09:35AM EDT – Hello all, we’re live from Google’s New York Pixel launch event. We’re expecting Google to release the new Pixel 4 which Google hasn’t quite been able to keep very secret this year. Alongside the phones, we’re also expecting some other new hardware products.
09:35AM EDT – The briefing should start at 10am ET – in around 20 minutes time.
09:43AM EDT – What should we expect from the new Pixel 4? Early reports hint that Google will be introducing a new 90Hz screen to this year’s models. Other changes naturally will be related to the camera system which will be upgraded. Will Google update the Pixels with a triple-camera system this year, or will we see the company go in another direction?
09:47AM EDT – The start seems to be delayed a bit – they’re saying now it’s starting in 20 minutes.
10:01AM EDT – Intro video starting.
10:03AM EDT – “Hearing from the people at Google who design and develop these products”
10:03AM EDT – “Providing a more helpful Google for you”
10:03AM EDT – New Pixel phones, laptops, and home devices
10:06AM EDT – Stadia – Bringing the best experience gaming on any screen.
10:06AM EDT – Stadia launches on November 19th.
10:07AM EDT – Taking a look at the new Pixel 4 motion controls.
10:08AM EDT – New wireless earbuds – video about their design and engineering.
10:08AM EDT – New Google Pixel Buds
10:09AM EDT – Hands-free access to Assistant with the new buds.
10:09AM EDT – Hands-free access to Assistant with the new buds.
10:09AM EDT – Regular “Hey Google” voice assistant interaction.
10:10AM EDT – Long range BT connection up to three rooms away. Entire football field outside range.
10:10AM EDT – “Excellent sound quality”
10:10AM EDT – 5 hours continous playback in a single charge. 24 hours with the wireless charging case.
10:11AM EDT – Flush with your ear without extending outside.
10:12AM EDT – In-ear design for better sound quality – but with a spatial vent to allow ambient sound. Essentially semi-closed design.
10:12AM EDT – In-ear design for better sound quality – but with a spatial vent to allow ambient sound. Essentially semi-closed design.
10:12AM EDT – Available Spring 2020 for $179
10:12AM EDT – Moving on to privacy.
10:13AM EDT – Enabling you more control over your privacy settings.
10:14AM EDT – Google operations have been carbon neutral since 2007. 100% renewable energy matching.
10:14AM EDT – Investing $150M into new renewable energy.
10:15AM EDT – Same amount of renewable energy as consumed by the manufacturing of Google products.
10:16AM EDT – Ivy Ross, Google’s design lead, talking about Google’s design methodology.
10:16AM EDT – “Design is about solving problems for people”
10:17AM EDT – “Today looking at sustainability in every aspect”
10:18AM EDT – All of the Nest products in 2019 are manufactured with recycled plastics.
10:19AM EDT – Google’s offsetting 100% of the carbon footprint of product shipping.
10:19AM EDT – Reducing the amount of hardware need to buy.
10:20AM EDT – “Stadia consolidates devices so all you need a controller and a screen” – Yea but what about the datacenters?
10:21AM EDT – Talking about the design of the Stadia controller and its design iterations.
10:22AM EDT – “It needs to feel right for as many people as possible”
10:22AM EDT – New Pixel Book successor
10:23AM EDT – Bringing the experience to more people at a more affordable price.
10:23AM EDT – “Pixel Book Go”
10:23AM EDT – “Pixel Book Go”
10:24AM EDT – Body made out of magnesium.
10:24AM EDT – The specs flashed for a moment ; it looked like it was Core i3
10:25AM EDT – Moving on to Nest
10:26AM EDT – Talking about privacy commitements.
10:26AM EDT – Requiring partners to pass a security review before they can access your Nest devices.
10:28AM EDT – Introducing the Nest Mini for $49
10:29AM EDT – 1 TOPs dedicated machine learning inferencing chip in the Nest Mini.
10:30AM EDT – “Next Aware” available 2020
10:32AM EDT – Man the format of this presentation is awful – jumping from topic to topic.
10:32AM EDT – Talking about Nest Wifi now.
10:33AM EDT – Updated Mesh routers
10:34AM EDT – New Wifi Point integrates same functionality as the Nest Mini with assistant feature.
10:36AM EDT – Video about the Nest devices design and testing.
10:36AM EDT – Moving onto the Pixel 4
10:37AM EDT – Starting off with Project Soli radar technology.
10:37AM EDT – Started 5 years ago
10:38AM EDT – First smartphone with a radar sensor
10:38AM EDT – “Fastest face unlock in a smartphone”
10:38AM EDT – Motion sense can control the screen on/off based on your movement.
10:39AM EDT – Video about the Soli design process.
10:40AM EDT – Understanding the intention of your movement – trying to account of regular movements.
10:41AM EDT – Privacy is built in from the start. Motion sense can be turned off an on. All processing happens locally on your device.
10:42AM EDT – The new assistant has an on-device language model run locally – this vastly improves the speed and response time.
10:44AM EDT – New audio recorder that’s able to live transcribe as it’s recording.
10:44AM EDT – Search through your recordings with keyboards.
10:45AM EDT – It’s all offline with no external connectivity.
10:45AM EDT – 90Hz display with dynamic switching for best battery life.
10:46AM EDT – Comes in 3 colours, White, Black and Orange.
10:47AM EDT – Starting at $799 for the regular Pixel 4.
10:48AM EDT – Wide & Telephoto – Google missed out on the ultra-wide camera trend this year which I think is going to be a mistake.
10:48AM EDT – Talking about computational photography. Doing less with hardware and more with code.
10:49AM EDT – HDR+ takes up to 9 burst shots.
10:50AM EDT – Talking about the telephoto lens and the zooming capabilities of both optic & super res zoom.
10:51AM EDT – Google thinks telephoto is more important than ultra-wide-angle – I think that’s just wrong and Google is on the wrong path here.
10:52AM EDT – LiveHDR+ now showcases approximation of HDR+ in the live viewfinder.
10:52AM EDT – The viewfinder is now WYSIWYG.
10:53AM EDT – New dual-exposure setting feature for highlights and shadows for controlling exposure.
10:54AM EDT – Using ML white balance for all scenarios.
10:54AM EDT – New portrait mode.
10:54AM EDT – Computing depth from dual pixel PD as well as dual camera for better segmentation.
10:55AM EDT – New Night Sight improvements.
10:55AM EDT – Longer exposures and more of them.
10:56AM EDT – Semantic segmentation used for all modes.
10:59AM EDT – Promises of an improved Night Sight in the future with extended dynamic range well ahead of 19 f-stops.
11:00AM EDT – Testmondials from a professional photographer using the Pixel 3 for a year shooting various shots.
11:04AM EDT – Still going on explaining her camera experience and subjects.
11:06AM EDT – “Creating a single consistent experience across your home and on the go”
11:07AM EDT – Wrapping up the event. Thank you all for being here with us.