{"id":841230,"date":"2026-08-03T05:48:01","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T05:48:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/841230\/"},"modified":"2026-08-03T05:48:01","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T05:48:01","slug":"google-is-giving-the-pixel-11-a-light-show-when-it-should-fix-face-unlock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/841230\/","title":{"rendered":"Google is giving the Pixel 11 a light show when it should fix face unlock"},"content":{"rendered":"

Google has already given us a glimpse at one of the Google Pixel 11’s biggest visual hardware upgrades<\/a>:<\/a> Pixel Glow.<\/p>\n

From the teaser, it appears that the company has added a colored light inside the phone’s camera bar. It should look cool and help the Pixel 11 stand out.<\/p>\n

But the Pixel 11 does not need a light show upgrade. It needs a dependable face unlock system that works in low light.<\/p>\n

That would have been a far more meaningful upgrade.<\/p>\n


\n \"Pixel<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\t\t
\n\t\t\tI didn’t think I needed Pixel Glow until I tried this $1 app
\n\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

Glowbar brings the Pixel 11’s coolest feature to any Android phone<\/p>\n

Pixel Glow looks fun, not essential<\/p>\n

A gimmicky upgrade<\/p>\n

Google has only teased Pixel Glow, so we do not know exactly how it will work.<\/p>\n

On the surface, it seems like a multicolored LED notification light, something Android phones used to feature.<\/p>\n

Code discovered in Android 17 beta provides some clues about its functionality.<\/p>\n

Pixel Glow may subtly light up to alert you to important activity and notifications when your phone is face down. It may also provide visual feedback during hands-free Gemini conversations.<\/p>\n

\"Pixel
\n Credit:\u00a0Google<\/p>\n

Google is apparently using an array of eight LEDs<\/a> for Pixel Glow. That should enable it to function as more than just a notification light.<\/p>\n

Besides subtly alerting you to missed calls and messages, Pixel Glow could provide much-needed visual feedback when Gemini is listening or processing a request<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Pixel Glow should also give Google’s phones a stronger visual identity. The camera bar already does a good job of making Pixels recognizable, but the added lighting could give the familiar design a fresh signature.<\/p>\n

After five generations built around the camera bar, Google could use something that makes the design feel new again.<\/p>\n

Nothing has built an entire design language around its Glyph Interface.<\/p>\n

So, if Google sticks with Pixel Glow and continues developing it for more than a generation or two, it could become an equally recognizable part of the Pixel brand.<\/p>\n

Still, the Pixel Glow only seems to offer limited benefits.<\/p>\n

It will only be useful when the phone is face down. Plus, if you wear a smartwatch, you already receive important notifications and alerts on your wrist. Cases may also limit the Pixel Glow\u2019s usefulness.<\/p>\n

In any case, the Pixel 11’s main hardware upgrade should not be the Pixel Glow itself.<\/p>\n

Face unlock still needs the lights on<\/p>\n

That should not be the case after all these years<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Admittedly, Pixels offer the best face unlock experience in the Android ecosystem.<\/p>\n

They offer Class 3 security, meaning you can use it for biometric authentication in banking apps and other sensitive apps.<\/p>\n

That’s not the case with other Android phones, including the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra<\/a> and Z Fold 8 Ultra<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It is commendable that Google has achieved this level of security by relying solely on the Pixel\u2019s front-facing camera.<\/p>\n

However, the implementation has one glaring flaw: Pixel face unlock falls apart in low light. A face unlock system that relies solely on the front-facing camera requires sufficient light to work properly.<\/p>\n

That is not usually a problem during the day or inside a brightly lit room. It becomes frustrating when you check your phone in bed, approve a payment in a dim restaurant, or unlock it inside a car at night.<\/p>\n

These are daily life situations, yet they regularly force you to use the fingerprint sensor instead.<\/p>\n

The fingerprint sensor provides a reliable fallback. So, face unlock failing in such situations is not a deal-breaker.<\/p>\n

But switching between two biometric authentication methods undermines face unlock\u2019s main advantage: convenience.<\/p>\n

I rarely worry about face unlock failing when using an iPhone. That’s not the case with my Google Pixel 8 Pro<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It works reliably during the day, but getting it to recognize me at night is a constant struggle.<\/p>\n

And no, I do not want the screen to light up and blind me just to make face unlock work properly.<\/p>\n

The Pixel 4’s design aged badly, but its face unlock didn’t<\/p>\n

\"Pixel<\/p>\n

Google already knows how to make face unlock work in the dark. The Pixel 4 used two infrared cameras, a flood illuminator, and a dot projector.<\/p>\n

I understand all that hardware requires space to fit into, which is at a premium on today’s bezel-less phones.<\/p>\n

So, Google abandoning its IR-based face unlock system after just one generation made sense. However, it should not have given up on infrared face unlock.<\/p>\n

Project Toscana was reportedly Google’s opportunity<\/a> to fix that mistake. The system was allegedly tested on prototypes with a standard punch-hole display and no obvious additional sensors.<\/p>\n

The company supposedly hid the IR sensor beneath the display, allowing face unlock to work in darkness, thereby eliminating the need for a large bezel.<\/p>\n

On paper, it seems Project Toscana promised the Pixel 4’s face unlock reliability in a modern-looking phone. That is the exact upgrade the Pixel’s face unlock needs.<\/p>\n

And unfortunately, the Pixel 11 will seemingly not receive it.<\/p>\n

Pixel Glow cannot hide what is missing<\/p>\n

If Project Toscana is not ready, Google is right to delay it. It’s better to ship a working hardware upgrade than a half-baked one.<\/p>\n

Still, that does not make its reported absence on the Pixel 11 any less frustrating.<\/p>\n

Pixel Glow may give the Pixel 11 a new visual identity<\/a>, but it will not fix a problem many Pixel users encounter every night.<\/p>\n

I don’t need another way to know that I have missed a notification. I need face unlock that works whenever I look at my phone, regardless of the ambient lighting conditions.<\/p>\n

That would improve the Pixel experience far more than a row of colorful LEDs ever could.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Google has already given us a glimpse at one of the Google Pixel 11’s biggest visual hardware upgrades:…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":841231,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[64,63,203,105],"class_list":["post-841230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mobile","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-mobile","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/841230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=841230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/841230\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/841231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=841230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=841230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=841230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}