Pixelated - Primetime Prep for Made By Google

Episode Date: August 7, 2026

Welcome to Pixelated episode 111. This week, Damien, Abner, and Will preview what to expect at next week's official unveiling of the Pixel 11 series, including final rumors, leaks, expectations, and some very wrong guesses on who the host might be. Enjoy the episode? You can listen to our brand new weekly members-only Pixelated Pro bonus episode by signing up for 9to5Google Pro! Sponsored by Proton Unlimited: Pixelated listeners can save 30% on an annual subscription to the company’s suite of privacy-friendly services by signing up using our link. Thanks to Proton Unlimited for sponsoring the podcast. Subscribe YouTube Podcasts Pocket Casts Spotify Amazon Music Apple Podcasts Overcast

Welcome to Pixelated episode 111. I'm your host, Will Saddlebird. This week, it's made by Google prep time as we look forward to next week's official unveiling of the Pixel 11 series. Join us as we make absolute fools out of ourselves trying to guess the host three hours before Google announced it was Trevor Noah. Spoiler, no, we don't figure it out. Before we dive into some final leaks, rumors, and predictions surrounding the Pixel 11, pixel tag, and Pixel Watch 5. It all starts right after this message from our sponsor, Proton. Grab your phone and take a look at your app drawer right now. You've probably found yourself relying on these same old apps and services since the Nexus days,

and what suited you best back then might not be the right choice in 2026. Luckily, Proton can help bring you into a privacy-first ecosystem built for our modern age. Proton offers practically every service you could possibly need under the sun across every platform, including email, calendar, file storage, password management, document editors, and, of course, 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,

or 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.combe.combe, or by clicking the link in the show notes. That's Proton.combe.combe Google. Thanks to Proton for sponsoring Pixelated. Made by Google is looming. I was just saying off air briefly that my timeline is now based on years of pixel launches. This is like my eighth. I think this is my eighth, maybe my ninth, but I'm not sure. I'm working out of my brain. Whatever it is, there's a long time. My time is but a flat circle and we hit pixel launch after pixel launch. We have this coming up.

Who do you think is going to be like? We had that really weird show last year with one of the jimmies, one of the famous jimmies. Which jimmy should it be this year hosting the made by Google launch? I mean, they're, are they, they're going to bring Fallon back, right? Like that feels, it's in New York again. I don't think it's Fallon. I don't think it's Fallon. No. I like late night hosts, so it's, I'd love for it to be called bare since he's open.

Unfortunately, he's available. I, I think if it's somebody else, no, I think it's right night. I feel like that feels right, especially since this one is at night. Right. So what time is it going to kick off local in New York? 6 p.m. Eastern. 6 p.m. Eastern, right.

Okay, so that'll be like 10 p.m. 3. Yeah, compared to, what was it, 10 last year? Yeah. What do you think in terms of like, because obviously this is the weirdest thing is that I think Google threw a spanner in the works, initially doing it in summer, and then now this year they've done, as in Pixel Launch, now they've done this thing where they've tried to make it more of an entertainment experience. And I mean, I know a lot of people will call it cringe.

I actually didn't think it was, I didn't think it was anywhere near as bad as some of the things that you see from companies who take themselves too seriously. I feel like it felt, I don't know, I guess it felt more, it did feel infomercially, which I quite like, I quite like that idea. I think if they're going to do it, just lean into it and just go whole. infomercial, QVC, all those shopping channels, because it felt like realistic. It felt like there was something,

there were humans behind it, rather than something being overly scripted. I don't know. So what do you think you'll do this year? So behind the logic of that is that that announcement is for the mass public. It's not for the tech audience, so to speak. And I think that's fair.

They're trying to target a new audience, trying to go mainstream. So that's their rationale. and how rationale behind it. I absolutely think they're going to repeat that format, again, given the timing. And I think that was, was that their most watch keynote last year? I'm not sure. It had a really high viewership on YouTube.

Yeah, definitely. I guess you look at it at marketability of the actual host. And that that is a big thing, isn't it? Like, I mean, I don't really know much of, which Jimmy was it, Fallon? It shows how little I know of these US late night TV hosts but I thought he did a great job I think there was a couple of things

there was a moment and I don't know how long it was into the keynote where they were talking about the tensor processor and I think he just went hey oh tenter and then I was just fully laughing out loud it was phenomenal so good but I want them to definitely lean into the absurdity

of it because when we start looking at it we've had this we have this blandness in Android and I think that being critical, I think companies like Samsung do this a little bit too much where they kind of, they're like, oh, let's talk about how it's changing people's lives. Well, I mean, yeah, the absurdity of it makes it more funny, more people are going to watch it and maybe go viral off the back of it. If it's just, yeah, just go whole hog. Just don't like hold back. Just go for the absurdity of it. I think it makes it even so much more fun to watch. And I'm guessing from people

who aren't interested in tech, they don't care about specs. They don't care about all that kind of stuff. So yeah, I'm off. I'm sorry. I'm saying it's Spider-Man at the at the right at the right at the Shark King Spider-Man. It's all of them are weird.

It's I don't know. I think trying to target a mainstream audience is fine. I do think they need to avoid the QVC feel because that's just that is the cringiest aspect to me. But

and another good point you raise us not taking themselves too seriously that's really just I don't know it's the tech audience will always be critical

of how these is announced but as long as as by their metrics it's winning or it's it's a better than previous years I think there's something there

I mean I was nodding there so much I nearly hurt my neck because I do agree with you I think we can be hypercritical of stuff and I think like to me, as I'm getting older, it must be my age now.

I think it's more endearing that Google is willing to, like, and I guess it's not with a launch, because I don't think they did last year. I think it was something different and people were paid attention in a different way. I think if you double down and go for it again, people will resonate with it more. Like, oh, they're not out here trying to sell us. Well, I guess they are trying to sell a product, but trying to tell us something different. There's a different story behind it. wonder how much value there's going to be to the audience, given that it looks exact same

as last year's phone. I wonder how they're going to sell that. I mean, what would your dream line up be for someone announcing the Pixel 11, which is, I mean, the Pixel 9++ plus, isn't it, at this point in time? Like, in terms of who's there? Yeah, who would you? Yeah, what would you dream keynote be? Like, because I think everyone has a different expectation of what a tech announcement should be. I think everybody... I guess, like, best case scenario is it's somebody that I find, like, funny, right? But, like, I don't... I don't know.

I don't know how else to do it beyond thinking of it as, like, a, like, can I get, like, genuine entertainment out of this... It is an infomercial, regardless of whether they design it to look and feel like an infomercial like they did last year. It is, at the end of the day, all of these tech events dating back to the jobs era are essential. information for the product they're launching yeah I don't know he would never I don't think he would do it but get Conan O'Brien up there

and like have him joke around with Rick I'll watch that like I will I think my dream keynote like this kind of backtracks and I just said earlier but I think there is a way to do a tech keynote

that might be interesting to a general audience. I think Apple keynotes are evidence of that, maybe not the most recent ones, but the earlier ones, in terms of people's interest and jobs, disability

to translate technical concepts to a public audience and get them to care and evangelize for it. So I do think there's a format that would work. Historically, Google does not like talking about specs on stage.

Let's take the camera as an example. Consistently, Apple, when they announce the latest iPhone iPhone pro camera, they go into specs, they go into deep dives in a way that you would expect that that's honestly surprising for a mainstream audience because people

care about the camera, people care about the end result, and I think there is a way to do that, but Google hasn't they've never talked about specs, maybe in the very first two or three keynotes, but since absolutely not. So I think there is a way to,

I would be curious to see a modern version of that by Google. And I think for me, this is more in the weeds, but having Sundar open a keynote made by Google keynote would help reflect how serious they are about this lineup, or if they ever they have a big year or a big generation rather, I think that would be a sign that Google, that there is a company-wide, that they have something big for the year. My interpretation has been that Google has always kind of done the thing of show, don't tell in their keynotes.

Do you know what I mean? Like, oh, here is night sight. Here is. I can't even think of anyone off the top of my head, but let's just say Gemini, I'm thinking so broadly into the future and in the past at the same time, it's crazy. So, yeah, they tend to show off these live demos. And I think they probably speak louder than maybe the specifications would. And I guess it probably doesn't help that this year, if the processor is not what people are expecting, they will instantly turn off all the tech knows.

I mean, then again, you could argue that those people are so plugged in, they don't care. But, yeah, I feel like the show don't tell is kind of the best way for Google to do things, I guess, because they're not going to get their own pure specifications alone. Right. And again, they never even re-returned. about the tens of except like the first two years. Yeah. I wonder if this just comes down to being,

to them needing, like, as good of a communicator as possible. Like, I, I think they just need to put, and I'm not saying, like, external. Like, they, I think the longer they have someone like, and I don't mean this is in disrespect to anybody else, either people whose names they don't know or people who I'm not naming. But, like, I think Rick is always pretty good on stage. I think obviously, you know, Dieter cut his teeth for,

10 years making video content at the verge that people still like comment to the day that they miss on that website. And it's like I think getting him on stage as much as possible to communicate to an audience is smart. Especially, you know, that that maybe doesn't chase so much that doesn't win you over the the general audience that Google is or is not chasing here. But, you know, it kind of wins some cred back over from from the nerds you're talking about Abner. Yeah, I don't know. there's no easy way to do this. I almost wonder if like trying to make this into something that is for a general audience is just never going to happen in that way other than like, you know, I have no idea how much

of that ad or how much of the view count comes from. Does Google put this presentation in front of, you know, as a pre-roll on YouTube? Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised. I have premium. I have, they truly don't know if they did that last year. I don't know. Premium gang rise up. but yeah

to me it's like I think trying to make it as entertaining and as fun as possible while also not totally disconnecting from the fact that like regardless of what you do it is predominantly enthusiasts watching this I think it's their best

step forward I think what Rick should do it Rick and Sundar should come on stage I should have huge sledgehammers there should be a load of tech on it just smash everything to pieces and then just swipe off the desk and just slam down the brand new phone and be like,

this is your next phone. And then like, I don't know, then it'd say something like, I don't know, Q video and then that's it. And then it's literally just a montage of all this crazy stuff. I think that'll be the, that'll be my way of doing it. That's good. That's good.

That does get a little bit too close to that Apple ad, everybody. Oh, yeah, yeah. Probably. Yeah, that's true. I think they should make a proper thin and light pixel and then pull it out of a manella envelope. No, they could put it in.

I'm joke. and then post it. They could put it in one and then post it, do the opposite. And then arrives at, they, I don't know, someone infiltrates Apple Park and they, they have a super thin, super thin phone that they pull out and they're like, oh my God, that would be phenomenal. I guess the most realistic thing is that if it's not a mate night host, it's probably a YouTube creator. Oh, it's, oh, God, did they get Mr. Beast? is it going to be Mr. Beast up there?

Who else could it be? Who in the YouTube space could it be? I mean, they're not going to get Marquez to do it because Marquez, that would be a competition. No, yeah, it's not going to be a tech YouTuber. It would be a general, yeah. It would be a Mr. Beast or a Mr. Beast like figure. I don't know.

I'm disconnected enough from, I don't know who that would be besides him. No. Yeah, that's a really good. That is a really good shout up actually. I think, like, they've tried to, they teased it last year, didn't they? What I say, teased it. They made them, who's the, what they called? The Jonas Brothers?

The Jonas Brothers? I felt like that was, do you know what? I actually didn't mind that. I think sometimes those come across is really, really odd, but that was quite, I quite enjoyed it. I think that those are the kind of things. I want musical guests back. I want the, the, the jobsian thing of like having cold play out for two songs or whatever. Yeah.

What, they did that during Apple Keynot? Yeah, they like ended on two songs at the end of Apple Keynotes and then the year Kanye was there. I think I admit I have no recollection. I don't I don't remember any Apple Keynotes. I am. Really? I remember Cole.

I don't remember. I don't remember Kanye being at a keynote. No. That was out of my brain. It was early Kanye and it was as weird as you'd expected. But yeah, that happened. Amazing. They did, they did for years.

They did musical guests. U2. I think they did knowledge one year. I think the U2 thing never always rubs people

up the wrong way I think Bono doesn't help himself but yeah because his best makes your jobs I have that so Kanye

performed gold digger and all falls down at the iPod nano introduction keynote in 2005 okay that's on my watch list now

I'm putting out my watch list right now I was I was too young for this I I just I guess I've never learned about it

but yeah that's crazy Okay, I'm going to add that to my watch this because as a early Kanye Stan Not so much now But you're not a fan No You're not

A Qum Yeah, that's insane Anything post Yeez is I'm not really interested in But yeah, that is okay I'm going to watch out When I get the opportunity I will stand up for the life of Pablo

But this is getting a little too close to Conversation we would do in the bonus episode So You gotta pay us for that We will We will I guess we will get A really good

approximation, probably what, by Tuesday, Wednesday, are they going to announce this? Do you think? Did they announce Fallon ahead of time? They announced it last, on, like, on Friday, and everybody got, on the internet,

got super mad. So I don't think they're going to announce it. Yeah, okay, well, my approximation of knowing who it might be is completely off. I guess my last thought on that is, like, it matters for, like, that one hour, but afterwards nobody talked about it again.

So if you hate that they do that, it's over after now. Yeah, true. I think some of the supplementary stuff that Google did was really cool. Like I thought the hot ones, a little brief thing with, it's Sean, isn't it? Sean and Rick was, I thought that was great. I think they should do more of that. It does, obviously, it does feel very fake, but at the same time, I thought that was one of the most real things that they've done for quite a while. and I like the idea of them leaning into more stuff with creative people

because when you see Samsung do the same with like, have they done one with like Sydney Sweeney or something last year or the year before with a flip? And it was like a few years ago. She was at a couple of them. Yeah, she was at one of the keynotes. Two or three years ago. And it's like this is, this feels so forced.

This is so unrealistic. It was awful. Unrealistic. And at least with the Jonas Bros one, you can see it clearly had fun doing it. They were performing something. And there's like a push pull kind of 50-50 almost. They get a bit promotion of their single. They were active in it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. I remember them cutting because I was not there. I think this was the one that was in South Korea. Yeah, in Korea. This was two or three years ago. And I, but she was at, I know she was at two of them. I remember this one being, they like cut to her.

And she's just like sitting in the crowd, like, smiling. Yeah, I think she took a selfie. And I'm like, what? Like, what are. What are we doing? What is going on? Yeah. Yeah.

At least at the Samsung keynotes, look, I, I'm sorry. I think they're terrible. I think Samsung does a really bad job. I think it's like the worst parts of like Apple's current keynotes crossed with like, I just like, I mean, they're just playing videos at you for a large portion of that. Like it's not even like they're cutting to pre-recorded segments like Apple. They just like, they're like, here's like a three-minute ad. And then we'll play another three-minute ad after the.

fact and eventually you'll see cut down versions of these ads on on you know before football games it's just the worst man it's just boring and like i i i yeah i mean i mean i'm not a big fan of apple's current format but at least it's like very it's polished to a t and i think it's too much i think it comes across it's too it's too much but like at least it's got that polish google is uh fun and experimental at the moment um yeah who's your who's your guys's final guesses on on the host and then we can We can talk a little bit broader about the phones. It might be announced by the time this episode goes live. Yeah, that's true.

The listener might already know. But who's your guys' guess? I think it probably is going to be Fallon again. I think he was pretty good, to be quite honest. I think he's pretty good. I don't think it's Fallon again. I don't know who. Who do you think it is, Abner?

Who's your shot in the dark? I think it's a YouTube creator. I don't know. Like a beast or a beast-like? Yeah, basically. Oh, no. Who's a guy? Who's a guy?

Okay, I'll throw out two. Mark Roba and Veritasium. Those two. I could say Roba. One of those two. Yeah. That can make sense. If it's YouTube.

I'm going to go completely a name we haven't talked about. Me. A profession we haven't really talked about. No, I'm going to say Jack Black. That's what I'm going to say. That's my shot in the dark. That's all. He is kind of a YouTuber.

He loves paid gigs. For what I do. No, okay. If it's going to be paid kids, is Kevin Hart. Oh, my God. Kevin Hart would do it too. He'd do anything.

Well, he's got, he's got, um, black, he's coming off Mario, Galaxy. Uh, and then he's got Jumanji. So, you know,

he can, he can promote his stuff while he's, while he's there. That's my, that's my shot in the dark. I don't actually think it's going to happen, but I don't know,

maybe it's just a name that popped into my head. No, I think we've got some good shouts there, but I mean, if anyone has any others, please, by all means, if you're in the...

Yeah, if it's not already announced. Throw one in the Discord if it's not already been announced. If it has been announced, laugh at our stupid guesses. But yeah. Hey there, if you're enjoying Pixelated, don't forget to sign up for 9 to 5 Google Pro to gain access to our weekly bonus show, Pixelated Pro. This week, we're talking musical performers at 2000s ABLE Keynotes,

the joys and pains of nostalgia bait tech, in each of our five favorite games of all time. You'll never guess Abner's Picks. sign up today for just $5 per month at 9 to 5 google.com slash pro I guess we can get into the phones and stuff we've had a ridiculous deluge of leaks as is always the case the week before I feel like I know everything about these it feels it feels weird doesn't it we're talking about a keynote trying to get excited about a device that potentially we know every single component of it but um I always find with with any device

leaks never only tell you what 60% of the story i think sometimes you need to get something in your hand what do you think in terms of like i'm gonna go we're gonna bring it back to colors because i always think that when we see colors from these leaks they've been pulled from websites or whatever or someone's found them somewhere and they never quite match up to what they the real deal looks like like what do you think so far do you think where you're seeing your attention being drawn to in terms of like devices colors all that kind of stuff. What's the most exciting for you guys?

So I think the Matt Obsidian Pixel 11 pros obviously because of the texture that being said I am so tired of black phones that I will probably never... Yeah, this pissed me off. This just proves they know

Matt is the right way to go and they're still not doing it for all the other colors. But what if it's a test? What if it's a test for that? It's crazy a test. What are they testing? Every other phone maker

is making that phone. I'm sorry, I was trying to try to play devil's advocate and be like maybe no, no, no, David. I'm not. There's no, devil's advocate. The argument is it's stupidly shiny and horrible. Yeah, it's annoying. It's like uncomfortable to hold, like I, like I'll fess

up to having sweaty hands, but that's only half the problem. It's freaking weird in the summer, like when you're out. It's terrible in the song. Yeah. But I mean, didn't we cite a study on this a few, maybe last month or the month before that we saw that

like people like overwhelmingly buy the plainest colour because they put their phone in a case anyway. Yeah, it's the cars thing. Everybody buys the plain car colors. Well, doesn't that make it even make less sense to make the black one the matte one then if the black one is the one everybody's buying to put in a case? You make a good point.

But I wasn't thinking like that. Shouldn't that orangey gold one be the all matte one? Because that's the flashiest color and therefore the most likely to to stay out of a case. You've made some ridiculously good points there. I don't know what to say. I'm just mad that to really test highlight this year,

which is the name of pixel grow that has solidified at this point. I have to use it an actual freaking case because I'm not putting glass down on it. Oh, yeah. Because the rumor is yet you have to it only picks, highlight only works when you

flip your phone when you put your phone face down a lot like flip to shush and I'm not putting my I'm not putting it my glass face down yeah yeah no 100% and I have to be honest with both of you

you know basically since it became obvious that this is just a modern notification light built into the camera flash I have like I just I'm not going to use this like I'll use it during the review period to see how it goes but like I know once my review is live of whatever, right?

Like, I'm not, like, I just don't see anything here. It's just a notification light. I already have the always on display. I agree with you, Abner. I, I don't want to put my phone face down, you know, on a table or whatever, especially because like you, I prefer to use, you know, as either no case or as thin a case as possible if I'm going to do that. And I don't, I don't want to have to, like, worry about, about,

micro scratches or even deeper scratches because I'm trying to use a notification light that is still not as like I just I'm not seeing the advantage here over the always on display that already exists and the rumor is that it's for Gemini status right which okay

that sounds like a smart speaker and the other one is calls which yeah does anybody take in place calls I haven't placed a call in so long I do, but like, I'm never, I don't, I just don't understand, like, I don't, yeah, go ahead. I don't know.

I don't, for me, it's weird, actually, my people I call, they know to text first before calling me, and that's the same with me. I give them, like, a courtesy text to say, hey, I'm going to call you because nobody, it's disruptive, otherwise, it just feels disruptive. So, I, yeah. I just don't Yeah Where does it sit in terms of like

Functionality that people complain about Probably pretty low down the list I mean Okay I'm the one in the group Where I do put my phone face down Quite a lot When I'm working I put it

No people I agree People do that But if I'm doing that I don't want to be disturbed at all I don't want the notification light I'm doing it to not look at the hall On display Yeah you're right actually

That's a good point Yeah You're making a lot of good points today, Will, I haven't thought of. Maybe I didn't, maybe I walk up on the like low IQ side of the bed today. No, no, no, no. I'm not trying to say that. I'm not trying to imply that at all. That's, that's, but it's more so that I'm like, you know, it's just, it's one of those features where I, I have been trying to be, I've been trying to think about what I would, what I'm going to use out of this, but this most recent leak where, again, as Abner saying, we've learned basically, at least in this advertisement that.

leaked. It is for context calling you. And honestly, even if you were to add contacts messaging you, it's still not that useful to me because I would rather just see, oh, like my, right, my friend texted me. I can see it on the always on display that it's not an important text. I'll respond in five minutes when I'm finished with this task as opposed to, oh, my light is flashing. I want, I need to stop what I'm doing and pick up the, like, and then the Gemini thing, it's like, that's just a gimmick. Like, like that's a that's a it's meant to as you said Adner like replicate a smart

speaker but like that adds nothing to the actual experience as you're using Gemini and honestly if I'm talking to Gemini on my phone I'm probably holding my phone yeah and want to see the screen response because it's fast to digest I don't know exactly it seems stupid it does seem stupid that they

that they wouldn't use this LED to just make it turn like red when you're recording video like that would be that would That would be useful. And maybe it will, and it's just not in this ad, but like, I agree. That's a good idea. Immediately, I'm like, that's a better, like, you've already pitched me a better thing than the two that we've seen in this league.

I mean, if it's a colorful light as well, you could have fill light. Like, okay, do you know what? I've just had a really big epiphany there. So if once we find out what the situation is, like, if that ad shows there is limitations to it, which, I mean, we don't even know. That's the saddest thing about it. This is the problem when we're talking about leaks. just make ourselves look like idiots, because it might have, it might have an early swore then, a ton of features.

It might have a ton of features. And my dream would be to have something like this. And I think nothing were the only ones who were thinking about this. You could have that, you could have the LED flash, which I'm hoping it will be, because we thought, was it not rumours it was going to be like an RGB, like strip,

a power strip type thing, not power strip, like a, I think that was always people's assumption. right I think because that would have been a waste that would have been a real waste I think

that would have been terrible because that would have been a visual flourish like I Azus did it with their Rage iPhones for

oh it's it's pointless it's a hundred percent pointless it just drives up the cost in a in a

in a year where we don't need that but at least I would be like ooh but it looks different than the last one as opposed to this where it's like

okay I guess technically if the flash is going it looks a little different but like when when the flash

is not going when when highlight is not operating, it's going to look like a pixel 9 and 10. But if they add this and if there is some camera functionality, which I'm dreaming that they do this, they could have like color filters and you could be like, okay, take a picture and it has like a red light for instance or a blue light for instance. Is it powerful?

Who knows? I mean, I don't know. Is it not as bright as a flash? I'm not sure. If it's as bright as a flash or close to it, it can't be. It would be. It would be way through jawing within it.

Yeah, that's a good point. Actually, he's just blinding you in it. You put it face down on your night standard. It's just blinding you all right. Okay, well, there was a, I've been put in my place today by you guys. I'm throwing out some stupid ideas. Okay, just, just play fair with me. If they did work like that and it had the soft light and it is a little bit not quite as bright

and you could, you could do those things and you could have like accented colors for your photos and video. Now that I can get behind For Gemini I'm not sure Because realistically I wouldn't put my phone face down to talk to Gemini I would pick it up and put it to my face So there's a few things that are like really confusing me Even just you saying it is making me laugh

Because it's such a ridiculous Like I'm imagining them developing this feature And they're like And then people will put their phone down After they've activated Gemini Y And I'm like I don't really what are you like Like like oh I

Look I'm not trying to bully anybody Who works at Google or lives in Silicon Valley in general works or lives in the valley, go outside, go talk to a normal person, talk to people about how they're using their phones. Because, like, and this is not just a Google thing, but the current, like, tech industry at large is filled with a lot of devices

or a lot of features that make me go, you have not talked to normal people a little bit. Like, you have not gone out and talked to, like, your mom about how your mom's, like, nobody's going to do this. No, I have to disagree a bit. People do put their phone upside down when they're working. That's the thing.

They are tapping. So I am that person. They are tapping into the correct idea, but the long implementation. They got the light. I'm talking more about the Gemini aspect of it. The Gemini sink. Not even so much the light in general, but like that feature in particular. Well, frustrations around this pixel glow, highlight.

Highlight. Highlight. That's a terrible name. That's horrendous. It's really bad. Because this is the other, I don't think Highlight had leaked last week when we were talking. So like, but just none of us like this name, right? I mean, I don't know.

Pixel Clow was such a win, man. It's just, I don't know. I just don't see the benefit to calling it Highlight. No, no. Like, I don't, like, especially with the capital L, I just don't, I don't see what they're trying to go for. It's puns. No. No.

That's the puns. What's the pun? I don't know. It's introduced. A hello light? no it's like Oh, hi Oh, high

Yeah, it is a little I see I literally I truly that went right over my head until right now and maybe that makes me dumb Yeah Well you get one and I've had 16

So As for the rest After the rest of the stuff Like we talked We talked ad nauseam about the devices I think On the pod And we'll probably get more into it

And we'll potentially get some hands on time Post launch Yeah And we'll talk I was going to say previews. This is the preview. I'm talking rubbish. The reviews, I think the biggest surprise that happened over the last week or so is we're going to get a pixel tag.

Like, we are getting a tracker first party from Google and I'm 100% certain on this pod. I have said, and I don't want to quote myself because I can't remember what exactly quote I said, but it was something like I think Google would, we're maybe not doing this before because they were scared of any potential privacy risks or the optics of that. Why do you think they're doing it now of all times? I think this should have been launched alongside Find Hub when they rebranded it. And we wouldn't be looking at it and like, why is it taken so long? What was the reasoning for this?

I don't know. It kind of feels like they didn't have enough this year in terms of they're not doing, they're not doing new buds. So I don't know. They need a third thing. What do we think? Do we think this is going to be the killer? application for Android

trackers. I'm excited. I'm genuinely excited for it because I can get rid of the default behavior. Wait, have they changed the default behavior yet? It's on pixel. They've made minor changes to it, but I don't think they've changed that specific setting.

Oh, dang. I think it's still, let me, oh, look. Is it in high traffic network, high traffic areas on it? I can't remember the exact wording, but, oh God, that kind of kills it. That kills my excitement for it. But hey, first. party tracker.

I'm going to be excited for it. We've only seen one image and it just looks like a little it's a pill shape. It's we don't know if it's a battery. We don't know if it's a coin cell battery. We don't know if it's wireless charging,

which the design kind of I don't know. It would be cool, wouldn't it if it was wireless charging? I mean, it does look different to what's available currently on Android. Is the Moto tag that the only UWB one. Yeah.

I'm correct. I'm thinking that. It kind of looks like the Samsung. I still think that the end game of all this is that FynHub and Samsung merges their networks because why not? It lets Samsung sell more tags. Yeah. The Samsung tag is one of the best I've used, I will say.

Can they look nice? It has a built-in clip. Yeah, we don't know what the built-in... It looks like there's no built-in. clip on the pixel tag. Yeah, the Samsung one, so nice. I just think it's inevitable that they merge. This feels like a hybrid though, doesn't it?

Of what Apple are doing with the air tag and what Samsung have done in terms of like shape. And again, we don't know anything about size. I would love to know what size it's going to be because if it's massive, it could be like as big as your palm. That'd be terrible. That'd be insane. But I don't imagine it would be.

I mean, I want something about no bigger than my thumb, realistically, something like that to put into a bag. or something or a side bag or stuff. But yeah, I guess there's no competition on the official Android side of the fence apart from Samsung. So I guess this could be a home room. The other one's good. I guess the mother one is good. I don't know. I haven't tested it. But the Moto one is smart

because it is the same exact size as an air tag. Is it? So any air tag accessory works with it. Or like if you buy a suitcase that has an air tag, like holder spot right on it that is designed to fit an air tag you can put a motor tag in it and have the same effect Oh very good

I mean Yeah what we think what we think in terms of like response to that I guess maybe people might not even care about

trackers now until Google reveals it I guess I'm really unsure because it almost feels like there was such a big play pre launch and then that initial setting

almost killed any potential momentum that might have had with an Android and find hub network yeah and I can't find anything that says that they have I don't believe they've changed

that setting they have made or at least we're working on making changes to both the setup process and which that's live that's on the pixel that is live yes the other change they were working to make was

I think just like more prompts yeah well I don't think they've changed the default yet I still think it is it's set to the weaker default that keeps it from being like a true as good it's gotten better like it's certainly better than it was in like 2024 uh their network but it is it's it's got that disadvantage over over apple i would say still like built in and and unless unless google finally just pulls the trigger and like makes the more or the less secure or less private setting the default so like it's that's it's sort of always going to be one step behind i think

It does feel frustrating, but I guess we'll have to wait and see from the keynote. I think that's one that at least surprise. I think we were talking about surprises a couple of weeks ago and we had no idea. But at least there's one. At least there's one like, I mean, did you mention you wanted to see headphones will? I was like, I can't ever see that. Not even so, no, I don't know what I would want to see. I guess the idea of a surprise is that you can't predict it, right?

And so like, I don't know what I would tell you would make me super excited that Google kick it up on stage and announce. It wouldn't be the Google book because we know that's coming and we have talked on this show about how I'm not excited about it. It wouldn't be the classes just because again,

we know they're coming. It wouldn't feel like a true surprise. It would be like, oh, here's the next phase of the announcement. It would have to be something that we just had no inkling was happening or that Google was working on. It would have to be,

again, I can't even predict what it would be. But yeah, I don't know. I'm really surprised we're not, we're not, not seeing or hearing anything about potential Google book launch on the day. Like, I think it would have been interesting to see that. Did there something leaked this week, Abner,

in terms of, like, one brand of Google Book? Yeah, a couple. Couple, two at this point. Lenovo and Aesuze, right? Acer. Acer? I think Acer. Yeah, they look like laptops.

I don't, they look like laptops. Well, I mean, you would hope that was the case, but I'm surprised that Google hasn't really spoken about the Android build for Google Books a little bit more extensively in times of time. There's still a lot more details haven't revealed. But yeah, I guess they feel confident that there are enough development devices out there

like tablets and Chromebooks for developers to optimize apps that way. And I'm sure behind the scenes there's been massive developer reach out to optimize apps. but yeah, it's Google books. It's honestly surprising that what's, it's coming this fall, like staff is watching this fall

and that there wasn't a need for a bigger prelude. Yeah, I mean, I guess it would, in my mind, it would make sense to Google to kind of hold it towards the end of the keynote and say we've got more stuff coming along. Like, oh, there's more stuff coming in future. I could see that. I could see them doing it,

but at the same time, like, will they do it? I feel like, I can't even remember how the last, last year's wrapped up. It felt like, oh yeah. Did it have a post show or anything like that? I do think... Oh, yeah. It's... It had like a separate live stream afterwards. But I don't know. I think it's going to be short and sweet. It's, again, I'd love the surprise. But I think this, we know everything that has reeked has reeked. Do you know one thing we haven't talked about briefly, because I feel what we should definitely touch about is a Pixel Watch 5? Like, some stuff's leaked about that recently.

I'm currently wearing the Galaxy watch Ultra 2 or 2 Ultra, I don't know what's called, so I don't really have much room on my wrist for another wrist watch. So I want to hear what you guys are thinking in terms of like where does this wearable sit if it's not as much of an upgrade as potentially some of the other aspects of the...

So yeah, the specs of have weak. There is some sort of snapdragon W5 Gen 2 accelerated chip, horrible name. It's so it's not the way elite that everybody thought was coming when it was announced this year. It is an accelerated version, so I guess what, faster clock speeds or whatever.

The extra gig of RAM, that's going to be, I'm very curious to see how, if that impacts general performance or whether that's purely dedicated to, I guess, some kind of AI models on device maybe, even though 3 gigs is pretty small. I guess the surprising thing we learned, 64 gigs of storage is a lot. That's a doubling. Samsung's still on 32. Apple has been on 64 for one or two generations.

I don't know what you use 64 gigs for. Maybe it's models. I was going to say, are they thinking about putting local models? Yeah, that's the only reason. But even the Gemini... Gemini Nano 3 is like 4 gigs. That's still a big jump.

What if it's health models? What if it's like big health models? You can kind of analyze the on-device health stuff. Because obviously then like, the way I can think of it is, and I've never been one of these people because I've never had an e-sim in a watch. But if you went off-grid,

if you left your phone at home, is what I'm trying to say, if you left your phone at home and went for a run and you had access to all this sort of stuff, and then you want the fitness data instantly without your phone there. Like maybe there's some processing elements that it could do. I don't know.

I'm definitely reaching there massively. The only other thing I would potentially use it for is tons of offline music playlist, but even then I can't have my phone. I don't know if you can fill up that much music. Do you think maybe YouTube and Spotify and, I mean, any other streaming service, do you think they're maybe going to support lossless playlists on the watch? That could work, maybe for more space? I don't know.

be aware of yes. It does feel like, it does feel like what's ridiculous is. I think Google should have done the, just reduced the price and kept the stories the same. Like 64 gigabytes feels overkill,

keep it 35, knock $50 off the start price, 50 pounds, whatever it is. I think that would go a longer way than doing what they're trying to do. I don't know. I'll be,

yeah. I'm trying to justify it. Especially since this is like a, like it feels like a 4.5 in terms of generation, but at the same time, like Apple Watchers have stayed the same for so many years. Like their tech bumps are also minimal.

So I guess this is just new year, new model, new version bump. That's it. Yeah, it makes sense. I saw some of the colors at leaks. I think there's some nice colors this year. I think they nailed it last year anyway. Just do more of the same. I think in terms of Google's product portfolio,

for me, I think the Pixel Watch 4, is probably the most perfect product that Google have made so far, nine out of ten as a smart watch. I don't think there's many better in terms of a smart watch for what I want from it. Obviously, I'm the tastemaker there, so I'm saying nine out of ten, you might have a different opinion.

But I think it is definitely Google's premier product in my mind, even more so than the phone. So more of the same is always good. But I don't understand the 64 gigabyte storage thing. But it baffles me slightly, to be honest. Yeah. But as a Fitbit Air Connoisseur, I don't think it's going to make me switch any time soon. I'm definitely in the no notification gang now.

So I don't think I'm going to get to switch away from that soon. If Google could have done a Fitbit Air 2 in the time it took and answered it, I would have been first in line. But yeah, I think that kind of wraps up all of our thoughts and feelings ahead of made by Google, which is, God, it's crazy. It's came up so fast. were just reminiscing about when it could be. I don't know if,

are you guys excited or are you just kind of like, just get it over and done with now? Somewhere in the middle. I don't know if I'd call myself excited, but I'm not like dreading it either. I genuinely think that that, that goldish, orangeish pixel 11 pro we were talking about earlier looks great.

Again, I wish it was Matt, but like that color looks so. I'm hoping it looks as good in person as it does and those leaked renders we've seen. But, and, you know, I'm excited to see what they are going to promise out of Tensor G6, you know, regardless of what that chip ends up being. But yeah, it's new pixel hardware.

It's exciting to a certain extent. And the leaks haven't really captured what software is coming. That's true. So I'm very curious. It's always the big part of the game. Yeah. Yeah. And you will be there in person, won't you, Abner?

so you will be our man on the ground made by Google. So, yeah, if you're watching the live stream, because we won't be recording until after made by Google, keeping our out, Frabner, he will be, I'm hoping we're going to get in front and center. He might be even be on the couch alongside Jimmy and Rick at some point. I might try and say to him, just get out of stage quick. Go ahead and sit there. Oh, yeah.

Jimmy should do crowd work. Oh, yeah, 100%. 100%. But yeah, stay tuned for our coverage. I can say we will have all of our, when we get out. our greasy mits on these phones in the next week or so after the keynote. My sweaty palms. My affirmation sweaty palms.

We'll give you all of our thoughts and feelings. And yeah, stay tuned. If you want to hang around, hang around. We're going over to pro right now. We're going to talk. We're going to kind of shoot the breeze, talk about all sorts of things. You've got some fold eight takes. I do have some fold eight takes.

Yeah. Come over and come over and get my fold eight takes, having been using this properly. my main sim is in it right now. I have some, yeah, I've kind of got some conflicting thoughts. So, yeah, come over and join us. We'll talk all sorts. And we'd love to have you. Links down in the description below.

As always, Will and Abner, it's great fun to hang around with you, and we're going to be hanging around over there, having a good time. So come join us. Speak to you 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

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