Goodbye, Soli: Google Pixel 5 should not have sensor for gesture control

Kamran

4 years ago

We’ve heard a lot about the Soli Project, which involves using improved gestures and sensors to control and was introduced in Google Pixel 4 , however, this function may not be present in the company’s next release: the Pixel 5. That’s because the device may not have a Soli chip to interpret such user gestures, understand how we arrived at this conclusion.

The information was previously given by the PhoneArena website and has now been reaffirmed by Stephen Hall, from the 9to5Google website, where he says that the Google Pixel 5 will not have a sensor from Project Soli, used to detect and interpret movement. It is interesting to say that the chip works in conjunction with Android development especially for the Pixel line devices to offer more functionality.

listen to us chat about it on the latest episode of @abcscoop on Google Podcasts https://t.co/SBE3mSpebm

— Stephen Hall (@hallstephenj) May 15, 2020

This can be a big problem for fans of the improved facial unlock and being able to activate Always On Display on the phone using just a look and gesture, which was only possible by the Soli chip embedded in the device.

On the other hand, the removal of the chip can be justified by the low battery life, a complaint registered by several users of the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL, a device where the sensor debuted.

Another point is that, according to analysts, the Soli is an expensive chip and because of it Google cannot insert an ultrawide camera and a larger battery in the device, which would probably be much more desired by users.

Add all this to the problems that this new hardware has brought to Google, which cannot even market the cell phone in India because it does not meet local frequency standards, further hampering sales of the device; and in the end, we will have the end of the Soli chip, which although it was useful, it seems to have brought little practicality to users in relation to Google.