Update: A new bug is affecting Google Messages, causing it to drain the battery and overheat affected phones - here's what you can do about it
Google announced the March Feature Drop a few weeks ago, which landed for Pixels not long after. However, notably absent from the list of immediately eligible devices were the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro. But now the update for the newest Google flagships has rolled out.
This isn't the first time that the Pixel 6 has lagged behind its Snapdragon-powered brethren, it's just the most obvious given that the March update was a quarterly Feature Drop. We're not entirely sure what's going on behind the scenes, but our money is that it has something to do with the Tensor chipset that powers the latest Pixels.
Tensor is Google's first stab at a first-party chip (the rumored partnership with Samsung notwithstanding) and it's quite impressive — even if it's not on the level of Apple's chips.
But that's neither here nor there. The March Feature Drop includes some smaller features that didn't warrant waiting for Android 13 later this year. The biggest highlight is that Google's powerful Night Sight now works in Snapchat, allowing for much better low-light photos and videos in the popular social media app.
The Live Caption accessibility option, which is one the best in the industry, has arrived for phone calls. This can transcribe your calls for you, letting you read what the person is saying. This is extremely beneficial to those with hearing difficulties and we're glad to see it.
The At a Glance widget — which is one of our favorite widgets on Android — received a nice boost in the March update. It can now show battery levels for your Pixel and Bluetooth-connected devices, and it'll also surface other relevant info now. It can remind you to disable an alarm if the next day is a holiday, add a countdown for a Personal Safety check, and send you earthquake alerts.
Google Duo now lets you host YouTube watch parties and Messages can automatically contextually suggest stickers to liven up your text message threads. And one Pixel 6-exclusive feature is the ability to recognize Spanish in videos and translate to any of the supported languages. This feature leverages Tensor's AI strengths, which we've seen in many other applications since launch.
The update should be rolling out now, so you should get soon if you haven't already.
