Google today rolled out the March Feature Drop and Android 12L to the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro after a release came to older Pixels in the first week of March. The delayed release comes after a second such delay for Google’s newest phones, raising concerns of teething issues with the company’s Tensor processor.
With the March Feature Drop and Android 12L, Google is bringing a few quality of life improvements to the Pixels. It’s adding Night Sight support to the Snapchat app, allowing for better nighttime photography when using the popular social media app. It’s also improving the Pixel’s smart Live Caption feature to allow users to “type” their phone calls out and have an automated voice transcribe incoming audio and read text out to the person on the other end.
Google also highlights app updates (some of which have already rolled out), including a new battery widget coming to the Style and Wallpapers app, new YouTube integration in the Messages app, and YouTube live sharing with the Duo video calling app, much like Apple’s Share Play.
Android 12L for its part is a smaller update as far as Pixels go. There are small interface changes with a smaller clock face for the lock screen, nicer wallpaper and widget pickers, and tweaks to the notification center. The multitasking menu also sees some tweaks for people who want to use split-screen often.
While it’s finally here, Android 12L has been a deeply weird release for Google. It was initially positioned as bringing improvements to large-screened devices like tablets and foldables, but Android 12L remains exclusive to Pixels for now. While the Pixel 6 Pro can charitably be counted as a “large-screened device” if one were to tinker with display settings, Google’s reticence to launch a successor to the Pixel C has hamstrung the effectiveness of its Android 12L release. The lack of a big-screen app push directed from Google has also served to underline the inadequacy of the update, especially when the likes of Samsung already have competent Android-powered operating systems for its own tablets.
Two new highly requested iCloud plugins just got added to ChatGPT, giving people who rely on Apple’s Mail and Calendar services a way to search emails, check appointments, and manage their schedules directly through the chatbot.
The integration is rolling out to all ChatGPT plans, including the free tier. You can access it on the web, desktop, and iOS.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.
Samsung’s scandal over its Game Optimizing Service, or GOS, has returned with a bill attached. South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission has tentatively fined the company 20.1 billion won, or about $15.1 million, over gaming claims made for the Galaxy S21, Galaxy S22, and Tab S8.
The regulator says Samsung promoted the devices as gaming powerhouses without disclosing that GOS placed preset CPU and GPU limits on certain demanding games. Samsung disputes that conclusion, calling GOS a legitimate way to manage heat.