 and $150 more than it used to be. You know, I mean, that's, that's, that's just the state of the tech market.

Like, it is an awful, it is like kind of an objectively awful time to try to buy any piece of computing hardware. Yeah. I mean, the only good news is that potentially we're going to, they're going to get rid of the 128 gigabyte storage tier, which I think is about time, which, yeah, about that time. I think, I think, should have, should have happened last year. Yeah. So last thing on Pixar Watch 5, we saw some potentially leaked color lineups this time, four colors.

I'm going to... Kind of four colors. Yeah, kind of four colors. There's one pirate that looks exactly like one gold is. It does not. Colors on your watch don't matter. It's especially with this Google design. Okay.

I agree with you, but also, if you're going to add a fourth color, can it not look exactly alike one of the three existing colors? is I'm looking, and I know this is a mock-up, but I'm looking at the pyrite leaked color, that is a mock-up, and I'm looking at the existing warm gold shade next to it, and it's just a slightly duller, and honestly, that might be because it's matte, but it's a slightly duller gold. Yeah, and it's, you know, it's, I, I just like, if we're going to do a fourth color, let's, let's, let's do, you know, I understand that black. Do an insane one. That's, and that's sort of how I feel about the phone, too,

where I'm like, I'm like, look, guys, I get that, like, most people just buy black phones. And if they don't buy black phones, they buy white phones. And no matter what, they're slapping them in a case. I understand I'm in the minority on this one. But, like, if you're going to go through all the trouble to make a new color, like, give me one out there option. That's, that's the only thing I would say. I might not even buy it, but I want to see it. Yeah, I'm, yeah, I regret not getting the pink pixel nine series device, the pink, the pink one for the pro.

But that's neither here nor there. I think, yeah, overall, Pixel 11 series, more of the same. Pixel Watch 5, again, more of the same, which is kind of fine. It's like reporting on Apple, isn't it? Well, I mean, so can I, I've made this comparison before, and I'm not the only person, but has, I think maybe Ramageddon has finally accelerated the transformation of consumer tech products into the cycle that automobile manufacturers have, where there is a new, look, there is a new model of Rav4 every year,

but they're really only changing every three to four years. And the changes between the 2025 and 26 models or whatever are, you know, the interior is light gray instead of gray. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like it's very minute changes that if you're coming in to upgrade your, you know,

whether you lease or it's just time for you to buy a new car, you are getting a new experience. But if you're trying to, for some reason, buy a new car every 12 months, you know, you're getting kind of the same vehicle because we're only going to do generational leaps every three to five years. That's kind of where we have officially, and I think Ramageddon has just like cemented it as like, nope, this is, we are in a space where we have to sort of start thinking about these gadgets as as vehicles almost, right? And the way we think about vehicles.

That is such a very good point. And for whatever reason, that more, that car model seems more really, than them switching to 18-month cycles for ever ungodly reason. I agree. I was thinking about making the claim that I often do, which is that like, okay, guys, if we're going to keep doing this, is it time to do an 18 or 24-month cycle?

But I, the better comparison is cars, which do put out, you know, roughly every 12 months, a new, most cars get a new refresh, but,

but, you know, not necessarily an overhaul. That's, I think that's where we're at. I think that's better than my analogy. I used to like an, to laptops, but more so from a user interface perspective.

We kind of hit the peak of what a laptop is going to be for a long time ago, and it definitely feels like the biggest differentiation now is in the software, which has also hit a very big plateau period where we're not seeing the generational leaps that we did. But I guess when we think about it logically, we've only had maybe, let's say logically since 2009 era, 2007 was when Apple introduced the iPhone, but I think 2009 era is when the smartphone became more ubiquitous. definitely feels like that but um yeah that what do you guys want in in terms of like extras what do you

think we should uh what do you think we should do so this is the year on the two year cycle for the pixel buds pro tree yeah nothing has a week yet so let's that's speak fair about that but i guess that's the year and i don't know what i want i'm kind of enjoying the pixel buds 2a right now Hmm. Okay, controversial take. I only keep me in my car. I keep my pixel Buzz 2A in my car. Yeah, they're my backup here. I haven't used my pixel Buzz Pro 2 since. They're so light. Two years. They're very light. I am such a, I'm a stand for the One Plus Buds Pro 3.

I will probably buy another pair. Yeah. I have three pairs. I'll probably buy a third pair when they get, go on sale. I literally cannot, I cannot live without them. But I think in terms of like extras, I mean, I'm seeing a lot of people discussing they'd love to see a pair of headphones or dedicated pair of headphones. Personally, I don't think, I don't think Google ever does it. I think they stick to earbuds.

external stuff maybe we see some nest things i'd like to see some maybe a nest Wi-Fi a new version nest Wi-Fi it's probably about time we have Wi-Fi 7 supported um i mean let's talk about dream dream additions okay we didn't have we never had the pixel tag or the pixel whatever it was going to be right i would absolutely love to for google to just say do you know what we're going to do it now we're ready we're ready to release the privacy is the privacy stuff is over about that the air tags have made it an accepted part of the world um if what they really should do is just partner with samsung get them join the networks like they did with quick share and yeah that's what they really should do and then release it out definitely definitely i love the samsung smart

tags as well so if anyone out there's looking for the most reliable on Android, Smart Tag 2 is the best in my testing. Yeah, I don't think this, I don't, it's strange, isn't it? Because we're talking about effectively the same again. And I probably jabbed at Apple a little bit. This feels much like an Apple launch event. Like we are talking about products. We probably know more about them than you think,

than you would ordinarily expect from a Google launch event. And it's a second time in a row where we're doing that. In terms of surprises, do you think we could maybe see some more, I'd like to see some more Google book stuff. Maybe they go into detail about what hardware partners are going, but I feel like made by Google's not the place for that. I don't think we're going to do it. Two years ago, we had that Samsung and Motorola devices open,

made by Google, was it for the Pixel 9? That being said, I do agree in that. I think that's its own event with its own partners. I think the focus right now is on the yearly cadence cycle. and I think they promised fall, so I don't think that's going to get its own announcement. If not live event, then certainly like announcement, I think. Maybe they'll do an Android show for it or something. Can I tell you guys what I want?

I mean, maybe this is too big of a gadget, but it will forever be on my wish list until they do it. Pixel tablet 2, colon, this time it's good. That's all I want. I just want, I just want, that was, I, I'm not going to rein about it. I've done it before, but like, it was just, I always thought that was such a good idea, like, at its core, and they just flubbed the execution. I just, I just think that's wrong. Like, Google Books is the first moment they have in that large green efforts. I think Google Books is a disaster waiting to happen and that thing is dead on arrival, but we will, we will see. I at the very least thought the pixel tablet too had a, had a good idea at its core.

I don't get the pixel book or the Google book thing, but. We'll save that for another day. Well, yeah, we've got nothing to go off other than what I've always already, excuse me, already ranted about. So, yeah. Yeah, my dream, so my dreams is a little bit of Ness stuff, which again, I just feel like isn't something that's ever going to be made by Google anymore. I think they're just going to stick to their tried and tested.

I think we're probably just going to see phone and watch. It's probably good, though. It's like, I think the three of us, as much as we've got a wish list, each individual wish list, Like it's probably for the best that Google is kind of staying focused on what they've been doing well for the most part on their on their hardware side like that's not a bad thing maybe for them to be that is a company that has you know Google Google's attention can can waiver right like it's probably good that they are dead set on phone and watch and earbuds and they're doing a good job at I would say a good job at all three of those. Yeah. And we'll talk more about software next week or as. as the stuff comes in, but this was the hardware. This was the hardware show or hardware free tease, tease.

So yeah, in the next couple of weeks, we're hopefully going to be getting more into made by Google, getting ramped up. I'm genuinely excited, but we're going to head over now to our 95 Google Pro members, enclosure, and to discuss a little bit more around everything else that's going on. But if you aren't aware of what that is,

Will's going to take it from here because he knows the full details and I don't want to get any of this wrong. Oh, man, you guys are going to have to fact check me. I do have the table in front of my on my screen. Yeah, 9 to 5 Google Pro has been, I would say, a long time in the works, a pet project for both the three of us and the rest of the 9 to 5 Google team. You know, it is a way for you to support the independent journalism that we are doing in an independent internet, right, something that is becoming slater and slider by the day,

I would say. And so it starts at $5 a month or $50 a year. If you want to pay for a full year, you get a small discount. That gives you an extra weekly pixelated podcast episode. We're literally about to go record that right now. So you will get a second episode in your feed that basically the exact same time where we keep talking about maybe completely it. Maybe it's not a pixel thing or it's not a Google thing necessarily, but it's something broader tech focused. It's something a little more, a little loose, a little more conversational.

should be a lot of fun. If you love this show and you like listening to us, you're going to have a great time there. You get access to our private Discord server. That thing has been, you know, a blast already and has been blowing up. There's a ton of people already in it. Come hang out with us. You get a monthly Q&A podcast in addition to the extra weekly episodes

and more perks coming soon. This is just the start of what we're doing. We also have the Excel, the pro XL tier. Do you see what we did there? That gets you everything plus exclusive. everything I already said, plus exclusive deals and discount codes and personal shoutouts, if you are paying. That's $25 a month, $250 a year. You also get a sign up bonus. And then, of course, if you really love us, we have our ultra tier. That doesn't include any additional things,

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Go do that and it should be a lot of fun. Oh, and ad free as well. You get your own podcast feed that will have no ads on this episode and everything will be in one feed. So we have that for you as well. Yes, all good fun. And join us over there now.

you want to listen to us rambling on about random stuff and get into the everything else in between. It's not just, not just pixelated, not just pixel. It could be any old random crap that we don't want to talk about. But yeah, for your regular listeners, thanks for joining us and we'll speak to you next week. Bye. Bye. Thanks for listening to Pixelated, a 9 to 5 Google podcast. If you enjoyed the show, we ask that you rate and review it on the podcast platform of your choice and help spread the word by sharing the show with friends or on social media.