Starting today, Google’s next-generation AI model, Gemini, will power the Pixel 8 Pro, making it the first Android smartphone to do so, the company announced. Google’s Tensor G3 will now be used by Gemini Nano, a model intended to run on devices such as smartphones, to deliver two Pixel 8 Pro features: Summarize in Recorder and Smart Reply in Gboard. Because the AI is on-device, it will enable you to use the features even when you don’t have a network connection and help prevent sensitive data from leaving the phone.
The most effective iteration of Google’s new artificial intelligence model, Gemini Nano, is intended to operate on mobile devices. With its release, it will now be the mind behind the Recorder app on the Pixel 8 Pro’s AI summarizer feature. A Gemini-powered synopsis of your recorded talks, interviews, presentations, or other audio will now be included in the Recorder app, which allows users to record and transcribe audio with a single button press. Users will be able to access these summaries regardless of whether they are connected to Wi-Fi or have a signal thanks to the switch to Gemini Nano.
As of right now, Pixel 8 Pro smartphones can take advantage of this feature. 28 new languages can now be transcribed using the Recorder app as well.
Google’s keyboard app, Gboard, will soon have a developer preview of Gemini Nano available. This is where it will power Smart Reply, an app feature that helps you figure out what to say next when you’re chatting with someone. Though Google says more apps will support the feature by 2024, it will initially only work with WhatsApp. Because Gemini Nano’s AI model has greater conversational awareness, the company says the suggested responses will be of a higher caliber.
Android users will be able to access the new Gemini model through Bard in addition to using Gemini Nano on the device. This will also enable Assistant with Bard on Pixel devices early in the upcoming year, thereby improving Google’s equivalent of Siri with a model that is just as intelligent and, in some cases, even more potent than ChatGPT.
Longer term, users may migrate to Android due to the benefits of better AI on devices. Some people are already thinking about switching to their preferred Android smartphone in light of the release of Beeper, an app that brings iMessage to Android users. Additionally, Google’s AI advancements are enabling a plethora of AI features on the Pixel phone, including Magic Editor and Best Take in Google Photos, Assistant with Bard, AI-powered call screening, and more.
Google revealed new features for the Pixel 8 Pro in a blog post today, in addition to the Gemini-powered features. The Tensor G3 is utilized in the Video Boost feature, which uploads video to the cloud and uses computational models to modify its color, lighting, stabilization, and graininess. Additionally, this makes the Pixel 8 Pro capable of recording videos at night or in low light using AI’s Night Sight feature, which includes timelapse videos.
While a feature called Photo Unblur can now sharpen images of dogs and cats that wiggle during photos, another new AI model in Google Photos will also improve Portrait light.
Upgrades are also being made to other Pixel devices. For example, the Pixel Fold now has a “Dual Screen Preview” mode for previewing images.
Additionally, phones like the Pixel Fold and Pixel 6 and later models will be able to make USB connections to computers in order to use the phone’s webcam for video calls. In addition, those gadgets will now propose “contextual replies” while using Call Screen—which is now available on the Pixel Watch as well. In the UK, business numbers without a toll-free prefix can now utilize Pixel’s Hold for Me and Direct My Call features.
Smudges and stains from scanned documents will be eliminated by a new feature called “Clean.” The Google blog goes into detail about a few more features related to security, authentication, new widgets, and other things centered around the Pixel Watch and Pixel Tablet.
