Google is finally making its Gemini Nano AI model available to Pixel 8 and 8a users after teasing it in March.
The June Pixel drop will allow users to access the model as a developer option.
Apart from that, the feature drop includes Display Port connectivity support for Pixel 8 and Pixel 8a, reverse phone number lookup for unknown numbers, fall and crash detection for Pixel Watch 2, and doorbell notifications on the Pixel tablet.
The update brings manual lens picking in the camera to the Pixel 6 Pro, 7 Pro, and Pixel Fold.
Pixel WatchThe newest Pixel drop brings car crash detection to the Pixel Watch 2.
On Wednesday, the tech giant announced that a handful of enhanced editing features previously limited to Pixel devices and paid subscribers — including its AI-powered Magic Editor — will now make their way to all Google Photos users for free.
But with the growing number of AI-powered editing tools flooding the market, Google has decided to make its set of AI photo editing features available to more people for free.
Previously, these kinds of edits would require Magic Eraser and other professional editing tools, like Photoshop, to get the same effect.
With the expansion, Magic Editor will come to all Pixel devices, while iOS and Android users (whose phones meet the requirements) will get 10 Magic Editor saves per month.
The other tools will be available to all Google Photos users, no Google One subscription is required.
Google announced today that it will soon roll out on-device AI-powered features such as recording summaries and smart replies on the Pixel 8.
These features will be based on Gemini Nano, a small-sized model Google released last year, primed to run on devices.
The company announced these features last October during the Pixel 8 launch.
In January, Google introduced “Circle to Search” for select Pixel and Samsung Devices.
The company announced this week that more Pixel and Sasmung phones along with select tablets will get Circle to Search feature.
Pixel phone updatesThe company is now allowing users to capture and upload 10-bit HDR videos on Instagram.
This feature is available to users on the Pixel 7, Pixel 7 Pro, Pixel 8, Pixel 8 Pro, and Pixel Fold.
Later in the month, the company made the feature available to Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro users.
Google today said the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro users will be able to use this feature soon.
Pixel Watch updatesGoogle is rolling out two updates to the original Pixel Watch to help users train better, namely Pace training and Heart Zone training.
Admittedly Apple iWatch uses have had it since October last year, but as of today at Mobile World Congress, the Doublepoint startup has launched the updated version of its popular WowMouse gesture-touch control app for Android smartwatches.
Launched at CES in January, the free app now supports Google’s Pixel Watch 2, having already garnered around 30,000 downloads by Samsung Galaxy users since CES, according to the company.
As with the iWatch gestures, the WowMouse app creates a sort of ‘wrist-based’ mouse, using taps fed via Bluetooth to the watch to allow users to control headsets, phones, tablets, computers and other devices.
On his stand at the Four Years From Now section of MWC, founder Ohto Pentikäinen told me: “Gestures are a big theme nowadays, with Apple Vision Pro coming out.
We see people doing these pinches all over the streets nowadays!
Google announced today that it’s rolling out a few new features for Pixel users.
Most notably, the tech giant announced that Pixel 8 Pro users will be able to use the phone’s Thermometer app to take their temperature, or someone else’s, with a forehead scan.
When Google first announced the Thermometer app, the tech giant said you could use it to take the temperature of things like your baby’s milk bottle or your coffee.
Now, the company says users can use the app to scan their own body temperature.
Google also announced that it’s launching “Circle to Search, a feature that it unveiled last week, to Pixel 8 and 8 Pro users.
Google today issued an open letter voicing support of pending Oregon right to repair legislation.
The right to repair movement has been gaining tremendous traction over the past several years.
In October, California became the third state to pass a right to repair bill — following New York and Minnesota.
The paper cited iFixit reports, noting that some seven different parts can trigger Apple’s warning system during repair.
Companies like Google and Samsung, meanwhile, have partnered directly with third-party solutions such as iFixit, including its own home repair option for Pixel devices.
The affected divisions include voice-activated Google Assistant as part of the knowledge and information product team restructuring; and the Devices and Services PA (DSPA) team that manages Pixel, Nest, and Fitbit hardware.
Some teams are continuing to make these kinds of organizational changes, which include some role eliminations globally,” a Google spokesperson said in a statement.
The report also mentioned that Google will now have one core hardware engineering team instead of separate teams working on Pixel, Fitbit, and Nest.
Separately, the company has also let go of people working on the Google Assistant team, as reported by Semafor.
Last year, Google had rolling layoffs in different teams including the Waze mapping service in June, its recruiting team in September, and its news division in October.
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