Foldable Pixel, what happened to it? Google is really working on it: check the clue

The rumors about Google’s first folding smartphone have been extinguished for a few months, with the latest rumors that previously spoke of an imminent arrival, already in the last quarter of 2022, and then moved the waiting horizon later, in 2023. For now, no official indication has yet arrived from Mountain View, unlike the strategy adopted instead for Pixel 7, Pixel 7 Pro and Pixel Watch, all revealed well in advance of the launch already in May, during the I / O 2022.

In short, the rumors around Pixel Notepad (it should be called that) are quite confusing, and the only certainty is that Google is actually working on it. At what pace and possibly facing what hitches, however, it is not possible to know in detail. A clue found in the code of version 8.6 of Google Camera, however, certifies that in Mountain View they have not stopped carrying out the project. In fact, the icon you find below emerges from the teardown of the app.

There depiction of a folding device is decidedly schematic, but just as clear in communicating the concept. It is true that Google, in general, has been trying for some time to make its mobile operating system an increasingly flexible environment capable of exploiting the peculiarities of the folding devices already on the market, and in this sense the launch of Android 12L last autumn marked a particularly important step.

And it is equally true that Google Camera can also be installed on smartphones from other manufacturers (as long as they are compatible), but it is only on Pixels that it is found by default, and in fact the functions that gradually enrich it are often designed by Google first of all from a Pixel perspective. . So the icon above is a probable reference to the Pixel Notepad more than any other foldable.

Furthermore, always from the teardown it emerged that Google is working on an option identified with the code name “Jupiter”, whose use is always intended for foldable. Currently it is not clear what functions it performs, precisely: according to the first hypotheses it should prevent the camera change, a particular and useful inhibition perhaps in the scenario in which the images of the selfie cam and those of the rear camera are shown simultaneously on the internal screen. Or, again, it could be a limitation that is triggered when the folding is used to take selfies using the rear photographic equipment.

PERFECT SELFIES AND MORE FOR PIXELS

However, the leaflet icon is not the only new one present in the code of the latest version of Google Camera. There is another that refers to a new shooting mode for selfies called Hotshot. The icon shows a well-centered self-timer, and in fact Hotshot is just an option designed to provide users with textual suggestions for take perfect selfies complete with haptic feedback that signals when the phone recognizes an optimal shot.

Finally, there are also modalities in the pipeline “Amber” And “Amethyst“: we know very little about these, and it seems that they are new video recording modes designed for Pixel 6 (and therefore Pixel 7 too).