If you have recently purchased Google’s flagship Pixel 4 or opted for the more value-oriented Pixel 4a, you should know that both handsets have a few tricks to show. Tthese are the features, tools, settings, and tips you need to know about if you want to get the most out of your Pixel 4 or Pixel 4a smartphone.
1. Try Night Sight
The Pixel Phones’ cameras and hair associated image processing software stand out more than any other feature. Bif the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4a a powerful low-light Night Sight mode built into the camera app. This uses a variety of clever algorithms to brighten dark areas in a photo and retain an impressive amount of detail in low light photos.
Because the function focuses largely on software problem, Night Sight photos look at a similar photo on both the Pixel 4 and the Pixel 4a. Swipe in the Camera app over to the Night face mode to use it – for very dark scenes you will be offered the astrophotography mode, which can select the stars in the night sky, if you can keep the phone stable for several minutes.
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2. Use the Recorder app
The Pixel 4 and the Pixel 4a are coming with a sort of exclusive built-in Recorder app, which we have written about for. The app used essentially Google’s AI to recognize and transcribe audio in real time, and gives you a very useful tool for recording interviews, lectures, podcasts, or anything else you need to write in writing and audio format.
The app could also not be easier to use. There is a large red recording button to access, and when the audio is recorded (or played back), you can view it in audio waveform or view the text transcript. You can add a title and location to your recordings, and by searching for specific snippets of text once they are saved.
Enable Motion Sense
Motion Sense has been cut from the Pixel 4a to make it cheaper, but it’s on the Pixel 4, allowing you to control certain features with gestures for your phone. It sounds gimmicky, but it’s more useful than you might think: Alarms become quieter when you move your hand to your phone, for example, and you can skip playing music with a wave though.
To make sure Motion Sense is turned on, open Settings on your Pixel 4 and tap System dan Motion Sense. You can enable or disable the feature as a whole, or enable and disable it for specific functions – interrupting music, skipping songs, and pausing pauses (and maybe more?). You will receive instructions on how each feature works, as well as.
4. Find out what is playing
Since the Pixel 2 launched, Google’s smartphone range has offered a very handy Now playing feature that works quietly in the background, listens to music being played and then works to identify it. It’s like an always on Shazam, and if Google can figure it out which song is playing, you will see the title en artist name appear on the lock screen.
To verify that Now playing is enabled and adjust the way it works, go to Sound of Settings, then select Played no. You can choose whether or not to display the notifications feature on the lock screen, as well as dig into the history of songs identified by tapping op Now play history.
5. Live caption your videos and conversations
Live Caption is a new accessibility feature in Android, displaying text alongside videos and now phone calls, so you can read what is being said as (or instead of) listening. The video subtitle is available on all Pixel phones (excluding the original Pixel 2016) and other “selected” Android phones, but at the moment subtitles of call are a Pixel exclusive.
You can configure the feature by going to Sound dan Live Caption in settings on your Pixel 4 or Pixel 4a: You can enable or disable live captioning, and change the way you access it. By default, tapping the up or down button to display the volume controls also displays a Live Caption button that you can use to view or hide titles on screen.
6. Make the most out of Face Unlock
Sorry Pixel 4a owners, this one is a Pixel 4 exclusiveIf you enable Face Unlock, it has the potential to radically change your phone. Simply put, you never see the lock screen – as soon as you unlock your phone, use it again whatever app you had open last (and there is no need for extra, as there is on the iPhone).
You can activate and customize Face Unlock by going to Security and then Face unlocked. Since the launch of Pixel 4, Google has rolled out an update so you can indicate that you need to keep your eyes open to work, and more and more apps have added support for the technology, as well as, including eBay, Signal, OneDrive, Venmo, and 1Password.
7. Change the live wallpaper
The Pixel 4 and the Pixel 4a come with their own custom wallpaper changer and a selection of live wallpapers that add subtle motion effects to your home screen backgrounds. To see them, long press on a blank area of the homepage, then select Styles & wallpapers (you can use your own images if you already have them).
The Eclipse wallpaper available in the Come Alive category on the Pixel 4a is particularly interesting: While the battery level of your phone goes down, the color disappears from the wallpaper and is replaced by black. If you have a Pixel 4a, make sure you also check out the For fun category, as it includes wallpapers that use the phone’s hole-punch notch.
8. Adjust the home screen
The Pixels come with a few extras of home screen that are not part of Android, including the standard home screen widget that shows the current date and weather conditions, such as upcoming calendar events and traffic alerts. To configure the widget, long press on a blank area of the homepage and then select Home settings followed by At a glance.
From the same Home settings menu, you can also set whether notification points are allowed on the homepage, the Google app screen (wipe one from the home screen) on or off, set whether icons for new apps are added or not automatically added to the homepage, and enable or disable the rotation of the home screen (if your phone rotates).
9. Always activate the on-display
Both the Pixel 4 and the Pixel 4a come with an always-on display option so you can see the time and date, an icon depicting the current weather conditions, icons showing unread notifications, and more from the lock screen. Open Settings on your phone, then tap Screen, Advanced, en Display screen to configure the various available options.
The Pixel 4a has a simple Always up toggle switch that you can use. On the Pixel 4, thanks to that extra Motion Sense capability, you can alwaysappears only when you are on your phone (if you have turned it on or off completely). Tap Idle lock screen to make your choice. Remember that the always-to show will use a little extra battery life.
10. Turn on your phone
You can adapt a variety of handy gestures to the Pixel 4 and the Pixel 4a, although the options available are somewhat different depending on which handset you use. Tap Settings System dan Transmissions– On the Pixel 4a, for example, you get the option to use the fingerprint sensor on the back as a trackpad-like scroller for incoming notifications.
Over on the Pixel 4, you can enable the Active Edge feature that lets you launch Google Assistant with a tap on the sides of your phone, as well as customize a number of Motion Sense-related gestures. On both phones, you can set up keyboard shortcuts for the camera, and enable Flip to Shhh (which mutes your phone when you turn it on now).
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