After months of dramatic rumors, Google revealed HiLight alongside the launch of the Pixel 11 series. A brand-new hardware feature for Pixel phones, it can light up when a favorite contact calls. Oh, and it lights up when Gemini is active.
While it’s theoretically useful, it’s certainly underwhelming. Google is planning on adding additional functionality to HiLight, but I can’t help but think it will never live up to the hype. Instead, Google ought to work on bringing back these dropped Pixel features.
Active Edge was my most commonly used gesture on the Pixel 2
It was so convenient I had to use it
While the Pixel 1 piqued my interest in Google’s new range of phones, it wasn’t until the Pixel 2 XL that I traded in my Samsung Galaxy S7. I was immediately wowed by the bloat-free simplicity of the phone, but it was features like Active Edge that kept me hooked.
Active Edge let users launch Google Assistant and silence calls, timers, alarms, and notifications by squeezing the lower half of the phone.
It sounds silly, but it was incredibly useful. If you’re unconvinced, pick up your phone right now. You’ve probably wrapped your fingers around one side, so you can grip the phone by gently pushing it into your palm.
Now squeeze your phone like you’re testing an avocado’s ripeness. Feels pretty natural, right?
That was the brilliance of Active Edge. Google added a gesture control that relied on how we naturally hold our phones. While I love other features like Quick Tap, nothing has ever felt as natural as Active Edge.
However, Active Edge was limited. Google limited it to activating Google Assistant or silencing notifications and alarms. Not using Assistant much myself, I still used it constantly to silence various annoyances.
Google ought to bring Active Edge back, but with expanded functionality. Mapping the button to the same set of actions as Quick Tap would be much more useful than HiLight.
It’s time for Project Soli to return
Surely this is something AI can help with
In 2015, Google showed off a fascinating concept. Named Project Soli, this feature would allow users to trigger actions by gesturing with their hand or fingers.
The announcement looked truly futuristic, but users got a mildly underwhelming set of features on the Pixel 4.
Project Soli powered Motion Sense, which let users swipe to change music tracks, dismiss notifications, and silence alarms on the Pixel 4. Google promised more features down the line, but it removed it on the Pixel 5.
I’m not arguing that Project Soli wasn’t much more than a silly hardware gimmick, but it’s been seven years since the Pixel 4 launched.
Surely, with Gemini’s power at its side, Google could bring Project Soli back to our Pixel phones? I usually have my phone facing me on a stand-up charger. To gesture imperiously at it to change tracks, or point at it to silence an alarm, would be a feature worth the upgrade.
System UI Tuner gave me the granular control I needed
Let me customize my Pixel’s status bar again
Google has done a great job of improving the functionality of our Android phones. Whether it’s adding more Quick Settings tiles, expanding customization options, or reintroducing lock screen widgets, there’s more that Google can make Pixel do.
However, Google has neglected one aspect in recent years: the status bar.
Until the Pixel 3, users could access System UI Tuner, a suite of settings that tweaked what appeared on the status bar. I always liked seeing the battery percentage in the status bar, and System UI Tuner let me enable this.
While Google eventually re-added the battery percentage display, it completely gutted the rest of System UI Tuner.
The status bar on Pixel phones can get cluttered, and I don’t need all of it. But on the other hand, I want to add other things to it.
For example, one System UI Tuner setting I enabled was displaying seconds on the status bar clock. It was like a tiny, always-on stopwatch, so if I needed to time 10 seconds or so, I could glance at my phone.
But I want more granular control over how these core UI elements work. Third-party apps have taken up the slack, but it would be straightforward for Google to bring this core feature back into the fold.
Android 17’s December update will reportedly add some customization options, but it’s unlikely to reach as far as System UI Tuner did.
There’s no harm in looking to the past
HiLight is a nice feature, but it’s so underwhelming it might as well not exist. While I applaud the effort, Google needs to think harder about what problems it can solve.
Active Edge worked because it turned a natural movement into something useful. Project Soli was dropped too soon, but could have been so much more.
System UI Tuner is the exact kind of customization app we need. So here’s to hoping I can squeeze the Pixel 12.
