Made by Google 2024: AI Features Coming to Pixel Devices

Google's Made by Google '24 event on August 13, 2024, unveiled the latest additions to the Pixel lineup, including the Pixel 9 series, Pixel Watch 3, and Pixel Buds Pro 2.

While these devices bring the typical hardware update and spec bumps hardware upgrades over their predecessors, Google took things a step further this year by showcasing how deeply integrated AI has become in its hardware ecosystem, particularly with its Gemini AI. The integration is focused on enhancing user experience across various aspects of the devices.

Central to this AI-powered ecosystem is Gemini Live, a personal assistant, capable of understanding and responding to natural language commands. Powered by Gemini AI, this assistant combines text, images, and voice commands potentially transforming the way you interact with technology.

This is just one of the many AI features that have been brought to the Pixel Experience. The just-concluded event unveiled many more AI features for Pixel devices. Here is a rundown of some of the notable ones.

Gemini Live

• As mentioned earlier, the event unveiled Gemini Live, a personal AI assistant bringing a mobile conversational experience to Pixels that lets you have free-flowing conversations with Gemini.
• It has been integrated into so many Android and Google apps which means you can control or perform tasks on those apps through Gemini Live like taking notes or adding things to your calendar.
• The Gemini Live feature also allows you to engage in casual conversation with your AI. Even enabling you to interrupt it mid-sentence or pause a conversation for later. This really takes away from it feeling like a bot but more like a companion in your pocket.
• To enhance accessibility, the feature can also be accessed using the Pixel Buds Pro 2 but the feature requires activation by tapping on them and saying "Let's talk live" each time to function. It also works while the phone is locked.
• This feature allows you to communicate with Gemini more seamlessly.
• This feature is available across Android devices for any user who is a Gemini Advanced user.

Gemini Sees It All

• Gemini now has the ability to answer questions about things on your screen. Google claims to have trained its AI model on understanding context so it is able to answer questions about things on screen like "What's this video about?" appropriately.
• Gemini can also help you look through and retrieve information from old screenshots, this way, you won't have to keep scrolling through to find that one screenshot of a list you took a while ago. This feature is only exclusive to the Pixel phones though.

Image Production and Enhancements

• After a picture has been taken, the Pixel phone has a feature called "Magic Editor" This feature allows your imagination to be the limit when it comes to taking photos, as it allows you to change parts of or just the entire image to look magnificent.
• A feature Google calls "Add me" has been added to the camera software. It allows the user to take two photos and then uses its AI capabilities to overlay the photos and make them appear as one. This way, the person behind the camera can get into the group photo too.
• Their all-new studio app, aptly named "Pixel Studio" can quickly bring that picture in your head out into the real world. You say it; it creates it.

Recall information from screenshots

• Google also brought a Screenshots app to the Pixel that turns your captured images into a powerful knowledge base - my personal favourite.
• The new Pixel Screenshots app helps you save, organize and recall information from screenshots you’ve taken. For example, if you have a screenshot of a door code for an upcoming vacation stay but can't remember it when you arrive, you can simply ask Pixel Screenshots to quickly and easily find it for you.
• This tool simplifies the process of saving, organizing, and retrieving essential information captured in screenshot images.

Call Notes

• An all-new "Call Notes" feature that helps you take note of important information said in a call has also been added. If you are like me and sometimes forget everything said as soon as the call ends, this new "Call Notes" feature sounds like a lifesaving feature they added to the phone.
• Although not exactly new, the Pixel 9 phones and Watch 3 can also detect and screen spam calls or put calls on hold till you can find a better place to properly answer the call.

Improved Weather App

• Supplemented by AI, the Pixel weather forecast can make even more accurate weather predictions way ahead of time
• You can also use Gemini Nano to get you a custom-made weather report, this way, you can tell it to only give you information that is relevant to you.

Dedicated Health Features

• The Pixel Watch 3 comes packed with several AI-powered features that are designed to help you keep track of anything you want to keep track of.
• "Daily readiness," a feature that comes with the watch ensures you are able to keep track of your recovery from your previous workout by looking at vital signs like resting heart rate and heart rate variability and recent sleep.
• The Watch also features "Cardio load", a feature that helps keep track of how things are going while you are doing an exercise (in other words, it'll help you know if you are doing it right or not), and lastly,
• Another notable mention is the "Target load" feature which gives you a target for every workout session, usually based on past performances.
• For actual lifesaving features, the Pixel Watch 3 added a never-before-seen feature called "Loss of Pulse Detection." What this does is recognize when the pulse of the user stops and can contact emergency services as soon as possible. It then relays an automated message that states the location of the user alongside other critical context.

Better Listening Experience

• As mentioned before, the buds will allow you to communicate directly with your AI-powered virtual assistant, Gemini Live, completely hands-free. And with how natural you can sound while speaking with it, people would probably wonder why you keep asking those random questions.
• Thanks to the new AI-powered chip built specifically for this purpose, the Pixel Buds Pro 2 comes with twice the noise cancellation of previous models. In other words, you definitely won't be able to hear people silently (or loudly) question why you are speaking to the air for directions.

Conclusion

Google also announced that most of its Gemini AI features will be made available to Gemini Advanced Subscribers and last year's Pixel 8 Series in the coming months.

The way they were able to turn the whole workout process into a sort of game excites me a little. Admittedly, it's nothing new, as Apple has had it for a while, but with it being integrated into the Android atmosphere and other new things coming up, things are becoming fascinating. AI is really taking over and is being integrated into everything. At this rate, hopefully, the AI singularity does not become more than just fiction.