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Google has rolled out Android Pie to Pixel devices, and Essential managed to get an update out on the same day. A few OEMs like Moto and HTC have offered some insight on what they're updating. Today, you can add Sony to the list. It says updates are coming to devices in XZ2, XZ1, and XA2 families. Some of them might be here sooner than you expect.
The NVIDIA SHIELD is a strange device. It has Assistant built-in, but it sometimes lacks features of other Assistant devices. You can also control the SHIELD from other Assistant devices, but it doesn't have all the standard Chromecast features. NVIDIA says "deeper integration" with Google Home is rolling out now, which may help to smooth out some inconsistencies.
Google touched on the new Titan M security chip at last week's Pixel unveiling, but hardware czar Rick Osterloh was vague on the details. Now, Google has provided more information about what this new piece of silicon is doing inside the Pixel 3. Not only does it make your lockscreen harder to bypass, it makes the phone's firmware nigh unhackable with so-called "side-channel" attacks like Meltdown and Spectre.
Huawei's EMUI Android skin used to be a real mess, but it's gotten much better over the last few years. EMUI 9 is the latest version, which Huawei pre-announced a few months ago. Now, we have all the details, and it's shipping on the Mate 20. EMUI 9.0 is based on Android 9 Pie, so some of the new features won't be a surprise. Others are pure Huawei.
Google arguably has the most powerful AI assistant platform in the world, but it's hard to get a feel for what it can do without using it. The Home Mini is the easiest way to get into the ecosystem, and its Google Store page now has a working demo of Assistant built right in.
The revived Nokia under HMD started with just a few phones a couple of years back, but now it seems to launch a new device every other day. The new Nokia X7 is official in China with almost-flagship specs and a competitive price. You might be able to get the same piece of hardware elsewhere later—we expect it to launch as the Nokia 7.1 Plus outside China.
As Google Assistant has gotten more powerful, the settings have also gotten more complicated. A new layout has been popping up intermittently over the last few weeks, but now it looks like it's rolling out more widely. Curious? We've got some screens below.
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Last year, Google caught flack for equipping the Pixel 2 XL with one of LG's new mobile OLED panels. While the display wasn't bad in my estimation, it definitely was not as good as the panels on other phones in the same price range. Even the first-gen Pixels looked better. If you place any faith in DisplayMate, the Pixel 3 XL will be much improved.
Android has become the most popular computing platform on the planet, but Google has had problems selling very many Android phones itself. It tried for years to make Nexus devices "a thing," but they never caught on outside the nerd demographic. With the debut of the Pixel program in 2016, the company took a different approach—it started building smartphones with consumers in mind. Google hasn't done everything perfectly, but it's gotten enough right that the first and second generation Pixels have been relatively easy to recommend. That brings us to the third-gen Pixels.
Last year, Google's Pixel Buds instant translation demo stole the show at the company's October hardware event. However, the Pixel Buds themselves didn't get great reviews. Soon, you won't need to buy the overpriced Pixel Buds to get that feature. Google says instant translation is coming to all Assistant-optimized headphones.
[Deal Alert] Lenovo Mirage Solo drops to $320-330 ($70-80 off), Mirage Camera down to $250 ($50 off)
Lenovo was the first company to release a standalone Daydream headset, and we haven't heard much about the Mirage Solo (or the Mirage Camera) since it launched earlier this year. It looks like there's some excess stock floating around because prices are coming down today. You can get the headset for $70-80 off and the camera for $50 off.The Mirage Solo has an integrated 2560 x 1440 display at 5.5-inches that sits right in front of your face. The display offers a 110-degree field of view, and there are outward-facing dual cameras. Inside, there's a Snapdragon 835, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage. It's Daydream, but you don't need to dock a phone. B&H has the headset for $329.99, and Amazon has gone a little further with $319.99. Those are both good discounts, but Oculus Go is $250.
OnePlus is going to launch a new phone soon, and it's making no secret of that. In fact, OnePlus is engaged in its usual pattern of dropping tidbits about the new phone to generate #hype. In the latest official leak, OnePlus says the 6T will have a new OxygenOS UI and improved gestures.
The LG G7 ThinQ has a bad name, but it's not a bad phone now that carriers have chopped the price down a little. Over at Verizon, the phone just got an update, and unlike most maintenance updates, this one made a lot of helpful little changes. It's not Pie, but at least it's something.
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Google has announced many, many things in the last few days, and one of them was Live Albums in Google Photos. That feature is rolling out now in the latest version of the Photos app. With Live Albums, you can leverage Google's machine learning prowess to automatically add photos of people and pets to a custom album.
There have been battle royale games in the past, but none of them inspired quite the same level of fanatical devotion as Fortnite. This game has become a phenomenon on computers and game consoles, and the mobile versions are off to a good start. The Android version launched a few weeks ago as an invite-only beta, but now it's open to all players.
Google has now officially hopped on the notch train with the Pixel 3 XL. Not only does it have it, it's a big notch. Google points out that the Pixel 3 XL still has a notch toggle in the developer options, but its way of hiding it is a bit different than other notch-hiding phones.
We've all been stuck in traffic from time to time, and you might have noticed something interesting. Almost all the cars clogging the roads carry a single person, which seems like a terrible waste, right? Waze Carpool aims to change that by making it easier to catch a lift in the morning. After trialing Carpool in a few cities, Waze is now rolling it out across the US.
Google announced the Pixel 3 and 3 XL yesterday, and there was a lot to unpack even though we knew basically everything about the phones from leaks. Sometimes the small stuff can fall through the cracks on announcement day, but some potential buyers were concerned about several apparently missing LTE bands. Now, Google confirms support is either already available or coming soon.
Google has revealed the Pixel 3 and 3 XL, and I mean for real this time. We saw about a billion leaks as the annual hardware event approached, but now we've got all the details. Google's new Pixel phones are spendy, but you can drop the cash on them right now.
One of the most impressive (and unsettling) I/O moments happened earlier this year when Google showed off Duplex, an AI chatbot that can place calls for you like a robotic personal assistant. Google wouldn't confirm its plans for Duplex at the time, but it's almost ready for the general public. Duplex is hitting Pixel phones starting next month, but it won't be available everywhere.