We have seen that Google has a different method of releasing software updates for its Pixel devices and they are called “Pixel feature drops”. Now, we saw a similar “Pixel feature drop” last year after the release of Pixel 4 series which brought many new features to the phone.
Now, a similar feature drop has been released by Google for the month of March which is the second one after Pixel 4’s release. This time around, we have even more features added to the Pixel 4 series while some features are also available on older Pixel devices.
First of all, it is worth noting that the March security patch has been released for all the Android devices. Apart from that, some of the features which are exclusive to the Pixel 4 series are dark mode scheduling which was seen on the Android 11 Developer Preview.
This means that you can now schedule exactly when your Pixel 4 devices will go into dark mode. Earlier, you only had the option to set dark mode activated by default with no option for scheduling at sunrise/sunset.
Apart from that, Google has added new emojis with this feature drop which includes tons of new couple emoji combinations. Google has also updated the Pixel 4 emoji library to Unicode Emoji 12.1 which is a step up from the Unicode Emoji 12 which the device came with at launch. Also, it is known that Unicode Emoji 13 will come with the launch of Android 11 later this year.
Emojipedia reveals that this update includes 23 new gender-neutral emojis like “a gender-neutral firefighter, astronaut, person in a wheelchair, judge, and more. With skin-tone support included, the tally equals 138 additions”. As for the additional couple emoji options, you get combinations for different skin tones.
Apart from these features, you also have an option to press-and-hold the power button to see Google Pay cards that allow you to pay quickly. You will now be able to add your flight boarding passes to Google Pay with the help of a new “add to Google Pay” notification.
Furthermore, Google is taking advantage of its “Motion Sense” feature on the Google Pixel 4 series to add a feature to play/pause music with a hand gesture. However, it has to be said that this is the most basic feature and it should have come right at the launch. Anyways, you can now just show your hand to the device to pause music while you were already able to wave your hands to play the previous or next song.
As for the release of these features, the word from Google in its official blog post is quite confusing as they say the features will “Gradually roll out through March”. It definitely means that the features are not ready yet and they will be released later this month which also means that you have to wait for its release.
