Daily Authority: 🪫 Pixel weaknesses revealed

🌞 Hey there! I’m on the way to the US next week for a work trip. I’ve already ordered a Pixel 7 Pro and case, seeing that Google doesn’t sell the phone here. Fingers crossed I have no major issues with the device once I’m home. Speaking of the new Pixels.

Pixel charging annoyances exposed

AA Features Editor Rita El-Khoury had to return to her native Lebanon for family-related reasons recently. Naturally, she flew back with her Pixel 7 Pro, Pixel Buds Pro, and Pixel Watch. But the trip definitely exposed a few weaknesses with the Pixel line, she wrote in an opinion piece.

The best plans might not be enough

• Rita noted that Lebanon has frequent (if not daily) power cuts, while the nature of her trip meant that she didn’t have a predictable schedule.
• So keeping these devices charged might be a challenge.
• Fortunately, she brought along a few wall chargers, two large power banks, several USB-C cables, and the Pixel Watch charger.
• However, it turns out that even this plan was barely enough.
• “During the two weeks, I never ran out of juice on my Pixel 7 Pro or Pixel Watch, but I came close more often than I’d have liked.”

Slow charging is a problem

• We previously noted in our Pixel 7 Pro review that the phone charged incredibly slowly, taking over 100 minutes to top up.
• This was indeed a problem for Rita, as she seldom had a couple of hours to fully charge the device.
• “But most days I had to resort to small top-ups that barely nudged the percentage a few notches up.”
• This made Rita “obsessively” think about charging the Google phone.
• This obviously isn’t an issue when you’ve got stable electricity and time to spare, but it definitely pales in comparison to rival brands.
• “I often wished the Pixel offered a boost charging option — a button I could tap to get up to 50W or 65W of charging on demand.”
• I’d love to see something like this too. The phone could default to 20W charging in order to save juice but up the ante on your command.

Short battery life for the Pixel Watch

• Rita’s trip also brought the Pixel Watch’s relatively short battery life into relief.
• “I forgot to manually enable bedtime mode once and woke up to 37% of lost juice. I had to rethink my entire charging plan that morning.”
• By comparison, her husband’s Fitbit Versa only needed three charges during the entire stay.
• “For now, that kind of longevity seems to be unrealistic on a proper smartwatch, but we deserve more than just 24 hours.”
• It’s not all bad, though. Rita noted that these issues are only big annoyances if something unexpected happens to wreak havoc with your schedule.
• She also noted that the Pixel 7 Pro held on to power for longer than expected while the Pixel Buds Pro case was a great way to stay topped up.
• Either way, we’d recommend checking out our list of great power banks if you expect to be away from a working wall plug for a while.

Roundup

🔪 Pixel 7 Pro barely survives durability test (Android Authority).

📱 This could’ve been the first Android phone: A neat look at a pre-iPhone G1 prototype (Android Authority).

🤔 This upcoming mid-ranger wins our award for ugliest camera housing (Android Authority).

🎮 Microsoft promises eternal support for Call of Duty on PlayStation (Ars Technica).

🔎 Heavy Google searchers just got a great new Chrome feature (Android Authority).

🤳 Musk team working to reboot Vine this year: Is it too late for a Vine reboot in light of TikTok’s success? (Axios)

🎙️ Poll: Do you send voice notes on your smartphone? (Android Authority)

📷 Instagram fixes outage that told millions their accounts were suspended (The Verge).

🚨 UK police fail to use facial recognition ethically and legally, study finds (Engadget).

💰 Developers are making the notorious Fyre Fest island into a crypto ‘paradise’: Yikes, I’d stay far away from this one (Gizmodo).

Tuesday Thing

Cash for cars website Clunker Junker has posted some rather cool infographics looking at the most loved and hated brands in both the US and around the world. The website used sentiment analysis based on tweets to come to their conclusions.

The most loved brand globally? Well, 21 countries voted for Tesla. As for the most hated brand globally? That would be Ford, with 20 countries giving it the unfortunate nod. Meanwhile, Maserati was apparently the most loved brand in the US while Fiat was at the bottom of the pile.

The analysis does raise some questions though. For example, here in South Africa, Lincoln was listed as the most hated brand. But I don’t think Lincoln is even sold here. Weird.

Have a great day!
Hadlee Simons, Editor