New Pixel 11 Owners Keep Discovering Its Best Feature

There might not have been a long list of new hardware improvements or software features noted by Google when it launched the Pixel 11 series, but there is at least one we’ve pointed out that is top tier. As it turns out, other new owners of a Pixel 11 phone are finding that same feature to be as awesome as we did.

We’re talking about Rambler, the Gboard feature that has brought new life to voice-to-text.

For those who’ve missed all of the chatter around Rambler, this is the AI-powered voice-to-text feature that Google first teased back in May at Google I/O. They showcased it as a way to talk more naturally to your phone, all while it returns that speech by cleaning up the pauses or “umms.” It could even listen to you and then respond to edits you needed, assuming it was long enough to require them.

It really is a fascinatingly cool feature. I’m not one to talk to my phone much, but I’ve been using Rambler non-stop since getting Pixel 11 phones in the hand.

Pixel 11 Rambler feature is a hit

Now that the Pixel 11 series has been in the hands of new owners for a few weeks, some are now just discovering Rambler, even calling it “surprisingly” their favorite new feature. One owner even said they only speak to their phone now because of Rambler, while another admitted that this was the “tipping point” that made them start using voice-to-text by default.

We’ve shared instructions on how to use Rambler, but if you are still not sure, it’s super simple. When you have a text box and Gboard is open, you can tap on the new microphone voice-to-text button that has a little Gemini icon within it. This opens a Rambler session with a colorful glow above your keyboard to notify you that it is listening.

You then talk until done, press a little checkbox to complete the session, and then watch as it immediately returns what you just said, with the entire message cleaned up if necessary. It’s a little bit of magic.

Rambler in Android Auto

At least one Rambler user suggested that Google find a way to bring it to Android Auto and I couldn’t agree more with that idea. Attempting to dictate messages on Android Auto can be clunky, slow, and not nearly as powerful as Rambler.

The phone projection could put pause on that, but imagine if Rambler was on for Android Auto messages, you could dictate longer messages, and have it complete them with clean-up just as it does on your phone? While that might slow the simplicity of the process around messaging while driving, it still could make sense as long as you don’t mind hearing back those longer messages or trusting that Rambler has correctly heard you.

We need Rambler on the Pixel 10 now, right? Fingers crossed.