The New Google Pixels are Pretty on the Inside - DTNS 5330

[music] This is the daily tech news for Wednesday, August 12th, 2026. We tell you what you need to know, give you some important context, and try to help each other understand. >> Today, the new pixels are here, and we have all the details, of which there are many. >> There are quite a few, although they don't look that different. I'm Tom Merritt, >> and I'm Sarah Lane. Let's start with what you need to know with that big story. Yes, indeed. Google will hold its Pixel event later today as we are recording this with celebrities like Trevor Noah, but the details on the new Pixel line broke this morning. Uh so, let's run through everything we know. They look pretty much the same with one exception on the back that we'll get to. Uh and everything that's in the Pixel 11 is in the Pixel 11 Pro. So, we're just going to start with the Pixel 11. Uh, and just know that unless we say otherwise, it's all the same in the Pros, and there's stuff in the Pros that is not in the Pixel 11. The Pixel 11 starts at $899. One big difference off the top is Wi-Fi 6E, whereas the Pro models will have Wi-Fi 7, but all the new Pixels are using Google's own Tensor G6 processor. Now, we don't get specs on this, but RS Technica says from what people are saying out there, it's most likely a custom 7 core ARM chip. Has one fewer CPU core than the Tensor G5. And Google keeps talking up its power efficiency. Uh base storage is up. Uh we're going to talk about how they're not really increasing the RAM, in fact decreasing it in one case, but base storage on the Pixel 11 starts now at 256 GB. That's double what it used to start with. Android 17 comes on this. You get seven years of updates. Uh Gemini can now interact with more apps on the Pixel, so there's more things you can tell it to do as an agent. It can also place calls to businesses for you, which I know Google has had versions of that, but now it's like full-on there. Uh they are going to install Rambler, something they announced not too long ago, a voicetoext service that isn't like putting every single thing you say, every um and awe. It's going to summarize things when you repeat. It's going to get rid of your verbal pauses. It's going to make make nice clean text out of Tom, you know, Tom like Tom, you know. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> That kind of stuff, >> right? It's going to get that it would be like get rid of it. It would have the promise. >> It would have transcribed that as so Tom [laughter] >> and just gotten rid of everything. >> That would be helpful for me actually. >> Yeah. Yeah. Uh Google Deep Mind uh launched SL2T uh which will run on all the pixels. It translates ASL, American Sign Language into text uh using Gboard or live transcribe. Google says it's the first time someone has done sign language to text. The camera bar is 40% thinner and all glass across the width of the phone. So, it looks pretty much the same, but it's a little slimmer. And on the Pixel 11, uh, fits in your pocket a little better. Slightly larger camera sensor in there, uh, to collect more light. Expanded digital zoom up to 30x on the Pixel 11. Magic Capture is a new feature that uses some uh, Gemini magic to pick the best photo frames. So, you capture video and photos of the moment without trying to think too much about it, and then it'll automatically pick the good frames, crop them, and unblur them for you. Uh, Creator Suite includes a teleprompter feature, updated speech enhancement capabilities, an option to automatically save clips in an album dedicated to a certain project. Camera Looks is a more authentic or traditional photo filter, and it's not applied after the fact. It's actually implemented in the HDR Plus pipeline. Uh Google claims you're going to get 24 plus hours of battery life on all the Pixels. Uh and you can charge it pretty fast uh in the first 30 minutes or even faster using the new extreme charging mode. So there you go. That's that's all the stuff that's in the Pixel 11. Uh well, you know, I I know you're not a Pixel user, but as an iPhone user, Sarah, does the uh does the Pixel 11 sound like a compelling phone for someone? >> Yeah, it definitely does. Uh and you're right, I'm not I I didn't have the Pixel 10, so I wouldn't know um you know, in in everyday use how much the 11 is that much better. I did find, you know, of all these specs, and they seem pretty great. Uh, and we haven't gotten to the pro yet, I know. But, um, some of the stuff did it it it made me chuckle a little bit like the more authentic traditional photo uh, way that the camera is supposed to act now because I think they went too high into like let AI make your picture better than ever. >> Yeah. >> And and we're in a little bit of that backlash right now. Not everybody feels that way, but a lot of people are kind of like, let's get back to basics. You know, we're we're getting out of hand here. And so, that's an interesting that's an interesting uh move by Google, but I think probably the right one cuz you can you can add stuff later, right? >> Yeah. >> And also, when when you mentioned uh the camera being uh slightly thinner so it could fit into a pocket better, [laughter] it got me thinking. I was thinking about this this morning because we're all we're all always talking about can it fit into a pocket? Can you know when I say it, like any any smalish gadget, you know, does it fit into my smallest purse? That sort of thing. And it's it's funny that in 2026, we're still talking about, well, if you wear a pair of pants, for the most part, you got a couple front pockets and a couple back pockets. Where does it go? And maybe we should think about pockets being in other places >> for the technology that you know is [laughter] is not going away. >> Pockets. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Well, and it's also that camera bump just makes it awkward in lots of situations. So So making it a little more flush, I think, helps helps all over the place. But yeah, it's you know, Pixel 11 is a little more expensive. Uh that that's kind of the takeaway I had. Uh and has a lot more Gemini stuff on there that you might want. And like you said, people are into like old-fashioned digital cameras. Oldfashioned like, you know, 20 2003 era digital cameras these days. So Google's getting on that trend and saying, "Look, look, we can use HDR to change the lighting to look like it came out of one of those cameras." Uh, so we're going to do that for you. >> Well, and that's still a feature. It's not like Google's saying, "We don't do that anymore." It's more of just we're going to let you decide if you want to. Yeah. >> All right. Let's talk about the Pro. Starting at $1,99. This is where you get the highlight. That's the name of it. Highlight H I L I G HD. Circular array of LED status lights around the rear camera bar. Uh, this obviously is the flash, but it also works as an indicator that Gemini is listening. So, if your phone's upside down, but you want to talk to Gemini, you can tell if it can hear you or not. You know, if the wake word has worked. Uh, it'll also light up with incoming calls from specific contacts that you pick from your phone app or WhatsApp. And that's it. I don't know if they'll add more stuff to this, but that's all that light bar does. Uh, they also have spacecraft grade aluminum. I I don't know exactly what that means other than it's very durable. Uh, double the scratch resistance on the coating. That's nice. uh can now go up to 4600 nits of peak brightness, 120x zoom, uh something called instant night sight, we don't know how instant it is, but it's going to get you into low light a little faster. Uh and uh yeah, that 120x zoom up from 100x. So, so the pros biggest advantage is, you know, it's it's got a better uh better camera, it's got the better zoom, but mostly it's those LEDs on the back side. >> Yeah. which as you mentioned uh that they sound pretty handy for a variety of things. Um you'd have to have your camera facing down >> I guess if you're working on other stuff, you know, but but that kind of also makes sense. >> Although then you wouldn't get notifications on the front. I don't know. I I I'd love to know if somebody out there is like, "Yes, this is what I've been waiting for." >> I kind of want to know that, too. Like I get it. Like I don't want to be bothered by notifications, but I do want to talk to Gemini. Okay, I've got that light to tell me cuz if I had the screen up, I could just tell I could see it, right? [snorts] So that that's cool. It gives me the option. Why they are not giving you more customization of it, which you know is not traditionally very Android to not give you customization and like it'll work with WhatsApp and phone. That's it. You can't do anything else with it unless you hack it. Um I'm curious about that. >> Somebody at Meta and somebody at Google is very happy about this. >> Yes, for [gasps] sure. Uh, also there's the Pixel 11 Pro XL. Uh, that's just a bigger one. Instead of 6.3 in, you get a 6.8 in screen. That one starts at $1,299. And then let's talk about the new Fold, which is a more passport style aspect ratio. You get a 6.5 in external screen, so it's a little bit bigger, and an 8 in internal screen. The Pro Fold starts at $1,899. They're also saying the hinge is stronger. Uh, the displays are 20% brighter. They've got a glass fiber composite back cover, so it shouldn't crack as easily. Three times more durable than the last fold, they say. Uh, it's 10% lighter and almost a millimeter thinner, which is almost like saying not thinner, [laughter] like human hair. A little bit more than that. >> Yeah, maybe you'll notice. Uh, it also has the Tensor G6 chip just like the other Pixels. Uh and the battery capacity is lower at 200 milliamp hours uh less than the previous fold 4806 if you want to know. Uh and also uh we didn't mention it but the other Pixels are 100 milliamp hours lower uh than the ones from last year. They say the battery life is going to be 30 hours on the Pixels and 24 hours on the Fold. Uh, so they they they're counting on that Tensor G6 chip uh efficiency to make you not notice that they're saving a little money on that battery. >> I think the the the fold market, the foldable market that we are we are officially well inside of now. Um I I I wonder who wants the 6.5 in which is relatively large um external and then only 8 in of internal screen. Now, somebody might say, "It's perfect. It's absolutely perfect for me." Um, I I would say, "Well, I would like it to be 13 in when folded up, >> but then you need a trifold if you want to get 13 in." >> Right. Right. So, I mean, it it just depends on what you want this all-in-one device to give you. You know, what do you want it to be and what do you want it to be when it's folded out? I always thought the 7 in uh Google Nexus tablet was was a great form factor for reading because it wasn't so big, you know, like a big old tablet where I had to use both hands. Felt like a paperback style. Uh and my Pixel Fold kind of feels the same way. Although it's that more passport style. So even though it even though this one is 8 in, it's not that oblong uh style, but a lot of people seem to say they they prefer that. Uh, and I prefer it cuz the original Pixel had that aspect ratio, too. And I kind of it just feels nice and compact and good when you when you unfold it. >> Uh, a few other bits and bobs here. The Google 1 AI Pro trial is now 6 months when you buy a Pixel, down from 12. Uh, that's only with the Pixel Pros, too. You don't get the trial on the Pixel 11 anymore. Quick Share, which is basically Google's version of AirDrop, uh will now work when you tap them together. Uh that'll start with the Pixel 6 and up. Uh so that's not limited to the new Pixels. And uh Google has raised the prices of everything. We're going to get to the watch, but the Pixel and Watch prices have gone up by $100 and $50, respectively, for the 2026 models. And the base Pixel 11 Pro and Pro XL now start with 12 GB of RAM. They used to start with 16 GB. You can still max out at 16 on the Pro models, but you have to pay extra for that. It's not the the base model. So, another place where they saved some money with components. They they brought the battery capacity down a little bit, brought the RAM down a little bit, but then they doubled the storage capacity so that they still had to raise the prices. All right, let's talk about the Pixel Watch. Starting at $399 for the 41mimeter version, $429 for the 45mm version. As we said, those are higher prices than previous. A satin pyite case. Pyite's fool's gold, right? So, it's >> Is that what it is? >> Satin fool's gold case. >> I've always liked fool's gold. >> It's iron pyite is fool's gold. Anyway, satin pyite case uh finish. Anyway, Qualcomm Snapdragon W5 Gen2 accelerated uh processor, which Google says will be 20% faster and gives you the ability to do Gemini offline on the watch. Gemini can do a lot more proactive suggestions for you around health and fitness. There's more fitness categories it can track. Uh it also does a couple of interesting things. They haven't added any new sensors, but it can use your pulse and movement data to give you an estimate of your blood pressure. Now, this isn't as good as actually taking your blood pressure or having a blood pressure sensor, but it's it's a way to give you an estimate that might make you want to go check your blood pressure. And they're doing a similar thing with insulin resistance. So, insulin resistance trend uses your pulse, your movement, and your sleep data to estimate what your insulin resistance is. again as a way to indicate maybe you better go check your levels. Uh that will also be coming to the Fitbit and the uh watch 3 and 4 later this year in a software update. You can order all the stuff we've talked about now and it ships August 20th. Uh any thoughts on the watch before we get to the other stuff? >> Yeah, I mean sounds great. Uh, in fact, one way and I uh just uh the other week, in fact, last week uh on a uh episode of Liv that's coming out talked about her new Fitbit and she had she had well not not all positive things to say, but but relatively good things to say because she's very into fitness. Um 20% faster. It always kind of makes me chuckle when we're talking about watches cuz it's like what? Like, do we have sluggish watches? I feel like we have watches that don't do the things that we want them to do, >> but you know, like a a slow watch isn't really what my gripe is. Of course, I only have an Apple Watch, so uh the Pixel Watch might have just different situations, but yeah, that satin pyite case finish sounds nice. Um, you got the offline Gemini for people who are really into the Gemini way of life. Um, and I use it in Chrome all the time. Um, so I'm I'm definitely a believer there. It it's it it feels like what they're doing with Pixel Watch um is the Watch 5 is being like it's the same watch you know and love, but it's now your like little buddy. >> Yeah. >> It's essentially what they're doing across the Pixel line, too, which is Gemini is the feature that distinguishes us. Uh we can operate Gemini better than any other maker. Uh so here you go. Check it out. Yeah. >> Um, yeah, I I've seen some mixed reactions amongst the reviewers out there who have who have pushed out their hands-on. We don't have full reviews on these yet, but the but the hands-on have gone out. Uh, and and some of them are saying like, "Yeah, the the Galaxy Folds are are better." Uh, this fold is fine. >> I saw that. I think it was in Gadget who um Yeah, said it's just not that impressive from Google considering what we've already seen. >> Uh, a few other things that came out here. Two other things actually. PixelBuds Pro 2 aren't new, but they're going to get dynamic active noise cancellation and sleeps sync with a software update in September. And there's a new color, olive, if you like kind of military green. [snorts] You can do olive color PixelBuds Pro 2. >> Uh, and then the other new announcement is the Pixel Tag, uh, which is one of those tracker tags that you can put in like your luggage or stuff. $29 launching November 11th or you can buy four for $99 >> which is pretty much on par with Apple Air Tag pricing. >> It Yeah. And it supports uh FindHub uh Android's version of Find My uh and ultra wideband. Uh that's the big update here is that it's ultra wideband so it will be a little more precise and a little more easy to find. >> Good stuff from Google. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Uh well, we uh we find all of you out there listening and watching to be good stuff as well. DTNS is made possible by all of you. And today we're thanking Mike Cortez, Bill Russell, Irwin Stewart, and Rob Bugs Life, >> as well as brand new patrons. Everybody welcome in Ryan, >> Chris, Tommy, Zadant, >> Jithan, and we got raises from Reagan and Allan. Thank you. Yay! [cheering] A that's awesome. >> There is more to talk about today. Let's get to the briefs. >> Let's do it. Junyang Lin is one of the main driving forces behind Alibaba's Quen large language models. He quit Alibaba 5 months ago to start pragmatic labs in Shanghai to develop physical AI like robots. The company is working in four main areas. digital agents, physical agents, frontier research, and real world projects. Lynn has a bach bachelor's degree in Lynn has a bachelor's degree in English literature and a master's in linguistics from PKang University where he later led a group at the Institute of Computational Linguistics. Lynn is one of the many people in China leaving big companies to start their own thing, often called Neolab. >> Yeah, this is a this is a good trend story. uh smart guy. Uh one of the one of the people who really drove things at Alibaba and two trends that I think are worth paying attention to here is China's lead in physical AI uh aka robots. Uh they they are they are as we mentioned earlier in the week dominating the marketplace. Uh although the marketplace is small, you know, 90 plus% of humanoid robots come from China. uh and they are making leaps and bounds in putting those openweight models that are not as capable as the biggest foundational models on the planet but very capable into these physical uh physical robots. So somebody like Lynn doing this I think is is really worth keeping an eye on. And the fact that a lot of these smart folks uh not leaving these big companies to go to other big companies certainly not leaving China but creating a a startup ecosystem there. I think that's worth paying attention to as well. >> Absolutely. Yeah. Well because I mean in many other countries you know I I think of the US but there are other examples. Um this happens all the time. Someone says, "Hey, you know, I just this has been fun. [laughter] You know, Alibaba's gotten a lot of, you know, my brain from me and I'd like to just sort of move on and do something else." That's pretty normal. Uh or at least not not abnormal for somebody to do that. Uh if they're smart enough to be able to say, "Yeah, yeah, I just want to do my own thing and and maybe not be constrained by the big company." But in China, you think about that happening less or at least I do. So the fact that this is this is happening is is very interesting. >> Yeah. It's uh it's going to create the conditions for a lot of interesting ideas and companies not all of whom will succeed but right >> new ones will and they'll come out of this kind of thing whether it's Lynn or somebody else. Uh we also have a uh story about a Delta flight 591 from Las Vegas to Atlanta on Monday. This is the Monday after Defcon. Uh crew discovered that someone had created a spoofed version of Delta's inflight Wi-Fi. Post on social media from Mary Perau claimed someone used a tool probably like a Wi-Fi pineapple uh or something similar uh to create a cloned network. That's what the pineapple does. It's a pen testing device. They launched a deauthentication attack that jammed the official Delta Wi-Fi network and broadcast a clone called Delta Wi-Fi fast. If you ever been on Delta, which I am all the time, it's usually Delta Wi-Fi. Delta Wi-Fi fast, if you don't know, looks like, oh, I want to choose the faster version, >> right? I'm in a hurry. >> Yeah. If you logged on to that Wi-Fi, it would take you to a landing page designed to harvest your credentials and get your Google login data. Now, this is a plane full of people from Defcon, so I don't know how it was noticed, but I can imagine plenty of people said, uh, [laughter] flight attendant, this is probably not real. Uh, and once it was noticed, the captain sent an emergency notice, uh, that read in part, "No info as of now. We have a bunch of passengers that were at a cyber conference in Las Vegas. They were able to jam our Wi-Fi and broadcast their signal." Delta confirmed the incident, noted official Wi-Fi was down for about 30 minutes. the plane was never in any operational danger. None of this came even close uh to any of the operation of the plane. The FBI says it's looking into the batter. And despite Mary Perau saying the opposite, our Technica says, "We talked to the FBI. We talked to the Atlanta Police Department. No arrests were made. FBI agents did not meet the flight at the gate." Uh but they are they are looking into it. >> Yeah. uh not surprised uh a flight out of Defcon uh had this sort of situation. Also, in plane Wi-Fi, which I use uh when I'm flying if it's if it's available just because I'm trying to get through the flight, has always felt very squirly to me anyway. So, maybe this is a good reminder uh to the airlines who are providing, you know, various forms of Wi-Fi. Um and I know, you know, some of them are going Starlink now. uh to just make sure that uh if somebody is on the plane that's a little bit smarter than uh how this was this was configured in the first place, you are going to hear about it later. >> Yeah, I don't know how much of this is preventable. Certainly, it's I I'm with you. It's a great reminder like make sure you tightened up all the things you can tighten up. Uh but but if someone pulls out a Wi-Fi pineapple or something, I don't know how much you can do, especially in the confined space of a plane, >> other than maybe I don't know if you're going to teach flight attendants to do triangulation to to catch the Wi-Fi pineapple or not, >> but you know, there aren't that many people on the plane. You you could do a quick, you know, >> I mean, I think I think it probably comes down to just a very sort of like and remember everyone, if you see anything besides Delta WiFi. >> Yeah. >> Anything that's not that, do not join that network. >> Try to join it. Yeah. No, exactly. That's that's probably all you need. >> Well, if you want product reviews from people who put uh gadgets and services and platforms to the test, then your new show is Live with It. Uh, thanks to everybody who's already watching and listening. Each week we talk about the tech in our lives. Robots, air fryers, smart TV solutions. We run the gamut. This week, Rob Dunwood is telling us why he bought the Next Dock and why your next vacation maybe can't live without it. We are on YouTube at youtube.com/livewithit show. And big thanks to everybody who keeps us trying out new things at patreon.com/livewithit. [music] Okay, it is time for those quick headlines that go in your brain and come out as smart things. You know, >> OpenAI launched a dedicated chat GPT app for Linux distros, including Ubuntu 24.04 and 26.04 LTS, Debian 13, and Fedora 43 and 44. Foxcon reported that servers made up 51% of its revenue last quarter, passing consumer electronic devices, which made up 29%. So yeah, data centers are now more important than iPhones to Foxcon. >> Can't believe [laughter] somebody someone on the Offer Up mobile marketplace claims to have received the unreleased Xbox Elite Controller 3. Photos appear to show a developer kit of that controller. Yeah, it's being written up here as an accident. I think someone had the developer kid insult it and they aren't supposed to do that. So, that's interesting to see. >> One of Meta's biggest trials begins this week. Uh, in Judge Ivon Gonzalez Rogers court in Oakland, a coalition of 29 US states accuses the company of deliberately engineering Facebook and Instagram to addict children. This is one of the biggest versions of these. It will not be the last. The US Office of Management and Budget issued a memo stain saying saying that the current US version of Tik Tok may once again be used on government devices. >> Ah, so our long national Tik Tok nightmare is over. Yeah. >> Yes. >> Oracle has agreed to a multi-year partnership with Quantinuum to install a Helios quantum computer inside an Oracle cloud infrastructure data center in the US. Honor has released an Android phone in China with a pop out motorized gimbal camera. The Honor robot phone sells for around $1,482. >> Yeah, it's it's a it's a DJI Osmo in a phone. That's >> I mean it's somebody's going to be like it's perfect for me. >> That's cool. I I definitely wish I could play with one, but I would have to fly to China to do that. Uh, Bleeping Computer reports on the Deadlock ransomware operation, which is using a blockchain to not only protect communications with victims, but also give access to stolen files. >> And a German digital rights group called Hate Aid has filed a criminal complaint against Meta and other companies who sell smart glasses. The group says the glasses break German digital privacy laws that prohibit the sale of communication devices designed to film people without them knowing. I I mean I there's lots of real concerns. I don't know that Meta designed them to be used that way. That >> it seems that's Yeah, that's definitely a differentiator. It's it's it's a possibility that I could I could use my phone. >> I guess you could try to show they didn't they didn't do enough to make sure they couldn't, but I'm not sure they were designed to do it that way, >> right? Uh finally, Signal introduced automatic key verification that uses Cloudflare and Trail of Bits to verify that encrypted jets have not been intercepted. Uh basically uh making sure that you have connected to the right server without having to be in person and exchange codes. So that that's really handy. And we'll make signal more secure and easier to use. >> That's a good thing. We like to end every episode of DTNS with some shared perspectives. Today it's Chris Christensen, the amateur traveler who's weighing in on the smart glasses topic. >> Uh, yes. Chris writes, "I used Meta Smart glasses often while I was traveling, mostly for hands-free photography. I could wear them and shoot video while rafting down the Grand Canyon, kaying, on a jet ski, or biking. But I did have to think about where I would wear them. At the petting zoo with a lot of kids around, let's not." Also, although Nicaragua didn't have an explicit rule against smart glasses, they were paranoid about long lens and binoculars with night vision. So, I did not take them out and wear them there as I just didn't want them to think I was a spy. >> Yeah. Yeah, I mean that that [laughter] I think Chris who does a lot of traveling obviously um that's that's an interesting, you know, instead of just sort of like people being like, h why are you why are you you know recording me in a restaurant? It's more of like who are you? >> Why are you in this country? What are you doing with all this photographic equipment? Yeah, it's going to take a while for these things to get normalized and to understand like when it's okay and when it's not and all of that thing and and lawsuits like the one we talked about earlier are a part of that process. Um, but yeah, these these are some common sense things of like yeah, if you're wearing cameras in your lenses, this this is a thing people pay attention to now. It went from a thing that nobody knew you were doing, which was part of the problem, to now a thing that people can notice that you have. And so, >> well, and and people are also paranoid that you're doing something that you're not doing. >> Exactly. So, >> depending on who you are, of course, >> just be aware. >> Just be aware. What are you thinking about? Are you feeling aware about smart glasses or anything else that we've talked about? You have insight into a story you'd like us to cover in a future episode, share all of that with us at feedbacknewshow.com. >> Yeah. Thanks again to Chris Christensen for contributing to today's show. Thank you for being along for Daily Tech News Show cuz you're the folks who keep us in business. If you have not done it already and big thanks to everyone who has, become a patron. You can try a free trial. Go to patreon.com/dtns. [music] >> The DTNS family of podcasts helping each other understand. >> Diamond Club hopes you have enjoyed this broker. [laughter]