I’m sure that I don’t have to tell you how important two letters are to smartphone manufacturers these days. The letters, “A” and “I” (which you’ll note I presented to you in alphabetical order), mean so much to smartphone buyers when done correctly. Google and Samsung haven’t written AI checks that their phones couldn’t cash. That is what Apple did with the hugely disappointing Apple Intelligence AI initiative.
Where Apple has gone wrong with Siri, Google has done right with Gemini
Where Apple went wrong is exactly where Google went right. Apple made promises about Siri’s AI capabilities at WWDC 2024, showing examples of how the digital assistant would look through your email, texts, calendar, and other apps to tell you what time your mom was supposed to land at the airport, and what time and where dinner reservations were made. Apple even went to the expense of shooting an ad showing how this “Personal” Siri would come to the rescue of a teen iPhone user who couldn’t remember the name of the guy she had just met and had an interest in.
Apple had to pull the ad once it became clear that “Personal” Siri might not arrive until next year. For those of you who have used Google’s Gemini app, OpenAI’s ChatGPT, or any of the AI chatbox apps, it is so clear that they are the future of the digital assistant. Google has a head start as it is replacing Google Assistant with Gemini. I’ve been using Gemini as the assistant on my Pixel 6 Pro, and I love it. It answers my queries with responses that allow you to take a deeper dive if you wish to.
AI is much more than a chatbox looking to answer your questions. I really wouldn’t say that Google, Samsung, or Apple have done a good job to promote these other capabilities. Google, however, has released a teaser revealing some of the AI features already available on Pixel phones that will still be available for the Pixel 10 series. I guess that really doesn’t make it much of a teaser. It starts with a question that makes you think: “What if your phone could do things other phones couldn’t?”
For example, “What if the camera could get super, super, super close while being really, really, really far?” This refers to Super Res Zoom, which is a feature that uses computational photography and AI to enhance and add detail to zoomed-in photos of people or animals physically far away, making it appear as though you were right in front of them. This would be a great AI feature for those watching performers on a stage, while sitting in the cheap seats.
Google teases a couple of AI features that will be available on the Pixel 10 series
The next question, “What if you could be in the group photo even if you snapped the group photo?” is about the feature “Add Me.” Let’s say you want to take a group photo and add yourself to the photograph later. With “Add Me,” you take the shot of the group, making sure to leave room for yourself. Someone else takes a second photo of just you. AI seamlessly merges the two photos together, making it appear as though you were in the original shot to begin with even though you took the picture.
Google then says, “While you used to be on the other side of the camera, now the camera is on your side.” The teaser ends with this deep thought, “What if you asked more of your phone and your phone answered?”
We should learn more about the AI capabilities of the Pixel 10 series this coming Wednesday, August 20, when the “Made by Google” event takes place and the Pixel 10 line is unveiled. Besides the phones, we should see the Pixel Watch 4 introduced along with the more affordable Pixel Buds 2a.
