Pixelated - Googlebook Eve

Episode Date: September 18, 2026

Welcome to Pixelated episode 117. This week, Damien and Will discuss Android 17 QPR1 and the upcoming launch of Android on laptops. 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. 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 117. I'm your host, Will Saddleberg. This week, with Abner out on assignment, Damien and I dive into the latest Android 17 QPR1 update before turning our attention to Google Books, the company's upcoming Chromebook replacement said to make its grand debut next week. How are we feeling about Google's next-gen laptop prospects?

It's a mixed bag, to say the least. And it all starts right after this message from our sponsor, Bitwarden. 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.

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and 80,000 businesses across 180 countries and 50 plus languages. Again, register for the free Open Source Security Summit on September 17th at OpenSourcesecuritySummit.com and follow Bitwarden on Twitter or Facebook at BitWarden. Thanks again to BitWarden for sponsoring Pixelated. I mean, I've just literally just said it off air. QPR 1 is available Will needs me to go through in its entirety

which is surprisingly not that much for an under QPR release usually there is a lot in these builds but this is probably the smallest big release from Google for a while I don't know how to describe it

like I don't know it feels a weird time of year this is the first major update after pixel 11 if you're out there in a pixel 11 user you might have the OTA yet the OTA is not available right now for the Pixel 11 series

if you have the pixel 10 and older right back to the pixel 6, you should be able to get this. This is the first of many updates that will come to the Pixel 11, but it might be one of the final ones for the Pixel 6. So we could probably pull one out this episode for the Pixel 6 very soon because, hey, it's a sad time for a pixel 6 owner if you're getting your last update and it's not that comprehensive.

But boy, are you going to love the upgrade you get? Because whatever phone follows, the pixel 6 will be better. Do you know, I never thought of it like that? That could be fantastic, couldn't it? Like you have... That's a huge upgrade. To the 11th? that's a crazy upgrade

yeah it would wouldn't it that's a good upgrade how rarely do we say that how rarely I feel like okay by the way I feel like you and I are going to be so much punchier because because if we're opening the kimono we've already recorded the bonus episode

for an hour and so I feel like you and I are just going to be like energetic so I'm excited for this I'm excited for you to walk me through this I'm excited for the listeners to get walked through this too Okay, so let's get into QPR.

This is, I think, what tends to happen with Google in the last few years is with their, with their QPR releases, these quarterly platform releases, aka pixel drops, which I hate the name, they should have stuck to pixel feature drop. I like that better because we have Android drops as well now, which was a few weeks ago. This is kind of, it's not unrelated, but it's not directly related, if that makes sense. So, like, obviously if you're pixel owner, you listen to pixelated, you're going to, you know that you know. know the deal by now. These QPR releases, we get a lot of functionality that is not going to be available on other phones or certain things are mirroring other phones. I think what Google tends to do is refine what they're released in Android 17. I think generally the performance levels are a lot heightened here. Like you will get better animations and I am a stickler for animations. I think

Google's done a lot of work with improving those usability-wise. There's not a great deal. I mean, the predictive back gesture has gone in a few more places. if you cared about that, it's now in quick settings, which I think is good. We need to see predictive back more readily available everywhere. There is some enhancements

to how mobile data works in the sense that you can have a quick sentence tile that you can, when you toggle mobile data off, I think it is, I can't reach way around it is. When you turn it off,

it will remind you that you will have to use Wi-Fi or something. And there's a new toggle way you can just not get annoyed by that. Like these kind of things that slip through the cracks, I think this is where Google does a lot of work in QPR, like sweeping up the crud, as it were. And it kind of feels like

with the Pixel 11, there wasn't as much to fix. Does that make sense? Like, I don't know. Did you use the Pixel 9 series when it came out? Like, yeah, absolutely. It launched 114 and it felt like what the heck are you doing? Like, this heightened or like shunted release cycle means, at least if you say using an older phone, like this is one thing I do like about QPR releases. If you have the pixel 10, for instance, and the pixel 11 comes out, you at least a month after the pixel 11 comes out get a nice big update or what was a big update. This is quite small with the grand scheme of things. Yeah, most of this boils down to cosmetic changes now. But because it coincides with the Android drop, there's a few things that I think are really cool. Like motion assist has rolled out at the same time almost. So there's some things that are like tied in here. Motion assist I think is probably one of the best things Google's added in the last few. years. Like, I am someone who suffers from motion sickness. So I loved, as much as I hate iOS, I love the fact that they would have motion assist, these little dots that go on your screen when the car's moving on. I think it's sometimes what's on aircrafts as well. And basically,

when you're looking down, I don't know if there's some signs behind it, having these like little gyroscope slash, I think it's like G-Force. I don't know how it works properly. But it like has these little dots and shapes that move across your screen. Well, Google of taken that and said, well, we'll do our own spin on it and you can have, you can like fully customize, I say fully, you can customize it a little bit, change the color of the dots, have them as like little random, randomized shapes, randomize colors. And it works. I've been used, I've used it for the last couple days. I used it in the back of a, on the bus. And I used in a taxi and it stops you from feeling sick when you're driving around. So that's not limited to

pixel phones, but I really do like the way that they're thinking about more broadly about of things with this kind of thing. Yeah. It's not huge. I don't know. Like, I'm trying to think of the best update Google's ever released. Maybe 12. I think for me, Android 12 was still the best.

Release Android Google's ever done? It's, it's, man, we're going far back, but like... You're going to go marshmallow? No, I was going to go. I was going to go lollipop. Okay. Which is not to say that lollipop was perfect.

It was a flawed operating system. but it was it was kind of the first I mean it wasn't even actually it wasn't even the first massive overhaul because like ice cream sandwich was the first like true yeah welcome to the Tron era

but like Lollipop really set the groundwork for where we are today like there's nothing left there are no remnants left of the Android 4 era in and like in how you interact with Android on a daily basis at least

but that's not true of Wallipop Like that is where material design started And like as much as it has evolved over time It doesn't evolve to where we are today Without volleyball. So yeah, I might give it to Android 5. Oh, we should definitely do a tier list for Android updates in general.

We have so many tier lists coming. Yeah, we definitely. I want to say, spoiling things. Yeah. Oh, it's going to be fun. Yeah, this is this definitely feels like I don't know, maybe we're kind of at a point where almost like I feel like I've been saying this the last few years,

especially, I mean, maybe not so much with Materia for expressive. Material through expressive was a really big overhaul, and this is like the, maybe sixth iteration of it, if that makes sense. Like it was a six?

Yeah, nearly six iterations of Matera through expressive. And this is the most expressive of material three expressive. But it's like now we've reached a point with mobile OSs where there isn't really much I would wish for or like desperately need. I know there's a lot of people that have complaints about stuff, but I don't know. I feel like maybe we're at the point with we're getting to the stage where we do with like desktop operating systems where there isn't much more to do.

I don't know if there's any feature that you look at the phone and you think, God, I desperately need this because I'm sure Google will be listening just thinking, yeah, let's get this down on the kind of to-do list. I think the one big difference This is an interesting question I think the one big difference I hope I don't embarrass myself by trying to talk off the cuff

between a desktop operating system and where Android is today right? Like if I'm going to compare it to Windows which is what I'm using right now Yeah certainly Windows is a flawed operating system in the same way that I could

probably sit down to write things I wish were different about Android I could certainly do it with Windows the Windows list would be longer, and I would come up with them more frequently, or at least faster. But Windows provides the flexibility as a legacy desktop operating system

and that a large percentage of the things that I don't like about Windows, if I really wanted to, I could roll up my sleeves, get in there and change them and really change how this computer works. And I'm taking some risk into my hands depending on what degree I'm,

to what degree I'm messing with things. but like you can really get in there and make this thing your own in a way that like is still not true with Android and I think that's kind of the last barrier for mobile operating systems

to cross before they feel like they have they have completed the same trek as desktop operating systems and maybe that'll never happen like there's a lot of benefit to a platform holder like Google keeping things

sort of learning a lesson from Microsoft, right? Because Microsoft wants to have that level of control over Windows. Every time my computer updates, I get the, like, look, I've had this computer for a year now. Every time my computer updates, I get the splash screen of like, by the way, just a few more setup steps, such as logging in with your Microsoft account. And there's no no thank you button.

There is a continue and a remind me in three. days button. And the reminder it actually doesn't come in three days. It comes the next time I restart my computer. But regardless, you can feel that Microsoft wants to have that level of like, we're harvesting your data, where we are providing the store where you get your applications and so on and so on and so on. What Google learned from Microsoft, I think, is to do that, you've got to do that way earlier. And they have, right? Like, that's Android to a T. And I don't think about, I don't think about the setup process for Android as toxicly as I do the Windows setup process, right? Like, for whatever reason, my brain has been trained through

essentially three decades of using desktop computers starting with Windows 95, that this is mine and I can do what I want with it and I can make it however I want. And you know what? If Microsoft wants to come out here and say, no, you can't do that. I will find some kind of registry edit that lets me do it anyway. And that's not true on Android unless you're willing to jump through hoops that are much harder to get through, like rooting or unlocking your bootloader. And those come with their own sacrifices where it's like, okay, but you can't use your banking app.

Yeah, that would annoy me no end, I think. And so what I would like to see happen, right, like if you were talking to me about the future of these platforms is let me make it my own. I've done my rant on various podcasts about how I don't like the media player on the lock screen, on Pixel especially, but just in general, I wish I could customize it to what I need it to be for how I edit podcasts. And if I was on Windows, I could probably make that happen. But on a platform, even as technically open as Android, that's not a thing I can mess with. And I would love to see some more, you know, especially in this AI era where Google wants you to think about apps as something you can vibe code, I would love to see the thing that would make me embrace this sort of sort of aesthetic is that I would love to see that freedom given to me and make me toggle on developer options and toggle on settings and give me all the warnings, make me sit through. Make the warning process a full week.

I don't care. At the end of the day, that's sort of the last hurdle I want to see Android clear. I think you kind of touch on a few points, and it's weird that you mention Windows there, because I think with QPR One, to me, this feels like, and it's only something that's come to me in the last couple of days, and it ties into another news story that I'll just briefly cover. So Google book pre-orders are going to start on September 21st, so when we're recording this, we're within four or five days of that date. And if Google Book pre-orders are going to come from September 21st,

then we know that Google Book is an Android-based operating system. Like, this feels like that final stop gap, like before we maybe hopefully see more from Android as desktop operating system. And there's probably going to be more change in the next six to eight months once Google Books are out there in the wild than maybe we've ever seen before. Like I'm really intrigued to see how, and I kind of have some thoughts. about this. I may do a video on this at some point in the future because I do have some really strong thoughts about where this this could be. I mean, we both, we both talked about and me,

you and Abner have talked about Google Books, not had nauseam. We've talked about a fair bit, but I'm kind of in a situation where I'm thinking, if this goes in a direction that I hope it goes, and I don't know if I think it will, is we could have a sit, we could have this completely flexible OS that in theory, in theory, nobody else can do. The only other company that could potentially do this is Apple, but they do this almost like firewall between Mac OS, which is running on mobile chips on the MacBring Neo. It is running on,

they have iPad OS, which is his own thing, which is not quite MacOS, but it's almost MacOS-esque-esque-es. It's still technically big phone OS. But if we have Android, which is on phones, on watches,

I mean, I guess it's where OS is technically Android, but it's not the same, if that makes sense. But it could be scalable. Like, you have an OS that genuinely scales from phone to tablet, then to laptop. Maybe who knows, they release this and you can install it on desktop.

Like, the only other OS I know that Kuiper Dunjy do that is Linux. And I mean, there are no good Linux phones out there. There's barely any good Linux tablets. So, no, you're not going to do that. Imagine how much could be done with Android if Google does but the time and effort. And I kind of don't doubt they'll do that now because with the, Chromebook got, with Grownbook potentially going the way the dinosaur and maybe only for education, there is no excuses now. And QPR1 now feels like this, here is the firebreak.

Now we're going to start really motoring. Now we're going to put off up to the gas and you're going to see some really cool stuff. And as you noted, if we start getting AI integration, I've talked about this, probably in the, some of the earliest episodes are pixelated. Don't go back and listen to them. I probably talking crap. I think if they can integrate AI, the way that they're trying to do with say create my widget and a few other things like that and I don't know if these I would really be intrigued to see how these models

will run in the next three or four years when we get these local models like are they going to be way better than they are now you could have that truly customizable OS and I don't know if I just hope they lead into it just lean into it like you have this scalability I'm thinking of it right now

literally as I'm saying it imagine how good foldables could be with work going on desktop level applications, I mean, there's a lot of things that have to fall into place, doesn't there, for this to work? Desktop level applications that work on foldable devices. And my biggest criticism of foldable devices is, I don't want to run to mobile apps side by side.

It doesn't work for me. I want the mini desktop experience, and I want the choice. Now imagine you can use a desktop experience decks on a foldable with true desktop level apps. that could be insane. Like nobody else can do, nobody could do that. Like nobody could do that in theory.

Yeah. No. Okay. Apple are not going to do it, are they? Apple are not going to cannibalize their iOS opportunity with, they like macOS being completely firewalled away from iOS.

That's where they have that. Clearly. iPhone mirroring. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, I'm going to rain on the parade a little bit. Good. Rame me and I need this.

My only, Look, I think that's a distinct possibility, but it comes down to how is Google approaching the Google book? How are they approaching this platform, right? And the question is, are they approaching this like they are building a desktop operating system that is meant to rival Windows and MacOS? Yeah. Or are they bringing Android to laptops?

And because as much as obviously the Android is the core, no matter what they are bringing. or bringing Android to laptops. But it is a difference in philosophy, in core philosophy. Are they taking Android and thinking about what that would mean to build a desktop class operating system out of it and all of the things that go with that? And I frankly would not call.

I would say ChromeOS is a secret third thing. It's somewhere in the middle in between a mobile operating system and a desktop operating system. I think that's the biggest problem, isn't it? The way ChromeOS calls in that. 100%. That's my fear on Google book is that it's going to be very similar. It's going to feel. And what will happen is if Google is taking Android and saying, let's bring this to laptops, and sure, we'll layer some bigger screen experiences on top of it,

but largely speaking, it's not Android. You know what I mean? Like if it is just like we've taken the Android experience you love, put a few extra things on top of it, here it is on an 899 laptop or whatever. Like that not only is that not going to sell and not only is that DOA, but it also kind of stops the stuff you and I are talking about, these stuff you and I want out of this platform and its tracks, or at the very least, it delays it versus, again, yeah, I totally agree with you. If they come out next week or whenever, yeah, I mean, it's going up for pre-order.

So it's got to be next week. If they come out and they're like, hi guys, like, here's our new platform. Like, we are really excited to see how this evolves the future of Android. Android both on these Google Book platforms, but also on mobile and on tablets and whatever. Then I'm like, okay, I can buy in a little bit. But that is the freedom in the experience that I think is completely missing from Android these days. And it's the last thing that they need to add to make it feel like it's something that, to make the dream of my smartphone is my computer in my pocket truly a reality.

because right now we're almost there. It's close. It's not quite 100%. Hey folks, if you're enjoying Pixelated, don't forget to sign up for 9 to 5 Google Pro for ad-free episodes and to gain access to our weekly bonus show, Pixelated Pro. This week, Damien and I talk about the PR crisis hanging over the AI industry's head, our frustration over Google's promotional themes on Pixel,

and the current state of television in the streaming age. It's an entire extra hour. of pixelated this week, and it can be yours for just $5 per month or about $1 per episode by heading to 9 to5 google.com slash pro. This all just kind of comes back to, this is definitely me being of a certain generation. And I don't know if you remember the Mozilla seabird concept from 2010. Do you ever see this? This was like, this was a concept from Mozilla.

I think it was a Ubuntu-based operating system. Basically, they made this phone that was like, it was like, it was a, it was a, The concept's still insane to this day. I don't think anyone's even tried to do it. It was a phone that had a projector. I do remember this. Yeah. I was like, this could be,

this to me is this, this is still the future of like, phones that never happened to me, never happened and I wanted it to happen. I think if, if there's this way for Google to kind of look at this and be like, hey, this is the,

to me, this is, yeah, I still think it's a future compute, but it's never going to happen. I think Google book could bridge a lot of these gaps that make, didn't happen. And like, I don't know, it is my old head thinking about it from that

perspective. Having the, having the, I guess it's flexibility. It's something that can flexes from phone to, to tablet to, I was going to say foldable, but technically a laptop is foldable, isn't it? It falls in half. Like, my biggest thing is that when we look at Chrome, when we look at ChromeOS, I think ChromeOS is fine. ChromeOS, to me, has never quite felt where it would be, where it needed to be. And at the same time, Android has always felt more polished. That sounds ridiculous to say, as I'm saying it. Yeah, Android could, Android could be a better experience for people first, for the first time using, say, cheap devices. And I think that's where I'm, that's where I'm pivoting towards, like, where I'm quite strong about it, and I'll be quite bullish about

Google books. A bad, a bad Android phone or a bad Android tablet experience is exponentially better than a bad Chromebook. I don't know if you've used the cheap, I've used some ridiculously cheap Chromebooks in the past. I think HP made an, I think it's HP S330, and that was like that was one of those devices that was like giving out to kids at school and stuff. Oh, my goodness, the experience was terrible. Yet if somebody gave someone, I don't know, a Galaxy A-9, is that a cheapest one?

Whatever the cheapest Galaxy tablet is, maybe last year's cheapest something Galaxy tablet, that would be a better experience than a Chromebook in a lot of cases. Now, if you can scale that up, I think it could be much better experience for most people at the low end. At the high end, yeah, I agree with you

that 899, if that's anywhere close to Ballpark pricing or even $1,000, like I think you're getting into really struggle territory because Chromebooks at that price point feel like they've encroached too much into someone else's territory. The cheap like DellXPS line, well about 1,400, 1400. And then you can get a really decent MacBook for that. Like, it's tough. But at the same time, there is a lot of strengths to Android.

Like, it goes anywhere. I mean, my biggest thing is like, okay, let's, I'm trying to be the positive guy here. I'm trying to be the yin, you're trying to be the yang. Let me just say real quick, because I do think you're right. I think over the last 20 minutes I've sounded very negative. So I just want to be clear that I love Android as a platform. And I like where it is today. What I'm asking for is basically that last final push into my dream operating system in my pocket.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I think it's where I'm at. So, all right, go ahead. Yeah, definitely. I think, I think like, say, there are going to be some really strong things. This is something that's come to my brain in the last, I say, we call it. or so. I think it was two or three days ago when there was a, the preview on Google's websites came out and said that they would be available pre-order 21st. So that's where I've been thinking

since then. And before that, I was just been thinking about Google, but more generally, because we knew that it was looming. And, okay, here is things that I think will definitely stand in good stead from Google, but right out the gate. OS, it's important that the OS, sorry, because these things are available right out of the gate. Potentially, these are Android-based, so they'll support e-sim out of the gate. No other laptops out there really do that. Yeah. There's potential e-sim support,

a physical sim support, because it's an Android operating system. It's the same as on your phone effectively. You're going to have a really good, and I say good, in air quotes, application library to begin with. If we get a desktop level Chrome, hey, that's a no-brainer.

Most people use Chrome. Amazing. That's going to benefit. That's going to happen. There's no. There's, if, I, I've been down on Google Book, as it's been rumored and debuted of the last six months or whatever.

But if it launches with mobile Chrome, we don't even need a podcast about it. But like if another thing is, if we start getting in equates, and this is one of the biggest problems with Chromebooks, they did gaming Chromebooks. It was never going to work. Gaming Chrome was never going to work. Gaming Google Book, now that's a different story entirely because you have the stack of, say, emulation options through Android. you potentially have a snapdragon, they'll have top-tier snapdraggin chips potentially in these devices. Linux support on Steam is so different than it. And like you could probably get that.

And I know they've had the Chromebook valve steam thing was there for a minute and then gone. And then like, but like you can rebuild that relationship or whatever and launch it on a more, for lack of a better term, serious platform. And like I think,

I think you could do that. And the underlying emulation process that you would need for that to work. is already basically, I mean, I mean, like, think about how many, I guess you wouldn't even need an official platform because there's already, like, emulation-based applications on Android that allow you to install Steam games.

So, like, it's already there. Like, it's, you just need to, like, give it enough horsepower to work. And I can run some, not super powerful, but some games on my, on my AY and Thor through something like game native. And so, like, if you're giving it real laptop power, then it should work.

It should work. I don't know. We'll see. it should work. I think that could be a really big market for Google Books. Like, what also is really important, I think, is that a lot of these devices as well will have these, because it's a mobile, because I don't know if this is going to be the case, but my interpretation is that because it's a mobile operating system, you can run it on a

mobile chip. And a lot of these mobile chips now have ridiculously good networking capabilities. They're really thermally efficient. They have really good power draw as well. And you can, I mean, I'm. I'm talking from a gaming perspective because I care about emulation, but I could definitely see these being powerful tools. Like we've talked about the AY and Thor multiple times on the pod.

And these gaming handhelds, this could open up an opportunity where those things, I mean, those devices might not get powerful, but there are going to be big corporations who want to make these devices. We could potentially have MSI companies of that nature making these Google book. I mean, it's not Google because it was a gaming handheld, but Android-powered gaming handhelds that then have desktop class operating systems

running on them. This is all long into the future. So I'm talking more broadly, and I just think that's where I've been thinking over the last couple of days because, yeah, QPR One has launched at this point in time. We have Google Books on the horizon,

and there are genuine positives under the surface. I think we need to see a really strong launch for these products. see all these questions need to be answered. Like, I hope, I hope, beyond hope, that Google isn't going to lean too much, lean too heavily, sorry, into AI being the kind of the biggest component of these. I think that really does, that kind of like,

the pendulum swings on that. I think I would be worried if they're like, okay, this is an AI first platform. And that could, because, I mean, look at, look at the way Windows has been perceived in the last few years. and Linux is growing at a rate, I mean, it's still only a percentage. It's like up 10%, 20%, in the air.

Yeah, people don't like co-pilot. They're annoyed that there's a co-pilot key on their keyboard. Yeah, I mean, to your point, like, what we're describing is our hypotheticals that we are imagining, that we are creating live on the air. And what I would say is, they don't need to nail exactly what we want. but they need to be thinking the same sort of thoughts we're thinking,

the same sort of possibilities that we're dreaming up right now. And if it, again, they don't need to launch it as like this like gaming ready platform, but they need to be willing and open for a company like MSI as a good example. To come to them and be like, we would like to take this and like put it on our gaming platform because we think we see opportunities there. And they need to not just be open and willing for it, but also have the hooks ready for that to work. I hope that's what they're doing

because that's how you build a desktop class operating system. And if that's not it, if they're doing what you're saying and what I've ranted about before and what I feel deep in my gut that it's going to be is that it's an AI-first platform and that they're really going to push the Gemini stuff and it's going to basically feel like an evolution of the Chromebook experience you know today already

and it will be more powerful, but at the end of the day, it won't be, it won't be, it won't be Windows. If that's what this is. I think, I think there was going to be a lot of people out there was like, I will buy this because it isn't Windows. Like I think there was an opportunity. I don't, I don't mean so much like this isn't Windows and therefore people aren't

going to buy it. What I more mean is that like if it doesn't have the flex, you can open this up to Linux too. If it doesn't have the flexibility of Windows or Linux, like whatever Linux distro you want to, you want to select, whatever. you've been using. Then I just feel like it becomes the sort of thing where I once again I don't know who this ends up being for.

Like is it is it for students? Is it for businesses? Is it for home use? Which is kind of what that's kind of all three of those were kind of what the what Chrome OS was for. But then like enough. I think it just took, I think it just seemed to seemingly took all lent

into the education sector a little bit too heavily. I don't know. That was my first. Sure, and then they got, and then, you know, the rug was pulled out from under them when it felt like everybody just went like, you know, schools can buy the 329 iPad in bulk for like 250 bucks. what if we just do that instead? And there's like way less overhead for our IT department because its iOS is already like halfway to being a lockdown in the way you would need it to be.

And I think that's sort of, you know, sank their battleship for lack of a better term. But yeah, I don't know. They need this. That's half the problem, right? This needs to be everything to everyone in a way that not even Android on smartphone just needs to be everything to everyone.

It needs to be powerful enough to flex upwards to people like you and I who if we're going to switch to a Google book would need to run actual app like creative applications like whether from Adobe or whoever but we would need like to for our workflow to not have to dramatically shift in order to use this platform like that needs to be there and if it's and it's not it's not grab Photoshop from the Play Store it's photo. it's Photoshop, the application that is currently sitting open, even in my task bar right now, that I, you know, have made the silly little side load thumbnail in yesterday. Like, that's what they need. But at the same time, they needed to be easy enough for anybody to learn. And they needed to scale down to be on affordable laptops, a market that is quickly both shrinking in terms of options and in terms of the price floor, but also, So eight, ten different MacBook Neo rivals launched or were announced a week ago.

And so you're, as we mentioned on the show last week, you're up against them now. And so it's like, okay, this is a competitive space. This is a competitive space in a way it was not a year ago. Like truly, it is a completely different field compared to 12 months ago as you're launching this now. it's the death star. It's the death star trench run of like you, there's, you only have one shot to get this right.

And like, if you don't nail it down that, down that vent, was it a vent? I think it is a vent. Yeah, I think it's a vent, right? If you don't,

if you don't nail that shot down the vent, it's going to be very tricky for you to make a comeback on that. Like I, like first impressions, you're launching a desktop operating system in big 2020. First impressions are not just everything, they're the only thing. Grab your phone and take a look at your app drawer right now.

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come full circle on the entire conversation about Android general and these updates. Maybe there is a play here by Google to only capture a component of the market that's only ever known mobile OS is. There is a growing number of people who've maybe only grown up on, say, an iPad or has only ever used a smartphone. And I do wonder if, I would do wonder if there is somebody internally thinking about it like that. And I hope, I hope if that is a play that works out because it does alienate a component of the market. you and me for instance, maybe we aren't the target market. And that can be the case. I was never the target market for Chromebooks.

And I think, but if they can capture a very decent component of, say, younger people who have only ever no mobile OSs and they're mobile native, that could potentially bolster this entire experience for them because they might not have the same misgivings that we do. But at the same time, we're kind of like stuck in our ways. We want Photoshop and we want Premier Pro on our Google Books. It's not even my ways. It's just like, it's just how I work.

I mean, I've lived in these applications for half my life, basically, at this point. Yeah, half my life. I'm 31. I started using Adobe Apps 1016. That's half my life, if you round up just a little bit. And it's, you know, 15 years. And it's crazy. It's crazy to think about.

And it's not that I love Adobe. I hate Adobe. I actually actively dislike them as a company to their core, but it's sort of industry standard at this point, and I use enough of their applications that it gets tricky to start looking for replacements because, not just because it's like, okay, well,

but I still need to pay for audition because there's no good audition rival out there at the moment. Although I use it less and less as podcasts start pivoting more to video, I suppose. But then also I need to be able to share project files with people at points. And like, again, if I'm, if I start using some random, you know, premiere, even, even just Da Vinci, it still becomes a thing where it's like, oh, I have to hope that the person I'm sharing this with uses Da Vinci. And that's true of Adobe, but there's such an industry standard that it, it sort of cancels that out that fear.

You're never going to get a PSD file and be like, as a, as anybody working remotely around, you know, graphics or images or whatever and be like, I don't know what to do with this. what application. So it's just they have to nail all of that. They have to be ready for pros like you and I. They have to be ready for, you know, more basic users, like the smartphone people you're, you're describing or whatever. They have to please the fact that this is an AI play. They have to please the fact that there's going to be people who don't want this to be an AI play. I don't know.

I'm so curious. Like, it's so funny that we sort of like started on this QPR update and then. slowly segueed into the into the Google book conversation without even without even noticing so gradual. Yeah, but I think it kind of does, it's really important. They're connected. They are definitely connected. Like this is the biggest soft, like it's crazy in summer space.

I would, in some ways, sorry, I wonder if Google is kind of like, whether or not devices are in people's hands by the end of, say, next week after this pre-order, it could be a month. It could be end of October. Right. Like they could have, this is like, this feels like the final big, like there isn't as much evidence in this update that there's been a lot of work done to the desktop operating system. I know we had leaks earlier in the year, which seemingly say that

it is very similar to what we're expected from the desktop mode, but I do wonder what's gone on in between. And there is no evidence that in QPR one. So this is the last time, which I guess is is, I mean, I'm sure there's plenty of stuff under the hood that's not finished and I haven't I'm not the kind of person who's going to dig into the code. But it definitely feels as though this, this is the last time Android is just purely for your phone. And that's kind of of a really strange thing to think about. Like, we've never had to think about this previously. It's almost been like, oh, is a ChromeOS feature going to come to Android or is an Android

feature going to come to ChromeOS? Now it is just, here is a feature. And whether or not it enhances our phone or enhances what potentially becomes a laptop space is, I guess it's ultimately up to the people who use them on a day-to-day basis. Well, it's interesting. I guess I hadn't thought about this, but I guess the biggest, as someone who is unlikely to switch to Google book. If I'm being perfectly honest, like if I'm, I, I have enough computers. Computers are expensive at the moment. Yes. I just like, it's just not in my future, probably,

immediate future to switch to a Google book unless it was a review unit, which is its own thing. The biggest advantage that I guess I can see coming out of this is to hopefully please, exactly what I'm asking for on the mobile side, which is some of those more powerful desktop-e experiences you know bleeding into Android on mobile

and maybe that again maybe that's a it's an advanced power user tool that's four menus deep in developer options which itself is hidden and so on and so forth

but like if I can get if I if the advantages I get of this are that there are desktop class stuff coming to mobile not not even just applications but just like

the way Android works if it becomes more like a death top class operating system at its core, maybe a pro Google book, which is not something I expected to say at the start of this recording. That's what I feel like we are. I think at the very least, if this becomes an experiment, it's going to be an experiment that potentially benefits foldables on our phones. Yeah. And I've kind of come full circle.

I was like, I didn't know what to think. I was most excited because we have another player in the desktop operating system space. I like that. That's good. We need more challenges there. Yeah. It's a familiar, it's kind of a familiar entity. I like Android.

I've used Android for, I don't know, since 2010, 2011, something like that, almost exclusively since then. I used it on and off. Like, we've always been wanting more from our tablets. We've always been wanting a little bit more from our foldables. This could be the final, like, this could be the piece of the jigsaw that maybe we weren't anticipating. It could be.

We will learn very, very soon. Hopefully September 21st will have a better idea of what to expect. I have thoroughly enjoyed talking QPR briefly, but mostly Google Book, which was something I didn't anticipate. But hey, we had no plans. No plans for this. Hey, sometimes these things come off the cuff and we get into it and hopefully you've enjoyed this. Abner will be back next week as normal. He is just taking a break today. And yes, I'm very, very excited. There was a lot going to be going on next week. I'm sure we'll have more thoughts once Google. I say Google, they have partners that are doing this maybe. Who knows how this is going to be.

handled. Like, we know that there's some other companies work making these things. So who's going to be doing the unveiling? Like, it's going to be a weird. Like, true, I have no, we have no idea. I don't know. Yeah, I, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm now, I think I've made myself excited for this. So yeah, if you're in that, I know, I know that excitement. Who would change this? I, I did not see this episode ending on like a relatively optimistic note about Google books, especially from me. That's crazy. I mean, both, you and I have both randed about this for a month or for a year, excuse me. I just didn't see it coming. Wow. Crazy twist ending here on pixelated. Yeah, and I'm not going to spoil that. I'm glad, I'm glad we're, hey, we're team

Google Book now. And if you're team Google Book, stick around. I'd love to have you join us. If you want to listen to more, come listen to us on the pro tier. We have some good chats over there and we've have some fun. Yeah, rare time we've already recorded that and it was an hour. And I really did feel like we could have just kept going. Like, we basically had to stop it. So we could go and we talked about the state of television and water cooler TV and more about, actually more about customization. If you wanted to hear my thoughts on themes on Android, themes on Pixel, that's in the paid tier this week,

kind of on accident. But yeah, lots of, lots of a full hour of discussion over on the paid tier. So go check that out. Yeah, all Android all the time. Thanks guys, listen. I'll speak to you soon. Oh, right, it's just me. Bye. I was so used to waiting for after.

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.