Any post about Android updates is going to be meet with some snarky folks say "ummmm, Android updates are like a year late if they come at all 🤓" Yes, we get it, iOS is much better at getting updates to more devices faster, but hey, people own Pixels and for them this isn't a problem. Let's try and talk with out reverting to fanboy stuff?

Aaaaaanyway...

Just over a week ago, the first Android 11 developer beta came out and I remarked on how many features looked like iOS features. Based on iOS and Android getting closer together in terms of feature parity, this isn't a huge surprise, but what is a surprise is that Pixel owners get a lot of those updates today.

Google has been doing these "feature drops" for a few months now, and this one brought along a few features we first saw in the Android 11 beta:

1. Play/pause through Motion Sense gestures.
2. "Rules" for making your phone change some settings based on location or Wifi networks.
3. Cards & Passes for a more Apple Wallet-style experience.
4. Dark mode scheduling based on sunrise/sunset (so hard coded times yet, though).
5. New emoji.

None of these are tent-pole features, but they are all quite nice (except you, Motion Sense) and make the phone experience a bit better. This is just nice for Pixel owners since they don't need to wait for the fall to get all the new goodies they first saw in a beta.