Google Pixel: Recent Episodes
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Since the dawn of the front-facing camera, and even before it, selfies have been a crucial way we express ourselves. So crucial, in fact, that more than 70 percent of photos taken on an Android device use the front-facing camera, and over 24 billion photos have been labeled as selfies in Google Photos. And of course, emojis, filters, stickers and captions have all become part of the fun, and help us show what we're feeling and thinking at any given moment.
Filters have rapidly increased in popularity over the past few years. Many of us love to play around with filters and try different ones on our photos—but sometimes, filters are turned on by default in our photo apps without our knowing.
We set out to better understand the effect filtered selfies might have on people’s wellbeing—especially when filters are on by default. We conducted multiple studies and spoke with child and mental health experts from around the world, and found that when you’re not aware that a camera or photo app has applied a filter, the photos can negatively impact mental wellbeing. These default filters can quietly set a beauty standard that some people compare themselves against.
Building guidelines on control, transparency and design languageTo put our research into practice, we created a framework to build and design products that support your wellbeing as well as an intentional relationship with technology. These people-centered guidelines inform and respect your personal choices regarding face retouching and center around control, transparency and design language. This means you should get to choose if and when your appearance is changed in pictures.
These guidelines suggest that face retouching settings should be off by default so you choose when you want to turn them on. If face retouching filters are on, this should be clearly indicated in the product experience. And when it’s off, it should stay off. We’ve steered away from references to “beauty,” by using iconography and language that is value-neutral, so you can decide what retouching means to you.
Bringing these principles to lifeWith Google’s Pixel phones, we’ve begun to apply these design principles directly within the Camera app. Starting with the Pixel 4a, the new Pixel 4a (5G) and Pixel 5, face retouching options are available in the camera app, but turned off by default. In an upcoming update, you’ll see value-free, descriptive icons and labels for face retouching options. And if you choose to use face retouching effects, you’ll see more information about how each setting is applied and what changes it makes to your image.
Meaningful change takes collective effort, across a broad ecosystem of apps and devices. Our partners have shared customer feedback that echoes what we heard in our research, and we’ve shared our insights and design framework with them as they continue to find ways to update their product experiences as well.
An app that shares our beliefs is Snapchat. Their default camera experience is always unfiltered, and you have the option to opt-in to lenses. Lens Studio also uses value-neutral terms for its facial retouching feature, and is committed to continuing to make improvements in this area.
These are the first of many steps we’re taking to support wellbeing and bring your voice into our design process.
Sometimes, a phone call is the best way to get something done. We call retailers to locate missing packages, utilities to adjust our internet speeds, airlines to change our travel itineraries...the list goes on. But more often than not, we need to wait on hold during these calls—listening closely to hold music and repetitive messages—before we reach a customer support representative who can help. In fact, people in the United States spent over 10 million hours on hold with businesses last week.
Save time with Hold for MeHold for Me, our latest Phone app feature, helps you get that time back, starting with an early preview on Pixel 5 and Pixel 4a (5G) in the U.S. Now, when you call a toll-free number and a business puts you on hold, Google Assistant can wait on the line for you. You can go back to your day, and Google Assistant will notify you with sound, vibration and a prompt on your screen once someone is on the line and ready to talk. That means you’ll spend more time doing what’s important to you, and less time listening to hold music.Tap “Hold for me” in Google’s Phone app after you’re placed on hold by a business.
Hold for Me is our latest effort to make phone calls better and save you time. Last year, we introduced an update to Call Screen that helps you avoid interruptions from spam calls once and for all, and last month, we launched Verified Calls to help you know why a business is calling before you answer. Hold for Me is now another way we’re making it simpler to say hello.
Powered by Google AIEvery business’s hold loop is different and simple algorithms can't accurately detect when a customer support representative comes onto the call. Hold for Me is powered by Google’s Duplex technology, which not only recognizes hold music but also understands the difference between a recorded message (like “Hello, thank you for waiting”) and a representative on the line. Once a representative is identified, Google Assistant will notify you that someone’s ready to talk and ask the representative to hold for a moment while you return to the call. We gathered feedback from a number of companies, including Dell and United, as well as from studies with customer support representatives, to help us design these interactions and make the feature as helpful as possible to the people on both sides of the call.
While Google Assistant waits on hold for you, Google’s natural language understanding also keeps you informed. Your call will be muted to let you focus on something else, but at any time, you can check real-time captions on your screen to know what’s happening on the call.
Keeping your data safeHold for Me is an optional feature you can enable in settings and choose to activate during each call to a toll-free number. To determine when a representative is on the line, audio is processed entirely on your device and does not require a Wi-Fi or data connection. This makes the experience fast and also protects your privacy—no audio from the call will be shared with Google or saved to your Google account unless you explicitly decide to share it and help improve the feature. When you return to the call after Google Assistant was on hold for you, audio stops being processed altogether.
We’re excited to bring an early preview of Hold for Me to our latest Pixel devices and continue making the experience better over time. Your feedback will help us bring the feature to more people over the coming months, so they too can say goodbye to hold music and say hello to more free time.
Pixel 4a (5G) and Pixel 5 are here, packing more helpful Google features into phones backed by the power and speeds of 5G1. From Google’s latest AI and Assistant features, to the biggest ever batteries we’ve put in a Pixel, to industry-leading camera features, Pixel 4a (5G) and Pixel 5 join our much loved Pixel 4a in providing more help at a more helpful price.
5G speeds at affordable prices5G is the latest in mobile technology, bringing fast download and streaming speeds to users around the world. Whether you’re downloading the latest movie2, listening to your favorite music on YouTube Music, catching up on podcasts with Google Podcasts or playing a game on Stadia, Pixel 4a (5G) and Pixel 5 will provide you with fast speeds1.
YouTube, YouTube Music and Google Podcasts on Pixel 4a (5G) and Pixel 5 also give you access to the content you want when you don't have connectivity by pre-downloading content via 5G when you don’t have WiFi connectivity1. For more information go to g.co/musicdownloads.
New camera, new lenses—same great photosAsk any Pixel owner and they’ll tell you: Pixels take great photos. Pixel 4a (5G) and Pixel 5 are no exception. These phones bring Pixel’s industry-leading photography features to the next level.
- Ultrawide lens for ultra awesome shots: With a new ultrawide lens alongside the standard rear camera, you’ll be able to capture the whole scene. And thanks to Google’s software magic, the latest Pixels still get our Super Res Zoom. So whether you’re zooming in or zooming out, you get sharp details and breathtaking images.
- Better videos with Cinematic Pan: Pixel 4a (5G) and Pixel 5 come with Cinematic Pan, which gives your videos a professional look with ultrasmooth panning that’s inspired by the equipment Hollywood directors use.
- Night Sight in Portrait Mode: Night Sight currently gives you the ability to capture amazing low-light photos—and even the Milky Way with astrophotography. Now, these phones bring the power of Night Sight into Portrait Mode to capture beautifully blurred backgrounds in Portraits even in extremely low light.
- Portrait Light: Portrait Mode on the Pixel 4a (5G) and Pixel 5 lets you capture beautiful portraits that focus on your subject as the background fades into an artful blur. If the lighting isn’t right, your Pixel can drop in extra light to illuminate your subjects.
- New editor in Google Photos: Even after you’ve captured your portrait, Google Photos can help you add studio-quality light to your portraits of people with Portrait Light, in the new, more helpful Google Photos editor.
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- Super Res Zoom (After).jpgSuper Res Zoom (after) Save time with Hold for MePixel has even more helpful features to save you time thanks to Google Assistant. Every month, Call Screen helps people with more than 25 million calls, saving people 2 million minutes, and Duplex helps users with a variety of phone tasks including reservations and getting business information.
Now, with a preview of Hold for Me on Pixel 4a (5G) and Pixel 5 in the U.S., Google Assistant can wait on the line for you whenever you call a toll-free number and a business puts you on hold. Built on the smarts of Duplex and Call Screen, this new feature lets you go back to enjoying the things that matter to you, and Google Assistant will notify you once someone is on the line and ready to talk. And Hold for Me works on your device, so the entire call is private to you. Goodbye endless hold music, hello more free time.
Stay connected and entertained with Duo To make it easier and more enjoyable to stay connected to the most important people in your life, the new HD screen sharing in Duo video calls lets you and a friend watch the same video, cheer on your favorite teams together and even plan activities—all while being thousands of miles apart. And coming soon with Duo Family HD mode, you’ll be able to keep kids entertained and engaged with new interactive tools, like coloring over backgrounds, while you video chat.
A smarter way to record and share audioLast year, Recorder made audio recording smarter, with real-time transcriptions and the power of search. Now, Recorder makes it even easier to share your favorite audio moments. Since Recorder automatically transcribes every recording, now you can use those transcripts to edit the audio too. Just highlight a sentence to crop or remove its corresponding audio.Once you have something you want others to hear—say a quote from an interview or a new song idea—you can generate a video clip to make sharing your audio easier. To improve searching through your transcripts, smart scrolling will automatically mark important words in longer transcripts so you can quickly jump to the sections you’re looking for as you scroll. But most helpful of all? Recorder still works without an internet connection, so you can transcribe, search and edit from anywhere, anytime.
The biggest Pixel batteries everPixel 4a (5G) and Pixel 5 also have all-day batteries that can last up to 48 hours with Extreme Battery Saver3. This mode automatically limits active apps to just the essentials and lets you choose additional apps you want to keep on.
And now, the specsLike all Pixel devices, security and safety are paramount in Pixel 4a (5G) and Pixel 5. Both devices come with our TitanTM M security chip to help keep your on-device data safe and secure, and both phones will get three years of software and security updates. Pixel's security features received a perfect score on a recent analyst scorecard4.
Plus, Pixel 5 is designed with the environment in mind; we used 100 percent recycled aluminum in the back housing enclosure to reduce its carbon footprint
When you purchase a Pixel 4a (5G) or Pixel 5, you’ll also get Stadia and YouTube Premium trial for three months, 100 GB of storage with Google One for three months and Google Play Pass and Gold/Silver Status on Play Points. See g.co/pixel/4a5Goffers or g.co/pixel/5offers, as applicable, for more details.
Pixel 4a (5G) will be available in Japan on Oct. 15 and eight other countries starting in November. Pixel 5 will be available in eight countries starting Oct. 15, and in the U.S. and Canada starting Oct. 29.
Looking for the Pixel that’s right for you? Head to the Google Store now.
1 Requires a 5G data plan (sold separately). 5G service and roaming not available on all carrier networks or in all areas. Contact carrier for details about current 5G network performance, compatibility and availability. Phone connects to 5G networks but 5G service, speed and performance depend on many factors including, but not limited to, carrier network capabilities, device configuration and capabilities, network traffic, location, signal strength and signal obstruction. Actual results may vary. Some features not available in all areas. Data rates may apply. See g.co/pixel/networkinfo for info.
2 Download speed claims based on testing videos from three streaming platforms. Average download time was less than 60 seconds. File sizes varied between 449MB and 1.3GB. Download speed depends upon many factors, such as file size, content provider and network connection. Testing conducted in an internal 5G network lab and on pre-production hardware in California in July/August 2020. Actual download speeds may be slower.
3 For “all day”: Maximum battery life based on testing using a mix of talk, data, standby and use of other features. Testing conducted on two major carrier networks using Sub-6 GHz non-standalone 5G (ENDC) connectivity. For “Up to 48 hours”: Maximum battery life based on testing using a mix of talk, data, standby and use of limited other features that are default in Extreme Battery Saver mode (which disables various features including 5G connectivity). Testing conducted on two major carrier networks. For both claims: Pixel 4a (5G) and Pixel 5 battery testing conducted by a third party in California in mid-2020 on pre-production hardware and software using default settings, except that, for the “up to 48 hour claim” only, Extreme Battery Saver mode was enabled. Battery life depends upon many factors and usage of certain features will decrease battery life. Actual battery life may be lower.
4 Based on 2020 analyst research funded by Google LLC.
More from this CollectionOur newest lineup of helpful devicesOur newest products bring together the best of Google’s hardware, software and AI to deliver helpful experiences built around you.
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A few times a year, your Pixel receives a boost with software updates that send new features, tricks, and apps to your phone. And this time, with new Pixel-first features on Android 11, your Pixel has even more smarts to make it better and more helpful—like giving you new ways to control your media and organize your apps, and making it easier to communicate with friends and family. And it all comes with privacy as a priority. Everything happens over the air, so you get that new-phone feeling over and over again.
Prioritize people, with PixelBeginning today, new Android 11 features are hitting Pixel first to help you focus on connecting with those close to you, whether you’re meeting in a park for a socially distant picnic, or quickly responding to your loved ones’ texts.
You can now use Live View with Location Sharing in Google Maps to easily meet up with friends IRL. If your friends have chosen to share their location with you, simply tap on their icon and then on Live View on the right side of your screen. You’ll see where they are in relation to you, along with how far away they are. Tapping on start will then show you arrows and directions placed right on top of your world so you can see exactly which way to go.
The new Smart Reply on your Pixel’s keyboard makes typing effortless by giving you helpful suggestions when you’re using chat apps. And it’s all processed on your phone to protect your privacy. (Right now this is available in English only and requires use of Gboard. It’s not available for all chat apps.)
Get more control over your phoneNow your Pixel can make app suggestions based on your daily routines so you can quickly get to tools you need, when you need them. Your phone will recommend apps you use at different times of the day, like Messages for your daily check-ins, Google Maps for your afternoon stroll or the media apps you use in the evening to help you wind down from a busy day.
Your Pixel will also give you more convenient ways to select text and images, or take a screenshot with new overview actions. So whether you’re copying and pasting, saving or sharing the content you want, you’ll have more options over how you select and engage with content on your Pixel.
Make your Pixel as unique as you are, starting with your home screen. Now, your Pixel can help organize your phone with new intelligent suggestions for folder names. Quickly group apps by theme, like Photography, News, Navigation, Fitness and more.
Pixel x Android 11In addition to everything coming to Pixel first, you’ll also get all of the great new Android 11 features as well, giving you easier ways to manage your conversations, connected devices, privacy and beyond.
Android 11 begins rolling out to Pixel devices today; learn more about all of the Android 11 updates here.
Whether you’re cooking, driving or running errands, sometimes we can all use a little extra help. While we can’t offer you another hand, there are a handful of ways that Google Assistant can be the next best thing, thanks to voice control. Here are six ways you can use your voice to get more done with Google Assistant on phones.
- Send audio messages:Voice-messaging is the modern day walkie-talkie. For me, sometimes it’s the easiest way to send a quick note to my friends and family. You can now send audio messages with Google Assistant on Android smart phones--without holding down the little mic icon. To get started, just say, “Hey Google, send an audio message” or “Hey Google, send an audio message to Paul saying I’m on the way.” The feature is available in English-speaking countries around the globe, as well as in Portuguese in Brazil.
- Get help reading web articles:Between staying informed and entertained, I find myself reading a lot of content on my phone these days. With Google Assistant, your browser can read web articles out loud. Whenever a web article is displayed on your browser in your Android phone, you can say, “Hey Google, read it” or “Hey Google, read this page” and it will immediately read aloud the content of the web page.
- Find restaurants offering delivery or takeout:Some days, it feels like I blink and it’s suddenly 5 p.m. On days when I don’t have time to cook dinner but need to get a meal on the table, I say, “Hey Google, find restaurants that deliver near me” or “Hey Google, show me restaurants with takeout.”
- Snap a selfie:I recently took a trip to Yosemite and wanted to quickly capture the perfect family photo during our hike—including the deer behind us. By saying, “Hey Google, take a selfie,” Assistant will open your phone’s front-facing camera and snap a picture on the count of three.
- Call or text your best friend:I have a standing call with my best friend every other week. When it’s time to hop on the line, all I need to say is “Hey Google, video call Taylor.” And if I’m running late to our call, I can always just ask Google to send her a text by saying, “Hey Google, tell Taylor I’m running late.”
- Share your favorite content:You can easily share things from your phone with friends using your voice, like articles or photos. Simply say “Hey Google, share this with Taylor” and Google Assistant will share that link or image with the person you chose.
Last year, Pixel 3a gave people a chance to get the helpful features of Pixel at a more affordable price. This year, Pixel 4a—which launches this month—and the first 5G-enabled Pixels, Pixel 4a (5G) and Pixel 5 coming this fall, will continue to bring the features people love—like an incredible camera and feature drops that make your phone better over time—packaged in sleek new hardware at more affordable prices.
Meet Pixel 4a: The “everything you love about Google” phoneWant to charge less often, take professional-looking photos, enjoy enterprise-grade security, all without breaking the bank? The Pixel 4a, starting at $349, has your name on it.
Same great Pixel camera, new lower priceWith the same incredible camera experiences from Pixel 4 and a redesigned hole-punch design, Pixel 4a brings the same features that have helped millions of Pixel owners take great shots. HDR+ with dual exposure controls, Portrait Mode, Top Shot, Night Sight with astrophotography capabilities and fused video stabilization—they’re all there.
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Copy of Pixel 4a (Night SIght).png Sleek design The Pixel 4a comes in Just Black with a 5.8-inch OLED display. It has a matte finish that feels secure and comfortable in your hand and includes Pixel’s signature color pop power button in mint. Check out the custom wallpapers that have some fun with the punch-hole camera.
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- image_P4a_19_0502_0361_12_020_PRWallpapers_Soccer_RGB_SIMP_07_27_2020.png Help for those who need itIn addition to features like Recorder, which now connects with Google Docs to seamlessly save and share transcriptions and recordings (English only), Pixel 4a will include helpful experiences like the Personal Safety app for real-time emergency notifications and car crash detection. (Car crash detection is not available in all languages or countries. Learn More about car crash detection’s availability in your language or country.)
Pixel 4a also has Live Caption, which provides real-time captioning (English only) for your video and audio content. New with the Pixel 4a launch—and also rolling out for Pixel 2, 3, 3a and 4 phones—Live Caption will now automatically caption your voice and video calls.
New Google Assistant in more languagesIntroduced last year, the new Google Assistant is also available on Pixel 4a to help with multitasking across apps and getting things done quickly, like finding a photo or sending a text. You can now try out the new experience in German, French, Spanish and Italian, in addition to English, with more languages coming soon. Learn more at g.co/pixelassistant/languages.
Pre-order Pixel 4a nowThe Pixel 4a has a Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 730G Mobile Platform, Titan M security module for on-device security, 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage with an even bigger battery that lasts all day1. New Pixel 4a fabric cases will also be available in three colors.
Pixel 4a users can enjoy entertainment, games and apps and extra storage with three month free trials of YouTube Premium, Google Play Pass and Google One. Learn more at g.co/pixel/4aoffers.
Pixel 4a is now available for pre-order in the U.S. on the Google Store and on Google Fi. It will be available to customers on Aug. 20 through the Google Store, BestBuy.com, Amazon and more, as well as U.S. carriers including Google Fi, U.S. Cellular and Verizon. For more information on availability in different countries, head to the Google Store.
Sneak peek at Pixel 4a (5G) and Pixel 5This fall, we’ll have two more devices to talk about: the Pixel 4a (5G), starting at $499, and Pixel 5, both with 5G2 to make streaming videos, downloading content and playing games on Stadia or other platforms faster and smoother than ever.
Pixel 4a (5G) and Pixel 5 will be available in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany, Japan, Taiwan and Australia. In the coming months, we’ll share more about these devices3 and our approach to 5G. In the meantime, be sure to sign up to be the first to hear more.
1 Approximate battery life based on a mix of talk, data, standby, and use of other features, with always on display off. An active display and other usage factors will decrease battery life. Pixel 4a battery testing conducted in Mountain View, California in early 2020 on pre-production hardware and software. Actual results may vary.
2 Requires a 5G data plan (sold separately). 5G service not available on all carrier networks or in all areas. Contact carrier for details. 5G service, speed and performance depend on many factors including, but not limited to, carrier network capabilities, device configuration and capabilities, network traffic, location, signal strength and signal obstruction. Actual results may vary. Some features not available in all areas. Data rates may apply. See g.co/pixel/networkinfo for info.
3 These devices have not been authorized as required by the rules of the Federal Communications Commission. These devices are not, and may not be, offered for sale or lease, or sold or leased, until authorization is obtained.
Picking a phone case is a difficult decision. What color should you choose? Do you want something flashy or simple? Maybe you're looking for something that has the environment in mind; if that's the case, you're in luck, because our new case, which is made from over 70 percent recycled plastic, has arrived for the Pixel 4a. The case comes in three colors (Basically Black, Static Gray and Blue Confetti).
Knitted for the planetLast year, we outlined our sustainability commitments across manufacturing, the supply chain and product design. We also introduced the new Google Nest Mini speaker, the first Google product with fabric made with recycled water bottles. The Pixel 4a cases also feature this material; in fact, two recycled plastic bottles can provide enough knitted outer fabric for five cases. In total, the case is made from over 70 percent recycled material, meaning we’re turning waste into something beautiful.
Made to lastThe new Pixel 4a fabric case reduces worries of wear and tear by using a jacquard pattern to more effectively mask signs of use. When hand washing won’t do the trick, you can toss the Pixel 4a fabric case in with a load of laundry (or on its own) to help remove dirt, dyes and other grime that could build up in between the fibers of the case. See g.co/cases/help for more tips.
Find your style Fresh patterns and textures along with beautiful pop colors on the lock button and G symbol add vibrance and functionality to your phone case. The unique fabric material and new patterns come in three colors that complement the Pixel 4a and your own style, so you don’t have to sacrifice aesthetics for protection.
Added protection, just in case Our new edge-to-edge inner microfiber wraps around your Pixel and the raised-edge design helps protect your screen and camera against scratches. You can rest easy knowing that your Pixel is in safe hands, even if your hands may be a little unsteady.
Learn more about our Pixel 4a fabric case, and check out other accessories from our Made for Google partners like CaseMate, Moment, and Pela.
Every industry has been affected by COVID-19, and the art world is no exception. Content creation requires a new level of imagination as many artists figure out how to approach their work within the confines of shelter in place.
Google Pixel’s Creator Labs program, an incubator for photographers and directors launched in Q4 2019, faced these new challenges as well. But the program’s simplicity actually aided the artists. Because Pixel was their primary tool, Creator Labs artists were able to explore ideas that came to them in quarantine, through an unfiltered lens. Given Pixel features like 4K video, Portrait Mode and HDR+, no complicated camera setups or highly produced shoots were necessary.
Many flipped the camera on themselves, exploring the fluid dynamic between artist and muse. Myles Loftin, an artist based in New York who focuses on themes including identity and marginalized people in his work, dug deeper into exploring the importance of intimacy right now. “Taking self portraits has been one of the main things that has helped me pass the time during the last few months. I feel like being indoors for so long I've been so much more in tune with myself and my body,” Myles says. “The Pixel makes it easy for me to set up really quickly and take self portraits whenever I want.”
Photo by Myles Loftin
Another artist, who goes by the alias Glassface, took a look at the tension of our new virtual work lives. “Nothing kills creativity like fear or depression. And often, nothing helps heal and reshape our mental health like creativity itself,” he explains. “Isolation is a tough pill to swallow, but often it breeds incredible work.”
An excerpt from Glassface's work.
Other artists featured in the project include Mayan Toledano, June Canedo, Joshua Kissi, Tim Kellner, Andrew Thomas Huang and Anthony Prince Leslie. While quarantine certainly changed how they worked, it also inspired them to investigate this era from a new lens. Anthony perhaps best articulated what the process was like: “Work during quarantine has really changed my perspective. I now remember what it feels like to be present—moving at a pace where there is no peripheral blur on my tunnel vision. As a director, I’m inspired by people and their connections to each other. ”
You can discover more Pixel-made art, including the work of several Pixel Creator Labs artists, on our Pixel Instagram page.
Whether you’re trying to extend your battery life or find ways to disconnect each night, Pixel’s latest features make it easier than ever to get the most out of your phone. And with the latest updates to the Personal Safety app, your Pixel is giving you more options to help keep you safe in an emergency.
Adaptive Battery improvementsAdaptive Battery already learns your favorite apps and reduces power to the ones you rarely use. Now, Adaptive Battery on Pixel 2 and newer devices can predict when your battery will run out and further reduce background activity to keep your Pixel powered longer.
Bedtime made betterThe new bedtime feature in Clock helps you maintain a consistent sleep schedule and strike a better balance with your screen time each night. Fall asleep to calming sounds and limit interruptions while you sleep — and if you stay up on your phone past bedtime, you'll get a snapshot of how much time you’re spending awake and on which apps. Each morning, you can wake up with your favorite track or with a gradually brighter screen with Sunrise Alarm.
Recorder, Docs and the new Google Assistant all working togetherThe Recorder app now lets you start, stop and search voice recordings using the new Google Assistant. Simply say “Hey Google, start recording my meeting,” or “Hey Google, show me recordings about dogs.” You can even save a transcript directly to Google Docs, making it easier to share with others. Learn more about using Recorder on your Pixel.
Personal safety featuresThe Personal Safety app on Pixel 4 will now be available on all Pixel devices, and car crash detection is also coming to Pixel 3. (Car crash detection is not available in all languages or countries. Learn more about car crash detection’s availability in your language or country.)
We’re introducing new safety features, too, like safety check, which schedules a check-in from the app at a later time. For example if you’re about to go on a run or hike alone, safety check will make sure you made it back safely. If you don’t respond to the scheduled check-in, the app will alert your emergency contacts. In the event that you need immediate help or are in a dangerous situation, emergency sharing notifies all of your emergency contacts and shares your real-time location through Google Maps so they can send help or find you.
And to be ultra-prepared, you can enable crisis alerts in the Personal Safety app to get notifications about natural disasters or other public emergencies.
For more information on the new features that just dropped and to see when the update will land on your phone, head to the Pixel forum.
On a clear, dark night, you can see a faint glowing band of billions of distant stars across the sky: the Milky Way. Parts of it are visible on moonless nights throughout the year, but the brightest and most photogenic region, near the constellation Sagittarius, appears above the horizon from spring to early fall.
A few weeks ago, Sagittarius returned to the early morning sky, rising in the east just before dawn—and now is the perfect time to photograph it. Thanks to the astrophotography features in Night Sight on Pixel 4, 3a and 3, you can capture it with your phone.
Before you head outside to catch the Milky Way, here are a few tips and tricks for taking breathtaking night time photos of your own.
Get out of town, and into the wildernessThe Milky Way isn’t very bright, so seeing and photographing it requires a dark night. Moonlight and light pollution from nearby cities tend to obscure it.
To observe the brightest part of the Milky Way during spring, try to find a location with no large city to the east, and pick a night where the moon isn’t visible in the early morning hours. The nights between the new moon and about three days before the next full moon are ideal. For early 2020, this includes today (March 4) through March 6, March 24 through April 4 and April 22 through May 4. Look for the Milky Way in the hour before the first light of dawn. Of course you’ll want to check the weather forecast to make sure that the stars won’t be hidden by clouds.
Do your researchYou can utilize tools to help track the rise and set of the sun and moon that will help you find the best time for your photo shoot. A light pollution map helps you find places to capture the best shot, and star charts can help you find constellations and other interesting celestial objects (like the Andromeda Galaxy) so you know what you’re shooting.
Stay steady and settle inOnce you’ve found the perfect spot, open the Camera App on Pixel and switch to Night Sight, and either mount the phone on a tripod, or support it on a rock or anything else that won’t move. Whatever you do, don’t try to steady the phone with your hands. Once stable, your phone will display “Astrophotography on” in the viewfinder to confirm it will use long exposures to capture your photo (up to four minutes total on Pixel 4, or one minute on Pixel 3 and 3a, depending on how dark the environment is).
Get comfortable with the camera featuresTo ensure you get great photos, explore all of the different options available in the Camera App. Say, for example, you are in the middle of taking a picture, and a car’s headlights are about to appear in the frame; you can tap the shutter button to stop the exposure and keep the lights from ruining your shot. You will get a photo even if you stop early, but letting the exposure run to completion will produce a clearer image.
The viewfinder in the Google Camera App works at full moon light levels, but in even darker environments the on-screen image may become too dim and grainy to be useful. Try this quick fix: Point the phone in what you think is the right direction, then tap the shutter button. Soon after the exposure begins, the viewfinder will show a much clearer image than before, and that image will be updated every few seconds. This allows you to check and correct which way the phone is pointing. Wait for the next update to see the effect of your corrections. Once you’re satisfied with the composition, tap the shutter button a second time to stop the exposure. Then tap the shutter button once more to start a new exposure, and let it run to completion without touching the phone.
The phone will try to focus automatically, but autofocus can fail in extremely dark scenes. For landscape shots you may just want to set focus to “far” by tapping the down arrow next to the viewfinder to access the focus options. This will make sure that anything further away than about 15 feet will be sharp.
Venus above the Pacific Ocean about one hour after sunset at Point Reyes National Seashore in California, captured on Pixel 4.
Use moonlight and twilight to your advantage Astrophotography mode isn’t only for taking pictures when it’s completely dark outside. It also takes impressive photos during nights with bright moonlight, or at dusk, when daylight is almost gone and the first stars have become visible.
No matter what time of day it is, spend a little extra time experimenting with the Google Camera App to find out what’s possible, and your photos will look great.
Aurora borealis near Kolari, Finland, on a night in February. Photo by Ingemar Eriksson, captured on Pixel 4.
A few months ago, Pixel owners got a few new, helpful features in our first feature drop. Beginning today, even more updates and new experiences will begin rolling out to Pixel users.
Help when you need itYou can already use Motion Sense to skip forward or go back to a previous song. Now, if you have a Pixel 4, you can also pause and resume music with a tapping gesture above the phone. So you can easily pause music when you're having a conversation, without even picking up your phone.
When you need help the most, your Pixel will be there too. Last October we launched the Personal Safety app on Pixel 4 for US users, which uses the phones’ sensors to quickly detect if you’ve been in a severe car crash1, and checks with you to see if you need emergency services. For those who need 911, you can request help via a voice command or with a single tap. Now, the feature is rolling out to Pixel users in Australia (000) and the UK (999). If you’re unresponsive, your Pixel will share relevant details, like location info, with emergency responders.
We’re also rolling out some helpful features to more Pixel devices. Now Live Caption, the technology that automatically captions media playing on your phone, will begin rolling out to Pixel 2 owners.
More fun with photos and video New AR effects you can use live on your Duo video call with friends make chatting more visually stimulating. These effects change based on your facial expressions, and move with you around the screen. Duo calls now come with a whole new layer of fun.
Selfies on Pixel 4 are getting better, too. Your front-facing camera can now create images with depth, which improves Portrait Blur and color pop, and lets you create 3D photos for Facebook.
Emoji on Pixel will now be a more customizable and inclusive thanks to the emoji 12.1 update, with 169 new emoji to represent a wider variation of gender and skin tones, as well as more couple combinations to better reflect the world around us.
A more powerful power buttonPixel is making it faster to pick the right card when using Google Pay. Just press and hold the power button to swipe through your debit and credit cards, event tickets, boarding passes or access anything else in Google Pay. This feature will be available to users in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Ireland, Taiwan and Singapore. If you have Pixel 4, you can also quickly access emergency contacts and medical information.
Getting on a flight is also getting easier. Simply take a screenshot of a boarding pass barcode and tap on the notification to add it to Google Pay. You will receive real-time flight updates, and on the day of your flight, you can just press the power button to pull up your boarding pass. This feature will be rolling out gradually in all countries with Google Pay during March on Pixel 3, 3a and 4.
Customize your Pixel’s look and feelA number of system-level advancements will give Pixel users more control over the look and feel of their devices.
You may know that Dark theme looks great and helps save battery power. Starting today, Dark theme gets even more helpful and flexible in switching from light to dark background, with the ability to schedule Dark theme based on local sunrise and sunset times.
Have you forgotten to silence your phone when you get to work? Pixel gives you the ability to automatically enable certain rules based on WiFi network or physical location. You can now set up a rule to automatically silence your ringtone when you connect to your office WiFi, or go on Do Not Disturb when you walk in the front door of your house to focus on the people and things that matter most.
Pixel 4 users are also getting some unique updates to the way they engage with the content on their phone. Improved long press options in Pixel’s launcher will get more and faster help from your apps. There’s also an update to Adaptive brightness, which now temporarily increases screen brightness to make reading content easier when in extremely bright ambient lighting, like direct sunlight. Check out more options for customizing your screen options.
Here’s to better selfies, more emoji and a quick pause when you need it! Check out our support page for more information on the new features, and look out for more helpful features dropping for Pixel users soon.
1 Not available in all languages or countries. Car crash detection may not detect all accidents. High-impact activities may trigger calls to emergency services. This feature is dependent upon network connectivity and other factors and may not be reliable for emergency communications or available in all areas. For country and language availability and more information see g.co/pixel/carcrashdetection
Editor’s Note: Do you ever feel like a fish out of water? Try being a tech novice and talking to an engineer at a place like Google. Ask a Techspert is a series on the Keyword asking Googler experts to explain complicated technology for the rest of us. This isn’t meant to be comprehensive, but just enough to make you sound smart at a dinner party.
Thanks to my allergies, I’ve never had a cat. They’re cute and cuddly for about five minutes—until the sneezing and itching set in. Still, I’m familiar enough with cats (and cat GIFs) to know that they always have a paw in the air, whether it’s batting at a toy or trying to get your attention. Whatever it is they’re trying to do, it often looks like they’re waving at us. So imagine my concern when I found out that you can now change songs, snooze alarms or silence your phone ringing on your Pixel 4 with the simple act of waving. What if precocious cats everywhere started unintentionally making us sleep late by waving their paws?
Fortunately, that’s not a problem. Google’s motion sensing radar technology—a feature called Motion Sense in the Pixel 4—is designed so that only human hands, as opposed to cat paws, can change the tracks on your favorite playlist. So how does this motion sensing actually work, and how did Google engineers design it to identify specific motions?
To answer my questions, I found our resident expert on motion sensors, Brandon Barbello. Brandon is a product manager on our hardware team and he helped me unlock the mystery behind the motion sensors on your phone, and how they only work for humans.
When I’m waving my hand in front of my screen, how can my phone sense something is there?
Brandon tells me that your Pixel phone has a chip at the top with a series of antennas, some of which emit a radio signal and others that receive “bounce backs” of the same signal the other antenna emitted. “Those radio signals go out into the world, and then they hit things and bounce back. The receiver antennas read the signals as they bounce back and that’s how they’re able to sense something has happened. Your Pixel actually has four antennas: One that sends out signals, and three that receive.”
What happens after the antenna picks up the motion?
According to Brandon, when the radio waves bounce back, the computer in your phone begins to process the information. “Essentially, the sensor picks up that you’re around, and that triggers your phone to keep an eye out for the relevant gestures,” he says.
How does the Pixel detect that a motion is a swipe and not something else?
With the motion sensing functions on the Pixel, Brandon and his team use machine learning to determine what happened. “Those radio waves get analyzed and reduced into a series of numbers that can be fed into the machine learning models that detect if a reach or a swipe has just happened,” Brandon says. “We collected millions of motion samples to pre-train each phone to recognize intentional swipes. Specifically, we’ve trained the models to detect motions that look like they come from a human hand, and not, for instance, a coffee mug passing over the phone as you put it down on the table.”
What will motion sensors be capable of in the future?
Brandon told me that he and his team plan to add more gestures to recognize beyond swiping, and that specific movements could be connected to more apps. “In the future, we want to create devices that can understand your body language, so they’re more intuitive to use and more helpful,” he tells me.
At the moment, motion-sensing technology is focused on the practical, and there’s still improvements to be made and new ground to cover, but he says this technology can also be delightful and fun—like on the Pixel’s gesture-controlled Pokémon Live Wallpaper. Overall, motion sensing technology helps you use your devices in a whole new way, and that will keep changing as the tech advances. "We're just beginning to see the potential of motion sensing," Brandon says.
The new year is a time for resolutions and reflection, from getting organized to creating some healthy habits. And there are more than a few ways that the tech in your home and in your pocket can help you get there.
If you received a Made by Google device over the holidays—or you’ve owned one for a while—consider these pro tips for getting the most out of them. We’re sharing 20 fun features and tricks available across a variety of devices to try, plus expert advice for adding an extra layer of protection to your accounts across the web.
- Turn off distractions. With the new Focus mode, found in Pixel's device settings under "Digital Wellbeing & parental controls," you can temporarily pause and silence certain apps so you can focus on the task at hand. While you’re working out, during your commute or while you’re trying to take a moment to yourself, Focus mode gives you control over which apps you need notifications from and when.
- Capture one-of-a-kind photos.With Pixel, you can snap great pictures year-round using features like Portrait Mode, Photobooth and even Night Sight, which allows you to shoot photos of the stars. See g.co/pixel/astrophotography to learn more about astrophotography on Pixel 4.
- Outsmart robocalls.U.S.-based, English-speaking Pixel owners can use Call Screen on Pixel to automatically screen spam calls, so you can avoid calls from unknown numbers and limit interruptions throughout your day (Call Screen is new and may not detect all robocalls, but it will definitely try!).
- Try wall-mounting your Nest Mini. Nest Mini comes with wall mounting capabilities, which comes in handy if you’re short on counter space. Wall-mounting also helps you take advantage of its improved bass and full sound.
- Stress-free healthy cooking. If you’re trying to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables, don’t sweat meal planning: Get easy inspiration from Nest Hub or Nest Hub Max. Say “Hey Google, show me recipes with spinach, lentils and tomatoes” and you’ll see ideas to scroll through, select, and follow step-by-step.
- Stay in touch. We could all do better at keeping in touch with loved ones. Nest Hub Max offers the option to make video calls using Google Duo, so you can catch up with mom face-to-face right from your display.
- Get help with delegating. Create Assignable reminders for other members of your household, like reminding your partner to walk the dog. Face Match will show them any missed reminders automatically when they approach Hub Max. You can also use reminders to send someone a note of encouragement when they need it the most (“Hey Google, remind Kathy that she’ll do great in tomorrow’s interview”).
- View and share your favorite photos. Enjoy your favorite moments from Google Photos on Nest Hub Max’s 10-inch high definition screen. See a photo pop up that brings a smile to your face? Share it with one of your contacts: “Hey Google, share this photo with Mom.” Or if you see an old memory and can’t remember the location, just ask “Hey Google, where was this photo taken?”
- Check your Wi-Fi easily. You can use a Nest Wifi point the same way you use a Google Nest speaker. Simply say, “Hey Google, what’s my internet speed?” or “Hey Google, pause Wi-Fi for Daniel” to pause individual users’ devices at certain times, like during dinner.
- Have a worry-free work week.The Talk and Listen feature on Nest Hello makes it easy for busy families to keep in touch throughout the day. When you see Nest Hello start recording, you can share your status with your family members who have access to Nest Hello’s camera feed. It’ll become a quick video they can view on their phones.
- Keep track of deliveries. Nest Hello also detects packages for Nest Aware users—helpful if you’re expecting something important.
- Choose when your cameras record. You can schedule your Nest cameras to automatically turn off on the weekends and back on again during the week (or during the time frame you prefer). To do this, turn off Home/Away assist and create your schedule.
- Control what you save.While your Nest Cam video history automatically expires after a specific time frame depending on your Nest Aware subscription, you can also manually delete footage anytime. Simply select the “Delete video history” option in your camera’s settings.
- Skip the monthly gym fee.Few things are more difficult in the dead of winter than driving to a gym first thing in the morning. Choose a more manageable routine: Pull up a workout from YouTube or Daily Burn and cast it to your TV with Chromecast, so you can sweat while the coffee is brewing.
- New partners, new content.Over the past few months we’ve introduced new content partners for Chromecast and displays so you have tons of movies and TV shows to choose from based on your subscriptions, including Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu and Sling TV.
- Attention gamers! If you own a standalone Chromecast Ultra, you can play Stadia on it if you have an existing Stadia account. Link your Stadia controller to your Chromecast Ultra and you’re ready to go. For best results, connect an Ethernet cable to your Chromecast Ultra.
- Save on your energy bill.On your Nest Thermostat, seeing the Nest Leaf is an easy way to know you’re saving energy, and it encourages you to continually improve your savings over time. You’ll see the Leaf on your thermostat when you set a temperature that helps save energy. The more often you see a Leaf, the more you save.
- Enable 2-factor authentication, or migrate to a Google account. 2-factor authentication uses a secondary confirmation to make it harder for unauthorized people to access your account. Migrating to a Google account provides automatic security protections, proactive alerts about suspicious account activity and the security checkup.
- Give your passwords a makeover.Repeating passwords makes your accounts more vulnerable to common hacks, so make sure each password you use is unique and complicated.
- Enlist extra protection from Chrome.When you type your credentials into a website, Chrome will now warn you if your username and password have been compromised in a data breach on some site or app. It will suggest that you change them everywhere they were used. Cheers to a new decade—and some new gear!
Who doesn’t love holiday photos? Luckily for Pixel 4 owners, the camera on your phone is packed with all of the features you need to get the perfect picture every time, year round.
All is calm, all photos are brightHoliday decorations and lights can make it difficult to capture that perfectly lit photo. Pixel 4’s Dual Exposure Controls ensure that no matter how decked your halls are, you always get the great photo you want by giving you control over the lighting, silhouettes and exposure in your shots.
Celebrate the festival of lights no matter how dark it is thanks to Night Sight on Pixel 4. As your family gathers around the menorah, snap a great picture of your loved ones’ faces lit by candle light by using the low-light photography mode on Pixel. And for those staying up and waiting for Santa, use Night Sight to capture the stockings hung by the chimney with care even as the fire dwindles.
Ring in the New Year in new waysLooking for an evening activity once the presents are unwrapped? Dec. 25 is also the start of a new moon, making it the best night for a photo of the sky. And if you’re planning to ring in the new year under the stars, Pixel 4 is the best companion, with the ability to capture astrophotography on Night Sight.
Bust out those old New Year’s Eve or family holiday photos for the perfect throwback holiday season pic, and use portrait blur--now available on Pixel devices in Google Photos--to give them new life, even years after they’ve been taken.
Whether you’re gathered around the dining room table, the menorah or Christmas tree, or watching the ball drop in Times Square, this Pixel’s camera is your perfect companion.
Happy holiday photos to all and to all a good night!
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When it comes to travel, I’m a planner. I’m content to spend weeks preparing the perfect holiday getaway: deciding on the ideal destination, finding the cheapest flights and sniffing out the best accommodations. I’ve been dreaming about a trip to Greece next year, and—true story—I’ve already got a spreadsheet to compare potential destinations, organized by flight length and hotel perks.
But the thing I don’t like to do is plot out the nitty-gritty details. I want to visit the important museums and landmarks, but I don’t want to write up a daily itinerary ahead of time. I’m a vegetarian, so I need to find veggie-friendly restaurants, but I’d prefer to stumble upon a good local spot than plan in advance. And, since I don’t speak Greek, I want to be able to navigate transportation options without having to stop and ask people for help all the time.
So I’ve come to rely on some useful Google tools to make my trips work for the way I like to travel. Here’s what I’ve learned so far.
Let Maps do the talking
Getting dropped into a new city is disorienting, and all the more so when you need to ask for help but don’t know how to pronounce the name of the place you’re trying to get to. Google Maps now has a fix for this: When you’ve got a place name up in Maps, just press the new little speaker button next to it, and it will speak out a place's name and address in the local lingo. And if you want to continue the conversation, Google Maps will quickly link you to the Google Translate app.
Let your phone be your guidebook
New cities are full of new buildings, new foods and even new foliage. But I don’t want to just see these things; I want to learn more about them. That’s where Google Lens comes in as my know-it-all tour guide and interpreter. It can translate a menu, tell me about the landmark I’m standing in front of or identify a tree I’ve never seen before. So whenever I think, “I wonder what that building is for,” I can just use my camera to get an answer in real time.
Photo credit: Joao Nogueira
Get translation help on the go
The Google Assistant’s real-time translation feature, interpreter mode, is now available on Android and iOS phones worldwide, enabling you to have a conversation with someone speaking a foreign language. So if I say, “Hey Google, be my Greek translator,” I can easily communicate with, say, a restaurant server who doesn’t speak English. Interpreter mode works across 44 languages, and it features different ways to communicate suited to your situation: you can type using a keyboard for quiet environments, or manually select what language to speak.
Use your voice to get things done
Typing is fine, but talking is easier, especially when I’m on vacation and want to make everything as simple as possible. The Google Assistant makes it faster to find what I’m looking for and plan what’s next, like weather forecasts, reminders and wake-up alarms. It can also help me with conversions, like “Hey Google, how much is 20 Euros in pounds?”
Photo credit: Joao Nogueira
Take pics, then chill
When I’m in a new place, my camera is always out. But sorting through all those pictures is the opposite of relaxing. So I offload that work onto Google Photos: It backs up my photos for free and lets me search for things in them . And when I want to see all the photos my partner has taken, I can create an album that we can both add photos to. And Photos will remind me of our vacation in the future, too, with story-style highlights at the top of the app.
Photo credit: Joao Nogueira
Look up
I live in a big city, which means I don’t get to see the stars much. Traveling somewhere a little less built up means I can hone my Pixel 4 astrophotography skills. It’s easy to use something stable, like a wall, as a makeshift tripod, and then just let the camera do its thing.
Photo credit: DDay
Vacation unplugged
As useful as my phone is, I try to be mindful about putting it down and ignoring it as much as I can. And that goes double for when I’m on vacation. Android phones have a whole assortment of Digital Wellbeing features to help you disconnect. My favorite is definitely flip to shhh: Just place your phone screen-side down and it silences notifications until you pick it back up.
Photo credit: Joao Nogueira
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You’ve booked your flights, found the perfect hotel and mapped out all of the must-see local attractions. Only one slight issue—you weren’t able to brush up on a new foreign language in time for your trip. The Google Assistant is here to help.
Travelers already turn to the Assistant for help researching and checking into flights, finding local restaurant recommendations and more. To give you even more help during your trip, the Assistant’s real-time translation feature, interpreter mode, is starting to roll out today on Assistant-enabled Android and iOS phones worldwide. Using your phone, you can have a back and forth conversation with someone speaking a foreign language.
To get started, just say “Hey Google, be my German translator” or “Hey Google, help me speak Spanish” and you’ll see and hear the translated conversation on your phone. After each translation, the Assistant may present Smart Replies, giving you suggestions that let you quickly respond without speaking—which can make your conversations faster and even more seamless.Interpreter mode helps you translate across 44 languages, and since it’s integrated with the Assistant, it’s already on your Android phone. To access it on iOS, simply download the latest Google Assistant app. Interpreter mode also features different ways to communicate suited to your situation: you can type using a keyboard for quiet environments, or manually select what language to speak.
Whether you’re heading on a trip this holiday season, gearing up for international travel in the New Year, or simply want to communicate with family members who speak another language, interpreter mode is here to remove language barriers no matter where you are.
Gute Reise! Translation: “Enjoy your trip!”
Your phone should get better over time. Your Pixel automatically updates regularly with fixes and improvements. Now, your Pixel will also get bigger updates in new Pixel feature drops. Our first one, coming this month, includes a new way to capture portraits, easier Duo calls and automatic call screening.
More photo controlsNow, you can turn a photo into a portrait on Pixel by blurring the background post-snap. So whether you took the photo years ago, or you forgot to turn on portrait mode, you can easily give each picture an artistic look with Portrait Blur in Google Photos.
Put an end to robocallsWith our latest update to Call Screen on Pixel 4 in the US, the Google Assistant now helps you automatically screen unknown callers and filter out detected robocalls before your phone ever rings, so you’re not interrupted by them. And when it’s not a robocall, your phone rings a few moments later with helpful context about who is calling and why. Call Screen works on your device and does not use Wi-Fi or data, which makes the screening fast and the content private to you.
Improved video calls on Duo Video calls are better on Pixel 4 with new Duo features that let you focus on conversations instead of logistics. Auto-framing keeps your face centered during your Duo video calls, even as you move around, thanks to Pixel 4’s wide-angle lens. And if another person joins you in the shot, the camera automatically adjusts to keep both of you in the frame.
Now, the playback on your Duo calls is even smoother, too. When a bad connection leads to spotty audio, a machine learning model on your Pixel 4 predicts the likely next sound and helps you to keep the conversation going with minimum disruptions. Pixel 4’s Smooth Display also reduces choppiness on your video feed, refreshing up to 90 times a second.
When you make Duo video calls on Pixel 2, 3 and 4, you can now apply a portrait filter as well. You’ll look sharper against the gentle blur of your background, while the busy office or messy bedroom behind you goes out of focus.
More helpful features for more PixelsIn addition to new features for Pixel 4, we’re also bringing new apps and features to Pixel 2, 3 and 3a:
- The Recorder app is now available on older generations of Pixel.
- Pixel 3 and 3a users will get Live Caption.
- Digital Wellbeing is getting updates too. Focus mode is rolling out to help you stay productive and minimize distractions by pausing apps you've selected in a single tap. You can now set an automatic schedule, take a short break or end Focus mode early without disrupting your schedule.
- Flip to Shhh will also join the Digital Wellbeing features on Pixel 2 and 2XL.
- If you use a Pixel 4 in the UK, Canada, Ireland, Singapore and Australia, you’ll soon get the new Google Assistant (English only), which is even faster and more helpful.
- With the latest update to Pixel 4, you'll also get amazingly fast accuracy in Google Maps with improved on-device computing for much better location quality. A more efficient phoneIn addition to these new experiences, all Pixel devices will also receive an update to its memory management in the feature drop. With this new enhancement, your phone proactively compresses cached applications so that users can run multiple applications at the same time -- like games, streaming content and more.
Pixel phones have always received monthly updates to improve performance and make your device safe. Now, feature drops will bring more helpful and fun features to users on a regular basis to continue to make your Pixel better than ever.
These features are already rolling out, and will hit Pixel devices in the coming weeks. To get the new features, update to the latest version of Android and go to the Play Store to start downloading your updated apps.
On a clear, cool late October evening, the residents of the village of Star, U.K., turned off their lights, left their homes, and gathered together in a field. The mayor of the tiny Welsh hamlet was already there, serving everyone tea and coffee, and people grouped together around deck chairs set up for the occasion—which was quite unusual for the 70 or so inhabitants. Because despite having one of the clearest night skies in all of the U.K., it turns out that residents of Wales are the least likely to pause and look up at the stars.
We thought the launch of astrophotography on Pixel 4’s Night Sight mode was a great opportunity to try and change that, and where better to start than the aptly named Star? Photos of the night sky have traditionally been best left to the experts, but Pixel 4 makes it easy for anyone to snap a stunning shot of the Milky Way. So we brought a handful of new phones, along with some chairs and tripods, to give the people of Star a new way to stargaze. Here are a few shots from the night, taken on Pixel 4.
- Star, UKStar, UK in the daylight
- Pixel 4 set up at sunsetAs the sun goes down, getting ready to take photos.
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Pixel 4 Astrophotography.jpgLeft: a Pixel 4 photographer admires his Night Sight Shot. Right: another shot of the night sky in Star. If you’re looking to try your hand at astrophotography, our photography lead engineer Marc Levoy has a few tips for you.
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Hold your phone still. Use two hands to hold your device. Tuck your elbows into your sides, and hold the phone close to your chest. Spread your feet apart to create a stable base. Lean against a wall or solid object to prevent you from swaying back and forth.
- Use a makeshift tripod.When the Pixel is held still against against anything stable—a tree trunk, a big rock, a car hood—the camera enters a “braced” mode. It will use longer exposures, and give you even more detail and less noise than when you hand-hold it.
- Be patient. In very dark environments, the Pixel 4 may need some time to gather enough light. The phone tips you off to that with a countdown timer, which may be up to four minutes if you’re using a tripod. But if you’re about to get interrupted—say a car headlamp is about to come into the picture—you can end the capture early with the stop button.
- Let autofocus do its thing.For best results, we recommend just letting the camera do the work and using autofocus. But if you’re determined to strike out on your own, select a manual focus mode (“near” or “far”) on the toolbar. “Far” is what you’ll want for astro shots. If your subject is close to you (within six feet), choose “near.”
- Play around with the exposure compensation slider.Take a night sky photo that was too bright or too dark? Try again and adjust the exposure compensation slider: Tap on your subject, move the exposure slider up or down, and take a photo. Tap again to reset it.
Fi helps you get the highest-quality connection on your phone, no matter where you are. For Designed for Fi devices, our network switches between three 4G LTE networks and gives you free, secure access to 2 million Wi-Fi hotspots around the world. Our enhanced network provides you with more security and privacy across all your connections, specifically when you are switching between Wi-Fi and cellular on the go.
Fi's new dual connect technology, available first on Pixel 4, gives you even better coverage by connecting you to two LTE networks at once. This means that if you’re watching a video and Fi switches you to a better network, you won't experience any delays or pauses—you won’t even notice.
Curious how this works? Connecting to two networks at once is possible with Dual Sim Dual Standby (DSDS) hardware. While one network is used at a time for sending data or making phone calls, dual connect technology improves your connection by keeping both networks ready for use at a moment’s notice, and allows for more frequent network switching. To use DSDS to connect to two networks simultaneously, Fi uses a SIM card and the eSIM at the same time.
If you purchased a Pixel 4 from Google Fi or the Google Store, your phone will be ready for dual connect technology as it becomes available over the next few weeks. Over time, we’ll expand dual connect technology to more Designed for Fi devices.