MANILA, Philippines – Among the features that drew the most oohs and aahs at Google’s October 2018 launch event  was its new phone Pixel 3’s Call Screen feature, which allows a user to let the phone answer a call for them.

For millennials, it’s a godsend. They’re a generation that’s gotten a reputation for being call-averse, preferring text messaging than voice calls. 

Google’s feature was not designed to cater specifically to millennials though. It was designed to screen spam telemarketing calls, and have the phone talk to the caller to give the user more information before deciding whether or not to take the call. 

When a call comes, the user is given the option to screen the call. When activated, the phone informs the caller that it’s talking to a machine, and that the conversation will be recorded. The phone then asks who they are, and why they’re calling. The conversation is transcribed in real-time for the user to see. The user can then choose to answer the call, end it, or report the call as spam. Here’s how it looks: 

The phone also identifies itself as a machine as the result of a Google policy that states that its Google Assistant software – which is among the core technologies powering the feature – must always identify itself as such. 

Call Screen will ship with the Pixel 3, which will launch first in the U.S. on October 18. The feature will then cascade to older Pixel phones about a month from now. – Rappler.com