Google Pixel Feature Drop — all the new features for your Pixel phone
Dual-screen interpreter feature for Pixel Fold is the big highlight
The Google Pixel Fold is picking up a new trick that takes better advantage of its foldable screen when you need help speaking to someone in another language. As part of the latest Pixel feature drop announced as part of the Made by Google event today (October 4), the Pixel Fold is picking up a dual-screen interpreter model.
The new feature essentially divides the Pixel Fold's 7.6-inch main display in half — one part of the display shows the conversation in your language, the other shows it in the language of the person you're speaking with. By divvying up the screen, you can speak face to face with someone; otherwise, in a single screen mode, everyone has to crowd around the same device or, worse, pass the phone back and forth.
We've known that dual-screen interpreter mode has been coming essentially since the Pixel Fold debuted over the summer. "If you're in another country and then we can have a much more fluid conversation because you can be quite creative with this type of device," George Hwang, product manager for Google Pixel, told Tom's Guide in an interview earlier this year.
"It unleashes the capabilities that power our AI capabilities and allows you to think through new use cases, new experiences for our users," Hwang added.
Other Google Pixel
The dual-screen interpreter feature for the Pixel Fold isn't the only device-specific feature coming in this software update. The Kids Space on Pixel tablets is getting a streamlined navigation bar for switching between apps and returning to the home screen. When tablets are docked in Hub Mode, you'll also be able to ask the Google Assistant to play podcasts and the news.
Other software upgrades to the Pixel phone include a new camera interface aimed at making it easier to navigate between photo and video features. There's now a button for switching camera modes — once you select or video, the submenu changes to reflect other modes relevant to whether you're shooting photos or video.
Additional Pixel owners will have access to new clock and wallpaper collections via the software update. Android 14, which is rolling out to Pixel devices, adds the ability to customize lock screen quick actions as well. And new monochromatic themes are available, too.
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Google says the latest Pixel feature drop will start rolling out to devices today along with the Android 14 update.
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Philip Michaels is a Managing Editor at Tom's Guide. He's been covering personal technology since 1999 and was in the building when Steve Jobs showed off the iPhone for the first time. He's been evaluating smartphones since that first iPhone debuted in 2007, and he's been following phone carriers and smartphone plans since 2015. He has strong opinions about Apple, the Oakland Athletics, old movies and proper butchery techniques. Follow him at @PhilipMichaels.