Google introduced a lot of AI features integrated into the latest Pixel 9 product line.
The Pixel 9 series was officially launched on August 13, and Google has also been promoting the upcoming AI features on their devices.
On the hardware side, Google has increased the RAM of all its new phones to meet the needs of integrating AI on devices that are very memory-hungry. Accordingly, the Pixel 9 gets 12GB of RAM, while the remaining devices will have 16GB of RAM.
All the phones get some of the Pixel's new exclusive AI features. And the Pro phones also get a year of Google One AI Premium, which comes with access to Gemini Advanced, Google's powerful AI system.
Here are the most prominent AI features integrated into the Pixel 9 series that Google has announced:
Remember Everything with Pixel Screenshots
Google's new Pixel Screenshots feature is similar to Microsoft's Recall feature, which uses AI to track everything you do on your computer through continuous screenshots, except it's more manual. If you want to track something like an event you're planning with friends or a recipe for dinner, you can take a screenshot and then search for the information using your voice. Google says this is a Pixel-exclusive feature.
Gemini can understand the context on the screen
Google is giving Gemini the ability to respond to you based on what’s on your phone screen when you ask it. After calling Gemini, you can tap “Ask about this screen” or “Ask about this video” to direct the AI chatbot to what you’re looking at for contextual answers, Google says. This means Gemini can do things like add restaurant listings from YouTube travel videos to Google Maps, Google says.
Gemini Assistant is faster, better
According to Google, Gemini will be faster as a voice assistant, thanks to new models like Gemini 1.5 Flash. The company says it will also provide higher-quality responses and won't make mistakes as often as previous versions of the assistant. Google is also adding more extensions to Gemini, so it will be able to retrieve information or perform tasks in apps like Keep, Tasks, Utilities, and Google Calendar.
Chat with Gemini Live
Google is rolling out a voice chat version of ChatGPT called Gemini Live. The company says the feature allows for natural conversations, so you can interrupt Gemini mid-sentence or pause the conversation and pick it up later. Gemini Live will work even when your phone screen is locked. However, the feature is only available to subscribers of the Gemini Advanced paid plan.
Users who own the new Pixel Buds Pro 2 can also chat with Gemini through the earbuds by tapping and holding on the earbuds and saying "Let's have a live chat."
Recreate your photos
Google is adding a new Magic Editor option to “recreate” a photo by typing in what you want to see and then letting the app transform parts of the image. You can do this with just a prompt or by selecting parts of the image and typing in what you want to change or add. So if you want, you can completely replace the sky or other aspects of the background of an image by describing the details you want.
"Add Me" - Add people to photos
Similar to Magic Editor, the “Add Me” option in the Pixel 9’s camera app lets you easily take group photos without bothering a stranger to do it for you. Just take a photo of your friends, then hold out your phone and step into the same spot they were standing, and the camera will stitch the two images together. The feature uses an AR overlay of the original photo to guide the framing of the second photo. Add Me will be available on all Pixel 9 phones.
Create images with Pixel Studio
The new Pixel Studio app lets you create illustrations using text prompts. This feature is powered in part by Google's "on-device diffusion model" and Imagen 3 cloud model. This feature will require users to have an internet connection .
Share images with Circle to Search
With this feature, users can share a portion of an image or screen of their device. After squinting at the part they want to share, they can tap on the new share button to send it via text. This feature essentially crops a portion of the image for sharing, but doesn’t require users to do all the usual image editing.
AI Weather Summary
Google is launching a new Pixel Weather app that uses the Gemini Nano to create AI-powered weather reports. The app also lets you customize the arrangement of elements, so you can arrange information however you want, such as the UV index at the front of the index grid.
Call notes
Google will use AI to create summaries of phone calls after you hang up. The company says this is a useful way to extract details from a call, like a phone number that was mentioned that you forgot to write down. Google says calls and summaries will not be stored in the cloud, and the tool will notify users before transcribing and summarizing information. Call Notes only works on calls that last at least 30 seconds.
