Google’s ones to watch
THE TECH GIANT’S ANNUAL DEVELOPER CONFERENCE NEVER FAILS TO THROW UP SOME EXCITING IDEAS
A PEEK into Google’s future is always good fun – it’s a company that doesn’t mind dreaming big and showing its hand long before its dreams become reality.
So, the annual I/O developer conference it holds each year from its base in Mountain View in California regularly delights and baffles in equal measure.
This year’s event, held last week, was different only in the sense that there were actual real people in the audience for CEO Sundar Pichai’s keynote address.
There were lots of new things announced, some that will definitely happen, and some that may not. Here are the most interesting...
PIXEL 6A AND 7
The cycle for Google phones is now well established. It releases its highend flagships in the autumn and follows up with a mid-priced range based on the same tech the following year.
So last year we got the Pixel 6, and now we see the imminent release of the 6A, right.
The big deal about the 6 last year was that it was the first Google phone to feature a custom homemade chip – the Tensor. That same high-end chip powers the A6.
The compromises are in the camera to get the lower price point, and we have a 12MP sensor instead of the 50MP we see in the standard 6.
It’ll cost £399 compared to the £599 you have to pay for the cheapest Pixel 6, and it will be out in July. Visit store.google.com to register an interest.
If you’re after the best of the best, though, you might want to hold out until later in the year when Google will unleash the Pixel 7 – it showed off a render of the new device with a slightly redesigned camera strip on the back, but said little else about it.
TENSOR-POWERED TABLET
The most underwhelming announcement was perhaps that of a new Google tablet in the works.
Described as a Tensor-powered tablet, it’ll definitely get Google’s chip, and will likely be called the Pixel Tablet.
We saw renderings of it, and it did look very much like an iPad, although the front-facing camera was on the long side of the device, so for use in landscape mode more than in portrait… which seems about right.
In other tablet news, Google revealed that Android itself is being spruced up to be a bit more tablet-friendly, with lots of the in-house apps being optimised for the larger display.
ANDROID 13
The next version of Android doesn’t make major leaps like last year – for 2022 we’re in a refinement stage.
There will be more customisation across the board, with the Material You design system finding its way into new areas of the OS.
There’s little on the new feature front, just a polish here and there to make everything run better.
It’s expected to launch alongside the Pixel 7 later in the year, but is now in developers’ hands to make sure apps are ready for the launch.
PIXEL BUDS PRO
The new wireless earbuds in the Google ecosystem add active noise-cancelling with transparency mode, and a promise that spatial audio will be coming soon.
In other words, these are Google AirPods Pro, pictured left.
They look pretty cool in their four colour-ways, and will offer by far the best experience when using a Pixel phone.
They’ll cost £179, but Google has not yet said when they will hit the market in the UK. You can register an interest at store.google.com