While the big highlight of each Made by Google event is always the latest Pixel phones, the company has also made fantastic laptops since 2013’s Chromebook Pixel. A new Chromebook has surfaced, codenamed “Halvor,” that looks like it could be the next Google Pixelbook.
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The “something special” teased by Google over the weekend is a month-long series of deals. Fred Armisen is the face of the Google Store Daily Special with various skits showing off various Assistant devices and how they are helpful.
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For a few months now, we’ve been slowly learning more about Google’s next streaming device, which will be powered by Android TV instead of being a simple Chromecast. Today, two new Google devices have shown up at the FCC, which we believe to be the first-party Android TV and its remote.
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Google’s second-generation Assistant headphones first launched in the US this April and more countries followed last month. As promised, Pixel Buds are now available in colors other than “Clearly White” in the US Google Store.
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The first “feature drop” — a parlance from Google phones — for Pixel Buds is today, and Google is introducing a slew of new capabilities. Highlights include bass boost, sharing detection, and Attention Alerts.
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At the start of July, Google discontinued the Pixel 3a after inventory ran out on its official store. After announcing its latest mid-range phone on Monday, the flagship Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL is now discontinued and out of stock on the Google Store.
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All recent Pixel phones have been accompanied by one excellent accessory. This time around, the fabric cases for the Pixel 4a reflect Made by Google’s focus on sustainability and the environment.
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In addition to launching the Pixel 4a today, Google offered a brief preview of its remaining 2020 phone lineup. A tease reveals that the Pixel 4a (5G) and Pixel 5 will launch this fall and start at $499.
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If 2020 in any way resembled the year that came before, Google would have announced a follow-up to the successful Pixel 3a in May. Of course, the I/O developer conference was canceled and almost three months have passed without a Pixel 4a launch. That’s, fortunately, changing today with a quiet, online unveil of Made by Google’s next device.
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In addition to the product listing going live this morning, Amazon has put the Pixel 4a and its cases up for preorder before the phone has been officially announced.
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With the Pixel 4a set to be announced today, the first retail listing has appeared. Australia’s JB HI-FI provides a look at the official product page, with the device being advertised as the “helpful Google phone, at a helpful price.”
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In this week’s top stories: Google begins teasing the unveiling of the Pixel 4a on August 3rd, the ‘Pixel 5a’ shows up in an Android code comment, Google Camera 7.5 teases potential new photography features for the Pixel 5, and more.
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Just yesterday, Google began teasing the mid-range Pixel 4a along with an August 3 date. Today, though, we’ve got our first glimpse at the mid-range Pixel phone for 2021 — the “Pixel 5a” in the Android Open Source Project.
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Google’s 2nd-generation Assistant headphones went on sale in nine countries today as part of the international launch. Next month will see more colors become available, as well as a Feature Drop-level update for Pixel Buds that adds new features and fixes audio cutouts.
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The Google Pixel 4 gave ATAP-created hardware its widest launch yet. Besides Soli, recent products include the Jacquard-powered Adidas GMR insole, Levi’s Trucker Jackets, and the YSL backpack. A deep dive today reveals what else the Advanced Technologies and Projects group is working on and its new direction.
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Yesterday morning, Google Nest stirred everyone into a frenzy over a sudden and unexpected Monday announcement. That “something special” turns out to be a series of Google Store “Daily Special” deals over the next month.
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A month after launch, Google rolled out the first update to Pixel Buds, and a more substantial one soon followed to address the “static” hiss. With more patches promised, Google has detailed how firmware updates work on Pixel Buds.
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Earlier this month, it emerged that Google’s Fitbit acquisition was facing deeper scrutiny from the EU. A new report today says that European regulators are willing to back off if Google formally pledges not to use Fitbit health data for advertising purposes.
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A new piece of Google hardware passed through the Federal Communications Commission this evening. There are not too many details to glean from the filing, but it’s possibly the rumored “sabrina” Android TV-powered dongle or Google’s next “prince” speaker.
Back in November, Google announced that it was acquiring Fitbit and that the deal would close sometime in 2020. The purchase was immediately scrutinized amid mounting criticism of Big Tech, and the European Union could now be “gearing up for an extended investigation and may block the transaction.”
This morning, Google surprised us all by releasing a developer preview of Android 11 for Android TV. Digging through the preview’s files, we found a video showing the upcoming Made by Google Android TV dongle.
A Google Store outage this afternoon sees buyers unable to make most purchases. The issue is worldwide and impacts all first-party devices.
Whether you love or hate the Pixel 4, one thing that’s undeniable is that Google delivered a striking design. A member of the Made by Google team has shared incredible photos of the Pixel 4’s design process including previously unseen colors and a dual camera bump design.
June is Pride Month in the US as well as other parts of the world, and Google is continuing its celebration of the tradition by bringing 16 new “Sounds of Pride” ringtones and notification sounds to their Pixel phones.