Google Pixel phones sound much more appealing after this app upgrade

Since the release of the Google Pixel 7 and Google Pixel 7 Pro in October, both handsets have firmly cemented their place amongst the best Android phones. It's not hard to see why – the Pixel range packs in a wealth of genuinely brilliant features while keeping their devices at a more competitive price point than other flagships like the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra.

Now, another great app on the Pixel phones is getting an upgrade – making it even more useful. I've written previously about Google's built-in recorder, Pixel Recorder, but for those who missed that, lets quickly recap.

Pixel Recorder is one of the most powerful recording apps on the market. In the 4.0 update it received last month, the functionality was added to auto-transcribe recorded audio, and export it to a Google Doc. That is a magnificent feature, and one that I was very excited by.

At the time of the 4.0 update release, we were told that a future update would allow the Recorder to pinpoint different voices and separate different speakers in the transcription. I had assumed that it would be a feature added much later on, but its already here in the 4.2 update. The folks over at 9to5Google have had a play with it on the Pixel 7 Pro and a Google Pixel 6 Pro – great news for those with older Pixel handsets – and it looks pretty good.

The speakers are split with different colours and icons, and you have the option to rename them afterwards. The speaker name sits next to the timestamp for when they start talking. I can see that being really handy for checking the transcription, meaning you won't spend unnecessary time scrubbing back and forth through the audio to find the right moment.

The 4.2 update should roll out to devices over the coming weeks, bringing this brilliant functionality to Pixel phones everywhere.