Pixel July update comes with fixes for various problems

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The official July OTA update is finally rolling out to Pixel owners, and this time it addresses issues that were addressed in an accidentally dropped July 5 update. That said update made its way to Google Pixel 3a users in June when it was just supposed to be used internally for feedback but got released to the public. Now, the latest update comes just in time and address so bugs that weren’t touched on previously.

This includes a fix for the detection of the “OK Google” hotword and music playing in the background for the Pixel 2 and 3 lines. Another fixes a bootloop issue that’s happening to some Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL units after installing the Android Q beta 4 update. Users had to do a factory reset or put the phone in recovery mode and reboot the device before they were able to escape the bootloop. The update also includes fixes for Japanese language support for emojis on all Pixel handsets. And it also improves the Titan-M security chip on the Pixel 3 and 3a. If you want to check if the update has made its way to your device, head to Settings > System > Advanced > System Update.

Source: PhoneArena

Google’s Digital Wellbeing feature might be causing the slowdown in Pixel phones

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The intention behind Google’s Digital Wellbeing feature was to get people off their phones more and curb potential smartphone addiction. It lets you track how much time you spend on your phone and what apps you use frequently. But it seems an unwanted side effect is it seems to be slowing down Pixel phones. One Pixel 3 user posted on Reddit that when they turned off Digital Wellbeing, the difference was like “night and day.” The user went as far to recommend to other Pixel 3 users to turn the feature off even if you don’t have any performance issues. 

Now, if you want to see if Digital Wellbeing affects your Pixel device, you can turn off the feature by heading into the Settings of your Pixel phone. Choose Digital Wellbeing and then tap on the three-dot icon at the top right corner and select “Turn off usage access.” You can confirm this decision on the next “Usage access” screen. Choose Digital Wellbeing and toggle the “permit usage access” option to off. Google hasn’t responded yet to this The Verge report. 

Google Camera starts rolling out Time Lapse mode to other Pixel phones

When Google launched the Pixel 3a and 3a XL at Google I/O 2019, one of the new features the phones got was a Time Lapse mode in the Camera app. The said feature is now making its way to other Pixel phones. As its name suggests, it’ll let you record long segments of video at a few frames per second so you can speed up said footage by 5x, 10x, 30x, or 120x. The interface for video recording in Time Lapse will have a slider that shows the different recording speeds. Google Photos will support these videos natively. If you own a Pixel phone and head to the Play Store now, you can get Google Camera 6.2 with Time Lapse included. You can access the feature in the More section of the app.

Source: 9to5Google

‘Something big’ is coming to the Google Pixel universe

Dovetailing with the first day of the Google I/O conference, the company will be holding an event on May 7th that will introduce “something big” into the Google Pixel universe. The associated video clip shows a promo for Avengers: Endgame-themed augmented reality stickers, but as Engadget points out, there should be more than that.  

Rumour has it that Google might launch Pixel 3a phones. The rumoured Pixel 3a reportedly has a 5.6-inch display with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 670 processor, 4GB of RAM, and a 12-megapixel rear camera with the same Pixel Visual Core found in the high-end Pixel 3. There’s also supposedly a Pixel 3a XL that would push the screen to a 6-inch display and runs on a Snapdragon 710 processor. The goal supposedly for these new phones is to bring the essentials of the Pixel back down to a more affordable price.