More Features For Google's 'Bisto' Headphones Revealed In APK Teardown

Google is rumored to announce its own spin on Apple’s wireless AirPods currently codenamed as Bisto. A recent APK teardown of the Google app v7.10 may have revealed some more details on the company’s upcoming Bisto headphones.

The APK teardown of the v7.10 beta of the Google app was made by Android Police. First up, the site discovered a few lines of text within the APK that directly reference headphones that work with Google Assistant. One of the lines of text reads “Your headphones have the Google Assistant,” which certainly confirms Bisto headphones’ existence.

Android Police also discovered codes mentioning “oem partner app” under the “additional settings for your headphones” found under Bisto’s settings screen. This means that Google appears to be working with other original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in making Bisto-style headphones.

Google will most likely be making and selling its own pair of Bisto headphones, but the company will be allowing other OEMs to make their own. The discovered settings is believed to only appear when an OEM’s companion app is installed and will simply be for helping users to set up and configure their headphones.

Other OEM’s Bisto-style headphones could come with a set of additional features. For example, an OEM’s Bisto headphones could come with its own equalizer, which could only be adjusted through its companion app.

Giving other OEMs the chance to make their own Google Assistant-powered headphones would mean that consumers will have a lot of options. There could be low-cost headphones making Google Assistant more accessible than ever, and there could be premium models that could offer up superior sound quality. This also means that the headphones could come in different form factors like mono earpieces or earbud models.

There are also references to button layouts. There are two sets of different button layouts for the Bisto headphones, and one of them might be intended for OEMs. What’s consistent however is that Bisto headphones could have a set of three buttons. One of these buttons will trigger Google Assistant if users press and hold on it.

There’s also a possibility that other Bisto-style headphones could even have a single button. Users might be able to perform other features by simply pressing this button with a specific pattern.

Lastly, the APK teardown revealed that Google’s Bisto headphones will also be able to read out the user’s notifications. Apparently, this feature will only work for most recent or most important notifications rather than for all of them, as pointed out by Android Authority. Google Assistant may also be able to read messages from certain apps. It’s very likely that Google will make this possible for its Allo messaging app.

Other Google Bisto features listed include possible support for voice calling for regular phone calls and from apps, and the ability for Assistant to read out the current battery level of the headphones.

Details about the Google Assistant-powered headphones were first reported yesterday. The Bisto headphones might be announced later this year alongside the new Pixel 2 smartphones, a new Chromebook Pixel and a mini version of the Home smart speaker.