How to Get the Best Features of Google Pixel Phones Right Now

The new Google Pixel phones are packed with exciting new features. New Google Smart Assistant, unlimited cloud storage for photos and videos, and more has been added. With a little clever tweak, you can get most of the big and better features on your phone right now, even before the Pixel even comes out.

Install Google Assistant on your current phone

Google Assistant is the main feature of the new Pixel phones. You can also use it on the upcoming Google Home column and Google’s new Allo messaging app. It’s really good for a phone, where it can scan what you read to find context-relevant information, give you daily coaching on your way to work, and take reminders or find things around you. So it’s a little weird that Google has tied it to one phone. Luckily, if you’re comfortable with rooting your phone or flashing .zips, you can get it on any phone that has Marshmallow or higher installed.

We’ve put together a detailed guide here to walk you through the steps. This method is to force your device to identify itself as Pixel XL and not as the model you have. Fortunately, this shouldn’t affect the day-to-day use of your device. It’s unclear if Google will continue to resolve this workaround for a long time, but for now, you can use the Assistant without purchasing a brand new phone.

Create your own unlimited photo and video storage

At $ 650, the Pixel is a relatively expensive phone. To soothe that wound in your wallet, Google provides free unlimited full-size photo storage for life for any photos you take with the Pixel, as opposed to the unlimited, limited-resolution storage you can already get with Google Photos. This is a pretty big deal as most photo backup services have some pretty serious caveats.

However, if you don’t mind making a couple of sacrifices, you can create your own almost unlimited photo storage. Here are some of the most popular cloud services and how you can use them without requiring a new phone:

• Amazon Prime Photos : If you’re a Prime subscriber, you already have unlimited photo backups – native resolution, no less – via Prime Photos . You also get 5GB of storage for videos or other documents, which is not much, but can be handy if you don’t shoot a lot of video. The all- new Amazon Family Storage even lets you share this unlimited storage space with up to five other people.
• Google Photos : Even if you don’t buy a Pixel, Google will let you upload unlimited photos and videos with one catch: they must be less than 16 megapixels for photos or 1080p for videos . For most people, this is probably enough, although you can record 4K videos even if you don’t have a 4K TV .
• Flickr : With Flickr, you can store up to 1 TB of full resolution photos and videos. 1 TB is not much, but it’s a handy backup if you’ve hit the limit on the other two.
• Dropbox : Almost everyone already has a Dropbox account, so you can also use that to back up your photos. Dropbox can automatically upload any photo or video to your account, regardless of its size. Your space can be quite limited, but luckily, there are many ways to get more .

Between those three, you can probably back up anything. Upload all your photos in full resolution to Amazon, use Flickr for any video above 1080p, and use Google Photos for your day-to-day work at a lower resolution. Your library will be a little scattered, but you don’t have to spend $ 650 on a phone just to back up everything you need.

You can also use IFTTT to make it easier to manage multiple backup locations. IFTTT channel for Android can automatically upload the photos you take to any cloud backup storage . If you want to make things a little more complex, you can use Tasker and IFTTT together to upload to another service depending on which folder you store the images in . You can also create your own NAS to back up as many photos and videos as you have on your hard drive, instead of relying on another company to do it for you. Google Unlimited Backup can be handy, but it’s far from the only option.

Enhance your photos and shoot the best video

The Pixel camera is impressive. Unfortunately, there is no hardware replacement app on your phone. Before you spend a ton of money on a new phone with a better camera, first learn how to use your existing one and discover its best features. You can download the Google Camera app to get some of its coolest features like HDR or Intelligent Burst Mode. Although it is not compatible with all devices, here you can find APK files to install from APK Mirror .

If you just want even more control over your photos or Google Camera isn’t working on your device, try Camera ZOOM FX , one of our favorite Android camera alternatives . It comes with many advanced features like RAW support, burst modes and many photo presets. It also has all the tools to help you become a better photographer and learn how to compose and take the best photos, no matter what camera you have – and sometimes that’s important. You can even adjust ISO, exposure, shutter speed and focus distance to get the perfect shot.

Use gestures and quick links to make your home screen more useful

In Android 7.1, starting with the Pixel, you can long press a shortcut on the home screen to find quick links to functions in the app itself. For example, if you hold down the Google Maps icon, you can quickly jump to home or work. It will eventually be available to everyone, but if you have our favorite home screen replacement , Nova Launcher Prime ($ 4.99), you don’t have to wait. With it, you can assign a shortcut to any icon on your home screen. We’ll demonstrate by adding a navigation shortcut to Google Maps:

1. If you don’t already have it, add a Maps shortcut to your home screen.
2. Press and hold an app icon and tap Edit from the pop-up menu.
3. Tap the Swipe Action drop-down list.
4. Tap the Shortcuts tab at the top of the screen.
5. Scroll down and tap Routes.
6. Enter a destination address such as your home. Name it, for example, Go Home.
7. Tap Save.
8. Tap Done.

Now swipe up on the Maps icon on the home screen. This should immediately launch the Google Maps navigation feature with the home address already entered. This is not exactly the same as the new Android 7.1 feature as you can only have one shortcut at a time. On the other hand, you can customize it instead of being content with what the developers decide to give you.

Download Allo and Duo, Google’s new messaging apps

If you visit the Pixel store page , Google will tell you about apps like Allo and Duo, but they are far from Pixel exclusives. Allo , the smart messaging app from Google , and Duo , its extremely simple one-on-one video chat app , are already on the Play Store. While Allo still needs some work, having a built-in assistant makes it an attractive alternative to other chat apps (that is, when they get a desktop client and SMS support). Duo, meanwhile, is similar to cross-platform Facetime, offering simple video calling for both Android and iPhone users. Best of all, there is no need to buy a new phone just to try them out.

Add restart button

We’re not sure why Google decided to wait until version 7.1 to bring the reboot option back to the Android power menu, but it’s finally back. However, if you want it without waiting, you can get it using the Material Power menu . This app can be rooted or unrooted to provide you with a handy menu that allows you to turn off your phone, restart it, or even boot into recovery mode or bootloader .

Without root, you can launch the app from a shortcut on your home screen, which is still pretty handy. A simple screen will open with several available power options. If all you want is an easy way to restart your phone, that’s all you need. However, if you have root and Xposed , it will also automatically activate when you hold down the power button. It’s a small thing, but if you constantly have to restart your phone, it can make a huge difference.

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