Assistant Voice Typing. Courtesy of Google
Assistant Voice Typing: Tap the mic button on Google's Gboard keyboard, and you'll be privy to the much-improved voice-typing experience enabled by the Tensor chip. It's really fast, pretty accurate, and knows how to automatically add punctuation. It understands when to send a message if you say “Send,” and commands like “Next” will move the cursor to the next paragraph. You can make sure this is enabled by heading to Settings > System > Language & Input > On-Screen Keyboard > Gboard > Voice typing > Assistant Voice Typing.
Dual Screen Interpreter Mode (Pixel folding phones only): When you trigger this mode in the Google Translate app on the Pixel 10 Pro Fold (or any Pixel Fold), the person you're speaking to can read your translated words on the exterior screen. They can also tap the screen to start speaking, and you'll see their translated words on the inner screen.
Google's Recorder app. Courtesy of Google
Google Recorder: If you record interviews, meetings, calls, or anything else, you'll love the Google Recorder app. It's exclusive to Pixels, and it offers real-time transcription so you don't need to take notes. You can open these notes in a Google Doc to edit them later or tap on a word to jump to the point it was spoken in the recording. Google has added speaker labels so the transcription will try to detect when different people are talking and indicate as such. Recordings can be shared with anyone, even if they don't have a Pixel. Better yet, you can automatically back these up to your Google Account to access them anywhere (or find them here). You can also summarize (and download) these transcripts with Gemini. Google recently added the ability to add music tracks, too, in case you like using the app to record singing.
Voice Message Transcription: If you frequently get audio messages in the Messages texting app, then you'll be happy to know that these messages will automatically transcribe, so you won't have to listen to the audio message. The transcription can be hit or miss, but it's still handy. It only works in Google Messages and is available in select languages; it's available on the Pixel 4A and newer. Turn it on by heading to the Messages app and tapping on your profile icon. Then tap Messages Settings > Voice Message Transcription, and toggle it on.
Gemini AI Features
Gemini Assistant: Google's default assistant is now Gemini instead of Google Assistant. Gemini is more powerful and can handle almost all the same tasks and more. Gemini isn't exclusive to Pixels, but these handsets are some of the few to use Gemini Nano, Google's on-device large language model that doesn't need to access the cloud. Some Gemini Nano capabilities have expanded to other capable Android phones, but Pixels often have exclusive perks before the competition.
Multimodal capabilities in Gemini: When you open Gemini (pressing and holding the power button) while in another app, you can ask it to “Attach” whatever's on your screen. That can include asking Gemini to summarize a YouTube video or asking questions about a PDF. You can also upload your own photos and files to Gemini to ask questions about them. Just tap the plus icon next to the Gemini search bar.
Gemini Live with video. Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
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