In early March, Google made the odd announcement that only one of its two latest smartphones, the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro, would be able to run its latest AI model, called "Google Gemini." Despite having very similar specs, the smaller Pixel 8 wouldn't get the new AI model, with the company citing mysterious "hardware limitations" as the reason. It was a strange statement considering the fact that Google designed and marketed the Pixel 8 to be AI-centric and then designed a smartphone-centric AI model called "Gemini Nano" yet still couldn't make the two work together.

 

A few weeks later, Google is backtracking somewhat. The company announced on the Pixel Phone Help forum that the smaller Pixel 8 actually will get Gemini Nano in the next big quarterly Android release, which should happen in June. There's a catch, though—while the Pixel 8 Pro will get Gemini Nano as a user-facing feature, on the Pixel 8, it's only being released "as a developer option." That means you'll be able to turn it on only via the hidden Developer Options menu in the settings, and most people will miss out on it.

 

Google's Seang Chau, VP of devices and services software, explained the decision on the company's in-house "Made by Google" podcast. "The Pixel 8 Pro, having 12GB of RAM, was a perfect place for us to put [Gemini Nano] on the device and see what we could do," Chau said. "When we looked at the Pixel 8 as an example, the Pixel 8 has 4GB less memory, and it wasn't as easy of a call to just say, 'all right, we're going to enable it on Pixel 8 as well.'" According to Chau, Google's trepidation is because the company doesn't want to "degrade the experience" on the smaller Pixel 8, which only has 8GB of RAM.

 

Chau went on to describe what it's like to have a large language model like Gemini Nano on your phone, and it sounds like there are big trade-offs involved. Google wants some of the AI models to be "RAM-resident" so they're always loaded in memory. One such feature is "smart reply," which tries to auto-generate text replies.

 

Chau told the podcast, "Smart Reply is something that requires the models to be RAM-resident so that it's available all the time. You don't want to wait for the model to load on a Gboard reply, so we keep it resident." For that reason, Google is keeping the Gemini-powered smart reply behind a developer flag for both the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro. The "Smart reply" options in the normal keyboard settings aren't Gemini-powered.

 

So unlike an app, which can be loaded and unloaded as you use it, running something like Gemini Nano could mean permanently losing what is apparently a big chunk of system memory. The baseline of 8GB of RAM for Android phones may need to be increased again in the future. The high mark we've seen for phones is 24GB of RAM, and the bigger flagships usually have 12GB or 16GB of RAM, so it's certainly doable.

 

Google's Gemini Nano model is also shipping on the Galaxy S24 lineup, and the base model there has 8GB of RAM, too. When Google originally cited hardware limitations on the Pixel 8 for the feature's absence, its explanation was confusing—if the base-model S24 can run it, the Pixel 8 should be able to as well. It's all about how much of a trade-off you're willing to make in available memory for apps, though. Chau says the team is "still doing system health validation because even if you're a developer, you might want to use your phone on a daily basis."

 

The elephant in the room, though, is that as a user, I don't even know if I want Gemini Nano on my phone. We're at the peak of the generative AI hype cycle, and Google has its own internal reasons (the stock market) for pushing AI so hard. While visiting ChatGPT and asking it questions can be useful, that's just an app. Actually useful OS-level generative AI features are few and far between. I don't really need a keyboard to auto-generate replies. If it's just going to use up a bunch of RAM that could be used by apps, I might want to turn it off.

 

This post was updated March 30 after receiving additional data from Google PR. Google told us neither the Pixel 8 or Pixel 8 Pro is keeping Gemini in memory right now, unless you turn on the developer flag. That means by default, neither device's smart reply feature is powered by Gemini.

 

Unboxing a new gadget is always a fun experience, but it's usually marred somewhat by the setup process. Either your device has been in a box for months, or it's just now launching and ships in the box with pre-release software. Either way, the first thing you have to do is connect to Wi-Fi and wait several minutes for an OS update to download and install. The issue is so common that going through a lengthy download is an expected part of buying anything that connects to the Internet.

 

But what if you could update the device while it's still in the box? That's the latest plan cooked up by Apple, which is close to rolling out a system that will let Apple Stores wirelessly update new iPhones while they're still in their boxes. The new system is called "Presto."

 

French site iGeneration has the first picture of what this setup looks like. It starts with a clearly Apple-designed silver rack that holds iPhones and has a few lights on the front. The site (through translation) calls the device a "toaster," and yes, it looks like a toaster oven or food heating rack.

 

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has been writing about whispers of this project for months, saying in one article that the device can "wirelessly turn on the iPhone, update its software and then power it back down—all without the phone’s packaging ever being opened." In another article, he wrote that the device uses "MagSafe and other wireless technologies." The iGeneration report also mentions that the device uses NFC, and there are "templates" that help with positioning the various-sized iPhone boxes so the NFC and wireless charging will work. With that wireless charging, downloading, and installing, all while being isolated in a cardboard box, Apple's "toaster" probably gets pretty hot.

 

No one has explained exactly how the system works, but we can make some educated guesses. Even when an iPhone is "off" or discharged, it's still possible for the NFC chip to work. Apple Pay and digital card keys are already set up to work with a low battery. Placing a box in the Presto oven would presumably trigger the NFC chip, wake the OS, and cause the phone to boot into an Apple-only unattended update mode (hopefully, there is a lot of security around this).

 

NFC's maximum data rate of 848 kbit/s means there's no way you could send an OS update over that connection, but that quick burst of data is good enough to wake the phone and pass it an SSID and password for a Wi-Fi connection of some kind, which pretty much has to exist in the Presto oven somewhere. With wireless charging powering the phone the whole time, it will have plenty of juice to connect to the Internet, download the update, and install it.

 

The idea of updating a phone in its box is a uniquely Apple proposition, as pulling it off requires end-to-end control of the device. It will take a lot of work put into the hardware, software, box design, and the unique phone oven itself, and the system will require an army of Apple-controlled retail stores that are committed to updating the devices. That's a huge amount of work just to avoid the minor inconvenience of the initial setup download. Only Apple would think to do this.

 

Some software support for the Presto box is already built into iOS 17.2, so it sounds like it's just a matter of rolling out the hardware at Apple Stores. Gurman's report from earlier this week said the rollout would start in April for the US and finish by the summer.

 

When renders of the Pixel 9 came out in January from OnLeaks, we got our first hints that a big change in Google's lineup was afoot. Usually, the company does a big "Pro" phone with three cameras and all the premium features and then a smaller Pixel that gets cut down somewhat, usually with only two cameras. Those January renders showed a big and small phone both with three cameras, indicating the base model Pixel 9 was getting updated to be a "mini-Pro" model—a smaller phone, but still with all the trimmings. The small Pro model still seems to be in the works, but apparently, that's not the base model.

 

The new render from OnLeaks and 91Mobiles shows a third Pixel 9. This one is the usual cut-down small model with only two cameras. Apparently, the lineup would now be a 6.8-inch "Pixel 9 Pro XL," a "Pixel 9 Pro" at 6.1 inches, and a "Pixel 9" at 6.0 inches.

 

The base model's design looks just like the other Pixel 9 leaks. The camera bar takes on a new rounded pill shape. The sides switch to a flat metal band, like an iPhone 4/15. The corners of the display and phone body are much more rounded.

 

Keep in mind that Google also has the Pixel "a" series, with the latest model currently being the Pixel 7a. The company also still sells the previous Pixel "a" model, the Pixel 6a, at a reduced $349 price, so that's five phones in the lineup. The Pixel Fold makes six. When we saw that leak in January, it made sense to us to kill off the base model Pixel 9 because Google has struggled to separate the top-end "a" series phone and the bottom-end Premium phone. Today, the Pixel 7a and Pixel 8 have similar screens, storage, and RAM, and you'd be hard-pressed to see a real-world difference in cameras or the CPU. There's a $200 price difference between them that isn't really justified. When the Pixel 8a comes out, it will cost less than the Pixel 8 and should completely cannibalize base-model Pixel 8 sales. Maybe Google is just happy with twice-yearly updates for the middle model.

 

All of these leaks are super early. Next up in Google's lineup is the Pixel 8a launch, which will most likely happen in May. The Pixel 9 launch is probably around October.

 

Starlink's mobile ambitions were dealt at least a temporary blow yesterday when the Federal Communications Commission dismissed SpaceX's application to use several spectrum bands for mobile service.

 

SpaceX is seeking approval to use up to 7,500 second-generation Starlink satellites with spectrum in the 1.6 GHz, 2 GHz, and 2.4 GHz bands. SpaceX could still end up getting what it wants but will have to go through new rulemaking processes in which the FCC will evaluate whether the spectrum bands can handle the system without affecting existing users.

 

The FCC Space Bureau's ruling dismissed the SpaceX application yesterday as "unacceptable for filing." The application was filed over a year ago.

 

The FCC said the SpaceX requests "do not substantially comply with Commission requirements established in rulemaking proceedings which determined that the 1.6/2.4 GHz and 2 GHz bands are not available for additional MSS [mobile-satellite service] applications."

 

But the FCC yesterday also issued two public notices seeking comment on SpaceX petitions to revise the commission's spectrum-sharing rules for the bands. Dish Network and Globalstar oppose the SpaceX requests, and SpaceX will have to prove to the FCC that its plan won't cause harmful interference to other systems.

T-Mobile deal still on, but SpaceX wants more capacity

The FCC order won't stop SpaceX's partnership with T-Mobile, which uses T-Mobile's licensed spectrum in the 1.9 GHz band. In January, Starlink demonstrated the first text messages sent between T-Mobile phones via one of Starlink's low-Earth orbit satellites. Texting service for T-Mobile users is expected sometime during 2024 with voice and data service beginning later.

 

But SpaceX wants to use more spectrum bands to increase capacity in the US and elsewhere. Space has Starlink partnerships with several carriers outside the US.

 

SpaceX filed its application in February 2023. "Granting this application will enable SpaceX to augment its MSS capabilities and leverage its next-generation satellite constellation to provide increased capacity, reduced latency, and broader service coverage for mobile users across the United States and the world, including those users underserved or unserved by existing networks," the application said.

 

Dish Network owner EchoStar is angry that the FCC is still entertaining SpaceX's request for the 2 GHz band. "The FCC should immediately dismiss SpaceX's petition for rulemaking without seeking comment, because the mere action of seeking comment would provide it with undeserved credibility and threaten the certainty that has allowed EchoStar to innovate in this band leading to significant public interest benefits," the company told the FCC yesterday.

Spectrum interference dispute

The FCC's dismissal of the application described an ongoing dispute between SpaceX and satellite operator Globalstar over potential interference in the 1.6 GHz and 2.4 GHz bands:

 

SpaceX states that it can use a variety of strategies, including phased arrays and beam scheduling protocols, to "coexist" with existing operations without causing harmful interference to "any modern, capable, and well-designed" satellite system. SpaceX's interference analyses, however, rely on the successful outcome of coordination with co-frequency MSS operations. In opposition, Globalstar argues that the Modification Application lacks sufficient technical justification, contradicts settled Commission precedent, and jeopardizes important services, including emergency services, provided by Globalstar for more than two decades.

The FCC said the questions raised are substantial enough to require "a new rulemaking to determine whether there is additional availability for another CDMA MSS system in the 1.6/2.4 GHz bands, and if so, what operating criteria would be appropriate for that system. Absent such a rulemaking to address any changed circumstances, we conclude that the 1.6/2.4 GHz bands are not available for licensing of an additional NGSO [Non-Geostationary Orbit] MSS system. Therefore, the Modification Application's request to operate in these bands is not in substantial compliance with Commission requirements and is unacceptable for filing."

SpaceX, Dish spar over 2 GHz

There's a separate dispute between SpaceX and Dish over use of the 2 GHz band. Dish's 5G network uses traditional cell towers rather than satellites. The FCC described the dispute:

 

SpaceX, in seeking to introduce a new 2 GHz MSS system, argues that Dish is not currently offering MSS service in these bands and has no plans to offer MSS service. SpaceX states that, as with its proposed operations in the 1.6/2.4 GHz bands, it can use a variety of strategies to coexist with existing operations, while ultimately relying on the successful outcome of coordination with co-frequency MSS operations in its interference analyses in the 2 GHz bands. In its Petition to Dismiss or Deny the SpaceX Modification Application, Dish argues that the current 2 GHz regulatory framework does not allow for additional MSS systems and that the Commission's AWS-4 order acknowledged that only incumbent operators can deploy MSS operations in the band.

Dish owner EchoStar uses the 2 GHz band for mobile-satellite service, and it told the FCC that the band cannot handle another widely deployed service.

 

A 2012 FCC order limited use of the 2 GHz band to incumbent MSS operators "based on the impracticality of avoiding harmful interference if separate operators for MSS and terrestrial systems were authorized in the same band," the FCC said. The new rulemaking will determine whether changes over the past decade warrant the authorization of additional MSS systems.

 

"Absent such a rulemaking to address any changed circumstances, we conclude that the 2 GHz bands are not available for licensing an additional MSS system. Therefore, the Modification Application's request to operate in these bands is not in substantial compliance with Commission requirements and is unacceptable for filing," the FCC's dismissal of SpaceX's application said.

 

Comments on the rulemakings announced yesterday are due April 25, and reply comments by May 10. The dockets are available here and here.

 

Android 15 continues its march toward release with the Android 15 Developer Preview 2. Android 15 won't be out until around October, but the first preview shipped a month ago. It's time for another one!

 

Android's satellite messaging support has been in the works for about a year now, and it sounds like Android 15 is going to launch the feature for apps. The new OS is including notifications and better status bar indicators for when you're connected to space. A "NonTerrestrialNetwork" API will let apps know when they're limited to barely there satellite connectivity. Google says Android 15 will let third-party SMS and MMS applications tap into the satellite connectivity APIs, but enhanced messaging with RCS support will be limited to "preloaded" applications only. It seems incredible that Google doesn't have public APIs for third-party RCS apps, but here's your confirmation that Android 15 will continue locking out Play Store apps from RCS.

 

Android's PDF support can be all over the place depending on what device you have, so Android 15 is including making some big improvements to the built-in PDF render. First it's going to end up as a module so it can be updated via the Play Store. Google says this Android 15 version is getting "advanced features such as rendering password-protected files, annotations, form editing, searching, and selection with copy."

 

Flip phone-style foldables are upending the Android app ecosystem with tiny little screens that are too small to work with normal Android apps, and Google is trying to do something about them with Android 15. Today devices like the Motorola Razr and Samsung Galaxy Z Flip, with ~3-inch-square front screens, are mostly limited to the packed-in apps.

 

For now it looks like Google is only standardizing the opt-in flag, with a "cover screen support" property. Google says: "These screens are too small to be considered as compatible targets for Android apps to run on, but your app can opt-in to supporting them, making your app available in more places." As for how exactly a developer is supposed to support a bunch of proprietary, ultra-tiny screens, it sounds like Google isn't ready to help with that yet. At some point, Android needs framework, IDE, and Play Store app listing support for cover screens.

 

The second developer preview is available today for the Pixel 6, 7, 8, Fold, and Pixel Tablet. There's no beta program yet, so you'll need to grab a cable and flash it yourself if you're on the stable Android version. As always, these early releases are just low-level developer-facing additions (we skipped a lot of font and SQL changes). The exciting new features—if there are any—should be announced on May 14 at Google I/O.

 

After leaving the iPad lineup untouched for the entirety of 2023, Apple is reportedly preparing to overhaul all of its tablets within the next few weeks, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. We should see major iPad Pro and iPad Air refreshes "around the end of March or in April," says Gurman, along with a special build of iOS 17.4 that adds support for the new hardware.

 

We'll talk about the specifics of these iPad rumors momentarily, but reading about them got me thinking about what it would take to make me consider an upgrade for either of the iPads currently rolling around my house—a third-generation iPad Air that is currently used mostly for watching Octonauts and assembling Super Mario Lego sets, and a fifth-generation M1 Air that I use mostly for reading and browsing.

 

At least for me, the answer isn't "new hardware." After a brief stint a few years ago using the iPad as a focused writing device, I've mostly relegated it to tablet-y content consumption, leaving behind the cottage industry of enthusiasts who keep trying to come up with workarounds to make the iPad into a Mac. To replace an iPad at this point, I would either need one of them to break or for Apple to dramatically change what the high-end iPads are capable of.

What’s coming this year?

By all accounts, both of these should be significant updates. The iPad Pro will reportedly see its first major redesign since Apple introduced the rounded, larger-screened iPad Pros back in 2018, along with an OLED display panel that will bring the iPad's screen technology in line with Apple's high-end iPhones. A thinner body and the new M3 chip are also fairly safe bets, and some rumors suggest that the tablets could support MagSafe wireless charging (not to be confused with the wired MagSafe 3 port on recent Macs). Apple may also increase the price of its Pro tablets, though sources can't agree on how big those price hikes might be.

 

The iPad Air probably won't see as big a design change, but the 6th-generation model will reportedly step up from the M1 to the M2, and Apple is said to be planning a first-ever 12.9-inch Air to complement the current 10.9-inch design. Like the 15-inch MacBook Air or the M2 Pro Mac mini, a 12.9-inch iPad Air could serve people who want a step up from Apple's baseline iPads, but who find even more expensive iPad Pros difficult to justify.

 

Refreshes for the iPad mini and the low-end iPad(s) are also coming, but we'll probably need to wait a bit longer; Gurman doesn't mention them in his latest report, and rumors from late 2023 indicate that both models could see a refresh later in 2024. Both are long overdue for a bump; the $329 9th-generation iPad and the iPad mini were last updated in late 2021, and the oddball 10th-generation iPad is from the end of 2022.

A chance to course-correct

It's looking like 2024 will be the biggest year the iPad has had in a while, though after a silent 2023, anything would look like a big year.

 

It's also an opportunity for Apple to streamline the lineup—in particular, to finally get rid of the 9th-generation iPad along with its Lightning port and the first-generation Apple Pencil, making the 10th-gen iPad (or a slightly updated version of the same tablet) the new baseline. It's also an opportunity to make sure that each iPad is clearly defined. The low-end iPad is the one you buy for basic browsing, messaging, gaming, and doodling; the Air is the step up for people who use the iPad as their primary computing device but don't care about the Pro's bells and whistles, and the Pro is the model for people with money to spend who just want the best hardware Apple can make.

 

The iPad lineup as it exists now reminds me of Apple's MacBook lineup circa 2018, when the company sold the 12-inch MacBook, a non-Retina MacBook Air, a redesigned Retina MacBook Air, and an entry-level 13-inch MacBook Pro all within a couple hundred dollars of each other. Today's MacBook lineup still has a bit of overlap (the identical-looking M2 Air and M3 Air are separated by just $100), but generally you can point to any given model and describe who it's for. With a bit of pruning and some price adjustments, the iPad could be straightened out, too.

But new hardware doesn’t fix the big problem

Even with a less-confusing range of products and Apple's latest chips, the biggest problem for the iPad is still about software limitations. Many of our criticisms of the iPad Pro circa its 2018 refresh still hold true, despite several generations' worth of new hardware and the new multitasking interface that the iPad has gotten since then:

 

The OS's limitations would be more tolerable if third-party (and first-party) apps picked up the slack, and the development tools were there to make it happen. Unfortunately, too many of the "pro" apps for the iPad Pro are deliberately stripped down for the tablet. And there are numerous tools that creatives and professionals would love to see on the iPad that just aren't there...

 

There is no universe in which this is a laptop replacement for most, or even many, people. It is a digital art creation engine. It is a secondary, on the-go video editor and monitor. It is a screenwriter’s minimalist, distraction free digital notebook. It is a DJ’s on-stage backup. It is many other things, and if it’s something relevant to you, you probably are already thinking about it as you read this.

 

But if you’re not thinking about that one thing that would be a delight to do on this hardware instead of your laptop, there probably isn’t one for you. For you, it’s just a really cool toy, or at least an astonishing feat of engineering. That’s because the new iPad Pro works beautifully for some specialized tasks, but it does not work as an all-around, cohesive professional computing system.

One of the great things about the Apple Silicon transition on the Mac was that it required very little compromise on the software side of things; macOS remained macOS, with all of its virtues and flaws intact. And it's still the place you go if you want a command line or the ability to run development environments or third-party browsers or independently developed third-party apps that are distributed from outside Apple's app stores.

 

The iPad uses the exact same silicon, but it's dramatically more limiting to use, specifically because you're still tethered to the same App Store limitations that the iPad has had since the days when it was just a big iPhone on the inside. Even when Apple releases almost fully featured pro apps, they're still missing features, and you can't always seamlessly use your iPad to open and edit projects you made on your Mac (or vice versa). And Apple has tried multiple times to tack a more versatile multitasking interface onto iPadOS, with only limited success.

 

I don't really think it's likely that Apple will allow its high-end iPads to replace iPadOS with macOS or to implement some kind of dual-booting mechanism that would allow easy switching between the two. But it does feel like the kind of dramatic change that could shift the narrative around the iPad and deliver on the never-quite-fully realized promise of these convertible computing devices.

 

If you're a power user, you get to choose between a limited-but-focused OS and a full-fledged desktop environment; if you're Apple, you suddenly get to talk about things like "Xcode for iPad" or "Terminal for iPad" without having to actually develop or maintain entirely separate versions of those apps with entirely different limitations. And if touchscreen Macs really are coming, as rumors have suggested, what better way to test out some finger-friendly user interface tweaks than to use the touchscreen hardware you already have?

 

I don't think Apple is very likely to listen to me on this. I'm asking to be allowed to run more software on the iPad at the exact same time as Apple is fighting a highly visible tooth-and-nail battle against allowing more third-party software to run on iOS and iPadOS. But now that Apple has shifted its highfalutin "future of computing" talk from the iPad to the Vision Pro, maybe the company will be more willing to experiment with different ways of making the iPad more useful. Especially because, three years into the Mac's Apple Silicon transition, the work of getting macOS and all of its software running on the iPad's hardware is already finished.

 

Waze, the navigation app owned by Google, is adding some new features. Some of these are safety-oriented, like alerts about first responders or speed limit changes. Others are convenience-minded, like help navigating roundabouts or parking information. It's also expanding its use of crowdsourcing to determine road conditions.

 

When Google bought Waze back in 2013, the navigation app was already well-liked for adding a slightly social aspect to in-car navigation—something that seems adorably quaint and perhaps unthinkable these 11 years later.

 

Over the years, Google has slowly incorporated more of Waze's features into its own Google Maps platform and taken away Waze's autonomy, too. In 2022 it was formally merged into the same division at Google that runs Maps, and last year Google laid off some workers and ditched Waze's own ad platform for Google ads.

 

Considering Google's notorious nature when it comes to wielding an axe to much-liked apps or services, it's fair to wonder how much longer Waze will continue to exist. But despite this existential threat, Waze continues to update and improve its app.

 

Last year, it added crash history alerts to warn drivers of crash hotspots they might be approaching. Now it's going to add speed limit alerts to both Android and iOS users later this month, which begins notifying a user that there's an impending speed limit decrease once it's within 500 feet. This functionality can commonly be found on new cars that use camera-based lane-keeping systems, but for everyone else on the road, it ought to be a handy update.

 

This month will also see Waze give alerts about impending speed bumps, toll booths, and sharp curves.

 

Another new safety feature is already available for all Waze users in the US, Canada, Mexico, and France. This alerts users if there's an emergency vehicle stopped along the route. Connected car drivers in Germany have benefited from a similar system—for Waze's feature, the data comes from its "Waze for City" partners.

Waze's new roundabout navigation should be a boon to tourists planning to drive to Washington, DC. Again, it's using crowdsourced data to show users where to enter a roundabout and where to leave it, as well as which lane to be in if there's more than one. Waze says this feature will roll out to all its Android users across the globe this month. But if you use iOS, you'll just have to keep circumnavigating that traffic circle until sometime later this year.

 

Rather than use crowdsourced info, the new parking update is a partnership with the parking platform Flash. It will show users information like whether the parking is covered, if it's wheelchair accessible, and if there is EV charging or valet parking, and you'll be able to reserve parking via the app. (Flash says its "Book Online" feature is also coming to Google Maps.) For now, Flash's database covers about 30,000 parking garages in the US and Canada.

 

Finally, Waze says it's adapting to users whose preferred routes aren't the fastest option and that it will start displaying traffic information along these routes this month to both Android and iOS users.