Google Pixel 5 has an awesome feature you didn’t even notice

Google Pixel five has an crawly feature you lot didn't even notice

(Image credit: Google)

There's a lot to unpack with the Google Pixel 5, since the search giant is seemingly doing everything it can to avert the mistakes it made with last year's Pixel four. This includes boosting the corporeality of screen real estate.

Google's added a proper full screen brandish this twelvemonth, with a hole dial photographic camera and no ugly notches getting in the mode of things. But there's a secret hiding in plain sight, in the course of a speaker nether the display.

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Anyone who's looked closely at the Pixel v will notice that in that location'south no obvious speaker grill at the meridian of the phone. That'due south non entirely uncommon, since phone companies are getting incredibly good at hiding them. But in this case, it'southward because that grill isn't actually at that place; instead it'due south hiding under the screen.

We know that because Google has published an official hardware diagram of the Pixel 5, showcasing which hardware features are where. The lesser speaker is in its usual place on the base of the phone, but the top speaker is nowhere almost the superlative bezel.

Pixel 5 hardware — (Epitome credit: Google)

The official imagery suggests that the speaker is correct in the centre, i Pixel 5 screen protector has a cutting-out suggesting it's positioned slightly to the left. It'southward not clear why the cutout is necessary, since the nether-display speaker already has to pump vibrations through the screen itself. Maybe Google's trying to brand sure zip interrupts whatsoever it is you're listening to.

Under-display speakers aren't exactly new, and we've seen them before on devices like the LG G8, Huawei P30 Pro, and Huawei P40 Pro. That said, they're not particularly mutual, with a lot of phone makers instead opting to make their meridian speakers more unimposing and less noticeable.

An under-display speaker isn't particularly groundbreaking either, then it's no surprise Google didn't bother to tell us most information technology at the Pixel 5's launch event. In fact, a lot of people won't even realise it's at that place, which is invariably a adept thing.

Hopefully, this is the kickoff of more broad-scale inclusion of nether-brandish speaker tech, taking us a fiddling bit closer to the truly uninterrupted full-screen displays phone makers have been promising us. The OnePlus 7 did this with its pop-upwards selfie camera, and the Samsung Galaxy S21 could pull this off with an under-display camera, but a recent rumor has cast dubiousness on this killer upgrade.

Tom is the Tom's Guide's Automotive Editor, which means he tin can unremarkably be found human knee deep in stats the latest and best electrical cars, or checking out some sort of driving gadget. It'due south long fashion from his days as editor of Gizmodo U.k., when pretty much everything was on the tabular array. He'due south usually found trying to clasp some other giant Lego set onto the shelf, draining very large cups of java, or complaining that Ikea won't permit him buy the stuff he really needs online.