{"id":119197,"date":"2025-09-06T19:06:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-06T19:06:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/119197\/"},"modified":"2025-09-06T19:06:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-06T19:06:10","slug":"i-like-the-pixel-10-in-spite-of-googles-ai-not-because-of-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/119197\/","title":{"rendered":"I like the Pixel 10 in spite of Google’s AI, not because of it"},"content":{"rendered":"

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There\u2019s a lot to love about the Pixel 10<\/a>. Through four generations of Tensor, we\u2019ve waited for a chipset that could match the thermal performance of Qualcomm\u2019s best, and my experience so far suggests Google\u2019s nailed it. The 5x telephoto lens, while far from the best on the market, helps the camera feel far flexible than non-Pro Pixels in the past, and helps the device stand out from entry-level flagships from Samsung and Apple. It\u2019s sort of the Pixel I\u2019ve wanted for ages, even if it\u2019s not an out-and-out perfect smartphone.<\/p>\n

That said, I cannot help but feel a bit of spiritual separation between what I want and expect from this device, and what Google\u2019s aiming to offer. Much has been made of the Pixel 10\u2019s performance, especially when it comes to its GPU. This isn\u2019t a gaming phone, and Google hasn\u2019t prioritized it for such applications. If it\u2019s not obvious through marketing, Made By Google events, and the many times Gemini appears during the setup process, this is an AI-focused smartphone first and foremost, for whatever that might mean to actual users.<\/p>\n

Google\u2019s vision for the Pixel 10 is clear. This is a device that helps you<\/a>, whether that\u2019s in finding the information you need right as you need it, communicating in another language in a virtual recreation of your own voice, or just chatting through Gemini Live. And while I\u2019ll admit that Google\u2019s AI tools can make for a half-decent tech demo \u2014 and are undoubtedly the clearest consumer-focused AI applications we\u2019ve seen since the explosion of these tools nearly three years ago \u2014 I\u2019m beginning to lose patience with just how often they fail to actually function.<\/p>\n

Magic Cue has some serious limitations that aren\u2019t apparent in Google\u2019s marketing<\/p>\n

\"Pixel<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think I\u2019m writing some kind of explosive expose when I say that practically every AI tool fails with some level of consistency. It\u2019s the main detractor that prevents me from attempting to use AI for any part of my job; even on a research level, the inability to trust what\u2019s being given back to me from a single prompt leaves me feeling particularly frustrated any time I try to venture out from the typical search engine-first browsing experience the web has delivered me for the past two decades.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s not just chatbots that fail in their responses, though. Any tool powered by Gemini \u2014 or any modern LLM, for that matter \u2014 is bound to hallucinate, or simply miss the context required to pull off its predictive action. And with Google leaning more in that direction than ever before, we\u2019re looking at a smartphone being sold on a toolset that can\u2019t be guaranteed to work with any sense of reliability.<\/p>\n

Take Magic Cue, arguably the Pixel 10\u2019s marquee feature. My time with Magic Cue is far different from what my fellow 9to5Google colleagues have experienced, in large part because I don\u2019t really use Google Messages or RCS all that much to communicate with my most frequent contacts (most of my friends are on Telegram or other messaging apps). This means that the coolest parts of Magic Cue \u2014 pulling up information about restaurants, or quickly creating calendar events \u2014 just don\u2019t apply to my overall experience with the Pixel 10.<\/p>\n

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Some readers might take objection with my complaints here, and I get it. Open the new \u201cMy Pixel\u201d app on a Pixel 10 device, and Magic Cue is clearly split into three spaces with instructions on how it works with Messages, Phone, and through Gboard. Each of those three spaces accomplishes different tasks, and it shouldn\u2019t be on me to blame Google for not being able to use a feature built into a specific app on this phone if, you know, I don\u2019t use the app.<\/p>\n

Except Magic Cue\u2019s capabilities \u2014 and the limitations within \u2014 really only become clear once you\u2019ve unboxed your Pixel 10. The marketing for Magic Cue, right down to its specific store page<\/a>, keep things as indistinct as possible. There\u2019s no mention of specifically requiring users to rely on Messages to get the most out of this experience, leaving its description gesturing vaguely at \u201capps, emails, screenshots, notes, and more\u201d and only referencing generic text messages rather than specifically calling out Google\u2019s RCS-infused application.<\/p>\n

Even the descriptions seem to imply it can do far more than the examples given on the page, when in reality, it\u2019s limited to these exact demonstrations right now. Again, the Pixel 10 itself makes this very clear \u2014 Google\u2019s marketing, however, not so much.<\/p>\n

Daily Hub isn\u2019t even close to the Google Now replacement we\u2019ve all been waiting for<\/p>\n

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Daily Hub, an attempt at creating a personalized space for \u201cupdates,\u201d goes one step further in its failures, marking one of the most embarrassing pieces of software Google has shipped in years (an opinion<\/a> I\u2019m far from alone<\/a> on). Even putting aside that I\u2019ve had issues getting the prompt to appear \u2014 it\u2019s finally started regularly showing up in Discover, though I have yet to see it appear for a second time in At a Glance \u2014 the recommendations and information being given by Google here is shockingly bare. It\u2019s a similar attempt at the sort of thing Samsung launched with Now Brief earlier this year, and while I guess I\u2019d give Google\u2019s variant the edge on usefulness if pushed, it\u2019s more of a sidestep than any leap forward.<\/p>\n

Some of the Gemini powered suggestions found along the bottom of Daily Hub are, to be blunt, just nuts. I\u2019ve received bonkers strategies for productivity habits ripped right from forgotten self-help books, novel-length descriptions of the characterization of Hank Hill in what should\u2019ve been a summary of King of the Hill\u2018s funniest quotes, and prompts to create a budget for booking an Airbnb to play Nintendo Switch with my friends over the weekend. I\u2019m just not sure what I\u2019m supposed to take away from any of this.<\/p>\n

The rest of Daily Hub isn\u2019t particularly good, either. You could get the jist of its weather summary by just walking outside, while its media recommendations bounce between the obvious \u2014 continuing a podcast I was listening to earlier in the day \u2014 and the obscure, like when I received a prompt for a \u201cPixel 10 Pro XL durability test\u201d that was just a basic still photo of the device, and had just a single view when I tapped on the submission.<\/p>\n

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And look, I\u2019m not going to lie: It would be a hell of a lot easier to forgive Google for this early enough state if Google Now hadn\u2019t existed \u2014 and done this same idea far better \u2014 a decade ago, without any AI buzzwords attached to it. You can\u2019t try to quietly replicate the past when the present is so much worse, Google.<\/p>\n

Counter all of this with something like Circle to Search. While I wouldn\u2019t say that I\u2019ve become as hooked on the feature as some of my colleagues both at 9to5Google and the industry, I\u2019d be lying if I said it didn\u2019t effectively work as intended. That makes sense, though \u2014 it\u2019s an AI-lite feature that was barely sold as such at launch, with a universal method for launching. It\u2019s obvious where it lives, it\u2019s obvious what it can and can\u2019t do, and it pairs nicely with Search in general. One has to wonder if Google is kicking itself for not having kept it as a Pixel-exclusive feature, at least for a while.<\/p>\n

If AI is Google\u2019s future, it\u2019s going to need to deliver a little more clarity<\/p>\n

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We are living in an era of technology where practically nothing can be relied on anymore. Features come and go, and even when they do trigger, they often don\u2019t function as intended. You can\u2019t tell me a Daily Hub prompt for underground places to eat in Buffalo was supposed to kick off with a recent news story about a chicken sandwich restaurant planning to open downtown sometime in 2026. You can\u2019t sell me Magic Cue while keeping how and when it functions as vague and mysterious as possible, as if getting a visit from it is equivalent to spotting something mythical. And while Google\u2019s attention is completely soaked up by releasing various Gemini-powered toolsets, other applications fall by the wayside, rotting not due to AI, but because of it all the same.<\/p>\n

Some \u2014 not all, but some \u2014 of my complaints could be solved by Google allowing users to toggle on an online-specific mode, rather than having to rely on on-device AI as much as possible. On-device AI is a big part of the company\u2019s strategy, preparing for a future where Apple actually gets its act together on Siri. Even then, though, I\u2019m not sure that\u2019s a strategy; privacy does matter here, especially for applications dealing in confidential user data like Magic Cue.<\/p>\n

Instead, I\u2019d like to see Google get a little more honest about the restrictions and limitations it\u2019s placed on its various AI-infused apps, especially as it continues to push these tools as the future of smartphones. Transparency can go a long way; if Magic Cue can only pull off a few tricks, and only when utilizing a specific messaging service, that\u2019s fine, but I\u2019d like to know that before I unbox the phone. Likewise, if Daily Hub is an app in preview, give me some insight on its roadmap before I even try getting invested in it. Otherwise, I\u2019m stuck with an experience than feels half-broken any time I interact with the device, and that\u2019s not the sort of feeling I think Google wants me to have about its hardware.<\/p>\n

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