What you need to know
- Google was spotted working on a new “clear voice” feature for the Recorder app.
- Discoveries within the app’s code suggest this feature will weed out annoying “background noises” to reduce their presence and elevate your voice.
- The Recorder app, with Gemini Nano’s help, brought a “summarize” function to the Pixel 8 and the app arrived on Chromebooks in November.
Google was spotted preparing an update for its Recorder app that works harder to keep you clear.
During an APK teardown by X tipster AssembleDebug (Android Authority), it was discovered that the company is working on a “clear voice” feature for the app. From the code, it seems that the primary function of the feature is to “reduce background noise.”
Another string states the app will implement a filter to keep “human speech” while tossing “background sounds.”
The post states the feature wasn’t working properly through the early preview in v4.2.20241001.7 of the Recorder app. However, the tipster was able to uncover some advisories about using “clear voice.” Within the code, Google features strings that state users cannot use the feature if their phone is in “stereo mode.”
Additionally, the feature does not support the use of an external microphone.
Once this rolls out, users with the Recorder app must shift their phone into “mono audio” to use the background noise reduction magic. Most of the goodies seem in place, but it’s not clear when Google will push this to Pixels.
The Recorder app has been relatively quiet in terms of updates; however, some standouts include its major translation update. Pixel devices can leverage a “Transcribe again” tool that leans on Google’s Cloud services. In short, this feature re-transcribes a recording in one of 42 available languages. The process sends your audio recording into the cloud to work its magic before returning it to you.
Our testing showed that the process takes a few minutes as the file travels.
More recently, the Recorder app was busy with new goodies in new places, like the Pixel 8. After the series picked up Gemini Nano, the Recorder app activated its “Summarize” feature for audio files. Leveraging Google’s LLM (large language model), users can find a convenient summary of what transpired without listening to a lengthy audio log.
What’s more, ChromeOS 130 for Chromebooks and Chromebook Plus models picked up a version of the app. Users were granted access to speech-to-text generation, summarization, and title suggestions.
