It’s three months since December which means that it’s time for the next Pixel Feature Drop to be announced by Google. This latest drop brings a bunch of new features such as Night Sight in Snapchat and Custom Text Sticks to eligible Pixel handsets from today onwards. Exciting news, yes? Well, there is one fly in the ointment if you are a Pixel 6 or 6 Pro owner because you’ll need to wait until later in the month for the update to roll out to your handsets.
Night Sight in Snapchat
For those moments when the lighting isn’t quite right, Night Sight in Pixel Camera helps you capture clear low-light pictures and video. Now we’re bringing Night Sight to Snapchat so you can snap vibrant, detailed, low-light videos or photos without flash. Give it a try on your Pixel 6 or Pixel 6 Pro by selecting the low light mode in the Snapchat app to make sure you never miss a moment — even in the dark.
Communicating with Captions
For people who can’t or prefer not to speak on calls, there’s a new way to communicate with Live Caption. Now when you’re on a phone call you can see captions of what the other person says and type back a response that will be read out loud on the other end.
Custom Text Stickers
A picture is worth a thousand words. When you’re typing in messaging apps, Gboard can convert your words into colorful stickers built with your exact text. With emoji, emoji kitchen, and custom sticker suggestions while you type your Pixel helps you express exactly how you feel. It’s also getting easier to connect with friends and family on video calls: host your own YouTube watch parties or share your favorite app with live sharing for Duo, all on your Pixel phone.
More languages in Live Translate
Live Translate on Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro makes communicating in different languages easy. And with Interpreter mode, you can now translate your face-to-face conversations with Spanish, Italian, and French speakers right on your phone, as all translations stay on the device. Give it a try by saying, “Hey Google, be my Spanish interpreter. Plus, Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro can now identify Spanish in videos and other media and translate it automatically into any of our supported languages: English, French, Italian, German, Japanese (beta), and Spanish
At a Glance
At a Glance on Pixel makes sure you get the most helpful information at just the right time. At a Glance will now surface even more — including the battery levels of your Pixel Buds and other Bluetooth-connected devices, a safety check countdown from the Personal Safety app, reminders to turn off your alarm if the next day is a holiday, and earthquake alerts for your area — all right on your lock and home screen. The new Pixel battery widget can show up-to-date battery information for your Pixel, as well as Bluetooth®-connected devices like Pixel Buds). Add the widget to your homescreen to keep an eye on battery life across your devices.
The following existing features are also coming to more Pixel devices:
- Direct My Call and Wait Times will now be available for Pixel 3a and newer phones.
- Recorder can now transcribe in Italian and Spanish on Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro.
- Assistant Quick phrases will be available in Spanish, Italian and French on Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro
It’s not quite a blockbuster of a feature drop but there should be enough to keep you fascinated with your Pixel handset until Google I/O comes along during May. We’ll keep an eye out for when this latest feature drop starts rolling out to the Pixel 6 series later this month.
