This year, the Pixel 6 smartphones again rely on a hole-punch camera, which is located in the display’s camera hole and is currently regarded as the most elegant solution to the display-camera problem. If you don’t get used to it or would like to use the cut-out practically, you can do so with a practical app: With Energy Ring, the battery status can be displayed with a circular graphic.
Smartphone displays have gotten bigger and bigger over the years and at some point, it was inevitable that the other components had to make room on the front or move to another place – also with the Pixel 6. The fingerprint sensor is now integrated into the display and does the work there are still some problems. The camera is in the usual place and has been given a camera hole in the display, which is in the horizontal center at the top edge of the display in the current generation.
The camera hole is not necessarily attractive but has long been accepted by most users. The alternative would be the rather unaccepted notch or a mechanically fold-out camera. I think the hole is the best solution until the under-display cameras are fully marketable. Anyone who doesn’t get used to it or would like to use this area practically can do so with the Energy Ring app.
Energy Ring places a circle around the camera hole that is only slightly larger than the cutout itself, resulting in a thin ring. This can be used to display the current battery status, which can be visualized much more beautifully here than with the usual graphic in the notification bar. There are still a few setting options.
Energy Ring allows you to set the strength of the ring, set the direction of rotation (clockwise, counterclockwise or bi-directional) and also customize the color of the circle. Several colors can be defined, which are used depending on the set limit value. That can be really chic and shows you at first glance how the battery is doing.
Instead of hiding the hole, you even underline it with it. However, it is the case that the view then gets stuck on the colored ring instead of the camera installed underneath, so that it is ultimately less visible than before. The app has been available to download free of charge from the Google Play Store for a long time and is financed by the advertisements in the settings. Compatibility with Pixel 6 smartphones was created with the latest update.