Today, Google released a video on their Youtube channel “Made By Google”. The video (linked below) shows the upcoming Google Pixel 4 phone, which is then unlocked by a woman’s face. The woman then swipes her hand in front of the screen, skipping songs on Youtube Music.
For a while now, it has been rumoured that Google will include the Project Soli chip, which is a radar chip that essentially allows for very accurate tracking of objects in front of the phone. From the video, we see that this is in fact what Google is doing with the Pixel 4. Two different use cases are given for this technology; accurate and fast face unlock, which could be Android’s first real rival to Apple’s Face ID techology, and skipping songs in a music app. That last one seems like an odd addition, but it could just be that they are currently brainstorming new uses for the chip, and that is one of the first ideas that they implemented.
This gives the Pixel 4 immense potential. The chip could be used to allow the user to perform any number of actions without touching the screen. We saw LG attempt something similar to this, with a ToF sensor on the front, and we were sorely disappointed. If Google’s upcoming phone fails half as badly as that phone, then it could mean the end of Google’s Pixel lineup. But, if they do this well, and give support for it in a lot of different applications, then it could be their saving grace for the Pixel line of phones.
Interestingly enough, the phone in the video appears to coalesce with our leaked images, showing a rather sizeable forehead, but a very slim chin. This could mean that Google has added more sensors up top, to allow for even more accurate face unlocking and motion tracking.
In the end, it all comes down to Google’s implementation. If Google implements Soli well, the Pixel 4 could compete with the best from Huawei and Samsung, but if they don’t, they may begin down the same path that HTC and LG took in recent years. So what do you think of the Pixel 4? Will you be preordering, or will you wait to see how this feature pans out? Let us know in the comments below.