Google Pixel 4 May Employ A Convenient New Way To Summon Google Assistant

The way the feature reportedly works is after the user lifts their phone, they can then issue a command to invoke Assistant. The question has to come immediately after the phone is raised or the Google Assistant will ignore the speech it hears. This feature will presumably be in addition to the squeeze to activate that leverages the Active Edge feature of the Pixel devices. Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL devices will still work with the standard "Hey Google" hotword.

Consumers have been very concerned about privacy and spoken commands being sent to remote servers where humans might listen in to improve the service. Google notes that voice recognition happens on the device for the raise to talk feature. It's not clear if raise to talk will be available on the Pixel 4 devices at launch, or if it will be extended to older Pixel devices.

The number of leaks about the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL devices continues to grow ahead of launch, with a recent leak highlighting specs for the devices. Rumored specs include a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 SoC, 6GB of RAM, and up to 128GB storage. Rear camera specs are tipped to include a 12MP primary sensor and a 16MP telephoto lens. The phones will also have motion gestures that allow users to change tracks in Spotify and dismiss alarms, among other things.