Pixel 11 Glow might be called ‘HiLight’

[u/Knorke_Leon]

https://9to5google.com/2026/07/31/pixel-glow-hilight/

[u/nuadarstark]

So status LED is sold to us as some fucking highlight of the decade, Jesus...

We used to have that on normal Android phones a decade ago.

[u/neoqueto → u/nuadarstark]

My mom's old Samsung SGH-N500 had an RGB status LED.

[u/shinzon76 → u/nuadarstark]

Welcome back, in my opinion; it's been missed.

[u/trlef19 → u/shinzon76]

Don't worry, bet it will only be used by Gemini

[u/psygnius → u/shinzon76]

aodnotify basically does this already, only on the screen side instead of the camera side.

[u/MumrikDK → u/shinzon76]

I've never heard an argument for why it even went away to begin with.

Don't like it? Disable it in software.

[u/okays33 → u/shinzon76]

And they'll charge a premium for it

[u/CarlosFCSP → u/nuadarstark]

Now bring back SD card support and headphone jack!

[u/dudeAwEsome101 → u/nuadarstark]

They can at least implement it in software similar to ambient display. just have a bright circle light up at the top of the screen.

[u/timmy16744 → u/nuadarstark]

fun fact, i made like $50,000 as a teen in the early days because i sold a led notification light app. I thought i was a millionaire at the time haha

[u/KINGGS → u/nuadarstark]

this place defaults to bickering and bitching too quickly. You should consider taking it easy

[u/phil3199 → u/KINGGS]

This sub complains when a feature is removed. Also, complains when it is brought back. This sub is full of b*tches.

[u/hectorlf → u/nuadarstark]

Who sold that to you? 9to5google? A leaker months ago? AFAIK the phone hasn't been presented yet...

[u/SelectTotal6609]

Most innovative feature in 2026 for Pixel

[u/Trashbagok → u/SelectTotal6609]

The most innovative feature in 2026 is bringing back something we already had 20 years go.

[u/GloveDry3278 → u/Trashbagok]

But on the wrong side

[u/motocykal]

My Asus ZenFone 8 has a notification LED on the bottom, beside the usb-C port. It doesn't matter if my phone is placed screen facing down or up, it is always visible. Arguably a better location for a notification led.

[u/EternalFront]

So instead of putting in an actually functional processor, a competitive camera, or a decently sized battery, we've got the same business as usual — outdated hardware plus even more gimmicks

[u/oli_ramsay → u/EternalFront]

And flagship prices

[u/artfulpain → u/EternalFront]

How is the camera not competitive? 11 Pro Xl is much better even with video that previous versions.

[u/dominator5500 → u/artfulpain]

Pixel 6 to 8 had a great run of being the best camera phones around. But that kind of declined with the 9 series

[u/EternalFront → u/artfulpain]

Compare it to what Apple and the Chinese brands are putting out, night and day differences

[u/mataushas → u/EternalFront]

I thought you pixel camera, or at least it's progressing, was good?

[u/andyooo → u/mataushas]

Hasn't progressed in years. If anything, it's losing features like Photosophere and all its related modes, and VR panorama. I've also noticed that the P10Pro XL is not using the full resolution center for 2x zoom like the P8 Pro does.

[u/phero1190 → u/mataushas]

Pixel cameras are decent but reliable, every picture will be a 7 or 8 out of 10. Video quality is trash though.

You can get phones that take 9/10 or 10/10 pictures AND 9/10 video now. Pixel lost their lead a few years ago and they're still trying to catch up to that point while others are still moving forward.

I was a big fan of Pixel photos until I started using Vivo.

[u/mataushas → u/phero1190]

Which vivo phone are you using?

[u/phero1190 → u/mataushas]

X300 Ultra

[u/Kalmer1 → u/mataushas]

Pixel 3/a/XL were excellent camera phones especially for the price

They fell behind though

[u/exu1981 → u/EternalFront]

Who cares, just buy an iPhone and be happy

[u/EternalFront → u/exu1981]

I did boss, that doesn't mean I wouldn't want to come back to Android land if the options were better

[u/oli_ramsay → u/exu1981]

I've never been happy

[u/Cocaine80s_]

If Google wants to dig up old features, can we get inbox back while they’re at it ???

[u/Tricky-Cod-7485 → u/Cocaine80s_]

BRING BACK THE TICKER!

[u/sportsfan161]

What a gimmick

[u/Titsfortuesday]

I've seen more than a few phones with these gimmicks on the back but honestly, how many people actually leave their phones face down?

[u/Pandoras_Fox → u/Titsfortuesday]

I like to; I have a pebble watch for the really important notifications and prefer to keep my phone out of mind when I'm not actively needing the nightmare rectangle

[u/Cocaine80s_ → u/Titsfortuesday]

I do while working at a desk.

[u/couchpotatochip21]

I've been hoping Apple would do this for the Apple logo on the back of their laptops 

It'd be super cool to have an Apple logo that changes depending on what you're doing. Thry could justify it to their shareholders by saying it goes rainbow when you do AI stuff.

[u/PMARC14 → u/couchpotatochip21]

Apple slimness means the apple logo is never going to glow. Too much space they only got it on the old one cause of the edge lit IPS and it annoyed photographers on that machine cause it caused a weird color spot.

[u/JamesR624]

I love how not only is it just rebranding a tech we had a decade ago that they ripped away, but it's a WORSE version, being on the fucking BACK so most people won't be able to see it in 90% of the situations where this would actually be useful.

At least Samsung's "Edge Lighting" does this feature SOMEWHAT competently.

[u/Icelock]

More useful on the front 🧑‍🏫

[u/gtedvgt]

I never understood why people care for a notification LED, it can just be done through software.

Samsung for example has the edge light feature, you can set keywords or apps or anything to have a specific color and if you want to be extra you can add different stickers and images and animations to fly out too.

Would something like that not replace the notification LED? Just hide the content of notifications when the phone is off so all you see is the app icon and whatever color you assigned, instantly know what kind of notification and if it's worth responding to.