Google confirms Face Unlock and Motion Sense features on the Pixel 4

Google just dropped new details about the upcoming Pixel 4 before its presumed October launch. Last month the company did the most un-Google thing and teased some aspects of the forthcoming Pixel handset. And, now, they’re at it again.

Today, Google revealed more details about the upcoming Pixel 4 through a blog post and YouTube Video. The post has given us a complete look at the array of sensors on the front of the upcoming Pixel smartphone.

The search giant revealed that the new phone would feature advanced face unlock technology and a feature called “Motion Sense”.

From the looks of things, the Pixel 4’s face unlock feature will be at par with modern iPhones. The face unlock feature on the Pixel 4 will use multiple sensors to identify a user’s face, including infrared, RGB and depth. The YouTube video shot against a pitch-dark backdrop implies that the device’s face unlock and Motion Sense features could work in complete darkness.

The Pixel 4 will be the first smartphone with a chip from Project Soli. The Google blog post says: “Pixel 4 will be the first device with Soli, powering our new Motion Sense features to allow you to skip songs, snooze alarms, and silence phone calls, just by waving your hand. These capabilities are just the start, and just as Pixels get better over time, Motion Sense will evolve as well. Motion Sense will be available in select Pixel countries.”

The Soli chip on the front of the Pixel 4 will utilise radar to detect hand gestures near the phone. This means Google's latest Pixel smartphone will also be able to identify a hand moving toward the phone and automatically activate the face unlock sensors, turning on the phone as soon as you pick it up.

Lastly, Google’s blog post also addresses a couple of privacy and security concerns, reassuring consumers that all facial recognition data neve leaves the phone. “The images used for face unlock are never saved or shared with other Google services”. Google claim that face data used to unlock the Pixel 4 will be stored in the Pixel’s Titan M security chip. Similarly, even the Soli sensor data is processed on the phone.

A line from Google’s blog post reads: “The technology behind two new features coming to Pixel 4 that make your phone more helpful and represent the next step in our vision for ambient computing”.

Lastly, the image indicates that the Pixel 4 will not get a notch, but thick top bezels to house all those sensors. The image also details a single front-facing camera as opposed to the two front shooters on the Pixel 3.