The much-awaited event to announce a slew of products by Google was held in New York on Tuesday and leading the pack were undoubtedly the Google Pixel smartphones, Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL. The other products included the Pixel Slate and a Home Hub.
The new large-sized displays and other features of the smartphones are definitely the aspects that will draw maximum attention. To get the basic specifications of the phones out of the way, the display sizes of the OLED screens on the Google Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL are 5.5 inches and 6.3 inches respectively.
A glass panel in the rear confirms that the wireless charging facility will be available on these phones. Interestingly, Google has worked over the colours of the phones as well, coming out with a Not Pink colour. The overall real estate on the front display has been improved with an aspect ratio of 18:9. These are all improvements over the Pixel 2 range launched year.
Google has chosen the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor for its new flagships and the RAM has been kept at 4GB with the internal storage being released in 2 variants, 64GB and 128GB on both the models and no scope for a microSD card. Without a doubt, the Android Pie, version 9 will be the OS out of the box.
Now to the optics capabilities; the rear camera is 12.2MP in size and in the front, Google has gone for a dual sensor 8MP setup. Both the camera setups have been packed with features and technology support with the view to making the user experience immersive while clicking pictures and later editing them. Google has also introduced Super Res Zoom in its camera, which it claims uses machine learning to generate noise-free images, which is much better than digital zoom.
Google has made the batteries in the new smartphones more user-friendly. With 3430mAh and 2915mAh batteries on the Google Pixel 3 XL and Pixel 3 respectively, the talk-time and standby hours are definitely more.
Google Pixel 3 has been priced Rs 71,000 for the 64GB variant and Rs 80,000 for the 128GB variant. As for Google Pixel 3XL, 64GB variant costs Rs 83,000 and 128GB one is priced at Rs 92,000.
The introduction of a $79 Pixel Stand has excited the observers. The stand can act as a charging part as well as keep showing the notifications on the phone’s display screen. You don’t have to worry about unlocking the phone to read these notifications. For prices of the different variants, scroll down.
The Pixel Slate was the other highlight of Google’s launch event. With the launch of this 12.3-inch display device, Google is taking Apple and Microsoft straight on pitting it against their iPad Pro and Surface products respectively. Google has loaded its Chrome OS on this cross between a tablet and a laptop.
The front camera has been spruced up to cover a wider angle when making video calls. You can wirelessly connect the Pixel Slate to a Pixel Slate keyboard and use a Pixelbook Pen which has to be purchased separately. The price of the new Google Pixel Slate starts at $599.
The Google Home Hub is the other device to have figured in the New York event. This is the display version of the Home Speaker with a 7-inch display that can also be used to watch YouTube videos and can practically handle all kinds of home-based activities that you want your Google Assistant to do. And Google has priced it at just $149 along with a 6-month free subscription to YouTube Premium.