Google has been researching radar technology for many years AloneRecently Ripple Renamed and will be used in many future projects. Here is a brief overview of what the future holds for Solo or Ripple. Unfortunately, the options are still very limited and it seems that Google is not going ahead with the technology.
Solly was an interesting experiment about eight years ago, but it didn’t take long to get beyond this position. Based on radar technology, the goal was to pack possibilities into a small chip and detect approach and movement. Like the classic radar used to detect aircraft and ships, but on a much smaller scale and more accurate detection.
Soli was first used on the Pixel 4A, where it was hailed as an important invention. However, in the end, it was only an advanced proximity sensor that could detect large areas of manual grazing. That may be interesting, but my Samsung Galaxy S3 can already do that with very simple technology. It was later found in the Nest Thermostat, and today Soli is on the current gen Nest Hub smart display, but that’s not a significant surprise there either.
Google has now commented on how to use the technology in future products. And it shows what it has seen over the years: the device, a smart display not yet available in this form, responds to user approaches and changes the display.
The smart display displays the current temperature or similar information in a larger font, making it easier to see from a distance across the room. As you get closer to the display, there is more detail and smaller size of the font and components. It’s obviously very handy, but ultimately just an advanced proximity sensor. Technically, one does not go one step further and is far from recognizing precise movements. You want to identify a handshake in later products, but not individual fingers or shapes. Research videos (as an example) that can distinguish each type of fruit and their size from each other were much more advanced at the time.
It remains to be seen whether Google can make the most of these limited technical possibilities. I think such solos will not be developed further, but they will continue to be so. Once Soli finds someone approaching, you can definitely activate the camera (if it’s not covered if available) and see more details accordingly. Similar to face recognition on smartphones.
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