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Google's latest Pixel Feature Drop adds Live Caption to phone calls

Also included is Night Sight in the Snapchat app, Message Stickers, Live Translate for Spanish and new At a Glance integrations.
Written by Jason Cipriani, Contributing Writer
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Jason Cipriani/ZDnet

Google routinely releases updates for its Pixel line of phones called Pixel Feature Drops. Each update adds several new features to Pixel phones, and on Monday, Google announced the March Feature Drop is starting to roll out to most Pixel phones.

This drop includes several new integrations for the At a Glance widget that shows relevant information, such as upcoming meetings or calendar entries or weather. After your Pixel phone receives the feature drop, At a Glance will include the battery level of Bluetooth devices (like Pixel Buds), reminders to turn off your alarm for holidays, earthquake alerts and a safety check countdown timer for the Personal Safety app.

The Pixel's Live Caption feature is gaining the ability to live transcribe phone calls, giving you a read-out of what the person on the phone is saying. And, if necessary, you can also reply by typing a response that will be read to the caller. This is a huge accessibility feature that's sure to help many users.

Image: Google

For a fun feature update, Google's keyboard, Gboard, will start to convert what you type into "colorful stickers." To be clear, this feature is for those who have the US English keyboard enabled on their phone.

The Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro will soon be able to translate any Spanish in videos and translate it automatically.

Lastly, you can now begin using the Pixel camera's Night Sight feature to capture and share low-light pictures in the Snapchat app.

As for when you can expect the latest Feature Drop to reach your Pixel, well, it depends on which model you own. If you have a Pixel 6 or Pixel 6 Pro, you'll need to wait a few weeks. However, if you have a Pixel 3a through Pixel 5a (5G), the features should start reaching your device today.

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