Mobile menu toggle

Google Pixel

Read Cult of Mac’s latest posts on Google Pixel:

Pixel Watch 5 adds a feature Apple Watch desperately needs

By •

Image of Google Pixel Watch 5 in olive green color
Let's hope Apple Watch cribs this new Pixel Watch 5 feature.
Photo: Google

People often accuse Google of stealing from Apple, but here’s something Apple should pinch from its rival ASAP.

The new Pixel Watch 5, unveiled Wednesday at the annual Made by Google event, comes with a new feature that can predict insulin resistance, a precursor to Type 2 diabetes. If flagged early, insulin resistance can often be reversed with lifestyle changes.

“A first-of-its-kind feature on Pixel and Fitbit wearables, Insulin Resistance Trends analyzes multi-week physiological data to track shifts in your metabolic health without requiring a single drop of blood,” Google said in a press release Wednesday.

It’s not the sort of full-blown blood sugar monitor Apple has been trying to build into the Apple Watch for years. However, Pixel Watch’s Insulin Resistance Trends feature could spot changes in the health of someone wearing the device in time for them to take action. And that could keep them from a potentially deadly diabetes diagnosis.

iPhone 17 desperately needs these Pixel 10 AI features

By •

An image of Google's Pixel 10 lineup, with the words,
When it comes to AI, the iPhone severely lags Google's Pixel phones. Swiping these AI features would be a great start.
Image: Cult of Mac

Google’s new Pixel 10 lineup shows just how much fun (and just how useful) AI can be on a phone. If Apple really wants the iPhone 17 lineup to shine, it should steal a few pages from Google’s playbook.

The iPhone 17 needs more than impressive new hardware to stand out from the crowd. It needs new AI features to make an impact, especially with the Pixel 10 raising the bar.

Google Pixel 10 teaser roasts Apple over Siri’s long wait

By •

Google Pixel 10 teaser taking a potshot at failed Siri 2.0
Google takes a dig at Apple's failed smarter Siri rollout.
Photo: Google on X

Google’s newest teaser for its upcoming Pixel 10 lineup mocks Apple’s failed rollout of a new, smarter Siri. “If you buy a new phone because of a feature that’s coming soon, but it’s been coming soon for a full year, you could change your definition of soon,” says Google in the ad.

It recommends frustrated users to “just change your phone” and gives a glimpse of the Pixel 10 at the end.

iPhone 15 Pro Max vs. Google Pixel 8 Pro: 5x telephoto shootout

By •

iPhone 15 Pro Max vs. Google Pixel 8 Pro: 5x zoom comparison
Just how good is the iPhone's new 5x zoom?
Graphics: Rajesh

The iPhone 15 Pro Max utilizes Apple’s most impressive photographic tech yet, but it’s not the first smartphone with a 5x telephoto camera. In the Android world, you will find several phones with 5x to 10x optical zoom.

Only Samsung’s and Google’s devices deliver image quality capable of competing with Apple’s best. Only Google’s Pixel lineup directly competes with the iPhone 15 Pro Max’s 5x optical shooter. (Samsung is ahead of the competition with its 10x periscope lens.)

So which 5x zoom is the best? See our side-by-side comparison shots to see how the iPhone 15 Pro Max’s 5x tetraprism zoom stacks up against the Google Pixel 8 Pro.

Google is making its own chips for phones and laptops. Sound familiar?

By •

iFixit teardown of pixel
A new in-house chip may power the Google Pixel next year.
Photo: iFixit

Google will take a play out of Apple’s playbook as it reportedly ramps up development of its own processors for use in Chromebooks and Pixel smartphones.

Under the code-name Whitechapel, Samsung is collaborating with Google on the design of the chip. Samsung also supplies chips to Apple.

Google has made its last iPad rival

By •

Google Pixel Slate tablet
Pixel Slate is the last Google tablet you’ll ever see,
Photo: Google

Google won’t make any more tablets, and dropped plans to introduce two models it was prepping for release.

No reason was given, but heavy competition from Apple’s iPad line had to have been a factor.

Google remains cautious about making a folding Pixel

By •

The Huawei Mate X folding phone
Google has probably prototyped a Pixel similar to the upcoming Huawei Mate X.
Photo: Huawei

Add Google’s name to the list of companies investigating flexible-screen phones. The head of development for the Pixel line says his team is at the prototype stage.

Apple is also experimenting with this tech, while companies like Samsung and Huawei are moving ahead with production models. Or at least they are trying to.

Kodak smartphone still shooting for photographers

By •

Kodak Ektra smartphone
The Kodak Ektra is a camera with a smartphone built in.
Photo: Kodak

It was a pretty bold move for the pioneering but fading photography icon Kodak to launch a smartphone dedicated to serious photographers one month after Apple’s release of the highly anticipated iPhone 7 Plus.

The Android handset was released in Europe and Australia and some lackluster reviews soon followed. But Kodak and its partner in smartphones, Bullitt, still have high hopes in putting the Kodak Ektra in the hands of more photographers.

Why you shouldn’t place all your trust in iPhone camera tests

By •

Two cameras that excited the world about photography, the iPhone and the Kodak Brownie.
Two cameras that excited the world about photography, the iPhone and the Kodak Brownie.
Photo: David Pierini/Cult of Mac

Miroslav Tichy roamed the streets of his Czech Republic town with a camera made of plywood, a cardboard tube and a plexiglass lens he polished with toothpaste and cigarette ashes. His crude, distorted photographs now hang in museums around the world.

So don’t worry if the camera on that iPhone 7 you just purchased doesn’t score high in some laboratory test that pits its image quality against other cameras.

Apple Forced To Change Retina MacBook Pro Slogan In Wake Of Google’s Pixel Chromebook

By •

screen-shot-2013-03-24-at-9-38-35-am

When the MacBook Pro with Retina Display first came out, it could make a fair claim towards being “the highest-resolution notebook ever.”

Now that Google has unveiled the Pixel, a $1,300 Chromebook that does nothing but run a browser but boasts an even more pixel-dense 12.85-inch display than the MacBook Pro, though, Apple has had to change their slogan.