What you need to know
- The December update for the Pixel 4 has enabled eSIM capability for T-Mobile's network.
- Thanks to the phone's dual-SIM dual-standby support, you can also have another network's SIM in the physical SIM slot.
- Calls, text, and data from both carriers can then work simultaneously.
Better facial recognition isn't the only convenience the Pixel 4 series is going to get with the December security update; it also includes eSIM support for T-Mobile's network. As spotted by Android Police, T-Mobile's latest software release for the phone includes "various bug fixes and system improvements," alongside the highly-requested feature.
Not only this but thanks to dual-standby support on the latest Pixels, you can actually mimic dual-SIM capability on the phone, despite the single SIM slot found on its left side. If you're using a mobile operator that supports eSIMs — like T-Mobile — you can use that in conjunction with a physical SIM card to have access to two different carriers at the same time. You can then receive calls and texts from both SIMs without any issue, though you will, of course, need to select one network as the primary node for mobile data in the phone's settings.
Alongside this rather clever use of the eSIM standard to enable dual-SIM support, the Pixel 4 includes a number of other clever software tricks up its sleeve. Google's phones are known for their computational photography chops, and the Pixel 4 is no exception; its Astrophotography mode lets you feel closer than ever to the stars, and the Google Assistant has been shrunk down in size to fit on the device itself, resulting in 10x better performance. On top of that, Google is planning on improving the phones via software every so often, thanks to regular 'feature drops'.
