Google’s new Magic Portrait characteristic is a Pixel-perfect delight

Forward of its annual I/O developer convention for 2025, Google just lately took the wraps off

its fresh new design language
for the Android working system. When this Materials 3 Expressive visible overhaul was first leaked forward of its official unveiling,

I wasn’t initially sold on it
— I am typically resistant to vary, and I felt not sure about all of the added blurs and animations sprinkled all through the system.

A few days in the past, I obtained the Android 16 QPRI Beta 1 over-the-air (OTA) replace on

my own personal Pixel 9 Pro
, giving me an opportunity to check out Materials 3 Expressive for myself. Because it seems, I am an enormous fan of Google’s new design language: when in movement on my gadget, it is aesthetically pleasing and subtly playful, with sensible consideration to element.

Whereas I used to be actually anticipating the Materials 3 Expressive interface tweaks to hit my Pixel with this beta replace, I wasn’t anticipating the arrival of a brand new characteristic within the type of Magic Portrait. Magic Portrait is a brand new wallpaper impact that ties in with Google’s refreshed

Android
design language efforts, providing automated picture framing and a enjoyable animated unlock transition.

Utilizing

artificial intelligence
, Android’s new Magic Portrait characteristic is ready to isolate the foreground and background parts of any portrait photograph in your gallery. From right here, it surfaces varied framing choices for adjusting the cutout form, whereas letting you tweak the colour accenting to greatest match the colours pulled out of your picture in query.

When it is all arrange, the top result’s a

lock screen
with a beautiful foreground topic within the highlight, with a seamless unlock animation when transitioning into the house display setting. When the house display is reached, the remainder of the photograph is revealed in a single swift and silky-smooth movement.

Magic Portrait is an absolute delight

In movement, the characteristic brings Android wallpapers to life

I attempted Google’s new Magic Portrait characteristic with a number of portrait pictures of myself and family members, and the AI-powered topic lifting labored effortlessly each time. It solely takes a few seconds for the system to work its magic, and the ensuing lock display design is at all times a stunner in my view. I am important of AI options for AI’s sake, however Magic Portrait is a type of far-and-few-between functions of AI that feels pure and genuinely helpful in elevating the smartphone expertise.

I additionally examined out Magic Portrait with non-portrait pictures, to combined success. After all, the picture you throw on the system must have a discernible topic and background, so it will not work nicely with, say, a panorama photograph of a canyon. That being stated, I discovered the characteristic to work nicely with close-up pictures of issues like flowers, and pets are a perfect pairing for the characteristic as nicely. As ever in Google’s post-Material You Android era, the OS is excellent at pulling out visually harmonious accent colours that add additional polish to the general impact.

Except for adjusting shapes and isolating topics, Magic Portrait will also be used to transpose climate results onto any lock display picture of your selecting. These embrace fog, rain, snow, and solar, with an extra choice to dynamically match your native climate situations. I discovered this characteristic to work nicely, with granular management over the depth of the impact accessible through a slider. Lastly, Magic Portrait ropes within the current cinematic characteristic that has existed on Pixel telephones for a while now, which makes use of AI so as to add a unusual parallax impact to photographs (one which I’ve by no means discovered significantly convincing in my testing).

Magic Portrait is a type of uncommon AI-powered options that serves to please the consumer in a means that “simply works,” relatively than bending over backwards to try to justify itself. It is a wholly non-compulsory expertise, however I discover it provides a contact of much-needed character to the Pixel expertise. Different Android OEMs, in addition to

Apple
with its newer iOS variations, have featured related parallax, background isolating, or unlock transition results prior to now, however I believe Google’s expressive tackle the thought is a house run, even whereas nonetheless in its beta type.

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