Google has announced it is bringing the Pixel 4’s awesome new Recorder app to other handsets in the range.
It’s great news for owners of previous Pixels, who likely turned green with envy when the feature was revealed at the Made by Google event last month.
The voice Recorder app offers the added benefit of super-fast and super-accurate real-time transcription, potentially saving journalists, students and anyone else engaging in the arduous task of transcribing a call, an immense amount of work.
Not only does it work incredibly well, the transcription is handed directly on the device without having to send all of that voice data to Google’s cloud servers.
Related: Google Pixel 4 review
In a comment on the Google Pixel subreddit (via The Verge), the official Google account confirmed the news in response to a question from a user.
The company’s community manager wrote: “Thanks for expressing interest in the Recorder app. We plan to roll it out to older Pixel devices in a future software update.”
It’s not yet clear whether the original Pixel, Pixel 2, Pixel 3 and Pixel 3a will all receive the update, but it’s likely Google will keep everyone posted.
Thanks to a recent test from the Wall Street Journal, which put the app up against a range of accents and the Guinness World Record holder for fastest talker, we’re seeing exactly what the Recorder app is made of.
While the app has some issues with Shakespeare’s English lexicon and a super broad Dublin accent, the app was able to make it through significant portions of spoken text without making errors and while keeping up conversation quite easily.
It did run into problems when attempting to decipher what the speaking speedster had to say, but then again, we couldn’t understand her either.
Check out the test in the video below:
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
