The story of Google’s hardware going forward is almost never going to be about how good the actual hardware is. While Google continues to improve designs and materials used and the specs inside of its phones, like the new Pixel 10 series, the company is currently focused on Gemini and AI and what that technology can bring to your life. Google firmly believes that AI is the future and having their phones (like the new Pixel 10 series) showcase that future is where we are headed for the foreseeable future.
Pixel 10’s best Gemini and AI features: For the Pixel 10, Google is doing quite a bit on this AI front. With the Tensor G5 powering everything, there’s a new Gemini Nano model and a free subscription to Google AI Pro (with Pro model purchases) to make sure you can use all of this stuff. So what’s new? Here we go.
1. Magic Cue is the headline AI feature from Google at the moment that the Pixel 10 will showcase. Rather than being an AI app that you go to to get things done, Magic Cue connects apps (like Gmail, Calendar, Screenshots, and Messages) to surface information or actions as you need them. This is where Tensor G5 and the new Nano model come in to play by processing (“securely and privately”) all of your information in real-time and then deciding what can be done with it without you waiting around.
Consider examples of this in action like:
- A conversation in Messages you are having about an upcoming dinner reservation. Magic Cue has that information ready because it’s connected to Gmail and the confirmation email you received or your Calendar item created for that dinner. If a friend asks about the location or timing of dinner, Magic Cue would offer a smart response with that information, so you don’t have to go looking or it or type it out.
- Google has also said that the Phone app can surface information on the call screen, like if you were to call your airline about an upcoming flight, Magic Cue would surface you flight details on the call to make it available to you.
- It can also recommend locations in the Pixel Weather app if it knows you are about to take a trip somewhere.
- In Google Maps, when you go to search, Magic Cue can present options based off of your recent search history or from Calendar events or screenshots that contain information that could be used in Maps.
You’ll know there’s a Magic Cue suggestion because it’ll pop-up with a little Gemini rainbow glow around it. And if there isn’t a Magic Cue solution, you won’t see Magic Cue. Of course, you can also turn all of Magic Cue off or curate the experience by picking and choosing what it accesses.
2. Voice Translate is about to take your voice and translate it in real-time (on-device) to another language, while making sure that voice still sounds like you. This is one of those features I cannot wait to try, because I sort of want to hear what I sound like in another language, but also because it sounds insane. So yeah, Google is seriously going to allow your voice to change to another language and keep that voice sounding like you using AI. To start, Voice Translate works when translating to or from English with Spanish, German, Japanese, French, Hindi, Italian, Portuguese, Swedish, Russian and Indonesian.
3. Take a Message might replace your old school voicemail setup. Google is introducing Take a Message as a feature that will give you real-time transcripts for calls you’ve declined or missed and showcase those within the Phone app. As it transcribes, it’ll continue to use AI to identify next steps you might take.
4. Gemini Live is about to provide guidance on solutions using your camera. On Pixel 10, when you fire up a Gemini Live session through your camera, it can now not only see everything in front of you, but it’ll start to provide visual guidance by highlighting things on screen if you are asking for help. I have no current examples of how this is going to be awesome, but I’m certainly going to find some ways.
5. Daily Hub is the next AI-related feature and you might see people compare it to Samsung’s weird Now Briefing thing. Daily Hub will live in your Google Discover feed off to the left of your home screen. If you tap it, you’ll see a personalized digest of your day, with a recap on weather, upcoming meetings, notes from Gmail or Messages that you should be aware of that are relevant that day, and some suggestions on music or other items. It’s tough to say i this will be good or not, and yes, it will remind you of the old Google Now.
6. All of the AI Camera features. Since the Pixel 10 has a huge focus on camera, there are a bunch of new AI features within the camera. Google is going to help you line-up better shots, edit items for you, and do some wild zoom stuff.
- Pro Res Zoom 100x: On the Pixel 10 Pro and Pixel 10 Pro XL, Google is allowing you to capture details up to 100x by using a combination of hardware, silicon, and generative AI imaging models on the device. Since that sounds like Google is faking the pictures you take, they will at least give you two shots when you take a Pro Res Zoom picture – one that’s been enhanced with generating imaging and another that was not.
- Camera Coach: When you open your camera and line-up a shot, the new Camera Coach can help you better frame or improve composition. It’ll do crazy things like tell you to ask the person in the photo to look at you or for you to move closer to objects within it. It’ll also offer up framing ideas by highlighting them in the viewfinder.
- Ask Google Photos to edit for you: Once you are done taking photos, you can open Google Photos, find a photo, and then describe the edits you would make and it’ll attempt to do them via AI. You could ask for glare or reflections to be removed, have it “fix the lighting,” adjust shadows on specific objects, or to remove people.
- Auto Best Take: When taking a group photo, your Pixel 10 automatically activates Auto Best Take, analyzing up to 150 frames within a few seconds to get everyone at the perfect moment so that you can snap the best shot. If it can’t find that moment, it can blend photos with Best Take.
- Guided Frame: For those who are blind or low vision, a new Guided Frame feature can offer audio hints and vibrations and visuals to help describe a scene for better picture taking.
7. Everything else. Those above are probably the top 5 new AI features coming to Pixel 10, but there are more.
- Recorder app can make music: If you sing songs or hum them into the Recorder app, Google is going to let you easily transform them into music. The app is getting an update that will add this layer of functionality where it’ll offer different “featured” vibes or your own vibes that might match the beat and musicality of your audio.
- Pixel Journal is here: If you ever wanted a Pixel-powered journaling app, it is arriving with Pixel 10. Using AI, it’ll help you keep track of ideas you’ve written down (with imagery too) or if you are progressing towards goals, can help you process thoughts, and is fully lockable and secure.
- Pixel Screenshots and Recorder gets NotebookLM access: Your Pixel 10 can now look at your screenshots in Pixel Screenshots and recommend it for your NotebookLM projects. Additionally, your transcripts from Recorder can head to your notebooks too.
- Gboard gets Writing Tools: Google’s Gboard is getting a new feature called Writing Tools that can not only check and fix writing errors, it can rewrite blocks of text in specified styles, change items to emoji for some fun, etc.
- Gboard Smart Edit with voice: Gboard is also now allowing you to edit text with your voice that has been voice dictated. So if you talk through a line of text, you can tell Gboard to swap out words, delete items, make puncuation changes, etc.
There’s likely more, this is just what Google has announced up to this point. We’ll soon have the devices in hand and will share as we can. Anything you see here that might make a Pixel 10 worth upgrading for?