Google Pixel 3 ‘Call Screen’ feature is an attempt to end telemarketer calls

Google

• Google is trying to end telemarketer calls on
  smartphones through a new Android feature named “Call
  Screen.”
• The feature lets you use Google Assistant to answer phone
  calls — it instantly transcribes the phone call and lets you
  choose if you want to pick up.
• If it is indeed a telemarketer, the call can be
  instantly marked as spam. 
• The feature is rolling out to Pixel 3 smartphones
  first, but “comes to the entire Pixel family next
  month.”

“You’ll never have to talk to another telemarketer,” Google
product manager Liza Ma said on Tuesday morning to raucous
applause.

Ma had just introduced Call Screen, a new feature built into
Android on Google’s Pixel line of smartphones. The service is
Google’s latest attempt to curb telemarketing calls on
smartphones.

As the name implies, the service enables Pixel phone users to
screen phone calls in a more active way than simply looking at
the number and ignoring it or declining.

By using Call Screen, Google’s software answers the phone call
for you and transcribes the caller’s response in real time. Like
so:

Google

In this way, Call Screen is an extension of how Google’s Pixel
phones already operate. 

As it is, Google’s Pixel phones warn users about suspected spam
numbers — telemarketers — and allow for outright filtration of
all such calls. With Call Screen, that function is taken one step
further.

Whether it will work is another question. That’s due to the way
that telemarketing services catalog their phone number databases.
These services track whether or not numbers they call answer
attempted outreach. Numbers that receive a pick-up are
subsequently marked as answered phone numbers, and those
numbers are targeted. Given that telemarketing services often use
number spoofing services, which enable them to hide their
identity as another phone number, it can be hard to mark numbers
as spam.

Worse, if Call Screen is flagged as a “pickup” by telemarketers,
it could result in more calls. We’ll have to wait
and see how it works in real life to know for sure.

In the meantime, check out a video of the new Call Screen feature
in action right here: