Google’s new lineup of phones and gadgets: A quick glance

The latest pure Android smartphone was announced at a Google event on Tuesday, along with a new Daydream View virtual reality (VR) headset, a new Google Wi-Fi router, and a new Chromecast. Google says that the fact that it controls both the hardware and software means the devices can have superior performance. “Google and Google Now (a service that serves up sports scores, weather, traffic and other information based on user’s personal data) are very high quality, but to claim game-changer, Google Assistant must do what it did on stage”.

– 12.3 megapixel rear-facing camera with f/2.0 aperture. It’ll be in Google’s new Pixel phones, its new Home speaker (similar to Amazon’s Echo), its Allo chat app, and many other places.

Google is introducing a new line of smartphones in its most aggressive challenge yet to Apple and Samsung. That deal gave Apple unprecedented control over the look of the phone and how it worked. Shares of Alphabet were up about half a percent in midday NY trade. The Pixel handsets feature a Siri-like virtual assistant, flashy camera features and are the first to boast Android’s new Nougat 7.1 operating system.

Queiroz went on to explain that Google plans to make Google Home support part of the Google Cast SDK, meaning that developers who have added support for Google’s Chromecast Audio streaming adapter to their music or podcast streaming apps will also be able to closely integrate these apps with Google Home at some point. But they don’t come cheap, of course.

The Google Pixel XL is available to pre-order from today, direct from Google and also from EE and Carphone Warehouse.

“We have pulled everyone together into one organization, which allows us to focus on key problems”, he said. We’ll have more impressions on how it works later.

Google’s hot new phones will be released on October 20th but in the meantime, Verizon recorded an unboxing video to tide you over.

Android now powers more than 80 percent of the smartphones sold around the world.

Google said the Home device will sell for roughly $130 online and at electronics retailers starting next month.

This is evident in the phone’s design, which has a slicker, more premium glass and aluminum build than Google’s previous Nexus phones. A new virtual reality headset called Daydream View will work with the new Pixel phones and other devices based on Google’s Android software. It will even be making its own phone accessories. Pre-orders began on Tuesday in Australia, Canada, Germany, Britain, and the United States. Moorhead says Google Home offers natural language speech, unlike Echo, which consumers may like. Google’s Night Light feature – a blue light filter, is coming with 7.1 as are improvements for screen sensitivity and display refresh – the latter being pretty important for Daydream.

Google services along those lines include Google Assistant, software that’s created to answer questions and retrieve information, conversation-style.