TheDecember 2023 Pixel Feature Dropfor compatible Google phones packs several new features and enhancements, like Video Boost, an improved Photo Unblur, and more. Further, it brings a lightweight version of the company’s latest AI model and GPT-4 rival, Gemini Nano, to thePixel 8 Pro. Alongside its phones, Google’s December update also adds some handy new features to thePixel Watchlineup, including Call Screen.
After the December update, you can useCall Screenfor incoming calls right from the Pixel Watch on your wrist. The experience is essentially the same as using the feature on your phone, with Assistant screening calls from unknown numbers to save your precious time. The bummer is that the option is only available in English in the US. Since Call Screen is a Pixel-exclusive feature, you can’t use it on the watch if paired with a non-Google phone.
The December 2023 Pixel Feature Drop finally brings Watch Unlock to Google’s smartwatch lineup. The feature wasfirst demoed at CES 2023, so the company has inexplicably taken its sweet time in rolling out this convenient unlock option to its watches.
As previously explained, Watch Unlock is a fallback mechanism that the paired Pixel phone will use to unlock itself when it fails to detect your face or fingerprint. It does this by checking if you are wearing your Pixel Watch and are near the phone. This new unlock method requires a PIN or passcode lock on your Pixel Watch.
First-gen Pixel Watch owners will be happy to know the December update brings Do Not Disturb and Bedtime mode syncing to their wearable. This cross-device syncing was limited to the Pixel Watch 2 for some reason. If you haveBedtime mode set up on your Android phone, you won’t have to enable the feature on your watch manually going forward. Sadly, you won’t get access to DND and Bedtime mode syncing if your Pixel Watch is paired with a non-Google phone.
Google’s first smartwatch is also gaining two new watch faces — Adventure and Analog Arcs — along with an updated complication style. The Pixel Watch 2-exclusive watch facesstarted showing up for many first-gen Pixel Watch ownersin mid-November after an update to the companion Pixel Watch app. It would have been nice to see Google adding some new watch faces to the Pixel Watch 2 as well, but that’s not happening.
Google has not yet uploaded the December OTA images for the Pixel Watch on itsdeveloper website. So, these new features may roll out to the Pixel watches through a Play Services update, companion app update, or server-side push.
These new features certainly make the Pixel Watch a better wearable than it already was. More importantly, it is nice to see Google rolling out the improvements to its 2022 smartwatch and not just limiting them to the latest model.
