Camera
The camera in "Auto" function is great for everyday picture-taking. It captures colors vibrantly and photos come out crisp and clear. You can turn on the "Motion" feature for live photos, set three- or 10-second timers, adjust the brightness, and use special light modes (sunny, fluorescent, cloudy, etc.). On "Selfie" mode, you can actually zoom out to fit more people into your group selfie.
Portrait
To make your friends and family look like models and trick others into thinking you used a DSLR to take these photos, use Portrait mode. It blurs the background to make faces and bodies in your immediate view ultra-crisp. The nice thing about Google's Portrait mode is that it also gives you the regular, non-portrait version, so you'll have both on hand.
Night Sight
It's hard to believe that nighttime landscapes like the one above were taken with a phone camera. In low lighting conditions, the Pixel's camera shines. Use Night Mode for dim outdoor and indoor scenes, from viewpoints enjoyed at midnight to fancy, Michelin-starred dishes that are usually cloaked in dark mood lighting.
Playground
Playground is an AR feature that lets you drag and drop characters and text, which Google calls "stickers," into the real-time shot. You can install fun, moving characters like Marvel superheroes or dancing foods to add to your scene, then take a photo or video with them. By no means is this feature a must-have, but you'll have a fun time messing around with Playground.
Panorama
No longer do you have to cut off an important part of a gorgeous sweeping landscape thanks to the Panorama feature. Like most camera panorama programs, it doesn't do well when multiple people move within the frame, so you'll need to be careful about when you use it.
Photobooth
Take a series of photobooth-like photos without ever touching the shutter button. On Photobooth mode, the camera detects smiles and other changes of facial expression, as well as changes in lighting and motion, to automatically take photos.
Lens: Product search
If you see a cool product out in the wild and want to find out more about it and even shop it directly, use Google Lens' Search function. Depending on how distinctive the item is, it can detect the exact product or show you similar products. I found that it was less accurate for things like clothing — but pretty good at drawing up many similar options — and more accurate for anything with a logo, like the Hydro Flask mug above.
Lens: Barcode scan
The best way to find the exact product you want is to scan the barcode with Google Lens. This feature comes in handy if you're shopping in real life and want to see if you can get the product for a lower price or more conveniently online.
Lens: Translate
Google Translate goes live with the help of Google Lens. Within seconds, it auto-detects the language and replaces the text with the translated version. If you've ever used Google Translate, you know that it's not perfect, and this is no less true on Google Lens. But you'll get the general gist and glean enough information to understand what's going on.
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