The Pixel 8 Pro and the Pixel 9 Pro allow you to measure the temperature of an object using the temperature sensor on the back of the phone. It lets you contactlessly measure the temperature of objects using just your phone via the Thermometer app.
However, currently, you need to select the type of material you want to scan in the Thermometer app on the Pixel Pro phones, then hold the phone two inches away from the object and hit the "Tap to measure" button to begin temperature scanning. It appears that Google could soon make it more convenient and easier to scan objects.
According to an APK Teardown of the Pixel Thermometer app, multiple strings related to automatic material detection have been discovered in the Pixel Thermometer app v1.0.676362763. Here are the strings:
Auto detect Material selection will now happen automatically! You can still manually choose the material.
As per the strings (via Android Authority), the Pixel Thermometer app could soon gain the ability to auto-detect the material to scan. It will continue to offer the option to manually choose the material being scanned. Notably, the app will make use of TFLite models to detect the type of material automatically.
Recently, the Thermometer app received an update that introduced a new UI that makes use of the camera viewfinder. It is expected that the automatic material detection feature in the Thermometer app could use a combination of the camera viewfinder and material detection models to auto-detect the material.
It is also anticipated that the auto-detect option could appear in the current material selection user interface in the Pixel Thermometer app on the Pixel 8 Pro and 9 Pro models. For now, the feature isn"t usable and hasn"t been rolled out to the public or even in the beta channel.
Let us know what are your thoughts on this auto-detect material feature and whether or not you ever use the Thermometer app on your Pixel phone.