My favourite Pixel 11 Professional function is one thing no different Android cellphone can match

I’m a giant fan of the Pixel 11 Professional. I’ve been utilizing Google’s flagship Android cellphone for over a month now, and there’s a lot about it that I like — be it the wonderful cameras, attractive design, or clear software program.

I talked about a number of this stuff in my Pixel 11 Professional evaluation, however there’s one function I didn’t point out: Face Unlock. For the reason that Pixel 8 Professional launched almost three years in the past, each Google Pixel cellphone has launched with Google’s Face Unlock function.

Beginning with the Pixel 8 Professional (and base mannequin Pixel 8) in 2023, Google geared up its Pixel handsets with two safe biometric unlock choices: the in-screen fingerprint sensor and its up to date Face Unlock.

Just about each Android cellphone right this moment gives some type of face unlock, however the way in which it labored on the Pixel 8, and continues to take action on trendy Pixels, may be very completely different from the competitors. Face unlock on Samsung and Motorola telephones, for instance, can solely unlock the lock display. However on Pixels, Face Unlock will get a safety increase from Google’s Tensor chips, making it safe sufficient to unlock delicate apps and authenticate cell funds.

Google achieved this three years in the past, and the basic tech actually hasn’t modified because the Pixel 8 sequence. Besides, Face Unlock nonetheless places a smile on my face each time I exploit it.

I don’t dislike fingerprint sensors, and the one on the Pixel 11 Professional is kind of good. However having the selection between it and a fully-fledged face unlock system is simply immensely handy. Once I’m already holding the Pixel 11 Professional, popping my thumb onto the fingerprint sensor is normally the quickest and most pure solution to unlock the cellphone or entry a banking app. However when the Pixel is mendacity on my workplace desk or kitchen desk, simply glancing on the cellphone to unlock it’s the greatest.

Typically, I need a fingerprint sensor. Different instances, I would like face unlock. One isn’t essentially 100% higher than the opposite, however I desire every one underneath completely different circumstances. Having the selection to determine which to make use of on the Pixel 11 Professional is one thing I recognize each single day — and one thing I can’t get on every other main Android cellphone within the US.

It could sound foolish, however Google’s Face Unlock actually is without doubt one of the (many) causes I gravitate in direction of Pixels over competing Android telephones. It’s a kind of quality-of-life options that’s so arduous to reside with out when you’ve gotten used to it, and three years later, it stays simply as magical because it did at launch.

You’ll suppose different Android manufacturers can be keen to repeat Google’s Face Unlock method, particularly three years after its launch. However right here we’re in September 2026, and Google continues to be the one Android model within the US — and different elements of the world — providing the function.

Why? For all of the flak Google’s Tensor chipsets obtain, Face Unlock on Pixel telephones exists solely due to Tensor. Relatively than creating specialised facial recognition {hardware} (à la Face ID), Google’s Face Unlock makes use of a regular front-facing digicam paired with machine studying fashions tuned to Google’s customized TPU in its Tensor chips. If manufacturers like Samsung and Motorola needed to supply one thing comparable, they’d have to take a position huge quantities of money and time into getting their very own fashions to work with the non-specialized Qualcomm and MediaTek chips they use.

Google’s Tensor chips could lose out in benchmark comparisons, however they’re the explanation why options like Face Unlock are so good. And when you ask me, that trade-off is 100% price it.