Google's latest Pixel phones pack lots of AI tools
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
An AI-enhanced photo that uses the Pixel 9 Pro's Add Me feature to include Ina Fried's partner and mother-in-law, and the Magic Editor feature to add a giant humpback whale. Photo: Ina Fried/Axios
Google's latest Pixel phones pack an impressive grab bag of AI features, but the company and its rivals still seem far from delivering the seamless, truly personal assistant they envision.
Why it matters: AI features have emerged as key differentiators when it comes to buying a high-end smartphone, but too often they still feel like gimmicks or unfinished betas.
The big picture: Google's new phones come just ahead of the debut of new iPhones and Apple's first significant generative AI features, called Apple Intelligence.
- Apple, like Google, is introducing different features at different times, with some of the announced features coming this fall and others sometime over the next year.
Zoom in: The new Pixel 9 family of phones includes a modest set of hardware improvements, but for this review I'm focused on the new AI features included with the Pixel 9 Pro (which starts at $999) and the Pixel 9 Pro XL (which starts at $1,099).
The Add Me feature lets people get their whole group or family into the picture.
- As the person who normally is taking all the pictures and rarely in them, I was excited to try out Add Me. This week I used it to get a first day of school picture that included the 6th grader and both parents.
- For the image above, I used Add Me to get a photo that included both AJ and my mother-in-law.
- I also used the new Magic Editor to add in an AI-generated humpback whale, significantly more prominent than any of the real ones we saw from the shore at Pacifica.
The Call Notes feature — similar to one Apple is adding to iOS — allows people to record their phone calls, and get a transcript and summary.
- The feature does warn those on the other end of the line that they are being recorded.
- I used it on a call with United Airlines, and the Pixel did a so-so job of documenting my unsuccessful effort to get a refund owed to me.
- Call Notes wasn't as accurate or versatile as the notes I get with Otter, but the Pixel's transcription is also handled on the device and doesn't require a subscription.
Gemini Live's chattier chatbot is Google's answer to ChatGPT's Advanced Voice Mode.
- I chatted with Gemini about how to deal with parental and kid anxieties about starting middle school and found Gemini helpful and easy to talk with, even if it didn't have the secrets to making middle school fun.
Pixel Screenshots is similar at a high level to the Recall feature on Microsoft's new Copilot+ PCs.
- While Recall takes screenshots frequently and automatically, Pixel Screenshots builds its memory out of screenshots chosen by the user. This strikes me as a more privacy-friendly approach, but requires more action.
Zoom out: The Pixel also features improvements to its AI-assisted video and photo editing features as well as Pixel Studio, a text-to-image engine that uses the phone's processing power to generate images in a variety of styles.
- That makes image generation quick and private, but Pixel Studio is more limited than cloud-based options. (Right now, it won't even draw humans.)
My thought bubble: At first glance, these AI tools feel more useful than gimmicky, but I really need more time to see just how functional these features are in daily life, especially Pixel Screenshots.
- I can say that each of the features left me wanting more: more capability, more polish and more integration with the other apps and information already on the phone.
Between the lines: Some of the AI features, like Pixel Screenshots and Call Notes, are specific to the new Pixel devices.
- Gemini Live is part of Google's Gemini Advanced subscription service, which is included with the phone for one year.
- Other features, like Circle to Search, are now part of the Android operating system.
- The result is that each of these AI features lives in its own silo.
- If you want to have a conversational chat with Gemini, you have to open that app. But if you want to search through your screenshots to find something, that requires a different app, while your notes from a phone call live in another app.
