Google Pixel Phones Get New Exciting Features, include Apple Raise-to-Wake

By Precious Jem de Peralta
Google Pixel and Google Pixel XL
An update is rolling out to Google Pixel and Pixel XL owners in Canada. Two new features are being added to the new Pixel phones. One of these features is the "raise-to-wake" that was introduced by Apple in its recent iOS 10. Maurizio Pesce via Flickr

If you are a Google Pixel or Pixel XL owner in Canada, you are getting two new features to your smartphone. The exciting features is a welcomed addition to Google's latest flagship device. The "double tap" and Apple's "raise-to-wake" functions are currently not available in the US and other countries.

Droid Life reported that the new features allow users to "double-tap their phone to check for notifications" and "lift off a surface to wake the screen". To enable them, you have to go to the general setting of your phone and then to the "Moves" section. You will find the options "double-tap to check phone" and "lift to check phone" along with "swipe for notifications", "jump to camera" and "flip camera". Finally, you only need to use the toggles to turn it on. Basically, you can pick from these options on how you want to receive notifications.

If you are not in Canada, there are several ways to get these features in advance. Droid Life explained how you can do that. For Pixel owners, you can install the captured OTA .zip file. Apparently, the update works on build NDE63V. It is unclear if it also works on the international (NDE63U) build and Verizon (NDE63X) builds. You can check Droid Life's website for further instructions. Or you can just wait for the official availability of the update to your country.

Google has marketed its new Pixel smartphones intensively. In fact, it uploaded a video of how iOS device users can transfer their data to their Google Pixel phone. The seeming indirect dig to Apple's iPhone is quite a reflection of one of these added features. According to The Verge, the "raise-to-wake" capability was introduced to the recent iOS 10 by Apple. There seems to be a build-up of a great rivalry between Google and Apple. When Google's Pixel phones were launch, it was the peak of Samsung's greatest debacle in the face of Galaxy Note 7.

The two new updates for the Google Pixel smartphones is not entirely a new concept. They were present "in one form or another" on other Google devices that include the Nexus 6P, according to The Verge. It's unknown why Google suddenly decided to add this to their Pixel line. It may be because of the lack of more innovative features on the Pixel smartphones. It will take a lot for Google's smartphones to get ahead of Apple's iPhones. 

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