We're just a couple weeks away from the Made by Google event and the launch of the Pixel 9 series, and while we've seen numerous official and unofficial looks at the handsets themselves, less has been made of software that will appear on the phones.
Google has gone all-in on AI this year, so it shouldn't come as too much of a surprise that new or upgraded AI features are coming to the Pixel 9 lineup.
A new leak gives us some insight in a potential new AI call feature shared by X -user Dylan Roussel (spotted by Android Police). Roussel's tweet suggests that Google will be introducing a tool called "Call Notes." And it sounds a lot like a feature rival Apple announced is coming to iOS 18. The Apple Intelligence version is meant to support multiple languages.
Roussel hints that Call Notes will offer call recording and transcription, with the suggestion that it might also feature AI summarization as well.
Currently, the Pixel features the Recorder app, which transcribes recordings and has done so since at least the Pixel 4. Late last year, Google boosted the app on the Pixel 8 Pro with the addition of Gemini Nano updates. This included a summarization function that created a summary or bullet points of a transcription.
The Recorder app is already fairly robust, so the question is how the Call Notes feature will be presented? Is it an extension of the Recorder app or will it be integrated into the Phone app and part of a live recording and transcription?
It's possible Google will continue to utilize the on-device Gemini Nano to do all of the recording and transcribing for Call Notes on the phone, which could help with privacy issues.
All we really have to go on with the potential "Call Notes" feature is that it might launch with the Pixel 9. But we don't know if it will support multiple languages like Apple or when exactly it will come out.
Finally, Roussel also suggests that the Panorama mode will get a redesign with the Pixel 9, though he declined to offer any insight on what that means.
