Pixelated - All Wallets are Designed Badly

Episode Date: September 4, 2026

Welcome to Pixelated episode 115. This week, Damien, Abner, and Will dig through Google's latest Android Drop and discuss their most-wanted feature additions for Android. Enjoy the episode? You can listen to our brand new weekly members-only Pixelated Pro bonus episode by signing up for 9to5Google Pro for just $5 per month. Sponsored by Bitwarden: Pixelated listeners can get started with Bitwarden’s free individual plan by clicking this link, and check out the Open Source Security Summit on September 17th. Thanks to Bitwarden for sponsoring! 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 Damien Wilde 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 115. I'm your host, Will Saddlebird. This week, we're digging through Google's latest Android drop, including the addition of some new motion sickness tools and a absolute no-brainer feature for FindHub. After the break, we discuss our most wanted feature additions for Android, including some improvements to mobile payments, Google's Pixel Launcher, and much more.

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or by clicking the link in the show notes. That's Proton.combe. That's Proton.combe.com. Thanks to Proton for sponsoring Pixelated. Another week, another Android update. This time it is. the, and it's a weird one, isn't it? This is the Android drop, not to be confused with Pixel Drop,

which was previously Pixel Feature Drop, which I guess will be coming soon. This is kind of a cool one for anyone with an Android phone that's eligible for updates. There's some really cool stuff here, Abner. You've detailed this in the blog post on the website. I'm very excited about one feature specifically, if I can spit that out. Just give me a rundown on what's been added here, what Android fans are there. Even if you're not a pixel fan, you're going to get into.

Actually, yeah, we should start with the motion assist feature that you're excited about. So basically, it adds bubbles to the perimeter of the screen. It's when you're in a call and you're moving vehicle, the idea is to, like, show these bubbles so that you don't get motion sickness. And as somebody that suffers from motion sickness, this would be great to appreciate it. iOS has had this feature for ages. I use it there

well actually no it's also quite recent on iOS maybe one or two releases ago I guess let's start with do you have motion sickness do I get motion sickness I do sometimes if I'm in the back of the car because what ends up happening is whoever's driving I don't know if it's just a me

problem like my close family and friends they throw the car around like they're in a rally like they're maybe not Indy 500 because that's just kind of in a circle isn't it but whatever the U.S. equivalent of F1 drivers is IndyCar? Is that the one we go on an actual track? You don't just go in a circle?

Well, imagine that, and I'm in the back, and I'm trying to redetects message, or I'm trying to get directions, I always, always just feel like, maybe it's because I'm getting older. I definitely get some level of motion sickness now. I don't get it on aircraft or anything like that. I sometimes get it on the bus,

because we have good public transport here. That's another dig. I'm sorry, American friends out there. But this is something I wanted for so long, because as soon as I saw it on iOS, I was like, that doesn't work, tested it on the, I want to say the iPhone 15 here,

it genuinely works. It's crazy. So this one I'm genuinely really, really excited for. Do we know how this is going to actually activate? Does this just automatically detect movement? Yes, there's automatic detection, and there's also a quick setting style.

You can customize options like shape, which is nice. You can even set the colors, and I believe there is, one that matches dynamic cover, maybe. But yeah, this is all automatic. It's something that you set once and then you never really touch again.

But yeah, it's nice. It's on the perimeter. Will, do you have motion sickness? No. I actually have never... I mean, I'm sure I've experienced it in moments. I guess the closest would probably be like the one time I've been on like a cruise ship,

which I know is a little different, but in terms of, like, vehicles, I have always been lucky enough that, like, as a kid, like, I would sit in the back and play my Game Boy. Yeah, but I did. This is a thing. You know what I said? I thought I would be immune.

It's everything. I thought I would be immune from the Game Boy thing. You know, when it, like, I mean, I'm definitely sure of my age here, but this is the kind of the era when, like, I had my Game Boy color with no backlight, and you're waiting for the streetlights to light so you can play it while you drive it. Absolutely, yeah.

I didn't get car sickness then, but I wonder, okay, this is going to sound so stupid, but I wonder if the actual fact the lighting would be inconsistent, may have to give up many effects. I feel like it might have to do with the fidelity of the modern screens. I feel like it's like, yeah. I'm thinking about like every time, because, okay, so like I, I am usually the driver these days.

Like I, it is very rare that I am a passenger in a vehicle for anything more than 15, 20 minutes, to be honest with you, even less for the backseat. Like, it's, it's really rare. So when I think about times that I would be, I would, I would be getting car sick. It's more of a, it's usually in an Uber, right? Yeah. And like, I've certainly, I've certainly taken my fair share in recent years of hour plus long Uber rides from JFK into Midtown Manhattan. Like, I've, I've had to do those. And I'm, I'm usually, I'm, bare minimum, I'm usually, I'm usually, on my phone, if not, you know, working on a laptop in the backseat. And yeah, never had, never had major issues.

A laptop is, no, I fear it to a degree with smartphones, but it's mostly, in my case, it's when I'm on the laptop, like actively writing and working and browsing. That's when I fear it. So I would very much like Apple to add it to Mac OS and Google for Google Books, which neither of them have taken that step yet. actually I wonder if it's even on the iPad. I have to check on that. But yeah, it's automated.

It's useful. It really does work as iOS. And yeah, it's a nice audio vibe update. I know. I think it's great. I think for anyone out there who's wondering, this is one of those things that you don't think it's going to make a difference, but for some reason it does.

I don't know if it, the kind of, I know that I can only really speak. for how it works on the iPhone. And I don't have an iPhone anymore, but you could, the little dots that are on screen, I don't know if it maybe mimics the movement of the vehicle and helps you focus.

I don't know the exact signs of it, but it works. I'll just put it that way. And then sometimes when the car moves left, the little dots on the left and the right of the screen will kind of, I guess the G-Force, or whatever's the GPS and all these other things are combining to show these dots on screen

in certain angles and at speeds, so that it almost corrects whatever is causing you to potentially get car sick. What I will say is, I really like the little icon that Google showed off, but why is the guy in the car seat

or the little seat that he's on really so fat? You know the little guy? I don't know if you see it. Go check it out. If you want to know what I'm talking about, go check out the blog post that's linked in the description. And there's the little man

in the quick settings toggle. He's just a little fat guy but it looks like he's reading a book, but obviously he's looking at a phone. Hey, I'm all four plus sides. models but yeah it's just a bit of a weird choice it's found that really really weird i thought he'd have a vehicle i thought it'd show a vehicle rather than a guy sat there looking like it's definitely somebody on the bus reading a book is that a book it looks like a book to me but i'm sure it's a phone

there has to be a phone that's a phone yeah well i mean it's another quick settings tile and we're not we don't have enough of those already right i got about 400 million quick settings tile at least you won't you won't mistake this one though i will say like i i feel like i know what this is for just looking at it At the very least, I can't think of another one that looks like this. Yeah. Yeah, and I like the fact that you can change the color. It doesn't look like you can do dynamic color, but you can choose a few colors. It's based on a wallpaper.

Is it basing of wallpaper? So you are correct. Yeah. So at least, yeah, at least us and tying with dynamic color, which sadly not every... Yeah, not every... Landization is an interesting option where you can change between shapes and colors and much of that. Get on my nerves, but... Mm-hmm.

Yeah, well, I mean, yeah, that one's... We don't have an exact date of when this is going... It's just going to roll. It should be rolling out. To note, it is Android 17 only. Right, okay. Yeah. So, yeah, that's, yeah, that is after that.

I think the most interesting feature, I guess, is Fine Hub becoming this. So instead of needing stuff with trackers or tags, Fine Hub will now, it's basically a list, a memory list, where there's a new tab called Remembered alongside people and devices and you can use Gemini or the FindHup app to tell it where you place things

like the Google's examples, your passport is in your top bedroom drawer. Honestly, this is a good idea from what everybody should do is they should have a list of where they store things like where it's in your attic or if it's in clock. or your basement, people should just have a manual list and Google automated it with the Gemini

integration where you can just tell it where it is and it logs in Fine Hub and in the future you can either ask Gemini where you place something or check the list in the Find Hub app. It's not a very high tech feature, so to speak, but it is a, it's going to be useful for me. I can definitely see myself asking Gemini to remind me to remember to tell Findhub where things are. Like I was just put something down and be like completely forget about it and then need a reminder to remind myself to tell Find Hub or tell Gemini where things are. So it's going to be a two level inception level of remembering. But yeah, I think it's great. I think this is one of those things that like it's all well and good using tools to locate stuff and have like the ring of,

of say a tracker. But I do think sometimes just knowing where things are, like for instance the suitcase, like is it in the attic? Is it in the, is it in, obviously I don't have a basement, but is it in the basement?

Is it in a wardrobe? That kind of thing. I think that's kind of useful. And it says it looks like, it looks like on Google's imagery, you can take an image of the item. Is that correct? Yes.

I mean, that could be, that could be the killer feature. Like actually taking a picture of it where it is is going to be really beneficial because. Yeah. I guess, depending on how big your family is, you might have someone in the household who's constantly misplacing things,

and I'm definitely throwing myself under the bus with that one, I'm constantly asking my partner where things are. And if she can be like, yeah, here's the photo of where it is, like stop asking me stupid questions. It kind of would have saved a little hassle of me just constantly like, where did I put this? Or did you see this? Do you know what I mean?

Absolutely speaks to the fact that there is still, like we are in an AI era, obviously, but there is still so much manual features, conveniences can still be added to our software. Yeah, if I can take a different perspective on this, and I'm not going to try to pour cold water on it because I think it's a good idea, much as it's a little, I think it's in just in general a good idea

to be like to have FindHub be like, hey, just add whatever you want. Like, we'll just add it to this technology. Exactly. It's a smart idea. I am so bad at losing things. I am the king of losing things. I'm the king of misplacing things.

If I am looking for something, I will not find it. I will find the three things I was looking for a week ago, but I will not find the thing I'm looking for. The only downside I see to this, it's not a true downside. It's more of just a like, I know that if I use it, I'll never actually have to open Find Hub,

because I think if I just repeat it to the phone, and maybe this is a good thing. Like I said, I'm not trying to be a downer on this. Just a different perspective. I just know I'm never going to need to open FindHub because the second I say it out loud to my phone, it is going to embed itself in my brain that I know where it is now. And maybe that's enough.

Maybe that's a good step. But I could just feel it that I'm like, that's it's why like if I know there's something like vitally important that I need to keep track of, I do like similar to what you were saying, David, like I'll tell Maddie. And like, I never really need to go back and check with her because now that I've said it out loud to somebody

and whether it's a person or I, you know, Gemini, I suppose in this case, I know my brain is actually going to, so maybe this will make it more of a habit of me when nobody's around to say it to say it out loud so that it cements in my brain. And hey, if I forget, because I have saved 40 things to find hub or whatever, then I can open find hub. Maybe, yeah, I think for me it's more luggage thing. You know, like, oh, where is this backpack? Where is this bag?

I know where I, the luggage is like the one thing I actually know. Yeah, well, most, all of our all of our suitcases are like lining the, the stairway into our basement. So like I know where those are. And then like if it's a duffel bag, it's, I have a, there's a tote under my second desk. So I know where those are. That's the rare thing that I, that I do know. It's, it's usually smaller things. I'm trying to think of like exam, or even just, oh my God, I mean, even just, I should just constantly be telling it where I put my wallet. Yes. And I agree with that one. This is a thing I put my wallet into a side bag and then that sidebag might go into like long term storage because I don't need access to it. And I have about

five or six side bags. Anyone else out there listening will I can probably attest to this is once you get into the idea of like when you're trying to find the perfect bag, it becomes a quest to acquire as many bags as possible to find the perfect one. And there is no perfect bag. Well, yes, okay. Actually, this is probably an after-hour's topic, but personal news, all warrants are designed battery.

That's one thing. and two yeah swings I don't know if you sell a cross body bag maybe it should be designed to actually work around your waist

I feel like if it's not it's false advertising but we'll talk more about that right there I'm going to write this down ask amner see and now I won't forget yeah I'm kind of I'll save a note for you

wallet slash bag This week's episode of Pixelated is sponsored by Bitwarden. On September 17th, Bitwarden is hosting the Open Source Security Summit, a free, virtual, annual industry event focused on open source security. Headliners include David Sanger, New York Times White House correspondent and author of New Cold Wars, and Joseph Men, cybersecurity journalist and author of Cult of the Dead Cow. Register now at open source security summit.com. Bitwarden is the trusted open source solution.

for password, pass key, and secrets management committed to making secure password management accessible to everyone. With a free forever plan for individuals, you can create, manage, and auto fill strong, unique passwords across all your accounts and devices. No more we're using passwords everywhere. Bitwarden also offers end-to-end encryption, secure auto fill, and transparent open source security with verifiable source code and third-party security audits. It's trusted by more than 15 million users, including, I should mention,

yours truly, and 80,000 businesses across 180 countries and 50 plus languages. Again, register for the free open source security summit on September 17th at open source security summit.com and follow Bitwarden on Twitter or Facebook at Bitwarden. Thanks again to Bitwarden for sponsoring Pixelated. I can feel people out there saying it. So I just want to say like, yes, I am aware that I could put a, you know, find hub enabled tracker card. And stretch your wallet. No.

And I use, well, I use a MagSafe wallet these days because I don't carry cash. And it's, I have, it's, it's got all the cards they need or cards I want to carry, but there's no space left. And those cards still take up, you know, even at their slimmest, they take up essentially two cards worth of space. And if I only have enough space for six or seven cards, it's a big sacrifice. But it made me realize, has anybody made a, have any of these companies made a, like a MagSafe wallet that just has the tracker built in?

Yes. I'm not shocked at this. You know what? That's what I need. Belkin have done it today. Today? Is this out of EFA? Because I just, I had to say, I was like staring at it.

I was like, why is that not just built into the wallet? That's what I really want. They've done it today. So, okay. Awesome. Hopefully I'm going tomorrow. Prior to post recording, I'm going to EFA tomorrow. So if I get to see it with myself and let me know if it's good.

We're going to be there. We're going to be on site. I will try my best to get all of my. I want to see one like to... Perfect. That's... Cool. Good.

I had not even thought to shop for one. I feel like the only coverage I've seen, and it's mostly been chasing all these, are like the cards or like, you know, the, you know, pucks or whatever. But like usually, I feel like this year was a big push of the cards. It's...

I don't like the cards at all. I got to be honest with you. I don't like the cards at all. No. No. It comes down to back. This is a thing. Like, my thought process is,

if you talk about these cards or you talk about the thing, my issue is putting things inside bags and then that bag goes somewhere random, and I can't remember, is when the battery runs out, putting it in Find Hub at the very least, you take a picture of it or you tell it where it is, at least you then have some record of where it's gone.

Does that make sense? Like you can't ring it. So I do think there is some method to the madness here. I think it is a great, easy win for Google to add this to find up. I don't think there's any real major kind of shocks that, this is going to do. I don't know. I mean, there may be some privacy implications, but I think there is some good components to it. I think just being able to take a photo. No one else seems to have done this. Apple haven't done this. So yeah, I can't really fault Google on this

one. So if you're anyone out there who is a misplacer of things like myself and Will, then you would probably like this update. I'm guessing this is one of those ones that this is rolling out for Android 16 and above, isn't it? So is it on the next few weeks? I'm guessing most people will probably have access to this. And it'll have a brand new tab called remembered, which is like a little bookmark type thing with a, with a, it looks like a Gemini Sparkle. But yeah, keep an eye out for that. If you want to see what it looks like, go check out the link in this show notes as well. But elsewhere in this update, I don't know if you want to talk about one of the cooler features first or one of the accessibility. Let's get into the

accessibility first and we can get onto one that I really, really like. And I know that Abner was, we discussed this off air. Gemini Live guided vision. So is this, this has been sold as, is this been sold as just an extra for Gemini Live users? Or is this mostly for accessibility, because I'm reading it as an accessibility thing. Well, it is an Android accessibility fundamentally, and they, like, I wonder if it's more of an Android feature

they put into Gemini Rye. I guess the real test is whether it appears in the iOS app, but I kind of think this is more of an Android feature added to Gemini Rive. Again, I think this would be more useful wants grasses because they're holding your phone thing and like in general

the ray band stuff that has proven useful is using it as a people who have low vision or partial vision they've found many useful use cases and I think in general once we're talking about smart grasses that is a genuine thing

that could maybe normalize smart grasses of cameras in the world but yeah it is it just can tell you where objects are

I think this was promised for Google lens like five years ago but it is now finally coming to Gemini Live which probably well I'm sure

Google Rens will eventually get something similar too at this point yeah I can definitely see it being useful for I mean in the demo that Google shows off

it I mean it is a pretty intense demo so it's like they've shown off on where you're asking for a particular herb or a spice and it looks like all of the shells at first when I saw this it looks just like a tourist tat, just crap that you would buy, you know, like they're like little houses and obviously all of the herbs and the spices are in these little kind of

porcelain houses and they have the name above the door so even I would get confused of this but it seems to be able to just point the camera and ask whether I can't remember what spice it is a parsley or something like that and then it points it to you what exactly. if it's on, what it looks like. I think that is genuinely where I do like that Google does take the time and effort to put these functionalities into Android because accessibility is one of those things that technology should enhance accessibility. And I do like that having AI to process certain things may be genuinely helpful to people.

And I'll hopefully be able to try this out in the next few weeks because I always get lost in the supermarket and I'm asking for where something is. And you know what it's like. You stood there for five minutes scratching your head, like, where's the ketchup or where's this and there's 20 different, I know you guys in the States, your supermarkets have 400 million versions of things. So this might be helpful for you when you do your supermarket shopping. But like even when they don't, like I was in Whole Foods a week or two weeks ago probably and I needed to just pick up like it wasn't what I was there for, but Maddie had, Maddie was like, oh, we're out

of brown sugar, we're almost out of brown sugar. Can you get some? And I'm staying, I took me like, took me, it probably took me over five minutes because I was like, this isn't the baking aisle, but this has this has the sweeteners in it but I don't see brown sugar so let me go to the baking aisle no it's definitely not here I finally realized the reason I wasn't seeing it was because there was one bag left

and it was kind of pushed backwards and I could just not like bent over in the right direction to see it but it took way too long so this is the will feature I guess this is the Will and Day in the supermarket feature accessibility and also for me

the person who just apparent, despite the fact that I usually am doing the grocery shopping in our house, just can't shop. Just can't do. I mean, that kind of tie, I guess that ties into, and I do like the way Google, sometimes they don't always do this in their feature drops is, and their Android drops. They kind of tie two features together. I think this one's kind of somewhat tied to the new Google Messages Keep integration. Like, this is another one that, I think me and you have, then we spoke briefly about it, learning about this. I think this is phenomenal. I think which is a really cool addition. I'd love to see more integrations with Google Keep

because I think it's one of Google's most underrated apps, period. I just love its simplicity. I don't know if I use it for shared shopping lists all the time anyway. So this is killer. This is absolutely killer for me. I'd love to see it integrate into more apps, but Google Messages is a great start for now. Yeah, and the other Google Messages features chat themes.

It rolled out widely starting last week, so you can customize. the backgrounds. I think that's something people wanted from Samsung messages. And, yeah, customization. I personally wasn't expecting to like it, but I like it. You can just customize the background and then custom, which in turn, you can pick a background image,

which in turn themes the bubbles. It's nice. Small but nice. Yeah, I suppose it puts a U back into Material U. I know they're definitely in the Material 3 Expressive era, but we're definitely, there's still a U element there. But yeah, I like to see Google doing this kind of stuff. It's good as well that this is targeted for Android.

I think everything will sort of roll out over the next couple of weeks, maybe the next month or so. So if you have an Android, you have an eligible Android phone, which I think it's most phones now. I think a lot of these come via play updates and app updates. This one doesn't seem to be locked to any specific OS version. So if you have Google messages, this should come to you in the next, I guess,

two to three weeks, probably. It kind of, that's kind of it. That's like what, four or five tent pole features. We're expecting QPR one probably in the next couple of weeks, maybe in tandem with the September update. But yeah, I think it's nice that everyone on Android gets a little bit of love and it's just good to see. Hey folks, if you're enjoying pixelated, don't forget to sign up for 9 to 5 Google Pro

to gain access to our weekly bonus show, Pixelated Bro. This week, we're making good on Abner's promise earlier in this episode and talking all about bags. From what's worth traveling with to what makes up our everyday carry, we have plenty of thoughts on luggage, backpack slings, and much more. And yes, the boys get some good dunks in

on what they see as my personal try-hard backpack. Sign up today for just $5 per month at 9 to 5 google.com slash pro. Yeah, it's kind of got me thinking, though, we've seen these new features. Like, I think Keep is one that made me really, really think. more broadly, what would we actually like to see Google add to some of their first-party applications,

maybe Android itself? I know we talked about that briefly in the past with Android updates, but I mean, my first thought is we've got keep integration. Can we not finally have Google Wallet and maybe Google Pay integration in messages? Like, it's about time. Well, that's complicated. That is a complicated answer

that we have to dive into Google's history of P2P payments. So let's start. First there was Google Wallet And then which included a physical card Which is like they were first to that in a lot of ways And then it became Android pay Yes it became Android pay And then it became Google pay

And then it's now Google Wallet again But Google Pay But Google Pay remains the name of the fundamental transition. Yeah, it's a lot. The fundamental payment service, it's a lot. Anyways, I think at least the Android pay era, maybe it was the first Google lot era, had P2P payments. And then it was Google Pay with that redesigned app when Google was making that big play, that definitely had P2P payments, but I think only the US. But it's now gone because, okay, what Damon wants is an Apple Pay competitor,

which has Google Messages integration, which is what's iMessage is very common before. It is better than, like, I think, yes, your system should have a solution like that rather than relying on my cash app or Venmo or whatever. But Google has shown no sign of wanting to do that again. Like Google wallet is much, it's a wallet in the truest sense of the word where it just stores things. It recently got a payments feature. So I wonder, I don't, I wonder if Google doesn't want to deal with the fraud.

associated with payments. I wonder if that's the thing the takeaway they got from having it in the US. And I think they still might have it in India because that Google Pay app is still in India where it's popular because they have a universal payment

system that Google Wallet can build Google Pay can build off of. I wonder if it's like one of those things where maybe Google just thinks that they're too late, you know? Because like you went through the you went through the payment history,

but in a way you also need to go through the messaging app history, and we don't, we're not going to if we don't have enough time. But like, it is funny that it is like a combination of these two, what Damien is asking for is a combination of these two platforms

that Google has kind of shifted back and forth on and made lots of different attempts on. Now, I don't think it's, the payment thing is not as scatter shot as the messaging app, you know, experiments or attempts, even app temps.

That's nothing. But, but I just wanted to get one of your laugh but I don't I don't know like I you know here in the US right like I feel like people

around the world look at us weird for lots of different things but one of them is it's understandable that's hey look every time I watch every time I watch the great British baking show that's a great British bakeoff

it's a great bakeoff no I was trying to remember I was like what's the UK title I genuinely don't know anywhere because I call them I use it so interchangeably that I was like, wait, which one is even the UK title anymore? I don't remember. So when I watch Bakeoff, is that coming back soon?

When I watch Bakeoff, like once an episode, I will turn to Maddie and just go like, don't you wish England was real? What a not real country. I don't know what's going on over there. Not real. But no. So like one of the things that I think were that the U.S. is an outlier for is that nobody does like, you know, you go to Canada.

And like if you want to give somebody money, like you're usually, you're using whatever the bank system is in Canada. Same here. And the US is horrible. That was horrible. It's bad. It's bad.

But in the US, it's all third party, right? It's like you're either, you're usually either have Venmo or cash app or both maybe. But like I feel like those are the two big ones. I know. I feel like Zell is making a thing because it's like, to their credit,

every bank in the support in the US supports a system called Zell, which I still cannot figure out. name of. I think it's speeding to action. It's, it, it probably is.

I'm sure there are people who use it. It's just like, I, when I think about like, all of the people in my life who have asked, it's almost always Venmo or cash app necessary. Like, like maybe,

but like, yeah. And I think the backing of a company like PayPal, which owns Venmo and like are becoming increasingly, uh, linked together, uh, kind of cements that,

um, here. at least, and they just gained that traction. I wonder if, you know, and then you go outside, again, you outside the U.S., you have bank apps. Google clearly has seen this level, as you said, they've seen success in India. They know that they can play there because of how their system is set up. But I wonder if, yeah, like, maybe they just see it as a like, this is a market that is like

not really worth the amount of, as you say, Abner, like fraud protection and so on and so forth when we're going to do it for, you know. at best, like maybe a couple hundred thousand Android users in the U.S. to use. Like, I just, I wonder if they just sort of see it. Even a million. That's what I'm saying. Like, I just don't know. Yeah.

I'm sure there are places in the world. Again, India is a perfect example where this could gain a lot of it, a lot of traction. Google, I think, would have to, I would, they would have to make it, they'd have to build it into RCS so that it was cross platform for it to have any chance of success. Apple's not giving it up. Apple's not giving it up. But like to that point, like I've never been asked to send money via,

you know, I message, the Apple Pay stuff built into I message. Like that's how like, that's how, you know, at least in my circles, like concretely Venmo or cash app has,

has cemented itself. Yeah, I don't know. I don't think it's a bad idea, Damien, just to be clear. Like I think it's probably something. It should.

Probably. It's basic enough. Yeah. But, but like, I also can see. why maybe they're looking at him being like, it's just not worth the time and effort. I do find it odd though.

I just think, I think as Google has been building out Google messages, and I use it for quite a few contacts now, is that they've been, as I say, built out these functionalities, and it's getting to be a really competent messaging application. I'm just surprised that that one isn't an option. Like, you kind of, I kind of would have expected them to do it, given their infrastructure and stuff and the want to, I guess, compete. more broadly with i message but i guess i guess yeah you raise a good point about the fraud situation and obviously the different banking mechanisms that are required to do it may be a bit of a headache

but i do think if anyone could kind of unify them i do think google pay could be the one to do it because i don't think is i don't doubt that there would be some work to be done but i think google could easily because i'm thinking of it was just like a cross-border's payment system because it's very very difficult for me to pay you guys at a u.s bank easily and quickly and without fees. Whereas, yeah, I'd probably have to sign up to a third-party application and then try and find a way to get money onto that application, like cash up or was it Venmo the one you mentioned?

Yeah, I mean, even just going out to dinner with people from Canada, which is not super uncommon for me. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a pain in the ass because it's because they don't have those. So they'll have PayPal, but then you're introducing fees with PayPal, especially with the currency conversion. it's just it's it's a headache um but but yeah i mean i mean at least you know at the very least when i venmo something like or like you know uh yeah i just like that that stuff is at least

fee free unless you need to transfer it faster which i never ever do um but yeah so you've poo-pooed my google pay option i didn't you i wasn't trying you guys have pooed my pay pay option. What do we think in terms of other functionalities in, let's just talk more broadly about any Google app or service platform, whatever you want to call it. What you got, what's your burning functionality desires that you'd like to see across the board?

I think some people are definitely speaking about theming on a bigger, more broad scale, especially for like, we've almost lost same things. I think, yeah, I think maybe we get more options for the default pixel longshore. I think Google's making steps in that direction, but hey, we're a long way behind the idea of a

of a truly custom experience like we used to on the in air quotes old Android. Do you think there's any, there must be appetite for that surely. I know some of you guys don't do as much theming as maybe I do, but surely is an option there. I'm dying for it.

I mean, like, even like, I just think as a platform like Google's flavor of Android, and I know I've ranted about this before, but it's not particularly, it's not up to par with what I want at the moment. And I mean, even like little things. Like, if you really asked me like my number one, uh,

uh, wish to change on Android right now, It's so small potatoes that I feel almost embarrassed bringing it up. But I have over the last, what, it's been roughly five years since I think four years since it rolled out. Over the last four years, I have grown to absolutely despise the now playing widget that appears on the lock screen on pixel. I hate it. I hate it so much. I wish I could change basically everything about it.

But like at the very least, I'd like to customize it. The buttons are too small. I hate it doesn't show time codes. The swiggle line does, was entertaining with Android 12, I think is when it rolled out, but it's now like, it just takes up so much space for no reason. I can't stand it. So it's things like that where it's like, I just wish I could customize that sort of stuff because that's what this platform is supposed to be. I'm aware that like that's not how it works on any other like flavor of Android either. But if we're doing Google wish lists and I'm usually on a pixel, that's the thing that comes to mind.

But like, it is large, it is a larger part of Google, please let me use this. Let me set this phone up how I want to use it in 2026. And let me, let me, you know, build, like, take the best ideas from all of the third-party launchers that you have, like, nerfed and, uh, or that have been left for dead. And, um, make them modern and clean them up a little bit and make them a little bit more, you know, I'm not saying you have to port every X-Nova feature. over because I remember the Nova Launcher Settings menu and it was

ridiculously deep to the point of I don't know, it was unnecessarily. Yeah, it was really dull and things you could change we're a little on. But like we can strike a happy medium and I think like these days like especially Android users are

more technically competent than I think the pixel experience gives them credit for. So I don't know that's that's you say theming. That's really that was where my brain was, you know, before you even said it, and that's where I meant now. And the now playing widget is just kind of a

microcosm of my frustrations where I'm like, I don't, like, this doesn't, I don't think it functions well. It's like, I don't know. I would love to change everything. It should be at the bottom of the screen, which is something that Samsung's, um, now.

Apple does that too. The iPhone has it on the bottom of the screen. Samsung's tiny pill called. Oh, God. Oh, God. Nowbar, yes, nowbar. Nowbar's really, do you know what? I do quite like the nowbar.

I mean, I'm thinking, you're thinking about now playing. I wonder if Google could implement more in that area anyway. Like, look at shortcuts, for instance. We should have more custom shortcuts on our lock screens. And even now playing, you could replace Now Playing with Google Recorder. Like, imagine you because just record, boom, straight for me lock screen if you wanted to. I know it's not going to be useful to everyone. But say, for instance, I mean, hey, we do an interview, for instance.

Boom. Stick. But like, record on. Like, that would be phenomenal. It's not useful to everyone. It's useful to you should be Google's guiding ethos for Android.

Like, I genuinely think that. Like, it should be like, look, we are, we are making this, like,

we are making both an experience that is accessible to all, but also if you want to, you know, shape it into something that fits your life better, we will give you the tools to do so. Like, I don't understand. Like,

That's my opinion for what Android should be as we move into its third decade. Well, it's the whole OEM thing, OEM customization thing, I guess, but to your directory answer, like what it would take for Google to do the thing you want is everybody should start buying pixels.

If they did, there would be way more justification to operate. the core experience. But yeah, lock screen widgets, like the fact that we only have 10 slash 11 right now are like very annoying.

You should be able to put any app custom shortcuts on the lock screen too. Custom shortcuts on the lock screen. Drive me nuts. What are we doing? iOS has those. Come on. Or it should just honestly

can pick any app to launch. That's what I'm saying. Like, I have like, yes, you can, it's ridiculous. That should just, I don't understand why you can't just like pin and app shortcut there. It's like bare bones

sort of functionality. Well, we mentioned that when we talked about the now ball briefly, it's too good idea, bottom the screen, et cetera, too tiny. The fact that it's sandwiched between the lock screen shortcut, the bottom corner lock screen shortcuts, and that you have to like really, like, expand

it to do anything. It's too tiny. I don't, from a UX perspective, I don't think it's that useful, but at least it's the bottom of the screen so there's that yeah I don't know

I guess to more broadly do you any of you use lock screen widgets because I think there's a tension between how much stuff you should be able to do when your screen is locked or just just unlock your phone and use the app like I get like

lock screen widgets for example on attempt to like but you access more information while the screen is without unlocking a full phone. But at some point, I feel like you should, I don't use rock screen widgets as I have disabled it because swiping, accidentally swiping to dismiss notification sometimes launches the lock screen widgets. So I had it active when I set up the Pixel 11 Pro and I've changed that now because like you, I was swiping into it. I had weather. I had weather. And I think I may have had a news widget. I can't remember if I had a news widget if there even is one. I had, I definitely had a weather widget because it's kind of

useful to be like, okay, is it going to, is it going to rain? I mean, luckily this summer it's not been too bad in the UK, but a lot of the time I want to know if it's going to rain. But I've been thinking about, you've made me think a bit more broadly about it. Like, I don't know if you guys use Google Fit or Google Health, whatever they want to call it now. I've been using Google Health a lot more recently since I've switched almost predominantly to the Fitbit to track workouts and stuff. And it's mostly just a record to see where I'm going. Like, oh, it's my heart rate variability change and all that kind of stuff.

Technically, just seeing if your fitness has increased. I would love to see more options on the lock screen with regards to widgets for their health kind of plug-ins, if that makes sense. Like the notification is fine. It just tells you how long you've been working out, that's it. You have to open it to go into the morning. Yeah. It's, again, it goes back to live activities. or live updates on

compared to iOS they're really so minimal the fundamental problem is that they put it in the status ball which is not enough space to play with to like you can just show one line and use your account down.

It's not enough because in trying to emulate live update the dynamic iron on iOS they they try to use it. Dynamic iron only works because it's dedicated hardware Apple took

like this since they have to put all the stuff of face ID they used that hardware disadvantage to the advantage but but on Android does not make sense because it's just one line in the existing status quo yeah I mean I mentioned the Google Health one

I'm just looking at it right now I've just re-enabled it it is literally just that top header that you see in the application so you only get like your weekly cardio score your steps and your readiness and if you've customized some of them I think it might change. But I want to see real-time information on my workout in that space. I do think there's probably opportunity to Google to really revamp the way that they do lock screen notifications in general.

You want richer allegiance. But I think remember, what's it, Nexus 7 era, where you could swipe on the clock for lock screen widgets. Yeah. Yeah, that, not the sort of broad discussion. about the state of Android widgets, which they are getting better since from an underlying technical's perspective,

they've switched to something called grants, and it shares some DNA with wireless tiles. But they still feel so static compared to what iOS allows. Yeah, it is weird. It feels like we've kind of, we've kind of stumbled upon something that maybe was more,

it is a broad topic. for functionality. Like, if you're going to introduce these things, you still need to keep working on them. It's almost like they've been introduced and just like, yeah, okay, that's it. It's like surface level, I think going deeper into it

and integrating things more and having live updates on those widgets from your lock screen would make sense. Like, I don't always want to unlock my phone to get that information, but a lot of the time I'm having to, and yes, you can access them from the widget and open that application,

but you do want, like you say, the key information, like you would get on your wristwatch. Like you can open up Google Fit on your Fitbit, sorry, the Pixel Watch and see those real-time statistics or maps. You can have like, yes, the live activities is probably one of those things where Google wants to go with it. But it does feel a little bit like, I don't want to say bodged.

They haven't bodged live activities. It just feels like live activities is kind of stayed pretty stagnant. And no app developers truly, truly doing their best, I think. it does feel like we're in a kind of a bit of a stasis period but yeah I mean I would love to know we definitely should do a full episode on your gripes with widgets in general Abner because you are the widget man you are you use widgets more than anyone I know

I have the Google Health for example I have the Google Health widget it's at the top space on my home screen shows steps sleep and hydration and I repraced my music app icon recently with the music widget, with the player rigid, Apple music in my case. Well, what we'll do is,

we've had a few things there, so what do we come up with? I want Google Pay in messages. Will, it's kind of in the same situation as we want to basically everything to be changed. That's okay. I just want to be able to have more of a say

in my phone experience, I think. Again, buy more pixel. Buy more pixel. I don't know what else I can do. I'm doing my part. It's Starship Troopers. I'm doing my part. Yeah, we're going to get into some more.

Why don't we go a bit more in-depth over on the pro tier? If you do want to come listen to us, shoot the shit and talk random stuff about what we want more from Android or in general just stuff that's way beyond the scope of our regular episodes, then come join us over on the pro tier. We'd love to have you. It's a good time. We had a look behind the curtain last week.

So if you do want to subscribe and go listen to some really like behind the curtain and inside baseball stuff, then go ahead and do it. We have some wonderful feedback on that one, and I'd love to have you come listen. It's all about the reviews process and how we kind of keep our frame of mind. I'm actually really proud of that episode. It's really good fun, really good chat,

and I'd love to have you come join us over on the protea right now. If you're not, we'll speak to you next week. Everyone else, stick around. We're going to kind of get into it over here on the protea. Thanks for joining us. Bye. Bye. Thanks for listening to Pixelated.

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