INSTANT UPGRADES
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2 GET IT ALL IN WRITING
Google’s speech recognition
is stellar, and on the Pixel 5 it’s
put to excellent use in two ways.
The first is Live Caption, which
adds real-time subtitles to
anything playing on the phone.
To activate it, press the volume
button then select the box that
pops up below the slider. The
other is transcribing with the
Recorder app: when capturing
sound that includes speech, the
Pixel 5 outputs it as plain text.5 FEEL RIGHT AT HOME
Long-press your home screen,
select Styles And Wallpapers,
and you can enjoy a richer choice
of customisation than ever on
a Pixel phone. Choose from a
range of grid sizes, filled with as
few as four big icons or 25 dinky
ones. This is also where you
can mess with typefaces, icon
styles and highlight colours...
plus you get a host of animated
Come Alive wallpapers that add
a subtle dash of fun.1 BUTTON YOURSELF UP
Google’s powered up its power
button, adding a bundle of
options to the power-off menu.
If you’ve assigned a credit or
debit card for Google Pay mobile
payments, the feature’s given
pride of place here, along with
shortcut access to store cards.
This is also your place to toggle
lights, control smart speakers
and manage other smart home
bits – perfect if you’re sick of
saying “Alexa” and “OK Google”.4 SHAKE OFF THE SHAKE
Don’t let the dinky looks fool
you: this is a mean, green-ish
filming machine. Loaded up
with optical and electronic image
stabilisation, it has four options
when shooting video. To access
these, fire up the video camera,
tap the ‘shaky hand’ icon and
choose from Standard (for
light movement), Locked (for
faraway objects), Active (for
heavy movement), or Cinematic
Pan (for smooth panning shots).3 CHARGE AROUND
Reverse wireless charging
means you can power up a
compatible device (earbuds,
a watch, another phone) by
firing up the feature and placing
the second device on the back
of your Pixel. But here’s a neat
new trick: this phone turns the
feature on automatically when
you plug it in to charge. The
result: you can power up two
devices (the Pixel 5 and its
charger) with one cable.6 BOOST THE BATTERY
With great power management
comes great battery life. Fire up
this Pixel’s smart power-saving
skills by selecting Adaptive
Battery in Settings > Battery.
If you need your phone to last
as long as possible, engage
Battery Saver, which shuts
off a handful of background
processes; or for maximum
longevity switch to Extreme
Battery Saver, which disables
all but the most essential apps.N
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WONDERCISE
For less than £5 a
month, this fitness
app lets you
stream unlimited
classes; and if
you have a Garmin
watch, it matches
your movements
with those of an
on-screen trainer.
£free (IAP)THE MANDA-
LORIAN AR
EXPERIENCE
Playground AR is
absent from the
Pixel 5, but you
won’t care once
you’ve got a
lifesize ‘Baby Yoda’
sitting in your AR
living room.
£freeMOMATU
Google Photos
can easily turn
into a dustbin of
accidental snaps
and rejects. Curate
your memories
with this digital
scrapbook that
everyone from
kids to gramps
can add to.
£free (IAP)