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Earbud translators will bring us closer: The Future IRL
The moment Google Pixel Buds were used earlier this month to demonstrate real time translation from Swedish to English, people started freaking out about potential use cases for this kind of technology. But the thing is, Google isn't the only company taking this on.
Smart speakers are working their way into every home
Apple, Google and Amazon have all announced smart speakers that are more like gadgets than audio gear. Of course, whenever a tech company attempts to build audio gear, the specter of the iPod HiFi looms large. Apple's ill-fated attempt to build the perfect speaker was considered a flop thanks to its high price and limited functionality. It was a glorified iPod dock that set you back $349 and couldn't even connect to the internet or FM radio. A decade later, smart speakers look ready to take over the world. And what happens next is going to be very interesting.
Google's AR ambitions push VR to the back seat
When Google announced its Daydream View headset last year, it was a sign that the search giant was ready to take VR to the masses. It's dabbled in VR before with Cardboard, but the View was a much more serious effort, with its fabric-clad design and user-friendly remote. Which is why it's such a surprise that Google didn't really spend a lot of time on VR at its Pixel 2 event. The company mentioned the new Daydream View -- now in colors! -- but didn't really say much more beyond that. Instead, Google was much more excited to talk about something else: AR.
Watch Google's Pixel 2 event in under 15 minutes
Google dropped a ton of new hardware on us at today's event: two phones, two smart speakers, a new laptop, smart earbuds that instantly translate words into your language, a camera that takes its own pictures and a revamped VR headset. Did we miss anything? The only way to know for sure is to check out all of our coverage from today, and catch all of the highlights in this video -- it won't take long.
The Pixel 2 proves headphone jacks are truly doomed
As usual, Apple started a trend. Last year, it dropped the standard 3.5 millimeter headphone jack from the iPhone. The industry was quick to respond. Motorola, even before the iPhone 7 was announced, also removed the port from the Moto Z (though curiously, it remained on the cheaper Z Play). HTC followed suit with the U Ultra this year, as did the geek-friendly Essential phone. Now that Google's Pixel 2 is confirmed to be headphone jack-less, it seems as if the port's survival, at least in the mobile world, is a lost cause.
Google's Pixel Buds translation will change the world
Google's Pixel 2 event in San Francisco on Wednesday had a lot of stuff to show off and most of it was more of the same: the next iteration of the flagship smartphone, new Home speakers and various ways of entwining them more deeply into your smart home, a new laptop that's basically a Yoga running ChromeOS and a body camera that I'm sure we've seen somewhere before. Yawn. We saw stuff like this last time and are sure to see more of it again at next year's event.
Pixel Buds hands-on: A better way to wear Google Assistant
Pixel Buds isn't just the name of my Android-centric group chat anymore -- they're Google's first attempt at a wireless headset, and they're pretty smart, too. It's not hard to look at them as the answer to Apple's surprisingly popular AirPods, but they're much more capable... as long as you don't mind a cord dangling behind your head.
The Google Pixel 2 XL vs. the original Pixel XL: What's changed?
Today we got our first look at the new Google phones, with the larger Pixel XL bringing back the staid design but also buffing it up with a better camera and more robust water protection. How big of a leap is this over last year's model exactly? While you'll have to wait a few weeks for the full rundown in our review, for now you can check out the new XL's specs as compared to its predecessor in our handy table below.
Google Clips hands-on: Not just a camera, but a photographer too
I'm not trying to gush too much, but I'm far, far more excited for the Pixel 2's camera than I thought I'd be. What's really bonkers to me, though, is that Google saw fit to squeeze its AI-powered photography tech into a cutesy 2-inch square it calls Clips. I don't think I'm alone, either: most of the people I chatted with at the event seemed at least a little perplexed by Google's ambitions here. Curiosity piqued, I had no choice but to track the thing down and have a closer look for myself.
Home Max hands-on: Google takes on Apple's HomePod and Sonos
Sonos and Apple have some unexpected competition in the voice-activated speaker market this holiday season. Google's somewhat unexpected Home Max is built with high quality music playback in mind, first and foremost. At $399 ($50 more than the HomePod and $100 less than the Sonos Play:5), it's priced accordingly — but at first listen, it has the chops to match up with those other speakers. And Google says that its machine learning capabilities will give the company a leg up other players in the market.
Google's Pixel 2: By the numbers
Google really turned on the new product firehose during its Pixel 2 event in San Francisco on Wednesday. We saw two new phones in two new sizes and five new colors, an updated Google Home, a pincushion-shaped "Home Mini", a Home home stereo (suck on that, Sonos), a 4-in-1 laptoblet called the Pixelbook, smart wireless headphones, an updated Daydream, and an automated clip-on camera accessory that decides what memories will matter most to you. Numbers, because how else will you know how badly you're about to blow your budget?
Google Home Mini hands-on: Smaller, cheaper, subtler
Google's most adorable product launch today is definitely its puck-size Home Mini. No more imposing cylinders with AI voices, it's much, much, smaller and just less "tech." At $49, it'll square up against Amazon's Dot, but like the Dot, it will act as a gateway smart speaker for those not willing to throw down bigger sums of money. I took a look at the Home Mini at Google's satellite London event, and if other speakers left you cold, this unassuming AI speaker might win you over.
The Google Pixel 2 vs. the original Pixel: What's changed?
The new Pixel phones are here and, while they don't give us much more to look at compared to last year's models, it's the inside that really counts. This year's 5-inch Pixel gives us a better camera and more powerful processor compared to the original, but we've also lost the headphone jack. What else has changed? Give the specs below a peep, and stay tuned as we put Google's new handset through its paces soon.
Google's Pixel 2 phones don't need SIM cards
Google added a lot to the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL, but one of its more intriguing upgrades comes from what it's taking away: the need for a SIM card. Both devices still have a nano-SIM slot (contrary to a few rumors), but they also use eSIMs like that on the Apple Watch Series 3. So long as your carrier supports it, you just have to download a virtual SIM during the setup process to activate service. Needless to say, that's a welcome change if you're tired of the usual SIM swapping ritual needed for upgrading handsets.
The Google Pixel 2 XL vs. the competition: Cameras rule
In a year where the Galaxy Note made a comeback and Apple is mixing things up by offering both the iPhone 8 and the iPhone X, it's hard to know what to make of Google's newest handsets at first. The Pixel XL isn't particularly flashy on the outside, though the single 12.2MP camera looks promising. But can it compete against the dual camera rigs on other flagship handsets? To see what else this 6-inch handset has to offer versus some of its major competitors, we've stacked up their specs in the table below. Be sure to check back later this fall to see how both the new Pixels and the iPhone X fare in their respective full reviews.
Pixelbook hands-on: stunning hardware for Chrome OS aficionados
Google's Pixelbook is the first new laptop hardware the company has released since 2015's Chromebook Pixel 2. But that computer was only an iterative update on the original 2013 model. The Pixelbook is wildly different and reflects what we've come to expect from laptops over the last five years or so. And while the prospect of spending $1,000 or more on a Chromebook remains a stretch for just about everyone, my first impressions of the Pixelbook is that it's one of the nicest pieces of hardware I've tried in a long time.
Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL hands-on: More than the sum of their parts
Just like clockwork, Google officially revealed its Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL today. And just like clockwork, Google gave the rest of the smartphone industry reason to be concerned. I spent a few moments playing with both of the new devices and couldn't help but get almost irrationally excited about them -- a rare feat considering just how thoroughly these two phones have been leaked over the past few months. My excitement has less to do with the hardware, though -- by most measures, the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL are exactly what you'd expect a pair of high-powered phones to be in 2017. What seems more fascinating is how good Google's Android smartphones can be because of how much control the company has over the process now.
The Google Pixel 2 vs. the competition: Small packs a punch
Today Google gave us our first official look at its new Pixel phones, with both handsets sharing major features like 12.2MP cameras and Snapdragon 835 chips. Your main reason to pick up a 5-inch Pixel 2 over its bigger brother is probably that hand-friendly screen size or the "kinda blue" color, though we're curious how it measures up against some of the competing "small" phones on the market. To start we've lined up the specs of similar devices like the Galaxy S8 versus the Pixel 2 in the chart below, while our full review for the pair of Pixels will come later this month.
UK pricing for Google's Pixel 2, Home Mini and Pixelbook
Even though many of the devices from today's Google's Pixel 2 event had leaked beforehand, there was still plenty left to surprise. Leading the way were the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL, but we also got our first look at the Google Home Max and Mini, the 2-in-1 Pixelbook and the new wireless Pixel Buds. Some will be available in the UK soon, others will take their time to make their way across the Atlantic. Here's how much some of that new gear is going to cost you.
Google made its own earbuds because it killed the headphone jack
Google followed Apple's "courageous" move to eliminate the 3.5mm headphone jack on the Pixel 2, and like the handset itself, Google designed a pair of headphones to (hopefully) best show off Assistant's capabilities. Like real-time translation so you can have a conversation with someone who speaks one of 40 foreign tongues. They're called Pixel Buds, which, let's be honest, sounds adorable. As soon as you pair them with your Pixel or Android phone running Nougat or higher, Assistant is available.
