It is a good four months until Google announce and release the Pixel 4a but that doesn’t stop us wanting to know as much as we can about it. We saw some codenames show up in the AOSP just over a week ago and today we see it appear in another source, an APK file from Google.
In their APK teardown Android Police found a couple of names appear that we suspected were Pixel 4a devices — Sunfish and Bramble. We know from previous leaks that Sunfish is base don the Snapdragon 730 chipset which does not support a 5G modem.
Bramble on the other hand is based on the Snapdragon 765 processor which comes with an integrated 5G modem. The chipset is thus expected to not be as cheapo as the 730 chipset — it is possible that this year we will see a 4G Pixel 4a and a 5G Pixel 4a XL. It is a detour from Google’s recent devices where the smaller device has the same specs as the larger device but with 5G beginning to take off in the US it would not surprise us if Google wanted to have a 5G option as well.
Within the teardown Android Police also noticed code to prevent notifications from appearing while recording a video — an automatic DND. Automatic DND can be enabled within the settings of the camera app.
<string name="dnd_access_needed_info">To pause notifications while taking videos, turn on Do Not Disturb access in Settings.</string>
<string name="pref_dnd_access_needed_title">Do Not Disturb access needed</string>
The new Camera app update will also bring 24fps recording to the Pixel devices which is an option that many videographers prefer due to it “looking more natural”.
If you want to check out the new app you can of course download it for your Pixel now and you can be sure there will be an update for the Gcam for your non-Pixel device coming shortly.
There are minor details to learn about the Pixel 4a devices but bit by bit the information will be pieced together before we have a full picture of what to expect come Google I/O in May this year.
