Pixelated - An Android 17 Summer

Episode Date: June 20, 2026

Welcome to episode 105 of Pixelated, a podcast by 9to5Google. This week, Abner, Damien, and Will return to talk all through the launch of Android 17. From general improvements to Pixel-specific changes, there's plenty to dig through. Plus, Pixel Screenshots goes cloud, Google's new smart speaker goes up for pre-order, and it might be easier than ever to jump back and forth between Android and iOS. Sponsored by Bitwarden: Pixelated listeners can get started with Bitwarden's free individual plan by clicking this link. 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

Welcome to Pixelated episode 105. I'm your host, Wales Haddleberg. This week, we are back to your regularly scheduled programming, as Damien Abner and I dive headfirst into the release of Android 17. From changes rolling out to everyone to some pixel-specific upgrades, there is plenty to talk about. Plus, pixel screenshots drops its on-device AI restriction, and Google's new home speaker finally goes up for pre-order.

And is it easier than ever to switch to and from iOS? it's all coming up after this word from our sponsor, Bitwarden. This week's episode of Pixelated is sponsored by Bitwarden, the trusted open source solution for pass key, password, and secrets management. Bitwarden helps you create strong and unique credentials across all your accounts and devices, so you never have to reuse the same passwords everywhere. With end-to-end encryption and secure autofill, Bitwarden helps defend against fishing attacks and data breaches, while making logins easier across every device.

If you're using Android or Pixel device, Bitwarden really shines. It auto-fills pass keys and passwords across Chrome, other Android browsers, and native apps, so there's no more switching back and forth to copy and paste credentials. The Android app also supports dynamic colors with Material U, so the app UI and icon automatically match your wallpaper palette for a fully cohesive Android experience. Bitwarden is also a powerful alternative to Google password manager because it is fully open-source, cross-platform, and designed so your vault follows you everywhere. not just on Android.

You can auto fill pass keys, passwords, cards, and identities across all your accounts, and even generate strong new credentials directly from the sign-up form without leaving the page. Trusted by over 15 million users and 80,000 businesses across 180 countries and 50-plus languages, Bitward remains committed to transparency and making secure password management accessible to everyone with a free plan for individuals. You can get started with a free individual BitWarton. plan by hitting the link in the show notes or by visiting bitwarden.com slash 9 to 5 Mac. That's bitwarden.com slash 9 to 5 Mac.

Thank you to Bitwarden for sponsoring pixelated. Gentlemen, Android 17, it's available, it's ready. We even have a little bit of wear OS 7th throwing, which, I mean, correct me if I'm wrong. I missed that announcement. I don't know how. I think I was so deep into the phone side of things that the actual watch stuff missed me by. but I actually think this is a bigger update than a lot of people are giving it credit for, and I've kind of come to some conclusions that I didn't expect ahead of time.

I thought this was a bit more of a rudimentary update. There is a lot here that maybe might be nice quality of life additions, in my opinion. Yeah, so in terms of the big visual update, which by that I mean more blur, that's coming in QPL one. So that's not the big thing to talk about right now. But I think the biggest visual thing that people will interact with is bubbles. We've, of course, had chat heads for years on Android. But now Google is introducing this new, well, modified paradigm where any app can be bubbled.

You can turn into a floating bubble that appears in the corner. And, yeah, works for up to five apps. What do we think about it? I want to rebuke your chat heads thing a little bit because we've had them. But when was the last time you saw them? Like I didn't, this feels like a reinvigoration of chat heads. Like it felt like chat heads were everywhere in what, 2013 era.

I think if you use Facebook Messenger, I feel like it's still. Does that still, did that still have it? Okay, well, I've been without a Facebook account for a good number of maybe half a decade now. So, okay, I apologize. But getting back to chat heads and chat bubbles, I've had a bit of an epiphany this morning. Initially, I thought, this doesn't make sense, to me at least.

I'm wondering how people will use them. But I've kind of thought about it and slept on it since the OTA has been rolling out for, what, 48 hours at this point. I feel like this is Google's take on multitasking in the most elegant way possible for them, for Google's opinion of multitasking in an elegant way that doesn't feel how, how would I say it? If you have a foldable device, like the Fold 7, and you can have up to, I think you can have up to five applications running at once

on the screen in some sort of format. So two on one side, two on the other side, one floating window. If I'm being completely honest, that gets quite messy, even though it is useful as a power, if you're a power user, again, I don't know how you're a power use on a mobile phone, but there are people who want that. That's absolutely fine. I feel like this overcomes some of those messes.

the elements. And it fits more in with material through expressive. So you have the chat bubble that can float around. You can dip in and out. You are multitasking. Whereas if you, I feel like sometimes with split screen, it feels very, how do I say, like enforced. You feel like you have to go into this split screen mode to do to do things. Whereas this is more of a passive multitasking. I don't know. I don't know how you guys feel about it. I kind of think I've done a 180 on this now in the last 24 hours. Well, Google has been working on this for a while, a long while. I'm not sure that's how public that is, but they've been working on that. I've seen this, like, active internally for like two, three years ago.

But anyways, but multitasking, it's, I agree, well, that is Google's premise that it is multitasking, too. But I think multitasking in the traditional sense, in the digital sense, desktop sense might be like multiple windows side by side and on mobile. That's the best you can do is one on top of another. Foldables makes more sense to app side by side. I think that's a more traditional definition of multitasking. And I guess bubbles fit into that paradigm. But at the same time, I feel like it's still one app usage at the end of the day. And it's fine for easier access is not a thing to to not disregard, but what apps do you think it makes sense to bubble? I probably say messaging makes the most sense.

It's the most obvious, isn't it? Anytime we see, in air quotes, multitasking, it's always messaging. And I wonder if it's like, I know that in Google's marketing and blog posts, it was like showing it on the pixel 10 pro fold with a YouTube video open and then messages kind of floating around. Like, does that feel a bit on the nose? was like, oh, you want to send a message quickly. Here's a message for you.

Like, it feels a little bit like, come on. That is just chat. Give us better examples. Yeah, yeah. I mean, that's what I mean. It's like, we've done chat heads again. Yeah. So I think Gemini was an example they use.

That's honestly another messaging app, basically. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The one I've been trying to do is music. Like, yeah, music app. So my minor gripe about bubbles is how soupy it is, like the open and close animation, it feels so exaggerated at times. So I just end up putting it in the top right corner so that like the bubble animation has less distance to travel on screen. But yeah, I guess I kind of now play my, it's open to the now playing screen. I guess I like that even though I have like home screen widget and like of course notifications.

That's what I've been landing on right now. I have been trying it with Gemini, but I feel like it's not a big enough window, so to speak, since the app is slightly shrunk with the top and bottom borders. But it's, I'm just, I agree that it goes back to messaging, TBH. Maybe the fact that you can access, like, the main chat list of your messaging app, that they'll make all the difference to people. But I'm, it's on the phone.

It's just multitasking on the phone is frankly not a solved problem. And I don't know if it can even be solved just given the constraints of a ported screen. But it is, to Google's credit, I guess, I'd say this is a pretty sizable U.X change to Android. Yeah, I guess another thing I saw is people using Google Key. and no taking. Which, yeah, that's not a bad idea. Do you know what? That sounds like a great idea because when I go to the supermarket,

the amount of times where I'm like, yeah, keep the list right there and you can kind of check things off. Okay, that's going on my Google Keep list to do. I'm just going to set it now. I'm going to do it right now while we're talking. Google Keep is now a chat bubble that lives permanently on my home screen. I think... Amazing.

I think this was like a necessary step for Google. I think this is like a good change for. Android, but it is funny that the sort of the conversation that, you know, I've been kind of listening to you guys, but also thinking about is it, it sort of lands on this problem I have with multitasking on mobile in general, which is anytime I have a new option for trying out multitasking applications, right? Like any, you know, whether it's the first time I used to foldable or, you know, trying out one plus's open canvas stuff, both on the open and then later on their their slab phones.

Like, you can, you, you, you try it out and, and you look for the, the solution that this is going to like, fill in your life, right?

Like the, the problem this is going to fix. I mean, you guys are literally talking about it. Eventually, like, the conclusion I come to is like, man,

I just like, the way I use my phone is just not really built around split screen multitasking in that way. No, I always, it's, it's trying to find applications that, that fit it.

I mean, I was thinking about it. It was like, you know, when was the last time I I routinely used split screen apps on a non foldable and it was it was before I had before I drove a car with Android Auto it was it was back when I had a phone mount in my car and would keep like maps and then like a media thing open and like a 75 25 split or something we're talking a decade ago like I once that kind of went away and I had built in Android Auto

like that was sort of the last like real split screen thing again unfoldables it's a little more a little more frequent i'll use it but on on a on a slab phone i like having it there but it's very infrequent that i actually need it so i think so i think this yes the smartphone itself like the inception of the smartphone 2007 and forward that really ushered in this concept of computing being a one app thing and like on Even on desktop, we've seen that Apple, post iPhone, we embrace the idea of, like, opening full-screen apps. Like, I feel like there's a generation of people who, like,

who they're computing experiences, whatever app they're using, they full-screen, and then they just have multiple full-screen apps open. And I think to more... That's the other thing, actually, real quick, that I realize is the timeline I'm talking about, when I stop using split screen sort of aligns with when every mobile device switches to a gesture based navigation system

and I also wonder if that's part of it where it's just it's so quick and easy to swap between two apps with just flicking your thumb as opposed to back in the three button day where you would have to you know it's only two or three taps but it is that's more than just swipe

swipe swipe you know what I mean like that that change made it easier to be like well I'll just keep you know yeah at the grocery store and I'm also, I'm texting with my fiance and I have my shopping list, but I can just, instead of having split screen and having to jumble between those, you know, jump back and forth between those experiences, I can, I can just have full screen messages, full screen keep and I'll just wait back and forth as I, as I need. I do wonder how much like, you alluded to it before there, I'm that this has been, this has kind of been in the works for so long.

We kind of seen it in, in previous Android versions where there was like, the groundwork was laid for this and it never really kind of like materialized until now. I wonder if this is just a little bit of like, we've been working on this for so long, we need to just ship this eventually, a little bit like how certain features happen. Yeah, I know that Googleers were using it like three years ago or something, like actively inside two or three years ago. But yeah, it's, again, I think this is a not insignificant U.S. change to Android. I'm just very curious how most people will adopt it.

So I think one thing I'm trying is I log author, so I have Google Health open, and I kind of like the app icon, so that's a nice thing to have in the corner. But I feel like in the chat heads era, I used them when they were first out, but I stopped because I didn't like the clutter of like just a permanent thing floating on my screen.

Maybe I'll try again this time, but yeah, bubbles. It's, okay, it makes more sense on large screens, I think, what do I go? Where you can band on. Yeah, I mean, one thing I do hope that if anyone out there is listen, who works on this project, can you please make the chat head bubbles work with the theming system, system theme, because it is a bit jarring to see a colorful icon there

that you want it to be in that, like, themed icons. How do you distinguish monochrome icons? I mean, mine is so diverse on my home screen that I'm pretty sure it would take someone who either cannot read for a start because I still have app labels and I'm one of those old school guys. But they all look so different. Well, I mean, that's another nice feature here in Android 17. There is a little bit more customization that I think is missing.

I do think Google needs to go a bit further and I hope that they do over time. But we're kind of getting there. We're kind of getting there towards pixel launcher being where it probably was Android 10 era where you could make all those changes that you wanted to, text, fonts, all that kind of stuff. I think overall, visually, if you're expecting major changes, you just, there's a few tweaks here and there, nothing too drastic. It just makes everything kind of fit a little bit better with material through expressive. I like that they're making live updates a little bit more accessible with bigger buttons. Yeah, it definitely feels like it's more towards the usability side of

things and a little bit more cosmetic this time than actual full UI changes, bubbles notwithstanding. Yeah, screen reactions is another thing Google was pushing. They're like framing, I think they frame this pixel, the feature drop, which I guess we can start talking about as something for creators, which interesting. That's a weird way to do it. But yeah, the screen recorder on pixel got a nice upgrade, visual. and you can do screen reactions, which I is responding to the culture.

I'd give them that. But otherwise, this is a quiet pixel drop focused on feature expansions, international feature expansions. Then again, in fairness, like when there's a major Android or ease, the feature drop is pretty minor, especially in this context,

in Google's new, they're having their phone launch in a few months. So it's the timing for this feature drop and the major Android reasons never really made sense. So I guess it's part of the course in that regard. I mean, I do think it makes sense. I don't know if you feel the same as me about Will. I'm sure you do.

I think we talked about it on sidelo previously that it's kind of good that Google does hold some things back post, well now anyway with this new update timeline, post pixel launch period, because I think it almost feels like throwing a bone to owners of previous devices that you will get another potentially big update with more functionality and more changes. And then obviously the person who gets pre-orders a new device, they get a shiny new version of Android for like maybe, what,

two or three weeks earlier than the public release based upon timelines of the last couple of years. Yeah. I kind of do think that make optically that's good. I don't know if people are going to be desperate to upgrade to the Pixel 11, knowing what we know now, but at least there is some kind of separation and like throwing a bone to those. Yeah.

More so than previous years. This is a phone that looks the same for the third time. Like I like we all said last year, this is really reading into the software. And that's probably a discussion for another day. Yeah. Yeah, definitely, definitely. Overall, 40 changes.

40 or so actual notable changes. Go check out the deep dive that I did. I do one of these every single time. we get a major update. It isn't, as I say, as extensive as normal. It's about seven. It'll take 20 minutes every time to sit through it all. But it definitely feels like with regards to the pixel drop,

the pixel drop was almost like, hey, here's a little bit extra. But I think one that came out of that that I'm really intrigued about and it ties back to app bubbles. They've added a game pad for foldable devices. I wonder if, again, that's another way of like kind of giving, throwing a bone for people who buy these foldable devices and potentially want a fully integrated experience. We've talked about Bellatro here. I mean, I'm an addict.

I don't know if Willis still is, but certain games don't work necessarily as well as they probably should on such a big screen. And having a game pad can kind of alleviate some of the problems. It gives you this experience that maybe should have been there from the very, very get-go. Yeah. And, okay, so this is, to be fair, this is not live yet. This is just part of the announcement. it's rolling out over the next few months.

So if you have a pixel 10 per fold. Technically, it's not a pixel doll, which is weird. Well, yeah, it's essentially building. So this is not, you know, this is not a completely fresh idea. You can find this on certain other foldable devices. But this, like so many features that we see come to Android releases these days, this is sort of taking an idea that some OEMs are doing

and codifying it into the Android foldable experience so that you can, like, once this is, on all foldables, you will be able to have this like virtual game pad. I, you know, in my write up on the news about this, I compared it to, and it's hard not to. I compared it to like emulation, right? Like I compare it like that is the experience that this reminds me of the most is, is opening up a ROM that you legally acquired, that you legally ripped from a game you own, and, and, and, and playing it with virtual buttons, which is truly.

one of the first things I did on my on the first foldable I ever used was was play my my legally obtained copy of Pokemon Emerald on a galaxy for uh so yeah I mean they're saying it's going to be customizable the the UI you know we we see and we've seen an early glimps of it um you know virtual buttons are never uh preferable over over physical buttons obviously but it's on a screen, you know, the size and shape of modern foldable devices, this one by one aspect ratio that is on, you know, at least for the time being the majority of Android foldables, makes for a good, like, you know, just slap the controls on the bottom half of the screen. And although virtual certainly offers like a much better gaming experience and also probably

makes better use of that big screen than trying to condense a UI into a one-by-one, you know, aspect ratio. But this controller would not necessarily work or be necessary, I guess, for Palatro. But as an example, Balatro is, you know, a game that does not scale super well on those one-by-one screens. So I think it's a good, it's a good change. It's good to have this coming to every Android foldable, especially ahead of Apple getting into this.

Yeah, definitely. I think as someone who has games on foldables before and I was using the pixel tempera fold until recently where I've gone back to the pixel 10 Pro not having stuff kind of blocking the display and blocking the actual gameplay areas is it it seems so obvious but a lots of games end up having and especially a lot of emulation you end up having these on-screen controls that really get in the way and you're like I can't see where I'm going or the UI gets completely over overblown over the game and it's really irritating.

So it's good to see Google finally looking at this and thinking, do you know what? We'll give a solution. So I agree with you that it's going to be interesting now when we start to see devices that are not one by one, one by one aspect ratio. How's it going to work with that? And yeah, that is good to see. I'm kind of intrigued as well to see how all of these OEMs. So we talked about it previously to kind of move on a little bit from some of the Android 17 tweaks.

we were thinking about how all the OEMs are going to integrate Android 17 as of their devices. And like cockwork, we're seeing on a, give a glimpse of their Android 17 update. And it, I mean, let's be completely honest,

it's a blatant rip-off of what's going on over on iOS 27 with liquid glass. I think it's really disappointing to see this, if I'm being completely honest. I don't know how you guys have feel if you've even seen this. But yeah, to me, it's just not a good look, especially as,

like say, Google laid this really nice framework for people to build upon and they're just throwing it out. Yeah, it's just, I mean, I mean, I don't have much fresh to say on it. It's just, it's somewhere between a spectrum of lazy and embarrassing. Like, I, I, come up with your own take or just use, or use, you know, the built-in Google slash Android look. Like, I, it's just frustrating. Like, I, I, this isn't obviously for, for us necessarily, right? like, you know, especially in North America, like this, you won't see this UI here, but it's, I don't know, it, it doesn't make Android the good, right? Like, it just, it makes Android, it gives the impression that Android is this platform that is just a knockoff of another platform, which is obviously not true.

It doesn't need to be, though. Right. This is a frustrating thing. It doesn't need to be because Honor makes devices that are, at least now, obviously since they split from Huawei, they're. they're making high-quality hardware, like incredible foldable devices. The internal speak for themselves, the hardware speaks for themselves,

but the software is just like, oh my God, what are you doing, guys? It just feels, yeah, feels like a kick in the face a little bit to Android as a platform, in my opinion. 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, a trusted VPN. Built with class-leading end-to-end encryption,

Proton's entire suite is fast, intuitive, and secure, and export tools mean you don't need to worry about leaving data behind on those other apps. Pixelated listeners can save 30% off an annual subscription to Proton Unlimited, which includes 500 gigabytes of cloud storage, custom email domains, a dedicated customer support team, and so, so much more. It's what's best for your current phone, not whatever you were using back in 2013. Upgrade to Proton today and save 30% on your annual subscription by heading to Proton. Dot me slash 9 to 5 Google or by clicking the link in the show notes. That's proton.combe slash 9 to 5 Google. Thanks to Proton for sponsoring Pixelated.

Let's get on to some other things here and there with regards to this massive, it is a massive week for Android in general. I alluded to it before, WearOS 7 was something that I wasn't really tuned into, and I apologize for that, because it's something that I love quite dearly. Tell me a little bit about WareOS 7 and these updates. Yeah. Because Google didn't really get into it as much as they probably could, because there was a hell of a lot here more than they let on. Yeah, it's, it's okay, just I guess the framing around it. It was announced at I.O.

Not non-stage announcement or anything like that. It really should have deserved a proper announcement the week before at the Android show, but for whatever reason it wasn't. So, yeah, this is coming earlier and expected. I guess the usual thinking was that this was a lot, the first device. to get Warel.7 would be the Galaxy, the next Galaxy watch. But no, it's actually the Pixel's going to get it. And Wareler's 7 based on Android 17.

It is pretty similar to Warels6.1. It is visually. The biggest change is that widgets, that tiles are now widgets, but on the pixel, on the pixel watch, it is still something you slide left to light on. On the Galaxy Watch, if I'm correct, it's an up and down thing. It's a feed, right? The Galaxy Watch.

I think so, yeah. If I remember correctly, yeah, it's a little while since I used my Galaxy Watch 8 classic, but I'm pretty sure they're inverted, which can be really frustrating if you do want to use a Galaxy Watch and make that switch, it doesn't feel universal, but that's by the by, I think. I am curious whether the Pixel Watch ends up moving to that, just to conform for visual developers so that everybody is on the same page. But yeah, visually, everything's the same right now. I guess the second big update is live updates, where just like on

your phone, it is now accessible on your watch. I think for everybody, Google Maps is probably the biggest thing. Yeah, Google, I will use Google Maps for this definitely a lot. I think it's one of those things that I love the fact that you can then lift your wrist and potentially have the live updates where you're not like kind of looking at it. Like, does that make sense? Yeah. And that's a really, really roundabout way of describing it. So I guess the, I guess the Nath and in the room is that all of us have kind of stopped doing a pixel watch at least Damien and I. Yeah.

Yeah, that, yeah, that banged post of the weekend. And yeah, same here. So previously during the review period, I was wearing the pixel watch during the day. Then when I got off work, I just switched the Fitbit Air and continue it into the weekend, etc. But now I am all Fitbit Air all the time. And the only time I put the Pixel Watch on is when I leave the house. Yeah. That's like, I'm so curious to know what Google would think.

think of you saying that. Like I, in a way, I guess that's probably the vision. Well, I don't know. That's probably a step further than the vision they saw for the Fitbit error to not just make it a supplemental addition to your Pixel Watch, but to replace it. I mean, you know, that's good for them now. But does that make you, you know, in two or three years ago? And Abner, you are, you are, I mean, all three of us are probably an exception. But if you were, if we were all more regular users, this wasn't the job, would you go like, you know, I actually don't need to buy a new pixel watch. I haven't really been wearing it. I just, I'll just stick with my Fitbit, my $99 Fitbit air. Yeah, I guess. I feel like a lot of people are, aren't they? I think that's kind of where I came from

where like I was, I've almost always had a smart watch on my wrist for the last few, few years. And what I'll do is I'll go through a phase where I'll have two or three months where I don't wear, wearable. And then I'll go back to wearing it 24-7 again. I think, with this, with regard, obviously you brought up live updates, that's probably

one of the biggest notable changes. That feels like a genuine quality of live addition to WearOS 7 and to the Pixel Watch. But I wonder if

there is a way that Google can kind of integrate that into a less visual element with Fitbit wearables. So you have vibration. You could have these, you could have these vibrations

for live updates. My first thought was Uber. I haven't used Uber for a few. weeks. But you get the live updates for Uber fantastic because you can at least have an idea that oh, my driver is going to arrive in five minutes, three minutes, whatever it is. You could definitely have vibrations on your wrist for Fitbit to indicate the driver's arrived and or is five minutes away. Like I do wonder how whereOS is now going to truly, I mean, it definitely feels more like

a bigger platform than it ever has. And these updates do make sense. But for us low techies who want a fitness wearable, why can't we see Google put a little bit of wearer 7 into these lower tech wearables? Do you think it's a battery thing? I have thought about this since the Fitbit Air doesn't technically maintain a constant connection to your watch, to your phone. Yeah. So that's probably the issue there. But yeah, it's, so I guess that from an all structured standpoint, Fitbit and Pixel, different teams, I think. Maybe they've merged it, but from a product branding standpoint at least,

it's clear that at how it's being sold, it's not the same, it's not the same brand, really. Right. I guess they could have called this Pixel Air, but I think if they did that would be like, it's not running Android. So why is it called that?

But yeah, it's, I don't know, it's, I guess the reason, why I made that switch to Fitbit Air all the time and the pixel watch as the companion thing, it's my phone's always with me. That is the unfortunate fact. I'm always seeing the screen. I'm always checking the screen, especially for this job. So it's the watch is just a double thing, which I really don't need. Like to be honest, if I feel the buzz on my wrist, I'm probably just using it as a as like a beeper to check my phone. And I don't know.

The thing I do like about the watch, the timers, like creating timers, stopwatches, et cetera. That's just something you can't replicate on the wrist, on something like the Fitbit Air, stand-alone. But it's, I don't know, it's just that realization that most people are glued to their phone, honestly. Yeah, there are some changes here with WareWS7 that I feel like they are trying to stop people from getting glued to the phone. I do think there's some solid inclusions, like being able to finally choose your audio output, which to me seems actually insane that it's taken this long to do it.

Yeah, media controls. I have loved media controls and fit by there. Yeah, media controls would be fantastic. But at the end of the day, I think all of this stuff seems like getting WareOS in line with where it probably should. been two years ago when we first saw the pixel watch. I just want to share a fact toy that Google shared on their blog. More than half of wearerous users where they watch it, they watch seven days a week and the most active wear it over 23 hours each day.

So that's what, you basically just take it off on your shower. I don't get people shower at their watch. That's the thing apparently. And I don't. Oh dear. Yeah. I am a showerer with my Fitbit air, but definite because of the fabric. It's fabric.

Yeah, no, it's fabric. It dries out pretty quickly. It's water crew. If I'm a purely German, it gets all sweaty, then when am I going to wash it? I'm not going to put it back on when it's filthy. Like, I'm I the crazy guy for that one. I don't know. What do you do, Will?

Because are you using the silicon band still, the horrible one? I use the, I only use the silicon band when I run. Okay. So you take the time to take it out of its strap and then put it in the silicon one and then change it. Yeah, okay, I'm too far too lazy to see that. I do that with every watch. If I have a, if I have a, if I have a, if I have a, whether it's non-setic fabric or, or metal or whatever, I will, no matter what watch I'm wearing, I will

switch fans if I'm, if I'm wearing a non, like, athletic band, because I don't want to, I don't want to get a cloth band, a fabric band, especially sweaty because it will typically stain and it's harder to clean. The silicon ban, I usually just like, when I switch back, I take the band that now no longer has the gadget in it and I rent it in the sink. That's usually what I do. Oh, God, I feel, am I a heath? I don't know. This is just the thing that I've adapted to. I don't think there's a right way or a wrong way necessarily. Well, there's probably a wrong way. Yeah, there probably is. You probably should. I would suggest that people, if you do have a Fitbit Air and you have a fabric brand, probably don't put it in the washing machine. Don't put it. Don't put it. Don't. Don't. put it through with your regular laundry, like sauce, sauce detergent.

I was going to call it laundry sauce. You can have that one on me, laundry sauce. Yeah, I wouldn't suggest doing that. But overall, I think, yeah, it's kind of strange having, I think a few of us have made the switch away from the Pixel Watch recently in favor of the Fitbit Air. So maybe these wearOS changes, which I would have wanted, I do, I have wanted for a while, don't hit as hard as they probably could have done, even though as nice.

quality by fiducius? And I guess the other thing is the fact that so the update as is right now, there's some design changes, more material tweaks here and there. But I would say that the second half of the way or less update is Gemini Intelligence, which hasn't launched yet. But they'll bring stuff like to create my widget thing, Gem and I will get a visual upgrade. So that's all coming after this. and hopefully in the summer

that's what I is probably going to watch on the Galaxy watch first and if we're at 7 is already out there probably follows very shortly for the pixel watch I think that will be the one that everybody's looking forward to Gemini Intelligence

and obviously I wonder if that will tie in I mean Google hasn't they've said summer haven't they for phones so I wonder if it's a big across the board launch yeah it's it's new your Gemini Intelligence touch it on phone

to touch briefly on phones. Like Android 17, I think that Gemini intelligence will be the bigger part of that story. But I don't know how much existing phones are going to get, but I do feel like the biggest story is that for the fall, summer fall launches, Samsung's upcoming foldables and the pixel 11, that's going to be the story of it, the Gemini Intelligence. and that will be an interesting thing to track, of course.

Yeah, yeah. And I'm guessing based upon previous timelines and whatnot, it feels like there might be a crossover there anyway, so it's kind of like almost perfectly timed for this in air quotes summer launch period. One final thing on Android 17, we heard from Google that they've improved the copy. Is it the switch to Android or switch to pixel application?

I'm not sure what's actually called. Android Switch. Android Switch. Yeah, Android's Switch, sorry, yeah. This tool has been improved that basically it's going to be better at pulling all that data from your iPhone, which I think is always a good sign. I do wonder how many people are making that switch. It doesn't look like anyone's really doing that en masse, the way that maybe Google would

have hoped. But it is great that there is an element of we are not just making our OS, our OS. We're making it so that if anybody wants to make a switch to this OS, especially with Pixel 11 in the not too distant horizon. It's going to be nice for people to switch and have better migration of like their, I think they've said MMS, SMS, RCS, full I message history with all of the, everything, yeah, every single thing is going to be transferred. I would, I definitely will be, we'll be hoping to try this out with one of my older iPhones and see if it works and how well it does. But yeah, you can do this with completely wirelessly now. I know they announced some tools last

year and it improved the experience and this is another one on top of that. So I just think it's great to see Google thinking about that. I don't think Apple would ever think about that for Android, but it's great to see Google thinking. They have. They have. It's the EU thing. Yeah, it's, it's easier both ways now. Oh. In fact, I actually, I would love if, if anybody out there, I would love to know if somebody like routinely switches back and forth because it is easier than it like, well, I wouldn't even say easier than ever. I would say it's, it's more possible than ever. Like it is not like, it used to be that if you were going to switch between these two platforms,

you were kind of just sacrificing a lot of your data to jump back and forth, which made, I would assume, I mean, I don't know anybody who's ever jumped back and forth between iOS and Android on a regular basis without just having two copies of their data existing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But, but if you, like, that is kind of possible now. So if you are that person, email me at will at 9 to5Mac.com, because I would love to know. I would love to talk to you. Yeah, definitely.

It's a fascinating thing you can kind of do now. I mean, the list is pretty darn extensive. I think it's really, really good that it's not just the SMS. I think a lot of people would be the message in history that's major. And I know that I use WhatsApp anyway, so it's kind of siloed away in Google Drive. Yeah. I think that you can get all of your passwords, pass keys, Wi-Fi credentials, all of your alarms and accessibility settings.

Like, those alone are like pretty, pretty huge considering, I'm guessing a lot of people would have just, I'm just going to start from fresh. Like, I'm moving over to a new platform, everything is going to be starting. I kind of think people want to bring over their wallpaper, the app layouts, which I think it's almost a disservice if you, if you keep the app layout like on iOS, you miss the opportunity for widgets and stuff like that. Maybe. you have widgets on iOS now.

Yeah. Yeah. So like in hearing. Well, Damon, you do this. It's a four, you use the four wide app with a pixel, which I do. Yeah.

I do as well. I do. Oh my God. So I don't have enough apps to put on my own screen. I use 12 apps these days. Yeah, same. I use, I think I have, I think I have 12 and then two massive widgets at the top. Yeah.

For me, The transition would be very, very easy. My home screen is filled with, I have, like, every spot is filled. There's no free spot between widgets and apps. It is. And there multiple folders. I use every inch.

Oh, no. I keep it simple. I'm old school. I want to be able to search. I want my phone to be completely under my control. I want to be that person that they can just open search to find apps. But no, everything's on my homes screen. I go, I spill over onto a.

second actively used home screen. What's the point in an app draw, then in that case? I never use the app draw. It's everything from there. We need to start a petition for you, Abner, to use the app. Delete all but about eight apps on your home screen and you do a week of app draw usage. I think you'll feel free. You'll like it.

Abner says that, you know, you got to take more advantage of the flexibility that the Android homescreen gives you. Abner, sounds a little bit like your home screen is very iOSy. if you're not using that app drawer. I have the least flexible layouts. I have fun layouts my widgets. I know. That's, you know, that's, hey, you can move

you can move stuff on iOS now. It sucks. It's, it's, it's, it's, somehow they made it. It is so rigid. It is so rigid. How did they screw that up? I don't under, like, every, any time I pick up an iOS device

and I try to move an application icon, it goes haywire immediately. Like, why did you screw this? Well, I mean, I mean, we can complain about that and we can jest. But I do think Pixel, there is a way to go for home screen organization. I do think there's some Android OEMs out there that are doing better, i.e. being able to kind of like multi-select apps, delete from your home screen and all that kind of. So I think we should definitely need that. So if anybody is out there who works on the Android team, I hope there is somebody out there listening to it.

Please make that a priority for the next version. We'd definitely like to see a bit more customization. but it is good to see that we're getting this really kind of this transition period for people, sorry, transitional application for iOS to Android being a lot more robust and having having a lot more available options. I think that's always very, very good to see. But let's let's take a look at something else that I think is part of the pixel application system. We've seen pixel screenshots, which I will, hey, I'll go to bat for pixel screenshots I use it every single day, because I'm such a, like, kind of really clepto with my screenshots.

This has now, doesn't, well, kind of goes against the idea of it. Yes. So when it was announced to the pixel nine, the big story there was that it's on device, thanks to tensor on the G4 and then the G5. But they are lowering out, this was not announced in any way. It was not part of the pixel drop or anything like that. But they're rolling out the latest app update. And the text settings now says it can also use cloud AI, which is their private AI compute or whatever it's called Apple or something similar.

It's basically where you get a secure computing platform on the cloud to process your screenshots just like it is on device. They've started doing, they last year in November, they did it in Magic Q, and they also use it for the recorder app for transcriptions in other languages. But now they're bringing into pixel screenshots. There's not a lot of details on what improvements it brings, but yeah, it is moving away from the on-device messaging. And some people are quite up in arms about it. Do you care about this? I'm using a 10A, so I don't be it's it. Okay, that was, I should have expected that he's an A series guy.

Like, I don't know. I think, I'm into mind about it because I do think it does kind of like devalue what tensor is all about if we're going to have these on-device AI processing and they're offloading it to the cloud. But like, does it matter that much if you get better results and better processing? I don't know. processing is the promise of it. And I've said that I don't think on-device AI is meaningfully powerful yet in terms

of the features you get. We'll see how Apple does with iOS 27, which there are a lot of on-device stuff. But I still think the vast majority of things is cloud-based. And that's how you get the best AI experience. I'll speak on behalf of, and I don't mean this in a disparaging way, but of the Reddit community. because that is where I have seen the most backlash towards this.

I'm of two minds, I suppose. Not even, it's one mind, two thoughts. The first one is, as you alluded to Damien, what is the strength? Okay, so, like, yes, this will probably improve screenshots. Like, not

guaranteed, but if they're making this change, they clearly see that there is some level of improvement they can offer to this app that they can't do on an exclusively on-device offering. but that like continue you know especially this being the second like big pixel exclusive feature to move away from on device AI it does I think I think it is fair with all of the other controversy surrounding tensor to be like okay well if the promise of tensor is that it is specifically

good at these AI tasks that Google wants you to associate with the pixel then but then also you're moving a lot of them to not like cloud-based AI at least in some form why am I like what is the advantage to tensor like outside of Google just having more control over the chip but like you know we have hit the point really where it's like I don't if this is what we're doing that I don't see a reason for Google to not jump back to Qualcomm outside of benefiting Google's own bottom line but that comes at the cost of you know in my opinion in the opinion of many others like it is not a not as good. I have no problem the last couple tensor chips, but we can't, I'm not going to pretend like the most recent Snapdragon chips don't run circles around them in terms of raw

benchmarks. And people do care about that. So I get the frustration there. The second thing, and I guess I didn't really think about this until something you said, Abner, but like, I do think, you know, Google does, if they're going to make these changes to on-device AI applications or applications using on-device AI, they need to make. They need to make. it in announcement. I don't like that this is just kind of rolling out with like a settings change that like changes some of the language on the toggle. There's probably a plumped. They're like once it's four year old out. I hope so. But you get a prompt. Yeah, I hope so. It's just like if you're going to make a big deal about how the benefits of on device AI in terms

of privacy, when you roll that back, you I don't I don't like that it's just like at least in its current update is mostly just like a change to the description in settings that you've already toggled on when you thought it was on device AI. So I don't know. Like I, I'm not, I don't particularly have a problem with this personally, but I can see some of the reasons people would be frustrated. And I, and I do think Google if they're going to hand, like, they need to handle this a little bit better in my opinion. Yeah, I think maybe you have convinced me a little bit there. I can definitely see why, I mean, I don't know if you got, I don't know if you guys even use it. I'm a, because I'm a big advocate for, I didn't think it was very good to be honest with you, which is why

I'm like not super bothered by it. Because if they improve it. Oh, I really love it for like access, for access codes, like my gym access codes and things like that. I'm so bad at remembering them that I kind of lead the screenshots, have them categorized. Yeah. And for the past couple of years, it's been, I mean, this is, this is a confusing thing to me is for screenshots, Like it's using OCR and then on device AI model, which is clearly very lightweight. It's just pulling in all that information and working out what it's saying and kind of like doing it like. Wait, I think you search for it is natural search for it. Yeah, you can use natural search.

Like that, to me, it's been working fine for a couple of years. The only thing I can think that this is potentially going to be done for on device, sorry, cloud-based AI, is if it's going to come to less competent phones, like, let's say. think pixel A series. That's the only thing that I could think. Because what really, unless... But they haven't done that with Magic Q, right? And the Magrious Magic Q announcement.

They just had more timely updates. But I don't really think we've seen the benefits. I haven't seen any surge in reports of Magic Q being a bit more useful. I wonder if this ties into the big personal intelligence play, you can utilize it for that. But if you don't, if you like me, I don't really... There's a lot of folders on my Google phone. I don't sync. So like, yeah, most people don't want screenshots in their library.

No, that's it. Like, I like that. But I, this is a solved issue, in my opinion, because, so I do upload on my screenshots to Google Photos in large part because it is- Yeah, mad, man. It is, well, you guys know that you can just auto-archive them after 30 days. It's a toggle. I do that, like, this is a solved problem. Like, this is my issue.

I don't get a lot of, like, if I, if I solely lived on pixel, right? if I didn't have this job and I bought one phone every three to four years and it was a pixel and you know maybe I would I would use screenshots a little bit more but the fact that it is only on this you know it's not even on every pixel like right it's like to to to look at this it'd be like oh I'm going to like learn to rely on screenshots first of all I have a little bit learned my lesson on Google applications if they if they're ever like semi duplicate applications right like look at video and messaging apps and all this, right? Like there's a really strong chance pixel screenshots sits down in like two to three years and they just point you to Google photos.

Secondly, like if if I just upload screenshots two photos and then have them set to auto archive after 30 days, um, I can search, I can still search them easier than I on any device, including my web browser, right, in front of me right now than I can on on my phone. So that's my issue with screenshots is that it just, it, it, isn't better than photos for this outside of, like, technically giving me the option to declutter library, but in a way that comes with more downsides than it's worth. And, yeah, Samsung Gallery, and Samsung Gallery, they added a screenshot tab earlier this year, right? I think that was a very good idea. Yeah, they did. They did. I didn't come here for this logic. So I want to use my application to have it processed locally, and I don't want it in the

It's not even doing that anymore. Being cynical about it, I wonder if this is a play to kind of sell AI subscriptions a little bit. No, it's some long-term play. I don't think that you don't pay for the processing. It's on the support. It's free to users and I don't think they can sell it. Yeah, but right now it's free. Right now it's free.

Like if people are not willing, if I'm sure, there is a, I feel that it definitely is a big split of people are willing to pay. And I mean, obviously I pay for Google One store. so it kind of comes bundled in that anyway. So I'm kind of in the, I'm straddling both sides, but I don't think I would pay for a lot of the extra AI features as much. But yeah, we'll find out hopefully soon what this means. I do agree with you, Will, that there probably just needs to be some better messaging around it.

Because for some people, I think because it feels like there's no messaging, we're kind of like anything. I mean, we are the biggest assumers in general about lots of things, and that's kind of our job to do so. But it definitely feels like there's a lot of assumptions being thrown around. and we will never really truly know until Google comes out and tells us why they're doing this.

If they do. And they didn't do it well at Magic Q. Just timely updates. What does that mean? Yeah. Again, I mean, Magic Q feels a bit different in that it will work better

with certain applications. But this one just feels like it's been working fine for two years. Why is it sudden change? Like, I wonder why that is. I don't know. I also think it means we should,

you know, as we alluded to earlier, we're coming up on the launch of the Pixel 11 series. Like anything Google talks about at that launch event that involves on device AI, you should at least, like, I think we've earned the right to be a little skeptical of because, okay, it's on device at launch. Is it going to be on device in 12 months? You've done this twice. So I would be skeptical going into this launch. I mean, even if they said it was a chipset longevity situation, like, I could potentially, I could potentially swallow that. But like I say, it's been two years of his application working, two years of me loving this application. and I will still continue to love using it. I mean, even just say, like, what's going to get better from this, right? Like, it's, yeah, that's the easiest way to come out and just be like, look, like, you know,

we thought we could do this with on device, but it turned, we've been testing it. And it turns out if we do it with the, you know, if we do it through this route, we keep, you know, basically the privacy you want, but it, it does this, this, and this better. But they, they're not doing that. Yeah, yeah. That's a big component of things. on one kind of sad note. I'm sorry to bring this to everyone's attention, but with the launch of the Google home speaker, it looks as though Google has now finally. And I am surprised at this,

if this was genuinely true. That's it. No more manufacturing of Ness Mini and Nest Audio Hardware, even though they've been out of stock on website for a long, long time. I wonder if they were going to third-party retailers or were regional specific. I will pull one out for the Nest Mini. Probably one of my most used Google products. It's been in my kitchen for, for how, when did the Nest Mini come out? 2018? 2017? I don't even know at this point.

It's just been a fixture in my life. So, yeah, if you are hoping to pick up a Nest Mini or Nest Audio, I would expect prices suddenly to skyrocket as they become a bit of a collector's item, as it were. So, yeah, a bit of a sad news. We will have more news of the Google Home Speaker. It is now available for a pre-order. When do those, if you can just remind me. 25th?

When do the pre-orders? 25th. So hopefully in next few weeks we'll have reviews and comparisons and content for you around that. I'm very excited for this product because it's a follow-up to probably, like I say, one of my most used pieces of hardware after the Chromecast, which is, again, another legendary product that Google released and has cut from our lives. Like, yeah, it just is what it is. I think that's technology that hangs around for a long time.

It hurts the most, I think, when it gets ripped away from you. I don't know if you guys had anything to add, I guess. download Android 17 if you haven't already. Enjoy the update. We'll have more coverage as the Android 17 QPR 1 beta, which technically is still continuing. Looks like it's kind of winding down. But yeah,

there's going to be more Android 17 in the coming months. Hopefully post-Pixel 11 launch. We are very fast approaching. An already busy time is going to get even busier as the summer progresses and it gets even hotter. So, yeah, stay cool, stay frosty, and get Andrew 17 downloaded, and I will speak to you very soon.

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.