Pixel Stand Reportedly Breaks Ambient Display Notifications, Not Showing Photo Frame

Google's Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL were last month launched at the company's ‘Made by Google' event in New York, as the latest flagship offerings by the tech giant. With premium internals and a glass design, the Pixel 3 range supports wireless charging. Google at the event also unveiled its new Pixel Stand wireless charger that allows users to operate the phone while it is charging. However, user reports claim that the Pixel Stand is not working as intended, with a couple of major issues.

To recall, the Pixel Stand has been launched at a price of $79 (roughly Rs. 5,800) in the US and Rs. 6,900 in India, which is a premium price to pay for a Qi-based wireless charger. Users have started reporting that the Pixel Stand breaks ambient display notifications on the Pixel 3 series. A report from Android Police suggests that if you place a Pixel 3 or Pixel 3 XL on the wireless charging stand, ambient display notifications will not appear even if you remove it from the stand.

While the phone will sound or vibrate as usual, it will not show the notification on the OLED panel. Apparently, only a reboot helps restore original settings. However, notifications break the instant you connect it back to the Pixel Stand. The report claims that Google has confirmed that it is looking into the issue and might release a statement soon.

Separately, certain users are also reporting on a forum thread that the Photo frame feature of the Pixel Stand does not work as intended. Photo frame is one of the exclusive features that differentiates the Pixel Stand from most other third-party wireless chargers. The feature essentially creates a slideshow of handpicked photos from Google Photos and plays it 30 seconds after a Pixel 3 is placed on it. A comment on the original thread states that a factory reset helped resolve the issue. This leads us to believe that the issue might just be in the smartphone and the setup process instead of the Pixel Stand itself. “You need to use the cable and charging brick that came with the stand to get photo frame. Even using the cable and brick from the 3xl, it wont work. I have verified this,” says one user on the thread.

A report from last month had pointed out that the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL currently support 10W fast wireless charging only on the Pixel Stand, while other third-party chargers are limited to 5W. Google said that when other manufacturers follow the company's charging protocol, they will be able to increase the limit.