Google may be working on Project Soli-based smart watch

One of Pixel 4’s more unique features was the Motion Sense gesture navigation that allowed the phone to work through hand gestures. The feature was novel, however, it failed to gain much traction among users and it also drained the battery on the smartphone that already had a pretty “abysmal” battery life. Reports suggest that Google might drop the feature entirely with the next Pixel device.

The technology is impressive nonetheless from a technical point of view and Google put in a lot of effort to build the Soli chip. While it is possible that the company might discard it, it seems like for the time being they are exploring other uses for it.

A patent discovered by Patently Apple, published in USPTO last week, shows designs for a smartwatch that is based on using finger gestures to interact with the device. This is very similar to the premise of what Google had shown as a demo to showcase Project Soli in 2016.

Motion Sense was not very useful on a smartphone since the phone is in our hands most of the day anyway. However, it makes more sense to use it for a smart watch. Imagine being able to use the smart watch as a virtual remote for your smart home.

The prospect sounds exciting and promising especially if it can control enough smart objects without you having to speak to a virtual assistant to get it done. But we will have to wait and see if Google uses it at all.