Google doubles down on ‘AI telephones’ with its Pixel 10 sequence

With the launch of the new Pixel 10 series, Google is rushing ahead of Apple to deliver AI-powered smartphones to consumers. The devices, announced during Wednesday’s Made by Google event, come just weeks ahead of Apple’s expected iPhone 17 reveal, which promises to be more of the same — better cameras, possibly thinner devices, and new colors to choose from.

Google, meanwhile, has been rapidly integrating its AI platform into its devices.

Last year, its Pixel 9 series added a number of AI features, like Gemini Live (Gemini’s voice mode), image-generation tools, call notes, searchable screenshots, and more. Since then, Google says that Gemini Live conversations have proven to be 5x longer than text-based conversations.

This year, the tech giant is rolling out even more AI-powered upgrades with the launch of its Pixel 10, including a Visual Overlays feature for the camera, a proactive “Magic Cue” feature, Camera Coach, Voice Translate for calls, an assistant-like “Take a Message” feature, Pixel Journal, and more.

Combined, the updates allow Google to showcase what its latest AI technology can do when enhanced by its Tensor G5 processor, an upgrade to the company’s custom silicon designed for AI experiences and the first to run its newest Gemini Nano model.

Alongside the launch, Google announced that Gemini Live will gain a new audio model that will detect your tone — like whether you’re excited or concerned — and adjust its response accordingly.

With the addition of a feature called Visual Overlays, Gemini Live will be able to see what you see through the lens of your camera and provide guidance by highlighting things on your screen. For example, while traveling in a foreign country, you could hold up your phone to see if the street signs around offer information about parking along the roadside.

Another new feature, Magic Cue, lets the AI be more proactive by offering contextual suggestions in real time, across apps like Gmail, Calendar, Messages, Screenshots, and others.

The idea of a more proactive interaction between people and Google technology is something the company has dreamed of for years, long before the AI era. In the early 2010s, for example, Google introduced an Android feature called Google Now that would pop up cards with real-time information related to your daily schedule or the time of day, like nearby restaurants at lunchtime, upcoming meetings, or flight details.

Years later, Magic Cue is the AI-powered reintroduction of this feature, but one where it inserts itself into your everyday apps and interactions.

Google demonstrated how Magic Cue could suggest a restaurant to dine at with a friend, offering quick access to place a call to the restaurant to make a reservation. It could propose a reply to your friend with the reservation details or point you to your calendar to check your availability.

Magic Cue’s suggestions appear within the app you’re using and are wrapped with a rainbow-colored outline to differentiate them, as well as within Daily Hub, a personalized daily digest in your Discover feed. You can also tap on its suggestions to take action.

Also similar to Google Now, Magic Cue will be able to surface reminders. But it goes a step further by popping up reminders and notifications more intuitively. For instance, it may remind you of errands you need to handle, like a return of an online order, suggest topics you may want to research, or recommend new playlists to stream.

At launch, Magic Cue’s suggestions will be limited to select activities, like settling up a tab, adding events to your calendar, and showing the forecast for an upcoming trip in the weather app. Over time, Google will add other options and let you configure which data source the feature has access to.

Apple, it should be noted, is trying to do something similar by allowing users to speak to Siri to interact with and take action within their apps, but unfortunately, its AI-powered Siri has been delayed until 2026.

Another one of the more interesting additions in the Pixel 10 series is Camera Coach, an AI-powered assistant that aims to make you a better photographer.

The feature will be launching in preview with the new devices and uses Gemini models to offer suggestions about how to better frame and compose your shot. You can even choose a “get inspired” option that will suggest scenes you may not have considered.

Plus, the camera will now be able to recognize when you’re taking a group photo. The “Auto Best Take” feature activates and analyzes up to 150 images shot over several seconds to find the best one — whether that’s a shot you snapped yourself or one made by blending others together via AI.

Then, with the AI-powered “Ask Photos” tool, you can edit the shot to do other things, like fix the lighting, change the framing, or remove an object from the photo by either speaking to or texting Photos’ AI assistant.

On Pro devices, the Pro Res Zoom option will also use AI to allow you to “zoom” in on things like architecture and landscapes at 30x-60x or 30x-60x for animals and wildlife.

Related to its enhanced use of AI in photography, Pixel 10 phones will also be the first to implement C2PA, a standard that establishes the origin and edits of digital content, which will help to identify when photos have been modified by AI.

Another new AI feature, Voice Translate, will use on-device AI to translate your phone call in real time in what sounds like each speaker’s own voice. This could be a potential game changer, particularly for business users and world travelers, if it works as well as described. (This still needs to be tested by reviewers, of course.)

The feature will translate to or from English and Spanish, German, Japanese, French, Hindi, Italian, Portuguese, Swedish, Russian, and Indonesian.

In Pixel’s Phone app, a new addition called Take a Message provides real-time transcripts for missed and declined calls and then uses AI to identify the next steps you need to take based on the caller’s voicemail. (That update will come to Call Notes, too.)

Pixel Journal, meanwhile, is Google’s answer to Apple’s Journal app, but one that uses AI to prompt you to share your thoughts, track your progress toward goals, and offer insights over time.

Other minor AI upgrades to the Pixel 10 lineup include writing tools integrated into the Gboard keyboard, updates to Pixel screenshots in Pixel Studio, and Notebook LM integrations with Recorder and screenshots.

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