Category: Longform
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Lock Screen Widgets on Android are Making a Comeback
Mishaal Rahman on Android Authority:
“With the previous Pixel Drop, Google introduced the ability to add widgets to the lock screen, bringing back a feature it had scrapped nearly a decade ago. Unfortunately, the company limited the feature to Android tablets, limiting its usefulness. Thankfully, Google has now confirmed that it will bring lock screen widget support to Android phones in an upcoming Android release, and we managed to activate the feature to bring you a first look.”
I remember back in Android Jelly Bean, in 2012, introduced the ability to put widgets on your phones lockscreen. I remember mainly using it for music and quickly taking notes with some sticky notes mimicked app that I picked up from the Play Store. I don’t know why the Android team got rid of them, but they certainly brought them back in Android 15 during the resurgence of Android tablets this past year. Samsung has been doing their own hops over the AOSP to support lock screen widgets on their own Galaxy devices, but with Android 16 right around the corner, Android as a whole will be getting the feature back again. Check out Mishaal’s short video explaining how lock screen widgets will work on Android 16.
Hey Google, Don't Go Slim
I’ve started to notice this trend of slimming down smartphones. Samsung teased its next Galaxy S25 ‘Edge’ device that’s going to be 5.84mm thin. Apple is rumored to announce an iPhone 17 Air, also allegedly known as the iPhone 17 Slim, to be around 5.5mm at its thinnest point.
It’s apparent that innovation in the iPhone lineup has become stale, with Apple seemingly experimenting without a clear direction. From the iPhone Mini, Plus, and now Slim. And I’m not surprised that Samsung is following suit as they usually follow Apple’s lead with things. Google has won the GLOMO awards back-to-back with its Pixel Pro devices, and many would agree that their Pixel Fold is currently the best in the Western Hemisphere. Therefore, Google should continue focusing on tuning the hardware of that, continue to fine-tune Pixel Watch and WearOS to bring even more competition to the Apple Watch, continue to research the Android tablet market, drive demand for Android XR, and even put more R&D on an Android tablet and laptops. All of that sounds good. Google, do not waste your time on a Pixel Slim. Your Pixels are already sufficiently thin. If a breakthrough in battery slimming is achieved while maintaining capacity, simply incorporate additional batteries into the existing chassis.
Pixel 9a in Purple Presents Itself
Evan Blass is at it again posting leakers and if you’re unable to see his post on X, 9to5Google has posted the photos on their blog site as well.
Many people are saying that the Pixel 9a looks cheap. From what it seems like, the price might present the same affordability that previous A-series models held within that $399-$499 price. As for it looking and feeling cheap, I plan on getting my hands on it, either the purple or white color, and using it as my main device as soon as it’s rumored to be released later this month.
My Mom is Going to Love Scam Detection
Aisha Sharif, Product Manager, Pixel Phone on The Keyword
Scam Detection for phone calls, powered by Gemini Nano, protects you from fraud with on-device AI while keeping your conversations private to you. This Pixel-exclusive feature detects conversation patterns in calls commonly used by scammers in real time and will notify you if it senses anything suspicious.
And Scam Detection is now available in Google Messages, too. It uses on-device AI to flag conversational text patterns commonly associated with scams, so it can identify messages that seem harmless, but turn dangerous over time. You’ll receive a real-time warning so you can easily block and report the conversation.
My mom recently retired and if there’s one thing that raises her stress level it’s scammers. I bought her a Pixel 8a this last year, after having a Pixel 5 for some time, and she absolutely loves Call Screening and the Spam detection features in the phone app. Just the other day she sent me a screenshot of an E-ZPass texting scam that has been going around. She almost fell victim to it because E-ZPass is an actual highway toll system that is within her area. Thankfully, she didn’t respond to it or click the link, but now that Scam Detection is coming to Google Messages, my mom will now get a large badge alerting her that this message was a Scam.
More from the Google Online Security Blog:
Scam Detection in Google Messages uses powerful Google AI to proactively address conversational scams by providing real-time detection even after initial messages are received. When the on-device AI detects a suspicious pattern in SMS, MMS, and RCS messages, users will now get a message warning of a likely scam with an option to dismiss or report and block the sender.
As part of the Spam Protection setting, Scam Detection on Google Messages is on by default and only applies to conversations with non-contacts. Your privacy is protected with Scam Detection in Google Messages, with all message processing remaining on-device. Your conversations remain private to you; if you choose to report a conversation to help reduce widespread spam, only sender details and recent messages with that sender are shared with Google and carriers.
Scam Detection is only available in English in the U.S., U.K. and Canada and will expand to more countries soon.
Also, something I also found interesting is that a cybersecurity firm, conducted a funded evaluation of fraud protection features on a number of smartphones and found that Android smartphones, led by the Pixel 9 Pro, scored highest for built-in security features and anti-fraud efficacy. The full report is in a PDF.
Pixel 9 Pro is The Best Smartphone of 2024 According to Market Analysts
Pixel 9 Pro wins ‘Smartphone of the Year’ award, Google’s second in a row 🏆🏆
MWC Barcelona explains more about the category and the criteria:
The Best Smartphone award combines outstanding performance, innovation and leadership as determined through assessment of smartphones on the market during the period January 2024 to December 2024, by world leading independent analysts, journalists and influencers.
There’s no surprise here, but it’s important to know that the Pixel 9 Pro was up against the Galaxy S24 Ultra and the iPhone 16 Pro Max which are the best offerings on both of the mobile operating systems.
The judges nominate and select the shortlist for the category, based on the following criteria:
- Physical design and innovation
- Device performance and form factors
- Genuine new innovation deployed e.g. in form factor, technology, features
- Product usefulness in terms of functionality and features
- Price point and perceived value for money
- Commercial success in global territories
- User experience, quality & reliability
- Environmental and sustainability credentials
- On-going commitment on support e.g. software upgrades
All judges come from market research companies with larges amounts of global data that could present proper judgement on these criteria:
Judges
- Amber Liu, Canalys
- Kiranjeet Kaur, IDC
- Carolina Milanesi, Creative Strategies
- Nabila Popal, IDC
- Richard Lai, Independent
- Ben Wood, CCS Insight
- Zaker Li, Omdia
- Prabhu Ram, CyberMedia Research
- Leo Gebbie, CCS Insight
- Abhilash Kumar, TechInsights
- Varun Gupta, Counterpoint
- Francisco Jeronimo, IDC
Galaxy Watch Ultra: Day 4
I’ve only been using the Galaxy Watch Ultra for 4 days now. I really like the fluidity and battery life of it. However, I’m beginning to feel like it’s overkill for what I mainly use my smartwatch for. Maybe because I’m coming from the thoughts of my experience with a Pixel Watch and an Apple Watch. The Galaxy Watch Ultra feels incredibly premium with so many useful features that I don’t think I’ll really use to justify and differentiate the reason to not just go back to my Pixel Watch 3. The display is beautiful and bright, the speed is warranted, and the build bolds confidence. Yet, the Pixel Watch 3 feels good enough to need the extra brightness, titanium build, and speed. I think if the Galaxy Watch Ultra was slightly smaller, like the Hermès H08 that it favors, I would feel more drawn to wear it as a lifestyle smartwatch. But for now, I feel like I’m wearing a strong, utilitarian Pip-Boy
March Pixel Drop, RCS on more iPhones, and the end of an Android era
Some were big surprises and others were long awaited catch-ups. It wasn’t all boring though. Google announced the latest March Pixel Drop with a lot of useful tools and features for the Pixel family of devices ranging from Pixel 6 to the latest Pixel 9 Pro Fold, Pixel Watch, and Pixel Tablet. Last, but certainly not least, the Android journey looks to have come to an end for longtime Android engineer and engineering director Romain Guy. If you’ve been living under a rock, Romain Guy has been such an important engineer to the fundamentals of a lot of Androids toolkits that we have today.
Today was certainly one for the books, but there’s certainly more exciting things to come in the near future.
For a full breakdown of the March Pixel Drop, I suggest checking out In depth Tech Reviews breakdown on YouTube.
Pixel Sense: Google's On-Device AI Leap
“Experience fast and intelligent help, no matter if you are online or offline ”, “Your data stays private—visible only to you, not even Google can see it.”
Kamila Wojciechowska at @AndroidAuthority gained access to a pretty hefty @GooglePixel leak and it’s everything I’ve been looking forward to in a smartphone. Apple level privacy with Google level usefulness. From the sound of everything in the leak, it sounds like Google is looking to bring its version of Apple Intelligence to its Pixel 10, but calling it “Pixel Sense”. I absolutely love the name. Obviously it’ll be powered by Gemini, but with it being completely on-device (🤯) and private, it sounds like Gemini Nano will be at the steering wheel, making all the data processing across all Google apps on Pixel 10 happen swiftly and privately on-device.
My suspicion is that the driving factor for this is speed, privacy is just the blessing result of on-device processing. A good example of this is Gboard’s Assistant Voice typing and Proofread feature. At this point, Google already has a Scrooge McDuck level of user data locked up in an encrypted vault. It’s now all about making your data more universally accessible to you. It sounds like the latest evolution of that is making our own personal data even more useful and quickly accessible to us. It sounds awfully similar to what Apple announced at WWDC'24, a whole year ago, that has yet to even be released on the latest iPhone 16 models. And rumor has it, by Mark Gurman, that the iPhone won’t even see that until 2027. . Also something to consider is that this is something OpenAI won’t be able to do anytime soon until they make their own hardware. Unless Apple, Samsung, or any other hardware makers decide to give OpenAI’s ChatGPT access to secure enclaves.
The Green Bubble Divide: Are Google's Texting Ads Working?
Online dating has become commonplace. For some Android users, the initial exchange of phone numbers or text messages can be a source of anxiety, as some Apple iPhone users, even in 2025, may hold prejudices against Android devices. When that infamous green bubble appears on an iPhone, some iPhone users are conditioned to disdain the sender, regardless of the prior conversation’s quality or the individual’s profile appeal. Gen Z members of my production team have explicitly stated that they would decline to date an individual solely based on their use of an Android phone, irrespective of other positive qualities.
This issue is largely confined to North America, prompting Google to enlist Keke Palmer for a campaign addressing this prejudice during the recent Valentine’s Day. The ad begins with a man preparing to respond to a “Heyyyyy” text from “Sarah.” The display clearly indicates “RCS chat with Sarah” and “RCS Message,” highlighting the use of Rich Communication Services. The ad emphasizes the ability to send reactions and high-resolution images, features previously unavailable between Android and iPhone. Notably, KeKe Palmer dismisses the man’s concern about Sarah being an iPhone user being a problem with an eye roll, mirroring the sentiments of my Gen Z team members.
It’s a peculiar dynamic, and Google’s investment in educating consumers about the benefits of RCS is commendable. I wonder if Google might further amplify this message by showcasing couples like my wife and me, who found and maintain a loving relationship despite our differing phone preferences. My wife, an iPhone user, expresses a desire to switch to a Pixel, but is hindered by her iMessage group chats.
Perhaps this “green bubble” bias reveals a deeper societal issue: a tendency to judge others based on superficial technological choices. In a world increasingly reliant on digital connections, it’s worth considering the limitations we inadvertently impose through brand loyalty and platform preferences. Google’s campaign, while lighthearted, serves as a timely reminder to embrace inclusivity, even in our texting habits. After all, meaningful connections transcend the color of a chat bubble.
I hope that in the future, judging someone based on their phone choice will become as antiquated as using a rotary phone. I have to ask, are these ads working?
Microsoft is shutting down Skype in favor of Teams
“If you don’t cannibalize yourself, someone else will” a saying I believe Steve Jobs said likely expressing his sentiment during the development of products like the iPhone, which cannibalized the iPod market.
Skype will be retired on May 5th, and existing users will need to export their data or migrate to Teams.
Microsoft will now be fully focused on Teams for consumers, after launching the personal version in 2020. At the time, Microsoft said it was still fully committed to Skype, but it’s been clear in recent years that the company was preparing for the eventual retirement of Skype. In December, Microsoft killed off Skype credits and phone numbers in favor of subscriptions, another sign that the end of Skype was nearing.
“Initially the vision was to have one experience across work and life… but Teams was new and that was not realistically where we were in 2020,” reveals Teper. “So we continued to invest in Skype, and about two to three years ago we started bringing in the free Teams consumer experience with the new client. We wanted to wait until the adoption was at the scale where we could be very convinced it was the right time.”
It’s certainly the end of an era. Personally, I never used Skype as much as most people did. In fact, I believe at one point Skype was the number one video chatting experience that ushered in the Jetsons futuristic approach of communication. Skype had a head start, but during the pandemic didn’t seem to be the go-to for people wanting to connect. That went to Zoom.
I still think Google Meet is in the best position to hold the spot for both consumer based and business based video based communication.
| App | Description |
|---|---|
| Zoom | A cloud-based video conferencing service that allows users to meet online, with or without video. |
| Google Meet | A video communication service developed by Google. |
| Microsoft Teams | A proprietary business communication platform developed by Microsoft. |
| Skype | A telecommunications application that specializes in providing video chat and voice calls between computers, tablets, mobile devices, the Xbox One console, and smartwatches over the Internet. |
| FaceTime | An audio and video calling service developed by Apple. |
