Category: Google Pixel 2

With it being the first Monday of the first full week of June, as expect, the Android team within Google has released this month’s Android Security Update patches.  The full builds along with the OTA builds are now available for those who want to sideload while devices should be getting the update via the System Update settings on their phone later today.

As usual, there are two patches in this month’s update.  The first, date June 1, 2018, consists of 22 total patches, five of which are considered critical.  This patch mostly deals with the base Android platform itself and the patches address things like Media Framework and System level patches.

As expected today, Google has released the May 2018 Android Security Update for the Pixel and Nexus devices.  The update, which consists of two patches, is rolling out now to compatible Google devices.  With it being the Monday of the first full week of the new month, it was expected we would see these patches land today.

As has become the norm, there are two patches for this month’s Android Security Update.  The first, dated May 1, 2018, consists of 7 patches, all of which are marked as High priority.  The patches in this build deal with general Android items like frameworks, runtimes and other base elements to the platform.

When the Google Pixel 2 lineup was released, a series of “Come & Play” wallpapers were made available to the those devices exclusively.  Consisting of 5 wallpapers in all, they are colorful, playful wallpapers that bring a mix of organic shapes and Material Design.

Now, you can download all of the wallpapers for your particular phone.  I’ve added the five wallpapers to the Wallpapers page here on the site as well as to this post.  As usual, I’ve added them after the break so for those of you who aren’t interested, you don’t have to wait for them to download on the main page.

The Google Camera app for the Google Pixel lineup of phones has a new update rolling out that brings some UI changes as well as some new features.  The update is version 5.2 for those keeping score at home and has been released to the Play Store.  You should see the update over the course of the next few days.

From a UI perspective, the top menu bar has been cleaned up with the grid control settings moved to the menu in the app as a setting.  Given that the grid view is normally something you set and forget, this makes sense and makes the upper bar in the app a bit less cluttered.

Google is in the process of researching a new bug that is impacting Pixel 2 owners where rapid battery draining is occurring.  So far the Mountain View company hasn’t pinpointed the cause of the problem, which is not impacting all users.

A thread in the Google Product Forums, in the Pixel community, has been ongoing, particularly since the release of the February Android Security Update.  That appears to be when the issue began for several users although Google, right now at least, cannot find a correlation between the two, according to a source at 9to5Google.

Google today announced that their own first and second generation of Pixel phones now are certified as Android Enterprise Recommended devices.  I means that the four Pixel phones – the Pixel, Pixel XL, Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL – join the ranks with the Huawei Mate 10 Pro, LG V30, Nokia 8 and others.  You can see the complete list of devices here.

The Android Enterprise Recommended program certifies devices that meet criteria for manageability, support, productivity, security, and reliability.  The idea behind the program is to eliminate the guesswork on which devices are up to the task of being ready to handle the wear-and-tear of being an enterprise phone but also manageable from an enterprise IT perspective.