Google announced a new set of devices at an event that held on Tuesday, the 4th of October, at San Francisco. The devices range from smartphones to streaming devices, VR headsets, and the likes. It turns out Google has finally ditched other hardware manufacturers and has now begun making their own hardware. As such, the devices unveiled at the event were tagged ‘Made by Google’.
First up in the announcements was Google’s latest take on mobile phones -The Google Pixel phone. The new Google-branded smartphone is coming in as a replacement for the Nexus line of devices. The Pixel phones come in a pair (like the iPhone), the small Pixel with a 5-inch display, and the bigger Pixel XL with a 5.5-inch display. The phones pack some very impressive hardware – a seamless aluminum body, crisp AMOLED screen, the latest mobile chipset plus 4GB of RAM, and 12MP camera (with highest ever DxOMark mobile score for smartphone cameras). It also has quick charge and a fingerprint sensor, and both phones ship with Android 7.1 Nougat on board. But what really thrills everyone is the Google assistant that is integrated with the Android OS. The assistant is same with the one on Google Allo and it performs various tasks like setting alarms and reminders, playing music, placing calls, drawing up weather or traffic information, and so much more. Over time, the assistant learns your preferences and choices, and then gives responses based on what it has learnt about you. This makes it different from the other voice assistants out there.
The Google assistant also powers the Google Home device which is a smart voice-enabled wireless speaker for your home. The device is equipped with far-field microphones that can hear you from a distance, and Hi-Fi speakers that deliver rich sound for speech and music playback. Google Home can also be used to control other smart devices in the home although support is still limited to a few brands like Chromecast, Nest and Philips Hue. You can also get real-time updates on weather, traffic, finance, sports, local businesses and so on with the help of the Google assistant on Google Home.
Other devices that were presented at the event include the Chromecast Ultra – a streaming device that plugs into your TV’s HDMI port, which can be used to stream content from your mobile device to a larger display like your TV screen; Google Wi-Fi – Google’s new Wi-Fi router that is made to improve internet connectivity in your home, and the Daydream View – Google’s new VR headset that offers a rich virtual reality experience, available only on daydream enabled smartphones like the Google Pixel phone.
Google has undeniably taken a giant stride towards growing its hardware business. Nonetheless, Google is also being careful not to compromise the market for other smart devices manufacturers that run the Android OS on their products. Ultimately, the success of the whole ‘Made by Google’ hardware venture will be determined by what the users think about the new devices, and how willing they are to purchase them.
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