The beta also refers to pinned sports scores that would appear while you use other apps, letting you keep tabs on that all-important match without having to ask Assistant or find the relevant info card. Other code helps explain how gestures for Pixel Buds will work: you could tell the double-tap command to do something besides check notifications, or triple-tap for manual control. You could even turn off the Pixel Buds just by removing the right-side earpiece.

As with any hidden code in pre-release software, there's no certainty that the features are imminent, or even that they're guaranteed to arrive. Updates sometimes linger in beta for months or get cut entirely at the last minute. All these updates are very practical, though, making them more likely a matter of "when" than "if."