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It’s a busy month for Google. The company released its latest phone, the Pixel 10a; rolled out live location sharing in Google Messages, launched Nano Banana 2, and issued a security update that patches 129 Android vulnerabilities. Now, the company is launching its latest Pixel Drop, this time for the month of March, sporting a number of features and changes for Pixel phones and watches. Here’s what’s new.
Google now lets you customize your Calling Card on Android
Both iOS and Android now have full screen contact pages that appear when people call you, but both platforms have handled this differently. When iOS rolled it out, it let you customize how your “Contact Poster” appeared when you called people. But Android, on the other hand, decided you should control how other people’s “Calling Cards” appeared when they called you. Now, Android is changing things to match iOS’ approach. The latest Pixel Drop now lets you customize your own personal Calling Card.
Airlines can soon help you find your lost luggage
Here’s another Android feature picked up from Apple: If you have a Find Hub tracker, you can share its whereabouts with airlines to help you locate lost luggage. At this time, only 10 airlines in the world are compatible with this sharing feature, so it’s a bit more limited than Apple’s integration, but hopefully that list grows soon.
Pixel users love the Now Playing widget. It can passively identify songs in the wild, all without needing the internet to do so. With the March Pixel Drop, the widget now gets its own app. Once you install the app on your Pixel, you’ll find the widget’s history transfers over seamlessly, so you can see all the songs it has identified.
Gemini can handle tasks on your behalf
The current obsession in the AI world is turning passive assistants in agentic assistants. Or, in other words, asking AI bots to run tasks on our behalf. Google says that Gemini can now do that, as a beta feature in the Gemini app. You can long press the power button and ask Gemini to do things for you, like plan your grocery list, book an Uber, or order your usual takeout. This is currently only available on the Pixel 10 series.
Circle to Search now identifies whole outfits
Circle to Search lets you, well, circle to search. When you see something on your phone, you can simply draw a circle around it to look it up. It’s a pretty intuitive feature, that gets a bit of an upgrade with the latest Pixel drop. Now, Google says you can circle outfits you see on your Pixel 10 to find “every piece of the look.” Say you’re watching a movie, and you like a character’s style. You can use Circle to Search to circle the outfit, and Google will break up each piece into a “Find the look” search. You could see how much coats, shoes, hats, and more cost individually, and decide to buy some or all of the outfit. Google didn’t miss the opportunity to connect this to its “Try It On” feature, which lets you virtually try outfits online.
Magic Cue can recommend restaurants with Gemini
Magic Cue is a contextual AI feature that offers suggestions based on what you’re doing on your Pixel. For example, as part of this Pixel Drop, Magic Cue can now recommend restaurants based on conversations with friends. If a contact suggests finding a restaurant downtown that offers vegan options, Magic Cue may offer a “Find restaurants” pop-up. Tap it, and Gemini will offers a few options that match those descriptions. (Of course, this is generative AI, so the feature could get some of the suggestions wrong, or potentially make up restaurants entirely.)
At a Glance gets some new updates
The Pixel’s “At a Glance” feature is getting some new data points to keep track of. Google says that At a Glance can now tell you your best route home—taking into account transit delays—follow sports scores, and give updates on your financial portfolio. These updates appear passively on the home screen, so you don’t need to unlock your phone to check on these data points.
What do you think so far?
Google is bringing AI art styles to the home screen
Android has always made it easy to customize the style of your home screen, including, notably, your app icons. But the latest Pixel Drop adds five new AI-generated art styles to generate custom icons from. Google says these options can help make your home screen more like “you,” but perhaps that won’t apply if you’re not a fan of AI art.
Your Pixel Watch can now warn if you walk away from your phone
If you have both a Pixel phone and a Pixel Watch, your wearable can warn you when you leave your phone behind. Google says you’ll get an “instant alert” if you walk away from your phone, and your phone will lock as soon as you’re out of range. (Google doesn’t specify, but I assume this is Bluetooth range, which is typically 30 feet.) This feature is available on Pixel 8 and newer, as well as Pixel Watch 2 and newer.
Pixel gets a desktop mode
Smartphones are basically mini computers these days, so why shouldn’t your phone turn into a desktop PC? Google is rolling out such a feature with this Pixel Drop, letting users connect their Pixel 8 or newer to an external monitor. You’re still running Android, but the feature lets you run multiple apps side-by-side, like a traditional computer experience. It follows a similar feature from Samsung (DeX) which the company has offered for years. What’s more, if you have a Pixel tablet, you can now run multiple apps in free-form windows, similar to how Apple handles window management in iPadOS.
Connect your camera to your Pixel phone
Pixels have been known for their cameras for years. But Google’s latest Pixel Drop actually lets you connect an external camera to your Pixel, so you can get different angles for live streaming.
These are the smaller changes in the latest Pixel Drop
Google added a lot of changes to this Pixel Drop, some smaller than others. For example, a new display color filtering mode softens “high-intensity” hues and saturated colors, if you want a more muted look. Guided Frame, Android’s feature that guides users through taking photos, now has more languages, making it more accessible. The Journal app also has new AI features to make it easier to jot down your feelings and experiences. Pixel Watch 3 will also get the Pixel Watch 4’s one-handed gestures, which will let you double pinch or turn your wrist to take actions like answering calls and pausing music.
