Every day big tech companies like Huawei,
Samsung and Google are coming up with new innovations that don’t only increase
the power we hold in our hands but also make life a little easier. Google announced project soli back in 2015 and their ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY and PROJECT
team have been working on it since then.
What is project Soli one might ask?
Simply put, soli is a technology based on the radar that can accurately detect
hand gestures at a distance in the air. With
this Google can precisely detect specific hand movements made by a user and
allow the user to link such movements to particular commands. For example, with
the snap of a finger, you could change the music, swipe to the next picture in
your gallery by passing your hand across the screen, snooze your alarm by
placing your hand over your screen or silent a phone call by pressing two fingers together, how cool is
that! This is going to be useful in real-life situations as you can give
commands to your device when you can’t physically touch it for some reason.
Others like LG have tried
implementing similar gesture controls into their devices but ended up only
being a gimmick due to its unreliability and difficulty in getting it to actually work.
But unlike LG Google’s use of radar technology gives it a far more precise
reading with good response time to actually make it useful. Radar has long since been used to
detect planes and other huge objects but the size of its chips was big and not practical
to place in the smartphone until just recently. Google’s team has been able to shrink
it down to the point where it could fit in a smartphone with the Pixel 4 all
but confirmed to have it. Though the chip is smaller, it will still cause a
notable difference in the bezels of the pixel 4 and might result in an out-dated
look, but in the truth that depends on personal preference. With a more robust
face id recently found in the files of android q along with top of the line
hardware specs could see the pixel 4 become the 2019 smartphone champion no one expected.
What we think
This is all good news for Google
pixel fans but there is quite a huge downside. Since project soli is based on
radar technology, rumor has it that Google may not make it available
everywhere due to local regulations so you could buy a Pixel 4 and not be
allowed to enjoy its most outstanding feature. If that is the case then it will
be a huge letdown but a lot can happen between now and October so let’s keep
our fingers crossed that Google can sort it out and get the appropriate licenses. The pixel 4 is also rumored to have an in-display fingerprint scanner which comes as no surprise since that's the trend nowadays, along with the latest snapdragon 855. On the aspect of the camera, not much is known but judging from the pixel 3's image quality I doubt Google will go wrong with its upcoming device. Overall the Pixel 4 looks like it's going to be a solid phone with high-end specs but what could set in apart is the implementation of soli which in my opinion could be the single most innovative tech of 2019.