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After Apple, Microsoft and OnePlus tech giant Google is the next to showcase its new range of products in techtober. At its annual hardware event ‘Made by Google’ in New York City, Google launched a variety of new gears. Though the focus of this event was on Google’s flagship phone Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL, the tech giant also announced the launch date of its highly anticipated gaming subscription service Google Stadia.

The theme of the event was Ambient computing and how it is combining with Artificial Intelligence, wireless tech, and cloud computing. The theme was quite evident from all the products Google showcased at the event. “Our vision for ambient computing is to create a single, consistent experience at home, at work or on the go, whenever you need it,” said Rick Osterloh, Google’s head of hardware. “Your devices and services work together,” Osterloh said. “And it’s fluid so it disappears into the background.”

Let’s look at the various products announced at ‘Made by Google’.

Google Stadia to release on November 19

The event kicked off with release date (November 19) of Google’s revolutionary Game Streaming service ‘Stadia’. With Google Stadia you can play games from your desktop, Google’s Chrome web browser, smartphones, smart televisions, and tablets, or Chromecast.  Stadia is a cloud-based platform that streams games directly instead of rendering it on a console or a powerful local PC.

Google also shared the inspiration behind the design of Stadia Controller.

Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL now available

After much anticipation, Google finally launched the next phone of its flagship Pixel series in two variants – Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL. The Pixel 4 has 5.7″ screen with a 2,800mAh battery, while the Pixel 4 XL comes in at 6.3″ screen with a 3,700mAh battery. They’re both running on the Snapdragon 855 chipset with 6GB of RAM. Both phones come with dual rear cameras and display comes with 90 Hz refresh rate.

They also have “Project Soli radar” powering face unlock and gesture recognition allowing you to switch songs, snooze alarms or silence calls with just a wave of your hand. Pixel 4 also comes with crash detection (the US only for now), which can recognize if you’ve been in an automobile accident and can automatically call 911 for you.

Pixel 4 also has an advance recording app that can both record and transcribe audio at the same time.  It can also identify specific words and sounds allowing you to search specific parts of a recording with an inbuilt search function. This search functionality processing happens on your local device.

One cannot talk about Pixel phones without mentioning camera features. Both Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL come with 3 cameras with 12.2-megapixel f/1.7 main, 16-megapixel f/2.4 telephoto rear and 8-megapixel selfie cameras. With respect to videos, these cameras can record 4K at 30 fps, and 1080p at 120 fps.

The Google Pixel 4 will release on October 24 but is available for pre-order today. The 64GB version of the Pixel 4 will start from $799, with a 128GB option available for $899. The 64GB Pixel 4 XL will start from $899, with the option for 128GB for $999.

New wireless headphones: Pixel Buds 2

Google also announced its next-generation wireless headphones – Pixel Buds 2. Now you can have direct access to Google assistant with the ‘Hey Google’ command, Pixel buds also support long range Bluetooth connectivity (According to Google, Pixel buds will remain connected to your phones in the range of three rooms or a Football field’s length). Pixel buds will be available in Spring 2020 for around $179.

New Chrome OS laptop: Pixelbook Go

Google has refreshed its Chromebook series and launched a new product, the Pixelbook Go. “We wanted to create a thin and light laptop that was really fast, and also have it last all day. And of course, we wanted it to look and feel beautiful”, said Google’s Ivy Ross, VP head of design hardware, in the event. Weighing only two pounds and 13 mm thin, Pixelbook Go is portable while also being loaded with 16GB of RAM and up to 256GB of storage. The company has promised around 12 hours of battery life. The base model starts at $649.

Pixelbook Go

Source: Google Blog

Google home mini is now ‘Nest Mini’

Google’s Home Mini assistant smart speaker is now renamed as ‘Nest Mini’. It is now made of recycled plastic bottles, is wall-mountable and consists of a machine learning chip for faster response time.  The smart speaker also has additional microphones suitable for louder environments. Nest Mini will be available from October 22 for $49.

Nest Mini

Source: Google Blog

Google also launched Nest WiFi which is a combination of Router/Smart speaker which is faster and features 25% better coverage compared to its predecessor ‘Google WiFi’. The routers come in 2-pack for $269 or 3-pack for $349 and go on sale on November 4.

You can watch the event on YouTube.

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