Google Pixel phones have a great feature that is not yet available in the Czech Republic. However, that may soon change

The classic voicemail offered by mobile operators has been as annoying for years as it was in the days of the first feature phones. Lengthy voice menus, poor recording quality, and the need to listen to a message twice to write down a number – this is an experience few people voluntarily indulge in today. Google tackled this frustration on its Pixel phones with the Take a Message feature, which uses local artificial intelligence. And now it looks like it could finally reach Czech users – even beyond phones with the Google logo on their backs.

What can Take a Message actually do?

Take a Message offers a modern alternative to traditional voicemail, which customers activate with their operators. The feature activates when you miss or reject an incoming call. It offers the caller the option to leave a message, which Google AI records and simultaneously transcribes into text in real time. If you hear an interesting message during the recording, you can immediately pick up the call.

A key advantage is that the entire process runs directly on the device. Sound processing therefore does not require an internet connection, and recordings do not leave your phone, which is good news for privacy. The feature also uses the same spam detection model that Google deploys in Call Screen – thus recognizing unwanted offers and fraudulent calls before they even report a missed call to you.

On newer Pixels, Take a Message can also generate a summary and suggested next steps after a call ends, similar to the more well-known Call Notes feature. So, if your neighbor tries to give you three important dates and a phone number, you’ll get them nicely structured in text.

End of Pixel exclusivity?

The Take a Message feature is currently only available on Google Pixel 6 series phones and newer, and only in five countries – the USA, the UK, Canada, Australia, and Ireland. However, editors at Android Authority discovered several clues in version 221.0.909663815 of the Phone by Google app that suggest an imminent expansion.

Among the most interesting findings is a variable named “enabledBeeslyV2NonPixel”. The code name “Beesly” in Google’s internal documents refers to Take a Message. Therefore, it can be concluded with high probability from the name that the company is testing the service’s functionality on phones from other manufacturers as well.

The Czech Republic is on the list of countries, but there’s a catch

From a geographical expansion perspective, the situation is a bit more complicated. In the code, Google distinguishes between a full variant with transcripts and an audio-only variant. This makes sense – high-quality speech recognition requires language models that need to be trained and fine-tuned for each language separately.

Google Pixel phones have a great feature that is not yet available in the Czech Republic. However, that may soon change Adam Kurfürst News Adam Kurfürst News

The variable “enableBeeslyV2TranscriptMarkets”, which defines countries with full support including transcripts, mentions Germany, Spain, France, Italy, and Japan. A much broader list can then be found under the variable “enableBeeslyV2AudioOnlyMarkets” controlling the audio-only variant – among the listed countries are the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

For Czechs, this would practically mean that Take a Message would answer a missed call and record the caller’s message, but it would not display the message text directly in the application. This is, of course, a pity – the ability to quickly “scan” the message content with your eyes is one of the most praised advantages of the service. On the other hand, it would still be a significant improvement over annoying operator voicemails.

Would you use Take a Message if it came to your phone?

Sources: Android Authority, Forbes, Android Police, Google