Google Nexus, the device that has been Google’s reference device for its all-new iteration of Android operating system, has been rechristened as Google Pixel. The phone was launched on October 4 in San Francisco.
There have been rumours and leaks about the device. It was reported in various tech media that there would be two ‘made by Google’ phones which will be manufactured by HTC.
The new phones—Pixel and Pixel XL come with the latest android Nougat operating system and, as before, these phones will receive all new iterations and updates from Android.
The event also saw the launch of Daydream View, which is Google’s virtual reality headset, Google Home—a stand-alone virtual assistant on the lines of Amazon Echo. Let us look at these devices individually.
Both these phones run on Android Nougat, have many common components, and sport different screen sizes and resolutions.
While Pixel is a 5-inch device with a 1080p display, Pixel XL has a bigger and sharper display with 5.5-inch Quad HD screen. Both phones have the latest Snapdragon 821 processor at their heart coupled with 4GB RAM.
The Pixel comes with 2,770mAh battery whereas Pixel XL has a 3.450mAh battery to drive the bigger screen. The phones have a beautiful seamless glass-aluminium body and a fingerprint sensor on the back.
Both phones come with a 12.3MP rear camera and 8MP front camera.
Google made some noise about the rear camera, highlighting the fact that the camera scored an 89 in DxOMark—a trusted industry standard for camera and lens image quality measurements and ratings.
This is the highest rating ever on that benchmark. The camera comes with a large 1.55-micron pixels and a f/2.0 aperture that should make it easy to take radiant photos even in low light. Google touted it as its best ever camera phone gyroscope-based video stabilisation.
Google Pixel will also be the first phone to have built-in Google Assistant. This is the Google’s version of Siri. You can activate by either saying the ‘hot word’ (“OK, Google”) or by touching and holding the home button.
Google’s Photos, which provide cloud storage, now does not have a limit so you can host your high-resolution images and even 4K videos on Google’s unlimited storage cloud.
Both phones have USB Type C ports, fast charging and a 3.5mm headphone jack (yay!) as well. The phones come with 32GB and 128GB storage and are priced at US$649 for Pixel and US$769 for Pixel XL.
Google Daydream View uses the new phones as display and comes with VR controllers that sports motion sensors and even have a clickable trackpad. The headset is made with fabric and is quite different from other VR headsets in the market. Daydream View will be available from November for US$79.
Google Home is a cute device powered by Google Assistant and will compete with Amazon Echo. Home is always listening and you can activate it by saying the ‘hot word’. Once activated, you can ask it to search Google, play music, listen to news and much more. It has inbuilt speakers and can play music and answer your queries. Google home will ship in November and is priced at US$129.