Android 11 is bringing a new Motion Sense gesture on Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL

When the Pixel 4 launched back in October, we were all a little disappointed in the number of things you could do with its new Motion Sense feature. When we first saw Project Soli demoed back in 2014, it seemed like the capabilities of radar in your smartphone were endless. Instantly count cards in a stack. Identify objects. The Pixel 4 series was looking to be a very interesting series of devices.

So when the phones finally launched with the technology, we were all a little surprised that the functionality was so limited. Quiet your alarm! Skip songs in music apps! While these features are certainly useful, we were hoping for a little more.

In Android 11, it seems that Google has finally started to expand the capabilities of Motion Sense. Now, instead of only skipping and going back during song playback, you can hover your hand over the phone to pause a track, and hover it once again to start playing it again.

While this is a fairly simple feature and not exactly the technical marvel we’ve been hoping to see Motion Sense mature into, it’s a good sign that Google is actually committed to the feature.

Will Google continue to expand the capabilities of Motion Sense in the future? That remains to be seen. It does, however, inspire confidence that Google may continue to employ the feature in the Pixel 5 and onwards.

What gesture are you hoping to see added to Motion Sense? Let us know in the comments below!