🌙 Good day all, and welcome to another edition of the Daily Authority. It’s Monday, and I’m up exceedingly early thanks to a bout of extreme power cuts, but at least I got to see a surprising morning moon rise!

What phones do we use?

Despite the throng of review devices flying in and out of Android Authority, we all still rely on particular personal smartphones to get us through the day. If you ever wanted to know what exactly those phones are, you’re in luck. We recently published our annual daily driver poll. Read on for the results!

Popular dailies

There’s plenty of diversity across AA‘s global team, but there are a few commonalities and trends to note.

• Samsung was once again the most popular mobile brand among the team (seven devices), beating out Google.
• However, the diversity within this particular group was interesting to note.
• We use Galaxy series devices from the Galaxy S20 FE to the Galaxy S22 series.
• In fact, the Galaxy S22 Ultra was the only Samsung phone to be used by two members of the team.
• What about Google?
• Pixels were the second-most popular devices among the polled members (five phones), with the Pixel 6 Pro proving the most popular single phone overall.
• This year’s third most popular brand is Apple.
• Three polled members use iPhones as daily drivers, and there was no single popular model, either.
• The iPhone 11 Pro Max, iPhone 12, and iPhone 13 Pro all feature.

The outliers

Despite the team’s slant towards Samsung, Google, and Apple, there are plenty of outliers to note.

• OnePlus devices are no longer as popular as they once were, and no new models made this year’s list.
• Surprisingly, the OnePlus 8T and OnePlus 8 were the only two models used daily by polled members of the team. That means no OnePlus 10 Pro.
• What about old phones?
• It seems I’m the only one still using a Huawei device, specifically the P30 Pro.
• Still running Android 10, it’s also the oldest phone on the list, launched before the turn of the decade.
• Other surprise devices include the LG Wing, the Xiaomi 12, and the vivo X80 Pro.

What we’re buying next

There’s no telling what the future holds, but we all have a vague idea of what our next phone will be.

• What does seem certain is that Google and Samsung could continue headlining next year’s poll.
• Nearly two-thirds of polled members are considering grabbing a new phone from either brand.
• The Google Pixel 7 Pro is the most eagerly anticipated product by quite some margin, followed by the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 and Galaxy S23 Ultra.
• Interesting outliers include the rumored Pixel foldable and the HUAWEI Mate XS 2.
• Foldables do seem to be the upgrade path for several AA members.
• Seven polled members noted that they’re considering a foldable phone to some degree.
• One is even considering Oppo’s rollable phone.
• Given these claims, our 2023 poll should be quite something!

Roundup

⁉️ Hardware is a long-term game, and Google has commitment issues. The company recently dismantled the team behind its Pixelbook project, and canned countless projects related to its Area 120 incubator (Android Authority).

🚍 The Bose QuietComfort Earbuds 2 noise cancellation is pretty damn good, as confirmed during our review. Just watch out for oncoming buses (Android Authority).

📱 ASUS announced the ROG Phone 6D and 6D Ultimate, two gaming phones now packing MediaTek silicon (Android Authority).

🦙 Don’t alpaca those bags just yet. Some Airbnb guests are being asked to do more chores during their stay, from mowing the lawn to feeding farm animals (The Wall Street Journal).

🏈 Tom Brady was caught tossing another innocent tablet during a mini on-field tantrum on Sunday. Seriously, maybe the NFL should introduce a Microsoft Surface-throwing half-time mini-game (The Verge).

😬 Some iPhone 14 Pro cameras are making a disturbing grinding noise (Android Authority).

🖥️ PC components maker EVGA will no longer sell NVIDIA-based graphics cards after the two firms failed to come to an agreement (Ars Technica).

🛵 Unagi is canceling its collision-sensing scooter. The company’s pointing users to its existing and cheaper electric scooter models instead (Gizmodo).

📞 Google Tensor G2 specs leak: Same old CPU, upgraded GPU incoming? (Android Authority)

🔭 NASA’s Mars Perseverance Rover found some intriguing organic matter in the planet’s rock, but it’ll take quite a while before the samples can return to Earth (CNET).

🌴 A huge leak dumped 90 videos of GTA 6 online, detailing some of the game’s main characters, locations, and more (PC Gamer).

🔱 You suddenly gain godlike powers over the universe, what is the first thing you do? (r/askreddit)

Monday Meme

Artificial intelligence, or AI, can be useful to no end. In the case of voice assistants like Google Assistant, a simple query can save you minutes in a day. In previous editions of TDA, we’ve looked at how AI could generate art or at least attempt to. Earlier this month, an AI seemingly accidentally conjured up an image of what many are calling the internet’s first cryptid.

• Referred to as Loab, the creepy AI-generated character comes from artist @Supercomposite and takes the form of a woman with red cheeks, pained eyes, and a blank smile that’s deeply, deeply unsettling.
• The interesting thing about Loab is that it seemingly wasn’t an intentional creation by the artist.
• The AI used was fed a negative prompt weight. Instead of generating an image of the prompt itself, the AI tries to generate an image that’s opposite to the prompt.
• When the resultant image’s details were fed back into the AI, Loab emerged.
• Supercomposite notes that when the initial image of Loab is fed back into the AI with a companion image “nightmares ensued.”
• And yes, the images get progressively weirder.

It’s a pretty interesting tale of how AI latches onto traits, or it could just be an enabler of creative storytelling by an artist.

Either way, it’s pretty compelling stuff.

Have a good day,

Andy Walker, Editor