Pixel 4: Google reveals new phone months before expected release date

Company appears to have taken to leaking its own phone before others can do

Google has revealed some of the most central details of its new Pixel 4 phone, months before it is actually due to be released.

In previous years, Google and rivals such as Apple have kept the details of its new phones under wraps until they are announced. What details there are usually come through unconfirmed leaks and the companies officially stay silent on the phones until they are released to the public.

But this time around, Google appears to be selectively leaking details of the phone in advance of its release. It has already shown off pictures of what it will look like, and has now shown two of its central features.

"Today we’re giving you an early look at the technology behind two new features coming to Pixel 4 that make your phone more helpful and represent a next step in our vision for ambient computing," it wrote in a blog post that showed off two of the technologies.

The first of those features is a new tool called Soli, which it described as a "motion-sending radar". That involved a tiny version of the technology used to spot planes, which can be used to sense how people move around the phone and use that to control it.

People will be able to wave their hands to "skip songs, snooze alarms, and silence phone calls, just by waving your hand", Google said. Over time, new capabilities will come to the phone so that the feature – named "Motion Sense" by Google – can develop with new software.

Such a feature had already been rumoured after some images of the outside of the phone had been leaked by third-parties. Those included a large hole in its front, which prompted speculation that it could fit the radar sensor used to power the Motion Sense feature.

The second feature is the ability for users to unlock their phone just by using their face. Such a feature is already available in products like the iPhone, but Google said it is "engineering it differently".

Unlike Apple's FaceID and other similar devices, Google claims the new phone will be able to use that motion sensing technology to see people are reaching down for the phone before they even touch it. That will be able to wake up the facial recognition sensors, which can then use algorithms to recognise someone as they pick up the phone – before it is even held up to their face.

Google stressed that it would focus on security and privacy while designing those two features, and that the data would be kept secure even from Google's own servers.

The blog post ended with a reference to the phone coming out "later this year". The handset is expected around October, but Google has given no precise indication of when it will arrive.