3013

Nah, the last update was Feb or 2020.

3014

That’s concerning.

3015

Rumor mill:

First rumored in early 2020, Whitechapel is an effort on Google’s part to create their own systems on a chip (SoCs) to be used in Pixel phones and Chromebooks alike, similar in to how Apple uses their own chips in the iPhone and Mac. Google was said to be co-developing Whitechapel with Samsung, whose Exynos chips rival Snapdragon processors in the Android space.

Per that report, Google would be ready to launch devices with Whitechapel chips as soon as 2021. According to documentation viewed by 9to5Google , this fall’s Pixel phones will indeed be powered by Google’s Whitechapel platform.

In the document, Whitechapel is used in connection with the codename “Slider” — a reference we’ve also found in the Google Camera app. From what we can piece together, we believe that Slider is a shared platform for the first Whitechapel SoC. Internally, Google refers to this chip as “GS101,” with “GS” potentially being short for “Google Silicon.”

Looking at other projects connected to “Slider,” we find the codename is also directly connected to Samsung, including references to Samsung Exynos. From the references, it seems that Whitechapel is being developed with Samsung Semiconductor’s system large-scale integration (SLSI) division, meaning the Google chips will have some commonalities with Samsung Exynos, including software components.

The first phones to be built on this “Slider” platform are “Raven” and “Oriole,” two Pixel codenames that we leaked last year. We reported that those two phones are set to be released side by side this fall, presumably as the Pixel 6 and a phone that hopefully isn’t called the “Pixel 5a 5G.”

3016
3017

What about that weird swivel phone they announced? Did that even come out?

It did! And it was apparently mediocre!

3018

I don’t quite understand what this means. Google will have fatter profits, I’ll have a faster phone, or both?

My OnePlus 7P is still going, but when it croaks my next phone will probably be a Pixel if recent options are any indication. New OnePlus prices having been creeping up awfully fast.

3019

I don’t think anyone knows anything about performance or power draw or anything else about the presumptive Google silicon.

If I were Google, I’d be mostly interested in breaking the Android ecosystem’s dependency on Qualcomm, which has shown no ability to keep up with Apple over the last several years.

3020

Also Qualcomm is an awful bully of a monopolist with practices worst than any other chip manufacturer. It pains me to say that of one of the few American companies left making processors (even though the factories are in Asia) but they deserve to die in a fire.

3021

Mind, it’s not like Samsung’s Exynos chips are good. Non-US Galaxy phones have been second-class citizens for years at this point. Unless Google is changing the design up substantially and also secretly employee a bunch of world class microchip architecture engineers, I wouldn’t expect it to blow anyone away.

3022

My understanding is that Qualcomm has a patent on some radio-related stuff that makes it really hard to build a SoC without using their tech, and they charge an absolutely absurd licensing fee, so it’s easier/cheaper to just use their shitty SoCs even though their CPUs are way behind.

I’m definitely not hardware guy, though, so I’m talking out of my rear to some extent for sure.

3023

Spot on, they are a textbook case of big companies using IP laws to achieve the opposite of their intended effect. They wield their vast armory of patents to stifle innovation and competition.

3024

So my new s20 showed up.

At first, I have to say, I thought I had made a terrible mistake. The way it comes out of the box is… Bad.

All kinds of weird things… Like, it has this super high resolution screen, but the default text size is so huge that you basically no screen real estate. Samsung defaults everything to use their own stuff which is generally sub par compared to the vanilla Google stuff.

But after summer googling, I was able to find out how to flip almost everything back into how it worked on my pixel. There are a few exceptions… Like this doesn’t have my Google feed as the left screen of the home panels, instead using some weird Samsung media feed. It doesn’t have the awesome Google call screening which I had actually started using recently.

The lack of the fingerprint reader on the back is definitely annoying, but I’m getting used to using my thumb, and at least the reader itself is patched up and works now. (Although etrade doesn’t trust it so I can’t use it for that)

It’s pretty much good to go now though, and it’s a nice pretty piece of hardware.

I really feel like Samsung could save themselves a lot of work by just making their nice hardware and selling it with vanilla Android. Their add ons are generally not useful.

3025

I have yet to find any that are useful.

3026

I’m finding the Google feed more and more annoying, but you can get it on other launchers if you really want it.

3027

If you use some alternate homescreens, like Nova, you can get this setup. Takes, like the other stuff, moderate Googling, but works awesome and is set-and-forget.

Out of all the Android devices I’ve used recently, I do think Samsung’s automatic popup editing/tweaking options for screenshots are pretty great, and the dropdown SmartThings controls for bluetooth devices/my Google Home lights stuff right in the notification pane is super handy.

3028

You are correct, that stuff actually is good, because I have a smart things hub.

I guess Samsung pay is also good, but I use Google pay. Samsung pay has the advantage of working even with old credit card readers, but at this point every reader accepts Google pay.

3029

How much worse is a pixel 4a from the galaxy s20? It’s only $50 cheaper on the Google store. I really want a headphone port though.

3030

If you’re eligible for their subscription you can get the 4a for $9/mo for 24 months - might be limited to Do subscribers though. That said… I still plan on getting the S20.

3031

Oh yeah forgot about that subscribe option! It shows as $9 for me.

3032

You should give the Samsung browser a chance it’s pretty great. I much prefer it over Chrome.