Google Pixel 9 has a lot of AI features – but Pixel Screenshots looks like a game changer
The latest Google Pixel 9 apps boast plenty of AI-powered capabilities, from adding different people into groups to editing images. But during my Pixel 9 demo this week, it became pretty clear right away that the Pixel Screenshots app is what I’ll be using the most once I get my hands on Google’s new phone.
I take a lot of photos of the different smartphones I use. More than a few of them are linked to articles I write that showcase various smartphone features, but screenshots serve other purposes as well. Sometimes, they include information that I’m too busy to copy into notes. Sometimes they are funny articles that I like to share with my wife or gifts that I want to remember later.
But that’s the problem with that method – I usually take those photos and completely forget about them. Or worse, I remember them but can’t track them and spend more time than I’d like to admit pushing the saved images to my default app’s screenshot album. So much for using screenshots as a timer.
It turns out I’m not the only one using their phone this way, at least according to a Google employee who showed me the Pixel Screenshots feature on the Pixel 9 Pro XL. Apparently enough people take enough screenshots that they later struggle to find for Google to build a tool that searches for screenshots of the content they upload and retrieves them for us. .
Pixel Screenshots: How it works
There’s a dedicated Pixel Screenshots app on the new Pixel phones where you can access all the photos you’ve taken, but you can easily search for screenshots using Gemini, which is included with the new Google phones. Type in a search term — say “Disneyland” if you’re looking for a screenshot of a retro Disneyland poster you’d have sworn to grab as a future gift idea — and Pixel Screenshots will show you a series of photos you can. Click if it’s the picture you’ve been trying to find.
This all happens very quickly, at least in the Pixel Screenshots I’ve seen. Searches happen entirely on your device, so Google doesn’t see any photos you’ve saved or words you type on your Pixel.
Why Pixel Screenshots are interesting
Pixel Screenshots would be a smart enough addition to the Pixel 9 if all it did was help you find what you were looking for. But Google has added a lot of goodies that make the feature even more valuable.
When you take a screenshot on your Pixel 9, for example, you can make a reminder about it, reducing the risk of forgetting about what you just saved on your phone. You can add tags and searchable information when you need to track things down again – it’s easy to find your gift ideas right away, for example.
Of course, if that level of involvement does not appeal to you, you can take a screenshot as you would always do. It’s transferred to the Pixel Screenshots app for future reference even if you don’t do anything at all.
I’m also impressed with the amount of detail that appears along with your screenshot. In my demo, I saw a screenshot of the boots being sold. A separate information site has gathered relevant information about the boots – available sizes, materials used, and even a promotional code to knock a few bucks off the price. Pixel Screenshots also supports deep linking capabilities where there will be a link back to the original screen if it’s something that’s still available like a website.
It’s true that everything I’ve seen involving the Pixel Screenshot has come in a canned form designed to highlight the feature’s strengths. Things can go wrong in real-world use – it can take a long time to find what I’m looking for, it’s not clear if your search terms are conversational or not planned, and the results aren’t always exactly what I want. see it in the demo. Still, it’s an interesting addition to the Pixel 9, though I may experience some growing pains during real-world use.
Pushing AI features to mobile devices has spawned a number of new trends over the past year, some brighter than others. There’s nothing particularly breath-taking about retrieving photos based on their content – it’s one of the features that takes the hassle out of everyday phone work. And I think that’s what I love most about Pixel Screenshot.
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