Google just shared the latest update for Android and it includes some very unique and useful offerings.
Amongst the list of features is an AI-driven security system that is designed to detect and stop scams from taking place. This type of scam detection can carry out scans on the device for texts coming from strangers. It gives you a warning about dangerous texts related to a con or some kind of fraud.
The ‘Likely Scam’ alert allows users to report and block the offensive number through a single tap. This provides users with security and convenience.
Meanwhile, the second scam alert allows scanning in real time for any phone call, but it’s so much more limited in terms of the rollout. The feature is currently in beta for the Pixel-9 devices. This entails the hardware needed to run the company’s Gemini Nano AI library.
The software can hear calls from unknown numbers and detect specific phrases and patterns of speech. This always goes on to suggest if there’s any financial fraud taking place, such as requests for bank account details. If that’s the case, it would buzz the device and generate a flash alert on the screen.
Remember, it’s never hard to spoof any phone number so a call that appears to be from a contact might be something else in disguise if it escapes the attention of this feature. When the Android maker demoed this offering onstage at the Google I/O event last year in May, many private advocates issued a warning that such tech might get abused for less useful reasons.
Meanwhile, another post from Google’s product managers outlined the safeguards put on this optional offering. This includes no recording or storing of audio or transcripts. It also means beeps at the start and during calls to notify participants about when the feature is switched on.
Another Google feature is designed to assist in connecting users to those you want in your world. This entails live sharing of the location with selected people for selected periods. The feature is designed using Google’s Find My Device model that is similar to Apple’s Find My Friends offering that was shared years ago.
Two more exciting additions for Android cover special use cases like the Shopping Insights on Chrome for tracking. This enables users to track pricing of any item at the online store by pressing on the graph icons inside the toolbar on the browser. Android Auto entails a new array of games that you play when vehicles remain parked.
Other than that, Pixel users attain new features on Google’s newest Pixel Drop that is available on eligible devices. There is expansion of utility and coverage for satellite messages on the Pixel-9 devices. Similarly, SOS emergency texting works in places like Canada, the EU, the UK, and American states like Hawaii and Alaska. In places like the US, you can find T-Mobile and Verizon for texting users through satellite.
Pixel 9 devices will also attain updates for Pixel Studio where they can produce images of others using text prompts and support through several-camera streaming. They pair the second Pixel device or any GoPro camera.
Lastly, there are Pixel Watches that keep getting what the Android maker calls an accurate step for tracking. For instance, the Pixel Watch 2 gets the automatic bedtime modes of the Pixel Watch 3. The latter also now has two exciting health offerings, including tracking of menstrual health and alerts when there is a loss of pulse.
Read next: Elon Musk’s Latest Grok-3 AI Model Met With Great Skepticism Regarding Performance
Amongst the list of features is an AI-driven security system that is designed to detect and stop scams from taking place. This type of scam detection can carry out scans on the device for texts coming from strangers. It gives you a warning about dangerous texts related to a con or some kind of fraud.
The ‘Likely Scam’ alert allows users to report and block the offensive number through a single tap. This provides users with security and convenience.
Meanwhile, the second scam alert allows scanning in real time for any phone call, but it’s so much more limited in terms of the rollout. The feature is currently in beta for the Pixel-9 devices. This entails the hardware needed to run the company’s Gemini Nano AI library.
The software can hear calls from unknown numbers and detect specific phrases and patterns of speech. This always goes on to suggest if there’s any financial fraud taking place, such as requests for bank account details. If that’s the case, it would buzz the device and generate a flash alert on the screen.
Remember, it’s never hard to spoof any phone number so a call that appears to be from a contact might be something else in disguise if it escapes the attention of this feature. When the Android maker demoed this offering onstage at the Google I/O event last year in May, many private advocates issued a warning that such tech might get abused for less useful reasons.
Meanwhile, another post from Google’s product managers outlined the safeguards put on this optional offering. This includes no recording or storing of audio or transcripts. It also means beeps at the start and during calls to notify participants about when the feature is switched on.
Another Google feature is designed to assist in connecting users to those you want in your world. This entails live sharing of the location with selected people for selected periods. The feature is designed using Google’s Find My Device model that is similar to Apple’s Find My Friends offering that was shared years ago.
Two more exciting additions for Android cover special use cases like the Shopping Insights on Chrome for tracking. This enables users to track pricing of any item at the online store by pressing on the graph icons inside the toolbar on the browser. Android Auto entails a new array of games that you play when vehicles remain parked.
Other than that, Pixel users attain new features on Google’s newest Pixel Drop that is available on eligible devices. There is expansion of utility and coverage for satellite messages on the Pixel-9 devices. Similarly, SOS emergency texting works in places like Canada, the EU, the UK, and American states like Hawaii and Alaska. In places like the US, you can find T-Mobile and Verizon for texting users through satellite.
Pixel 9 devices will also attain updates for Pixel Studio where they can produce images of others using text prompts and support through several-camera streaming. They pair the second Pixel device or any GoPro camera.
Lastly, there are Pixel Watches that keep getting what the Android maker calls an accurate step for tracking. For instance, the Pixel Watch 2 gets the automatic bedtime modes of the Pixel Watch 3. The latter also now has two exciting health offerings, including tracking of menstrual health and alerts when there is a loss of pulse.
Read next: Elon Musk’s Latest Grok-3 AI Model Met With Great Skepticism Regarding Performance
