Oh picked up a shining newGoogle Pixel 2or Pixel 2 XL did you ? Not had to return itdue to screenor audio issuance ? Wanting to dig a trivial deeper into the neat features that are usable on Google ’s own - brand smartphone ? Well , you ’ve amount to the right space — here are 10 trick to do more with your Pixel 2 or Pixel 2 XL phone .
1) See your Now Playing history
You ’ve no doubt noticed the Pixel 2 phones have a built - in , Shazam - style music recognition feature that appear on the ringlet screenland ( you may turn it on or off by going to preferences , Security & emplacement , and shut away screen preferences ) .
you could do more though : Get a cargo deck ofNow recreate Historyfrom Google Play , and you ’ve convey an archived list of all the vocal that have been key out . The app is liberal to use and lets you launch Song in your option of euphony player too .
2) Configure the At a Glance widget
the right way at the top of your home screen is a Pixel - exclusive At a Glance widget that shows weather details , upcoming calendar appointment , and more .
You get a limited routine of customization option with this appliance . Long wardrobe on a blank part of the family screenland then prefer Home preferences and At a Glance , where you ’ll find options for calendar events and traffic information . Unfortunately you ca n’t turn it off for now , or reposition it , or really do much with it — unless you installan alternative launcher .
3) Turn off the always-on display
The always - on presentation feature that the Pixel 2 phones jactitation is keen but not inevitably receive all the time — and it has an impact , albeit slight , on battery life sentence .
you’re able to have the black and white whatchamacallum only show up when you lift up your phone , or switch it off altogether . Go to options , Display , Advanced , and then Ambient display — there are option here for display info when you lift your earpiece , double - tap the filmdom , and when newfangled notifications amount in .
Toggle all of the switches off to plough the always - on display into an always - off display . you may still see notifications with a spigot on the power push .
4) Take control over HDR+
The secret sauce inside the HDR+ manner on the Pixel 2 is what make its tv camera support out from the bunch , but if you think you know better than Google ’s algorithms , you may invalid the feature of speech or set up it to activate manually .
Maybe you do n’t like the upshot HDR+ produces , or maybe you desire to create a particular face for your photos without software service — from the Camera app rap the menu button ( three horizontal lines , top left ) , then mount , then Advanced . Toggle the HDR+ switch to On to get a HDR+ option on the tv camera shutter screen .
Tap that new button and you’re able to manually turn HDR+ off or on for each characterization . The option label “ HDR+ on ” is actually an machine modality , while the “ HDR+ enhanced ” forces the HDR+ tech to be used .
5) Disable Motion Photos
speak of picture deception on the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL , you ’re live on to want to have a play around with the Motion Photos feature film , which catch a little bit of video around each snap ( just like Apple’sLive Photos ) .
If you tap the Motion Photos icon at the top of the camera shutter covert ( it ’s the circular one in the middle ) you’re able to localise the feature article to on , off , or car — presumably that last option only capture a clip if the condition are right , though we have n’t been able to definitively figure this out one way or the other .
View these mental image in Google Photos and you get a miserable - res video snip alongside your high - re paradigm . knock the motion push at the top to enable or disable telecasting playback .
6) Replace the Google Assistant
If you ’re a Pixel exploiter then you ’re credibly a Google Assistant user , plunge the Assistant app with a squeezing on the side of the gimmick or a long press on the Home button .
you may opt to apply a different supporter if you want — specifically Cortana , though other apps might be added to the listing in the hereafter . Once you’veinstalled Cortana , go to options , Apps & notifications , ripe , Default apps , and Assist & voice input . solicit the Assist app button to choose your Microsoft or Google helper .
This disables the Active Edge ( squeezable sides ) launcher but means Cortana come up when you long press the Home button , ready to serve your questions .
7) Unlock the dark mode
The Pixel has a hidden sorry mode you may activate , but it ’s not very easy to discover and it does n’t offer anything in the path of customization options , at least for the time being .
To get at it , just lend oneself a dark wallpaper with a foresightful pressure on a blank part of the home screen door and a tap on Wallpapers . The Marvellous marble one under the populate universe drift will do , a rotate shot of Earth from space .
Hey presto , the app drawer and quick setting Lucy in the sky with diamonds go dark . Not everything change though , and your notifications and configurations app abide count the same .
8) Fix the display colors
We ’re not die to wade too profoundly into the color and saturation debatethat ’s pass off around the Pixel phones right now , but we can give you a dyad of tips for changing the display properties if they ’re not to your liking .
steer to configurations then Display then Advanced , and you ’ll come across a Vivid colors switch — twist this on to get color that are less natural but more vibrant . A new option will presently be tot up to the Pixel 2 phones to increase color saturation further , according to Google , so look out for that .
This being Android , a third - political party developer has stepped in to help as well : Oreo Colorizerlets you create a wider color gamut on your Pixel 2 . No root is want , but you need to admit the induction of an app from outside the Google Play Store , which in Oreo is handledwhenever you try and unfold an APK .
9) Tap into the power of Google Lens
Available now on the Pixel 2 phones and rolling out across the original Pixels , Google Lens shows off some of Google ’s up-to-the-minute image recognition AI .
It live in Google Photos though , not the Camera app — give a pic , tap the little Lens button down at the bottom , and the app tries to identify what the picture is of and give you some helpful suggestions about what to do next . employ it to recognize school text ( like addresses ) , places , graphics , and media ( like book binding for books and picture ) .
If Google Lens works as mean , you might get some excess WWW data link for related searches , related images , and so on . As the splash screens accent , the computer software is still in its former stages right now .
10) Explore the Pixel-ized Google app
If you ’ve moved to the Pixel from stock Android , you ’ll know you’re able to abstract right from the base CRT screen to get to a plenty of information cards put up by Google — it ’s essentially the Google app working in tandem with your catapult .
On Pixel Android , which is efficaciously the raw stock Android now , the Google app works slimly differently . Tap the pointer button on the bar at the top to see all the useable shortcuts , from nearby burnt umber shop to secret plan you may play with the Google Assistant .
You also get four sections along the bottom : Home ( with a leaning of relevant info cards ) , Upcoming ( cards relate to the very near futurity ) , Search ( precisely what it sounds like ) , and Recent ( your recent bodily function ) . It ’s a great showcase for everything the Pixel phones can do , thanks to the latestAndroid Oreoupdate and all their extra bells and whistles .
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