December Pixel Feature Drop: What’s New

Google’s rolling out its December Pixel Feature Drop to Pixel devices and it brings a number of upgrades including access to Gemini, the company’s answer to Chat GPT-4.

Pixel Feature Drops are quarterly upgrades for Pixel devices. They roll out in March, June, September, and December and Google’s December release is rolling out today.

The software is rolling out to the Pixel 5a (5G), Pixel 6/6 Pro/6a, Pixel 7/7 Pro/7a,  Pixel 8/8 Pro, Pixel Fold, Pixel Tablet and Pixel Watch and it will do so in phases.

Google says the rollout will continue over the next few weeks and timing depends on your carrier and device. Pixel users will receive a notification once the Over The Air (OTA) update becomes available.

Unsurprisingly, the update delivers a ton of upgrades to Pixel users though owners of the Pixel 8 Pro get the longest list of changes. The company’s Pixel 5a gets the least.

There are lots notable features on board though the arrival of Google’s Gemini AI platform stands out. It’s currently limited to the the Pixel 8 Pro because it’s the first smartphone engineered for Gemini Nano.

Gemini Nano is a slimmer version of Google’s alternative to Chat GPT-4 and it powers features like Summarize in Recorder and Smart Reply in Gboard.

Summarize gives you summary of your recorded conversations, interviews, presentations, and more and it works without a network connection.

As for Smart Reply, you can now try it within WhatsApp and it will save you time by suggesting high-quality responses with conversational awareness.

There are also AI-powered features for the Pixel 8 Pro’s camera. Video Boost on Pixel 8 Pro uploads your videos to the cloud where computational photography models adjust color, lighting, stabilization and graininess.

Video Boost also enables Night Sight video on Pixel 8 Pro which uses AI to apply noise reduction to videos recorded at night or in low-light conditions for richer detail and color.

Of course, there are also features for older Pixel models like Weather and clock integration, contextual replies in the call screen, and Passkey upgrades.

Before you download the December Pixel Feature Drop on your Pixel device, make sure your device is running the latest version of Android version. You’ll also want to update your apps.