10 tips to make you a Pixel 4 or Pixel 4a Pro



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Illustration of the article titled 10 Tips to Make You a Pixel 4 or Pixel 4a Pro

Photo: Sam Rutherford / Gizmodo

If you recently purchased Google flagship Pixel 4 or opted for the most value driven Pixel 4a, know that the two handsets have a few tips to show. THere are the features, tools, settings, and tips to know if you want to get the most out of your Pixel 4 or Pixel 4a smartphone.


1. Try Night Sight

Pixel phones’ cameras and their associated image processing software stand out more than any other feature. Both the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4a have a powerful weakLight Night Sight mode integrated into the camera app. This uses a variety of smart algorithms to lighten darker areas of a photo and retain an impressive amount of detail in low light shots

Because the functionality relies heavily on software deception, Night Sight photos look alike on Pixel 4 and Pixel 4a. In the Camera app, slide your finger across Night view To use it – for very dark scene, you will be offered astrophotography mode, which can spot the stars in the night sky, if you can keep the phone steady for several minutes.


Illustration of the article titled 10 Tips to Make You a Pixel 4 or Pixel 4a Pro

Screenshot: Android


2. Use the Recorder app

Pixel 4 and Pixel 4a are coming with a kind of exclusivity integrated Recorder application, that we written on before. The application mainly uses Google AI to recognize and transcribe audio in real time, giving you a very useful tool to record interviews, lectures, podcasts or whatever else you need to put yourself in written and audio form.

The app couldn’t be easier to use either. There’s a big red record button to get you started, and when the audio is recorded (or played) you can either view it as a sound wave or see the transcript of the text. You can attach a title and location to your recordings and search among them for particular pieces of text once they have been recorded.


3. Activate Motion Sense

Motion Sense was cut from the Pixel 4a to make it cheaper, but it’s on the Pixel 4, letting you control some functions using gestures in front of your phone. Sounds fancy, but it’s more useful than you might think: alarms subside when you move your hand towards your phone, for example, and you can skip music playlists with a wave.

To make sure Motion Sense is turned on, open your Pixel 4’s Settings and tap System then Motion sense. You can turn the feature on or off as a whole, or turn it on and off for specific functions – pause music, skip songs, and silence interruptions (and maybe more to come?). You get instructions on how each feature works, as well as.


Illustration of the article titled 10 Tips to Make You a Pixel 4 or Pixel 4a Pro

Screenshot: Android


4. Find out what’s playing

Since the launch of the Pixel 2, Google range of smartphones offered a handy now playing feature that works silently in the background, listening to the music being played, then working to identify it. It’s like an always-on Shazam, and if Google can figure it out what song is playing, you will see the title and artist name appear on the lock screen.

To verify that current playback is enabled and to customize how it works, go to Sound in Settings, then choose Now Playing. You can choose whether or not the feature shows notifications and shows results on the lock screen, as well as digging through the history of songs that have been identified by pressing sure Reading the story in progress.


5. Live caption your videos and calls

Live Caption is a new accessibility feature in Android, showing text alongside videos and now phone calls so you can read what’s being said as well as (or instead of) listen to it. Video captioning is available on all Pixel phones (except the original Pixel 2016) and other “select” Android phones, but for now, in-call captions are Pixel exclusive.

You can configure the feature by going to Sound then Live legend In your Pixel 4 or Pixel 4a’s settings: you can turn live captioning on or off and change the way you access it. By default, press the volume up or down button to display the volume controls to also display a live closed caption button that you can use to show or hide onscreen captions.


Illustration of the article titled 10 Tips to Make You a Pixel 4 or Pixel 4a Pro

Screenshot: Android


6. Get the most out of Face Unlock

SPixel 4a orry owners, this one is a Pixel 4 exclusive: If you activate Face Unlock it can drastically change the way you use your phone. Simply put, you never see the lock screen. As soon as you lift your phone, you’re back to use whatever app you have open last (and there is no need for an additional swipe, as is the case on the iPhone).

You can activate and customize Face Unlock by going to security then Face Unlock. Since the launch of the Pixel 4, Google has rolled out an update so you can specify that your eyes must be open for this to work, and more and more apps are adding support for the technology, as well as, including eBay, Signal, OneDrive, Venmo, and 1Password.


7. Change the live wallpaper

The Pixel 4 and Pixel 4a come with their own custom wallpaper changer and a selection of live wallpapers that add subtle motion effects to your home screen wallpaper canvases. To see them, tap and hold an empty area on the Home screen, and choose Styles and Wallpapers (you can use your own images as well as those already provided).

The Eclipse wallpaper available in the Come Alive category on the Pixel 4a is particularly interesting: when your phone’s battery level decreases, the color disappears from the wallpaper and is replaced by black. If you have a Pixel 4a, be sure to check out the For Fun category as well, as it includes wallpapers that use the phone’s hole punch. notch.


Illustration of the article titled 10 Tips to Make You a Pixel 4 or Pixel 4a Pro

Screenshot: Android


8. Personalize the home screen

Pixels come with a few home screen extras that are not part of the stock Android, including the default home screen widget that displays the current date and weather conditions, as well as calendar events. upcoming and traffic alerts. To configure the widget, long-press an empty area on the home screen, then choose Home settings followed by In one look.

From the same home settings menu, you can also set whether or not notification dots are allowed on the home screen, enable or disable the Google app screen (with a swipe of the home screen), set whether or not new app icons are automatically added to the home screen, and enable or disable home screen rotation (when your phone is rotated).


9. Activate the permanent display

The Pixel 4 and Pixel 4a both have aon the display option, so you can see the time and date, an icon representing the current weather conditions, icons showing unread notifications, and more from the lock screen. Open settings on your phone, then tap Display, Advanced, and Lock screen display to configure the different options available.

The Pixel 4a has a simple Always on rocker switch that you can use. On the Pixel 4, with this added capability of Motion Sense, you can stillon the screen only appear when you are near your phone (or when you turn it on or off completely). Tap Lock screen inactive to make your choice. Remember that alwayson the screen will use a little more battery life.


Illustration of the article titled 10 Tips to Make You a Pixel 4 or Pixel 4a Pro

Screenshot: Android


10. Customize your phone gestures

You can customize a variety of handy gestures on the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4a, although the options available are slightly different depending on which handset you’re using. In Settings, tap System then Gestures—On the Pixel 4a, for example, you have the option of using the fingerprint sensor on the back as a trackpad-like wheel for incoming notifications.

On the Pixel 4, you can enable the Active Edge feature which lets you launch the Google Assistant with a squeeze on the sides of your phone, as well as customize a number of Motion Sense-related gestures. On both phones, you can set up button shortcuts for the camera and enable Flip to Shhh (which cuts your phone off once you flip it).

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