For all the great things the Pixel 7 does, it was still missing out on some of the features it trumpeted most at launch—until today. Google is rolling out the latest Pixel drop, which includes some of the Pixel 7’s much-ballyhooed features, like Clear Calling, speaker labels for the Recorder app, and free VPN through Google One.
The features drop is only for the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro. Once the update hits, you can use VPN by Google One without a subscription to the service. Clear Calling will also be enabled on the devices to help reduce background noise and enhance the human voice. And when you’re recording lectures or conferences with the Pixel 7, it will be able to differentiate between different speakers and add line breaks where appropriate.
This Pixel drop comes with new features for other Pixel phones, too. The new unified hub for security and privacy settings is on the way, with action cards offering advice on how to best secure your software. Spatial Audio is also coming for phones paired with the Pixel Buds Pro in January. And Cough and Snore detection, which I use on the Pixel 7 (no shame!), and Live Chat Translate will be expanding to more regions and languages.
For Pixel Watch users, there are goodies for you, too. The new Fitbit Sleep Profile, previewed in November, will provide you with a monthly “sleep animal” and an analysis of your sleep quality based on it. Apparently, each animal relates to a different type of sleeping behavior. If this sounds similar, it’s because Samsung Health does a similar thing on the Galaxy Watch series—it even has its classification of animals.
The Pixel Watch will get a batch of new Wear OS tiles, which are widgets that live on the watch. The new tiles include the Weather and Contacts—the same as the Wear OS update released last week for other Android smartphones.
Google has also revealed a timeline for Fall Detection—sort of. We know it’s coming in 2023, and the Pixel Watch will work with it. When you fall, the device can contact emergency services if it senses you’ve fallen and aren’t responding. The Apple Watch and Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 already have this feature on their respective platforms.
