Some of the most popular selling points of Google Pixel phones are the unique features of Google software, especially the photo-editing tools. If you want to use Google's amazing Photo Unblur, for example, you need a Pixel XNUMX or Pixel XNUMX Pro. Now Magic Eraser, one of the main features of the Google Pixel, is coming to a number of other devices, including iPhones. and competing Android smartphones.
Magic Eraser launched with the Google Pixel 6 and Pixel XNUMX Pro phones. When the Pixel XNUMXa was announced, it didn't have Magic Eraser on board, but the feature was added in a subsequent update.
Google claims that all Google One subscribers, including iOS users, will be able to use Magic Eraser on Google Photos. Every Google Pixel owner should have access to the feature as well.
Google One is a cloud storage and VPN service plan that gives you more space for your free Google account. If you sync photos and videos with Google Photos, this can be particularly helpful, especially with today's high-resolution cameras and videos.
Magic Eraser is a smart erasing tool that can notice unwanted items in the background and suggest deletion. These bits are replaced with natural-looking, photorealistic enhancements. You can choose the background element you want to destroy or let Magic Eraser do it for you.
In practice, Magic Eraser works really well. Google was smart to make sure this feature was part of Google Photos and not built into the Pixel phone's cameras. This means that you can edit any photo saved in the Google cloud, not just photos taken recently.
This makes Magic Eraser a natural alternative for cross-platform sharing, since it's already built on the cloud and Google machine learning. In truth, it makes us wonder about yet another awesome Google Photos feature, and whether its days of exclusivity are numbered.
Google has long maintained that Photo Unblur will remain exclusive to Pixel phones, and today it only works with phones with the Tensor G2 chipset: Pixel XNUMX and Pixel XNUMX Pro. However, like Magic Eraser , Photo Unblur is found in the Google Photos app. Just like Eraser, Photo Unblur lets you work magic on any photo, not just photos taken on Pixel phones.
Photo Unblur is fabulous, but Magic Eraser has always been the real magic trick. Now that it's coming to every single Google One subscriber, we'd be surprised if Photo Unblur stays exclusive for much longer.
Google could have a new phone on the way in the next few months if there's a Pixel 7a launch in the middle of the year, like in previous years. This would be a definite time to determine if Photo Unblur will catch on or continue to be a key selling point for acquiring Google's own hardware.
It wasn't going to be exclusive for quite some time.
In fact, the likely reason Google is sharing Magic Eraser across all platforms is that the major contenders are soon going to have similar offerings in the market, if they don't already. Adobe offers context-sensitive editing, and Apple has "addressed the background issue" on the iPhone.
Still, it was a huge selling point for Google phones, and helped Google get away with it somewhat. Cameras didn't have to be so good if photo-editing tools could fix any photo. Actually, it turns out that Google Pixel phones have great cameras, especially if you go for the Pro models. So maybe it wasn't such an advantage after all.
Google is not going to rest on the laurels when it offers the best features of the Pixel. Probably the next Pixel phone will bring a new exclusive feature. Hopefully it's something that impresses us as much as Magic Eraser and Photo Unblur. Maybe an in-depth fake detection tool to bring back those magically deleted people.