Pixelated

Gemin-eyes

Pixelated

Show Notes

Welcome to episode 81 of Pixelated, a podcast by 9to5Google. This week, Abner shares his experience with trying out some early samples of glasses running on Google's Android XR platform with Will and Damien. After a surprisingly impressive demo, is it time to start getting excited for the return of Google Glass-esque technology? The trio also dips into some new changes coming to Wear OS and take a quick look at the first One UI 8.5 beta, if only to ask: what's up with the iOS-ification of Android?

Subscribe

YouTube Podcasts

Pocket Casts

Spotify

Apple Podcasts

Overcast

Timecodes

00:00 - Intro

00:58 - Google's AI glasses demo

33:43 - Wear OS updates

38:12 - One UI 8.5 and Android's design language

46:09 - Wrap-up

Hosts

Abner Li

Damien Wilde

Will Sattelberg

Read more

Hands-on: Google Glass is now real with ‘monocular’ Android XR glasses coming in 2026

Samsung and Apple split best-selling phones in Q3 2025, iPhone leads premium market

Pixel Watch December 2025 update rolling out with Wear OS 6.1

One UI 8.5 seems like a very nice, but small update [Video]

Listen to more 9to5 Podcasts

The Sideload

9to5Mac Happy Hour

Electrek

Space Explored

Feedback?

Drop us a line at [email protected], leave a comment on the post, or reach out to our producer.

More from Pixelated

Oct 23, 2026

Welcome to Pixelated episode 122. This week, Abner, Damien, and Will discuss the first slate of iPhone Duo reviews, as Apple dives headfirst into a crowded foldable field for thee very first time. What should Android OEMs learn from the iPhone Duo, and what did Apple fail to catch up to the competition on? As always, there's plenty to discuss.

Oct 16, 2026

Welcome to Pixelated episode 121. This week, Abner, Damien, and Will dive deep into Google's new laptop platform, Googlebook. From hardware impressions across review units to making sense of the earliest days of desktop Android, there's a ton of ground to cover. What sort of future awaits Googlebook, and is it right for what you want out of a laptop? You'll need to listen to find out.

Oct 9, 2026

Welcome to Pixelated episode 120. This week, Abner, Damien, and Will celebrate 10 years of Pixel by ranking all of Google's smartphones released over the past decade. Also, we finally make the jump over to video!

Oct 2, 2026

Welcome to Pixelated episode 119. This week, Ben Schoon fills in for Damien as we discuss our first Pixel 11a leak and the first 50 days of the flagship Pixel 11 series. We also dive into our thoughts on Amazon's new $80 button-equipped Kindle case, and Abner's love of remotes.

Sep 25, 2026

Welcome to Pixelated episode 118. This week, Damien and Abner share their hands-on impressions of Google's new laptop lineup with Will. What's it like to use an Android-powered laptop? How different is the Googlebook platform from ChromeOS? And what steps does Google need to take post-launch to give it as strong of a chance at succeeding as possible? All those questions and more and more as the Android ecosystem grows even larger.

See all episodes →