2022 was a frustratingly awful year for tech, with just a few highlights

Covering the tech business can generally really feel boring and predictable. Every 12 months, we all know Apple and Samsung will launch their newest numbered telephones, chipmakers will unveil the most recent “fastest processor ever,” and seedy leaks will give us fodder for countless hypothesis about future merchandise. But between the standard landmarks, 2022 has felt like a turning level for the tech business — each for good and for unwell.This 12 months, the pandemic bubble burst and tech manufacturers began shedding tens of hundreds of employees. Companies shipped main merchandise with unfinished options, and well-liked platforms like Alexa turned out to be cash-guzzling busts. We had a number of standout moments just like the Pixel Watch’s long-overdue reveal, however frankly, we’re hoping 2023 has extra optimistic moments to supply.Starting from probably the most disappointing tendencies and transferring up towards our favorites, these are the standout tech moments of 2022 price remembering.Layoffs afflict main manufacturersThis previous 12 months has been a very robust time for tech staff. Major manufacturers like Amazon, Cisco, HP, Meta, Microsoft, and Twitter have shed tens of hundreds of workers in whole, principally citing the necessity to restructure amidst the current financial downturn.The worst affected was Meta, which fired 11,000 staff as the corporate struggled with lowered advert income and main Reality Labs losses in its efforts to steer in VR/AR growth. Microsoft’s “restructuring” led to 1,000 job cuts, whereas Amazon plans to take away at the very least 10,000 jobs over the subsequent few months.In line with these layoffs, most of those corporations have canceled or curtailed many main initiatives because of this, specializing in well-known IPs assured to generate profits. Google canned its Pixelbook 2 and shut down its Area 120 initiatives. Meta ended its smartwatch and Portal growth and has allegedly shelved one in every of its AR glasses prototypes. And Amazon’s layoffs will concentrate on its Devices and Alexa divisions, which allegedly have price the corporate billions yearly as a result of low-profit margins for its Echo units. Google, too, is pulling again on placing Assistant in third-party units as a result of an absence of revenue, and we’re undecided how this can have an effect on the good house business transferring ahead.Perhaps tech corporations’ overconfidence brought on pointless layoffs. But anytime a enterprise decides to fireside individuals to keep up the underside line, placing an even bigger workload on the workers remaining, that at all times has a unfavourable influence on high quality. We hope our favourite units in 2023 and past will not undergo because of this, and that the laid-off workers can bounce again someplace with higher job safety. Security cameras make us really feel insecure(Image credit score: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)After having my home robbed as a child, and later having somebody break into my yard and steal my bike from my new house, I fully perceive the impulse for DIY safety, and I’ve reviewed varied safety cams up to now. Then the current Eufy safety points got here to mild, proving its cameras uploaded non-public information to its servers with out customers’ information, and that anybody might entry individuals’s digicam feeds remotely with an app like VLC. Eufy responded by denying any wrongdoing and, as noticed by The Verge (opens in new tab), eradicating a bunch of privateness guarantees from its “privacy commitment” web page, together with the promise that “no one else can access or read [your] data.”As a end result, we will now not suggest Eufy cameras. But this is not strictly a difficulty with Eufy alone. Wyze hid a safety breach permitting hackers to entry non-public movies for 3 years, one thing we solely realized in 2022. Ring hasn’t had a serious breach for a number of years (that we all know of), however allegedly provides non-public digicam footage to the police with out consumer consent, one thing many will discover controversial. And even when different safety corporations are experiencing breaches proper now, they in all probability would not inform customers about it.All of that to say, it makes it tough to suggest anybody purchase indoor safety cameras today, and we’re not sure if that may change subsequent 12 months.Big tech will get nearer to actively killing individualsGoogle has finished some praiseworthy issues this 12 months, however Project Nimbus is not one in every of them. Described by our Google Editor Jerry Hildenbrand because the “future of evil,” it makes use of AI to attempt to decide whether or not somebody is mendacity, one thing that Google’s personal workers vehemently protested. This challenge might very nicely result in harmless individuals being arrested and jailed with no proof past an inhuman algorithm.When Google fired its AI ethicists in 2021, it clearly had a real-world influence. So after we hear information that Meta fired its personal Responsible Innovation workforce, it makes us apprehensive about what that would imply for the way forward for its merchandise. And different tech corporations probably haven’t got moral committees, to start with.Meanwhile, only a brief drive from my house, San Francisco banned its police division from utilizing “killer robots,” (opens in new tab) however Slate (opens in new tab) author Elizabeth Joh claims nationwide police departments will proceed to push for his or her use till they will remotely kill anybody they deem a risk with out concern of private harm. And whereas everybody chuckled at Oculus founder Palmer Luckey for making a VR headset that kills you in actual life, he laughed all the best way to the financial institution after his army AI firm Anduril obtained a $1.5 billion funding to proceed growing autonomous explosive drones (opens in new tab). He informed Wired (opens in new tab) that AI-backed weaponry should not be banned as a result of it already exists, a really handy worldview for him and a daunting one for humanity.Terminator followers would possibly concern synthetic intelligence will result in a Skynet state of affairs, however our present scenario the place amoral tech bros backed by enterprise capitalists give governments the facility to remotely kill or imprison individuals with impunity is far more horrifying, it doesn’t matter what your political opinions are.Companies cannot ship key options at launch(Image credit score: Andrew Myrick / Android Central)Right now, the 2 greatest Android watches are the Galaxy Watch 5 and the Pixel Watch. We’re massive followers of each watches, however we’re much less thrilled with how each Google and Samsung launched their signature wearables with inactive well being sensors. Samsung has but to activate its temperature sensor 4 months after launch, regardless of it being one of many few variations between the GW5 and GW4. Same goes for the Pixel Watch’s blood oxygen monitor, nonetheless inactive months later.Evidently, each corporations have didn’t get authorities approval for these sensors to formally measure your well being information, one thing that Apple has seemingly by no means had hassle receiving for its Watch sensors. I do not know if it is a case of Apple getting preferential remedy or simply doing a greater job of solely including options as soon as they’re totally prepared, however this pattern might make Android manufacturers look unhealthy if it persists.The identical concern applies to software program. It took Samsung and Google practically a 12 months so as to add Google Assistant to the Galaxy Watch 4, and now new Wear OS 3 watches with Snapdragon chips just like the Fossil Gen 6 have misplaced entry to Assistant, with no strict timeline of once they’ll obtain it. If corporations resolve they will get away with asserting cool options to draw prospects, with the high-quality print admitting day-one consumers will not get these options anytime quickly, that is unhealthy for everybody. Elon Musk buys TwitterWe know practically half of our readers had no concern with Musk’s $44 billion acquisition, whereas one other 25% wished to attend and “see what he does” earlier than judging. Since then, Musk fired most of his employees, drove many of the relaxation out together with his Twitter 2.0 calls for to work continuous, and has the rest of his workers — a lot of whom are on work visas and wish their jobs to remain within the U.S. — sleeping in unlawful bedrooms (opens in new tab) in San Francisco.Beyond that, Musk’s reign at Twitter has been marked by a sequence of gaffes, from authorized Twitter Blue accounts impersonating main corporations like Eli Lilly to the CEO’s very public tendency of suspending or banning anybody who mocks or criticizes him on his “free speech” platform. His obscure plans of bringing again Vine or making a 1,000-character restrict do not appear more likely to make Twitter extra well-liked, and he might find yourself getting Twitter banned within the EU for failing to fight disinformation and hate speech correctly.All of that is to say, Twitter wasn’t an ideal platform earlier than this acquisition, but it surely definitely received messier in 2022. It reminded us that any well-liked service would possibly take a flip for the more serious as soon as it comes below new possession.Stadia’s protracted dying will not cease cloud gaming(Image credit score: Android Central)Starting in November, Google started refunding its Stadia prospects for all their purchases after killing the platform earlier within the 12 months. I will not repeat my scathing criticism of Google’s resolution right here, besides to reiterate that by duping customers and indie builders alike, Google ensured that the gaming group would by no means belief it once more for any future initiatives.But relatively than concentrate on the negatives, let’s word as a substitute that Stadia was an outlier in a 12 months in any other case dominated by cloud gaming. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate continues to supply cloud gaming for a whole bunch of titles. The Logitech G Cloud launched final month to combined evaluations, whereas the Razer Edge will arrive in early 2023 with each Android and cloud gaming. A ton of 2022 gaming Chromebooks depend on cloud gaming relatively than native gaming, making them cheaper than most gaming laptops. And I’ll cheat a bit and point out Meta’s leaked plans for Project Razer, a cloud gaming platform for the Quest 3 that’ll use 5G networks.Whether cloud gaming achieves recognition with customers is one other matter solely, but it surely’s clear most corporations have invested closely in its future, and will not surrender as simply as Google did.Camera software program will get smarter, whereas the {hardware} treads water(Image credit score: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)When I requested my colleagues about 2022 tendencies, our information editor Derrek Lee replied that “everyone had 50MP cameras,” and stated he wasn’t positive if this was or a foul factor. It’s true that if you happen to have a look at the most effective Android telephones and iPhones, a lot of them use very related digicam sensors. Even price range telephones have began to make use of the identical sensor {hardware} as telephones that price a whole bunch extra. Google, Apple, and Samsung did tweak a few of their sensors year-over-year, enhancing the sunshine publicity and zoom in some circumstances. But principally these manufacturers relied on new CPUs to take the identical digicam {hardware} and enhance the outcomes. Even if the photograph high quality is similar, they will seize a number of photographs without delay and create the most effective composite, counting on AI processing.Next 12 months we’ll allegedly see extra 200MP rear sensors, however I’d wager many telephones could have the identical 12MP ultrawide sensors and 11MP selfie cams as telephones from the previous few years. For the largest corporations, we’ll nonetheless see enhancements, with the unbelievable Pixel 7 Pro and its Tensor G2 upgrades proving it is attainable. But for smaller Android producers, it could show tough to maintain up with greater manufacturers’ photograph high quality with out paying for higher sensor {hardware} as a substitute. It’ll be attention-grabbing to see how that pans out.Leaked {hardware} galoreBack in April, a Google worker left a Pixel Watch at a restaurant. The one that discovered it reached out to Android Central’s Shruti Shekar, who broke the information that the long-rumored Pixel Watch was actual six months earlier than launch. We hadn’t seen such a serious screw-up since Gizmodo discovered the iPhone 4 (opens in new tab) in a bar.Turns out corporations received actually sloppy with their upcoming units in 2022. Several possibly-stolen Pixel 7 Pros appeared on eBay and Facebook Marketplace listings, giving individuals superior particulars in regards to the cellphone. And a Meta worker left a Quest professional in a resort room a month earlier than its launch.While corporations have each purpose to cover their units forward of time, we have now to confess that these rogue prototypes hype up journalists and tech nerds alike, getting us all speaking a few product greater than a press launch would possibly. We will not thoughts if this pattern continues into 2023, even when main tech manufacturers do.Nothing provides us one thing new(Image credit score: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)The Android market has misplaced a lot of its predominant rivals lately. LG shuttered its enterprise, whereas Sony and HTC have misplaced their former world attain. Old manufacturers preserve dying, and we do not see many new manufacturers take their place. That’s why so many long-time Android fans gravitated in the direction of the Nothing cellphone (1): it gave us a welcome breath of recent air.Developed by OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei and the Nothing workforce, the Nothing cellphone (1) is a good mid-range cellphone with a singular design, respectable cameras, zero-bloatware software program, long-lasting battery, and a few neat options that different telephones lack. It did have some downsides, like a sluggish fingerprint sensor and solely common efficiency in comparison with the competitors. But for its first product, Nothing did fairly nicely.Unfortunately, Pei could not promote the Nothing cellphone in North America as a result of service points however says he’s working with carriers to carry Nothing to the U.S. sooner or later. American Android followers have far fewer choices than in Europe since most Chinese manufacturers keep away from this area. Any new cellphone choice today is a optimistic growth.Android telephones get extra/quicker updates(Image credit score: Harish Jonnalagadda / Android Central)An unquestionably optimistic growth of 2022 is how extra Android manufacturers promise longer assist for his or her units. Samsung assured 4 OS updates to a variety of telephones and tablets for the primary time. OnePlus will ship 4 OxygenOS updates to its premier telephones beginning subsequent 12 months. And whereas Motorola nonetheless has a protracted approach to go along with its updates, it did give the Motorola Edge (2022) three OS updates, yet one more than it sometimes does with flagships.Longer software program assist ensures Android telephones have higher trade-in worth, and extra importantly that you do not have to hurry to purchase a brand new cellphone in 2023, as a result of you realize your 2022 cellphone hasn’t misplaced a step and will not for a while.At the identical time, these OEMs have delivered Android 13 to their flagships a lot faster than they did with Android 12. In years previous solely the very latest telephones would get an replace earlier than the tip of the calendar 12 months. This time round, Samsung has already delivered One UI 5 to thirty telephones and plans to roll out Android 14 even quicker. ASUS, OnePlus, Sony, Nokia, and different manufacturers have already delivered the replace to a couple telephones, too.As the man who stored the “when will my phone get Android 12” article up to date for a 12 months, watching a trickle of updates are available in each couple of weeks, I’m completely thrilled by the concept that Android OS updates will come extra shortly to telephones and tablets. I wager individuals who purchase cheaper Android telephones will respect this pattern as nicely.Google closes in on a full Pixel ecosystem(Image credit score: Google)Android Central adopted rumors a few Google Pixel Watch years earlier than I even began on the web site, again within the days of Android Wear. I maintained the rumor round-up on the look ahead to a few years, dutifully writing up each leaked “delay” advert nauseam till it grew to become exhausting to imagine it even existed. So the truth that it arrived in 2022, and was really fairly darn good, is trigger for celebration. Next 12 months, it will launch its Pixel Tablet, a slab with the colourful Pixel look each in and out and Google Home UI built-in, making it a conveyable Nest Hub. Then you could have the Pixel Fold, which we initially thought would launch in 2021 however now has leaked renders and a rumored spring 2023 launch date alongside the pill. It provides us hope that Google’s {hardware} technique has lastly come collectively, with a Pixel Perfect ecosystem of units that rivals that of Apple and Samsung…as long as it does not kill any of those new lineups, because it tends to do.Believe it or not, I did not have room to cowl each tech occasion or pattern price remembering from 2022. Wear OS 3 lastly got here to extra watches. Samsung formally “killed” the Note in favor of the Ultra. Google killed and renamed so many companies this 12 months, whereas Google Fiber noticed a stunning resurgence. Virtual actuality is experiencing a mini-renaissance after Meta dominated the sphere for the previous couple of years. An awesome slate of health wearables arrived in 2022 from Garmin, COROS, Apple, Amazfit, and others.Next week, we’ll shut out the 12 months by writing about all of the tendencies we hope to see in 2023. It may be a troublesome 12 months, with rumors of a world recession swirling within the enterprise and financial sphere. But I nonetheless hope that in some areas, we will anticipate one thing higher by 2023.