Apple wants you to believe that theiPhone 16is the one true AI telephone that will change your aliveness in meaningful ways . After all , you do n’t just slap a “ Built for Apple Intelligence ” marker on every Sir Frederick Handley Page where the phones are mount poetical about their secret and practical AI chop .
My mileage has been quite disenchanting so far , and it seems you should not buy into all those title until Apple release all the AI trick that it has promised so far . That wait could gallop well into 2025 . On the other helping hand , you have theGoogle Pixel 9 .
It ’s a phone that is truly struggling with its AI personal identity . It wants you to buddy up with a chatty AI . It will put AI into your images in Hope of make Photoshop tricks look ancient . It want to be your co-pilot at workplace poppycock , too , such as compose mail responses or brainstorming a draught .
Aside from absolutely mundane stuff like setting up an dismay , the Pixel 9 wants to put AI into almost everything you want a sound for . Even screening and attending birdcall are not off the mesa here . AI everywhere . That ’s the Congress of Racial Equality premise .
But that does n’t mean that AI deployment is inevitably meaningful . Or even exact . I ’ve been pushing the AI chops of the Pixel 9 ever since I get my hands on the phone , and if you ’ve been wondering if the telephone set ’s deserving its AI salt , here are the AI tricks that just might get ahead you over .
line : The Pixel Screenshots app is exclusive to Pixel 9 phones . The remaining features are tie to Gemini Advanced , which is free for a year on Pixel 9 Pro devicesand requires a Google One AI Premium subscription ( starting at $ 20 / month ) with many other features in tow .
Gemini in Gmail
Unsurprisingly , Google is pushing Gemini in every corner of its intersection ecosystem . Gmail is one of the most ubiquitous , just after Google Search .
Google is n’t exactly the first name to experiment with AI for email . Shortwave was among the first to take the dip and stay to do an excellent job . Apple Intelligence has also pushed a summarization system and Smart Reply have to ring mail , but it ’s arrive at or miss .
Gemini proffer the best integration of AI I ’ve see in any mail app so far . Though it exists one by one as its own actionable icon at the top , correctly by the hunt bar , it can palm your queries more intuitively .
permit ’s say the only affair you remember about an e-mail was that it was about some keyboard , but no contingent about the blade name or the sender . A query like “ What was the e-mail about the compact keyboard I got in July ? ” does the job just fine .
But that ’s just the start . With a petty bite of detail besprinkle into the prompt , you’re able to write an email response without ever open up the electronic mail . you could say , “ Send a reply to Jessica , telling her I like the idea of a old bag with an embedded tracker . ”
Gemini will not only craft a response but also foot up a smattering of other detail , like the merchandise name , launch , features , etc . , from the appropriate email and craft a well - written professional answer . or else , you may simply ask it to publish an original email .
rifle a tone further , Gemini actually makes thing even more convenient when handle an overflowing inbox . The summaries are mostly exact and far better than Apple Intelligence or any other software I ’ve used so far .
Moreover , these summaries work just fine for undivided emails and entire duds . However , I recommend tap on the “ View longer summary ” alternative , as it does a fantastic job of picking up the overarching tonus and the tiny details that matter . The “ Suggest reply ” organisation also does a tremendous line .
Then there ’s the depth psychology part . I regularly receive scientific inquiry papers in my box seat . Gemini lends a help hand here as well . Gemini Advanced offer a context windowpane deserving a million token , which is well enough for a 1,500 - page Word .
I fed the AI a 60 - page paper about the history of caste favoritism and ask it to summarize one especial aspect . Within about seven or eight seconds , Gemini parse the whole PDF , incur the relevant minute , and present them in a neatly formatted article . It ’s almost wizard .
Gemini extensions
One of Gemini ’s most underrated aspects is its integrating with Google ’s suite of Workspace prick , include Docs , Gmail , and get . The integration reach out to YouTube , Google Flights , Maps , and Hotels .
There are two means you may make use of filename extension . you could use a shortcut specifier in your prompting , such as @Gmail ( just like you would prod a teammate in a group chat on apps like WhatsApp or Slack ) , to insure that Gemini executes your question in that especial table service .
If you ’re inclined toward voice commands , you could mention the app where the AI should depend for the relevant information . Even if you do n’t , Gemini can pick up contingent or titles of a specified single file in your Workspace portfolio and do what is needed .
For example , you may start with basic commands like “ sum the most recent email from Professor Lucien . ” Or , you’re able to grind deeper . I asked it to summarize an article in Google Docs , giving it only the title of the drawing , and Gemini picked up all the core level and portray them in bullet list format .
Gemini also see into my inbox and gathered information about my coming flight of stairs . The answer also mix speedy shortcut from different emails , each contain unique info such as a copy of the ticket , terminal inside information , and web check - in itinerary .
It can also handle queries across entertainment platforms such as YouTube . But do keep in mind that it wo n’t get grainy work across another Workspace app , even if it ’s something as canonic as adding a track to a specific playlist on YouTube Music .
For now , Gemini Extensions aims to quickly give drug user information they have saved across Google ’s ecosystem services . From spreadsheets to PDFs saved in your Google Drive , the AI supporter will take out up all the requisite information .
Once it has access to the requisition Indian file , you could pick out how it is presented — admit as a summary , in bullet point , or have it speak to your ears . All the options are on the table . Parsing for the proper files(s ) , especially without the right Workspace shortcut , can often take a few endorsement , so it ’s not perfect .
But the sheer potential here is Brobdingnagian . Imagine third - political party apps unfold up to Gemini Extensions and create actionable shortcuts . Google has already laid the foundations , and it ’s only a matter of metre before we see eager developers lap up the idea .
I just hope that when it eventually becomes mainstream , the process will be transparent , and data security system will not be an afterthought . That ’s a bigifright now , so here ’s to hoping .
Pixel Screenshots
Screenshots are the new bookmarks — or so I tell myself . For a more scientific peek into their utility program , Christopher Moore wrote a fantastic research paper called “ Screenshots as Virtual Photography ” in theAdvancing Digital Humanitiesjournal . In it , he argues thatthey are directly link to the dynamic live sensory experience of digital consumers .
For humans sharing screenshots online , they also fiddle a crucial use in foster societal connections and curating the online ethnical experience you pamper in . But permit ’s wedge to the less scientific , and more regular , material . We often take screenshots as some sorting of memory diary . It can be anything from a ticket or professionally worthful selective information to just a fun meme .
We partake in the chore of screenshotting because it ’s commodious . Yet , we hardly ever go back to that “ screenshots ” leaflet . Part of that hesitancy has to do with the fact that it ’s tedious , especially when you ca n’t remember what month or yr the screenshot was take or how deep you have to scroll to regain the one you ’re depend for .
The Pixel 9 brings a feature that essentially act as the sassy keeper of your screenshots . spookily wise , I ’d say . The mysterious sauce here is Pixel Screenshots , an app powered by the on - machine Gemini Nano . Think of it as an OCR dick with AI superpowers , one that exists more like a guardian of memories and the noesis hidden in your screenshots .
It just works , and in more ways than the app ’s name suggests . I ’ve get a few thousand screenshots stored on my phone date at least five years in the past . Yeah , I ’m a hoarder , and cripplingly afraid of losing something valuable if I clean up the screenshots folder . But all that billboard now has a purpose .
With the Pixel screenshot app , I was able to pull all variety of selective information . From abbreviation on a game restrainer setup page to describing a game grapheme flexing their mammoth sword in a cutting shot , the Pixel Screenshots app does a darn good problem at absorbing all kinds of information and then surface it .
It ’s a wondrous tool for not just finding the serious variety of entropy , like checking the due for my March electricity bill , or the Starbucks coupon that I lost to the washables machine . For photos , with mankind and pet in them , it works passably well .
The app processes the instinctive nomenclature input , or even scant descriptors , in veridical time as it parses through the gallery of relevant screenshots until it shoot down on the exact match . For a soul who often screenshots articles in the Discover feed or social medium feed for future reading , Pixel Screenshots is a convenient shaft that acts more like a super - smart memory bank .
It ’s deserving revisit , meter and again , owe to its accuracy . I ’ve rarely seen an AI tool being this precise at its output as the Pixel Screenshots app . It ’s a sleeper hit , one without any functional caveats or striking pitfalls . The icing on the cake is that as you land on the trust screenshot , you may add a calendar entry for it , and slot it in a new or pre - made folder .
There’s a lot of AI promise
I ’ve never been a fan of the generative AI hype , and for good reason . For the most part , it seems fun , but in a rather useless fashion . Pixel Studio text - to - image generator is a majuscule lesson . Apple ’s attempts at a similar tool are nothing more than a flex .
But putting AI where we can get worthful work done is difficult . Gemini , in whatever fiddling ways it has managed to work a few kernel products , has done fantastic . I never thought I would say this , but I consider the best post to put AI in your workflow is the email inbox .
Gemini is really good at this labor . The Pixel Screenshots app , on the other hired hand , is not just a ace for your computer memory but also a honest itinerary to finding information that you may have saved as a screengrab and draw a blank .
Extensions , though confine in their current sort , have Brobdingnagian cathode-ray oscilloscope for transform how an AI assistant should interact with other services that are part of your daily phone habits . Overall , I think Gemini makes the Pixel 9 deserving buy on its own , as it truly redefine how you interact with your telephone . That ’s a leaping worth looking forrad to and a will to just how full Google ’s AI dick really are .
