Android 16 QPR2 Beta 2
- Build ID: BP41.250822.010
- September 2025 Security Patch
- Play Services: 25.29.32
- Testing developer verification with new APIs and tools
- SMS OTP Protection: Delay SMS retriever hash messages for three hours
- Custom app icon shapes
- More efficient garbage collection
- Automatic step tracking and expanded exercise data in Health Connect

Download: Factory Images | OTA Images | GSI
Changes: Android Developers
#Updates #A16 #Beta #Pixel @PixelHubUpdates

Gemini in Chrome
- Rolling out to everyone on Mac and Windows desktop in the U.S. with English (iOS support coming soon)
- Agentic browsing assistant: Perform tasks automatically on your behalf
- Compare and summarise multiple information from multiple tabs
- Find previously visited webpages more easily
- Deep integration across Google products (schedule meetings in Calendar, find the specific spot of a YouTube video, etc.)

More info: Google Blog
#Apps #Chrome @PixelHubUpdates

Gemini on Google TV
- A more capable assistant is coming to Google TV devices soon
- Available starting today: TCL QM9K series
- Available later this year: Google TV Streamer, Walmart onn. 4K Pro, 2025 Hisense U7, U8, and UX models, and 2025 TCL QM7K, QM8K, and X11K models.

#Gemini #GoogleTV @PixelHubUpdates

Conversational editing in Google Photos
- Previously available on Pixel 10, this feature is starting to roll out to all Android users in the U.S.
- Required U.S. English as account language, Face Groups and location estimate enabled

#Apps #Photos @PixelHubUpdates

Google AI Plus: Now in 40 more countries
- A cheaper AI plan from Google that was initially made available in Indonesia
- Most countries should have a plan cost of less than $5/month, with some as low as $2.50/month
- Newly added countries: Angola, Bangladesh, Benin, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, El Salvador, Ghana, Haiti, Honduras, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Mali, Mexico, Moldova, Morocco, Mozambique, Nepal, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Rwanda, Senegal, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe

#One @PixelHubUpdates

Search Live
- Launching in English in the U.S. to everyone, powered by Google Lens
- Ask anything that your camera captures with instant conversation

#Apps #Google #Lens @PixelHubUpdates

Android Canary 2509 (Released: 25/9/2025)
- Build ID: ZP11.250829.007, ZP11.250829.008 (Pixel Tablet)
- New animations for the lock screen clock and live effects
- Minor adjustment for the transition between the Always-on-Display and the lock screen
- Re-added Live Caption button to the volume slider
- Back and forward buttons for media controls (when there is more one media session)
- Tabbed design Widgets drawer
- Added Remove option in the long-press app menu
- Adjusted header spacing for Pixel 9 and Pixel 10 series
- New accessibility feature to disable blur effects

Download: Android Flash Tool | Pixel Factory Images Tracker
More info: Android Developers | BetaWiki
#Updates #A16 #Canary #Pixel @PixelHubUpdates

YouTube Premium: Enhanced audio, 4x playback speed, and more
- All these features are rolling out to all YouTube Premium subscribers on eligible devices
- Hiqh-quality audio: For official/premium music videos and Art Tracks, now on Android and iOS (previously on YT Music)
- Wider playback speed range: Up to 4x with 0.05 increments, now on Android, iOS, and web
- Jump Ahead: Skip to a video’s most interesting parts and other key moments, now on smart TVs and gaming consoles
- Shorts Smart Downloads: Automatically download your favourite Shorts based on your previous watch history, now on iOS (previously on Android)
- Shorts Picture-in-Picture: Watch in a small window while doing other things, now on iOS (previously on Android)

More info: YouTube Community
#Apps #YouTube @PixelHubUpdates

Google New Logo
- Previously first appeared on the app icon and favicon back in May, the logo is now officially being used company-wide, as announced.
- Fun fact: Google just recently celebrated its 27th birthday on September 27.

#News #Google @PixelHubUpdates

YouTube Premium Lite: Now available in India
- A cheaper plan to remove ads in YouTube videos (not including Shorts, music content and platform-wide)
- Price: ₹89/month (~$1/month)

#Apps #YouTube @PixelHubUpdates

Google Pixel Call Recording available in more places
- Available on Pixel 6 and newer, in countries where Pixel is supported
- Rolling out through the rest of the year

Miscellaneous (available later this year)
- Access Call Screen and activate Call Notes from Android Auto
- Scam Detection: Expanding to Australia, Canada, Great Britain, India, and Ireland
- Call Notes (beta preview): Expanding to Australia, Canada, India and Ireland
- Call Screen: Expanding to Australia, Canada, India and Ireland
- For Pixel 10 users in India, a beta version of Manual Call Screen will be available with English and Hindi support, more languages and dialects are coming soon

More info: Google Blog
#Apps #Phone @PixelHubUpdates

Google AI Mode: Images in result, shop improvement, better visual search
- Now results will show images for a richer experience
- Get the ideal shopping results from Google's Shopping Graph by describing the products with details, all without needing filters
- "Visual search fan-out" can recognise the subtle details of what's in an image, which helps to to deliver highly relevant visual results (rolling out in English in the U.S. this week)

More info: Google Blog
#Apps #Google @PixelHubUpdates

New smart home devices and features by Google
This is a quick summary of what Google has announced for Home related things:
Gemini for Home
- Voice assistant: 10 new natural-sounding voices, powered by Gemini
- Gemini Live: Talk, pause, interrupt whenever you like without the hotword
- AI cameras: Describe what's happening in the camera feed, get denoscriptions in alerts and video history, ask to find any clip
- Early access to be opened at the end of October
- Available for all smart home devices released by Google in the last decade

Google Home app redesign
- Ask Home: Find a device or automation name quickly by typing, control devices with natural language, create automations by describing
- Tabs: Home, Activity (check all history), Automations (manage your device automations)
- New gradient app icon, more fluent animations while navigating in the app, full support for Nest devices, view previews from event notifications
- Available with version 4.0 or higher (required for signing up Gemini for Home early access)

Google Home Premium
- Standard: $10/month, $100/year (included with AI Pro plan)
- Standard: 30 days of event-based video history, intelligent alerts for familiar faces and package collection, Gemini Live, generate Automations with voice
- Advanced: $20/month, $200/year (included with AI Ultra plan, additional $10 for AI Pro)
- Advanced: All features of Standard, 60 days of event-based video history, 10 days of 24/7 video history, denoscriptive notifications, search video history, event denoscriptions, daily summaries

Google Home Speaker
- Color: Berry, Hazel, Jade, Porcelain
- Price: $99.99 (coming in 2026)
- Availablity: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Japan, Australia, New Zealand

Nest Cams and Doorbell
- Nest Cam Indoor: $99,99
- Nest Cam Outdoor: $149.99, two-pack $249.99
- Availability (Nest Cams): United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland
- Nest Doorbell: $179.99
- Availability: (Nest Doorbell): United States, Canada
- Gemini for Home rolling out first in: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia (other regions receive it in early 2026)

More info: Google Blog (2, 3)
#Apps #Home #Nest @PixelHubUpdates

Gboard Dial Version
- QWERTY keyboard layout in rotary dial format
- Nine individual rotary dial for letters, numbers, arrow keys, functions, arithmetic symbols and return input
- Translate rotational movements via USB signal
- Put mouse on the "On-hold stand" to turn off webcam and play lovely melody

More info: Google Japan Blog | GitHub | YouTube
#News #Gboard @PixelHubUpdates

New and expansion of AI features by Google (October 2025)
- Gemini 2.5 Computer Use: Interact with graphical user interfaces, preview available via Google AI Studio and Vertex AI (More info)
- Gemini CLI Extensions: Connect to external tools and services directly from the terminal (Extension page)
- Google AI Mode: Added 35 languages support and 40 new countries, rolling out widely next week (Full list)
- Search Live: Initially available in the U.S., now rolling out in India with English and Hindi over the next few weeks
- Google's Try-on: Expanding to Australia, Canada, and Japan, with an addition of shoe category
- Google AI Plus: Now available in 36 more countries (total 77), eligible users get 50% discount for the first six months (Full list)

#Apps #Gemini #Google #Lens #One @PixelHubUpdates

October 2025 Android 16 Pixel Update
- Build ID:BP3A.251005.004.B1, BD3A.251005.003.W3 (Pixel 10 series), BP3A.251005.004.A2 (Pixel Tablet)
- Pixel 6 series has no fixes this month (also skipped on August)
- Display [Pixel 7 series]: Fix for screen flickering and sudden shutdown issues under certain conditions
- Display [Pixel 10 series]: Fix for issue occasionally causing frozen or fuzzy display under certain conditions
- System [Pixel Tablet]: Fix for issue occasionally causing system instability under certain conditions
- User Interface: Fix for an issue where a semi-transparent background would persist after the camera was launched under certain conditions
- - User Interface [Pixel 9, 10 series]: Fix for issue where the flashlight status does not appear on the At a Glance widget in certain conditions
- User Interface: Fix for System UI crash when starting or stopping casting with the Media Output Switcher in certain conditions

Download: Factory Images | OTA Images
Changes: Pixel Community | Android Security Bulletin | Pixel Security Bulletin
#Updates #A16 #Pixel @PixelHubUpdates

October 2025 WearOS 6 Pixel Watch Update
- Build ID: BP3A.250905.014.W3
- First generation Pixel Watch is excluded from this update (likely unsupported)
- Pixel Watch 4 (menari) images are also now available ahead of launch
- Material 3 Expressive with dynamic color theming
- Rounded fonts & icons
- New Wear 6 components (Edge buttons, Pickers, Dialogs, Scrollbar, etc.)
- Updated Tile templates/layouts
- Google Maps auto-launch on Wear OS watches
- Safety Check Timer Extension: Add time to an active Safety Check

Download: Factory Images | OTA Images
Changes: Pixel Watch Community | Wear OS Security Bulletin | Pixel Watch Security Bulletin
#Updates #W6 #Watch @PixelHubUpdates

LineageOS 23.0 based on Android 16
- Nearly a month later, Google has not released Android 16 QPR1 source, which results in no 23.1 release (that means no Material 3 Expressive for now)
- With Google not releasing the device tree anymore, Pixel models are not guaranteed to get "day one" support, which is the case with this release
- Currently, Linux 5.4 (4.14 and 4.19 backported) and later versions are required to run this version properly
- The initial batch of devices receiving the promotion include Pixel 4a 5G, Pixel 5, and Pixel 5a
- A total of 104 devices are promoted to LineageOS 23.0, whereas other 141 devices continue to receive 22.2 builds, 8 devices on 21.0 are discontinued
- Now you can also run and test LineageOS in virtualized environments much more easily, including Cuttlefish target support
- Mainline kernel support for easier bringups

What's new
- Improved Charging Control and Fast Charge Control
- New ringtones and alarms (from Plasma Mobile)
- Aperture: Support for JPEG Ultra HDR, RAW, and simultaneous RAW+JPEG capture
- Aperture: A redesigned notification island with dynamic colors, and new indicators (JPEG Ultra HDR, RAW, battery, thermal throttling)
- Twelve: Added a "Play random songs" button
- Twelve: Updated the Now Playing screen with playback statistics
- Twelve: Added the ability to rescan the local media store
- Twelve: Expanded Jellyfin integration, including suggestions, favorites, and better thumbnail handling
- Twelve: Added MIDI playback support
- New app: Catapult (Android TV launcher)

More info: LineageOS
#News #LineageOS @PixelHubUpdates

Nano Banana on Search, NotebookLM and Photos
- The powerful and popular image editing model is coming to more Google products
- AI Mode and Lens (Search): Upload or capture an image and use the prompt to describe the edits, available in English in the U.S. and India, more languages and countries coming soon
- Video Overview (NotebookLM): Available in Explainer and Brief formats, can automatically select one of the six new visual styles (Watercolor, Papercraft, Anime, Whiteboard, Retro Print and Heritage)
- Video Overview (NotebookLM): Rolling out to Pro users this week and everyone in the coming weeks
- Photos: Announced, more details coming soon

#Apps #Gemini #Google #NotebookLM #Photos @PixelHubUpdates

BREAKING: The Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold is Catastrophic Failure in Durability!

Google yapped during their awful Pixel 10 series launch event that Pixel 10 Pro Fold is the first folding smartphone to be IP68 dust & water resistant, a certification which even the Galaxy Z Fold 7 does not have. Thus Zack put the Pixel 10 Pro Fold in his durability tests and the dust particles easily went inside the hinge, indicating it was all just a LIE!

Not only that, Google also yapped about Pixel 10 Pro Fold being "their" most durable folding phone ever. However, Google did NOT learn a thing from its mistakes as Google put the antenna lines in the exact same position like their previous two folds (Pixel Fold and Pixel 9 Pro Fold) and both the previous pixel folding phones break apart.

What's more crazier is the fact that, when the Pixel 10 Pro Fold got cracked, it actually exploded!
According the Zack, none of the smartphones has ever exploded during his durability test in the past decade and Pixel 10 Pro Fold is the first smartphone to not only crack & fail his durability test but also explode!
https://fixvx.com/Dexerto/status/1978182532043558917

Watch the durability test: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uS90jakOuw

Follow @TechLeaksZone

YouTube: Video player redesign, comment threadings and better animations
- Initially a limited roll out, the new video player. alongside new icons, is starting to go live for most people and reach everyone in this week
- On desktop, you can now do almost anything while in full-screen (like, view denoscription and comments, find more videos by scrolling up)
- Improved animations for double-tap to seek, switching tabs on mobile, adding videos to playlists, with a custom animation for the Like button depending on the content
- Comment threadings let you view comment replies in a structured way

#Apps #YouTube @PixelHubUpdates