New leak shows Google Pixel 4 XL ‘Motion Sense’ in action with Spotify [Video]

Damien Wilde | Oct 14 2019 - 1:54 am PT

The latest leak of the Google Pixel 4 XL shows us just what to expect from the brand new Motion Sense gesture controls when used with the Spotify streaming platform.

A Reddit user going by the name of PlayDohBear shared the video of Motion Sense in action on a Pixel 4 XL, which shows just how smooth the hands-free controls appear to be on the unreleased device.

Of course, we unearthed a ton of details on the new Soli-powered air gestures just a few weeks ago but this is the first time we’re seeing them in action on what is likely a retail unit.

PlayDohBear detailed more than just the Motion Sense features of the new handset and stated that they were able to “mess around with the Pixel 4 XL for a few hours” and shared their own thoughts on the new device. It’s unclear how they were able to get some extended hands-on time but the insight is naturally intriguing.

They confirmed that Motion Sense works pretty much flawlessly, while also simultaneously making a solid point about this being superb for hands-free controls when driving. That would make a lot of sense from a safety perspective when you want to interact with your phone but don’t want to take your eyes off the road.

Motion sense is gimmicky sure, but works flawlessly and I can see myself just doing this on drives (even though I can just press the button on the steering wheel). It’s cool 😎 Motion sense does work with the screen off (I had ambient display on during my testing).

That said, Motion Sense appears to work when the display is turned off and the Ambient display is activated. The Soli chip is likely able to decipher the movement towards or across the display to activate track switching. PlayDohBear did note that Face Unlock does require a double-tap or power button tap to activate.

One thing that was quite annoying (for me) is that you’ll either need to press the power button or wake up the phone (via motion sense, lift to wake, double tap) to activate faceunlock. I did manage to get this to work via just the ambient display and looking straight at it, but was incredibly inconsistent. I can see why this would not be an option due to accidental unlocks.

Beyond Motion Sense running on the Pixel 4 XL, a few more tidbits were shared such as the build quality being the “best hardware by Google so far on these phones”. That is high praise indeed but we’ll save our own judgment until we get hands-on later this week.

Let us know what you think about the hands-free music controls. Can you see yourself using them on a consistent basis? Throw a comment down below.