24 Jan
One of the coolest features launched with the Google Pixel 3 is Call Screen, which allows you to have Google Assistant answer your spam calls. Rather than waste your time dealing with telemarketers, Assistant will do all the work for you.
As Call Screen does its thing, it’s easy to watch a transcript of the conversation if you like. However, a not-so-obvious feature exists which allows you to listen in on the conversation — without the spam caller knowing you’re there.
A user on Reddit accidentally discovered the relatively-unknown feature. To listen in during a Call Screen conversation, simply turn the volume up using the volume rocker and the audio will play through the phone’s speakers. Once again, you’ll be able to hear the human caller and Google Assistant’s responses, but the caller won’t be able to hear you.
Some users in the Reddit thread also said they had success by simply lifting the phone to their ear to hear the calls through the ear speaker, but other Redditors said this didn’t work for them. Your mileage may vary.
Obviously, the whole point of Call Screen is to have Google Assistant do the work of answering the calls, so you don’t have to waste your time dealing with them. By stopping what you’re doing and listening in on the call, it kind of defeats the purpose. However, I’m sure the calls will sometimes be hilarious and therefore it will be more like a fun break rather than a frustrating waste of your time.
Call Screen works on the Google Pixel 3, Pixel 2, and the original Pixel phones. There’s no word yet on whether the feature will come to any other Android devices.
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