Pixel fans are usually in it for the software, and Google knows that, so it has started bundling its more feature-heavy Android updates together for quarterly releases that come packed with fun new functionality. ThesePixel Feature Dropstouch down in March, June, September, and December. Google has been beta testing the December Pixel Feature Drop asAndroid 14 QPR1, and now, it appears the update is ready for prime time.
Google announcedthe December 2023 Feature Drop today on its blog, and just like its October 4 hardware event and Google I/O 2023 before it, AI is the clear theme. Most notably,Google Gemini, which also made its public debut this morning, will now be present in a lightweight form on the Pixel 8 Pro. As it turns out, that entirely on-device foundational model the 8 Pro can run — the one that Google said was the first ever on a smartphone — was none other than Gemini Nano, a slimmed-down version of Google’s true answer to GPT-4.
Gemini Nano will be used to power features like Summarize in Google Recorder, which builds off of the new speaker labels feature to generate an AI summary of what was said. The multimodal AI will also power Smart Reply in Gboard, which has just been opened up asa developer preview.
Beyond the Pixel 8 Pro, Google is also bringing lots of smart, AI-powered features to its full Pixel lineup all the way back to the 5a. Photo Unblur got better at working with pictures of pets, and an upgraded Portrait light feature will now better remove harsh light in new or old photos.
The entire Pixel 8 series now gets access to Night Sight in Timelapse, which should give your time-lapse videos a much brighter look. And the Pixel 8 Pro’s Video Boost feature is finally available, though it’s not using Gemini Nano — instead, this feature adjusts color, lighting, and stabilization with a cloud-based computational photography model on the Google Photos servers.
Finally, after teasing the functionalityway back in January at CES 2023, Google’s new Watch Unlock feature is making its debut. Pixel Watch 1 and 2 users alike can now simply bring their unlocked watches close to their phones to unlock the handset, and this should work on all Pixel phones, tablets, and foldables from the 5a to the 8 and 8 Pro.
The first-gen Pixel Watch will also now sync DND and Bedtime modes from your phone to the wearable, ensuring notifications don’t wake or distract you regardless of where they come in. Google’s famous Call Screen feature will now also work on Pixel Watches, allowing you to interact with calls from your wrist during the screening.
Theweather and clock integrationthat we had been tracking throughout development is also now live. This enhances your World Clock view with weather and forecast data from each of the cities, including your own.
Meanwhile, the Pixel Tablet now supports spatial audio, and Google’s Clear Calling feature that filters out background noises in phone calls has also made its way to the tablet. Finally, a new Clean feature will remove stains and creases from scanned documents, and a new Repair Mode will keep your data safe and secure while you send your device in for repairs.
As far as Feature Drops go, this is a downright huge one. A perfect storm of needing to deliver on promised Pixel 8 features, giving Android 14 its first significant update, and driving interest with an end-of-year feature bundle seems to have driven Google to issue one of its biggest updates ever in terms of functionality, and we’re here for it.
