Transcript

Rachid Finge Shenaz, welcome back to the Made by Google podcast. Great to have you once again. And we're talking about feature drops, the thing that makes me feel like Christmas came early, but for those who don't know just yet, what are feature drops for Pixel?

Shenaz Zack Sure. Just like you said, we celebrate so many moments in our life, right? And with that same concept, we launched feature drops in 2019. Our main focus is that we want your device, your Pixel device, to continue to keep getting better over time. Feature drops are our way of ensuring that your investment into Pixel phones and the Pixel ecosystem continues to give you the latest and greatest from Google.

Especially when your phone starts to put on mileage, your excitement about the device you once loved may begin to wane. And like I said, we've been doing this since 2019 and we are one of the few OEMs or I think the only OEM that has feature drops

And thanks to feature drop software updates that improve your device, helping them do more and work better together, they load in the background delivering new features, expanding existing features to older pixel phones and also in expanded languages and regions.

And we've also heard from our users based on surveys, this is one of the reasons why people are choosing to purchase Pixel devices - because of feature drops and because of these new features that come to their phones on a regular basis.

And so our June feature drop, which is uh, jam-packed, brings a boost of helpfulness, health and safety to your Pixel phones and Watch - along with updates for Fitbit devices as well. And all of these updates are rolling out to devices today and will continue over the coming weeks.

Rachid Finge So yeah, we call it a June feature drop. Now, Shenaz, if you have a Pixel phone, uh, what can you expect in this feature drop?

Shenaz Zack Sure. There's a lot that's coming in the feature drop. Uh, but the first thing I do want to talk about is safety.

Rachid Finge Mm-hmm.

Shenaz Zack There are a few features on safety that are coming in our June feature drop. Safety is very important for us all. Right. And Pixel continues to build on safety features to help keep you safer, whether you're on the go or resting at home.

So the features are like safety check, or emergency sharing with an assistant and an update to car crash detection. Car crash detection - the way it works right now is if you are in a car crash and your phone detects that you were in a car crash, it calls emergency services and shares your location if you don't respond.

Rachid Finge Mm-hmm.

Shenaz Zack So we're enhancing car crash to now also share your real time location. and call status with your emergency contacts so that they know you were in a car crash.The other one that I just mentioned was, Safety Check, right, which is now available via Google Assistant, which allows you to schedule a safety ping, which can be sent out to your loved ones if you're feeling unsafe, all with just your voice.

And with Safety Check you can also schedule a time for Pixel to check in with you and can automatically start sharing your real time location and call status with your emergency contacts. If you don't respond to your phone, they're like, Hey, are you feeling, oh, you know, are you okay? And if you don't respond, we will send your real time location and call status to your emergency contacts and now this is available via assistant. And you can really conveniently start and stop the safety check with just your voice. And these features will give your family and your loved ones a little more peace of mind, especially for parents like me with kids who are out and about on a summer vacation right now.

Rachid Finge Yeah. I was just thinking if, if I go on a long run, I could probably schedule a safety check, you know, by the time it should have returned, and then if I don't, then at least someone will be notified that that's sort of the point of it. Yeah. That's actually great.

Shenaz Zack Absolutely right. That is absolutely right, Rachid

Rachid Finge Shenaz, I was thinking back, at the Google IO keynote and I especially think my favorite part has to be Dave Burke, you know, demoing for all those people - new features in Android with wallpaper - and I'm just hoping some of these are coming to the June feature drop.

Shenaz Zack Definitely Dave did just such an amazing job. Like, and especially doing a live demo in front of such a massive audience that is watching him with millions and people around the world. I wish I could do even a small bit of what Dave did. Uh, but yes, self-expression and customization is core to the Pixel and Android experience and we are really excited to be the first smartphone from Pixel 6 to get some really cool new features. The emoji wallpaper and the cinematic wallpaper.

Emoji wallpaper lets you customize your device using your favorite emoji combination patterns and colors. So you can pick from multiple emoji combinations.

And cinematic wallpaper, which is, I was surprised to be a little bit of my favorite. What it does is it uses on-device machine learning to transform your favorite photo that you've picked as a wallpaper into a really stunning 3D image. So I have to say, I've been using this and it has made my furry baby, uh, my dog, uh, you know, look really nice on my wallpaper on pixel, and it just makes me feel really good.

Rachid Finge Amazing. But now what if you would switch back to the emoji wallpaper, like which emojis would, would we see on your home screen then?

Shenaz Zack Okay, I go through phases. There's the thinking emoji - where I'm thinking. But there's also the one with the eyebrow is like, what? So for me also the hugs. So it's a combination of that, but the hugs emoji, again, like, you know, I’m all about the hug emoji.

Rachid Finge That is gonna be a great wallpaper. So now we've talked about safety personalization as well, but I also saw some really cool photography updates. Um, what can you tell us about those?

Shenaz Zack Providing our users with the ability to capture beautiful experiences and memories is a cornerstone for our Pixel phones, right? Making sure you get those right memories, those right pictures, those right videos. And so now with Pixel 7 Pro, you can utilize macro focus video, which allows you to capture really incredible detail in videos to create larger than life videos of dew drops or butterflies.

Or for me I've been using it to capture food. I cook every evening. So, you know, when I'm cooking I like to zoom in and then I zoom out, right? So it looks like, because sometimes when you zoom in and you don't know what this is, like you zoom in, like, and then you zoom out completely, you get some really good videos.

Another one that I've been using a lot is the Palm timer. I was at Yosemite with my family last weekend. And I loved putting my Pixel - because I wanted the whole picture in the waterfalls were amazing in Yosemite - , and I just kind of raised my palm which triggered the self-timer. So you put your phone in the timer mode, self-timer, and then you just have to raise your palm and everybody's aligned. You raise your palm, it triggers the timer, and then you can take a perfect shot rather than press the timer and they're like, okay, come on, huddle together. Especially with kids, it's hard.

So I'm like, now I can like kids, are you ready? Put your palm up and it's gonna take that picture. And so those are some of the new things that are also coming with the June feature drop.

Rachid Finge I was thinking it could be hard because since, you know, our listeners cannot see what the pose is - but I was thinking if you on YouTube and you go to Stop by the Spice Girls, it's gonna be very clear what kind of gesture you need to do. Yes, that's what I was thinking about.

Um, so now we had phones. Of course the Pixel Universe is now much bigger. So if we look at wearables and Pixel Watch, what have we got in store for them with a June feature drop,

Shenaz Zack Of course. Um, I can shed some light on this. The Pixel Watch now has blood oxygen tracking where it can track your nighttime oxygen saturation and help identify changes while you're sleeping. Uh, it's a very important way to help monitor your overall wellness. And there'll also be a change in heart rate notification. So your pixel watch now can let you know if your heart rate falls outside of your normal thresholds.

Rachid Finge Amazing. And now from music fans, I've seen some rumors about an update for Spotify. Is that coming in this feature drop as well then?

Shenaz Zack Yes. Yes, it is coming. So you can now quickly kick off a Spotify DJ session, listen to podcasts or check out what's in your heavy rotation just from your wrist with three new tiles. And it's very convenient.

Rachid Finge What I also like is that we're adding in some bling, basically with new metal links. Bands are available in Brushed Silver and Matte black, which is exceptional for Pixel Watches available from Friday online at the Google store and Google retail locations to make that June feature drop extra beautiful, I guess.

Shenaz Zack Oh, definitely. Uh, I've been sporting some metal bands on my wrist.

Rachid Finge Oh, you have one? Oh, that's amazing.

Shenaz Zack It gives a very timeless, refined look to the watch. Uh, for me personally, it looks really good. Definitely looks, helps with that watch elevation.

Rachid Finge I can't wait. Um, how about for Fitbit users? What do we have there when it comes to updates?

Shenaz Zack Sure. Fitbit is also adding more helpful, health and fitness updates to make your life easier. Uh, as well with more personalization options, for example, right on your wrist, you'll get notifications in more languages, have the ability to check your daily readiness score and add new clock faces for various smart watches and trackers. And for trackers, you'll also be able to access a full list of exercise modes on your wrist with your most recent ones at the top.

Rachid Finge Now, I thought this is sort of where the feature drop ends, but there's actually more, there are more updates and expansions of existing features. You've been busy, Shenaz. So what else have we got then?

Shenaz Zack The team has been busy. And so, yeah, it's a great question. As I said earlier, feature drops are enhancing your phone, enhancing existing features to older Pixels, and also, adding our expansion to languages and regions. So we are expanding several existing features to more regions languages. Uh, also users will now be able to access their favorite smart home devices right from the Pixel lock screen when using the Google Home app.

Uh, and you also added some smart features including adaptive haptics to lower vibration intensity on hardware surfaces, adaptive charging to help preserve battery lifespan, and find my device for Android, which you can use even when your device is offline. Uh, and lastly, we've added two new Google Assistant voices to add your diverse array of options. We are now up to 12 I believe in US English.

Shenaz Zack So as I said earlier, our goal with expansions is to provide our users not just with features they want or features, which are new features, but updates they need with increased languages, regions available across devices. And you wanna continue to make our Pixel accessible and easier to use. And there's so much more, I could be here for hours, but maybe we should just, uh, point people to the Google Keyword blog for all updates.

Rachid Finge That makes a lot of sense. So yeah, that's at blog.google. We'll also leave a direct link in the description of this episode so you can find it right there.

Um, I still have some questions. With so many great ideas for what to update and build on. So how do you sort of decide what you put in this feature drop, maybe in the next one? What, what goes into deciding all these things?

Shenaz Zack It's a very thoughtful and thorough process. One of the biggest things we look at is incorporating user feedback as much as we possibly can. The team is always paying attention to what our users are giving us feedback on across so many streams of content, like through the support channels that our users contact us through, you know, Reddit, through Twitter, the Pixel team looks at all of the user feedback. And then at the end of the day, uh, what matters is where you, where the users find these updates and features helpful and beneficial. And that's really a north star when it comes to planning these updates and bringing them to life for our users.

Rachid Finge There's just one last question to ask, not the least one. So with all these features and all these updates in, in the June feature drop, is there one that excites you most personally?

Shenaz Zack Um, tough one to pick only one. I could probably, uh, pick two maybe if I'm allowed to.

Rachid Finge Right. Okay. Let's go for the two. Yeah.

Shenaz Zack Because there's so many awesome features that so many teams have come together to launch for our users. So, let me pick, pick the first one, which I said is around safety and peace of mind, which is the update to car crash detection as I recently lived through it where my son had a car crash and he called me in a very panic state saying he has a car crash and he's on the freeway. And I had no idea which freeway or where he was. And I was quite panicked and I didn't wanna call him back because I knew he was in the middle of it, but with the updates to the car crash feature, I would get his location.

And that way at least I know, because I was like, okay, I'm gonna leave the house, but where do I go? Do I go north? Do I go south? Which freeway do I hit? And it was quite a panicked moment, but now I would have that with car crash detection. So I have to pick that as one that's going to help so many people.

Rachid Finge Of course, she was gonna just check quickly that everything is okay with him.

Shenaz Zack Yes, thankfully, everything with him and his friends and the car's okay. The car did get totaled, but they're all safe. They were actually coming back from prom, when they had an accident. So it was quite sad, but a prom to remember because they're all healthy and everybody was fine.

Rachid Finge Um, and then mom helped create a car crash detection , that's some sort of a proud moment for you that, that, that in a way, you, you, you contributed to his safety in that way. And many others.

Shenaz Zack And many others. Mom helped facilitate this with so many other teams contributing to it. Um, um, but yeah, it's helped me with the peace of mind, right? Seeing that, definitely. Yeah. We cut the back.

Um, another one, which is very different and you asked me about that is, uh, the cinematic wallpaper. which brings my furry baby picture, my dog Simba into life every time I look at my phone and it just makes me feel good. And so I would say that's another one for me.

Rachid Finge I'd have to agree, I cannot wait to try cinematic wallpaper. So I'm just gonna update my phone, am I watching everything? Make sure I have the June feature drop on there and, and try cinematic wallpaper and all these other features.

Shenaz, thank you so much for coming back to the Made by Google podcast.

Shenaz Zack Thank you Rachid. I'm so glad I can come and talk and represent so many people's work that goes into bringing these amazing feature drops to our users. So thank you.