Daily Authority: Google’s Pixel phone+apps bundle ????

The Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro cats are out of the bag completely, after UK retailer Carphone Warehouse published two overviews featuring basically all the marketing assembled by Google. 

• The other bit of news that’s interesting is some leaks around a “Pixel Pass,” a subscription that might bundle a Pixel with a bunch of Google services.

First, the Pixel publishing problem:

• It’s a tradition that some retailer somewhere will list a device before the launch date. It’s often smaller operations or retailers, or something slipping on Amazon from a third-party retailer, and so on. Usually it happens really close to the day of launch; this went down more than a week in advance of Google’s Pixel launch on October 19.
• And it was pretty major: Carphone had it published for hours, and while leaker Evan Blass spotted it, anyone switched onto Pixel news probably got a glimpse of the live websites.
• Bogdan Petrovan from the AA team summed it up well in this post which confirmed a bunch of stuff we’ve seen reported, including the use of Google’s Tensor processor, and gave details on very long battery-life claims, the Pro model with a 6.7-inch 120Hz LTPO screen, capable of dropping down to 10Hz, 30W fast charging, and much more.
• The camera details were significant: The Pixel 6 Pro, for example, will have a 50MP wide lens, 48MP telephoto lens, and 12MP ultra-wide lens on the back. The Pixel 6 will have the same 50MP wide lens and an ultra-wide shooter too.
• That new primary sensor will capture 150% more light than the main rear camera on the Pixel 5, plus loads of new features such as help to automatically remove certain elements (like a photobomber) from images.

???? You won’t need to say “Hey Google” anymore for these Assistant commands once you get an update (Android Authority).

???? OnePlus will launch the OnePlus 9RT, Buds Z2 this week in China, possibly China-only. Here’s the confirmed specs of the 9RT (Android Authority).

???? Samsung Galaxy S22 series’ charging speed could be its biggest weakness, with 25W charging the limit (Android Authority).

???? Another review of the new Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio, but better detail on the “stage mode” (Wired).

???? A solid Fairphone 4 review shows that Fairphone has taken a major step forward, but there’s work to do on software optimizations, especially its camera. Miquel Ballaster did tell me Fairphone will be working on it, but right now it’s so-so (The Verge).

???? Google’s engineering lead for Apple platforms says, more or less, that Google will stop making its iOS apps look exactly like its Android apps, but develop more to iOS norms via UIKit (Twitter).

???? The Grand Theft Auto trilogy is getting remastered for PC and consoles, including Nintendo Switch (The Verge).

???? The construction of high-speed rail lines accelerated a brain drain from western regions of China to the major eastern cities: once connected, some cities are becoming darker at night after a station comes to town, and patent applications in western cities tended to drop significantly after a high-speed line was built in the area (SCMP).

⛔ There will soon be no more ads denying climate change on Google (Ars Technica).

???? A huge subterranean ‘tree’ is moving magma to the Earth’s surface (Wired).

???? NASA’s Lucy mission launches this week: What to know about journey to Jupiter’s orbit to explore asteroids (CNET). Also on rockets: Blue Origin delays William Shatner’s spaceflight to October 13 (Engadget).

???? Tesla opened its German Gigafactory doors to onlookers over the weekend — sadly, your correspondent didn’t jag one of the 9,000 tickets, but then neither did someone who’s owned a Tesla for five years, and I didn’t try the press pass route at all. Anyway, ol’ Musky said the factory might start making cars in November this year, but it’ll take a full year to get up to speed, and approvals are still required (Engadget).

???? A significant solar flare a few days ago is sending coronal mass ejections towards Earth, with a 35% chance of a moderate geomagnetic storm. Modelling suggests the most affected area will be on the 55º parallel to the North, which is at around New York City level, meaning Canada, Northern Europe, and Russia. It seems to mean no danger to satellites and power grids, but the auroras should be active (Spaceweather). More from NOAA here.

???? “Where does the human body get chlorine for gastric acid?” (r/askscience).