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Google now offers refurbished Pixel phones, as originally spotted by The Verge. The company is selling refurbed Pixel 6, Pixel 6A and Pixel 7 handsets directly on the Google Store. The phones can be purchased for up to 40 percent off, when compared to new models. Each smartphone ships with the same 1-year limited warranty and customer support options as a new model. Google says that each refurbished handset has been carefully inspected to ensure that the phones, screens and batteries are all in tip-top shape. However, a company representative offered no guarantees regarding battery life in a statement to The Verge. Phone batteries age like people. Slowly at first and then all at once. However, the prices are enticing. The Pixel 6 is available for $339, instead of $599, while the well-reviewed Pixel 7 Pro is $629 instead of $899. All of these refurbished models offer 128GB of storage, but Google spokesperson Patrick Seybold says that the store will soon offer other storage tiers. Each phone ships with the latest Android software, which is a nice touch, and comes with a compatible charger. Theres also free shipping. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/google-starts-selling-refurbished-pixel-phones-184348702.html?src=rss
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The free-to-play mobile game Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp is going the way of the dodo on November 28. However, its being replaced by a paid, (mostly) offline version called Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Complete. This refresh drops on December 3, giving mobile Animal Crossing players just a few days without access to their beloved campsites. Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Complete wont be cheap. Itll be $10 from December 2 until January 25. After that, the price doubles to $20. Tom Nook doesnt mess around. However, it will allow existing players to transfer save data and progress via their Nintendo accounts. This should be a boon for those who have been on board with the title since 2017. These players have until June 1 to transfer data from the old version to the new game. The paid version will be different from the original in some ways. First of all, Leaf Tickets are being replaced by Leaf Tokens, likely because the tickets were purchased using real money and this is no longer a freemium game. Theres also something called Camper Cards, which Nintendo calls customizable in-game cards that each player can create and trade through a QR Code, and that includes information like your personal favorite animal pal. QR codes? Everyone loves those. Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Complete is also losing gift-sharing and the Market Box. There are a couple of other caveats for pre-existing players. First of all, there are no discounts available for current campers, even those who have regularly paid a monthly subscription fee. Some people have been paying those subs for years. Finally, it looks like Nintendo plans on discontinuing support for the game next October, according to Kotaku. Im no economist, but spending $20 on a mobile title that will likely stop receiving updates in less than a year doesnt sound like fiscal responsibility. In any event, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Complete will be available for both iOS and Android come December.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/the-paid-version-of-animal-crossing-pocket-camp-arrives-on-december-3-175248073.html?src=rss
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In a blog post today, Google said it will make AI Overviews in Google Search available to users living in more than 100 countries. Google says people like AI Overviews, so the company plans to reach 1 billion users each month. Additionally, Google is expanding language support now, users in any country where AI Overviews can get them in any available language. For example users in Japan are no longer limited to Japanese. If you arent familiar with AI Overviews by now, its a feature found in Google Search. Googles Gemini AI model will generate a summary for most things people search for, or at least when Google's systems detect a query where generative AI can be useful. This summary appears at the top of the page. Besides answering questions, it can also act as a meal planner, vacation organizer and brainstorming tool, among many other things. This update follows several released over the last few months since the introduction of AI Overviews in May. The most recent update before this one allowed users to visit websites by clicking on links within the AI Overview text. Google says that this has resulted in a traffic increase to supporting websites. However, some publishers and sites fear that the overviews are destroying their traffic by being the first thing people see. News like this isnt surprising, as Google has been stuffing as much AI into Search as it can. AI Overviews have also generated some controversy after the AI gave people inaccurate information for searches for example, it recommended putting glue on pizza for a bit. In response to those issues, Google put some protections and guardrails on AI overviews to avoid similar strange issues. Correction, October 28 2024, 1:30PM ET: This story originally stated that Google was adding local language support to AI Overviews. That feature was already available, so we've clarified that any supported language can be displayed in any country where AI Overviews are available. We apologize for the error.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/google-is-expanding-ai-overviews-in-search-to-more-than-100-countries-170925933.html?src=rss
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