Google and Nest have a close relationship with the latter demoing Home/Assistant integration at the former’s major October 4h hardware event. Given this, Alphabet is now reportedly considering a merger of Nest into Google’s purview and specifically Rick Osterloh’s hardware division.
The Google Store rolled out a suite of deals on Black Friday, but on Cyber Monday announced a new set of offers on its most in-demand items. A Pixel 2 or Pixel 2 XL purchase nabs a Google Home Mini and $100 store credit. Meanwhile, the first Pixelbook offer throws in a Google Home.
The Pixel 2 XL has encountered a spate of issue — especially centered around the display — since its release last month. Fortunately, durability doesn’t appear to be a significant one according to a torture test by JerryRigEverything on the larger Made by Google phone.
CES 2018 is just a couple of months away and while we’re not expecting a ton of new Android or Google-related announcements, there is something to get excited about — Google’s going to be there in official capacity this year.
Google’s primary marketing line for the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL is to have users “Ask more” of their phones. In addition to billboards teasing last month’s event, Google has released a new ad with the tagline that some viewers saw in front of movies over the weekend.
I spent my first several days with the Google Pixel 2 XL tearing its display to pieces. In light of concerns regarding its quality that were brought up in the first round of reviews (including ours) I wanted to know exactly what its shortcomings were. Lots of units — mine included — had burn-in/image persistence issues, blue tint shift, black smear, graininess, and other undesirable qualities. None of these issues are entirely unique to the Pixel 2 XL, but I came to the conclusion that Google’s flagship seems to suffer from them more than average at this price point. I stand by that.
I took it upon myself to look at every one of these problems under a microscope so that anyone that cared — which, I know, in the grand scheme of things is a tiny minority of Google’s target market — could know exactly what they’re getting in comparison to other flagships, the smaller Pixel 2, and even last year’s original Pixel. But even with all of the problems I’ve hounded on and pixel peeping I’ve admittedly done, I’ve finally come to a conclusion on this display: It’s not bad enough to keep me away.
It was no secret going into Google’s October 4 event that the company planned to announce its second generation smartphones without headphones jacks. To not alienate owners who still preferred wired headphones, Google chose to include a USB-C to 3.5mm port dongle in the box.
According to one man who just bought his Pixel 2 from Verizon, it looks like Google had considered including wired headphones in the box…
The third quarter of 2017 saw Google acquire 2,000 HTC engineers and intellectual property, as well as the launch of their second Made by Google line of products. During today’s earnings call, Sundar Pichai talked more about that deal, as well as their broader hardware business.
Announced on October 4th at the Made by Google event in San Francisco, the new Daydream View is now available for purchase on the Google Store. Visiting the Google Daydream page between then and now presented you with an option to join a waitlist, but now you can give Google your $99 if you want.
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Google Pixel Buds won’t be available until next month, but in the meantime the Assistant-enabled headphones passed through the FCC. Notably, the filing was not made by Google, but rather a Chinese company that has a history of audio products and an assortment of Sony PlayStation accessories.
Google will be selling products at its brick-and-mortar pop-up shops starting this year, Google has confirmed to The Verge. We’ve known about these pop-up shops set to open this week since earlier this month (and Google’s site said “Shop”, so we assumed you’d be able to shop), but now we know for sure that you’ll be able to walk in and purchase some of Google’s new products.
As Sundar Pichai and company love to opine, Google is moving to an AI first world. This transition sees existing products being rethought to see how they benefit from machine learning, while Google is literally discovering how artificial intelligence can be used to create new ones.
One of those new discoveries is Google Clips. With this mostly under-the-radar gadget, Google wants to apply artificial intelligence to one of its most high-stakes consumer-facing uses ever: capturing memories. Moments are literally once in a lifetime events and the company feels that its AI-laden approach is ready to handle that one take for you.
One way Google addressed the lack of a 3.5mm headphone jack on the Pixel 2 at their October 4th event was by introducing Pixel Buds. These Bluetooth headphones feature the Google Assistant built-in, Fair Pair, and a real-time translation feature.
Fortunately, Google has now confirmed beyond a shadow of a doubt that the neat latter feature will also work on last year’s Pixel and Pixel XL.
Last year I said that the first Google Home was a great start, but not yet functionally up to par with the comparable offerings from Amazon. Google has all but caught up since then. The feature set of the original Google Home is fleshed out — it works with just about as many third-party services as you could want — and now Google has introduced a smaller, cheaper Home to take on the Echo Dot.
The short version is this: The new Google Home Mini joins the Chromecast as another impulse buy in Google’s hardware lineup.
Just like last year, Google is going to be hosting two pop-up stores, one in New York City and another in Los Angeles, to show off and sell some of its new Made by Google products. The search giant hasn’t provided many details about the stores themselves, but we do know that doors will open starting on October 19…
Google today announced its latest round of hardware, and in addition to new phones, Homes, and laptops, the company showed off a new generation of its Daydream View VR headset. This was one of the more minor announcements of the day, but it definitely wasn’t nothing.
Buying third-party accessories for your phone can be risky business, and particularly with USB-C cables, shoppers often find themselves with products that don’t work as intended or quickly short out.
At I/O 2017, Google announced a big update to their virtual reality platform codenamed Euphrates. Daydream 2.0 is launching this fall alongside a redesigned Daydream View headset from Google.
Google has announced Google Clips, a new miniature camera that costs $249. The focus of this new product is to allow you to enjoy experiences without having to remember to capture a moment.
After announcing the first “headphones optimized for the Google Assistant” last month, Google unveiled their own pair today. Instead of an over-the-design, the Google Pixel Buds are Bluetooth earbuds attached via a wire.
The Chromebook Pixel launched in 2013 as the premium Chrome OS laptop and was followed by a successor in 2015. Following a two-year cadence, Google today unveiled the expensive “Pixelbook” convertible laptop with optional stylus.
In addition to launching a smaller, cheaper Assistant smart speaker this morning, Google also unveiled the rumored Google Home Max. Larger than last year’s Home, it features stereo speakers and a more premium design.
The Google Home has been due for an update given its original reveal over a year ago at I/O 2016 and that its main competitor has launched devices at every price range. Announced at the October 4th event this morning, the Google Home Mini brings all the same Assistant smart speaker features to a smaller and cheaper form factor.
It’s been almost exactly one year since Google held its first “Made by Google” event, featuring the first wave of products out of Google’s newly-found seriousness about hardware. This year we’re expecting refreshes for lots of products that debuted for the first time last year, and perhaps a few exciting surprises as well…
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