Pixel Tablet might get Look and Talk, Quick Gestures from Nest Hub Max

With the Pixel Tablet now a few months old, Google might soon add two features that debuted on the Nest Hub Max: Look and Talk and Quick Gestures.

About APK Insight: In this “APK Insight” post, we’ve decompiled the latest version of an application that Google uploaded to the Play Store. When we decompile these files (called APKs, in the case of Android apps), we’re able to see various lines of code within that hint at possible future features. Keep in mind that Google may or may not ever ship these features, and our interpretation of what they are may be imperfect. We’ll try to enable those that are closer to being finished, however, to show you how they’ll look in case that they do ship. With that in mind, read on.

The Pixel Tablet enters Hub Mode when placed on its Charging Speaker Dock (or connected to a USB-C cable). Google app 14.43 reveals work on “Look and Talk” for Hub Mode.

When your tablet is in Hub Mode, anyone in your home, including children, can look at it from up to 5 feet away to talk to Assistant without having to say [Hey Google]

• “Your device relies on camera sensing and analyzes video of you or others in your home to determine if anyone wants to activate Assistant.”
• “Assistant may activate when you or others didn’t intend it to, if it incorrectly detects anyone wants its help.”
• “Your video is processed on-device and isn’t sent to Google servers.”
• “You can turn this feature off at any time in your Hub Mode settings.”

Introduced at I/O 2022, Look and Talk recognizes when you’re looking directly at the Nest Hub Max and will start listening for a command without you having to say, “Hey Google.” Google leverages six on-device ML models to process 100+ signals from the camera and microphone, including proximity, head orientation, gaze direction, lip movement, context awareness, and intent classification. Google Assistant will not activate when you’re just glancing at the Smart Display.

On the Pixel Tablet, the Look and Talk range remains within five feet of the 8 MP front-facing camera with an 84° field of view. Google equates hotword-less interaction to making eye contact with a person in real life before talking.

Meanwhile, the Pixel Tablet might also get Quick Gestures. The Nest Hub Max already lets you hold your palm up to the camera to pause media.

You can get glanceable information relevant to you, use Quick Gestures to control music and allow anyone in your home to look and skip [“Hey Google”]

These two features would make for the first major update to the Pixel Tablet’s Hub Mode.

Thanks to JEB Decompiler, from which some APK Insight teardowns benefit.