It was a busy day for Google as they launched a whole range of new hardware including the Pixel 2 phone, new Google Home smart speakers, smart headphones and a new Pixel Chromebook. Here’s everything you need to know about the new devices.
The phones were first up with the new Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL with 5 and 6 inch screens respectively. Both phones have an OLED screen and are water and dust resistant with the XL having a QHD screen and the smaller 2 with a 1080p resolution. Like the HTC U11, there is a squeeze function, so you can launch Google Assistant by squeezing the sides of the phone. Google demonstrated Lens, which will at first be exclusively available on the Pixel. This allows you to point the camera and it can recognise objects like a film poster or a species of flower. There are high quality cameras on both phones, a fingerprint reader on the back and two stereo speakers on the front.
Google launched two new versions of the Home smart speaker – a smaller version called Home Mini and a beefed up version called Home Max, which features two 4.5 woofers and is said to be twenty times more powerful than the standard version.
Google Clips is a small clip-on camera with artificial intelligence that can automatically take video and can recognise faces and animals. The recordings can be exported as videos, photos or GIFs and is designed to capture moments when a camera isn’t available.
One unexpected item was Google’s wireless headphones, Pixel Buds. As well as high quality headphones, they include access to Google Assistant, so you can do real-time language translation. They can last 5 hours on a single charge and come with a charging case that can power up 4 times. You can adjust volume by tapping on the headphones and use Google Assistant by holding down your finger, giving you fast access to all it’s features.
Finally, Google also announced a new premium Pixelbook with an aluminium body and a tablet-style mode. There was plenty to talk about at the event with Google launching new devices that are sure to be tempting to technology fans.
