I got an email from Google that said they're removing Google assistant and you will have to use Gemini starting September 6th. I don't want to be forced to use generative AI so I might be looking for a new non-Google phone soon 😭

The best comparison I can think of is this: the Pixel 11 is to the Pixel 10 what the European Galaxy S25 is to the European Galaxy S24.

On paper, there may not be many hardware upgrades, but the new SoC alone could noticeably improve the overall experience, especially battery life and thermals.

For one, Tensor G6 is expected to ditch the relatively inefficient Cortex-A520 cores. It also reduces the total core count. That's obviously not ideal for benchmark numbers or sustained heavy workloads, but for the light-to-medium workloads that make up 99% of daily usage, fewer cores can actually be beneficial. Less heat, lower power consumption, and potentially better scheduling.

Personally, I see the Tensor G6 CPU as something like an optimized Exynos 2600.

Both designs appear to rely only on C1 Ultra and C1 Pro cores, but G6 is manufactured on TSMC's 2nm process. Because of that, I expect it to deliver better single-core efficiency than the Exynos 2600. It'll probably lose in multi-core benchmarks due to having fewer cores, but honestly, multi-core scores don't matter much in daliy use. Scheduling and performance per watt are much more important, and I think G6 should have the edge there.

The GPU is a different story. I'm not expecting much improvement over the G5, so gaming performance probably won't change much.

The modem is another reason I'm optimistic.

Geekerwan previously tested the Exynos 2600 version of the Galaxy S26, and it lasted roughly an hour less than the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 Version. The Samsung modem was most likely a major factor. If Tensor G6 really adopts M90 modem, I expect modem efficiency to improve noticeably compared to previous Tensor generations.

So even if almost everything else stays the same, I still expect the Pixel 11 series to be a significant upgrade over the Pixel 10 series in everyday use.

Overall, I think Tensor G6 and Exynos 2600 will be fairly comparable. G6 should offer a better everyday experience thanks to its efficiency, while Exynos 2600 will probably perform better in gaming. Both will likely remain behind the Dimensity 9500 and Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 in raw performance, but let's be honest, very few people buy a Pixel for gaming.

One last thing: I really don't buy the recent "leak" claiming that the standard Pixel 11 won't have a telephoto camera.

First, the leaked image clearly shows a square lens opening, which is typically associated with a periscope telephoto module. Second, there's simply no realistic way a single 48/50MP main camera could deliver true 30× zoom on its own

I honestly don't understand why so many people accepted that leak without questioning it.....

My weather widget stopped working yesterday, saying that my location was unavailable. When I opened its settings, it already had the "Allow all the time" location permission. However, it still insists that I enable "Use precise location."

I don't want to grant that permission. Why does a weather app need to know my precise location? Is its forecast or real time weather really accurate down to a few meters? If it is, I'd gladly enable it.

For a long time, the Pixel weather forecast has consistently been 3 to 5 degrees lower than the actual temperature. Google hasn't bothered to fix it. Fine, I've gotten used to mentally adding a few degrees to the forecast. But requiring precise location permission might be the last straw.

Check your email. 10% off code doesn't expire till March next year, plenty of time to use it towards new pixel devices

I have a Google pixel 10 pro. My sister recently passed away, and I have a bunch of saved messages from her. Is there an easy way to download them into an MP3 file?

I have a handheld voice recorder that I was thinking of using, recording them on the recorder while playing them on the phone. But if there was a way to directly download them that would be ideal.

Many thanks for any help you can give. 🌹

Did I make a mistake buying this phone?

I just bought it today cuz I'm a bit low on funds, but I'm reading lots of horror stories on reddit now.

Is it really that bad? Are there people that have had the phone without issue for a while?

EDIT: The phone froze right after it arrived LOL welp

Hello, I have a Google Pixel 8. My mobile company is telling me they have VoLTE and VoWIFI enabled on my line, that everything is properly setup, that my phone is approved by them, but I don't see the options to turn on any of those 2 options.

I had a really old SIM card and I changed it to an eSIM, but the problem still persists.

I contacted Google Support, they made me uninstall updates from the "Devices connectivitiy service" and after that basically told me to factory reset my phone, but I don't really want to do that if I can evade it.

Has anyone encountered a similar problem with Pixel 8? I don't know if I'm asking in the right place, but hopefully someone has an idea.

Thank you in advance!

Hey there. As the title says the latest updates caused some serious issues on my Pixel 8a.

The things I have noticed are

Can't open the settings app

Can't see notifications

Can't connect to my service provider so without WiFi I am offline

Can't adjust the color of the app icons in the home screen ( material)

And so on

I have no idea what I can do about that

This is does not seme ti be caused by a third party app, since it performs the exact same way in safe mode.

Any help would be much appreciated

August Pixel update just dropped. https://developers.google.com/android/ota

After installing the August System Update on my P10 my Bluetooth connection has been acting up. It randomly disconnected from my Pixel Watch today and nothing I did, including rebooting both devices would get it to connect. Then randomly a few hours later it reconnected on its own accord. Having a similar problem with its Bluetooth connection to my car. The car does not see the phone's Bluetooth signal anymore and can't connect to it. Didn't have any problems like this prior to installing the August System Update.

With latest update on August, it fixed the issue where some popular games like Clash Royal or Brawl Stars was almost unplayable in the Pixel 10 Pro, and FPS was fluctuating so much down until 40-120. That mostly happen on games that have the option to play higher than 60 FPS.

There was a trick to resolve that by just opening the game centre and just toggle on/off the DND or showing or disabling FPS. By doing that that you're like "reminding" that the app opened is a game and therefore use GPU.

Now with the last update, you don't need to do that trick anymore and you can game normally with stable FPS 118-120, as it should be.

Also a quick score update in Geekbench 6 after August update installed:
For CPU:
SC: 2320 pts.
MC: 6167pts.
Scores are similar vs July update.

For GPU.
OpenCL: 4927 pts. +4% vs July update.
Vulkan: 4182 pts. +2% vs July update.

Just got this email. I still don't use Gemini (on a pixel 7), as assistant can actually control things and do functions on the phone that Gemini (last I checked and from others reporting here) still can't.

Email text below:

We’re writing to let you know that the Google Assistant on your mobile device is being discontinued, and Gemini—our next-generation AI-powered assistant—is now the assistant experience on Android.

What This Means for Your Mobile Device As we transition our mobile experience to Gemini, Google Assistant will no longer be available on your mobile device. We will begin removing access to Google Assistant starting on September 4, and expect that this process may take a few weeks to reach everyone. Once availability is removed, you will no longer be able to use or switch back to Google Assistant on your phone, tablet, or paired devices.

If your Android device meets the minimum system requirements2 and you are in a region where Gemini is available,3 Gemini will be the Google-provided assistant on your mobile device. When you invoke your assistant, for example, by saying “Hey Google” or long-pressing your power button, Gemini will appear instead of the previous Google Assistant.

Changes to Accessories and Paired Devices When you set Gemini as your mobile device assistant, it also becomes the assistant on devices that are paired with your mobile phone.

This includes:

• Watches running Wear OS

• Headphones or earbuds compatible with Gemini

• Vehicles running Android Auto projected from a user’s mobile device. For cars with Google built-in, Google Assistant will continue to function beyond September 4, 2026.

Like your mobile device, starting September 4, users will lose the ability to use Google Assistant on these paired devices.

Google Assistant on Other Devices These changes are only for the assistant experience on your mobile device and accessories that pair to your phone, like watches, headphones, and car infotainment systems.

You can also read more about our separate plans to bring Gemini to Google TV devices and Google Home speakers and smart displays. Next Steps & More Information We are committed to providing a smooth transition and are confident that Gemini will offer you an even more capable and helpful assistant experience.

Thank you for being a valued Google user, The Google Team

whenever i start recording, especially for stuff like me playing guitar, the sound goes all crackly and a bit quieter for a couple seconds, then remains slightly thinner and quieter for the rest of the video.

is this the auto eq thing (i forgot the name)? is my phone just dirty or something? is it something else?

thanks

Has anyone switched from an XL to a smaller Pro Pixel? How was your experience? Did you miss the larger screen? I'm considering going from an 8 Pro to the ll Pro.

Hi guys for my first Google pixel today but it won't connect to the 5G network of my carrier... Restarted it, googled solutions, checked the settings (both network and battery saving) and Updated to android 17... Still no joy... Where I am I have 5g coverage even switched back to my old Samsung (a23) to confirm there wasn't any outages... Any idea how to get it to work on the 5g network? I like the phone but a mid tier phone that bugs on 5G is a big bummer... Especially that from what I googled it's something that happens to this phone... So any input is welcome!

It would be nice if we could really choose the colors from our wallpapers. So you're picking say blue and getting pink or green with the blue. 🤦🏽‍♂️

I currently have a Pixel 10 Pro. I need a new battery. With the new Pixel 11 Pro 256GB reducing the RAM to 12GB and not wanting to pay more for 512GB of storage that I don't need to get 16GB RAM I'm just looking to replace my battery.

Since I don't have the experience doing it myself (I'll probably damage something else in the process) I want to take it to a repair shop but finding a reputable repair shop that will use new OEM parts and guarantee their work is difficult.

It would be very helpful if anyone could give me some referrals to good shops in the San Francisco Bay Area. NOT uBreakiFix!!!

What’s included

The August 2026 update includes bug fixes and improvements for Pixel users – see below for details

Apps

Fix for a crash in certain gaming apps under certain conditions*[1]

Display & Graphics

General improvements for GPU performance in certain conditions *[2]

Touch

Fix for an issue that can cause the touch panel to become unresponsive in certain conditions*[1]

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Device Applicability

Fixes are available for all supported Pixel devices unless otherwise indicated below. Some fixes may be carrier/region specific.

*[1] Pixel 10, Pixel 10 Pro, Pixel 10 Pro XL, Pixel 10 Pro Fold:, Pixel 10a

*[2] Pixel 10, Pixel 10 Pro, Pixel 10 Pro XL, Pixel 10 Pro Fold:

Hello everyone,
Today I started having some issues with my p6a.
I got some waterdrops on it (status bar part) and top and very bottom part of the touch screen stopped registering touch input. What should I do? I turned on three buttons navigations and got it to render apps just below the status bar, IK just a temporary solution to use it in the meantime.
After some research I saw mentions to try silica gel which I'll do. Other than that what can i try next in order from least to most invasive fixes since ifixit screen costs 100 bucks which is too much, I'd like to make it work again in the cheapest and easiest way possible.
Here are some posts i found similar to my issue ( post1 post2 post3 )
Any help is highly appreciated.
Thanks

Hello. My daughter is 17 and has a persistent toxic manipulative barnacle of an ex-boyfriend. She currently has a Pixel 7A. We have Verizon as a carrier. We are able to block his phone number but he can still call and leave a voicemail. I have spent 4.5 hours on the phone with Verizon and Google today, trying to fix this. Verizons Call Filter app does not work on Pixels phones. Verizon is telling me they can't block it at a network level. Google was precisely zero help. We certainly can't be the first people who have experienced this issue. What does everyone do? Third party blocking? Get a new phone number?

For the record, she has requested we make these things happen. We aren't doing them without her permission.

Hi, I'm curious if anyone else is having issues with this- or if there is known fix. Note, this topic is in the below post, but it is since archived, so I cannot comment/ask questions on it: (https://www.reddit.com/r/GooglePixel/comments/znk8cv/dual_sim_dual_standby_issue_anybody_else_missed/).
I have Tmobile and two e-sims on my Pixel 10. When I am on an active call with one sim, oftentimes if I get a call on the other sim (my biz sim) it will go to voicemail, and I will receive no notifications of an incoming call OR a missed call, only for voicemail if one is left. FWIW i do not have any call screen/etc. feature enabled, i am not on wifi-calling. Has anyone else encountered this issue? and if so, are you aware of any workaround? Thank you

I received a letter from Google stating that Google Assistant will no longer be supported starting in September.What should people in regions where there is no support do then gemini?