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Google's about to make its My Pixel app a whole lot more useful
- Google appears to be developing an in-app search tool for My Pixel.
- In addition to helping you find features you want to learn more about, the tool should let you search Pixel devices and accessories for sale.
For people who love learning about every last corner of their device, it’s a shame that phones pretty much don’t come with manuals. If you’re lucky, your manufacturer has put together a good app to introduce you to your hardware, instead, and that’s just the sort of thing Google has cooked up with My Pixel. Today we’re getting an early look at one of the new ways Google could be making this app even more useful for new Pixel owners.
My Pixel is great resource for learning about all of your phone’s features, and it even stays up to date with new additions delivered by way of the latest Pixel Drop. It explains how to use everything from Circle to Search, to making contactless payments with Wallet. Beyond just being a place for learning about what your phone can do, it also lets you connect to support when needed, and offers a store where you can shop for new Pixel devices and accessories.
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If that sounds like a whole lot of content, you’re right — so what do you do if you don’t know where the information you’re looking for is filed away? Rather than just forcing you to tap around all those categories of phone tips hoping you’ll stumble upon the answer, Google’s cooking up something useful: in-app search.
Looking through version 8.5.1.920713064 of the My Pixel app, we’re spotting the early phases of work towards a new search function:
<string name="koda_title">Search in My Pixel</string>
<string name="koda_onboarding_chip_100x_zoom">100x zoom</string>
<string name="koda_onboarding_chip_customize_home_screen">How to customize home screen?</string>
<string name="koda_onboarding_chip_optimize_battery_life">optimize battery life</string>
<string name="koda_onboarding_chip_phone_cases">phone cases</string>
<string name="koda_onboarding_chip_screen_spam_calls">screen spam calls</string>These text strings reveal development on a My Pixel search tool codenamed “koda.” It appears that the app will introduce users to the feature’s arrival by offering a few suggestions of search queries — and the “phone cases” example in here suggests results won’t be limited to usage tips, and will also include store content.
For now, though, this is as far as we’re able to get, and we haven’t yet been able to convince the app to show us this search mode in action. Still, it seems largely intuitive what to expect, and with all the information packed into an app like this, even a basic search tool sounds like a very smart addition. Hopefully Google gets around to finishing work on this one soon.
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