The latest 24-inch iMacs can not only add a speedy desktop to your home, but also a pop of color as well. A couple of those vibrant color options are $150 off right now at Amazon, bringing the desktop down to the best price we’ve seen. Both the pink and blue iMacs with an 8-core CPU, a 7-core GPU, 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage are down to $1,150. For the pink model, you’ll see the full discount at checkout once the additional $100 coupon is applied, but the blue model is already listed at $1,150. And if you’d rather get the upgraded model with an 8-core GPU and 512GB of storage, the same color options are down to $1,500, which is $200 off and another record low.
These iMacs make a bold statement in both style and performance. Apple’s M1 chipset provides a noticeable performance boost when compared to previous models, allowing the new desktops can handle everything from spreadsheet work to video editing to Apple Arcade gaming. We also love its 4.5K Retina Display with a 500-nit peak brightness because it makes photos and videos pop. Not only did Apple redesign the iMac to come in multiple fun colors, but the company also made it much thinner and lighter than before, too. Coming in at under 10 pounds, the iMac is pretty easy to move from room to room if need be.
The 24-inch iMac is a solid choice if you want an all-in-one machine that the whole family can use. There are a few drawbacks, of course, namely its lack of vertical screen adjustment and its reliance on two USB-C ports only. If you get the 8-core GPU model, you’ll get two additional USB-C ports as well, but that still means you’ll need a few adapters and dongles to use all of the accessories you may already have. At least all of these iMacs come with a color-matching Magic Mouse and Magic Keyboard, so you’ll be able to use those peripherals immediately.
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Streaming is a curious beast. One minute you’ll be enjoying the ’80s vibe of Stranger Thingsand the next you’ll be struggling to pick something from that overwhelming catalog. Sometimes, though, you’ll stumble on something that you’d normally never choose — a Netflix suggestion from a friend or a recent addition that had escaped your glance as you navigated Amazon Prime Video’s curated menus.
However, once you’ve watched that movie or TV show and moved on, it may drop back into relative obscurity, reducing your chances of remembering and paying that recommendation forward many months later. You may also have watched something, hated it and want to make sure it doesn’t impact future recommendations. Luckily, many streaming services keep a running list of the things you’ve watched (if they haven’t been removed from the catalog due to licensing agreements). Here’s how to find them.
Netflix
Finding your viewing history on Netflix is a simple affair. Visit Netflix.com, ensure you’re logged in and then hover over your profile name. Select Your Account from the menu. Now, scroll down to the bottom and select Viewing Activity. You should now be presented with a list of everything you’ve streamed on your account.
While you’re there, you can decide how your history impacts Netflix recommendations. Clicking the X next to a title will ensure it’s deleted from your Recently Watched or Continue Watching row, but it will also ensure that Netflix doesn’t use a moment of streaming weakness against you. Once it has been removed, it won’t appear in your list until you watch it again.
Apple TV+
Apple’s catalog of streaming originals might not be as broad as, say, Netflix or Disney+, but the iPhone-maker has a very comprehensive movie and TV store that can help fill the gaps.
If you’re looking to see what you’ve recently watched on either Apple TV+ or inside Apple’s TV app generally, the company does provide a way to see your viewing history, but it’s hidden away right at the bottom of the TV app itself.
Simply open the TV app on a Mac or iOS device and keep scrolling to the very bottom of the Watch Now tab. There, you’ll see a small selection of your most recently viewed content. Select the ‘See All’ link to view everything you’ve ever watched on Apple TV (this may also include movies and TV shows from third-party apps you have installed on your Apple TV streamer.)
Unfortunately, Apple doesn’t offer a dedicated ‘Recently Watched’ section in the TV+ web UI, opting instead for an ‘Up Next’ section. You can, however, clear what you have watched by heading to Settings and selecting Clear Play History. Alternatively, click here.
You can also remove individual movies and TV episodes from your Recently Watched list by long-pressing on the thumbnail of the content you wish to remove and selecting ‘Remove from Recently Watched.’ Perfect, if you’ve viewed something you told your significant other you’d wait for them to watch together.
Disney+
Disney+ may now be over two years old, but it’s not quite yet caught up with the likes of Netflix and Amazon when it comes to features. Sadly, that means you can’t currently see your viewing history on Disney+.
Like many of its rivals, Disney does offer a Continue Watching section, which may help surface movies or TV shows that you may have stopped viewing just as the credits began to roll.
If it’s something you feel very strongly about, you can head to the Disney+ website and hit the Give Feedback button at the bottom to, very politely, request that they add the feature.
Hulu
If you’re a Disney+ subscriber in the US, there’s a chance that you may have signed up for the Disney Bundle to get subscriptions to Disney+, ESPN+ and Hulu for a discounted price. Unlike Disney+, however, Hulu does allow you to properly maintain your watch history both inside its apps and on the web.
It may not be immediately obvious, but Hulu keeps your viewing history inside the Keep Watching section, from which you can browse the movies and TV shows you’ve already streamed. To make things confusing, you cannot see the individual episodes of a show you’ve already watched in the Keep Watching section, so you’ll need to select the Details page of a particular series and add it to My Stuff. This will also let you see how many unwatched episodes you’ve got left to stream.
To remove content, navigate to the Keep Watching page and click on the X to purge it from your watch history. On mobile, tap the three dots on the thumbnail of the selected show or movie and hit Remove from Watch History.
HBO Max
As it stands, HBO Max doesn’t offer a way to see everything you’ve watched. It does, however, automatically add movies and TV series that you haven’t finished watching to its Continue Watching row on the home screen of the service.
To remove a movie or show from your Continue Watching listing in your app or on the web, tap on your profile icon, then Continue Watching, and then Edit. Then, simply tap the X next to an individual item or Clear All to remove everything. When you’re finished, hit Done.
Amazon Prime Video
Unlike Netflix, Amazon doesn’t make it easy to see what you’ve previously watched. In fact, it buries its listing inside a number of links that you wouldn’t otherwise check.
If you want to go the manual route, ensure you’re logged in on the Amazon website and click the Your Account link on the top bar. On the resulting page, scroll down to Personalization and click Improve Your Recommendations. Now, on the left menu, click Videos You’ve Watched.
Here, you can rate a TV show or movie so that Amazon can better understand your likes and dislikes or exclude that listing entirely. If you’ve found that both Netflix and Amazon have done a poor job of matching content to your interests, this is a good way to provide it with more insight.
Peacock
Peacock doesn’t currently provide a way to see everything you’ve streamed on its service. It does, however, offer a Continue Watching section that will list all of the movies and TV shows that you have started but may not have completely finished.
Paramount+
Paramount+ also doesn’t currently provide a way to see everything you’ve watched. There is a Keep Watching section, though, that lists all of the movies and TV shows that you have started but may not have completely finished.
Meta has revealed more of how NFTs will work on Instagram. In the US-based test, you can show what you’ve bought or created for free by connecting your Instagram account to a compatible digital wallet and posting for the world to see. If you like, the social network can automatically tag both creator and collector using public blockchain data. You can display info like a description, too. And yes, as mentioned, NFTs will shimmer to help you flaunt your art collection.
Instagram will initially support wallets from MetaMask, Rainbow and Trust Wallet. Coinbase, Dapper and Phantom are “coming soon.” Public data will come from Ethereum and Polygon at first, with the previously promised Flow and Solana support arriving in the near future.
The social site also stressed that NFTs were still subject to community rules. It was also aware that NFTs, like cryptocurrency and other blockchain products, can be harmful to the environment. The company hoped to offset the CO2 emissions from displaying digital artwork by purchasing renewable energy.
Meta will expand NFT support to Facebook, and will let Instagram users display their pieces as augmented reality stickers in Stories. There will be “additional features” for both creators and collectors, the company added. Whether you think NFTs are fads or permanent fixtures, it’s clear Meta will be invested them for a while as it builds out its vision of the metaverse.
Cre8Audio has made a name for itself by building dirt-cheap Eurorack gear, putting what has traditionally be an extraordinarily expensive endeavor — building modular synth — in the reach of mere mortals. Now it’s branching out to self-contained semi-modular synthesizers with the East Beast.
As the name implies, the East Beast is an east coast style synthesizer. In short it features a big sounding oscillator and a resonant filter for tone shaping. Those two particular components were built with help of the analog weirdos over at Pittsburgh Modular. The filter is a multi-mode design with high, low and bandpass options. The PGH filter is also lauded for its lack of “dead zones”. And the oscillator has sine, triangle, saw, and square waves, along with pitched noise, that can be combined.
Of course and filter and oscillator alone do not a synth make. There’s also a VCA, an envelope generator, an LFO, a 32 step sequencer and a digital multi-mode tool that can be an extra envelope, LFO or a random generator. It also has an arpeggiator and even a playable (but rudimentary) keyboard.
Of course, an analog synth with all those features isn’t that unheard of. What makes the East Beast exciting is that it includes all of that, and a 20 point patch bay, for just $250. Being able to get something that, at least on paper, seems like a shrunken Moog Mother 32 for less than half the price is stunning.
There are still a lot of unanswered questions. But, considering that you can also take the East Beast out of its case and slap it in a Eurorack system, means this one of the most affordable ways to get into modular synthesis.
The Cre8Audio East Beast is available to pre-order now and should start shipping by the end of May.
With the price of graphics cards starting to normalize, AMD has decided to refresh its desktop GPU lineup with the new Radeon RX 6950 XT, RX 6750 XT and RX 6650 XT.
While all three new graphics cards have similar specs as their predecessors (including the same amount of GDDR6 vRAM and number of compute units), AMD has tweaked their game clocks and memory speeds to deliver a small bump in performance. The result is that when combined with new drivers in the latest version of AMD Software (which is also coming out today), the company says its new GPUs should provide between 5 and 13 percent higher framerates compared to previous models. Furthermore, when paired with a late-model Ryzen CPU, AMD claims its new Radeon cards can use Smart Access Memory to boost performance by up to 14 percent in games such as Forza 5 Horizon.
With suggested pricing of $1,099 and $549, the RX 6950 XT and RX 6750 XT are intended to be direct replacements for the outgoing RX 6900 XT and RX 6700 XT. That said, while the two new cards will be available direct from AMD, customers may see higher prices from third-party retailers as the supply of GPUs continues to fluctuate. Meanwhile, the $399 RX 6650 XT will only be available from AMD’s board partners (e.g. Gigabyte, MSI, XFX, etc.) and will exist alongside other entry-level Radeon GPUs like the RX 6600 XT.
The RX 6950 XT is designed for 4K gaming and is expected to compete with NVIDIA’s RTX 3090, It features a total board power of 335 watts, 16GB of vRAM, 80 compute units and a game clock of 2,100 MHz. Meanwhile, the RX 6750 XT is intended to support 1440p gaming while going up against the RTX 3070, with specs including a TBP of 250 watts, 12GB of vRAM, 40 compute units and a game clock of 2,495 MHz. And for entry-level or budget-conscious folk, the RX 6650 XT is targeted at 1080p gaming and looks to take on the RTX 3060 with TBP of 180 watts, 8GB of vRAM, 32 compute units and a game clock of 2,410 MHz.
Finally, rounding out AMD’s latest updates is expanded support for AMD Privacy View across a wide range of systems and a new UI slider that gives more control over image sharpness when using AMD Super Resolution 1.1. And while it won’t be available until sometime later this summer, the company is also announcing that Deathloop will be the first game to support FidelityFX Super Resolution 2.0 via a public beta patch slated to go live on May 12th.
The new RX 6000 series cards should be available today from both AMD and AMD’s board partners.
With every release, DJI seems to pack more features into smaller and smaller drones. The Mavic 3 that launched last year was a relatively small drone with a mirrorless camera sensor, pro video quality and more. Now, it has brought a lot of that technology to an even tinier drone, the Mini 3 Pro. It’s more capable on paper than the Mavic Air 2, a model more than twice its size.
At 249 grams (8.8 ounces), the Mini 3 Pro is light enough to avoid most drone regulations. But DJI has managed to fit in a sensor larger than most smartphones, and it can detect obstacles all around. Unlike the Mavic Mini 2, it offers 4K at 60 fps and 120 fps slow-mo, plus most of the AI features on the Mavic 3 like ActiveTrack, QuickShots and MasterShots.
Its tiny size and light weight makes it more maneuverable than the Mavic 3, and it’s launching with an all-new remote that has a built-in screen. The Mini 3 Pro costs between $679 to $910, though, so it’s one of the most expensive lightweight drones out there. To see if it could justify that price, I took it for a spin with help from my drone pilot friend Samuel Dejours.
Features
The Mini 3 Pro is so small that you can fit it, the RC remote, three batteries and a charger into a tiny bag. That in turn makes it ideal for travel, adventure activities and more. And as it’s under 250 grams, you don’t have to register it or have a drone pilot’s license in the US and other countries.
The standard Intelligent Flight Battery delivers up to 34 minutes of flight time, according to DJI, but you’ll need to take that figure with a huge grain of salt. We ran it to exhaustion several times and saw about 30 minutes max, with the return to home (RTH) warning kicking in after about 25 minutes. With a drone so light, those numbers of course depend heavily on wind and other factors.
If that’s not enough, DJI offers the optional Intelligent Flight Battery Plus that boosts endurance to 47 minutes max (while keeping the weight unchanged), something that’s unprecedented for a drone this size. Again, don’t count on achieving that figure very often, but even if you hit 40 minutes, that’s still incredible for a lightweight drone. DJI notes that the higher-capacity battery isn’t available in the EU and other regions due to local regulations, but it can be sold in the US.
To aid in endurance and keep it more resistant to wind, the Mini 3 Pro has a new aerodynamic body that tilts when flying forward to reduce drag. The redesign also allowed DJI to use bigger propellers to increase propulsion efficiency. And speaking of those, this drone is incredibly quiet. Above 50 meters or so (164 feet), you can’t hear it at all, which is great in terms of not disturbing wildlife, etc. However, I could also see it drawing concern from privacy advocates.
While the Mini 2 was completely lacking in obstacle avoidance features, the Mini 3 Pro has DJI’s APAS 4.0 system and can detect objects in front, behind and below, all with fairly wide sensing visibility. That system is key for mountain bikers and others who want to film their adventures in forests and other tricky environments.
DJI claims its 1080p OcuSync 3.0 RC video transmission works over 12 km (7.5 miles), but we found this to be a weak point in our tests. If you don’t have direct line of sight, it tends to lose the signal far more rapidly than the Mavic 3. For example, we tried multiple passes under a nearby bridge and it either nearly or completely lost the signal, forcing the drone to find its own way out. So if you don’t have line of sight to the drone, you won’t get anywhere close to 12 km.
The camera gimbal tilts down 90 degrees and up 60, more than double the Mini 2 and Mavic Air 2. The higher upward angle makes it useful to capture dramatic shots of buildings, cliffs and so forth. It has a relatively large 48-megapixel 1/1.3-inch sensor, bigger than the one on the iPhone 13 and only about 40 percent smaller than the DJI Mavic 2 Pro’s 1-inch sensor. It offers Dual Native ISO for improved HDR and low-light sensitivity, and a 24mm-equivalent f/1.7 fixed aperture lens.
Just as DJI’s Mavic 3 borrowed features from mirrorless cameras, the Mini 3 Pro has taken a page from smartphones. You can shoot high-res 48-megapixel photos or combine four pixels into one for 12-megapixel images with improved night sensitivity, just like on many smartphones. It has a two times digital zoom for 4K and four times for 1080p.
Video specs are impressive for a small drone, too. 4K and 2.7K are supported at up to 60 fps, or you can shoot 1080p at 120 fps. That compares to 4K at 30fps for the Mini 2 and Autel’s EVO Nano+, the Mini 3 Pro’s principal rival. Videos and photos are saved on microSD cards and there’s a small 1.25GB of internal storage.
Another cool trick is true vertical video mode for social media sharing. To maximize quality, the gimbal physically turns the camera sideways for both video and photos. So just as with a smartphone or camera, you get up to 48-megapixel videos and 4K video whether shooting in portrait or landscape modes.
If you’d rather not use a smartphone and the usual DJI RC-N1 remote, for an extra $240 you can get the Mini 3 Pro with the new RC remote that features a built-in screen. It looks and feels cheaper than DJI’s $1,100 RC Pro, of course, and the display isn’t nearly as bright or crisp. Using it in bright sunlight, we found we had to stay in the shade to get a clear view.
But the screen is large and usually bright enough, and it’s extremely convenient compared to the RC-N1. It makes shooting that much more easy and fun when you don’t have to take out a smartphone, connect it and so on.
It has power, home and a cinema, normal and sport switch on top. Photos and video are taken with the front triggers and the joysticks can be stowed underneath for travel. Unlike the RC-N1, though, it has separate triggers for photos and video. Hitting either trigger will automatically change the mode between video and photos, so you can avoid diving into the menus..
It has USB-charging and host ports, along with a microSD card slot for screen recording. Overall, it’s a nice addition to DJI’s remote RC lineup. The company has yet to say whether it will offer the remote separately or for use with other drones.
Performance
One big complaint with the Mavic 3 was that many key features like ActiveTrack weren’t available on launch and didn’t arrive until months later – too late to review them. Luckily, I was able to test nearly every function on the DJI Mini 3 Pro.
With its small size and potential maneuverability, the first thing we wanted to see was the APAS 4.0 obstacle detection and ActiveTrack following. To test those functions out, we grabbed a mountain bike and headed to a forest, pitting the Mini 3 Pro against a Mavic 3. The aim was to drive through some tree-lined trails and see which drone could keep up.
As we expected, the Mini 3 Pro destroyed the larger drone. It followed Nathanael with greater agility, avoiding nearly all trees. Only once did its sensors miss a small branch, but the minor crash didn’t even cause a scratch. That’s another benefit of a small drone – they’re less likely to be damaged in an accident. The Mavic 3, meanwhile, was much slower and often stopped completely rather than going around obstacles.
There are a few caveats with subject tracking. FocusTrack 4.0 and ActiveTrack only work at 4K 30p, not at 4K 50/60p or 1080 120p. Also, a feature that allows the drone to go around obstacles rather than stopping first isn’t yet enabled.
The Mini 3 Pro also acquitted itself well in various QuickShots and MasterShots scenarios. In one instance, while trying to use the Helix mode function, it detected an obstacle (a roof) and stopped. Those functions (Helix, Boomerang, Dronie, Rocket and Circle) all give you some cool shots to share on social media and worked flawlessly on the Mini 3 Pro, though quality was limited to 1080p. We also used the Hyperlapse function to create a nice time lapse video over a city at night.
Image quality
When it comes to image quality, the news is mostly good. By and large, the video was sharp and colors accurate, to the level of what you’d expect on a good smartphone. With a smallish sensor, the Mini 3 Pro is not at the same caliber as a mirrorless camera or the Mavic 3 though, of course.
I did have a few issues. For video, the automatic mode tended to overexpose bright objects, like a boat, so I had to adjust the settings to reduce that. In sunny weather, I found -0.3EV of exposure compensation worked best.
It does offer a fully manual pro mode to control color balance, shutter, ISO and more. However, most users likely will leave it in automatic mode and tweak the exposure compensation settings. You’ll have to be careful though, because exposure change transitions in automatic mode (when pointing at the ground then the sky, for example) aren’t as smooth as they are on the Mavic 3.
Where most lightweight drones are limited to 4K 30p, the Mini 3 Pro offers 60 fps at 4K for smoother video with fast-moving subjects. The addition of true 120 fps slow mo at 1080p is also a great option for birds in flight, action sports and so on. As mentioned, though, keep in mind that ActiveTrack doesn’t work in those modes. That’s kind of a shame, as high-frame rate video is just what you need for tracking action.
Movie files are limited to a maximum of 8 bits of color depth, 4:2:0 sampling and a 150 Mbps bit rate. Without 10-bit or log video modes, there’s not a lot of room to adjust exposure afterwards, so you’ll need to get it right the first time. It does come with a CineLook-D mode that helps boost dynamic range a bit, but you need to be in the manual Pro settings to use it.
As with any smallish sensor, low-light sensitivity is decent but not great. Shooting over a brightly lit town at night, Mini 3 Pro video was far less clear than a similar scene shot with the Mavic 3. When I tried to boost shadows to get more detail, I saw a considerable amount of noise.
Unlike with video, you can fix over- or under-exposed photos if you use the RAW DNG format. The 48-megapixel images are very sharp, and with the binned 12-megapixel mode enabled, RAW images retain extra detail in low light.
Overall, though image quality isn’t perfect, it helps to remember that this is a $670 lightweight drone. It beats all other models in that category, and is better than many heavier drones, too.
Wrap-up
DJI’s Mini 3 Pro is the new king of the lightweight drones. It’s well suited for adventure sports, nature, hiking and more, thanks to the impressive tracking and obstacle avoidance. It’s also a great camera for social activities and even pro shoots for weddings and events. Samuel, who does exactly those types of things, thinks the Mini 3 Pro and a Mavic 3 would make a killer combination for his business.
Its main competition is the $899 Autel Evo Nano Plus, currently the best lightweight drone available. It has a similar 48-megapixel 1/1.27-inch camera sensor, three-way obstacle avoidance, subject tracking, and more. However, battery life is only 28 minutes, it’s limited to 4K 30p with no 120fps option and doesn’t offer a remote with a screen.
With DJI’s name recognition and marketing punch, the Mini 3 Pro is likely to be a winner, sales-wise. Samuel and several of my Engadget colleagues have expressed interest in purchasing one – and they won’t be disappointed. It’s now available starting at $670 or you can get one for $910 with the new RC controller. You can also pick up a kit with a two-way charging hub, two regular batteries, two sets of propellers and a shoulder bag for an extra $189.
If you missed the sale at the end of last month, you have another chance to grab one of Samsung’s Galaxy S22 smartphones at their lowest prices yet. All three of the handsets have hit new record lows on Amazon: the Galaxy S22 is $125 off and down to $675, while the Galaxy S22+ and S22 Ultra are both $250 off and down to $750 and $950, respectively. And the previous offer on the Galaxy Buds 2 still stands — you can save up to $60 on a pair of the earbuds when you buy them along with the handset.
Picking up the Galaxy S22 Ultra at under $1,000 is a great deal considering it has all of the latest features you can get on a Samsung phone. Marrying features of the Note family with the flagship S lineup, the Galaxy S22 Ultra sports a 6.8-inch Super AMOLED touchscreen with a 120Hz refresh rate and a peak brightness of 1,750 nits. It also comes with a built-in S Pen, so Note lovers will be able to use the handset as a small notebook, jotting things down, doodling and the like. Samsung improved the latency to 2.8 milliseconds, so writing with the S Pen will feel even more natural than it did before.
The Galaxy S22 Ultra runs on Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor, 12GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. It also has a triple rear camera array that includes a 108-megapixel main sensor, a 12MP ultrawide shooter and two 10MP telephoto lenses. We were impressed with the photos it took as well as Samsung’s host of photography improvements like better auto-framing and video stabilization, and new features like Adaptive Pixel.
Overall, the Galaxy S22 Ultra is one of the most impressive Android phones you can get right now. If you’re looking for the deepest discount, though, the Galaxy S22+ takes that title in this sale. Yes, both it and the S22 Ultra are $250 off, but that’s the equivalent of a 25 percent discount for the S22+ (and only a 21 percent discount on the S22 Ultra). We gave the S22+ and the standard S22 a score of 87 for their slick designs, strong performance and lovely displays. And with the S22+, you’ll get a few extra perks including slightly faster WiFi speeds, UWB and WiFi 6E support and a longer battery life.
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Google’s I/O developer conference is finally returning as an (limited) in-person keynote for 2022, but that’s not the biggest story likely to emerge from the event. This year, in addition to the customary Android update, it’s likely to involve some of the company’s most important hardware introductions in recent memory — including the first Pixel smartwatch. Here’s what to expect when Sundar Pichai and crew take the stage.
It will be easy to tune in, we’d add. Google is streaming the presentation live through its YouTube channel on May 11th at 1PM Eastern, including in a version with American Sign Language interpretation. You can expect coverage and commentary from Engadget during and after the keynote.
Pixel Watch and Wear OS 3
The true star of I/O may have already been outed despite Google’s attempts to keep it under wraps. Rumors of an official Google smartwatch have circulated for years, but the company now appears close to introducing one in the form of the Pixel Watch. A prototype of the device was apparently found at a restaurant by an Android Central source, but Google has also filed for a Pixel Watch trademark in recent weeks. It may be just a matter of when the timepiece arrives, not “if.”
The prototype may speak volumes about Google’s plans. True to past rumors, the Pixel Watch appears to have a sleek rounded case, a rotating crown and virtually no bezels. Think of it as Android’s answer to the Apple Watch’s elegant design, just with a circular screen. Much like its rival, the smartwatch would use proprietary but easily swappable bands to help you customize the look. Photos also suggest there will be at least some form of heart rate monitoring, while a previous code leak from 9to5Google hinted at an Exynos processor inside.
However, the real centerpiece may be the software. The Pixel Watch is believed to serve as a showcase for Wear OS 3, a major smartwatch interface developed with help from Samsung. It’s expected to include easier navigation, Tiles support (read: widgets) for third-party apps, improved performance and more customization for watchmakers. Fitbit activity tracking will be key to the experience, and code discovered in the new OS’ emulator hinted the fitness app might be integrated into some watch faces. While Wear OS has long included some exercise-friendly functionality, the Pixel smartwatch might not need any aftermarket apps to deliver truly robust tracking.
There’s no guarantee Google will debut the Pixel Watch at I/O, and details like pricing remain a mystery. However, reporter Jon Prosser, who generally has a strong track record with leaks, has claimed the watch could arrive on May 26th, just a couple of weeks after I/O. If so, we’d expect Wear OS 3 to roll out to compatible third-party watches (such as recent examples from Fossil, Mobvoi and Samsung) in the weeks ahead.
Pixel 6a
Google hasn’t introduced a meaningfully new mid-range phone since 2020’s Pixel 4a 5G (the Pixel 5a was virtually identical), so we’re overdue for new hardware. Thankfully, that might just be in the pipeline. Murmurs have persisted for months of a Pixel 6a that would bring the Pixel 6 aesthetic and key features to a more affordable handset.
Where previous budget Pixels typically preserved the camera tech of high-end models while using slower processors, Google might reverse its strategy with the 6a. The 6.2-inch phone will reportedly use the same speedy Tensor chip as in the Pixel 6, but rely on the 5a’s 12-megapixel main rear camera instead of the Pixel 6’s more advanced 50MP unit.
There would also still be an OLED screen with a (hopefully improved) under-display fingerprint reader, and fast millimeter wave 5G could be available with at least one variant. However, you might have to wave goodbye to the headphone jack on lower-cost Google phones.
As with the Pixel Watch, there are hints Google might unveil the Pixel 6a at I/O and launch it soon afterward. FCC filings for the 6a emerged last month, suggesting the company might ship the phone sometime in May. The biggest unknown at this stage is the price: Google sold the 5a for $449, but it’s not clear if the follow-up will be just as affordable.
Android 13
It’s no secret that Google will reveal more about Android 13 at I/O 2022. The company has been testing developer previews of the new operating system since February, and it historically uses I/O to share many of a future Android revision’s user-facing features for the first time, such as Android 12’s Material You interface. All the minor, developer-focused tweaks you’ve seen so far likely won’t represent everything you’ll get when the OS is finally ready (likely late summer).
There haven’t been many clues as to what those larger changes will entail, but Google has so far focused on minor interface revisions and under-the-hood technology upgrades. The Android 13 beta already includes expanded Material You theming, an improved media playback box, a speedier QR code reader and (at least for some users) smart home control while the device is locked.
Behind the scenes, you’ll also see more conveniences as well as greater respect for both your privacy and free time. Android 13 will introduce Bluetooth LE audio support, and Fast Pair should be built-in to help you quickly set up earbuds and other accessories. A form of spatial audio might also be available, too. Apps, meanwhile, won’t have quite so much free rein. Software built for the new platform will have to request permission for media access and notifications. Even Google’s photo picker is now more restrictive. You should see fewer apps overstepping their boundaries, not to mention nagging you with unwanted alerts and promos.
It won’t be at all surprising if there are more substantial changes in store. From all the evidence so far, however, Android 13 is more of an iteration of Android 12 than a radical rethink. And that’s okay – Google now has more of an opportunity to polish its code and address complaints about last year’s overhaul.
Wildcards: Pixel Buds Pro, Nest Hub tablet and a foldable
While there are only a few expected hardware unveilings at I/O this year, we wouldn’t rule out some out-of-left-field teasers. Most recently, Jon Prosser floated the possibility of Pixel Buds Pro earbuds that would come in a range of colors. While he didn’t provide details or images, the “Pro” badging might hint at active noise cancellation and other features that haven’t found their way into existing Pixel Buds. While they might not appear at I/O (if ever), they would make sense given Android 13’s support for spatial audio and Bluetooth LE music.
We also wouldn’t completely rule out the oft-rumored Pixel foldable. Google designed Android 12L with foldables and tablets in mind, and the company’s leaked “Pipit” could demonstrate what that software could do. Don’t count on it arriving at this month’s event, though. Although 9to5Googleunearthed camera code implying a 2022 release, there haven’t been any real signs alluding to an I/O appearance. If Pipit is still on track, it might not arrive until late in the year.
We wouldn’t hold out hope for a rumored detachable Nest Hub where the screen can be removed and used like a tablet. The first discussions of this convertible Nest model only surfaced in March, and Google has frequently reserved its Nest announcements for the fall.
Instead, the most likely surprises are those you most often see at I/O. You might well see Google update Android TV (plus its Google TV front-end), and it’s easy to see upgrades coming to services like Maps and Photos. AI-based products using Duplex and similar technologies could appear at the conference. And then there’s the more audacious experiments — few would have anticipated the Project Starline AR video chat booth, even in the throes of a pandemic.