All Wallets are Designed Badly

0:00Welcome to Pixelated Episode 115. I'm your host, Will Saddlebird. This week, we're dating through Google's latest Android drop, including the addition of some new motion sickness tools and a absolute no-brainer feature for FINDUP. After the break, we discuss our most wanted feature additions for Android, including some improvements to mobile payments, Google's Pixel Launcher, and much more. It all starts right after this message from our sponsor, Proton. Grab your phone and take a look at your app door right now. You've probably found yourself relying on the same old apps and services since the Nexus days. And what suited you best back then might not be the right choice in 2026. Luckily, Proton can help bring you into a privacy first ecosystem built for our modern age. Proton offers practically every service you could possibly need under the sun across every platform, including email, calendar, file storage, password management, document editors, and of course, a trusted VPN.

1:00Built with class-leading end-to-end encryption, Proton's entire suite is fast, intuitive, and secure. And expert tools mean you don't need to worry about leaving data behind on those other apps. Pixelated listeners can save 30% off an annual subscription to Proton Unlimited, which includes 500 gigabytes of cloud storage, custom email domains, a dedicated customer support team, and so, so much more. It's what's best for your current phone, not whatever you were using back in 2013. Upgrade to Proton today and save 30% on your annual subscription by heading to proton.me slash 9 to 5 Google, or by clicking the link in the show notes. That's proton.me slash 9 to 5 Google. Thanks to Proton for sponsoring Pixelated. Another week, another Android update, this time it is. And it's a weird one, isn't it? This is the Android Drop, not to be confused with Pixel Drop, which was previously Pixel Feature Drop,

2:00which I guess will be coming soon. This is kind of a cool one for anyone with an Android phone that's eligible for updates. There's some really cool stuff here, Abner. You've detailed this in the blog post on the website. I'm very excited about one featured in specifically if I spit that out. Just give me a rundown of what's been added here, what Android fans are like. Even if you're not PixelFan, you're going to get into. Actually, yeah, we should start with the motion assist feature that you're excited about. So basically, it adds bubbles to the perimeter of the screen. It's when you're in a car and you're moving vehicle, the idea is to show these bubbles so that you don't get motion sickness. And as somebody that suffers from motion sickness, this would be great to appreciate that iOS has had this feature for ages. I use it there. Well, actually, no, it's also quite recent on iOS, maybe one or two releases ago.

3:00I guess what's start with, do you have motion sickness? Do I get motion sickness? I do sometimes if I'm in the back of the car, because what ends up happening is whoever's driving, I don't know if it's just a me problem, like my close family and friends, they throw the car around like they're in a rally, like they're maybe not Indy 500, because that's just kind of been a circle, isn't it? But whatever the US equivalent of F1 drivers is, IndyCar is that the one we go on an actual track? You don't just go in a circle. Well, imagine that. And I'm in the back and I'm trying to read a text message or I'm trying to get directions. I always, always just feel like, maybe because I'm getting older, I definitely get some level of motion sickness now. I don't get on air, aircraft or anything like that. I sometimes get it on the bus, because we have good public transport here. That's another day I'm sorry, American friends out there. But this is something I wanted for so long, because as soon as I saw it on iOS, I was like, that doesn't work. Tested it on the F1. I wanted it on F1. It's 15 year, it genuinely works. It's crazy.

4:00So this one I'm genuinely, really, really excited for. Do we know how this is going to actually activate? Is this just automatically detect movement? Yes, it can be there's automatic detection and there's also a quick setting style. You can customize options like shape, which is nice. You can even set the colors. And I believe there is one that matches dynamic color, maybe. But yeah, this is all automatic. It's something that you set once and then you never really touch again. But yeah, it's nice. It's on the perimeter. Will, do you have motion sickness? No, I actually have never, I mean, I'm sure I've experienced it in moments like, I guess the closest would probably be like the one time I've been on like a cruise ship, which I know is a little different. But in terms of like vehicles, I have always been lucky enough that like as a kid, like I would sit in the back and play my game boy.

5:01Yeah, but I did do this the same. I thought I would be immune. Everything. I thought I would be immune from the game boy thing. You know, when it like we're up, I mean, I'm definitely sure on my age here, but this is the kind of the year when I kind of my game boy color would know backlight and you're waiting for the street lights to light the screen so you can play it while you drive it. Absolutely, yeah. That I didn't get car sickness then, but I wonder, oh, this is going to sound so stupid, but I wonder if that sure fact, the lighting would be inconsistent. I'd give you a many effects. I have to do with the fidelity of the modern screens. I feel like it's like, I'm thinking about like every time, because okay, so like I, I am usually the driver of these days. Like I, it is very rare that I am a passenger in a vehicle for anything more than 15, 20 minutes to be honest with you, even less for the back seat, like it's really rare. So when I think about times that I would be, I would be getting car sick, it's more of a, it's usually in an Uber, right?

6:06Yeah. And like I've certainly taken my fair share in recent years of our plus long Uber rides from JFK into Midtown Manhattan. Like I've had to do those and I'm usually, I bear minimum, I'm usually on my phone if not, you know, working on a laptop in the back seat. And yeah, never had my laptop. A laptop is, now I fear it to agree with smartphones, but it's mostly, in my case, it's when I'm on the laptop, my accidentally writing and working and browsing. And that's when I fear it. So I'm very much like, Apple to add it to Mac OS and Google for Google Books. So it's, neither of them have taken that step yet. Actually, I wonder if it's even on the iPad, I have to check on that. But yeah, it's automated, it's useful, it really does work as iOS. And yeah, it's a nice audio via update.

7:08And I think it's great. I think for anyone out there who's wondering, this is one of those things that you don't think it's gonna make a difference, but for some reason it does. I don't know if the kind of, I can only speak for how it works on the iPhone. And I don't have an iPhone anymore, but you could, the little dots that are on screen, I don't know if it may be mimics the movement of the vehicle and helps you focus. I don't know the exact signs of it, but it works, that's just put it that way. And then sometimes when a car moves left, the little dots on the left and the right, the screen will kind of, the, I guess the, the GeForce or whatever's your GPS and all these other things are combining to show these dots on screen certain angles and at speeds so that it almost corrects whatever is causing you to potentially get car sick. What I will say is, I really like the little icon that Google showed off, but why is the guy in this car seat or the little seat is, I'm really so fat, you know the little guy, you can, I don't know if you see it, go check it out. If you, if you wanna know what I'm talking about, go check out the blog post that's linked in the description.

8:11And there's the little man in the, in the quick settings toggle, he's just a little fat guy, but it looks like he's reading the book, but obviously he's looking at a phone. Hey, I'm all four plus size models, but yeah, it's just a bit of a weird choice. It's fine, that really weird. I thought I'd have a vehicle. I thought you'd show a vehicle rather than a guy sat there looking at his desk. Okay, it's definitely on the bus reading a book. Is that a book? It looks like a book to me, but I'm sure it's a phone, but they actually have. That's a phone. Oh, and, yeah, well, yeah, we need another quick settings tile and we're not, we don't have enough of those already, right? I've got 400 million quick settings tiles. And we still want, you won't mistake this one though. I will say, like I feel like I know what this is for, just looking at it. Or the very least I can't think of another one that looks like this. Yeah, yeah, and I like the fact that you can change the color of it. It doesn't look like you can do dynamic color, but you can choose a few colors. It's a lot of wallpaper. Is it best in wallpaper so you are correct? Yeah. So at least, yeah, at least just some time with dynamic color, which sadly, probably for me. Yeah, no, I've never run into it. It's just an option where you can change between shapes

9:11and colors and much of that. Get on my nerves, but, mm-hmm. Yeah, well, I mean, yeah, that one's, we don't have an actual exact date of when, when this is going to be just going to roll out. It should be rolling out. To note, it is Android 17 only. So, Right. Okay. Yeah. So yeah, that's, yeah, that is after that. I think the most, I don't know, interesting feature I guess is fine hub becoming this, so instead of needing a stuff for trackers or tags, fine hub will now, it's basically a list, a memory list, where there's a new tab called remembered in alongside people and devices, and you can use Gemini or the fine hub app to tell it where you place things. Like the Google's examples, your passport is in your top bedroom drawer. Honestly, this is a good idea from

10:11what everybody should do is they should have a list of where they store things, like where it's in your attic or if it's in closet or your basement. People should just have a manual list and Google automate it with the Gemini integration where you can just tell it where it is and it logs in fine hub. And in the future, you can either ask Gemini where you place something or check the list in the fine hub app. It's not a very high tech feature, so to speak, but it is a, it's gonna be useful for me. I can definitely see myself asking Gemini to remind me to remember to tell fine hub where things are. Like as how I was just put something down and be like, completely forget about it and the need of reminder to remind myself to tell fine hub or tell Gemini where things are. So it's gonna be a two level, inception level of remembering. But yeah, I think it's great. I think this is one of those things that like it's all well and good using tools

11:13to locate stuff and have like the ring of say a tracker. But I do think sometimes just knowing where things are, like for instance, the suitcase, like is it in the attic? Is it in the, is it in, obviously I don't have a basement, but is it in the basement? Is it in a wardrobe? That kind of thing, right? That's kind of useful. And it says it looks like, it looks like on Google's imagery, you can take an image of the items. That's correct. So, I mean, that could be the killer feature. Like actually taking a picture of it where it is is gonna be really beneficial because, yeah. I guess depending on how big your family is, you might have someone in the household who has, who's constantly misplacing things and I'm definitely throwing myself under the bus with that one. I'm constantly asking about the where things are. And if she can be like, yeah, here's the photo of where it is, like stop asking me some stupid questions. It would kind of save a lot of hassle of me just constantly like, where did I put this? Or did you see this? Absolutely speaks to the fact that there is still, like we are in the AI era, obviously,

12:14but there is still so much manual features, conveniences can still be added to our software. Yeah, if I can take a different perspective on this, and I'm not gonna try to pour cold water on it, because I think it's a good idea. Much as it's a little, I think it's a, it's just in general a good idea to be like, to have find, to be like, hey, just add whatever you want. Like we'll just add it to this. I'm just gonna write a name. Exactly. It's a smart idea. I am so bad at losing things. I am the king of losing things. I'm the king of misplacing things. If I'm looking for something, I will not find it. I will find the three things I was looking for a week ago, but I will not find the thing I'm looking for. The only downside I see to this, it's not a true downside. It's more of just a like, I know that if I use it, I'll never actually have to open find hub, because I think if I just repeat it to the phone, and maybe this is, maybe this is a good thing. Like I said, I'm not trying to like,

13:15be a downer on this, just a different perspective. I just know I'm never gonna need to open find hub, because the second I say it out loud to my phone, it is going to embed itself in my brain that I know where it is now. And maybe that's enough. Maybe that's a good step, but I could just feel it, that I'm like, it's why like, if I know there's something like vitally important on any de-key track of, I do like similar to what you were saying, maybe like I'll tell Maddie, and like, I never really need to go back and check with her, because now that I've set it out loud to somebody, and whether it's a person, or I, you know, Gemini, I suppose in this case, I know my brain is actually gonna, so maybe this will make it more of a habit of me to, when nobody's around to say it out loud, so that it's immense in my brain. And hey, if I forget, because I have saved 40 things to find hub or whatever, then I can open find hub. Maybe, yeah, I think for me it's more luggage thing. You know, like, oh, where is this backpack? Where is this? I know where the luggage is like, there's one thing I actually know. Yeah, well, most of our, all of our suitcases are like lining the stairway into our basement, so like I,

14:15I know where those are, and then like if it's a duffel bag, there's a tote under my second desk. So I know where those are. That's the rare thing that I, that I do know. It's usually smaller things. I'm trying to think of like, or even just, oh my God, I mean, even just, I should just constantly be telling it where I put my wallet. Yes, I know I agree with that one. This is the thing I put my wallet into a side bag, and then that side bag might go into like long term storage, because I don't need access to it. And I have about five or six side bags. Do anyone else out there listening? Well, I can probably attest to this is, once you get into the idea of like, when you're trying to find the perfect bag, it becomes a quest to acquire as many bags as possible to find the perfect one. I know there's no way. Really? Well, yes. Okay, actually more, this is probably a nap that I was talking, but, personal news, all wallets are designed badly. That's one thing. And two, yeah, swings.

15:15I don't know, if you sell a crossbody bag, maybe it should be designed to actually work around your waist. I feel like if it's not, it's false advertising, but we'll talk more about that later. I'm going to write this down. Ask, have mercy. And now I won't forget. I'm kind of pissed. I'm not fooling. Wallet flashback. This week's episode of Pixellated is sponsored by BitWordin. On September 17th, BitWordin is hosting the Open Source Security Summit, a free, virtual, annual industry event focused on open source security. Headliners include David Sanger, New York Times White House correspondent and author of new Cold Wars, and Joseph Men, cybersecurity journalist and author of Cult of the Dead Cow. Register now at opensourcesecuritysummit.com. BitWordin is the trusted open source solution for password, pass key and secrets management committed to making secure password management accessible to everyone.

16:16With a free forever plan for individuals, you can create, manage, and auto fill strong, unique passwords across all your account and devices. No more reusing passwords everywhere. BitWordin also offers end-to-end encryption, secure auto fill, and transparent open source security, with verifiable source code and third-party security audits. It's trusted by more than 15 million users, including, I should mention, Yours Truly, and 80,000 businesses across 180 countries, and 50 plus languages. Again, register for the free open source security summit on September 17th at opensourcesecuritysummit.com and follow BitWordin on Twitter or Facebook at BitWordin. Thanks again to BitWordin for sponsoring Pixelated. I can feel people out there saying it, so I just want to say, yes, I'm aware that I could put a, you know, find hub enabled tracker. And stretch a wallet? No. And I use, well, I use a mag, say, wallet these days,

17:18because I don't carry cash, and it's, I have, it's, it's got all the cards I need, or cards I want to carry, but there's no space left, and those cards still take up, you know, even at their slimmest, they take up essentially two cards worth of space, and if I only have enough space or six or seven cards, it's a big sacrifice. But it made me realize, has anybody made a, have any of these companies made a, like a magsay wallet that just has the tracker built in? Yes. I'm not sure. Because that's what I need. That's what I need. That's what I need. Today, actually, I was out of the e-phone. Because I just, I had to say, I was like staring at it, I was like, why is that not just built into the wallet? I bet you were. I've done it two days. So, okay, well, hopefully I'm going tomorrow, prior to the post recording, I'm going to e-phone tomorrow. So if I get to see it with myself, and I mean, if it's colleague Andrew, Andrew, Amaro, we're gonna be there. We're gonna be on site. I will try my best to get old. I think Old Mac has one. I like two. Yeah, that's cool. That's cool. Good. I had not even thought to shop for one. I feel like the only coverage I've seen,

18:20and it's mostly Ben chasing all of these, are like the cards or like, you know, the, you know, pucks or whatever. But like usually, I feel like, this year was a hard, a fundamentally a flawed idea. It's this, I don't like the card either. I gotta be honest with you, I don't like the cards at all. No, it's not the bad. This is a, this is a thing. Like my thought process is, if you talk about these cards, or you talk about the thing, my issue is putting things inside bags, and then that bag goes somewhere random, and I can't remember, is when the battery runs out, putting it in fine tub at the very least, you take a picture of it, or you tell it where it is, at least you then have some record of where it's gone. Does that make sense? Like you can't ring it. So I do think there is some method to the madness here. I think it is a great, easy win for Google to add this to find. I don't think there's any real major kind of shocks that this is gonna do. I don't know. I mean, there may be some privacy implications, but I think there's some good components to it. I think just being able to take a photo. No one else seems to have done this. Apple haven't done this.

19:21So yeah, I can't really fault Google on this one. So if you're anyone out there who is a misplacer of things, let myself on Will, then you will probably like this update. I'm guessing this is one of those ones that this is rolling out for Android 16 and above, isn't it? So is it on the next few weeks? I'm guessing most people call me like this. And it'll have a brand new tab called Remembered, which is like a little bookmark type thing with a, it looks like a Gemini Sparkle, but yeah, keep an eye out for that. If you wanna see what it looks like, go check out the link in the show notes as well. But elsewhere in this update, I don't know if you wanna talk about one of the cooler features first or one of the accessibility, let's get into the accessibility first and we can get onto one that I really, really like. And I know that appener was, we discussed this offer. Gemini Live, Guided Vision. So is this, this has been sold as, is this been sold as just an extra for Gemini Live users or is this mostly for accessibility? Because I'm reading it as an accessibility thing. Like, it, well, it is an Android accessibility fundamentally.

20:21And they, like, I wonder if it's more of an Android feature they put into Gemini Live. I guess the real test is whether it appears in the iOS app. But I kind of think this is more of an Android feature added to Gemini Live. Again, I think this would be more useful once grasses because like the holding your phone thing, and like in general, like the way bound stuff that has proven useful is using it as a, as a people who have low vision or partial vision, that they've found many useful use cases. And I think in general, once we talk more about smart grasses, that is a genuine thing that could maybe normalize smart grasses of cameras in the world. But yeah, it is, it just can tell you where objects are. I think this was promised for Google Legends like five years ago, but it is now finally coming to Gemini Live, which probably,

21:25well, I'm sure Google Vans will eventually get something similar to at this point. Yeah, I can definitely see it being useful for, I mean, in the demo that Google shows off it. I mean, it is a pretty intense demo. So it's like they've shown off on where you're asking for this particular herb or a spice. And it looks like all of the shells at first when I saw this, it looks just like tourist tat, to just crap that you would buy, you know, they're like little houses. And obviously, all of the herbs and the spices are in these little kind of porcelain houses, and they have the name above the door. So even I would get confused with this, but it seems to be able to just point the camera and ask whether I can't know what spice it is, or parsley or something like that. And then it points it to what exactly shell fits on, what it looks like. I think that is genuinely where I do like that Google does take time and effort to put these functionalities into Android because accessibility is one of those things that technology should enhance accessibility. And I do like that having AI to process certain things

22:25may be genuinely helpful to people. And I'll hopefully be able to try this out in the next few weeks, because I always get lost in the supermarket and I'm asking for where something is. And you know what it's like, you put your like stood there for five minutes scratching your head like where's the ketchup or where's this? There's 20 different, I know you guys in the state, so your supermarket's have 400 million versions of things. So this might help you when you do your... It's not, but like even when they don't, like I was in Whole Foods a week or two weeks ago probably and I needed to just pick up, like it wasn't what I was there for, but Maddie had, Maddie was like, oh we're out of brown sugar, we're almost out of brown sugar. Can you get some? And I'm just, I've took me, like, took me, it probably took me over five minutes because I was like, this isn't the baking aisle, but this has the sweeteners in it, but I don't see brown sugar, so I'm gonna go to the baking aisle. No, it's definitely not here. I finally realized the reason I wasn't seeing it was because there was one bag left and it was kind of pushed backwards and I could just not like, bent over in the right direction to see it, but it took way too long.

23:27I'm sorry. So this is the will feature, I guess. This is the will and date and all. Yeah, it's a lot of patience. Possibility and also for me, the person who just appeared, despite the fact that I usually am doing the grocery shopping in our house, I just can't shop. You can't do it. I mean, that kind of ties, I guess that ties into and I do like the way Google sometimes, so they don't always do this in their feature drops and their Android drops is. They kind of tie two features together. I think this one's kind of somewhat tied to the new Google messages keep integration. Like, this is another one that I think, me and you have them, we spoke briefly about it. I think this is phenomenal. I think this is a really cool addition. I'd love to see more integrations with Google Keep because I think it's one of Google's most underrated apps, period. I'll just love its simplicity. I don't know if I use it for shared shopping lists all the time anyway, so this is killer. This is absolutely killer for me. I'd love to see it integrated into more apps, but Google messages is a great start for now. Yeah, and the other Google messages features chat themes.

24:30It rolled out wide-reel starting last week. So you can customize the backgrounds. I think that's something people wanted from Samsung messages. And yeah, customization, I personally wasn't expecting to like it, but I like it. You can just customize the background and then customize which in turn, you can pick a background image which in turn themes the bubbles. It's nice. Small but nice. Yes, was it puts the U back into material U? I know they're definitely in the material through Expressive Era, but we're definitely there's still a U element there. But yeah, I like to see Google doing this kind of stuff. It's good as well that this is targeted for Android. I think it's everything will sort of roll out of the next couple of weeks, maybe the next month or so. So if you have an Android, you have a eligible Android phone, which I think it's most phones now. I think a lot of these come by play updates and app updates. This one doesn't seem to be locked to any specific OS version. So if you have Google messages,

25:31this should come to you in the next, I guess, two to three weeks, probably. It kind of, that's kind of it. That's like what, four or five tent pole features. We're expecting QPR1 probably in the next couple of weeks. Maybe in tandem with the September update. But yeah, I think it's nice that everyone in Android gets a little bit of love and it's just good to see. Hey folks, if you're enjoying pixelated, don't forget to sign up for 9 to 5 Google Pro to gain access to our weekly bonus show, Pixelated Pro. This week, we're making good on Adner's promise earlier in this episode and talking all about bags. From what's worth traveling with to what makes up our everyday carry, we have plenty of thoughts on luggage, backpacks, slings, and much more. And yes, the boys get some good dunks in on what they see as my personal, tri-hard backpack. Sign up today for just $5 per month at 9 to 5 Google.com slash pro. Yeah, it's kind of got me thinking though, we've seen these new features.

26:33I think keep is one that made me really, really think. More broadly, what would you actually like to see Google add to some of their first-party applications, maybe Android itself? I know we talked about that briefly in the past with Android updates, but my first thought is we've got to keep integration. Can we not finally have Google Wallet and maybe Google pay integration in messages? It's about time. Well, let's compare. There is a complicated answer that we have to dive into Google's history of p-payments. So let's start. First, there was Google Wallet, and then which included a physical card, which was like, they were first that in a lot of ways. And then it became Android Pay, yes, it came Android Pay, and then it became Google Pay. And then it's now Google Wallet again, but Google Pay remains the name of the fundamental transition.

27:38Yeah, it's a lot, the fundamental payment service, it's a lot. Anyways, I think at least Android Pay era, maybe it was the first Google Wallet era had p-payments. And then the one, it was Google Pay with that redesigned app when they were making, when Google was making that big play, that definitely had p-payments, but I think only the US. But it's now gone because, okay, what Damon Wands is an Apple Pay competitor, which has Google messages integration, which is what's iMessage is very common before. It is better than, I think, yes, your system should have a solution like that, rather than relying on like cash app or Venmo or whatever. But Google has shown no sign of wanting to do that again.

28:40Like Google Wallet is much, it's a wallet in a true sense of the word, where it just stores things. It recently got a payments feature. So I wonder, I wonder if Google isn't wanting to deal with the fraud associated payments. I wonder if that's the thing that take away they got from having it in the US. And I think they still might have it in India, because that Google Pay app is still in India, where it's popular because they have a universal payment system that Google Wallet can build, Google Pay can build off of. I wonder if it's like one of those things where maybe Google just thinks that they're too late, because like you went through the payment history, but like in a way, you also need to go through the messaging app history and we don't, we're not going to have enough time. But like it is funny that it is like a combination of these two, what Damien is asking for

29:41is a combination of these two platforms that Google has kind of shifted back and forth on it. It made lots of different attempts on now. I don't think it's, the payment thing is not a scatter shot as the messaging app, you know, experiments or attempts, even app attempts, that's nothing. But I just wanted to get one of your lab work. But I don't know, like I, you know, here in the US, right? Like I feel like people around the world look at us weird for lots of different things. Yeah, I always love this. It's understandable. That's a look. Every time I watch, every time I watch the great British baking show, I was like, what's the UK title? I genuinely don't know anywhere, because I call them like I use it so interchangeably that I was like, which one is even the UK title anymore? I don't remember. So when I watch Bake Off, is that coming back soon? When I watch Bake Off, like once in episode, I will turn to Maddie and just go like,

30:43don't you wish England was real? What a, what a not real country. I just don't know what's going on over there, not real. But no, so like one of the things that I think were that the US is in outlier forest that nobody does, like, you know, you go to Canada and like if you want to give somebody money, like you're usually, you're using whatever the bank system is in Canada. Same here. And the US is horrible. That was horrible. It's bad. It's bad. But in the US, it's all third party, right? It's like you're either, you're usually either have Venmo or Cash App or both. Maybe, but like, I feel like those are the things that they want. I feel like Zell is making a thing because it's like, to their credit, every bag of the support in the US support system called Zell, which I still cannot figure out the name of. It's like, it's getting to action. It's, it, it, it probably is. And I'm sure there are people who use it. It's just like, when I think about like all of the people in my life who've asked, it's almost always Venmo or Cash App necessary, like maybe, but like, yeah.

31:47And I think the backing of a company like Paypal with Joan Venmo and like are becoming increasingly linked together. Kind of semence that here at least and they just, they gained that traction. I wonder if, you know, and then you go outside again, you, outside the US, you have bank apps. Google clearly has seen this level. As you said, they've seen success in India. They know that they can play there because of how their system is set up. But I wonder if, yeah, like, maybe they just see it as a like, this is a market that is like not really worth the amount of, as you say, Abner, like fraud protection and, and so on and so forth. When we're going to do it for, you know, at best, like maybe a couple hundred thousand Android users in the US to use, like I just, I wonder if I just want to see it. Even the million million. That's what I'm saying. Like I just don't know. I just don't know. Yeah, I'm sure there are places in the world. Again, India is a perfect example with this. Could gain a lot of a lot of traction.

32:50Google, I think, would have to, I would, they would have to make it, they'd have to build it into RCS so that it was cross-platform for it to have any chance of success. Apple's not giving it up. Apple's not giving it up. But like to, to that point, like, I've never been asked to send money via, you know, I message the Apple-based of built-in I message. Like, that's how, like, that's how, you know, at least in my circles, like, concretely Venmo or CashApp has cemented itself. Yeah, I don't know. I don't think it's a bad idea, Damian, just to be clear. Like, I think it's probably a little... It should. It should. It's basic enough, yeah. But like, I also can see why maybe they're looking at it and being like, it's just not worth the time and effort. I do find it all dark. I just think, I think as Google has been building out Google messages, and I use it for quite a few contacts now, is that they've been, as I say, built out these functionalities, and it's getting to be a really competent message and application. I'm just surprised that that one isn't an option.

33:51Like, you kind of... I kind of would have expected them to do it, giving them infrastructure and stuff, and the want to, I guess, completely... I'm not really good at I message. But I guess, yeah, you raised a good point about the fraud situation, and obviously the different banking mechanisms that are required to do it, maybe a bit of a headache. But I do think if anyone could kind of unify them, I do think Google Pay could be the one to do it, is I don't think it's a doubt that there would be some work to be done, but I think Google could easily... Because I'm thinking of it as just like a cross-border payment system, because it's very, very difficult for me to pay you guys at the US bank easily and quickly, and without fees, whereas, yeah, I'd probably have to sign up to a third party application, and then try and find a way to get money onto that application, like CashApp or... Was it then, Muldee, the one you mentioned? Yeah, I mean, it's a pain. Even just going out to dinner with people from Canada, is not super uncommon for me, is a pain in the ass, because they don't have those. So they'll have PayPal, but then you're introducing fees

34:53with PayPal, especially with the currency conversion. So it's just a headache. But yeah, I mean, at the very least, when I Venmo something, are like... Yeah, I just like... That stuff is at least fee free, unless you need to transfer it faster, which I never, ever do. Yeah. But yeah. So you've poo-pooed my Google Pay option. I was just trying to do what? You guys have poo-pooed my Pay option. What do we think in terms of other functionalities? Let's just talk more broadly about any Google App or Service platform, whatever you want to call it. What's your burning functionality desires that you'd like to see across the board? I think some people are definitely speaking about theming on a bigger, more broad scale, especially for like... We've almost lost something. I think maybe we get more options for the default picks along, try and think Google's making steps in that direction, but hey, we're a long way behind the idea of a truly custom experience

35:55like we used to on the in-air quotes all down. Do you think there's... There must be appetite for that, surely. I know some of you guys don't do as much theming as maybe I do, but surely not. For it. Even like, I just think as a platform, like Google's flavor of Android, and I know I've ran to about this before, but it's not particularly... It's not up to par with what I want at the moment, and even little things. If you really asked me like my number one wish to change on Android right now, it's so small potatoes that I feel almost embarrassed bringing it up, but I have over the last, what, it's been roughly five years since I think for four years since it rolled out. Over the last four years, I have grown to absolutely despise the now playing widget that appears on the lock screen on Pixel. I hate it. I hate it so much. I wish I could change basically everything about it, but like at the very least, I'd like to customize it. The buttons are too small. I hate it, doesn't show time. Codes, the swagal line does. Was entertaining with Android 12, I think,

36:55is when it rolled out, but it's now like, it just takes up so much space for no reason. I can't stand it. So it's things like that where it's like, I just wish I could customize that sort of stuff because that's what this platform is supposed to be. I'm aware that that's not how it works on any other flavor of Android either, but if we're doing Google wish lists, and I'm usually on a Pixel, that's the thing that comes to mind. But it is a larger part of Google, please let me set this phone up how I want to use it in 2026. And let me, you know, Bill, take the best ideas from all of the third party launchers that you have like nerfed or that have been left for dead. And make them modern and clean them up a little bit and make them a little bit more, you know, I'm not saying you have to port every X Nova feature over because I remember the Nova Launcher settings mediate it was ridiculously deep

37:56to the point of, I don't know, it was unnecessarily. Yeah, it was really dumb. The amount of things you changed. We're a little on, but we can strike a happy medium. And I think like these days, like especially Android users are more technically competent than I think the Pixel experience gives them credit for. So I don't, that's, you say theming, that's really, that was where my brain was, you know, before you even set it. And that's where I'm at now. And the now playing widget is just kind of a, a microcosm of my frustrations where I'm like, I don't, like this doesn't, it, I don't think it functions well. It's like, I don't know. I would love to talk to you. It should be at the bottom of the screen, which is something that Samsung's now. Apple does that too. Yeah, I found this one on the screen. Samsung's tiny pill called. Oh, God. Now, but yes, now. Now, but really, do you know what? I do quite like the now, but I mean, I'm thinking, is this you're thinking about now? Now playing, I wonder if, I wonder if Google could implement

38:57more in that area anyway, like, yeah, we've got shortcuts, for instance, we should have more custom shortcuts on our lock screens. Like I, and even now playing, you could replace now playing with Google recorder. Like imagine you become just record boom, straight-fimilux, and if you wanted to, I know it's not going to be useful to everyone, but say, for instance, I mean, hey, we do an interview, for instance, boom, stick, record on, like, it's not a phenomenal, it's not useful to everyone, it's useful to you should be Google's guiding ethos for anyone. Like I genuinely think that. Like it should be like, look, we are, we are making this, like, we are making both an experience that is accessible to all, but also if you want to, you know, shape it into something that fits your life better, we will give you the tools to do so. Like I, well, I don't know, like that's, that's my experience, or that's my opinion for what, what Android should be as we move into, it's third decade. Well, it's, it's the whole OEM thing,

39:57OEM customization thing, I guess, but to your direct, to directory, answer, like what it would take to, for Google to do the thing you want is, everybody should start buying pixels. Um, if they do, there will be way more justification to update the core experience. But yeah, lock screen widgets, like the fact that we only have 10, so as you have in right now, I like very annoying. You should be able to put any apps. Custom, custom shortcuts on the lock screen too. Custom shortcuts on the lock screen, drives the nuts. What are we doing? iOS has those. Come on. Or it should just honestly, you can pick any app to launch. Like that's what I'm saying. Like I have, like yes, you can, it's ridiculous. That should just, I don't understand why you can't just, like pen and app shortcut there. It's, it's like bare bones, sort of function now. Well, we mentioned that when we talked about the now ball, three, it's two good idea bottom screen, et cetera,

40:59too tiny. The fact that it's sandwiched between the lock screen, short, bottom corner lock screen shortcuts, and that you have to like, really like expand it to do it. It's too tiny. I don't, from a UX perspective, I don't think it's that useful, but it's at least it's the bottom of the screen. So there's that. Yeah. I don't know, like it's, I guess, to more broadly, do you, any of you use lock screen widgets? Because I think there's a tension between how much stuff you should be able to do when your screen is locked. Does it just, just unlock your phone and use the app? Like, I get like lock screen widgets, for example, on the time to like, do you access more information while the screen is, without unlocking your full phone? But at some point, I feel like, as you should, I don't use lock screen widgets as is, I have disabled it because swiping accidentally,

41:59swiping to this misalubification, sometimes launches the lock screen widgets. So I had active when I set up the pixel 11 pro, and I changed that now, because like you, I was swiping into it. I had weather. Yeah, weather. And I think I may have had a news widget. I can't refound a news widget if through Gnizwan. I definitely had a weather widget because it's kind of useful to be like, okay, is it gonna, is it gonna rain? Like it, I mean, luckily this is something to bad in the UK, but a lot of the time, I want to know if it's gonna rain. But I've been thinking about, you've made me think a bit more broadly about it. Like, I don't know if you guys use Google Fit, or Google Health, whatever they want to call it now. I've been using Google Health a lot more recently, since I've switched almost predominantly to the Fit, to try to work out some stuff. And it's mostly just a record to see where I'm going. Like, oh, it's my heart rate, variability changing, all that kind of stuff. Technically just seeing if your fitness has increased. I would love to see more options on the lock screen with regards to widgets for their fit,

43:03the health kind of plug it, and see if that makes sense. Like, the notification is fine. It just tells you how long you've been working out. That's it. You've got to open it to go into the model. We need it. Yeah, it's, it's again, it goes back to live activities or live updates on. Compared to iOS, they're really so minimal. It, the fundamental problem is that they put it in the status bar, which is not enough space to play with, to like, you can just show one line and use your account down. It's not enough because in trying to emulate live update, the dynamic island on iOS, they, they try to use it. Dynamic island only works because it's dedicated hardware. Apple took like this, since they have to put all the stuff a face ID, they used that hardware disadvantage to their advantage, but, but an Android just doesn't make sense because it's just one line and the existing status bar. Yeah.

44:03I mean, I mentioned the Google Health one. I'm just looking at it right now. I've just reenabled it. It is literally just that top header that you see in the application. So you only get like your weekly cardio, scurry steps and your readiness, and if you've customized some of them, I think it might change. But I want to see a real-time like information of a workout in that space. I don't know. I do think there's probably, there's probably opportunity to go also really revamped the way that they do. Alagrains, new Google. Lots of free notifications in general. You want out richer Alagrains, but I think remember, what's it, Nexus 7, the era where you, if you could, you could swipe on the clock for lock screen widgets. Yeah, that, not to start the broad discussion about the state of Android, which is which they are getting better since they're from underlying technical perspective. They've switched to something called commands, and it's share some DNA with iOS tiles, but they still feel so static compared to what iOS allows.

45:04Yeah, I, it's weird. It is weird. It feels like we've kind of stumbled upon something that maybe it was more, it is a broad topic for functionality. Like, if you're going to introduce these things, you still need to keep working on them. It's almost like they've been introduced and then just like, yeah, okay, that's it. That it's like surface level, I think going deeper into it and integrating things more and having live updates on those widgets from your lock screen would make sense. Like I don't always want to unlock my phone to get that information, but a lot of the time I'm having to, and yes, you can access them from the widget and open that application, but you do want, like you say, the key information, like you would get on your wristwatch. Like you can open up Google Fit on your Fitbit, sorry, the Pixel Watch and C does real-time statistics or maps, you can have like, yes, the live activities is probably one of those things where Google wants to go with it, but it does feel a little bit like, I don't want to say Bodge, they haven't Bodge live activities. It just feels like live activities

46:05kind of stayed pretty stagnant. And no app developers truly, truly doing their best, I think. It does feel like we're in a kind of a stasis period. But yeah, I mean, I would love to know, we definitely should do a full episode on your gripes with widgets in general, because you are the widget man. You use widgets more than anyone I know. I have to, I use the Google Health, for example. I have the Google Health widget. It's at the top space on my home screen, shows steps sweep and hydration. And I replace my music app icon recently with the music widget, with the player widget, Apple Music in my case. Well, what we'll do is we've had a few things there. So what do we come up with? I want Google Pay in messages. Will is kind of an essential situation as we, we want to face everything to be changed. That's okay. I just want, I just want to be able to have more of a say

47:06in my, in my phone experience, I think. Again, buy more pixel. Buy more pixels. I don't know what else I can do. I'm doing my part. It's a Starship Troopers. I'm doing my part. Yeah, we're going to get, we're going to get into some more. Well, why don't we go a bit more in-depth over on the pro tier? If you do want to come listen to us, shoot this shit and talk random stuff about what we want more from Android, or in general, just stuff that's way beyond the scope of our regular episodes, then come join us over on the pro tier. We'd love to have you. It's a good time. We had a look behind the curtain last week. So if you do want to subscribe and go listen to some really like behind the curtain inside baseball stuff, then go ahead and do it. We have some wonderful feedback on that one. And I'd love to have you come listen. It's all about the reviews process and how we kind of keep our frame in mind. I'm really, I'm actually really proud of that episode. It's really good fun. Really good chat. And I'd love to have you come join us over on the pro tier right now. If you're not, we'll speak to you next week. Everyone else, stick around. We're going to kind of get into it over here on the pro tier.

48:06Thanks for joining us. Bye. Bye. Thanks for listening to Pixelated, a 9 to 5 Google podcast. If you enjoyed the show, we ask that you rate and review it on the podcast platform of your choice and help spread the word by sharing the show with friends or on social media.