San Francisco, US, October 4 — Google announces a total of six new products during their Made By Google update event. Next to the product news that were already more or less known, they are also introducing some entirely unexpected gadgets.
New Google Smartphone Pixel 2
It was already expected to hear from the new Google smartphone – Pixel 2. Similar to the first Pixel smartphone, they have again done a great job with the camera. Further, they integrated AR capabilities as well as an exclusive preview of Google Lens, which makes use of AI to give you contextual information relative to your location. Users of the Pixel 2 will again receive free and unrestricted space on the Google Photo cloud service.
There are going to be two versions of this new smartphone – the Pixel 2, with 3 style options and a 5” OLED display, and the Pixel 2 XL with 2 style options and a 6” pOLED display. The color options are called “Just Black”, “Clearly White”, and “Kinda Blue”. The XL size will not be available in “Kinda Blue” though. The Pixel 2 is available for pre-order now, starting at $649 in the US. The units will be shipped with Android 8.0 Oreo, the latest OS version.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpLVsR8cSFo
Google Home Mini and Max
With a price of $49. Mini is one of the smallest and most affordable options for a home assistant device. It allows you to access the Google Assistant in a much easier way and the design options “Chalk”, “Charcoal” and “Coral” fit just about anywhere in your interior.
Max, on the other hand, has a different focus, You might have guessed its primary function by now. It can play music about 20 times more powerful than the original Google Home solution. It will also tune itself dynamically to give you the best possible sound experience. Google Home Max is planned to be sold for $399 per unit.
Pixelbook: Chromebook to the max
The Google Pixelbook is the new attempt to establish Chromebooks in the market. With a design that reminds us of devices like the Lenovo Yoga, this isn’t entirely innovative but a welcome addition to the Made By Google product catalog.
If you buy the Pixelbook, starting at $999, you get a 10.3 mm thin, high-performance laptop that weighs only 1.1 kg. The whole system runs on Chrome OS, which works much like Android OS for phones. Think of it as a laptop that only runs Chrome browser and only the apps you could install within Chrome. This is not a bad device but they might have over-priced it if they planned on selling these to students as low budget alternative to Windows OS laptops.
A more comfortable VR experience updated Daydream View
Not much news here. Most of the features really relate to the previously mentioned new Pixel 2 smartphone and it’s camera and enhanced AR capabilities. The Daydream View is a virtual reality (VR) headset that holds your phone in position, so you can better immerse into other worlds.
The Daydream View headset can also be used with other modern phones such as the Samsung Galaxy S8/S8+/Note 8, Asus ZenFone AR, LG V30, Motorola Moto Z/Z Force/Z2 Force, ZTE Axon 7, Huawei Mate 9 Pro or the old Pixel phone by Google. Pricing for this VR headset will be $99.
Google Clips is your AI home photographer
Sounds like a software solution but actually, the new Google Clips camera is an interesting new kind of camera that automatically records moments either as photo video clip. Thanks to machine learning and AI this tiny camera can be placed anywhere and it will shoot only meaningful material that matters to you.
The device edits and curates the produced content for you and then sends it to your phone. Of course, you can also do a little bit of editing if you think the Clips cam didn’t do a perfect job. The focus group for the Clips cam consists of parents and pet owners who have Pixel phones, Samsung Galaxy S7/8 or iPhones (6 and up). For a price of $249, you can order your own home AI camera device.
More info on the Google Clips cam: Google Goes Full Circle with New Clips Mini-Smart-Camera
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXh1yyvXpwo
Pixel Buds to rival the Apple AirPods?
Next to being top notch headphones for listening to music, the Pixel Buds are neatly integrated with the Google Assistant and other smart functions. If you pair the Pixel Buds with the Pixel phone, you can translate between languages in real-time. When you’re talking, the Pixel phone will play the translation of what you said and as someone replies to you, the Pixel Buds will play it back in your ear in the language you understand. This can be done in up to 40 languages.
The design looks a bit like a DIY solution but it’s not too bad. It would have been great if the Pixel Buds were bundled with the Pixel 2 phones but they are not and can be bought separately for $159 in the US. As of now, it’s unclear if the translation feature would also work with other phones that run Android or not.
No Chromecast?
Personally, I also hoped for some Chromecast news but maybe they’ll have something like that in store for us in 2018. We’re looking forward to seeing more products “Mady By Google”. What do you think of these new products? Will you buy anything of these? Share your thoughts with us below in the comments!
YouTube: A few new things made by Google
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cjVj1ZyzyE
Photo credit: Google
Source: Google blog article
