Google’s new Pixel 10 line-up is a very impressive range of smartphones, with refined looks, a smooth version of Android 16, seven-year support, great displays and excellent cameras (including a telephoto on the standard non-Pro version for the first time). But as usual, the buzziest selling points are all about AI.
From the latest Gemini models to new computational photography methods, Google is selling the Pixel 10 as the smartest smartphone you can get. So, how well do these features work?
The Pixel 10 phones are filled with Google’s latest AI features.
Magic Cue
Ever since the Pixel 2 and its At a Glance widget in 2017, Google has been trying to take the stuff its apps know about you and offer it up when you need it. At a Glance still exists on Pixel 10, and it still occasionally surprises with a prescient nudge about how long it will take to get across town in time for a meeting, but Magic Cue aims to be on another level.
The basic idea is that the phone should bring you information when you need it, even if you’re in one app and the information is from another. To do this, the AI model considers information stored in certain Google apps, including Gmail, Calendar, Screenshots and more – information that is, or was, recently displayed on your screen – and “foundational” data such as your phone number.
Examples in which a Magic Cue might show up include when calling a specific business (a panel could appear showing the number of a recent order you placed, taken from an email), or if someone mentions a location in a text message (a prompt could appear that will plot a route from you to that place in Google Maps, or that will take you to the weather forecast for that place, depending on context).
It’s a strangely ephemeral feature in that it exists only when it thinks it will be helpful. At one point, my wife messaged to ask about the time of a dentist appointment, and when I glanced at my phone the Magic Cue was there. Next to other generic auto-replies (“I’ll get back to you”), there was a rainbow bubble with the details of the appointment, pulled from my calendar. But then I tapped on the notification to open the Messages app, and the prompt was gone.
If it all works as advertised, Magic Cue could be the ideal form of AI assistant. If I’m on hold trying to talk to my energy provider, and someone answers and asks for my customer number, I should be able to look at my phone and have it there instead of scrambling to get back to the email I swiped away from out of boredom 20 minutes ago. If someone texts to ask the address of the hotel, or the ETA of my Uber, my phone should be able to hand them that stuff directly with my permission, given it already knows the answer. But right now, because Magic Cue is limited to certain Google apps and shows up so occasionally (at least for me), it doesn’t feel transformative.
