Pixel’s Call Screen could be heading to Motorola and Nokia Android One handsets

Damien Wilde | Apr 1 2019 - 5:50 am PT

While the Pixel’s Call Screen feature isn’t available outside of North America just yet, the feature might be heading to Motorola and Nokia handsets running Android One in the not-too-distant future.

The Call Screen feature is an awesome and intriguing utilization of the power of the Google Assistant. Having the ability to screen incoming calls is no doubt a massive benefit to anyone that receives annoying spam calls on a regular basis.

Obviously, the Call Screen allows you to decide if cold callers are safe or inherently ‘spammy’, then allowing you to cut the call short, dip in and ask further questions, or alternatively pick up the phone and chat to the caller.

At present, the feature has only been available to Pixel 3 or older Pixel users in select regions. Thanks to some digging by Reddit user /u/hkyq (via XDA-Developers), the latest beta of the Google Phone app points at a potential release on Motorola and Nokia phones.

References for Call Screen were found and promptly shared via the user’s Reddit post where details were shared about this potential addition to Nokia and Motorola handsets. The lines of code mention “CallScreeningEnglishUSForNokia” and “CallScreenEnglishUSForMoto” with the values set to “false” for each instance. It is by no means a smoking gun, but we could definitely see Nokia and Motorola Android One handsets get the feature.

<boolean name="__data_rollout__SpeakEasy.CallScreenEnglishUsForNokia__launched__" value="false" />

<boolean name="__data_rollout__SpeakEasy.CallScreenEnglishUsForMoto__launched__" value="false" />

Of course, it’s worth noting that it is possible to enable the Call Screen feature on other devices. That particular workaround allows you to transcribe calls, but you’re not able to reply or talk to the caller. Where this differs could potentially be core support for both Nokia and Motorola handsets ahead of other devices.

It’s also likely that if Call Screen support does indeed get a wider device rollout, it would make sense to only head to Android One-powered devices. This isn’t an issue for almost all Nokia handsets, but doesn’t apply to all Motorola devices.

Call Screen is still yet to make the jump outside of North America — and is only currently available in Canada as part of a beta trial period. If Google does expand support outside of the Pixel ecosystem, it will likely only be available to English speakers for the foreseeable future.