Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Android 17 Beta 4 internally references an in-development notification tool called Pixel Glow.
- Pixel Glow uses “subtle light and color” when your phone is face down to alert you when things happen.
- Requirements for hardware lights could mean Google adds RGB LEDs to upcoming Pixel devices.
Android 17 Beta 4 has just landed, bringing us closer than ever to Google’s next stable version. At this late stage, we don’t see Google making many user-facing changes, but that doesn’t mean progress hasn’t been moving quickly under the hood. As we delve deeper into the new version, we managed to bring to light a small mystery that could hint at a big hardware change for the Pixel 11 Series.
Back in Android 17 Beta 2We first identified development efforts for a feature for “light animations.” At the time we weren’t quite sure what Google was doing here and didn’t have many details beyond a reference to something called “Orbit”, which seemed like a possible codename. But now, in Beta 4, the picture is finally starting to take shape.
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To start, we find a new name associated with it. Instead of “light animations”, Google now calls it Pixel Glow. But much more than just getting that new name, we’re also seeing text that begins to illuminate (no pun intended) exactly what this feature does. First, we have this screen:
AssembleDebug / Android Authority
Let this sink in for a second: We’re talking about something that uses colored lights on the back of your phone AND is branded Pixel.
Google gave us Quick notifications Back in Android 14, use the screen light or camera LED to notify you of incoming calls. As you can see here, Pixel Glow would exist as a sort of alternate version of that, although it can’t be used entirely at the same time.
Code
Whether subtle lights should be shown when the user's favourite contracts call them (when the Pixel Glow feature is enabled)
Subtle lights when your favorite contacts call you
Calls from favorites
Hands-free interactions using visual feedback
Whether subtle lights should be shown when interacting with Gemini (when the Pixel Glow feature is enabled)
Speaking with Gemini
Allows the user to configure the Pixel Glow feature which uses subtle light and color to inform the user while the device is face down
Use subtle light and color to stay informed when your device is face down
Whether the Pixel Glow feature is enabled. This feature uses subtle light and color to inform the user while the device is face down
Use Pixel Glow
Pixel Glow, lights, effects, glow, notifications, calls, alerts, favorite contacts These strings establish that Gemini will play a major role in Pixel Glow, which would certainly fit with the rainbow glow that Google has been emphasizing when we interact with Gemini.
But how exactly is this going to work? Sure, Google keeps harping on “subtle” over and over again in this text, but will the Pixel 11 really feature any kind of gaming phone style RGB lights? Well, here is one more text string:
Code
"The device must have hardware lights."We surely haven’t seen any obvious rear lights (beyond the camera flash) on the Pixel 11 renderings that have been released, but it’s entirely possible that those CAD-based renders wouldn’t reveal a new component like this, especially if it were hidden somewhere inside the camera bar.
That’s where we are for now: we have some answers, sure, but they have only generated a lot of new and much more interesting questions. That doesn’t leave us much choice but to keep looking. Fortunately, that’s what we do best, so we’ll keep doing it and share any future updates with you.
⚠️ A APK Teardown It helps predict features that may come to a service in the future based on work-in-progress code. However, such planned features may not make it to a public release.
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