Pixel 4 skips India, Japan waiting on Motion Sense

Google has confirmed to ZDNet that its Pixel 4 will not be launching in India.

"Google has a wide range of products that we make available in different regions around the world. We determine availability based on a variety of factors, including local trends and product features," a company spokesperson said.

"We decided not to make Pixel 4 available in India. We remain committed to our current Pixel phones and look forward to bringing future Pixel devices to India."

At the same time, Pixel users in Japan will be unable to use the phone's Motion Sense feature, which allows users to perform actions without touching the device by waving or swiping a hand in front of the device instead. The Motion Sense feature can be used to change the song playing, or reject a phone call, among other functions.

The device achieves this by using a radar to sense motion which is then processed by its Soli chip.

At a launch event in Sydney on Wednesday, Google representatives said Motion Sense is disabled in Japan currently due to regulatory concerns. Even an overseas purchased Pixel 4 device will disable the feature when it recognises it is in Japan, the representative added. 

While the phone in the United States is said to arrive without any headphones or a 3.5mm headphone adapter, boxes sold in Australia will have headphones, Google confirmed to ZDNet.

ZDNet has asked what is contained in Pixel 4 boxes throughout Asia-Pacific.

Google officially launched its pair of Pixel 4 phones on Tuesday, after months of leaks.

Both phones run on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 with a Pixel Neural Core chip, have 6GB of memory, and storage options of 64GB and 128GB.

The difference between the Pixel 4 and the Pixel 4 XL is in the screen and battery specs. The smaller Pixel 4 has a 2,800mAh battery, and a 5.7-inch OLED display, while the bigger Pixel 4 XL has a 3,700mAh battery and a 6.3-inch display.

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