Google's Nexus phones have been go-to devices for Android purists. Considering the hardware and experience on offer, these phones were reasonably quite priced. The drill was that every year Google would partner with a manufacturer such as HTC, LG, Samsung, or Huawei to roll out a device. However, last year, the search giant took a different path by building its own phone. Being a Google phone, the Pixel comes with a lot of goodies baked in. Of these, the Moves features has been quite popular. As you may already know, swiping on the fingerprint scanner lets you pull down notifications. There are more nifty features in the Google Pixel that aren't much talked about. So let us introduce these features to you.
Hide sensitive information from homescreen
If your spouse snoops on your phone, you would have definitely activated the fingerprint lock. However, sometimes your phone's notifications reveal so much information that it defeats the purpose of a screen lock. For instance, preview of your freshly received WhatsApp message can give away the gist of a conversation. If you want to get in such uneasy situation, we suggest you make the following changes. Head over to Settings, go to Notifications, and then click on the 'cog' placed on the right side. You will be presented with an option called "On the lock screen". Now, click on the option called 'On the lock screen' and set it to 'hide sensitive notification content'. With this option enabled, you will get notifications for WhatsApp and Messenger, but the contents will be hidden until you unlock the phone.
Turn on the notifications light
In a meeting you have to put your phone on a silent mode. However, that does not necessarily mean that you can't keep up with the social alerts. Instead of sound, you can set the Pixel to notify you via a flashing LED. To activate this feature, head over to Settings. Click on Notifications, then tap on the cog icon. Now activate the "pulse notification light".
Block calls
We all despise marketing calls. So much so that many people refuse to receive calls from unknown numbers. However, the flipside of this strategy is that you may end up missing a few important calls. This is where software such as Trucaller comes to the rescue. Using the crowd sourced data, it helps you identify spam calls. Considering that Google has no shortage of data the company has integrated a similar system in Pixel phones. To turn this feature on, bring up the dialer. Click on Settings, then enable 'Caller ID & spam'. In the same menu, you also find an option to add a number to a block list.
Split screen multitasking
Made popular by Samsung, the split-screen multitasking feature has made it to many Android phones. However, it wasn't part of the core Android OS until Nougat. Android 7.0 comes with built-in dual window multitasking. On Pixel phones, you only have to press and hold the recent apps button [square] to access this feature. Another neat trick lets you swiftly switch between Switch recent apps. To use this Alt-Tab esque feature, you have to double tap on the recent apps button.
Quick Actions
If your friends have been showing off their iPhone's force touch features, worry not. Pixel too has similar functionality where you get quick actions bar right on the icons. All you have to do is press and hold any native app icon such as Maps, Drive, or Calendar.
Adjust icon and font size
If the text on your Pixel phone is too small for your liking, you can increase the font size. Go to Settings - Display - Font Size. Similarly, you can enlarge other user interface elements such as Icons and message bubbles from 'Display Size' option.
On Screen search
Google's much hyped Now on Tap feature did not go down well with the users. However, the search-giant hasn't given up on the contextual search results yet. The feature is hidden behind the Google Pixel's Assistant, and here's how to access it. Need additional information about something you see on the screen? Simply long press the software home [circle] button to bring up the Google Assistant. Scroll down and you will be presented with related content such as videos, social media updates, and news.