Google app tests the opening of links in the form of pop-up sheets from the bottom.

Normally, when you open a link in the Google app, it calls up so-called Chrome Custom Tabs, which are pages that are part of the Chrome browser interface. In a new A/B test, the company is experimenting with how to interact with those pages. Instead of a full-screen interface, you get a pop-up sheet that can be closed with a swipe.

The sheet is clearly labeled with the heading "Running in Chrome". There are a number of flags in the browser itself that seem to be related to this feature. They are called "Bottom sheet Custom Tabs". But personally, activating them didn't do anything for me, so it probably depends on the application that calls the Chrome Custom Tabs interface.

Google News | En

Google released a new video " The Design of Google Pixel 7 Pro".

The company continues its advertising campaign with demonstrations of upcoming devices before their official presentation, which will take place on October 6th. Previously, with the same name, a video was released with the Pixel Watch.

Google News | En

Pixel Watch showed up through the Fast Pair dialog box. Companion app confirmed.

Reddit user u/Andad87 received a Google Fast Pair interface pairing notification on his smartphone. According to him, he was in Sydney, Australia, and the nearest tech store was JB Hifi.

The Fast Pair dialog box prompts to download the "Device App" to start setup. This confirms early assumptions that the Pixel Watch will have its own companion app.

Clicking on the "Go to Google Play" button took the user to a non-existent page in the app store (404 error).

🔗 u/Andad87

Google News | En

The Battery widget now shows the remaining battery life of your smartphone.

• This change is only available on Android 13 QPR1 Beta 1 with the Settings Services app update to version 1.1.0.476812811.sr.
• Updating this app on stable Android 13 will not give the new functionality.
• The remaining time is only displayed for the phone.
- The remaining time is not displayed when an additional device is connected to the phone.

Also, on the Pixel 6, 6 Pro and 6a, the widget shows the phone icon corresponding to the device.

Google News | En

Another trace of the companion app for the Pixel Watch.

Redditor u/ColorfulCulture_Tech came across a listing of the app in the web version of the Google Play Store. However, when clicking on it, the user received a 404 error.

From here, we can learn the name of the companion app, "Pixel Watch". It seems that hypothetically the page is already in the store, but it is still hidden from users.

🔗 u/ColorfulCulture_Tech

Google News | En

Google has released a new "The Design of Google Pixel 7" video.

This video appears to be the final in a series of videos showing the design of the devices the company will unveil at the Made By Google event on Oct. 6.

• The Design of Google Pixel Watch

• The Design of Pixel 7 Pro

Google News | En

Google Stadia officially shuts down in January 2023.

The Google Stadia cloud gaming project was officially launched on November 19, 2019. Unfortunately, it did not receive the response among users that the company hoped for, and the decision was made to close the project.

• Google promises refunds for all Stadia hardware purchases made through the Google store, as well as for all games and additional content purchased through the Stadia store. Most refunds are expected to be completed by mid-January 2023.

• Players will continue to have access to their games library and play through January 18, 2023 (Help Center). This does not apply to the cost of a Stadia Pro subscription.

• The technology platform behind Stadia will be used in other parts of Google, such as YouTube, Google Play, and augmented reality (AR), as make it available to industry partners.

• Many of the Stadia team members will be carrying this work forward in other parts of the company.

🔗 Google Blog

Here's a first look at the setup page for the Pixels' 'Cough & snore detection' feature.

In the new version of the Android System Intelligence app for the Pixel 7, Mishaal Rahman discovered a new "cough & snore detection" settings page. This feature will use the new Ambient Context API in Android 13. Simply put, ASI will collect raw data using the device's microphone and sensors, then simplify it down to statistics on whether there was a cough or snore, then pass it on to apps like Digital Wellbeing or Clock.

9to5Google has previously found hints of this feature in one version of the Digital Wellbeing app. This feature requires ACCESS_AMBIENT_CONTEXT_EVENT permission, but the Ambient Context API itself cannot be used by third-party apps, but this may change in Android 14.

🔗 Mishaal Rahman

🔗 More about Ambient Context API on Esper

About the new phone icons in the battery widget.

As we mentioned earlier, battery widget now shows device-specific phone icons. With a little digging, we were able to find a full set of these icons.

If your Pixel device is older than the sixth generation, the widget will use the 'ic_settings_smartphone' icon. Thus, newer devices will have their own icons.

Here we see a ready-made icon for the Pixel 7 Pro ('ic_settings_pixel_7_pro'). Notably, the Pixel 6a and Pixel 7 use the same 'ic_settings_pixel_6a_7' icon, apparently because they have similarly highlighted camera blocks.

Google News | En

The Forgotten Android features channel will tell you about some unusual solutions that used to be found in Android devices.

A friend of our channel @RKBDI created a channel with old android features from different phones and OEMs, which unfortunately or fortunately were abandoned. Sort of a graveyard for features to remember that they even existed.

If you're interested in remembering the old days, or learning about the most unusual solutions, join @forgottenfeatures.

https://t.me/forgottenfeatures

Unlisted Pixel 7 ad features new angles of the Pixel Watch.

Redditor u/mattymattmatt21obtained a link-accessible video, "Get Ready for Google Pixel 7: A Phone That Gives You More," showing off the upcoming devices. The video was uploaded on September 23, and was likely used as ads in the videos. Even though the commercial is titled Pixel 7, here we can once again evaluate the bezels of the Pixel Watch.

🔗 u/mattymattmatt21

Google News | En