Hot on the heels of the official Google Pixel 4 teaser published in mid-June, Google is now giving us an early look into the features to expect when its most prized smartphone arrives later this year.
At a time when design leaks of the Pixel 4 were beginning to gather pace, Google came in with official images of what the eventual product will look like, taking away all the goodness that comes with leaks. In a similar move, the search giant has published a blog detailing some of the features that Pixel 4 buyers can look forward to later this year.
Obviously, with the design already known, recent rumors have been revolving around the features Google is working on for the Pixel 4. To save you the hassle, Google has spilled all the beans on the face unlock and motion gestures tech coming this October.
Motion Sense gestures is a product of Soli, one of the many projects at Google that started operations four years ago. As the name suggests, the Pixel 4 will let you skip songs, snooze alarms, and silence phone calls by waving your hand. With Motion Sense, the device will be able to detect any slightest movement around it thanks to a miniaturized radar system in the phone, but this feature will only be limited to regions where the Pixel 4 is sold.
Android phones have had facial recognition for quite some time, but the Google Pixel 4 is coming with true 3D Face unlock, something similar to Apple’s Face ID, you know. Google says Face unlock will combine the dot projector, IR camera, and flood illuminator to scan a 3D map of a user’s face and use it to unlock the device. Currently, Android phones with facial recognition technology simply capture a 2D image of your face and use it to unlock the device. This is why there haven’t been short of spoofing cases.
With the help of the Soli radar chip, the Google Pixel 4 will quickly detect the motion when picking up the device and spring the Face unlock hardware to life. It’ll then scan your face (even if the device is held upside down) and unlock the phone so that you head straight to the home screen or the last open page. All these will happen in a fraction of a second.
It’s unclear if the Google Pixel 4 will outrightly skip the fingerprint scanner in favor of Face unlock or whether it’ll be hidden under the display. But considering all the efforts, the former case is more likely.
The Google Pixel 4 isn’t expected until October 2019.
