Technologies

Google Pixel 8, Pixel 8 Pro, Watch 2: Everything Google Just Announced

«The most beautiful phones we’ve ever made.»

At Wednesday’s Made by Google event, the company launched its Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro phones along with the Pixel Watch 2, to no one’s surprise — the world already knew a lot of the details thanks to information that dribbled out in the weeks leading up.

Like the other hardware-slash-operating system companies, Google highlighted the way its phones use new features in Android 14, which was announced at Google I/O in June, and becomes available with these phones when they ship by midmonth. Unsurprisingly, it concentrates on its AI-based software rather than the changes to the phone’s hardware over the Pixel 7 line, including updates to Google Assistant and new photo editing tools. There are some notable hardware updates, like the company’s new Tensor G3 AI-accelerator, improved screen brightness, a new temperature sensor and new cameras.

The Pixel Watch 2 also received some modest improvements, such as more accurate heart-rate sensing and updates to its safety features and more. Like Android, the Watch’s operating system, Wear OS 4, was announced at Google I/O and ships with the Watch at the same time as the phones.

Rick Osterloh, Google’s SVP for devices and services, breezed through some updates before he even got to the main products. The Pixel Buds Pro get upgraded with AI enhancements to sound quality, and use of Bluetooth Super Wide Band for more flexible, high-bandwidth sound. They have reduced latency, which is important for gaming. They’ll come in new colors to match the phones, bay blue and porcelain.

The Pixel Fold will be updated with Dual Screen translation, and its discussion of Google Home AI and Assistant updates, which will first launch as experiments — notably the future Google Assistant with Bard preview — sounded an awful lot like Amazon’s Alexa boosts.

Pixel support has been expanded to seven years of support and updates, as well.

Google Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro phones

A lot remains the same for these phones relative to their predecessors, but there are a handful of hardware and software upgrades to increase their appeal. For instance, the screen sizes remain the same but they have improved the adaptive refresh rates’ range, which can let it drop very low when you don’t need the speed and make your battery happier. Google’s gone rounder with all the edges, which turns out to be calming. And new Actua and Super Actua displays on the Pixel and the Pro, respectively, deliver much brighter HDR peaks — 2,400 nits, for the Pro, which is high.

The Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro next to one another in someone's hands.

Both phones have main cameras with new dual-conversion gain sensors, a technology like that used by the Galaxy S23’s Isocell HP2 sensor, which lets it apply two different gain curves to the image — boosting and reducing noise in shadows and pulling back on areas with bright highlights — to generate a high dynamic range image in a single shot rather than merging a burst at different exposures.

They also have marginally higher resolution front cameras, but the Pro can autofocus.

Every AI demo we’ve seen in the past couple of years has shown itself off by summarizing web pages, and Google Assistant’s enhancement is no different. But its call spam filter, Call Screen, sounds more natural when it answers for you. It’s also designed to analyze voice-message context and widgetize it into actionable items — think getting various choices of an autoresponse to the food delivery person who’s dropping off dinner.

See the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro Up Close and Personal

Google's Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro smartphones in their rose and bay colors

Google Pixel 8 Pro's three-camera camera bar

the Pixel 8 smartphone in Google's rose color

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A new Video Boost feature automatically retouches videos’ shadows and noise and applies digital image stabilization, but in the cloud rather than on your phone. Because a data center has a lot more processing power to efficiently work with the full-resolution file, which happens when the video syncs from your phone to the heavens. You see a lower-resolution (1080p) proxy on your phone until the video’s been completely processed and synced back. Additionally, Google’s bringing its low-light Night Sight image processing to video.

Google’s own camera app gets manual controls for shutter speed, exposure time (for timed shooting in extreme low light), white balance, ISO sensitivity and focus. There are also enhancements to some photo file formats in the form of more metadata for color management (like Adobe DNG) and to properly display photos on other devices (Ultra HDR).

Additionally, there are a handful of new or improved «magic» and AI-boosted features, such as Best Take. It lets you merge selected faces in a group show to create a single version in which everyone’s got their best face on — or worst, if that’s the way you roll. Audio Magic Eraser can theoretically distinguish and filter out particular sounds.

The Pixel 8 Pro distinguishes itself from the plain ol’ Pixel 8 in a few ways. It’s still larger (6.7 inches to the Pixel’s 6.2) and has a marginally higher capacity battery with a concomitant marginal increase in weight of 1 gram.

The Google Pixel 8 Pro has a thick section, the

It’s also the first Google device to be able to run some lighter weight generative AI operations, such as a more fine tuned Magic Eraser, thanks to in-phone AI foundation models (the code that’s essential to run them locally).

One big add to the Pro’s hardware is a temperature sensor to measure the heat coming off items, for instance to tell you if they’re exceptionally hot or cold — that could be a boon to people with temperature-sensitive teeth… I guess? Well, it’s not the most crowd-pleasing sensor, at least until Food and Drug Administration approval comes through to let Google use it for measuring body temperature. I would actually find this useful to measure how hot a laptop gets — if only to confirm I’m not imagining things.

It also has a 48-megapixel ultrawide camera with a new sensor that’s more sensitive than the older 12-megapixel version; it’s got a wider aperture lens to let in more light. Plus, it can now autofocus and shortens the macro focus distance by about 1cm.

The Pixel 8 Pro starts at $999 (£999, AU$1,699) and the Pixel 8 at $699 (£699, AU$1,199). Both start shipping on Oct. 12 and are available to preorder now.

Google Pixel Watch 2

The second generation of Google’s wrist wearable integrates some Fitbit Sense 2 capabilities, like automatically starting and stopping workouts, which the Apple Watch has had for a while, plus adds sensors for detecting temperature and stress indicators.

Other new features include a better heart rate sensor that collects data from multiple contact points (it claims up to 40% more accurate tracking at high altitude), and improved training tools that incorporate the new data. Plus there’s a processor upgrade for improved performance (the watch, not you) — faster processor, faster charge, «all day» battery — and new safety features. One example of the latter is Safety Check, the equivalent of «if you don’t hear from me in an hour, call the police.» There’s also real-time emergency location sharing.

It’s more durable, with better cover glass and tweaks to some of the band design aspects.

It ships on Oct. 12 for $350 (£349, AU$549); preorders start today.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Friday, Sept. 19

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Sept. 19.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

I didn’t get off to a great start with today’s Mini Crossword, completely blanking on 1-Across. Thankfully, the other clues were easy, and that answer filled itself in. Need some help? Read on. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Cancel on plans at the last moment
Answer: FLAKE

6A clue: Shade of light purple
Answer: LILAC

7A clue: ___ acid (protein builder)
Answer: AMINO

8A clue: Sarcastic «Yeah, sure»
Answer: IBET

9A clue: Sardonic boss on «Parks and Recreation»
Answer: RON

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Stylish panache
Answer: FLAIR

2D clue: Party game that tests how low you can go
Answer: LIMBO

3D clue: Visitor from outer space
Answer: ALIEN

4D clue: Philosopher who posed the question «What can I know?»
Answer: KANT

5D clue: Environmentally friendly prefix
Answer: ECO

Technologies

Your Old Android Isn’t Dead. These Tweaks Can Bring It Back to Life

Clear space, optimize your battery and update the basics. These quick changes can make an old Android phone feel snappier.

You don’t need the latest Android flagship to get good performance.

Thanks to longer software support from brands like Google and Samsung, older models can still run smoothly, as long as you give them a little attention. Clearing out unused apps, updating your software and tweaking a few settings can breathe new life into a device that feels sluggish. These quick fixes can help your phone last longer and save you from spending on an early upgrade.

Before you start shopping for a replacement, try a few simple adjustments. You might be surprised by how much faster your phone feels once you free up space, optimize battery use and turn off background drains.

Whether you use a Samsung Galaxy, Motorola or OnePlus phone, chances are you can still improve battery life and overall speed without buying something new. Just remember that Android settings vary slightly from brand to brand, so the menus may look a little different depending on your phone.

Don’t miss any of CNET’s unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add us as a preferred Google source on Chrome.

Settings to improve your battery life

Living with a phone that has poor battery life can be infuriating, but there are some steps you can take to maximize each charge right from the very beginning:

1. Turn off auto screen brightness or adaptive brightness and set the brightness level slider to under 50%

The brighter your screen, the more battery power it uses.

To get to the setting, pull down the shortcut menu from the top of the screen and adjust the slider, if it’s there. Some phones may have a toggle for auto brightness in the shortcut panel; otherwise, you need to open the settings app and search for «brightness» to find the setting and turn it off.

2. Use Adaptive Battery and Battery Optimization

These features focus on learning how you use your phone, including which apps you use and when, and then optimizing the apps and the amount of battery they use.

Some Android phones have a dedicated Battery section in the Settings app, while other phones (looking at you, Samsung) bury these settings. It’s a little different for each phone. I recommend opening your settings and searching for «battery» to find the right screen. Your phone may also have an adaptive charging setting that can monitor how quickly your phone battery charges overnight to preserve its health.

Why you should use dark mode more often

Another way to improve battery life while also helping save your eyes is to use Android’s dedicated dark mode. Any Android phone running Android 10 or newer will have a dedicated dark mode option.

According to Google, dark mode not only reduces the strain that smartphone displays cause on our eyes but also improves battery life because it takes less power to display dark backgrounds on OLED displays (used in most flagship phones) than a white background.

Depending on which version of Android your phone is running, and what company made your phone, you may have to dig around the settings app to find a dark mode. If your phone runs Android 10 or newer, you’ll be able to turn on system-wide dark mode. If it runs Android 9, don’t despair. Plenty of apps have their own dark mode option in the settings that you can use, whether or not you have Android 10.

To turn it on dark mode, open the Settings app and search for Dark Mode, Dark Theme or even Night Mode (as Samsung likes to call it). I suggest using dark mode all the time, but if you’re not sure, you can always set dark mode to automatically turn on based on a schedule, say from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. every day, or allow it to automatically switch based on your location at sunset and sunrise.

Keep your home screen free of clutter

Planning to hit up the Google Play Store for a bunch of new Android apps? Be prepared for a lot of icon clutter on your home screen, which is where shortcuts land every time you install something.

If you don’t want that, there’s a simple way out of this: Long-press on an empty area of your home screen and tap Settings. Find the option labeled something along the lines of Add icon to Home Screen or Add new apps to Home Screen and turn it off.

Presto! No more icons on the home screen when you install new apps. You can still add shortcuts by dragging an app’s icon out of the app drawer, but they won’t appear on your home screen unless you want them to.

Read more: Best Android Phones You Can Buy in 2024

Set up Do Not Disturb so that you can better focus

If your phone routinely spends the night on your nightstand, you probably don’t want it beeping or buzzing every time there’s a call, message or Facebook alert — especially when you’re trying to sleep. Android offers a Do Not Disturb mode that will keep the phone more or less silent during designated hours. On some phones, this is referred to as the Downtime setting or even Quiet Time.

Head to Settings > Sounds (or Notifications), then look for Do Not Disturb or a similar name. If you can’t find it, search for it using the built-in search feature in your settings.

Using the feature, you can set up a range of hours when you want to turn off the digital noise. Don’t worry, any notifications you get while Do Not Disturb is turned on will still be waiting for you when you wake up. Also, you can typically make an exception that allows repeat callers and favorite contacts’ calls to go through. Turn that on. If someone is calling you in an emergency, odds are they are going to keep trying.

Always be prepared in case you lose your phone or it’s stolen

Is there anything worse than a lost or stolen phone? Only the knowledge that you could have tracked it down if you had turned on Google’s Find My Device feature.

To prepare for a successful recovery, here’s what you need to do: Open the Settings app and then search for Find My Device. It’s usually in the Security section of the Settings app.

If you have a Samsung device, you can use Samsung’s Find My Mobile service, which is found in Settings > Biometrics and security > Find My Mobile.

Once that’s enabled, you can head to android.com/find from any PC or mobile device and sign in to your account. Samsung users can visit findmymobile.samsung.com to find a lost phone.

If you have trouble setting any of this up, be sure to read our complete guide to finding a lost Android phone.

Assuming your phone is on and online, you should be able to see its location on a map. From there, you can make it ring, lock it, set a lock screen note to tell whoever has it how to get it back to you, or, worst-case scenario, remotely wipe the whole thing.

And always keep your phone up to date

As obvious as it may seem, a simple software update could fix bugs and other issues slowing down your Android device.

Before you download and install the latest software update, make sure your device is connected to Wi-Fi, or else this won’t work.

Now, open the Settings application and type in Update. You’ll then either see Software update or System update — choose either one. Then just download the software, wait for a few minutes and install it when it’s ready. Your Android device will reboot and install the latest software update available.

There’s a lot more to learn about a new phone. Here are the best ways to boost your cell signal, and here’s a flagship phone head-to-head comparison. Plus, check out CNET’s list of the best cases for your Samsung phone. More of an Apple fan? We have tips for boosting your iPhone’s performance, too.

Technologies

Your Pixel 10 Might Have Issues With Older Wireless Chargers

You might want to try taking the case off your phone in order to successfully charge it.

When Google introduced the Pixel 10 lineup in August, it became one of the first major Android phones to receive the Qi 2 wireless charging standard, which Google calls Pixelsnap. However, users noticed issues with wireless charging on the Pixel 10 almost immediately after its release.

Some people are having trouble charging their phone with the new Pixelsnap charger, and others are having issues with older wireless chargers, including Google’s own Pixel Stands. The bulk of the problems happen when a case is on the phone — whether it has the magnet array or not.

I own both the first and second generation Pixel Stands and both will charge my Pixel 10 Pro XL without an issue if there’s no case on it. However, when I add a case to my phone, the problems begin.

I have three cases for my phone, the Mous Super Thin Clear Case, the Magnetic Slim Case Fit by Grecazo, and a no-name soft TPU case. If my phone has any of those cases on and I attempt to charge it while it’s vertical, it starts to charge and then stops after a second or two, and keeps doing that.

I can fix this for the first-generation Pixel Stand by turning the phone horizontal, but it will still charge very slowly. I can’t seem to fix it at all for the Pixel Stand 2 — vertical, horizontal, it doesn’t charge.

Not everyone has this issue

The problem doesn’t seem to be universal. CNET editor Patrick Holland said he had no issues charging the Pixel 10 Pro during his time with it.

A Google spokesperson told me the Pixel 10 lineup is not optimized for older Qi wireless charging standards, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the phones won’t work with older wireless chargers.

Qi 2 is backwards-compatible with older standards, but the phone’s height and charging coil placement on both the phone and the charger are still factors. If you’re having problems, you might see if removing the case helps.

The prospect of potentially needing to replace your older wireless chargers with newer ones isn’t ideal, especially if you shelled out $80 for one or both of Google’s own Pixel Stands. Still, if you want the best wireless charging speed for your brand new Pixel 10 phone, it won’t be with wireless chargers that only support older Qi standards.