Pixel 11 Pro XL's HiLight Falls Short

The Pixel 11 Pro XL's HiLight feature has been met with disappointment by one reviewer, who spent a week testing it.

HiLight is part of the camera flash on the back of the phone and uses a range of colored LED lights to notify users. When placed face down, the light flashes one of six colors: blue (reserved for Google Gemini), teal, yellow, magenta, purple, or white. However, this feature has been criticized for being limited in its functionality.

The reviewer notes that HiLight can only flash for two reasons: when talking to Google Gemini and when starred contacts call. The ability to map different notifications to specific colors is also not available at the moment, which could have made HiLight a standout feature for the phone.

Despite its limitations, one developer has managed to crack the system behind HiLight, allowing users to control the rear-lights colors and program them to activate with more apps. However, this requires technical expertise and patience, as the setup process is complicated.