Got an Android or Google Pixel Phone? Get Ready to Say Goodbye to Your Sub-Par Dashcam!

One of the good things about the Google Pixel phones is that they constantly get new features. Things such as Magic Editor, Magic Eraser, and cinematic wallpapers generated by AI are some of the things that make Pixel devices truly special. And if you are the proud owner of one, get ready to enjoy a brand-new safety feature.

Basically, Google is developing a safety feature that allows your Pixel phone to function as a dashcam. To be exact, as 9to5Google reports, Google might have accidentally rolled out the “dogfood” build of the feature. It lets you get a taste of the feature and see what the final build can bring to the table.

What the New Google Pixel Feature is All About

According to 9to5Google, the “dogfood” build of Personal Safety available in the Google Play Store allows you to extract the new dashcam option from the app. Once you get it out, you can explore the feature on a Google Pixel or supported Android phone. Wondering how can you actually get the feature?

At the current state, the dashcam feature of the Google Pixel phone is in the “Be prepared” section. By enabling it through the Personal Safety app, you can use your device as a dashcam in two ways. Firstly, it allows you to begin the recording manually. That is, you can start the recording as you do in the camera app.

Secondly, you can set up your Google Pixel phone and make it automatically activate when connected to a Bluetooth device. As 9to5Google says, the phone’s functionality has no impact after you enable the feature. And that is a great addition. Wondering why? Android phones do not generally let you use the phone when taking a normal video. The recording usually stops when you exit the app.

Additionally, the dashcam mode of Google Pixel phones lets you take videos with the screen turned off. Again, you can not do that with the regular camera app. The video will shut off when the screen is off.

What About Space Management?

The idea of making your Google Pixel phone double as a dashcam might sound great. But it brings out a big concern – space. Well, you will be happy to learn that the dashcam mode videos take about “30 MB of space” for each minute. There’s also a limit. You cannot continuously use the phone as a dashcam for more than 24 hours.

In addition, 9to5Google reported that users would get two modes. You can record video and audio at the same time or just capture the audio. As you can guess, the second mode will enable you to save more space. Even with all these storage optimizations, Google has added an auto-delete feature to keep the storage of your Pixel phone free. That feature will automatically delete the records after three days.

Other than that, 9to5Google says that the dashcam feature currently utilizes only the primary camera. But that’s not bad, as the primary sensor of Google Pixel phones offers more than enough coverage out the front when you are driving.

No matter what, you can not deny that the new feature is surely impressive. It will be useful for people who commute daily with their cars. And while you can definitely get a dashcam for cheap, the video quality of those is not on par with what Google Pixel phones can offer.

For that reason, the dashcam feature will be a proper solution for many. And the great part is that the feature will be available on “select Android phones.” That means the option will be available on devices other than Google Pixel, such as the Nothing Phone (1).