Lite in name, but the camera could be the flagship

The rumored Google Pixel 3 Lite is tipped to be a less powerful variant of its flagship siblings, but leaks suggest it will still pack the same excellent 12MP rear camera, and camera samples claiming to be taken with the yet-to-be-announced handset appear to support those claims.

The photos were posted by Russian site Rozetked, the same site behind the Pixel 3 Lite leak just a few days earlier, where it's claimed the handset has the same 12MP camera which seriously impressed us in our Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL reviews.

If this cheaper version of the handset does inherit the same photography smarts as its more expensive siblings it would be something of a coup for consumers - however it does make us wonder if there will be drastic compromises in other areas.

The rumor also suggests the Pixel 3 Lite will come with just a single 8MP selfie camera, while the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL have dual front-facing snappers.

Same camera, different photos

The earlier Google Pixel 3 Lite leak from the Russian site claimed the handset would come with a Snapdragon 670 chipset, rather than the flagship 845 found in the other two devices.

It may be the case that the Pixel 3 Lite has the same camera hardware as its siblings, but with a mid-range chipset, and thus a mid-range ISP (image signal processor), the software capabilities of the camera on the Pixel 3 Lite are likely to be reduced.

Part of the reason the Pixel 3 and 3 XL cameras are so good is down to the clever software algorithms Google has used to smartly enhance snaps and provide modes such as portrait and night sight.

A lot of these capabilities lean on the Snapdragon chipset inside the phones - with the ISP a core component for photography. With a less powerful chipset inside the rumored Pixel 3 Lite, the camera experience is likely to not hit the same impressive heights.

This should all be taken with a pinch of salt, however, as there's been no confirmation - or even an inkling - from Google that a Pixel 3 Lite may be in the works.



SOURCE TechRadar:

The update will arrive ‘in the coming weeks’

Since their US launch on October 18, Google's Pixel 3 smartphones have had somewhat of a bumpy start – users have reported numerous bugs and teething problems from the new devices, including a photo saving issue and a horrifying second notch.

More recently, a memory management flaw has been discovered that's causing background apps (such as music apps) to close prematurely, usually after a user has taken pictures with the Pixel 3's celebrated camera.

Thankfully, this memory management problem has now been acknowledged by Google, with the search giant offering a statement on the matter to 9to5Google: "We're rolling out a software update in the coming weeks to keep background apps from being prematurely closed in certain situations."

Google reportedly told the site that the fix would arrive as part of a monthly security update, though not the November one that's being released today.

Based on the wording of Google's statement, it would be safe to assume that the memory management issue will be addressed in the Pixel 3's next security update in December, though it's possible it'll land later than that.


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Google is working on a software update for all Pixel phones after a rash of complaints about unsaved photos.

Google will soon roll out a fix for a bug in its new Pixel 3 and 3 XL that's infuriating users who discover that some photos taken are not being saved. Until the fix arrives, users will need to be careful with their snaps.

"We will be rolling out a software update in the coming weeks to address the rare case of a photo not properly saving," Google said, confirming that the fix will be also be delivered to the Pixel and Pixel XL, and Pixel 2 and 2 XL devices.

The Pixel's camera bug is probably the worst of several issues that appear to be related to Google's memory-management optimizations.

Other problems include that opening the camera while using the Pixel to stream Spotify frequently kills the stream.

Android Police's Artem Russakovskii also reports that the Pixel 3 XL can only handle between two or three apps in memory before they need to reload.

Some Android fans are now questioning whether Google messed up the Pixel 3 and 3 XL by only giving it 4GB of RAM, compared with, say, the OnePlus 6, which has 6GB of RAM.

One thing Google can't fix now is a shortage of memory, but it may be able to fix these problems if it's a memory management bug.

Reviewers at 9to5Google have also found memory issues in the Pixel 3 XL.

It is a shame that unsaved photos are causing dissatisfaction with the Pixel 3 and 3 XL, which have otherwise received top marks for the camera.

Unlike many of today's flagships that use two rear cameras, Google opted to use just one rear camera powered by Google's innovations in 'computational photography'.

As Google distinguished engineer Marc Levoy told CNET recently, the Pixel 3's Super Res Zoom, a computational photography feature, allows its single camera to come "very close" to a phone's second camera with 2X optical zoom.

The other AI-powered camera feature is Top Shot, which takes multiple snaps of a face and picks the best one. It was also trained on a large database of human faces.


SOURCE ZDNet:

You won't have to wait long to get your hands on Google's latest smartphone.

Google sent an email on Wednesday morning teasing the company's event next week. At the event, Google is expected to announce new Pixel phones. Thanks to that email, we now know that pre-orders will begin "immediately after the event."

In the email, Google instructs current Pixel owners to squeeze their current phone and ask Google Assistant about the upcoming events. When asking Assistant the example questions, it replies that a new phone will be announced, along with "maybe" more devices, and instructs users to tune into a live stream of the event on YouTube.



In addition to the email, Google also posted an image on Twitter playfully teasing the potential of a miniature Pixel phone.

It's clear Google will unveil the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL, and we expect Google will announce a new Pixelbook, a new Google Home products, and perhaps even a new Chromecast.

The Made By Google event will start on Oct. 9 at 11am ET/8am PT and will be live streamed on YouTube.

Google Chrome tip: Use the built-in Task...


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