Google held its annual Pixel event overnight bringing with it two new phones, a new watch and a bunch of new updates for its Pixel Buds Pro earbuds.
THE GOOGLE PIXEL 8 AND 8 PRO
For the most part, the formfactor of both phones are the same although the Pixel 8 is a little bit smaller than the 7 and the 8 Pro has a gorgeous new soft touch, matte back design. On the front though, it’s a whole different story with the big difference this year being the displays.
Google has dubbed the two displays the Actua and Super Actua display. The Pixel 8 has a 6.2-inch, 60-120Hz OLED display that can reach up to 1400 nits (HDR) or 2,000 hits in peak brightness. The Pixel 8 Pro has a 6.7-inch, 1-120hz display that can reach up to 1,600 nits in HDR and up to a whopping 2,400 nits in peak brightness.
Both phones have the new Google Tensor G3 chip and will be supported with firmware and security updates for the next seven years. Software is a big talking point this year with a number of new features coming to the device. For instance live translating is now faster and you can hear calls more clearly. You can also use face unlock for apps such as banking.
The Google Pixel 8 Pro has a 50MP wide camera, 48MP ultrawide camera and a 48MP telephoto camera with 5x optical zoom. The 8 has a 50MP wide camera and a 12mp ultrawide camera.
The Pixel 8 now has Macro focus, but there’s new features such as best take which will combine a series of photos to give you the best option, so for example if someone is looking away in one of the grabs, it’ll bring their face in from another shot to fix the entire photo.
Magic Editor will allow you to add custom edits and studio quality enhancements to photos to improve lighting and backgrounds and move a subject with ease.
On the video side, Audio Magic Eraser will remove background noises highlighting the subject and Real Tone is now available whilst taking video as well.
On the 8 Pro there’s no pro controls for making better adjustments such as shutter speed and changing the ISO, as well as expert video processing. with Video Boost that will automatically adjust the colour, lighting stabilisation and graininess to give your videos a more cinematic look. There’s also Night Sight on the 8 Pro for videos now too.
You can also use the camera as a temperature sensor to check the temperature of external surroundings.
The Google Pixel 8 is available for pre-order today and will release on October 12th. The price starts at $1,199 AUD and it’s available in Obsidian, Hazel and Rose. The Pixel 8 Pro price starts at $1,699 AUD it’s available in Obsidian, Porcelain and Bay.
GOOGLE PIXEL WATCH 2
The device has an all-new design, with the buttons being more integrated and a tactile crown allowing for easier control. It has a 24 hour battery life and fast charging of up to 50% in 30 minutes. It has a new quad core CPU which improves performance and speed things up.
Last year’s bands will still work on the device, but there’s new active sports bands which will allow for more breathability and new metal slim bands as well. As far as new clock faces go, there’s six new families offering more data and more personalisation
The device will ship with Wear OS4 and bring with it a new gmail and calendar app. There’s new personal safety features such as setting a timer for hike that can contact loved ones if you’re not back in the allotted time. You can also add health data that can easily be displayed to health responders.
As far as health goes, there’s some big improvements with a more accurate heart rate sensor, as well as an on-wrist skin temperature detector. There’s also on-wrist detection for seven workout types.
JB Hi-Fi has a deal where you can get a $250 JB Hi-Fi gift card when purchasing a Google Pixel 8, $350 when purchasing a Google Pixel 8 Pro or $450/$550 when purchasing a Pixel 8/8 Pro and an Pixel Watch 2 together as well.
GOOGLE PIXEL BUDS PRO NEW FEATURES AND COLOURS
In addition to the new Google Pixel 8/8Pro and Google Pixel Watch 2, Google has announced that the Pixel Buds Pro is getting a bunch of new features as well as two new colours to match that of the Pixel Buds Pro.
The new colours are Bay and Porcelain, but all Pixel Buds Pro units will be receiving the five new features:
- Double the bandwith for clearer calls
- Conversation detection which will automatically pause your music and switch to Transparency mode
- A low latency gaming mode for audio to reach your earbuds 2 x faster
- The Pixel Buds app will come to Chromebooks to install firmware and change settings.
- Hearing wellness to tell you how loud you’ve been listening to content to main hearing health
The Google Pixel Buds Pro are available for $285 from Amazon. You can grab them HERE.
