Google has dropped its newest line of Pixel telephones for 2025, and past being the corporate’s greatest telephones but, they’re brimming with nice options price benefiting from.
Whether or not you’re upgrading or switching to Pixel for the primary time, right here you’ll discover a shortlist of helpful ideas and methods which can allow you to get extra out of the Android 16-based expertise provided up by the Pixel 10 sequence.
With a few exceptions, all of those characteristic walkthroughs apply to the whole lot of the Pixel 10 line (the Pixel 10, Pixel 10 Professional, Pixel 10 Professional XL and Pixel 10 Professional Fold); nonetheless, there are a few upgrades lined which are unique to Google’s new Professional fashions solely. Learn on for the total run-down.
Flip Professional Res Zoom on or off
When you picked up the Pixel 10 Professional or 10 Professional XL, one of the vital digicam upgrades is Professional Res Zoom. Constructing on their predecessors’ Tremendous Res Zoom, Professional Res Zoom boosts the utmost telephoto seize magnification from 30x to a whopping 100x.
Relying on how near launch you purchased your Pixel 10 Professional or 10 Professional XL, there’s an opportunity you don’t have Professional Res Zoom enabled by default. Equally, as Professional Res Zoom provides using generative AI to reinforce picture constancy above 30x (successfully ‘making up’ picture particulars it ‘thinks’ ought to be current), not everybody will admire the characteristic’s inclusion as a part of these new Pixels’ photographic expertise.
As such, right here’s the best way to allow/disable Professional Res Zoom on the Pixel 10 Professional line.
HOW? In case your Pixel 10 Professional solely zooms in so far as 30x out the field, you’ll have to obtain the Professional Res Zoom mannequin. To do that, first open the Digicam app, and from right here, faucet the Digicam Settings icon (it includes a cog image, partially obscured by a digicam image). The icon ought to be within the bottom-left of the viewfinder when holding your telephone in portrait.
On the next card that pops up, faucet the icon with the three dots within the top-right, simply to the appropriate of the phrases ‘Photograph settings’.
It is best to now be wanting on the full-screen ‘Digicam settings’ menu. On the backside of the ‘Normal’ part, you must see an entry known as Mannequin obtain. Faucet on this.
If Professional Res Zoom isn’t but downloaded onto your Pixel, the next ‘Mannequin obtain’ menu is the place you’ll discover the choice to obtain it. Simply faucet on the downward arrow icon subsequent to ‘Professional Res Zoom’ to obtain the characteristic.
As soon as downloaded, whenever you return to the viewfinder, you must now discover that you simply zoom all the way in which as much as 100x.
Equally, if you wish to disable Professional Res Zoom utterly, the downward arrow icon on the ‘Mannequin obtain’ display talked about above will as a substitute be a trash can icon. Faucet the trash can and on the next pop-up titled ‘Are you positive?’ faucet Uninstall to utterly take away Professional Res Zoom out of your Pixel.
Word: If the 100x choice doesn’t instantly seem after downloading the mannequin, merely shut the digicam app utterly, reopen it and check out zooming in once more.
Create a Calling Card
As a part of Materials 3 Expressive – the feel and appear of Android 16 on the Pixel 10 sequence at launch – Google has added a slick new characteristic known as Calling Playing cards.
Just like iOS’ Contact Posters, Calling Playing cards act as personalised full-screen posters for key contacts in your handle e book, with the flexibility to decide on particular images and add customized font kinds and hues too.
HOW? To create a calling card, open the Contacts app and faucet on a contact out of your handle e book that you simply wish to make a calling card for. On the chosen contact’s display, beneath the shortcuts to name, message, or electronic mail the contact, you must see a immediate field titled ‘Attempt including a calling card’. Faucet it.
On the next calling card creation display, select from the Digicam, Gallery and Google Images buttons alongside the underside to seize or choose an appropriate photograph for the individual whose contact card you’re creating.
When you’ve picked a picture, you may transfer (by dragging with one finger) and resize (with two fingers) the picture till it’s framed to your liking on the contact card.
When pleased with the picture’s positioning, you’ll additionally discover completely different font decisions – represented by a sequence of ‘A’s – alongside the underside of the display. Faucet on the completely different ‘A’s to use completely different fonts to your chosen contact’s title. Subsequent, choose a color from the swatches beneath the font choices.
When you’re pleased with each of those particulars, hit Performed within the top-right of the display. You’ll then be taken again to the ‘Edit contact’ display, at which level you may faucet Save within the top-right to avoid wasting your newly-created calling card.
Word: If the ‘Attempt including a calling card’ choice doesn’t seem whenever you open up a contact throughout the Contacts app. As a substitute, faucet the pencil icon within the top-right and faucet on the picture on the appropriate aspect of the ‘Image and calling card’ field close to the highest of the display.
If the choice nonetheless doesn’t instantly current itself, ensure the Contacts and Telephones apps are totally closed, then discover the Telephone app in your Pixel’s apps drawer, long-press on the app icon and on the next pop-up menu choose ‘App data’. Scroll to the underside of the Telephone app’s App data web page and underneath ‘Retailer’ faucet ‘App particulars’.
You’ll then be pushed to the Telephone app’s web page on the Google Play Retailer. From right here, faucet Uninstall, and on the next pop-up, faucet Uninstall once more. As soon as the app updates have been uninstalled, merely faucet the Replace button and look forward to the Telephone app updates to redownload and reinstall.
As soon as put in, open up the Contacts app once more and observe the unique directions above. The choice so as to add a calling card ought to now be out there.
Test for AI-altered photographs with Content material Credentials
The Pixel imaging expertise has lengthy been about making use of machine studying to imagery to reinforce the ultimate end result. Nonetheless, in recent times, Google has began piling on generative AI-based picture seize and modifying instruments, like Magic Editor’s Reimagine characteristic and Professional Res Zoom.
As a way to fight misinformation, Google not too long ago turned part of the Coalition for Content material Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA), and one of many extra sensible advantages of its involvement is the addition of picture provenance inside Google Images and pictures taken utilizing your Pixel 10’s digicam.
Foundry | Alex Walker-Todd
HOW? To verify a picture’s content material credentials, merely head into your Google Images gallery, faucet on a shot you wish to know extra about after which swipe up to search out out extra in regards to the picture.
On the backside, you must now discover a How this was made part, which tells you key info just like the digicam the picture was taken with, and, within the case of Professional Res Zoom pictures bolstered by generative AI (for instance), further tags to let you recognize the picture was “Edited with AI instruments”.
Add music to your recordings with AI
Google’s native Recorder app is a superb inclusion, with highly effective options akin to real-time transcription, however open it up in your Pixel 10 and also you’ll discover it’s gained a brand new trick: the flexibility so as to add AI-generated music. That is good for ideating songs or just including just a little extra pep to your voice notes.
Offered you have got a recording saved throughout the Recorder app that’s 3 minutes or much less, you may add music utilizing only some faucets.
HOW? First, open the Recorder app in your Pixel. Subsequent, faucet on the recording you wish to add music to. As soon as on the playback display, faucet the three dots within the top-right of the display. On the next pop-up card, faucet on the brand new Create music choice.
From right here, you’re required to Select a vibe for the model of music you wish to add to your recording. You’ve got two predominant choices: ‘Featured vibes’ or ‘Your vibes’.
‘Featured vibes’ is a collection of 5 completely different ‘vibes’, starting from ‘Chill Beats’ to ‘Dance get together’. You additionally need to choice to decide on ‘Shock me’, which can robotically choose one of many different ‘vibes’ for you.
The ‘Your vibes’ part is stuffed with musical remedies that you simply create. To create a brand new vibe, faucet on the Create new vibe button, you’ll then be requested to title your vibe, choose a style and a sense. When you’re glad along with your decisions, faucet Save on the backside of the display. You’re newly created vibe will then seem within the ‘Your vibes’ tab.
Faucet on a vibe from both tab to assign it to your recording after which faucet subsequent. The Recorder app will then course of your audio, searching for pre-existing rhythm and concord that it could possibly match music to.
As soon as it’s completed processing, you’ll be introduced with a barely completely different playback display than earlier than, with two waveforms.
You possibly can faucet Play on the backside of the display to listen to your newly soundtracked recording. You can even faucet on the thumbs-up or thumbs-down icons throughout the higher waveform to supply suggestions to the AI system on whether or not you want its creation. You can even faucet Change vibe, and the app will re-process the audio with a brand new vibe of your selecting.
When you’re glad along with your creation, faucet Save copy within the top-right of the display, and also you’ll be taken again to the principle Recorder app display, with the listing of all of your recordings. Your new creation ought to be the brand new high entry, with a title that references the vibe you hooked up to your unique recording, and an ‘AI music’ tag on the bottom-left of the entry.
As with all different recording within the Recorder app, you may then share the audio file or a hyperlink to the recording, as desired.
Word: The Recorder app robotically geese the music when making use of a vibe, that means speech ought to nonetheless be wholly intelligible and its quantity balanced with the brand new music.
You can even edit or delete vibes you created by navigating to the ‘Your vibes’ tab, long-pressing on any of the vibes you’ve created and tapping ‘edit’ or ‘delete’ on the next pop-up menu.
Take heed to this web page
‘Take heed to this web page’ is a superb assistive instrument that makes digesting internet pages way more handy, particularly whenever you’re out and about.
While studying a information story sat on the practice is simple sufficient, studying and in addition wanting the place you’re going is infinitely trickier: that’s the place ‘Take heed to this web page’ is available in.
Foundry | Alex Walker-Todd
As long as you will get behind the (considerably stilted) robotic voice the characteristic at the moment makes use of, the telephone treats the narration like some other audio playback, that means you may nonetheless lock your telephone and slip it in your pocket. You’ll nonetheless have the ability to hear utilizing headphones, too.
What’s extra, typical media management assist permits you to pause/play and scrub by way of the timeline of a given internet web page seamlessly.
HOW? Open the Chrome internet browser in your Pixel and navigate to the web page you wish to take heed to. As long as the characteristic can parse what’s on-screen, you’ll discover the choice to have the web page learn out to you by tapping the three dots within the top-right. This brings up Chrome’s native settings menu, inside which you’ll discover the Take heed to this web page button, in direction of the underside.
Enhanced Now Taking part in
With Enhanced Now Taking part in – which is disabled in your Pixel 10 out of the field – Google’s added the flexibility for to characteristic to robotically supply the related album artwork too. It makes it that little bit simpler to recognise a selected music or artist on-line or on retailer cabinets when you go looking for out a selected observe for your self.
HOW? To improve Now Taking part in to Enhanced Now Taking part in, open the Settings app after which faucet on Sound and vibration. Subsequent, scroll all the way in which to the underside till you see Now Taking part in. Faucet on Now Taking part in to open up its devoted sub-menu display.
Partway down, you must then see the choice to toggle Enhanced Now Taking part in on. As soon as enabled, any detected tracks saved inside your Now Taking part in Historical past (additionally discovered throughout the Now Taking part in sub-menu) will embrace album artwork, reasonably than a generic musical word icon.
Allow Superior Safety
With Google’s command of the net world, it stands to motive that they’re additionally fairly well-versed at defending in opposition to a few of its extra unsavoury points, and that penchant for safety can also be current on their telephones.
Whereas not enabled out the field, the Pixel’s Superior Safety suite does all the things from enabling theft detection lock (instantly locking your telephone if it thinks it’s simply been snatched out of your palms by an assailant), activating Android Protected Shopping, with risk detection, warning you about suspicious hyperlinks despatched through Google Messages, and extra.
HOW? To degree up the safety in your Pixel, open the Settings app, then scroll all the way down to and faucet on Safety and privateness. Inside the Safety and privateness sub-menu, underneath the ‘Different settings’ part, faucet on Superior Safety. On the Superior Safety menu, all that’s left to do is to toggle on the swap to the appropriate of Machine safety choice.
Empower the facility button
As soon as upon a time, a telephone’s energy button was used to energy the telephone on and off, however in recent times, whereas they’re nonetheless used to show your telephone on, they’ve principally been repurposed for different duties, leaving multi-button configurations the one technique to entry that all-important energy menu.
Within the case of the Pixel 10 sequence, while a faucet on the facility button will darken your display and lock your telephone, a long-press will as a substitute summon Google Gemini. There’s additionally a devoted Gemini app, an ‘Ask Gemini’ widget pre-loaded on the house display and the flexibility to activate Gemini by merely utilizing the “Hey, Google” wake phrase.
All in all, Google has made positive that granting fast entry to Google Gemini in your Pixel is nicely and really lined, begging the query: can’t the facility key simply be the facility key once more?
If, like me, you’re over urgent energy and quantity up each time you wish to formally swap off or restart your Pixel, right here’s the best way to reassign the facility button’s predominant perform.
HOW? Head to the Settings app and, as soon as open, search for System – faucet on it. About midway down the System menu, you must have the ability to faucet on the Gestures choice. On the backside of the Gestures sub-menu, faucet on the entry labelled Press and maintain energy button.
The next ‘Press and maintain energy button’ display ought to present you that ‘Digital assistant’ is at the moment chosen, together with a slider that allows you to outline how lengthy you want to maintain the facility button to summon stated assistant. To disable this characteristic and reinstate the facility key’s unique performance, merely faucet Energy menu. Lengthy-pressing the facility key will now deliver up the facility menu as soon as once more.
Word: Even with this alteration, energy key + quantity up will nonetheless additionally summon the facility menu.
Enhance show decision & refresh charge
The Actua and Tremendous Actua shows throughout the Pixel 10 sequence are a number of the nicest in the marketplace, however out-the-box you’re not getting the very best viewing expertise out there.
Foundry | Alex Walker-Todd
There are two settings price checking earlier than getting caught into dwelling along with your new Pixel: decision and refresh charge.
Utilizing the Pixel 10 Professional XL for example, whereas the telephone comes with a 6.8-inch 1344 x 2992 120Hz OLED show, chances are high you’re viewing all the things in ‘Excessive decision’ mode by default, which clocks in at 1080 x 2404.
The upper the decision, the sharper issues will look on-screen, however the larger the drain on the battery too.
Equally, the display serves up super-fluid 120Hz visuals out of the field the place out there, however this equally comes on the expense of battery longevity. As such, when you aren’t fussed about excessive refresh charge viewing, it could be in your greatest curiosity to modify the characteristic off (which caps the viewing expertise at 60Hz as a substitute). In any other case, go away or not it’s.
HOW? Open your Pixel’s Settings app, faucet on Show and contact, scroll all the way down to the underside of the listing to search out Display decision after which swap from Excessive decision to Full decision, to maximise picture constancy.
Equally, on the backside of the Show and contact part of the Settings app, you’ll additionally see Easy show. Likelihood is, it’ll be toggled ‘on’ by default, however you may swap it on and off as you like from right here.
