Remember the half-baked thermometer feature that was announced with the Google Pixel 8 series? It is finally becoming more usable with the latest Pixel feature drop that allows you to use it as a “medical grade” thermometer for humans.
This thermometer feature can finally be used to measure someone’s body temperature and since Google calls it “medical grade”, the phone maker likely had to acquire FDA clearance for it.
The freshly announced Circle to Search feature during Samsung’s Galaxy S24 launch is also official for Pixel phones. Interestingly, the feature is rolling out to Pixel phones during the same time as Galaxy S24 goes for sale on January 31. This feature lets you quickly Google search anything you highlight on the screen after long pressing the home button, be it an image, text, or other content.
Another feature included in the update is Magic Compose, which is also coming to the Pixel 6 series. Similar to the newly announced “Help me write” feature for Google Chrome, this will help users rewrite drafted messages in different styles using AI. This processing will happen on-device on the Pixel 8 Pro, but older devices will have to rely on the cloud for it, which will require an internet connection and may also be slower.
This feature drop also replaces the Nearby Share feature with Quick Share, a simpler branding that is now shared between Google and Samsung. The functionality, however, remains unchanged as you can still quickly share content between nearby Windows, ChromeOS, and Android devices that support the feature.
Finally, there is audio switching for Pixel watches that aims to make audio source switching more seamless. Here is how Google explains it:
You can switch your Pixel Buds Pro from your Pixel Watch to any number of Pixel phones or Pixel Tablet and get helpful notifications about where your audio is switching to.
Photomoji support is being added to the Messages app that lets you:
Photomoji on Google Messages allows you to transform your favorite photos into reactions with the help of on-device Google AI. Simply select the photo, review the object you’d like to react with and hit send.
These features will start rolling out to Pixel phones over the next few weeks.
