Google Is Preparing a New Upgrade for Millions of Old Pixel Phones
Two Pixel 9 Exclusives will soon be getting their hands on older Pixel devices.
Older Google smartphones like the Pixel 6 could soon get “special” features from the Pixel 9 lineup, according to a new report.
Updated September 14: The functionality of the new features on older Pixels has been confirmed. This story was originally published on September 13. Updates below.
Google’s latest Pixel 9 smartphones introduced with new camera features and two exclusive updates for the Google Photos Magic Editor powered by AI, “Reimagine” and “Auto Frame” .”
According to a report from Android AuthorityGoogle is getting ready to make Reimagine and Auto Frame available on the Pixel 6, Pixel 7 and Pixel 8 series smartphones. The features are not yet available to users, but everything is already and is there for Google to click a switch to activate it.
Evidence of this update was found by app expert Assemble Debug, who discovered references to Reimagine and Auto Frame in a new version of the Google Photos app aimed specifically at these older Pixel devices. According to the tipster, Google is keeping three versions of the Google Photos app for Android devices: one for the Pixel 9 series only, one for Pixel devices released from 2021 and another for of all other Android devices. This second version of Google Photos for the latest Pixel devices now includes a code for new features that are only available on the Pixel 9 model. The code is not available on the “non-Pixel” version of the device, on suggest that Google intends to block these features from Pixel phones for now.
However, Google has previously only opened Pixel features to the wider Android community. Magic Editor has been announced as a Pixel 8-series exclusive and is now available to all Google Photos users, including iOS. It’s reasonable to assume that the same could eventually happen to Reimagine and Auto Frame. This is possible because most of Magic Editor’s functionality takes place in the cloud, meaning you don’t need a powerful device to use it.
Reimagine allows you to change parts of a photo using artificial intelligence
What is Reimagine and Auto Frame?
If you haven’t tried Reimagine or Auto Frame yet, here’s what they do.
Reimagine allows you to change all aspects of your photo by rotating it and writing a description of what you want in the box. Magic Editor then uses artificial intelligence to redraw the circled part of your image to match your description. It can be a lot of fun, although the possibility of creating misleading images with just a few taps has raised concerns. Reimagine makes it easy to do that.
Auto Frame uses artificial AI that is awkward, but more useful, by cropping, straightening and adjusting an existing photo to better emphasize the subject. Sometimes it will expand parts of your image and automatically create new pixels to fill in the gaps. It’s fully functional, so you can’t control the reframing, but you do get a selection of other results to choose from. If you don’t like the results, you can ask it to try again and generate a new set.
Sometimes you’ll find the option to turn a vertical photo into a vertical one, or vice versa. It’s a shame that Magic Editor doesn’t allow you to choose a custom format for your images as this would be an important feature in my opinion.
September 14 Update: Rethink and Auto Frame are enabled and working on older Pixels.
Many reports of users who have successfully enabled Reimagine and Auto Frame on smartphones other than the Pixel 9 series are coming in. The features are not yet available for general users, but a few people with ‘rooted’ devices have been able to enable them by hacking the hidden ones. software flags. These reports confirm that it is indeed possible for these two features to work on older Pixel smartphones. Forcing Reimagine and Auto Frame to work on non-Pixel devices is a completely different matter and is unlikely to work.
If you’re not using a Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro, Pixel 9 Pro XL or Pixel 9 Pro Fold, Reimagine and Auto Frame require at least version 6.99 of the Google Photos app.
We’ll have to wait and see if (or if) Google officially allows these features on older Pixels, but now we know it’s possible.
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