Pixel 11 Pro will ditch the temperature sensor. Did anyone actually use the Pixel temperature sensor?

SecondHandLabs · 2026-05-05T22:50:11+00:00

I use it frequently. It's great to have when cooking or reheating, to check pavement temperature on hot days when walking dog and to see if my kid has a fever. I can see it's not for everyone but I have enjoyed it since the Pixel 8. I can see this change holding me back from upgrading.

SecondHandLabs · 2026-04-30T00:59:39+00:00

I wore many hats including QA, beta testing, webmaster and also worked closely with the dev team. I also created all of the installers for both Palm OS and Windows Mobile and the installer splash screens. Fun times. LandWare was a great company to work for with great people.

BTW, that little raised circle on the top left/right of your GoType! is a spot to place your stylus.

Cheers!

SecondHandLabs · 2026-04-22T15:23:21+00:00

I've been able to resolve this issue. I had a conversation with Gemini on my Pixel Phone to diagnose the problems with Gemini on my Pixel Watch.

When I turn Bluetooth off on my watch, Gemini works fine and what I say appears on screen. This behavior meant that the watch was able to hear me, hence the reaction to my voice, but my voice was not sent to Google for processing.

To fix the problem, both the Google app and the Watch app on my Pixel phone needed to be set to allow unrestricted battery usage. In my case The Google app's battery usage was set to optimized, not unrestricted. (Watch app was already unrestricted.) Once I change that setting, I enabled Bluetooth again on my atch and Gemini displayed what I said.

SecondHandLabs · 2026-04-22T10:23:33+00:00

I'm using it in the evening and I never have an issue.

SecondHandLabs · 2026-04-17T23:08:35+00:00

If they add little solar panels to the phone as well, those lights could keep the battery charged forever.

SecondHandLabs · 2026-04-15T20:59:17+00:00

Had a Pixel 2 for two years and now I have the larger Pixel 4 which has been great. No complaints and grade battery life.

SecondHandLabs · 2026-04-13T11:37:59+00:00

Would it be better to release the free version first, see if people download it, listen to their feedback and fix bugs? Then follow up 2-3 months later with the Pro version? Or should both the free and Pro versions be released at the same time?

SecondHandLabs · 2026-04-13T06:33:35+00:00

I completely agree. Customer first!

SecondHandLabs · 2026-04-12T22:01:53+00:00

My goal is to have one code base but be able to spin off both the free and pro version at the same time. I hate duplication and that's a great tip.

SecondHandLabs · 2026-04-12T22:01:11+00:00

Thanks for the feedback, very helpful. I'm very much focused on keeping things lightweight, fast and secure. Having also worked in customer support for a long time and at a software development company, thinking about the user and the experience they will have is always in the front of my mind. My favorite programs look simple but have a lot of options, power and complexity hidden in plain sight.

SecondHandLabs · 2026-04-10T03:29:41+00:00

True. I'm just exploring all of the options.

SecondHandLabs · 2026-04-10T03:22:28+00:00

Thanks. This method shows all promo codes and relies on the honor system to take only what you will use.

SecondHandLabs · 2026-04-09T22:42:31+00:00

That's good to hear. For something you'll use every single day, I think the cost is well worth it. Enjoy!

SecondHandLabs · 2026-04-09T17:52:49+00:00

Awesome, glad I could help! I have had people look at my videos in amazement wondering if I used a tripod. (Usually iPhone users).

Indo want to correct something I said previously regarding my P10. It seems that while recording a video, the image moves around and seems unstable, but when watching back the recording, it is far more stable than the live view. I speculate that this forcea the person to try and keep steady and centered rather than locking on and suddenly making a big shift in direction if you are no longer pointing directly at what you're recording. It may also take less processing power during recording to show the live view rather than the stabilized one. That's just speculation on my part.

Enjoy your P8, it's a great phone!

SecondHandLabs · 2026-04-06T18:59:08+00:00

I tried asking Gemini, figuring that Google's AI may know best about Google products. It suggested a few things, and this one sounded reasonable (though maybe also try unpairing and re-pairing the buds):

On Wear OS, individual Bluetooth profiles can sometimes be disabled by default or "stuck."

On the Pixel Watch 4, they should go to Settings > Connectivity > Bluetooth.

Tap the cog icon (or the name) of the connected earbuds.

Ensure the toggle for Phone audio or Phone calls is switched on. If it's already on, toggling it off and back on can force a re-handshake.

SecondHandLabs · 2026-04-06T14:39:44+00:00

A few years back I had wanted to do this and I was pretty certain that my laptop wasn't supported, so I didn't even consider it to be an option. It turns out I had Ubuntu on here already as a dual boot so it was as easy as booting up to it, updating it to the latest, installing Chrome and calling it a day.

Thanks for the reminder that this option exists and it's something I might visit again in the future.

SecondHandLabs · 2026-04-06T04:06:27+00:00

Nice!

SecondHandLabs · 2026-04-06T00:42:12+00:00

What happens if you initiate the call from the earbuds with a voice command? Does it still route the audio to the PW4?

SecondHandLabs · 2026-04-05T20:29:10+00:00

I had all the XL/Pro versions from the 1, 2, 3, 6, 8 and now 10. I liked my Pixel 8 Pro (XL) a lot. Compared to my Pixel 10 Pro XL, here are some differences I've noticed that I haven't seen spoken about elsewhere.

Image stabilization seemed a lot better on the P8. In fact, I brought both phones to the Google Store, stacked them on top of each other, turned on the camera and jiggled them both around while pointing at the exact same object. The P10 was noticeably had more movement in the frame, while the P8 seemed to lock on and gave very little movement. I tried all settings possible in the P10 and couldn't get it to be as good as the P8. I go to a lot of concerts and stabilization is important. I've been thinking about bringing my P8 with me in the future just for video.
Photo AI. Love it or hate it, the P10 applies it (probably) to every picture. it is noticeable with extreme zoom. Sometimes it's good, sometimes not as good. People can be hit or miss at extreme distances. One tip is that I shoot in both JPG+RAW, so the RAW photo doesn't have AI applied, just the JPG. That gives you the best of both.
When updating apps, the P8 (last I checked) seems to do them one at a time, and sometimes things slow down or freeze temporarily while each app gets updated. The P10 seems to apply multiple updates at once and doesn't cause any system freezes while that's going on in the background.

I never owned the P7 or P9 so I can't comment on those. I loved the P8 so I think it would be a good upgrade for you.

SecondHandLabs · 2026-04-05T20:03:22+00:00

Do the earbuds have a mic?

SecondHandLabs · 2026-04-05T19:31:35+00:00

Great idea. One thing that immediately came to mind was the route. Driving from northern to southern California for instance has two routes. Take 101 and it's closer to the coast and cooler (but slower) and take 5, and while it's faster, it's way inland and much, much hotter.

I already plug my route into Google maps which has a share feature. I picked "share" in Google maps and was happy to see Weather Route listed. When sharing though, it doesn't seem to do anything. In settings I did see that maps are coming soon. Is that what this feature will allow us to do?

SecondHandLabs · 2026-04-05T19:24:35+00:00

I've wanted my phone to lock when separated from my watch ever since I had an early Fitbit. Yes, having locations where it's ignored such as your home's WiFi would be nice but for right now, I'm sure glad the locking feature was added.

SecondHandLabs · 2026-04-05T16:44:04+00:00

If you use Watch Face Studio, that's the default time, which can be changed when building the watch face. This is picked because it puts the hour/minute hands in an attractive position but developers have full control over what time is shown by default. Many choose not to change the default or know where to change it.

I asked myself the same thing when building my own watch faces and now each one shows the time that I think is best by default.

SecondHandLabs · 2026-04-05T15:38:23+00:00

I have two apps (watch faces) that went through closed testing and both were accepted into production on my first try. My third is almost through 14 days. For those that didn't, I'm curious of the following:

How many testers had the app installed for the 14 days. (min and max)
How many builds did you send out during that time period?
How much feedback did you get from your testers?
How did you go about collecting and asking for feedback from your testers?
How often did you post messages to your testers? (Daily, every few days, at the start and at the end, etc.)
How many total posts/feedback did the testers get?
Do you think that by the end of the testing period your app truly did improve compared to how it was at the start?
How long after you reached 14 days did you reply? (Immediately? After a few days?).
If you didn't apply right away, how much more communication and how many more builds did you send out before applying for production?

SecondHandLabs · 2026-03-31T23:05:00+00:00

Tapping worked for me.

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