Of all the new Pixel 10 features touted by Google at its recent announcement event, Magic Cue looked like the most useful. An AI-powered feature that collates information from multiple apps and brings it to you when you most need it? That sounds great! When I tried to use Magic Cue when buying footy tickets, however, it was nowhere to be seen.
As advertised by Google, Magic Cue is meant to “surface the info you need, when you need it”. Theoretically, the feature should trawl through information stored in your Google apps — messages, Gmail, calendar, and the Keep notes app — and automatically bring that info to your attention in context-specific situations.
Ahead of launch, Google demonstrated the feature in various scenarios. A phone call to an airline prompted a pop-up including a user’s flight booking information. When a friend messaged to ask where dinner is, the answer automatically appeared from a calendar item. All of it is designed to stop you from swapping between apps to find deeply buried information.
I received a Google Pixel 10 Pro XL to test out, and Magic Cue didn’t appear once. My grand plan was that it would streamline the process of buying tickets to the upcoming Adelaide Crows qualifying final during a member pre-sale. I thought it would save me from opening my notes app to copy my member barcodes, and then show me the pre-sale link — all of which was stored on the phone in multiple locations.
Let’s just say I’m glad that I had a backup plan.
Setting up Magic Cue
According to Google’s official support documentation, Magic Cue kicks in 24 hours after first setting up a Pixel 10. With this in mind, I set up the Pixel 10 Pro XL several days before the member pre-sale.
I then saved all the information I needed in multiple locations. First, I saved the member barcodes required to access the pre-sale, followed by the pre-sale link, plus the date and time the sale began. Keeping in mind the Magic Cue-compatible apps, I saved these details in the following apps:
- Pixel Screenshots
- Gmail
- Keep notes
- Calendar
More than 24 hours after setup, I couldn’t get Google’s fancy new feature to pop up. So, I returned to Google’s support page. It suggested I check the app permissions (everything was already enabled) and update everything.
After double and triple-checking everything, I was adamant that I’d followed Google’s instructions to the letter. Another 24 hours passed, and still nothing.
The disclaimer of “it may take time to start showing relevant suggestions to new info” provided little solace. With no concrete timeline to go on, it didn’t instil any confidence that the feature would work by the time the pre-sale rolled around.
Always have a backup plan
Now, despite what you may think, I’m not a complete idiot. To test Magic Cue ahead of the ticket pre-sale, I asked my partner to message me, specifically asking what time the tickets went on sale and what our member barcodes were.
Guess what happened? Nothing. No information or helpful guidance whatsoever.
Then, I asked my partner to repeat the process, except by sending an email to my Gmail account instead. I also sent an email from my work account asking the same questions. Surely Magic Cue would know what’s up, considering I’d already received several emails containing the very information it needed to source?
Nope. Sweet FA. Nothing appeared as I started replying to the email that painstakingly used the same words and phrases stored elsewhere on the Pixel phone.
Even on the morning of the pre-sale, I couldn’t tempt Magic Cue to stop stubbornly hiding. Disappointed, I resorted to my MacBook and manually copied the info I needed from my Notes app to then use in a web browser.
Doing it manually meant I made the pre-sale on time and bought my tickets in 10 minutes flat. Bada bing, bada boom.
I’m not the only one who struggled with Magic Cue during the Pixel 10 review period, either. EFTM‘s Daniel Tyson couldn’t get the feature to work, while Scott Plowman labelled its lack of functionality as “disappointing”.
WhistleOut Australia‘s Alex Choros managed to get Magic Cue working, if you can call it ‘working’. Choros’ testing resulted in the feature surfacing completely incorrect information. Similar to others’ experiences, including mine, there were plenty of instances where it simply didn’t appear.
It’s possible that post-launch updates could improve Magic Cue’s reliability. But I wouldn’t rely on it to help you right now.
It’s yet another example of an AI feature that promises the world but fails to perform when it counts. Here’s hoping the opposite proves to be true for my beloved Crows in their final next week.
The post Pixel 10’s Magic Cue failed the ultimate test: buying footy tickets appeared first on GadgetGuy.
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