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Google wants to help you identify calls from unknown businesses
The Google Phone app's new Lookup feature will quickly find more details about unknown numbers
Google's Phone app on Pixels and other Android devices features caller ID and spam protection. Thanks to this, you can know that a scammer or business is calling you even before picking up the call. But in many cases, you might have noticed the Phone app failing to identify calls from unknown businesses. Google seemingly plans to fix this with a "Lookup" option.
Your Pixel makes moving from voice to video call a one-tap action
The Google phone app now puts a seamless switch to Meet front and center
Sometimes, it’s much nicer to actually see who you’re talking to when you’re on the phone with someone. You may also just want to show the other party something that you see right now. That’s where a new chip in the Google Phone app comes in, which lets you seamlessly switch to a Google Meet call — if the other party has Meet, that is.
Audiomojis are coming for your Android phone
Sound-based reactions are currently in development for the Phone app
Google Messages has picked up a flurry of features over the past couple of months, with Google announcing a handful of them in December on the occasion of reaching a billion RCS users on the app. Separately, the messaging app has seen a handful of visual additions in the recent past, including animated emoji reactions. It now looks like Google is looking to expand similar reactions to its Phone app by offering multiple sound effects during phone calls.
Google's Pixel 7 phones get up to $250 magically erased from their price this week
Google's Pixel 7 series is down to lowest price yet
Google's latest Pixel 7 Series showed us how serious the brand was about delivering a great product, with their premium Pixel 7 Pro quickly topping our list as one of the best phones thanks to its impressive specs and intuitive design. The brands latest phones offer an excellent experience no matter what your budget looks like, whether you're after a more cost-effective buy with the budget-friendly Pixel 7a or setting your sights on the flagship Pixel 7. A fact that's even more true thanks to these Google Pixel 7 deals that just showed up.
Pixel Call Screen recordings will now show you what the Assistant is saying
Getting the full picture of the automated phone call
Google's Pixel devices have consistently ranked among the best Android phones thanks to a bevy of useful features like Call Screen, which allowed the Google Assistant to vet calls for you before you actually picked up. That feature could be getting a bit better, as recordings of screened calls have started including everything the Assistant said.
Google's Phone app brings a new visual aesthetic to the call screen
Embracing material you and moving some buttons around makes a huge difference
No matter how smart and capable our handheld devices get, they still serve one core function: calling. The Phone app from Google is among the best at doing this, thanks to useful features like Call Screen, Hold for Me, and Clear Calling, and it's one of the reasons Pixel devices rank so highly among the best Android phones. But features aren't everything — aesthetics are important, too, and Google is delivering on this front with an update rolling out now that changes the Phone app's in-call UI.
New Google Phone logo starts appearing on home screens
Messages on the web also gets a fresh splash screen
Much ado has been made about Google's new visual branding for its Contacts, Messages, and Phone apps which the company introduced in the past couple weeks.They're not the best works of art, but they do convey just enough to stand for something. Up until now, though, you've probably seen the new Messages logo and maybe even the Contacts logo appear on your home screen. What's up with Phone? And what's this about how the Messages logo animates?
New Google Messages and Contacts app icons rolling out in beta
None of the new Messages features are live yet though
Despite previous fumbles, Google has started taking messaging a lot more seriously in recent times. It has been heavily pushing for RCS adoption to deliver a seamless messaging experience across devices. The company is even running a Get the Message campaign and has shamed Apple publicly multiple times to get it on the RCS bandwagon. Recently, the big G announced a slew of new features for Google Messages, including threaded replies, starred suggestions, reminders and YouTube integration. Visual changes were limited to new icons for the Messages, Phone, and Contacts apps. While the new features in the Messages app are yet to go live, the new icons seem to be widely rolling out on the beta channel.
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After months of rumors, teasers, and leaks, the Pixel Watch will finally be revealed alongside the Google Pixel 7 series on Thursday, October 6, 2022. With the amount of videos Google has published and a great number of leaks, there is almost nothing left to hide at this point. And just like that, Google has for the first time released its Phone app for Wear OS, already available over at APK Mirror.
Google's heartwarming advert shows off how much more inclusive the Pixel 6 cameras are
Real Tone is meant to help you accurately photograph all skin tones
Inclusive technology is nothing short of critical today. How that technology is introduced plays an important part in its reception and the wider public acknowledgment of progress. Google's new advert relays the highly anticipated Real Tone camera capabilities of the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro, which are supposed to accurately represent all skin tones equally.
Google has updated so many of its apps to fit Material You guidelines, it's getting hard to keep track. While Contacts got a facelift a few weeks ago, its matching dialer app had yet to see the same attention. With the release of a new beta, that's finally changing.
Google Phone call recording is available on Pixels in these countries
No luck for North America or much of Europe
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It's been nearly a year since Google announced that call recording would be possible on Android, as long as you had a compatible device and lived in a country that legally allows it. The feature first went live on Nokia then Xiaomi phones, and later gained the ability to automatically record calls from unknown numbers. It's now making its way to the Pixels too.
Google loves to shuffle up its settings menu every so often. Whether it's adding a splash of color to Android's settings (before taking it away on a whim) or introducing a search bar to help you find exactly what you need, even the slightest tweak can streamline your day-to-day experience. Google's Phone app is receiving such an update, with new categories to make it easier to sort through all of its options.
The Google Phone app is getting a much better way to search for numbers you recently called
Previously-dialed numbers that aren't in your contacts now show up in search results for the Google Phone app
There's a small quality of life tweak we've been waiting for in Phone by Google for a long time. When you're entering a new number from the dialer, the search function automatically populates with items from your contacts that match the number you're entering. In the beta version, some users are now seeing previously-dialed numbers (which haven't been saved to Contacts) in these results.
Google Phone knows you prefer messaging businesses over calling them (APK Download)
Start chatting right away from within the app
I don't know about you, but I prefer texting over calling businesses — who likes listening to some crappy hold music for minutes on end?! Google probably knows this and is happy to bundle a messaging feature into yet another one of its apps. The Google Phone app now lets you text businesses.
Google+, now dead for years, is somehow still lingering around Google's Phone app
It's been over 2 years since Google+ shut down for personal accounts
If you've been on the internet for a while, you probably know about Google+ — Google's failed attempt at creating a social network. While the network closed shop for personal accounts in 2019, its remnants still live and break functionality in the Google Phone app for Android.
Google Phone will announce callers like you've got a fancy secretary
But you ain't fancy. Stop playing.
Google's Phone app may not be the most feature-rich dialer out there, but it's slowly getting better. It recently picked up the ability to automatically record calls from unknown numbers, and now the latest update makes it easier to know exactly who's calling you.
Google Phone app can now record calls from unknown numbers automatically
Availability is fairly limited though
Call recording is a nifty feature and can come in handy in certain situations. While third-party dialers have offered this feature, Google's Phone app only picked it up last year. Now, it's getting better by letting users record all calls coming from unknown numbers.
Google Phone could soon record all calls from unknown numbers
A toggle will let you turn this option on
The Google Phone app that comes preinstalled on Pixels and some other smartphones is a true boon for people constantly bothered by robocalls as it's capable of blocking them automatically. But the company has expanded its calling app with other features as well: It recently added call recording, rolling out to select phones and regions since the beginning of 2020. It looks like the developers are now working on automatic recordings if you receive calls from unknown numbers not in your contacts.
Google's phone dialer application started off as a Pixel-exclusive replacement for the AOSP Phone app, but it has made plenty of appearances on devices from other companies, and Google even started allowing most people to download it from the Play Store. Now the app has passed a new milestone, according to the Play Store: 500 million installations.