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So I sat through Google’s announcement last night, and oh my, did they just eat Apple’s lunch? It was a confident launch of a range of products woven together via a simple architecture in their ‘Assistant’ machine learning algorithm and even though they announced phone, home speaker, VR, wifi and entertainment system what they actually announced was a new way of interacting with your technology in a way that Apple could only dream of.

They spent a lot of time at the start of the presentation explaining their vision for the new Google Assistant and how it has evolved since they released their road map at this years 2016 I/O conference and how machine translation, text to speech and deep learning have evolved up until now and how it will ascend.

So what did they announce? Let’s take a look…

Phones

So, as probably won’t be a surprise due to the nature of leaks Google announced their first ‘made by Google’ phones in the form of the Pixel and Pixel XL. A 5” and a 5.5” handset. Now it was interesting how they didn’t go into too much detail about the hardware as you’d hear at an Apple event. They concentrated more on what the phone can do which if you think about it is quite sensible as we are essentially at ‘peak smartphone’ when it comes to specs.

They concentrated on the Google Assistant in the context of what it can do for you. Photography, storage, communications and virtual reality.

In terms of the assistant this was a consistent message across all of the products that were announced yesterday. Now I’m not going to teach you to suck eggs on how intelligent assistants work but it was impressive on the contextual nature in which you were able to make multiple requests, which, I know, is where Apple is going with in iMessage but this just looked that little bit slicker.

Now a bold statement. It is claimed by Google that the camera in the Pixel is the greatest camera ever put in a phone. I’m no expert on the ratings that they referenced but it scored 89 over the iPhone 7’s 86 and from the demos I don’t know if it was enough to boast about. However they were quick to say that all of the features in the larger Pixel are also in the smaller 5” version which is definitely a shot at Apple.

And to make it a little sweeter Google is offering Pixel owners free, unlimited cloud storage for full resolution photos and videos which is most certainly a bonus and may make other companies rethink their backup strategies.

Now the most important question about Android is fragmentation. That was surely the point of the Nexus phones but apart from the enthusiasts they never sold in great numbers. With the Pixel they promise the latest security updates and OS versions which download in the background and install with a restart. They also now offer 24/7 tech support for the first time on a device as well as an app to transfer you from iOS to Android.

The Pixel is available for pre-order now.

Virtual Reality

It was obvious the Google was going to bring us VR as they’ve been dabbling in it with ‘Cardboard’ for a while now and what they presented us with is Daydream, a re-imagined VR strategy with a headset made from fabrics (man, that thing is going to stink after a while), a new controller and numerous VR partnerships with a number of content makers (Harry Potter VR for the win). It all looks pretty nice and the new Pixel phones are Daydream VR ready as will be other manufacturers devices in the future.

There will also be access to YouTube, Google Play, Netflix and well as other providers so you can become even more antisocial than ever.

TV

Not surprisingly after last years release of the latest Chromecast for video and one for audio we have a new model for 2016. The Chromecast Ultra is a souped up version of its predecessor. The Ultra streams 4K and HDR content to your compatible telly. In my opinion there is still not enough 4K and the like content out there to pay twice the price of the standard Chromecast but maybe next year, eh?

Networking

Now this is something that I am interested in. I have an unhealthy obsession with wifi coverage and have been intrigued by products such as Eero but the price put me off. Currently I use Powerline adapters with wifi transmitters but I don’t find them to be the best solution so with the announcement of Google Wifi plus it's price it might be something I would be willing to try. Google Wifi creates a mesh network of wifi transmitters that you can cater to suit the layout of your home. It also looks pretty stylish.

Home

One of the standout products was Google Home. Something that we found out about first at I/O but now it’s ready for the big time. Google’s attempt at an Amazon Echo product looks pretty good out of the gate plus it has the power of Google behind it so it knows more about you and the world around you with the use of the Google Assistant.

It controls home automation and you can even control your Chromecast from it with voice commands which makes me look with hate at my Apple TV 4 remote with the ridiculous Siri button.

It has all of your entertainment sorted with sources from a variety of partners with more to come.

As the product develops partners will be able to develop actions much like Echo’s recipes so it should get more powerful over time.

You have to admit though it does look like an air freshener but I really want one.

The Conclusion

My opinion of the event is that Google presented a range of devices that seemed to work seamlessly together. Obviously you get bent over on privacy, something that isn’t such an issue with Apple but is that the price you pay to get what you want from the internet? And you do have to admit it all looks rather lovely.

Author

Paul Wright

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