Third Pixel Feature Drop Adds Battery, Safety Improvements

Google today announced the third Pixel feature drop, adding adaptive battery improvements, new safety features, and other improvements.

“Whether you’re trying to extend your battery life or find ways to disconnect each night, Pixel’s latest features make it easier than ever to get the most out of your phone,” Google’s Tok Tokuda explains. “And with the latest updates to the Personal Safety app, your Pixel is giving you more options to help keep you safe in an emergency.”

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Here’s what’s new.

Adaptive Battery improvements. Adaptive Battery on Pixel 2 and newer devices can now predict when your battery will run out and further reduce background activity to keep your Pixel powered longer.

Clock improvements. New bedtime feature in Clock can help you maintain a consistent sleep schedule and strike a better balance with your screen time each night. You can now fall asleep to calming sounds and limit interruptions while you sleep, and then wake up with your favorite audio track or with a gradually brighter screen with Sunrise Alarm.

Google Assistant improvements. Google Assistant now integrates with the Recorder app and can save transcripts directly to Google Docs.

Personal Safety improvements. The Personal Safety debuted on Pixel 4 but now it’s coming to all supported Pixel devices, and car crash detection is also coming to Pixel 3. There are new safety features, too, including safety check, which schedules a check-in from the app at a later time, and crisis alerts so that you can be notified about natural disasters or other public emergencies.

Google announced its Pixel feature drop strategy in December and then released the first two drops in late December and March, respectively.

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Conversation 4 comments

  • dftf

    01 June, 2020 - 6:19 pm

    <p>130MB on my Pixel 3a… just downloading it now.</p><p><br></p><p>Hopefully it also fixes a weird UI bug last months' security-update seems to have introduced where a few random apps each-time you open the Pixel Launcher's app-tray have the text label of the name of the app (under the app icon) missing. Doesn't stop you tapping on the app to open it, and affects both Dark and Light modes. Restarting the phone doesn't fix.</p>

  • nicholas_kathrein

    02 June, 2020 - 12:42 am

    <p>I love my Pixel 4 XL even though other don't. Is so good I really don't think I will upgrade till I've had it 3 yrs.</p>

  • anthonye1778

    02 June, 2020 - 1:54 am

    <p>My Pixel 4 XL is a great device, though ugly and with problems I've mentioned here before. But that battery life is just atrocious. I'll take any update that can even slightly extend its life…</p>

  • boots

    02 June, 2020 - 9:53 pm

    <p>I had to read the title of this article about 5 times before I could make sense of it.</p><p>"Feature Drop" is a terrible name for features that are being "added" not "dropped".</p>

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