Ever since Google first announced its second generation of Pixel Buds in October of 2019, a lot of people are underwhelmed by its capabilities, and others have been annoyed with the stick, sticking out of the pixel buds.
Ever since then, they have been teasing the possibility of what they call “feature drop” on their Pixel offerings. This concept was first introduced last December and is dubbed to be a semi-regular update for the Pixel phones. Which would add new functionalities to them. Thus increasing the value.
So even if the original Pixel Bud was not in your consideration, after this new update it has almost made itself as a steal for what they are offering.
The “feature drop” added some new features fixing along with it a lot of issues the Pixel Buds had from their release, some of which are:-
Google drops some new features
Sharing Detection
A feature dubbed ‘Sharing Detection’: This new feature will detect if you give one of your buds to another person and after five to 10 seconds, a chime will play, informing you that sharing has been detected. This feature will work on both, calls and during media playback.
Find My Device
Google has also added ‘Find My Device’ making it easier now to locate a lost Pixel Buds using the integration with Google’s ‘Find My Device’ app. The app won’t tell you precisely where the Buds are located but will still give you a rough idea, says Google.
Google Translate
Google has probably the largest database for language translation in the world. Now although Google Translate isn’t always accurate more often than not you can understand the meaning of what you are trying to translate. AAnd in this update, Google is adding a ‘Transcribing mode on Google Translate.’ By building on the Pixel Buds’ conversation functionality, this new transcription mode uses its massive database to feed into the AI which through machine learning is becoming better and better at its job and allows users to follow along by reading the translated speech to you. The feature will initially only support English to French, German, Italian, and Spanish for now.
Attention Alerts
A lot of users often get so engrossed in what they are doing that they lack awareness of their surroundings. ‘Attention Alerts’ is a new feature for the Pixel Buds which uses AI technology to detect important sounds like a baby crying, a dog barking, or an emergency vehicle siren and alert you of the same thus creating awareness of the situation. Described as an “experimental feature,” Google says that will the Pixel Buds will detect those noises and then make you aware of this noise by lowering the volume and playing a chime.
New assistant commands
Google is also adding two new assistant commands to the second-generation Pixel Buds. “Hey Google, turn on/off touch controls,” and “Hey Google, what’s the battery on my earbuds?”
Pixel Buds issues resolved in this update
A fix for the audio dropout issues
Google is also providing a fix for this issue which has been plaguing their new devices along with this update.
A fix for accidental touches
Google is adding the ability to turn the touch controls on or off. While the touch controls themselves are great, they can also get quite finicky. This feature will allow the user to turn the Pixel Buds touch controls off or on.
Added more Bass
When users first got their hands on the Pixel Buds, many were disappointed by the dismal lack of bass. Which is one of the goofs which Google has solved with this update by providing ‘Bass Boost.’ By turning this feature on there will be more bass added to the buds. Thus fixing the issue.
Learn how to update your Pixel Buds here
So what do you think?
Does this update excite you about the Google Pixel Buds? Or would you still consider it as lackluster?
If the Pixel Buds does indeed come to India, would you be considering buying them, or if not then why?
Let me know in the comments below.