The Google Pixel 10 is a powerful, versatile phone that can compete directly with Apple’s iPhone.
Google has refined the user experience to provide a tight, sleek experience that suits power users and casual users alike.
Pixel phones are unique amongst Android devices in that they have minimal bloatware (unless you consider Gemini and related apps like Pixel Journal and Pixel Screenshots bloat), and are incredibly easy to set up and use. However, there are downsides.
Google’s focus on its user experience comes at a cost.
Pixel phones are some of the least customizable Android phones on the market; the days of Pixel phones offering the stock Android experience are long gone.
Nevertheless, Google has started making steps in the right direction, but is it enough?
Removing At a Glance is a start, but it’s only half the story
Hiding the feature doesn’t fix its failures
We at AP love complaining about At a Glance. It’s a frustrating blot on the Pixel experience.
An immovable widget that’s only relevant for a few minutes each day is not what Android should be about.
However, recent evidence has shown that Google is testing a “Show on home screen” toggle in the At a Glance settings. If this feature works as suggested, you will be able to remove the widget from your Pixel’s home screen.
This will free up a huge amount of space on the home screen. Users can replace it with third-party widgets, apps, or any other tool they find more useful.
However, At a Glance does have value, and there’s a way Google can find a middle ground.
I like At a Glance when it works. It’s perfectly named. At a glance, I can see the battery status of connected devices, the time left on a timer, weather alerts, and reminders for upcoming events.
There’s much more it can do, but this is the information I see most frequently. If I had a Nest doorbell, I could see who’s at my door, and the commute timer would be relevant if I drove to work.
If Google implements a toggle to remove At a Glance, I still won’t remove the feature. I’ll deal with the frustration of it taking up dead space on my display for most hours of the day.
Removing it is too big a step, but keeping it around is annoying. What I really want is to customize it.
To “fix” At a Glance, Google needs to take two steps.
The first is to treat it like a widget. Let us move it, resize it, and change its appearance. At a Glance doesn’t need to take up the entire width of my screen; half would be enough.
The white text also doesn’t work on many backgrounds. Treating it like a widget would silence many complaints about the feature.
Secondly, Google needs to add third-party integration, and (I can’t believe I’m saying this), Gemini.
Third-party app support and Gemini integration would turn At a Glance into the foundation of Pixel phones
Let’s improve At a Glance, not hide it away
Before the Pixel 10 launched, the Magic Cue feature caught my eye. An AI assistant that would pull up relevant information depending on what’s on your screen? Great! That’s exactly the kind of task I want AI to accomplish.
It would save wasted time on menial tasks (for example, scrolling through emails for booking information), but the reality was far less impressive.
Magic Cue just doesn’t work. It doesn’t integrate with third-party apps, and it rarely appears in the ideal environment. But if it could be integrated with At a Glance, I could see it reaching greater potential.
Let’s say someone texts me about a dinner reservation for that evening. I check the message and dismiss it without adding it to my calendar.
Magic Cue, however, picks up on the message and sends the information to At a Glance. When At a Glance discovers I ought to leave soon, it displays that information on the widget.
At a Glance is the perfect home for tools like Magic Cue. It already does a decent job of surfacing relevant information, but the potential capabilities of Gemini could drastically improve it, even more so if Google added third-party support.
Let’s say you don’t use Google’s Clock app and instead use a better alternative. At a Glance won’t show the timer status if you set one.
If you use a third-party email app, At a Glance can’t highlight upcoming trips. If you use a third-party mapping app, At a Glance won’t suggest a good time to leave.
At a Glance’s problem isn’t its permanence
Allowing us to hide At a Glance is a good first step, but it doesn’t solve the underlying problems of the feature.
Improving its versatility by adding third-party and Gemini support will turn the feature from occasionally useful to the best software feature of Pixel phones.
Don’t hide your disappointing features, Google; there’s a huge amount of potential just waiting to be used.
