TL;DR
- Google’s introducing a new hardware element on the Pixel 11 series: the Pixel Glow RGB LED matrix.
- After showing it off in a teaser two weeks back, Pixel Glow is front and center in Google’s latest video.
- While this offers a great look at Pixel Glow hardware, we still have plenty of questions about how it will operate.
We are a mere two weeks away from August 12, when Google will unveil the new Pixel 11 series. Given the sheer amount of leaks we’ve seen so far, it’s almost surprising to think that there are any unknowns remaining, but we’re still looking to fill in more and more key details on hardware changes like that RGB LED Pixel Glow effect coming to the Pixel 11 Pro. Google gave us a little preview of Pixel Glow earlier this month, and today is following that up with an even better look at Pixel Glow in action.
Google just posted a new Pixel 11 Pro teaser video on YouTube and across its social channels:
The messaging in the spot is pretty straightforward, appearing to go after shoppers thinking of transitioning to the Pixel 11 from another smartphone brand. It makes the point that you probably rely upon dozens of Google apps and services already, leaving the hint dangling there that you might want to complete the package and go with Google hardware, as well.
That’s well and good, but we’re most interested in the swirling colors of that Pixel Glow circle. Google depicts it just the same as we saw it two weeks ago, but here with a much cleaner, head-on view.
Some Pixel fans are going to be upset that this little LED matrix is taking the place of the phone’s infrared thermometer, but we’re going to go out on a limb here and suggest that users are probably likely to get a lot more day-to-day use out of a feature like Pixel Glow.
While Google keeps showing off Pixel Glow doing its best Mac spinning wait cursor impression, we’re still waiting to get the full picture on exactly what it can do — and what else it’s capable of displaying. Early finds painted the picture of it operating as a notification LED, aiming to “inform you of important activity when [your phone is] face down.”
What we don’t yet know is just how customizable that might be, and whether we’ll be able to do anything as complex as what’s possible with Nothing’s Glyph Matrix. Maybe another leak or teaser will fill us in on those details soon — but worst case, we’ll just have to wait until August 12 for answers.
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