MELDING INNOVATION TO CHALLENGE IPHONE
Google pitches integrated features with debut of Pixel 2, Pixel 2 XL
In the battle for premium smartphone market share, Google has unveiled its fall lineup to take on Apple Inc.’s new iPhones and further burnish the company’s hardware credentials.
Called the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL, the pair of devices announced Wednesday during a keynote in Mountain View, Calif., are the successors to the company’s smartphone debut last year.
Like last year, the new Pixel smartphones fall under the company’s “Made by Google” hardware lineup, which borrows from Apple’s playbook as it melds the hardware with the software to offer a far more integrated experience than Samsung, Sony or others that use a modified version of Android.
“Partners get an operating system from Google and then they make their hardware choices and their choices with what they do with software or AI themselves,” Mario Querioz, Google’s vicepresident of hardware product management, said in an interview prior to the keynote. “With Pixel, you really have the best package of Google experiences built into one phone where we have really tightly coupled the operating system with the hardware, sensors and Google’s AI.”
The Pixel 2 will come in 64GB ($899) and 128GB ($1,029) models, in Just Black, Clearly White and Kinda Blue colours. Meanwhile, the Pixel 2 XL will be $1,159 (64GB) and $1,289 (128GB) and available in Just Black and Black and White. Pre-orders start Wednesday through Google, all major carriers and select retailers.
Other new products that were announced as coming to Canada are Google’s first wireless bluetooth headset, a mini Google Home speaker, Pixelbook laptop (and Pixelbook Pen) and an updated Daydream View VR headset.
Last month, Google said it was buying HTC Corp.’s mobile division team for about US$1.1 billion. Querioz said that 2,000 engineers were coming to Google from HTC as part of a larger hiring spree of people that specialize in design, mechanical and electrical engineering.
But it’s not just about hardware for the company. From the stage during Wednesday’s keynote, the company’s various executives made it clear that Google thinks smartphones are going to become similar and compete less on specs moving forward. Instead, it’s the complete package of hardware, software and artificial intelligence that will set Google apart from the competition, the company argued.
That said, both devices have a glass-aluminum design using Gorilla Glass 5. The finger print sensor is faster, the camera has been improved with a better aperture and smarter algorithms (DxOMark, which independently rates cameras, has given the camera a score of 98, the highest of any smartphone), plus the battery still boasts fast charging that gives you up to seven hours after being plugged in for 15 minutes. There is also an optical image stabilization and video stabilization to help shaky hands.
While the Pixel 2 has a five-inch OLED display for those wanting a smaller device, the Pixel 2 XL’s screen is what really impresses this year. It has a large 6-inch OLED curved screen with very little to no bezel — much like competitors Apple and Samsung — which makes for an 18:9 aspect ratio and quad-HD resolution.
“The OLED allows us to do an always-on display this year. We’re really proud of the way that works,” Brian Rakowski, vice-president of product management at Google, said during a pre-keynote interview. “It’s a super helpful feature, as you can just glance at your phone to see the time, date or any notifications.”
Google has something new at the bottom of its Always On display. Called Now Playing, the feature is essentially like the app Shazam as it can identify the music being played nearby, however it uses machine learning and an on-device database of tens of thousands of songs so it can always be used — even in airplane mode.
While Google Assistant has been given more functionality in terms of software — such as being able to turn on and off new settings within the phone or apps — it can now be accessed by physically squeezing the phone, another example of designing the hardware and software to work together.
Google’s hardware engineers found a way to embed tiny sensors into the sides of the device and apply machine learning so Pixel knows the difference between an intentional squeeze, firm grip or someone running with the device, Rakowski said.
Meanwhile, Google has decided to remove the headphone jack on the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL despite mocking competitors last year for doing the same. Instead, there will be an adapter for the analog 3.5mm headphone in the box that will connect into the USB-C port for digital audio and dual front-facing stereo speakers, which will work for phone calls and multimedia playback.
In a similar fashion to competitors such as Apple and Motorola, Google said it now believes wireless is the future. “We’ve seen that people are more and more going wireless, so we put a lot of effort into upgrading to Bluetooth 5.0 and Hi-Fi (audio) codecs,” Querioz said.
The Pixel 2 and 2 XL are the first smartphones to get Google Lens, a technology that will look at an image and then use machine learning to get you more information on what it is. You will be able to take photos of landmarks, books, music albums, movies, artwork and even posters or business cards, and Lens will tell you more about it or give you options for what to do with it.
“Because we are designing the hardware, software and AI together in Pixel, we are able to bring these sort of things to Pixel first,” Querioz said. “You’re going to see more and more of these experiences either exclusively on Pixel or Pixel first.”
With Pixel, you really have the best package of Google experiences built into one phone.