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Google brings AI weather summaries to Pixel 8 and 8a smartphones: Report
Google brings AI weather summaries to Pixel 8 and 8a smartphones: Report

Business Standard

time30-07-2025

  • Business Standard

Google brings AI weather summaries to Pixel 8 and 8a smartphones: Report

AI-generated weather summaries are now reportedly appearing on Pixel 8 and 8a devices as Google quietly expands the feature beyond the Pixel 9 lineup New Delhi Almost a year after Google introduced AI-generated weather summaries with the Pixel 9 lineup, the same feature is now reportedly starting to appear on older devices like the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8a. Originally, the AI Weather Reports were limited to the Pixel 9 series as part of a revamped Pixel Weather app that showcased the latest software enhancements. According to a report by 9To5Google, Google later made the new app available to all Pixel phones powered by its Tensor chip; however, AI functionality remained exclusive to the Pixel 8 Pro, likely due to its higher RAM capacity. Now, the report details that in recent weeks, several users on Reddit have reported seeing AI-generated summaries on standard Pixel 8 and Pixel 8a models, suggesting that Google may now be expanding the feature to devices with more modest hardware specifications. To use the AI Weather Reports feature, users must first enable Gemini Nano in the Developer Settings, since Google has made this optional — especially for devices with lower memory capacity. If Gemini Nano is already turned on but you prefer not to use the AI Weather summaries, you can switch it off by opening the Pixel Weather app, going to your saved locations, tapping your profile icon, and disabling the feature from the app's settings, reported 9To5Google. What are AI-generated weather summaries? The AI-powered weather summary delivers a concise snapshot of the day's forecast, eliminating the need to interpret detailed charts or data. It condenses essential weather information — such as temperature, precipitation, and wind — into a single sentence or brief overview. For instance, a typical update might read, 'Light rain from 5:02 PM to 10:00 PM.' This feature is likely to help users prepare more effectively by offering quick suggestions, such as how to dress or whether to adjust outdoor plans. Additional features in the Pixel Weather app include:

Pixel Weather's AI-powered forecasts expand beyond the Pixel 9 series
Pixel Weather's AI-powered forecasts expand beyond the Pixel 9 series

Android Authority

time28-07-2025

  • Android Authority

Pixel Weather's AI-powered forecasts expand beyond the Pixel 9 series

Rita El Khoury / Android Authority TL;DR Google's new Pixel Weather app launched last year with the Pixel 9 series. While Pixel Weather availability has since expanded to other Pixel models, that hasn't included AI forecasts. Now Pixel 8 and Pixel 8a users with Gemini Nano report that AI forecasts have started working. Almost all of us rely on weather forecasts to help plan our days, and while you've got no shortage of weather apps to chose from on Android, Google's own Pixel Weather has got to be one of our favorites. For as great as it is, though, that app's not without its limitations, like how it's only available for Pixel devices. More than that, not all of its features are universally available across the Pixel lineup, and while that's not a situation we're likely to see go away for good, it is one that's currently getting a little better. Pixel Weather initially debuted for the Pixel 9 series, but with last fall's October Pixel Drop, Google expanded availability down to the Pixel 6 family. And while that was great to see happen, the Pixel 9's hardware enabled it to offer a locally generated AI-powered forecast that was not similarly available on lesser Pixels. At least, that's been the situation for the past several months, but over the last couple weeks we've been discovering reports that point to that changing. You may remember that last year Google gave the Pixel 8 series and Pixel 8a access to Gemini Nano, theoretically preparing them for just this kind of on-phone AI feature. And while it's been a long time coming, we're now hearing from users who are starting to see Pixel Weather AI forecasts on their Pixel 8 handsets. After first spotting user Ayushmaan in the Telegram GappsLeaksChat group sharing the presence of AI forecasts on their Pixel 8a, we went looking for further corroboration, and see Reddit posts from users like noryaky228 and Stalkerusha confirming the same. AssembleDebug / Android Authority Haven't seen anything like this on your own Pixel 8 or Pixel 8a? Well, there's probably a very good reason for that. First, you'll want to make sure that Gemini Nano is enabled in your phone's Developer Settings. Then you'll also want to be running the latest Gemini Nano model. From the sound of things, though, you may be automatically prompted to update Nano when launching Pixel Weather. It feels a little odd that this support seems to be arriving so late after the needed pieces were already in place, and even now we have some big questions about Google's intentions for this expansion. But even without having the complete picture just yet, this is still some great progress to see, making our favorite weather app just a little bit better on even more devices. Follow

Survey reveals this is everyone's favorite weather app, by far
Survey reveals this is everyone's favorite weather app, by far

Android Authority

time14-07-2025

  • Climate
  • Android Authority

Survey reveals this is everyone's favorite weather app, by far

One of the staple apps ever since smartphones came into existence are weather apps. While weather apps have existed for decades, user preferences have changed over the years. The weather apps that we once loved have shuttered, and their place has been taken by newer competitors with their own advantages. In our quest to find the current best weather app, we asked you what weather app you prefer on your phone, and the answer has been overwhelmingly in Pixel Weather's favor. With over 47% of the votes, the Pixel Weather app was the crowd favorite by a wide margin. This result is even more surprising because Pixel Weather is a Pixel-exclusive app, so you can't use it on any other Android phone without jumping through a bunch of hoops. Still, the app works well enough to hook all Pixel users in and provide them with everything they need, so they don't have to look for alternatives.

I found an Android weather app that looks like Google made it — only better
I found an Android weather app that looks like Google made it — only better

Android Authority

time08-06-2025

  • Climate
  • Android Authority

I found an Android weather app that looks like Google made it — only better

Andy Walker / Android Authority People were understandably upset when Google revamped its weather app and removed its lovable weather frog. Rain or shine, froggie was always ready to greet visitors looking for the day's conditions. However, with the launch of the Pixel 9 and the introduction of Pixel Weather, the frog moved to the old weather interface accessed through Google Search. While that's a suitable home, having to perform a search just to see the frog has become tiresome for many, including me. Thankfully, there's a third-party app that can help. What weather app do you use? 0 votes Whatever is on my phone to begin with. NaN % I use a third-party app (mention your choice in the comments). NaN % I don't use a weather app. NaN % Weather Master is an app I've grown to love over the past few weeks, and not just for its pro-frog stance. If I could redesign Pixel Weather, it would likely look like this. The app offers a perfect balance of clean aesthetics, playfulness, and useful information, creating a successful weather app experience. Unlike Pixel Weather, it makes efficient use of space without sacrificing these values. The use of Product Sans and Google's design language throughout the app makes it feel like an official Android app, but it gets many things right that Google's official app doesn't. A better Pixel Weather app than Pixel Weather? Andy Walker / Android Authority For starters, froggie is right there, headlining in an animation that describes the current weather conditions, along with a large readout of the current temperature and highs/lows. Below that, there's a Quick Summary section offering a more detailed text outlook, wind speed, wind gusts, and cloud cover details. This reminds me of Pixel Weather's AI summary, but it's much easier to grasp. For instance, today's outlook for my region reads: In the morning, you'll experience gentle drizzle, with a soft, light rain taking over as the day progresses. Great! I know that it's probably going to rain all day. Now I can plan my schedule, outfits, and dinner. It's concise, clear, and brief enough to read in a second or less, making a quick visit to the home screen all you need to view the day ahead. Below this is a small info strip detailing the week's temperature trend and, more interestingly, clothing and activity suggestions for the morning, evening, and night. Usually, these recommendations are pretty similar day to day, but it's a feature I'd rather have than not. Further down on the home screen, you'll find more Pixel Weather-inspired items and a widget section displaying individual metrics like humidity, pressure, and visibility. I'd prefer dedicated cards for each value to see the present and future progression. Tapping certain widgets, like wind, expands to show average speeds over a broader period. While that's sufficient, as I live in a windy region, it could offer more useful info, like gust strength. Weather Master is an app I've grown to love over the past few weeks, and not just for its pro-frog stance. In the Settings, Weather Master gives users a decent degree of control. Remember when I mentioned it's frog-friendly? You'll see 'frog-related descriptions' in the Quick Summary section by enabling the Froggy summary. It's as adorable as you think, but I prefer the clarity of the standard summary. Users can also disable the entire summary section, pushing other valuable information higher up on the home page. Weather Master is free, but the developer provides a surprisingly broad array of weather models and sources. You can keep the default Best match option if you're happy with the forecast, but I appreciate the level of customization available. It's good, but not quite great Andy Walker / Android Authority Weather Master isn't the complete package yet, and other weather apps outperform it in some areas. I would like to see deeper information for other metrics. As I mentioned, tapping on the wind tile expands it, but I get nothing about gusts. Pressure is another missed opportunity, with the app merely displaying the current value, not whether it's rising or falling. This detail is key to understanding how conditions may change in the coming hours. The app also has a radar feature, but it's not nearly as useful as it could be. For one, it doesn't seem to overlay any data in my region, and where it does offer rain intensity details in 10-minute increments, it has a habit of flashing between visual updates. This makes following a system's gradual progression difficult. Smoother transitions between data sets would be a huge upgrade. Despite these shortcomings and aside from giving Google's homeless frog a new place to settle, Weather Master is among the most approachable weather apps I've ever used. As someone who usually likes data-laden graphs, I still use this app as my first choice. It has a few issues and several bugs that haven't yet been addressed, but there are no deal-breakers here. Since the Pixel 9's arrival, I've been unsure whether Pixel Weather is truly a Google best-effort product. But after using Weather Master, I think the tech giant has been outdone once again by a minnow.

Google tweaks the Pixel Weather app and makes it look better
Google tweaks the Pixel Weather app and makes it look better

Phone Arena

time01-06-2025

  • Climate
  • Phone Arena

Google tweaks the Pixel Weather app and makes it look better

Google really did a great job with the Pixel Weather app making it much more useful than the old Weather app that starred Froggy. Instead of a cute animation, the app is now loaded with data including an hourly forecast, a 10-day forecast, Wind speed, Precipitation, Visibility, the UV index, Humidity, Air Quality, and more. You can have the app show the weather for your current location or add more locations if you want to monitor the weather where your kids are living, or want to know the conditions where other family members or friends live. If you're planning a vacation or embarking on a business trip, you might want to know what to expect weather-wise when you arrive at your destination. The Pixel Weather app also features a Weather map which uses radar to show expected precipitation in your area over the next six-hours. With the map, you can pinch out to zoom in if you want to see a more local look at the radar in your area. If you'd rather see what the radar shows for several states near you, pinch in on the screen to zoom out. The severity of the precipitation expected in a particular area is represented by the different colors used by the radar that cover that area of the map. The old design of the Weather map on the Pixel Weather app in on the left with the new floating card look on the right. | Image credit-9to5Google Google has improved the design of the Weather map by changing the bottom sheet showing the time, the circular play/pause button for the radar, and the radar's timeline controls. With the change, the bottom is now a floating card which shows some of the map underneath the card at the left, right, and bottom of the floating card. This replaces the previous look that covered the map with the bottom sheet. You can see this in the screenshots we've embedded in this article. Most of you might consider this to be a minor change that is not a big deal but it does improve the look of the app. It also makes the Pixel Weather app more consistent across different Pixel models since the Pixel Tablet and the Pixel Fold, both large-screen devices, already use the floating card design for the Pixel Weather app. The new version of the Weather map comes with version 1.0.20250408.758982743 of the Pixel Weather app which was disseminated over the last few days. It's another example of Google tinkering with an app and making a minor change that improves the look of the app. You can install the Pixel Weather app from the Play Store by tapping on this link.

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