series, it’s once again the software features that bring about the potential to excite the most. Say what you will about Google, but the company usually nails the software and AI features of its devices (disregarding the bugs, of course).
Forget the Tensor G5, forget the larger batteries and faster charging, even put the exciting new Pixelsnap system aside, it’s the new software features that are the Pixel 10‘s highlights as far as I’m concerned.
Magic Cue is Google at its finest
If you’re out of the loop, this feature acts as an agentic butler that’s always aware of your personal context and personal information and will present you with smart, relevant suggestions just when you need them. It aims to connect the dots between your apps, emails, screenshots, notes and more, with the goal of providing what’s contextually “useful before you even think of hunting for it yourself.”
The showcased examples were pretty easy to understand: Google had a demo where if someone messaged you about an upcoming dinner, Magic Cue would automatically look for dinner reservations in your Gmail and promptly present relevant information as a suggestion in the message thread, allowing you to quickly enter the restaurant name, reservation time, and so on.
Another demo had you call an airline, and Magic Cue would intelligently identify the number you’re calling, understand your personal context, look for your ticket details in your Gmail, and smartly present key information like seat number and flight time as a pop-up window right on the call screen.
And all of that takes place in the background, so you don’t see Magic Cue unless it has found a relevant bit of information that might be helpful to you.
That’s just the right amount of AI I want in my life
I’m just as tired of AI as you are and don’t really have the nerve for the soulless and bland AI slop that’s hitting us from all sides, platforms, and operating systems.
Chatbots are undoubtedly the best and only valuable thing that has come out of the AI era so far, and pretty much everything else is the industry throwing things at the wall hoping something else would stick. I am sick and tired of generative images, emojis, and videos.
Yet, when reined in to enrich your digital experience in a meaningful and private way, AI could also be a godsend.
That’s why, to me, Magic Cue is by far the most exciting new feature that I’m most hyped about and just the right amount of AI I want and need in my life. It might as well be the equivalent of a smart, agentic butler that lives inside your phone and only pops up when it could be useful to the user.
I want my phone and its features to be dedicated to helping me with the dullest and most mundane tasks, which is precisely what Magic Cue seems to be best at doing. Scouring my Gmail for that one email is undoubtedly one of my least favorite actions, and having to copy and paste that information in the relevant window like a peasant is something I can definitely live without in my life.
Although a more powerful and agentic Gemini assistant with Magic Cue capabilities would have been an even better and more impressive novelty, we’d likely have to wait for that one a bit longer. Imagine relegating most of the routine everyday tasks to your phone assistant that seems to understand your personal context on a deep level!
Well, that’s something that thirteen-year-old me had only seen in the movies and something that feels moderately exciting even today, nearly a quarter century later.
