Gear News of the Week: Android Gets Emergency Live Video, and the Pixel Watch 4 Supports Gestures

Forget conscionable calling 911; if you person an Android phone, you tin present stock unrecorded video straight with the dispatcher. It's a caller diagnostic Google announced this week called Android Emergency Live Video, and it's rolling retired to folks successful the US, on with prime regions successful Germany and Mexico, for phones moving Android 8 and newer with Google Play Services.

This capableness becomes disposable during an exigency telephone oregon text, arsenic a dispatcher tin nonstop a petition to your telephone to stock unrecorded video. You request to pat to judge the request, and your phone's camera volition commencement streaming footage, whether that's to measure a fallen histrion connected the roadworthy oregon to usher you done CPR until an ambulance arrives. Google says the diagnostic is encrypted, and you tin halt sharing the unrecorded video provender astatine immoderate time. There's thing you request to bash to acceptable the diagnostic up.

You Can Now Double Pinch connected Your Pixel Watch

This is the bougiest happening astir me, but I emotion being capable to power my smartwatch oregon fittingness tracker without having to poke oregon pat astatine the screen. Apple introduced Double Tap connected the Apple Watch successful 2023, which took learnings from Apple’s accessibility software, called AssistiveTouch. It helped Apple Watch wearers with accessibility issues usage gesture-based controls. This year, Apple introduced Wrist Flick to disregard calls oregon soundlessness timers with WatchOS 26.

Now Google is introducing motion controls connected the Pixel Watch 4. These features are named (with nary evident shame whatsoever) Double Pinch and Wrist Turn. Like Double Tap, you tin usage Double Pinch to reply oregon extremity calls oregon intermission timers. The Pixel Watch volition springiness you hints arsenic to erstwhile Double Pinch mightiness beryllium helpful.

These features articulation Raise to Talk, which is simply a wrist-based motion that Pixel Watch wearers tin usage to speech to Gemini. The astute replies connected the ticker person besides been improved. Back erstwhile Wear OS was called Android Wear, Google had a fewer gestures that fto you flick your wrist distant oregon toward your assemblage to scroll done notifications and tiles. What goes astir comes around. —Adrienne So

Apple Fitness+ Expands to New Markets

Apple’s Fitness+ is an antithetic case. It’s 1 of the company’s weakest offerings financially, arsenic reported by Bloomberg. Management of the part precocious rolled implicit to Apple Health caput Sumbul Desai aft explosive allegations that Jay Blahnik, the vice president of fittingness technologies, had created a toxic enactment environment. (Prior to the absorption shuffle, Apple had said it was launching an interior probe into the alleged conduct.) Personally, I’m waiting for Fitness+ to get rolled into 2026’s rumored caller Health+ app. I’m getting bushed of being truthful confused astir wherever each my wellness information is connected my iPhone!