December Update for Pixel 4 Comes with Dual Frequency GNSS, Improved Face Unlock, More

BY Mahit Huilgol

Published 23 Dec 2019

Google surprised us with a “Feature Drop” earlier this month. The update arrived with several new features like Portrait Blur, automatic call screening, improvements to Google Duo and better quality Google Maps. We now learn that the update has more to offer.

The December feature drop update for Pixel 4 and 4XL comes with support for dual frequency GNSS. With the update in place, Google Maps on Pixel 4 and 4Xl will become better when it comes to location tracking. The phones will be able to use satellite signals across both L1 and L5 frequencies.

Google’s Feature Drop update also bakes in upgrades for the Face Unlock feature. Google will use a recent face unlock image to better match users’ face over a prolonged period of time. The company claims images are stored on the Titan M security chip and are safe from intruders. Furthermore, the update also comes with eSIM support for T-Mobile in the U.S. In other words, T-Mobile users in the U.S can now use Pixel 4 and 4XL’s dual sim feature.

Pixel devices have always had an upper hand over other Android smartphones. Google is known to offer a killer hardware and software combination on Pixel devices. Typically, Pixel devices get exclusive features which are then extended to other Android phones. Apart from features, Pixel devices are also treated to timely security updates.

Google says that feature drop will happen more often and this way Pixel users will be able to get new features on their current device. Strangely, Google is still keeping a lot of details about the update under the hoods. For instance, neither the Google blog post or the support forums mentioned the dual-frequency GNSS support.

[via XDADevelopers]