The Tuesday evening was an evening many people were looking forward to hearing about the upcoming Pixel and the Nest devices. Although it went little boring at many stages, I cannot resist myself from expecting more and more from them in every section. Google at their annual event refreshed Pixel’s hardware (Pixel 4, 4 XL), along with Nest devices, Pixelbook Go and Pixel Earbuds (Pixel Buds 2).
Soon after the giants like Amazon, Apple, Google were accused of hearing personal conversations, they are now in a race to convince that consumers’ personal data is personal in every sense. Although, Google has made attempts to be as sweet as possible by introducing gestures and bringing in the neural engines to the devices to ignore any communication with the internet, they are still trying to enter the personal space of users like you and me.
Well, here is a summary of all announcements made by Google last night when we were having our dinner in India:
Pixel 4
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Color | Just Black, Barely White and Limited Edition Simply Orange |
| Shipping | October 24 onward (U.S) |
| Price tag | Pixel 4: $799 Pixel 4 XL: $899 |
| Display | Pixel 4: 5.7-inch Full HD+ Smooth 90 Hz Pixel 4 XL: 6.3-inch Quad HD+ Smooth 90 Hz |
| Processor | Qualcomm Snapdragon 855; Pixel Neural Core technology |
| Storage | 6 GB of RAM and 64/128 GB |
| Camera | 12 MP Dual-Pixel sensor and a 16 MP telephoto camera 8 MP selfie camera |
| Battery | Pixel 4: 2800 mAh Pixel 4 XL: 3700 mAh |
| Charging | 18 W fast charging through a USB-C |
The rear camera is following Apple’s design principles, adding a telephoto option, which benefits from features like Super Zoom Res, a combination of optical technology and the Pixel’s machine learning software to get sharpness even at wider zoom levels. Live HDR+ photography adds dual exposure controls as well.
A feature that stands out is the ‘Night sight with Astrophotography’ mode, developed using Google’s improved Night Sight low-light photography software, which lets us take photos of the sky and stars without having to worry about factors like the Earth’s rotation or your phone’s exposure or shutter settings.
They have added a Motion Sense feature using compact radars which detect hand gestures over the screen of Pixel. You can disable your morning alarm and it will volume down as it detects your hand approaching the phone. You can also control your music with these hand gestures (they promised that they won’t share or store the motion data).
Nest WiFi, Nest Mini
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Devices released | Nest WiFi, Nest mini |
| Colors | Coral, Sky Blue, Anthracite and Rock Candy |
| Shipping | October 22 |
| Price tag | Nest Mini: $49 Nest Router: $269 (pack of 2), $349 (pack of 3) |
Nest WiFi is an upgrade to Google Wifi device with the Nest Point to mount it on a wall. Google said that Nest WiFi is more design-focused, assistant-friendly device functioning as base and node wireless routers respectively. Nest Mini will have 2x stronger bass as compared to its predecessor.
Google has finally re-branded Google Nest Mini, under a transition of Google’s Home products to the Nest platform. With the same shape as that of its predecessor, it adds extras like the bottom has a new wall mount slot for getting it on to the wall. It also has new LED indicators on its sides to show you where you can find playback controls on the device.
Pixel Buds
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Colors | Clearly White, Oh So Orange, Quite Mint and Almost Black |
| Availability | Spring 2020 |
| Price Tag | $179 |
| Battery backup | 5 hours of continuous listening time; 24 hours with the wireless charging case |
Google joined Apple, Microsoft in killing the wires completely by introducing the all new Pixel Buds. As expected, they have Google Assistant, real-time translation, and features like “spatial vent” to provide surrounding awareness despite in-ear design.
The Pixelbook
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Color | Just Black and Not Pink |
| Price tag | $649 |
| OS | Chrome OS |
| Display | 13.3” with 1080p (166 ppi) or 4K Ultra HD Molecular Display (331 ppi, for Core i7 variant) |
| Processor | 8th Generation Intel Core m3, i5, or i7 |
| RAM | 8 GB or 16 GB |
| Storage | 64, 128, or 256 GB |
| Camera | Front 1080p Duo Cam |
| Battery | Up to 12 hours |
| Charger | Fast charger; 20-minute charge will get 2 hours of use |
| Thickness | 13.4mm thin (.5″) |
| Weight | 2.3 lbs (1061g), 2.4 lbs (1090g) (on 4K-capable models) |
The Pixelbook Go is available in four configurations:
- Intel Core m3, 8 GB RAM, 64 GB SSD, 1080p, $649
- Intel Core i5, 8 GB RAM, 128 GB SSD, 1080p, $849
- Intel Core i5, 16 GB RAM, 128 GB SSD, 1080p, $999
- Intel Core i7, 16 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD, 4K, $1,399
Additionally, it is good to know that Google Stadia will be available from November 19, 2019 onward, whose controller design is quite elegant. We’d love to see it in action, though!
Swapnil Bhatnagar 
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