#pixel9pro — Public Fediverse posts

Showers in the city

#Photography #StreetPhotography #Pixel #GooglePixel #Pixel9Pro #PixelPhotography #Perth #Australia

Android 17 seems the least consequential OS update that I’ve seen in years

I installed a whole-number release of Google’s mobile operating system on my phone Wednesday, and about the only way I can tell that I’ve gone from Android 16 to Android 17 is when I clear my notifications.

Instead of the old “No notifications” confirmation, the new version of Android gives me a little pep talk: a “You’re all caught up” message below a trophy icon. Which is nice, even if being free of new app notifications is an exceedingly temporary condition for me.

I expected a little more out of Android 17 because I’d written as much in a series of posts for PCMag over the past six months chronicling this release’s progress through a series of developer preview and beta releases.

Google hadn’t been promising anything epic, but the reality of Android 17 as shipped is so much less that my PCMag colleague Flo Ion borrowed some journalistic lingo to convey how many advertised features have yet to ship: “Android TK.”

While I wait for Google to deliver Android 17capabilities like Gemini Intelligence and Pause Point, what do I get from this release?

Google’s post announcing 17 leads off with bubble multitasking, an option to open an app into a smaller window you can condense back into a floating app icon. But my Pixel 9 Pro’s screen isn’t big enough for a feature built for the larger displays of foldable phones and tablets.

With the second feature highlighted in that post, Screen Reactions, the problem isn’t my phone’s screen but the person using it. I almost never post video and have never even thought about posting a clip where I’m offering some value judgment about what’s on my phone’s screen. (Maybe I should now?)

Android 17’s security and privacy enhancements are less fun to talk about but matter more to me. I can now limit an app’s request for my location to only my current session with that app, the Advanced Protection option and default device-theft countermeasures offer additional defenses against somebody attempting to break into my phone after taking it from me, and this release features Google’s first Android support for post-quantum-computing cryptography.

But the privacy upgrade I was most looking forward to using–a new Contact Picker interface that will let you respond to an app’s request for your contacts by letting it see only the contacts of your choice–requires app developers to support that feature first. WhatsApp, which won’t even let me enable backup to my Google account without contacts access, desperately needs this… but I’m not exactly expecting Meta to drop everything to enable it in its messaging app.

I know the story is still being written with Android 17; Google plans to follow the pattern it set with Android 16, where a secondary update late in the year brings additional features. In the meantime, I suppose this unassuming release offers one other modest benefit: When so much of the tech universe is overrunning with drama, I don’t have to worry about that here.

The lonely cloud

#Photography #StreetPhotography #BlackAndWhitePhotography #Pixel #GooglePixel #Pixel9Pro #PixelPhotography #Perth #Australia

Double rainbow on the way to the local for dinner

#Photography #Pixel #GooglePixel #Pixel9Pro #PixelPhotography #Perth #Australia

Tranquility

#Photography #Pixel #GooglePixel #Pixel9Pro #PixelPhotography #Rockingham #Perth #Australia

Weekly output: Consumer Cellular’s SpeakEasy brand, Uber’s take rate, Google Play Store fees, Pixel 9 Pro screen replacement, Qualcomm’s data-center ambitions, Meta scrapping “Off-Meta Activity” privacy setting, Feds poleaxe Polestar

It’s been a while–years, I think–since I had four stories published on one day by one client. But I only wrote two of Friday’s total on Friday, so don’t draw too many conclusions about my potential productivity.

Patreon readers got an extra post this week in which I unpacked an unfortunately botched bit of business development.

6/22/2026: Consumer Cellular Adds SpeakEasy Mobile Sub-Brand For the 75-and-Up Set, PCMag

The interesting part of this announcement was the two simplified phones that Consumer Cellular’s new brand is bringing to the market.

6/23/2026: Uber driver pay is falling as the company’s take rate rises, new research finds, Fast Company

I didn’t have this report about Uber driver pay on my to-do list as I made my way to Web Summit Rio three weeks ago. But once I got there, a notice about a press conference featuring study author Len Sherman of Columbia University’s business school got my attention, and I’m glad that it did.

6/25/2026: Google Details Reduced Play Store Fees That Trim Its Take to 10% in Many Cases, PCMag

Almost six years after Epic Games’ lawsuit challenged Google’s Android app-store rules, the tech giant finally broke down the changes forced by that litigation. I needed much less time to get this post written and filed Thursday morning; it feels good when that happens.

6/26/2026: I Needed to Replace My Pixel 9 Pro’s Screen. It Was Easy, With One Big Caveat, PCMag

I waited a couple of weeks after this successful screen repair to make sure that my phone wouldn’t fall apart in my pocket–and then worried after publication that I would then choose that moment to drop it onto a sidewalk.

6/26/2026: Qualcomm Darts Into the Data Center Business With Dragonfly, PCMag

I had assumed that somebody on staff would cover Qualcomm’s investor day Wednesday in New York but watched it remotely anyway, and then one of my editors asked if I could do a writeup of that event. Of course I said yes.

6/26/2026: Meta to Scrap ‘Off-Facebook Activity’ Feature That Curbed Web Tracking, PCMag

I could have written this post weeks ago, but getting an e-mail from Meta Thursday morning to the account I use for Facebook that reminded me of this impending privacy downgrade was the nudge I needed. Electronic Frontier Foundation staff technologist Lena Cohen’s comments were then the excuse I needed to remind readers of how this privacy problem is made worse by continued Congressional inaction on privacy.

6/26/2026: Feds Poleaxe Polestar, Banning Future US Sales of Its EVs, PCMag

I wasn’t originally going to jump on this, but once that headline popped into my head I had to write the post. Then I made sure to include three essential bits of context: how the connected-car rule that Polestar ran afoul of dates to the closing days of the Biden administration, how few cars Polestar has sold, and what a mess connected-car privacy remains even if you look only at American manufacturers–thanks in large part to continued Congressional inaction on privacy.

I won't lie I haven't used the thermometer on my #pixel9pro anywhere as much as I have in the last few days.

Actually using it to get a refund for a hotel/Airbnb which lied about the towel heater being on during the night. Can you even imagine one small fan against the ambient heat and then a heater you can't turn off heating up the small bathroom and in turn the bedroom?!

I won't say it was a great option to add to a smart phone but it's unique and surprisingly useful in the #ukheatwave

Just wish Expedia/VRBO wouldn't keep me on hold forever...

On the Pixel 9 Pro there's a service called AI Core. I believe it manages the onboard AI processing for things done on the Pixel.

Disabled it on Friday night and cleared the storage it was using. Not only did I gain about 5GB of phone storage, but my battery has been surprisingly good since.

A light use day today, but 78% at 5:30pm feels like something that wouldn't happen before.

#Pixel #Android #Google #Pixel9Pro

Life is a bit flat right now, and I really don’t have the desire to take any photographs. Forced myself to take this single image today, with a little edit I didn’t mind the result.

#Photography #StreetPhotography #Pixel #GooglePixel #Pixel9Pro #PixelPhotography #Perth #Australia

Funkstille beim Pixel 9 und 10: Neuer eSIM-Bug nervt User
https://www.schmidtisblog.de/funkstille-beim-pixel-9-und-10-neuer-esim-bug-nervt-user-1799230/

#Google #Pixel10 #Pixel10Pro #Pixel10ProFold #Pixel10ProXL #Pixel9 #Pixel9Pro #Pixel9ProFold #Pixel9ProXL

Has anyone got a good system for getting non-Android Auto ready apps to show on a vehicle infotainment screen? I'm running #Android 16 on a #Pixel9Pro and would like to get #APRSDroid and some other apps to show up. Fermata and AAAD did not work for me.

10/53 — 2026 03.06 Pixel 9 Pro #photography #pixel9pro

I also took a photo of the same mushrooms using my #Pixel9Pro, which definitely creates a very different vibe from the TG-7. Probably a lot more processing is being done behind the scenes by google to balance all the light levels out.

Exterior Glass Face

#Photography #Pixel #GooglePixel #Pixel9Pro #PixelPhotography

#Google hat einige seiner #Android-Geräte bereits mit der #Apple-Funktion „#AirDrop“ ausgestattet, mit der ihr Dateien kabellos und ohne #Internetverbindung teilen könnt. Das ursprünglich dem #iPhone vorbehaltene Feature funktioniert nun auch von Android auf iPhone. In den nächsten Tagen erweitert Google die Liste der Geräte, die AirDrop von Android auf iPhone unterstützen um das #Pixel9, #Pixel9Pro, #Pixel9ProXL und das #Pixel9ProFold.

Mehr dazu: https://www.appgefahren.de/?p=394892

#appgefahren #AppleBlog #iPad #Mac

Honestly lazy photography but visually appealing

#Photography #Pixel #GooglePixel #Pixel9Pro #PixelPhotography #Light #Shadow​

In today's episode of "arghh damnit phones are actually good cameras sometimes"

Coffee vibes

#Photography #SmartphonePhotography #Pixel #GooglePixel #Pixel9Pro #PixelPhotography

7/53 — 2026 02.13 — Crepuscular rays over Monterey Pixel 9 Pro #photography #CrepuscularRays #Monterey #clouds #pixel9pro

While I’m generally not fond of smartphone processing these days, it does work well for black and white conversions.

#Photography #BlackAndWhitePhotography #Pixel #GooglePixel #Pixel9Pro #PixelPhotography #Dogs

Phones are annoyingly good at photos sometimes. I still prefer using my dedicated cameras at most instances, but every so often…

#Photography #Pixel #GooglePixel #Pixel9Pro #PixelPhotography

Google bricht starre Trennung auf: AirDrop-Support via Quick Share landet auf dem Pixel 9
https://www.schmidtisblog.de/google-bricht-starre-trennung-auf-airdrop-support-via-quick-share-landet-auf-dem-pixel-9-1791512/

#Google #Pixel9 #Pixel9Pro #Pixel9ProFold #Pixel9ProXL #QuickShare