It’s a busy time of the year for gadget launches, with the iPhone XS barely a month old and the OnePlus 6T coming sometime this month. Sandwiched between these two attention-grabbers is the Pixel 3, just launched at Google’s annual hardware event, held this time in New York and not San Francisco.

As they did last year, Google used the tag “Made by Google” for the event to emphasise that these devices were not just regular Android devices made by other companies but ones that were a hundred per cent built on the Google philosophy and vision.

Right at the start, Google reminded the audience of its raison d’être, which is the same despite the company just having celebrated its 20th anniversary. But far from its early days as just a search engine, though a game changing one, Google is very focussed on what it wants to do: shave off every possible millisecond from the time it takes to search, make results more relevant, and more than anything else, make them personal and tailored to each individual. Much of this is being done by the quickly-advancing technology of voice recognition and the understanding of naturally spoken language. And so the Google Assistant is very much at the heart of every product launched. As before, the Pixel 3 phones are available in two sizes — the 5.5-inch Pixel 3 and the 6.3-inch Pixel 3 XL — and three colours with quirky names: Just Black, Clearly White, and Not Pink.

The Pixels, third time round

They still wear Google’s signature two-tone design and are made using Gorilla Glass 5 though the back has been given a soft touch that incredibly doesn’t feel like glass.

Of the two phones, the XL sports a prominent notch while the Pixel 3 gets away without one. The India prices for the new phones are already out (refer to the price box).

Already known for its stellar camera, the new Pixel improves on the previous with enhancements. A feature called Top Shot uses AI to look at the photos taken and suggest the best one based on conditions such as everyone having their eyes open, smiling and so on. Low light photography, already the Pixel’s forte, is clear and noise-free with an upcoming feature called Night Sight. There’s also an enhanced zoom. The selfie-obsessed can take photos with PhotoBooth, a feature that doesn’t wait for the user to do anything but clicks when it sees smiles or funny faces. Portrait mode lets you change background blur and focus point. An entertainment feature, Playground, lets you put funny animated characters into the picture. Motion Auto Focus will make sure the Pixel 3 camera stays in sharp focus automatically, as you record video. It also brings front-facing video stabilisation.

Google Lens is now built into the camera. One can use this to point at an object and get more information. Other features that were scattered in various apps are also integrated, such as smart replies and smart typing, which guesses at entire phrases to reduce time taken to communicate.

Describing the Pixel 3 as the phone that can answer by itself, Google presented a new feature that can identify calls and answer on your behalf, making nuisance calls less so. This too is an upcoming feature.

Throughout the event, Google executives talked of the devices being family-friendly and of health and digital well-being as important concerns. A set of tools are included to help users find their own balance with technology, including a dashboard to help understand how a user spends time on the phone, the ability to set time limits on specific apps, and a new Wind Down mode.

The Pixel 3 phones are IP68 water and dust resistant and have a security chip custom-designed by Google called Titan M, which enhances mobile security behind the scenes by protecting unlock credentials, disk encryption, app data, and the integrity of the operating system code itself. Both variants come with Pixel USB-C earbuds and a USB-C Digital-to-3.5 mm headphone adapter. Pixel 3 comes with dual front-firing speakers.

The Pixel 3 comes with an 18 Watt fast charger in the box, which can give a claimed seven hours of use in 15 minutes of charge. Google also claims to use AI to prioritise battery power for the most important apps.

Google also introduced a wireless charger (sold separately at ₹6,900). While charging in the Pixel Stand, the phone turns into a smart speaker and smart display powered by the Google Assistant, a photo frame, a control panel for one’s smart home, and a smart alarm clock.

Other Google goodies

Google also announced a Chrome OS-based tablet with a detachable keyboard with touchpad, the Pixel Slate. The company was particularly proud of the screen’s quality with its 293 pixels per inch. There is no information on India availability or price yet for this device.

Smart displays with integrated voice assistants are being explored by more than one company. Amazon has its Echo Spot and Echo Show and now Google has showcased its own Google Home Hub. This is meant for anything from viewing pictures (which will appear updated automatically) to showing one-glance bits of information to YouTube videos. Unlike a regular tablet, the Home Hub is optimised for voice recognition and can show different information based on the voice match it hears within a family of users. In a bit of a dig at Amazon, Google has not put in a camera to safeguard privacy. Maps, Calendar, and Search also show on the Hub. It is also a place to control different home devices such as a security camera and see the results on screen.

No matter what the device, Google consistently emphasised on the use of artificial intelligence for real life and not-really-artificial situations for deep personalisation and contextual relevance in a bid to give each person their own personal Google.

Pixel 3 (64 GB): ₹71,000

Pixel 3 (128 GB): ₹80,000

Pixel 3 XL (64 GB): ₹83,000

Pixel 3 XL (128 GB): ₹92,000

The older Pixel 2 XL (64 GB) will continue to be sold at ₹45,499

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