64 PCWorld DECEMBER 2019REVIEWS GOOGLE PIXEL 4 XL
MOTION SENSE: GOOD
NOW, BETTER LATER
(MAYBE)
The Pixel 4’s most unique feature is a
miniaturized radar chip that powers the
gesture-based Motion Sense. It works far
better than similar features in other phones,
but just like Face unlock, it’s an update or two
away from being truly useful.
In a vacuum, Motion Sense is the first real
breakthrough for a smartphone in years. It
works without an app or any real instructions,
and the learning curve is easy enough to be
mastered in seconds. Basically, you’re
interacting with your phone’s screen the wayTony Stark uses a virtual
screen to create the Iron
Man suit: swipes and
waves rather than taps and
pinches.
In a practical sense,
however, Motion Sense on
the Pixel 4 is nowhere near
superhero status. Here’s
what it can do:- Detect when you
reach for your phone and
light up the lock screen. - Skip to the next or
previous track. - Snooze an alarm.
- Dismiss a timer.
- Silence the ringtone
on an incoming call.
That’s it. You can’t raise the volume, pause
a song, hang up on an incoming call, dismiss
a notification, launch an app, flip the camera,
take a picture, or anything else you could
conceivably want to do without touching your
phone. Some of those things are surely
coming down the pike, but as it stands,
Motion Sense is extremely limited and not
very useful—a neat trick in search of a party.
Still, Google deserves points for
developing a system that actually works.
Where Air Motion on the LG G8 (go.pcworld.
com/lgg8) is a finicky experience that
requires more precision and patience than
most people would be willing to extend,
Even without a notch, the Pixel 4 XL (right) is essentially the size of the
Pixel 3 XL. But the new phone has some futuristic tech in the top bezel.