The Google Pixel is IP53 certified — here’s what that means

Phones don’t make good dive buddies. But it’s important to know what those certification numbers mean.

One spec you won’t find on the sheet for the new Google Pixel and Pixel XL is their IP53 certification. Google has confirmed that like the HTC 10 that they resemble, both Pixel phones are indeed tested and rated with an ingress protection score. Let’s have a look at what that really means.

Your new Pixel won’t be waterproof. Not even a little bit.

IP certification is all the rage recently. Not too long ago you had to look for a clumsy phone in a thick outer shell to gain any type of protection from the elements, but now many phones come with some level of dust and/or water protection rating. Some, like the Galaxy S7 or the iPhone 7 take things a bit further and make a serious attempt to keep the environment out. We’ve compiled a full breakdown of exactly what all those letters and numbers mean so you’ll have a better understanding the next time a tech giant starts throwing them at you.

Rugged phone ratings: Everything you need to know

For now, let’s focus on that magic number 53 that was assigned to the Pixel and Pixel XL.

IP ratings are divided into two categories — dust and dirt protection is identified by the first number, and it can range from zero to six — with zero as no protection and six as completely dust-proof even under pressure. The second number is the liquid protection rating, and it’s not quite as straightforward with it’s zero to nine-K rating system. For example, six is always better than seven or eight, but sometimes seven is better than eight or vice versa. Liquid ingress protection is one of those things you need to look up unless you have to memorize it for some crazy reason. It’s also important to have the testing standards from the manufacturer handy for some of the results where parameters can vary.

• The first number, five, means that “dust must not enter in enough quantity to affect the normal operation.” The amount of dust that can get inside the phone isn’t defined, but we’re assured enough to make things stop working normally isn’t going to happen.
• The second number, three, means the Pixels are “Protected against spraying water when tilted up to a 60-degree angle from its normal position.” Normal velocity (not under any type of external pressure) can rain down on the phone while it’s flat and the phone can be tilted like it was in use in your hand and still not be damaged.

The worst part about dust or dirt getting inside your Pixel phone is that you have a dusty dirty phone that you’ll probably never get clean. Any parts that can’t withstand being coated in solid particles (household dust can contain decaying hair, human skin, and burnt pieces of meteorites) are inaccessible to those particles or are self-cleaning. I don’t want to think about using a dusty phone, but it’s nice to know that I could be stranded at the beach with no beverages and my phone wouldn’t die.

The IP in IP certification stands for Ingress Protection — keeping things out of your phone.

Your Pixel or Pixel is not waterproof. Being splashed or sprayed with water not under pressure and not when the phone is vertical is not even close to being able to withstand being dunked in the pool or dropped in the toilet. This is great if you’re caught out in the rain or if you spill water (that’s important — these IP ratings are for water only) at dinner, but nothing more extreme.

In any case, we don’t recommend you bury any phone in the backyard to test its dirt protection or even take your phone to the pool for some underwater shots no matter what IP rating it has received. Quite often phones fail real-world tests of these ratings, and the numbers mostly are a sort of insurance policy that would get a replacement if there was damage. For every story you read about someone taking their phone diving or livestreaming water polo, you’ll find one where the phone was damaged and had to be replaced. Replacing your phone is never fun.

Google Pixel + Pixel XL

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• In pictures: Google Pixel and Pixel XL
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• Understanding Android 7.1 Nougat
• Verizon is the exclusive U.S. carrier for the Google Pixels
• Join the discussion in the forums!

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Researchers push Moore’s Law with a 1-nanometer transistor gate

Ready for some hardcore science about transistor elements that are a fraction of the width of a human hair? Good, because that’s what this post is all about. “The semiconductor industry has long assumed that any gate below 5 nanometers wouldn’t work, so anything below that was not even considered,” University of California at Berkeley researcher Sujai Desay says. In recent years, though, that assertion has looked shaky, and now it’s been thoroughly disproved thanks to the discoveries made by scientists at UC Berkeley and the magic of carbon nanotubes. Or, as they’re more commonly known, graphene.

Ali Javey, Jeff Bokor, Chenming Hu, Moon Kim and H.S. Philip Wong crafted a transistor with a 1-nanometer gate. In theory this could shrink the weight and size of our already-thin electronics even more. For context, current silicon transistors have 20-nanometer gates. However, it’s worth noting that graphene isn’t the only material in use here. The UCB researchers also used molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) to achieve this result.

A problem with using anything but silicon for these ultra-small transistors is that with anything under 5nm in size, it gets harder to control the flow of electrons through the material, and the transistors can’t be powered off. But since electrons are “heavier” when they’re pushed through MoS2, smaller gate lengths can be used. Hence shrinking down to 1nm.

Now, it’s important to note that while this is a huge discovery, it isn’t precisely the first time for achievement the way that UCB says it is. Back in 2008, researchers from the University of Manchester used graphene to create a transistor 1nm across containing only a few carbon rings. And in 2006, Korean scientists used FinFET to make a transistor with a 3nm channel length.

So maybe relax, because it looks the reports of Moore’s Law’s demise have been slightly exaggerated or at least delayed.

Via: Reddit

Source: University of California Berkeley, Science

U.S. carriers backing away from the Galaxy Note 7, offering refunds and exchanges

Confidence in the Note 7 was fading, and now it may not be there at all.

Everything seemed to be getting back in order in regards to Galaxy Note 7 exchanges and sales in the U.S., but announcements from Sprint, T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon today show that they may be fed up with the situation at this point. All four carriers have confirmed that in light of ongoing public uncertainty about the safety of the Note 7, customers can return even their replacement Note 7s for refunds or exchanges.

The details of each return/refund policy differs by carrier, but statements offered to Android Central from each of the big four have confirmed that the processes are in place to take your Note 7 back if you’re unsatisfied — even if you’re outside of the regular two-week return window or have already been issued one replacement.

Fool me once, shame on me; fool me twice …

Interestingly, at the time of writing the U.S. carriers and retailers like Best Buy still have the Note 7 up for sale, and in the case of Verizon and Sprint have had them on store shelves again for over a week. But the fact that they are each now offering blanket trade-in and refund deals for owners of the Note 7 is a pretty clear sign of a complete lack of confidence in the phone.

The carriers seem to have been willing to put up with the first round of headaches relating to the replacement of recalled phones, as you’d expect with a partner as huge as Samsung. Given the downturn in public perception of the Note 7, at this point it’s easier for the carriers to voluntarily offer refunds or replacements so they can stop bothering with the whole ordeal.

Samsung Galaxy Note 7

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• Join the Note 7 discussion in the forums!

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Daily brief: Samsung faces flat earnings, Verizon spends money on Pixels

It’s hard to go a full day without some big news regarding Samsung.

There’s a combination of news hits relating to the Galaxy Note 7, and none of it is good. Samsung Electronics released its earnings guidance (what it expects its numbers to look like) for Q3 2016, and both sales and operating profit are about flat from Q2 — that doesn’t bode well for its Q4, which is traditionally big thanks to the holiday buying season.

At the same time, U.S. carriers seem to be backing off from the Note 7, offering refunds and exchanges for customers no matter what the situation, even if they already own a new safe model. This story doesn’t seem to show any signs of slowing down, unfortunately.

Beyond that, a few other things happened in the world of Android today, including more LG V20 launch news, and a few points beyond that. Here’s what you need to know.

Samsung’s Q3 2016 earnings guidance points to profit drop

The preliminary earnings numbers show sales and profit are down slightly from Q2, but are actually up from Q3 2015. We’ll have to see the full earnings report — and particularly the Q4 report — to know how much of the effect is from the Note 7 recall.

U.S. carriers re-open Note 7 exchange programs

Sprint, T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon will again take back your Note 7 for a refund or exchange, even if you’ve already replaced it once. The decisions come as stories about Note 7 malfunctions continue to come out, even as the recall process wraps up. More

Verizon has a big ad push lined up for the Google Pixels

Reuters reports that on top of Google’s own big ad buys, Verizon will be making its own push up to the holidays:

[Verizon] will make a significant investment of its own in TV, digital marketing and social media, from around the phone’s Oct 20 launch through the holiday season.

Sprint announces its LG V20 launch plans

Pre-orders will kick off on October 21 for a full launch on the 28th, which lines up with the launch date on T-Mobile and AT&T. Sprint hasn’t dropped pricing on us just yet, but we know you’ll get a free pair of B&O H3 headphones ($150 value) with your order.

Still using Prisma? It has an offline mode now

Prisma now features an offline mode, which lets you process the varying artsy filters with your device’s CPU rather than have it all done over the air. That’s great news for your data allowance and if you’re a frequent user of the app you won’t run into the “Prisma is over capacity” prompts that occur from time to time.

Offline mode will only be available on devices running Android 5.0 and above, though the company said it’s working on KitKat compatibility. There’s also a video conversion mode, as reported by TechCrunch, that’s coming soon to Android.