Google has revealed its first Pixel feature drop for the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro, bringing three new features to the devices. The first, Circle to Search, came with the reveal of the Samsung Galaxy S24 lineup of phones a few weeks ago – and will launch on Pixel the same day as those phones go on sale.
As shared by The Verge, the other two features are Magic Compose and “medical-grade” body temperature sensing. The latter, of course, only comes to the Pixel 8 Pro, as it’s the only handset with a thermometer built in. Meanwhile, every Google Pixel phone from the Pixel 6 upwards will get Magic Compose.
This feature helps you message people, with generative AI ideas for responses or redrafting of an already written message. These two don’t sound all that useful to me, but we’ll have to wait and see.
Circle to Search, however, is already clearly quite a coup for Android. If you long-press the home button (or swipe bar if you’re using gestures), you can circle anything on your screen and search for it via Google. See someone in a nice outfit on Instagram? Now you can find something similar in seconds. It also works in messages and on YouTube, so you can always quickly track down the information you’re looking for.
All these features come to Pixel devices on January 31, the same day the S24 line starts shipping. For more beyond the latest Google Pixel feature drop, check out the best Samsung phones and the best Xiaomi phones. If you fancy hopping away from Android, we’ve also got all the latest rumors on the iPhone 16.