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The Pixel 4 is getting some new features. (The rest of the images in this gallery are gifs provided by Google.)
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Here's how automatic call screening will work. You'll get a transcript on the call screen for unknown callers, and a transcript in the call log.
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Google Photo's background blurring feature. Even after taking a shot, you can blur the background.
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Automatic framing in Google Duo.
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Google Duo's background blurring in action.
Google is going to start giving the Pixel line more than just monthly security updates and yearly major OS updates. Yesterday, Google announced the first "Feature Drop" for the Pixel 4, and according to a new report from The Verge, this is the first of several planned quarterly feature updates for Google's flagship smartphone.
There are four big updates included in this first feature drop. The most important sounds like an update to the Pixel 4's memory management, which Google says "proactively compresses cached applications so that users can run multiple applications at the same time—like games, streaming content and more." The Pixel 4's 6GB of RAM is less than most of its Android competition, which means it can't run as many apps in the background as other phones. This feature is also coming to older Pixel devices like the Pixel 3; with only 4GB of RAM, these devices are definitely RAM starved compared to other Android phones.
The Pixel line has long had a "Call Screen" feature that allows the Google Assistant to pick up a call and ask the caller who they are and what they want. Their answer would then be transcribed on your phone screen, allowing you to see what that call was about without having to actually pick up the call. Before, this was a manually activated feature—your phone would ring, and instead of pressing the "answer" button, you could send the call to the Google Assistant. With this new update, the Google Assistant can now screen calls automatically. Robocalls can be automatically declined, and unknown numbers can get sent to the Google Assistant, where the caller can identify themselves, and then the phone will ring, showing the caller's statement on the call screen.The last two features are just app updates. Google Photos is getting the ability to blur the background of any picture in your collection, even for photos you took "years ago." Google Duo, a Google video chat app, is getting an auto-framing feature that tracks your face, smoother 90FPS video playback, and a background blur feature.
The Pixel 4: Now with quarterly feature updates
Google says to expect more updates like this in the coming months. “We’re targeting a quarterly cadence [for the feature drops],” Google VP of Product Management Sabrina Ellis told The Verge. “Setting that type of structure up front is helping our teams understand how they can set their development timelines.”
The Verge rightfully points out that turning feature updates into a hype-building, marketable feature for the Pixel 4 kind of goes against Google's current software release strategy. Google releases everything on a "rollout" schedule that allows the company to test new features in the wild on a portion of the user base. This means features are typically announced (or discovered) before most users can get them. New updates trickle out to a tiny percentage of users, and Google listens—either through analytics or online posts—for any potential problems, and if nothing terrible is reported, Google slowly increases the percent of users that have access to the new update. This can take days or weeks, which is a great way to suck the excitement out of an update.
For instance, Google announced a big note-taking revamp for the Google Assistant the other day, allowing a shopping list to be created in Google Keep with just your voice. This is something I'm very excited about, and while Google says the rollout started last week, I still don't have the feature. I have no idea when I'll get the feature, and I won't be notified when it arrives. I'll either have to continually check until it arrives, or I'll forget about it in a few days and never make use of it until I remember again. Google's rollout strategy took something that should have been a source of consumer excitement and goodwill and turned it into one of frustration, uncertainty, and disappointment.The rollout strategy is also particularly bad for the Pixel's monthly security updates, which can take half the month to arrive to all users. For something that is supposed to be a timely security patch, it often isn't that timely.
Ellis said that Google is at least working on notifying users when a new feature arrives. “I would like to be where you get that drop, you get that notification, and everything will be [available]. We are working towards that.” That still doesn't sound like a return to traditional software development, where features are tested internally and then shipped to all users in a timely manner.
As for these new Pixel features, well, they're rolling out now. At some point in the future, Pixel 4 owners will get a system update and some app updates.
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