Made by Google ‘19 is Over - What’s New?
On October 15 Google held its annual Made by Google Event to feature the latest developments of their own. The tech giant boasted six new gadgets and two services which as they say would eventually make users’ life easier. Basically, Google followed the path beaten by Apple focusing a lot of attention on user-friendliness and usability, as well as exclusivity of their products. Though it would be fair to say that deeper integration of services and devices could really allow you to forget them for a while and use when they are really needed. Now let’s give a bit closer look to each of the new products presented.
Google Pixel 4 and 4 XL
The most anticipated novelty of 2019. The main feature is of course the camera module and some magic software that turns ordinary photos into a “work of art” :)
Live HDR+ preview is now finally there. Other enhancements include improved portrait mode AI performance (you can take pictures of cats and dogs now), they also did a good job on white balance and night shooting mode.
The 90Hz refresh rate OLED screen ensures that the picture is as smooth and silky as possible. This screen has been recognised as the best one in the Display Mate industry.
The Project Soli chip allows you to control your smartphone with gestures, bringing us closer to those movies about the future.
Google Pixel Buds 2
The guys from Google have taken their lumps after the release of version one of these earphones and are now ready to stand up for themselves.
Range — throughout your huge apartment or up to 100 meters in the open.
Can recognise “OK, Google” without even touching. Noise reduction and adaptation to the environment ensures that you could forget about the device.
Extended battery life in active mode is up to 5 hours.
Pixelbook Go
Yet another round of improvements. Opening and closing now feels better, the keyboard is designed to be even quieter and more pleasant for typing on. It works now up to 12 hours, and weighs much the same as before. Available in black and pink (obviously the guys decided to save on dye-stuff).
Nest Mini
The same speaker but under a different name. The developers claim that it now creates a fuller bass sound. Obviously the bass will be better if the speaker produces at least 30 watts and not 15.
Nest Aware
Much-touted Google security camera subscription service to provide intelligent alerts and camera history. It has expanded to include Nest and Google Home speakers and displays. Now you can enable these devices to be your ears when you’re away.
Nest Wifi
These are two devices: a router and an access point which amplifies the signal and extends the network. A successor to the Google Wifi product it introduced a couple of years ago, but with a number of improvements: 2x better speed than Google Wifi, with up to 25% better coverage. Honestly, you can infinitely improve the signal, say in the US, but the communication quality with a provider will hardly improve.
Google Stadia
Cloud game service and a console from Google. An array of Pixel devices will be the first you can launch your favourite games on. Not available right now, so looking forward to November 19.
Google Assistant
The guys have announced the second-generation version of its software with new capabilities — now it can live not only on PixelPhone, but also on other devices.
If we give a much soberer look to all the new products, we can say that the current release has been an excellent work to upgrade and improve the past models, as well as to enhance already good enough characteristics of the devices (say, Pixel).
Should you decide to spend more time and watch the event in full, use this link.
