Google brings back Cast volume controls

With Android 12, Google quietly removed the ability to control the volume of Cast-enabled devices using your phone’s volume buttons. On Android 11 and earlier versions you could change the volume of an ongoing Cast session by simply pressing the volume buttons from any screen. But in the latest version of Android — you now have to open the relevant app to adjust the volume, which is really annoying. As it was spotted by Mishaal Rahman, Google has seemingly re-enabled Cast volume controls for Pixel phones running Android 12 with the January 2022 security update.

How to fix freezing issue on Pixel 6 (Pro)

The freezing touch-input issue seems to trigger on Pixel 6 (Pro) devices that have an Accessibility Service running with canPerformGesture permission enabled. When this permission is enabled, the whole system freezes for 1-2 seconds every time when the battery drops by 1%.

To fix it:
Go to Settings > Accessbitliy on your Pixel 6 and turn off every accessibility service you find in there, including Voice Access, Accessibility Menu, Switch Access, and others

Google Pixel 6 series might get face unlock

According to xda-developers forum there’s evidence that face unlock is in the works lurking within a commit published back in July. Specifically mentioning “face unlock” and the Tensor SoC’s “gs101” internal name, the commit stresses that there’s currently a power usage issue with the feature. The commit suggests face unlock is overutilizing CPU resources when not required, potentially impacting battery life. This could be main reason why Google decided to forego face unlock on the Pixel 6 series on launch day.