It is available for Reserve now and it costs $1,799 with a $300 in-store credit, and official sales will begin on September 4. Whoever buys it will get a free year of the Google One AI Premium plan.
New AI apps, services and features
Pixel phones are known for their wealth of smart features, and several new ones are arriving with the latest phones, along with some new apps. There’s now a dedicated Pixel Weather app, which uses the Gemini Nano’s on-device large language model to summarize the weather. Another new app is Pixel Screenshots, a dedicated place that stores your screenshots, and because Gemini Nano can understand the content of your images, you can ask for information without having to hunt down the right screenshot. There’s also Pixel Studio, which lets you use generative AI to create new images, and you can even create stickers from your photos to insert.
As for calls, there is the “Call Notes” feature. This feature allows you to put the details of your call on a sticky note. These details can be things like phone numbers mentioned during the call, repair estimates, or reminders to call someone back. It will record anything worth mentioning and put it on a note so you don’t have to search for paper and pen. Google says that the person on the other end gets a notification when this feature is active due to call recording laws.
Pixel phones finally debut Satellite SOS, a feature that appeared on the iPhone 14 in 2022, making them some of the first Android phones with this capability. If you’re out of range of a Wi-Fi network or cell tower, Pixel 9 devices will share your location and find your emergency contacts via satellite. This isn’t a guaranteed getaway card, though: It requires setup, an extra charge, and will only work in the US for now. (As with Apple, it’ll be free for the first two years after activation.)
Google also has several new AI-powered camera features, including Add Me, Autoframe, Reimagine, and Zoom Enhance. I’ve compiled them in this article if you want to know more. (This one is already quite long!)
The Pixel Watch 3
This year Pixel 3 watch This is the first time you have size options: It comes in 41 and 45mm case sizes, with the latter offering a 40 percent larger display. Google says these are equipped with the same “Actua” OLED display technology as its Pixel phones and are twice as bright, making them easier to read on sunny days. You can also dial the brightness down to as low as 1 nit, so you don’t blind your eyes right before bed.
