Google’s new Pixel line puts inbuilt AI front and centre

The new line of phones has four models – the Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro Fold, Pixel 9 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro XL, while the Pixel Watch 3 and Pixel Buds Pro 2 also represent some technical upgrades to their predecessors.

Of the new phones the most physically eye-catching is the foldable model, since the fringe form factor offers something a bit more novel than another black slab of glass with some better innards. Google boasts that it is the thinnest foldable phone, that it has the best camera on a foldable, is 80% brighter than the previous Pixel Fold, and has a few new features such as ‘Made You Look’ which helps get kids to smile for a photos by displaying an animation on the outer screen to grab their attention.

All the new models are powered by Google’s Tensor G4 chip, which is held up as having a lot more heft than the previous model, and pitched as the backbone for the more interesting element of Google’s cluster of releases – stuffing AI into everything it can.

“We believe that AI can make day-to-day life more productive, open up new ways to learn, and create ways for people to express themselves,” states one the many comms articles associated with the Made by Google 2024 event, where all the announcements were made. “This is especially true when AI is built into the devices that people carry around with them everywhere. We're innovating with AI at every layer of the tech stack — from our research and models that make new features and capabilities possible, to Android OS that brings the apps and services to billions of people to use every day, to our premium hardware built with a custom silicon chip.”

Google says Gemini – it’s AI model – is now ‘fully integrated into the Android user experience’ and that it has ‘completely rebuilt’ its assistant, meaning you can supposedly now speak to it naturally the way you would with another person. We’re told it can understand your intent, follow your train of thought and complete complex tasks.

The new Gemini Live feature offers a ‘mobile conversational experience’ that lets you chat with Gemini about whatever’s on your mind’. Suggested uses of this include asking  more complex questions, exploring ideas or ‘brainstorm potential jobs well-suited for your skillset or degree.’ So a more sophisticated mobile assistant is what’s being pitched here – but you’ll need to be an Gemini Advanced subscriber to make use of the chatty new functions.  

One of the other main manifestations of this AI infusion seems to be that you can now bring up Gemini’s overlay on top of the app you’re using to ask questions about what’s on your screen, such as finding out specific information about a YouTube video you’re watching.

Much is made of the efforts Google has put into the security of all these new AI functions. As one of the releases explains:

“With your permission, Gemini can help you connect your relevant personal data with all the valuable knowledge that Google has organized and made accessible to provide just the right help you need. For example, Gemini can help create a daily workout routine based on your personal trainer’s email, or use your resume in Google Drive to write a work bio. Only Gemini can do all of this with a secure, all-in-one approach that doesn’t require hand-off to a third-party AI provider you may not know or trust.”

There were quite a few camera specific AI features highlighted for the new line of phones, such as Video Boost on Pixel 9 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro XL, which uses AI upscaling to serve up videos in 8K resolution, Reimagine in Magic Editor which allows you to request changes and generate additional content to photos, and Auto frame in Magic Editor which generates options to better frame a photo once you’ve already taken it.

There were a ton of other new AI features announced as well, highlights of which include Pixel Studio, an image generator, a new Pixel Weather app which uses AI to supplement traditional weather reporting for more accurate forecasts, and Call Notes, which saves a private summary phone calls.

Meanwhile the Pixel Watch 3 has a feature where it will detect if the wearer’s heart suddenly stops beating and automatically place a call to emergency services with an automated message – which sounds like one of the more practical things any smartwatch maker has come up with.

Using AI to invent new ways of how we use smartphones seems to be the direction of travel for technological development, and many will now be looking to Apple’s expected new iPhone launch next month to see what they have come up with on that front. What AI bells and whistles your new phone comes with seems likely to become an increasing differentiator, in a market that has had a tendency to produce some rather samey experiences in recent years.   

Of the glut of ideas that the industry will no doubt throw against the wall in the pursuit of brandishing the most AI phone in the coming years, time will tell which of them people find genuinely game-changing, and which of them end up being categorised as discontinued novelties.