Today, Google announced the December feature drop for Pixel owners, and this one focuses on older devices. It"s meant to bring features that were previously exclusive to the latest generation of Pixels to the Pixel 3 and above.
The first new feature on the list is Hold for Me. It"s exactly what it sounds like. Google Assistant waits on hold so you don"t have to, and then it lets you know when a person is there. According to Google, it saves eight minutes per call on average. Another feature is Extreme Battery Saver, which limits certain apps while the feature is turned on. You can think of it as an essential mode.
There are new editing tools that are coming to Google Photos. They"re automatic suggestions based on the photo that you"re editing. New suggestions include one called Dynamic, and other ones that are based on the sky to improve your pictures of sunsets.
Adaptive Sound adjusts your speakers based on your surroundings, and that"s also coming to the Pixel 3 and up. It adjusts the equalizer based on what it can hear through the microphone.
For Pixel 4a and Pixel 5 users, Google says that your GPS is going to be more accurate when you"re on foot. Adaptive Battery and Adaptive Connectivity are getting better too, using 4G when web browsing and 5G when doing something that requires more speed, not that most carriers deliver a meaningful improvement on cellular speed with sub6 5G.
The last thing on the list is that the device can detect when you"re using an app or website in another language, and Google Lens can translate it. All you have to do is take a screenshot and tap the Google Lens icon.