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LineageOS 17.1 ROM arrives on 2016 Pixels and Nexus 6
Shamu, Marlin, and Sailfish live to see another day
LineageOS is the most popular custom ROM out there, with dozens of supported devices and a few nice features over stock Android. The new Android 10-based LineageOS 17.1 was just released earlier this month, and now the project is bringing back support for two classic Google phones.
Many still affected by long-standing Android 10 update issue that breaks Pixel sensors
It's been over five months Google, this is ridiculous
Last year, after the Android 10 update first started rolling out for Pixel owners, there were a handful of reports that device sensors — things like the ambient light sensor for screen brightness, orientation sensor for auto-rotation, and Active Edge sensor — stopped working. A workaround was found for those with unlocked bootloaders, and many of those affected were part of the root and ROM crowd, but almost six months later, many phones are still affected, and those with Verizon-branded, locked devices are still simply out of luck.
First-gen Pixel and Pixel XL will predictably not get Android 11
Pixel 2 owners, enjoy your last year of software updates
We're officially on the road to Android 11, which means a whole round of developer preview builds are on the way to Pixel phones — as well as other non-Google phones likely to be announced at I/O in May that will go through their own beta stack. Unfortunately, for O.G. Pixel and Pixel XL owners, they won't be joining for the ride.
Check yo' mail: Settlement checks for the 2016 Pixel microphone lawsuit are landing
You might have a $500 check waiting in the mailbox
If you filed a claim in the lawsuit against Google for the 2016 Pixel's microphone woes, then you might want to check the mail today. Settlement checks have started to arrive in quantities up to $500, depending on your claim.
Automatic Call Screening arrived as a feature for the Pixel 4 with the very first Pixel Feature Drop, before rolling out more widely just this month to all Pixels. However, another feature that landed together with it seems to have disappeared for at least some of us: The option to save audio from those screened calls is gone on some devices.
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Dozens of Pixel owners are reporting that they can't authenticate into their devices because every time they put their PIN in, the phone loops them back to the lock screen. The issue, which was first reported on the Pixel Phone Help forum nearly a month ago, seems to be affecting Pixel XLs the most, though there have been mentions of other Pixel, Pixel 2, and Pixel 3 series devices. So far, product experts have been encouraging affected users to escalate the issue with Google directly or reset their device from recovery.
December's monthly security patches are here for Google's Pixel phones — or, at least, most of them. While the 2016 Pixels are getting what Google previously claimed would be their very last update after the two phones missed November's patches, the Pixel 4 and 4 XL are curiously late to the party, with no images posted just yet. Most confusingly, though, Google is apparently breaking out its Pixel-specific functional patch notes this month, which often describe useful or noteworthy feature changes and tweaks.
Google announced a slew of updates as part of the first Pixel feature drop yesterday, among them the ability to automatically screen calls from unknown numbers on the Pixel 4. It looks like this option won't stay limited to the latest phone in the lineup for a long time, as Business Insider cites Google saying that it'll "roll out to all Pixel devices with Android 10 over the coming weeks."
The December security patch rolled out earlier this week to first-gen Pixels, as well as the Pixel 2, 3, and 3a. With it, came a lot of features for Google's older flagships like Live Caption, Styles, gesture navigation in third-party launchers, and a swipe gesture for notifications on the homescreen. There's also one minor but nice improvement that came with the launcher: app shortcuts get a similar action panel to regular apps.
The features that owners of older-gen Pixels miss out on the most are those related to photography. Many Google Camera mods help alleviate that new-Pixel envy by bringing some exclusive options to previous-gen Pixels. We've already covered cstark27's mod, which was based on Camera 7.2.010, but now the dev is back with another team and a more recent version based on Camera 7.2.014. Don't let the minor number change fool you, though, this is a pretty major revamp with lots of goodies in tow.
Starting this month, Pixel owners will gain an additional sound option that controls how their phones behave when a call comes in. Awkwardly referred by Google as the ramping ringer feature, it lets the phone vibrate for a few seconds first before the ringtone volume goes up in an increasingly louder fashion.
After delighting first-gen Pixel owners with an update to Android 10 — a one-year extension beyond Google's original two-year promise — the company is cooking up another surprise for the OG Pixels. Initially thought to have reached the end of the road in terms of security patches at the closing of October, the original Pixels will receive one final OTA update in December that will include improvements from November and December.
Monthly security patches for November 2019 are out for Google's Pixels — including the latest Pixel 4 and 4 XL. This marks the first major monthly update for the pair of phones, and they're getting a few fixes with it, too. In addition to the generally enhanced security, the Pixel 4 and 4 XL are getting some camera tweaks and improvements to Smooth Display, likely tied to previous oddities observed in the feature.
The new Pixel 4 has launched with some awesome photography chops that make owners of previous generations of the device jealous. While Google will eventually bring a few of these to its older phones, that's not the case for all and the Android community has already stepped up to fill the void. The most prominent Google Camera mod, Camera PX (aka GCam) by cstark27, has been updated to bring several Pixel 4-exclusive features to older Pixels.
Trade-in offers aren't always the best value, though sometimes companies are willing to subsidize the discount you get just to put you in their ecosystem or reward you for sticking around. Based on the trade-in values that Google is offering for previous Pixels, though, it seems the company couldn't care less about brand loyalty. Right now, a mint condition 128GB Pixel 3 XL gets you just $295 in value toward a Pixel 4 pre-order. For folks that paid $1,000 last year, that stings.
In keeping with tradition, monthly security patches for Android are being released for Pixel phones starting today, with one twist: this is the first time we've gotten a monthly update since Android 10 landed. (The "C3" presumably bugfix release last month doesn't count.) That means a whole pile of functional patches is also included, fixing everything from sensor calibration to potential bootloops, memory drains, and missing notifications.
Android 10 has been officially released for Google's Pixels as of today, but if you don't happen to see the update rolling out in the traditional sense on your own device, we've got you covered. Downloads for sideloadable OTAs and factory images are already live, though they're a bit more work to get onto your phone.
There are plenty of settings that you can toggle for Google Assistant covering everything from privacy limits to languages to which voice you want to hear from. It's always been a scramble, though, to tap into those settings as they're several taps into your Google Account settings. Now, with the latest update to the Google app, Pixel users will be able to access those settings from their system settings.
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Back in 2017, some original Pixels and Pixel XLs started experiencing microphone failures — theorized to be due to a hairline crack in the mic's solder. Google RMA-ed these devices, but the problem persisted in some replacement phones too, and a class action lawsuit was filed the following year. We now have word that Google has agreed to settle this lawsuit for $7,250,000 pending final court approval.
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It's the 5th of the month of August 2019 and that means Google is pushing out a bunch of updates for your Android device. The latest Android Security Bulletin has been issued along with the latest Pixel Update Bulletin. For the most part, it's a quiet run this time around prior to the official launch of Android Q, though Pixel 3a and 3a XL users might see some more battery savings with this update.