Google's AR Stickers now available for the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL

Google has released its AR Stickers on the Google Play Store for the Pixel 2 and the Pixel 2 XL. Users of these devices will have to go to the My Apps section and find them under Updates. Once installed, these will appear in the main Camera app after you swipe from the left edge.

AR Stickers is a new feature on the Pixel phones that was demoed back in October during the Pixel 2 launch event. This isn't anything new to anyone used to Snapchat; you get a bunch of animated 3D 'stickers' that work together with the camera and be dropped around in your environment. You can move them around and change their size. You can then take their picture or, ideally, record a video of them moving around your environment.

The app currently includes three genetic sticker packs as well as Star Wars and Stranger Things packs. The cool thing about these is that when you place more than one sticker at a time, they also acknowledge each other's presence and interact with them.

The feature does quite well and all the stickers animate smoothly. It's likely Google held off on these till the Android 8.1 update was released, which unlocked the Pixel Visual Core. I did notice that the phone turned insanely hot within minutes of using the feature, especially when two or more stickers were on screen at once, which means it's also burning a lot of power. But for occasional use, it's a nice, fun feature to have, especially if Google keeps adding new packs regularly.

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