Daily Authority: 📱 Pixels pick up Android 13

☔Good morning, and welcome to a rather grey Tuesday edition of the Daily Authority. I say grey, as not only has the heatwave broken here and been replaced by fog and rain, but I also have to go to the emergency dentist later. Wish me luck!

Stable Android 13 hits Pixels

Stable Android 13 is finally here for Google Pixel phones. Google’s been testing Android 13 since the start of the year, with the first developer preview back in February. This year, the stable Android release comes early compared to previous years — last year’s update didn’t land until October, with the stable Android 11 release the year before coming on September 8, 2020.

• Google confirmed in a blog post that stable Android 13 has been released for Google Pixel phones and the Android Open-Source Project (AOSP).
• It’s now available to Pixel 4 phones and higher as well as Pixel 4a phones and higher. You can get the update by going to Settings > System > System Update.
• Want to manually upgrade? Check out our Android 13 installation guide.
• But you might want to hold off for now — more on that in a second.
• As for third-party OEMs, if you’ve got a device from the likes of Samsung, ASUS, BBK brands (Vivo, Iqoo, OnePlus, OPPO, realme), Sony, or any other manufacturer, all we know right now is that you should get stable Android 13 “later this year.”

What’s new with Android 13?

The new update brings a host of changes and features, including:

• More options for Material You customization
• Seamless QR code scanning functionality
• Per-app language settings
• A secure photo picker
• Integrated support for Fast Pair
• Spatial audio capabilities

There are also plenty of new tablet-focused additions like native palm rejection support and copy/paste between phones and tablets.

Should you update now?

Before you rush to update your Pixel phone, hold up! There are a number of reasons you might want to hold off updating to Android 13:

• The Android 13 update changes the bootloader responsible for anti-rollback.
• This means once you upgrade on the Pixel 6, 6 Pro, or 6a, you can’t go back to Android 12.
• Of course, it’s unlikely you’d want to, but if you’re concerned about a bug in the new update, you might want to wait.
• Another reason to hold off is that some Google Pixel users are experiencing an issue that sees them receive a system update to Android 12 instead of Android 13.
• We experienced this ourselves on the Pixel 6 Pro and Pixel 6a, with a system update message saying “introducing Android 12” when these phones were already running Android 12.
• Installing the update seemingly did nothing except change the build number.
• Several users across Reddit and Twitter are reporting the same issue.

We’re waiting to hear from Google on this and will let you know once we have an update.

Roundup

📱 POCO M4 announced: Almost everything you need in a budget phone (Android Authority).

📺 Google wants YouTube to be your streaming hub of choice, could reportedly follow in Amazon and Apple’s footsteps with a channel store feature (Android Authority).

🚗 The tax credit of $7,500 for Americans buying electric vehicles isn’t as great as it sounds: It’s estimated 70% of EVs currently available in the US market won’t be eligible for the credit (Reuters).

🤖 This sounds like a Black Mirror episode but is actually a thing: Swarms of mini robots could build tunnels of the future (Wired).

🎮 Samsung’s largest gaming monitor ever is here: The Odyssey Ark is bigger than most TVs at 55 inches, with some impressive specs, coming in September (Android Authority).

📷 Even the best under-display cameras are garbage, here’s the proof, as we compare the best under-display camera against one recent and one old mid-range phone’s selfie cam (Android Authority).

🍎 Apple requires employees to work out of its offices three times a week starting in September: they’ll need to go into the office Tuesdays, Thursdays, and a day set by their specific team (Engadget).

🦸‍♂️ It’s only two days until She-Hulk: Attorney at Law hits Disney Plus, but how well do you know the MCU? Take our quiz to find out! (Android Authority).

💰 Adam Neumann of WeWork infamy has already secured a $350 million investment in his new real estate company, Flow, valued at over $1 billion (Gizmodo).

😥 Sad news: Actor Anne Heche has died aged 53 (People). This retrospective of her life and career includes a selection of her best movies (The Evening Standard).

Tuesday thing

I still haven’t seen the new Jurassic Park movie — and even though the reviews are far from great, I’m a complete dinosaur nerd, so I’m going to love it regardless. So when I stumbled across this news today, I was excited:

• Researchers in Argentina found remains of a previously unknown species of armored dinosaur, the first of its kind to be discovered in South America, according to Science Alert.
• There could be a whole lineage of armored dinosaurs previously unknown to science.
• Jakapil Kaniukara appears to be a primitive relative of armored dinos like Stegosaurus or Ankylosaurus.
• The bipedal dinosaur had a short beak with rows of bony disc-like armor running from its neck, down its back to its tail.
• Surprisingly, according to Scientific Reports, the remains date back between 97 million and 94 million years old, to the Cretaceous period, the last era of dinosaurs — but these armored dinosaurs were previously thought to have gone extinct by the Middle Jurassic period.

If you’re as much of a science and history nerd as me, then you should check out CuriosityStream, the streaming service for science, history, and technology documentaries — there are plenty of dinosaur documentaries to get your teeth into. While you’re here, grab the best science apps for Android, too.

Here’s to a surprise-filled week!

Paula Beaton, Copy Editor.