Pixel 3 is the American tech giant’s most premium smartphone series; the hardware has a number of features the firm’s new budget lineup, the Pixel 3a, does not.
Pixel 3 comes in two models; the standard Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL that share the same features except where screen and battery sizes are concerned.
Google’s smartphone is extremely appealing for its software; Pixel 3 runs the American tech giant’s version of Android and will be first in line to receive operating system updates, such as Q, that will debut later this year.
Android Q was unveiled in detail at Google’s recent I/O developer conference and the software has myriad features to get fans excited.
One of the biggest alterations presented in Q comes from a new gesture navigation system that appears to build upon what was presented in Android 9 Pie.
No virtual keys are presented at the bottom of the Android software in Q, instead a swipe up from the bottom of the display is used to go home and a swipe from left to right delivers back functionality.
Explaining the change, Google said: “Many of the latest Android devices feature beautiful edge-to-edge screens, and users want to take advantage of every bit of them.
“In Android Q we’re introducing a new fully gestural navigation mode that eliminates the navigation bar area and allows apps and games to use the full screen to deliver their content.
“It retains the familiar Back, Home, and recents navigation through edge swipes rather than visible buttons.”
Additionally, Android Q also introduces a number of fresh privacy and security features, a dark theme and a new function within notifications called “suggested actions”.
While Google has outlined a number of new additions set to debut for the Pixel 3 and other hardware later this year, it appears the firm could soon start work on a new tool that will bring the flagship up to date with the Huawei P30 Pro.
One of the Huawei device’s best features comes from its ability to take scrollable screenshots; this is essentially where the phone will take photos of everything on a user’s current display and stitch them together to make a larger image.
Such a function can be incredibly handy for when you are trying to share an item with a friend that does not fit on a single display.
It is worth noting such a feature is also present on Samsung devices.
However, while Google has stated it intends to roll out such a feature for Pixel owners, unfortunately it may not arrive until the release of Android R next year.
Dave Burke, the vice president of engineering for Android, was questioned about the feature by Artem Russakovskii, the founder of Android Police, and stated scrollable screenshots will “hopefully” arrive for Google’s 2020 operating system.
He said: “We’ve added scrollable screenshots to the hopper for Android R and hopefully can land it in that release.”
So while it appears Pixel 3 owners may indeed receive the feature and catch up to the Huawei P30 Pro, Android fans could be disappointed because they may have to wait until the release of Android R in 2020 for it to debut.