⛄ Good day from a surprisingly wet and wintry Walker household. I love surprise storms in the middle of February! The air is fresh, the earth is cool, and I’m wrapped up in my favorite hoodie. It’s going to be a good week.

The Pixel 7 Pro impresses once again

If you’re a regular concertgoer and due for a smartphone upgrade, you might want to consider Google’s latest flagship. AA’s Rita El Khoury took her Pixel 7 Pro along for several performances and found it’s the ultimate smartphone for concerts. Here’s why.

• There’s something great about fellow concertgoers commenting on how great your shots and video recordings are.
• That’s something Rita has experienced more often with the Pixel 7 Pro.
• While any modern camera phone can shoot great low-light or zoomed snaps, the Pixel 7 Pro melds these two qualities together.

The context

• Rita notes that she can’t always grab front row tickets, so placement a fair distance from performers is where she usually finds herself.
• “In these situations, not every phone can be a winner.”
• Concerts are particularly harsh places for smartphone cameras.
• A lack of natural light, plenty of contrast, smoke and haze, and moving objects make it tough to focus.
• With additional challenges of limited viewing angles and blocking by other people or rails and columns, you need a camera phone that can both reach and capably capture the action.
• “Some do a decent job while others barely manage to capture some lights and the artist’s face as a half-discernable dot. None, though, have ever come close to what I could grab on my Pixel 7 Pro.”

Why the Pixel 7 Pro works

• “It can freeze the action even in the middle of rapid, strobing lights. It can balance between dark spots and well-lit ones in regular shots.”
• Rita also highlights Google’s Night Sight feature, allowing better exposure.
• “And the 5x telescopic lens allows for excellent zoomed shots all the way to 15x or even 20x in some situations.”
• But the Pixel 7 Pro isn’t just adept at capturing stills.
• You can grab video using that zoom lens too, and the results are impressive as well.
• Rita does note that you should disable the Speech enhancement setting if you’re recording more instrument-driven performances.
• 10-bit HDR should also be switched off in dark environments.

Ultimately, Rita leaves us with this parting comment: “When I pay a handsome sum of money to see my favorite artists and bands live, I want to keep a few photos and videos for the memories, but I don’t want to spend the entire concert trying to get a decent shot. This is why I value the reliability of the Pixel 7 Pro’s camera.”

Roundup

🪫 Hey OnePlus, this isn’t how you do charging in 2023: Looks like OnePlus rediscovered USB-A at the worst possible time (Android Authority).

☀️ Forget smart lights, smart blinds is where it’s at: Or, how to turn the sun into a smart bulb (Android Authority).

✏️ Google’s Magic Eraser goes up against Samsung’s Object Eraser in this battle of the camera editing tech, but which is the winner? (Android Authority).

📷 Speaking of Samsung, is the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s camera a genuine upgrade or a gimmick? Get lost in another in-depth photo comparison here (Android Authority).

☎️ A deep dive into AI’s role in the call center, and how it’s both a help and hindrance (The Wall Street Journal).

✔️ The same but different? Meta is testing premium blue verification tick on Facebook and Instagram for $12 a month (The Verge).

📡 Lock on to Starlink wherever you need it for a fee of $200 per month: Global roaming could be coming to SpaceX’s internet service (PC Mag).

🎥 In case you missed it: These are the Bafta 2023 winners, including a massive haul for All Quiet (BBC).

😞 Microsoft ‘lobotomized’ AI-powered Bing Chat, and its fans aren’t happy (Ars Technica).

🎵 What is a good song that is over 6 minutes long? (r/askreddit).

Monday meme

Now, for this truly beautiful scene. Isn’t nature lovely?

We’re struggling with power generation in my country, with scheduled power cuts now a normal part of life. Known as “loadshedding,” this problem has forced everyone in South Africa — at least those who can afford it — to consider a switch to green energy. More importantly, it’s now more important than ever to own a reliable portable charger for your phone, and a much larger backup power system for larger appliances.

See you on Thursday,
Andy Walker, Editor