Technology
Google's new Pixel drop introduces more battery and adaptive sound optimizations
Google's most recent Pixel feature drop is being revealed today, where the firm adds a range of new tech tricks to its mobile lineup. Alongside some brand-new features such as Adaptive Sound, which improves the sound quality of your phone speaker based on your surroundings, the December drop also brings many of the latest software features from Pixel 5, 4A 5G, and 4A to older devices; Google says Pixel 3 and later will be included.
This implies features, like Hold for Me where the Google Assistant is waiting for someone to leap into customer service instead of doing it, and others like Intense Power Saver mode and Duo screen sharing, will reach older smartphones in the near future.
Extreme Battery Saver seems like an over-correction of the business after last year's Pixel 4 and 4 XL had mediocre (at best) battery life; this year's Pixels all have fantastic stamina, and most users would never need to consider using it. But the Drastic Power Saver, which only runs the essentials so that your battery lasts as long as possible, certainly makes more sense on certain Pixel 4, 3A, and 3 smartphones as their batteries begin to age.
Both Pixels that earn this feature drop will be provided with a new feature to protect the long-term health of the battery: Adaptive Charging. Similar to the implementations we've seen from other mobile manufacturers, Google says Adaptive Charging helps keep the battery healthy over time by dynamically controlling how quickly a Pixel device charges when plugged in overnight. And the company's first 5G-capable tablets, Pixel 5 and 4A 5G, will now stick to 4G for basic tasks like web surfing and calling, but they will move to 5G for streaming movies or watching massive files. That sounds similar to the Apple scheme that's in effect for the iPhone 12 series, but Google mentions that this "Adaptive Connectivity" functionality isn't accessible to all carriers or applications. As in the case of Apple, you'll be able to turn it off if you want maximum 5G speeds at all times when there's a connection.
Pixel owners can also find new recommendations in Google Pictures, including Dynamic, which enhances brightness, contrast and color, and a set of sky suggestions that help you create stunning landscapes, sunsets, and sunrise images in just one tap. For now it sounds like these choices are Pixel-exclusive.
As for that odd Adaptive Sound trick, which seems to be an effort to boost the medium-sized Pixel 5 speaker quality, it 'uses the microphone to measure the acoustics around you and then changes the sound equalizer settings in certain applications.' So the phone can tune the audio differently in the bathroom relative to the bedroom. Consider me dubious that this is going to remedy one of the few hardware downsides of the Pixel 5, but we'll see. Google states that all microphone data captured for speaker optimization will be removed shortly after it has been recorded, and the company says this function will only run locally on your computer and will not transfer any audio to the cloud.
All of this, plus smaller stuff like the ability to export Pixel's "Now Playing" automatic music recognition to a YouTube Music playlist, will roll out as part of the December drop feature starting today.
