GoKawiilLast week, we got our first real look at one of the Pixel 11 Pro’s new features: Pixel Glow. We’ve been following behind-the-scenes developments around Pixel Glow, an array of color-changing lights embedded in Pixel 11 Pro’s camera bar, for months now.
Until Google shared an animation showing it off last Wednesday, we didn’t know what it’d actually look like. Thankfully, it seems like a thoughtful addition that’s tastefully executed. But it also feels distinctly like a modernization of an Android throwback: the humble notification LED.
Back before always-on displays were the norm, plenty of Android phones featured a color-changing LED light that could communicate basic information while your phone’s screen was off. Devices from LG, HTC, Samsung, and others had LEDs that lit up in different colors and sequences to denote notifications from different apps or contacts — and based on what we’ve seen so far, that’s about what Pixel Glow will do, too.
I’m not complaining, but I think it says something about the modern smartphone industry that one of the Pixel 11 Pro’s defining traits is a reimagining of a feature that was commonplace in the early 2010s.
Are you looking forward to Pixel Glow? 63 votes Yes, it looks great! 43 % Maybe, but I want to see more. 38 % No, it doesn't interest me. 19 %
Pixel Glow could be a great addition
Paul Jones / Android Authority
Google’s not the first player in the contemporary smartphone space to put a modern spin on the notification LED. Nothing’s Glyph lights have been one of the brand’s defining characteristics ever since the Nothing Phone 1 launched in 2022. But where Nothing has presented a maximalist take on the concept, with showy arrays of multiple discrete LED strips and, later, dot-matrix displays embedded in the backs of its devices, Google’s interpretation seems more restrained.
From what we’ve seen so far, the feature we’re calling Pixel Glow is a small, circular area, nested where you’ll find the thermometer on the previous couple of Pro Pixel phones, possibly integrated into the camera flash. It looks like it’ll be able to show multiple colors at once, potentially allowing for dynamic patterns that, in theory, could alert you to any number of things happening when your phone is face down.
I'm always on the hunt for ways to spend less time looking at my phone's screen.
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