Get ready, everyone. What is a photo is about to turn into an even stranger conversation after Google’s December feature drop for the Pixel. Things are about to get even crazier, especially for anyone walking around with a Pixel 8 Pro.
Earlier today, Google officially unveiled Gemini, its answer to ChatGPT-4. The company said that in 30 of 32 academic benchmarks for LLM research and development, Gemini Ultra exceeded results from GPT-4. Of course, we’ll have to see how it performs with Bard, Google’s conservation AI, and other areas to truly test it out, but those are promising results.
In tandem with the launch of Gemini 1.0, Google announced the December 2023 Pixel Feature Drop, which actually brings Gemini Nano, an on-device version of Gemini, to the Pixel 8 Pro.
As the first smartphone engineered for Gemini Nano, it uses the power of Google Tensor G3 to deliver two expanded features: Summarize in Recorder and Smart Reply in Gboard. Gemini Nano running on Pixel 8 Pro offers several advantages by design, helping prevent sensitive data from leaving the phone, as well as offering the ability to use features without a network connection. In addition to Gemini Nano now running on-device, the broader family of Gemini models will unlock new capabilities for the Assistant with Bard experience early next year on Pixel.
The first of the two new features to come with the launch of Gemini Nano is Summarize in Recorder, which will provide a summary of your recorded conversations, interviews, and presentations — even without a network connection. The second is Smart Reply in Gboard, which is rolling out as a developer preview. Google says that “the on-device AI model saves you time by suggesting high-quality responses with conversational awareness.”
The company is also rolling out a number of AI-powered features for photos and videos. The first of which is called Video Boost, which uses computational photography models to fix color, lighting, stabilization, and graininess after a video has been uploaded to the cloud. It also brings Night Sight video to the Pixel 8 Pro.
The company has also released Night Sight in Timelapse, which allows Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro owners to record better timelapse videos at night. The update also improves Portrait Light in Google Photos and Photo Unblur for dogs and cats.
The update also includes a number of productivity improvements across Pixel phones, the Pixel Watch, the Pixel Tablet, and more. The first is Dual Screen Preview, which will show the person or people you are taking a photo of with your Pixel Fold a preview of what the photo will look like.
The camera app is also getting an update to clean up all of those receipts and documents you snapped a photo of. Google says the new Clean feature can “help remove smudges, stains, and creases from scanned documents.”
There are also a number of other updates, including the ability to use your Pixel as your computer camera, easier access to passkeys in Google Password Manager, the release of Repair Mode to protect your data when you send your phone in for repair, contextual replies in Call Screen, spatial audio on the Pixel Tablet, a new Weather/Clock widget, and more.
The December feature drop for the Pixel lineup is rolling out today.
