Google June 2023 Pixel feature drop: Safety, health, and more for your phone and watch
Google continues to provide significant improvements to its hardware
Google hardware is solid, but the software often launches in beta form. Thankfully, Google is committed to regular updates and its latest feature drop provides improvements in safety, imaging, health, and more.
The updates in the Google announcement will be rolling out to devices soon with some existing features we saw in the US expanding to more regions of the world. Google continues to make a compelling case of its hardware and my second SIM is installed in the Pixel 7 Pro as I test this phone with the Pixel Watch.
Pixel phone updates
Google stated that the following updates will be appearing in the Pixel phones:
Safety Check + Emergency Sharing: You can now use your voice to start emergency sharing or schedule a safety check.
Car Crash Detection + Emergency Sharing: Your actual location and call status will be shared with your emergency contacts.
Macro Focus Video: Macro Focus will soon be available for video on the Pixel 7 Pro.
Emoji wallpapers
Recorder speaker labels: Several improvements for the Pixel Recorder are on the way.
Palm Timer: Raise your palm on a Pixel 6 or newer phone to trigger the timer for a picture.
Pixel Watch updates
One health metric that was found to be a key indicator of an issue during the COVID-19 pandemic was blood oxygen tracking. The Pixel Watch can now check your oxygen saturation at night and identify changes while you sleep.
In addition, high and low heart rate notifications will soon be available on the Pixel Watch. Heart health is a key metric for overall health and wellness so keeping an eye on these thresholds is important.
Other updates
Google sent along its new Matte Black Metal Links band for me to try out with the Pixel Watch so stay tuned for video coverage of that new band in the near future.
There are also three new tiles for Spotify and since that is my default music service I will be testing out these new tiles soon too.