Google announces Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL

Google’s major event was today and there was a lot to talk about, but the most exciting thing is Google’s new smartphone duo. Yes, after countless leaks, the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL are official.

The hardware is exactly what you’d expect. The Pixel 3 features a 5.5-inch 18:9 FHD+ OLED display while the Pixel 3 XL features a slightly taller 18.5:9 QHD+ OLED display, both featuring HDR support. The Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL also feature 2,915mAh and 3,430mAh batteries, respectively. Otherwise the two devices are very similar. There’s a Snapdragon 845, 4GB of RAM, 64GB or 128GB of storage, a 12.2MP dual-pixel single camera, dual front firing speakers (40% louder than last year), Active Edge squeeze sensors, dual front-facing cameras (the second is a wide angle sensor), a Titan security chip, wireless charging, and three colors: Clearly White, Just Black, and Not Pink. There’s also the all glass back that has a transition from matte to gloss.

But the main features aren’t hardware, they’re software, and Google has gone all out in new software. Google introduced a ton of new features, almost all related to the camera. Top Shot will take photos before you hit the shutter button and present you with the best one, even if you missed the moment or caught someone being ugly. Super Res Zoom takes many photos in slightly different ways to composite a better zoomed in photo. Night Sight will use burst photos and machine learning to take bright nighttime photos. Photo Booth will take photos when you smile or make faces. Motion Auto Focus allows you to track an object in motion and focus only on it. The depth of field in portrait mode is now editable. AR Stickers have become Playground and both Avengers and Childish Gambino will be available and will even interact with you. There is so much to list, and a lot of it is just fantastic.

There were also some non-camera related features announced. Screen Call will allow Google Assistant to answer the phone for you, warning the caller of what it is and offering to send a transcript to you. From there you can either answer the phone or mark the call as spam. Google Duplex, the AI feature that can make calls to restaurants and hair salons for you, launches next month. And there’s also Flip to Shhh, which will mute notifications if you set the phone screen down.

And if you don’t want to upgrade, features like Night Sight, Playground, and Screen Call are coming to the older Pixels with updates in the future.

The devices will come with unlimited Google Photos storage in original quality as well as a 6 month trial of YouTube Music. The Pixel 3 starts at $799 and the Pixel 3 XL starts at $899. Both are now available for pre-order and will launch on October 18! You can get them unlocked or through Verizon.

source: androidandme