The expression "more than" is usually very effective but in a few occasions it remains in a mere artifice of language to attract the attention of the reader and open the doors to an "augmented" reality based on imagination.But after the presentation that Google made yesterday of its new hardware devices , that "more than hardware" makes a lot of sense.
It is not the first time that Google presents devices: Chromebooks, mobile phones Nexus or Chromecast and Chromecast Audio have been and are an essential part of Google, although in the background against services search or maps and your Android operating system.
What differentiates yesterday's event from other events is the impression that was left at the end of it: the hardware, despite its importance, has in the software its reason for being .Google hardware is the passport to enter through the big door in the universe of Google.
And we say through the big door, because the Google universe is open, and sooner or later you will be able to enter it using other devices , but what Google has done is make the difference between using its devices and those of third parties are something like the difference between traveling in economy class or traveling in business class.
To the point
The first part of the presentation featured the Google Assistant .Google Assistant is the backbone of many of the devices presented yesterday and is based on the advances that Google has made in the field of AI (Artificial Intelligence).Google has been working in technologies such as Machine Learning or its Knowledge Graph, behind services and applications such as Google Photos and its automatic assistants, the language translator or apps as recent as Allo.
Features like the automatic generation of captions improve significantly with each advance in Google's AI, such as the one that took place last September, making the index of successes when identifying items on the screen, increase to almost human limits.
The translation is also improved with these advances, as well as the conversion of text to speech or the recognition of it.A few days ago the application Allo de Google was presented , a point of entrance to the voice assistant in the form of an application, which in addition to the messaging app allows us to "chat" with the Google Assistant in search of answers to our queries.
With this initial approach, Google gave way to the presentation of its hardware products "made by Google" .
Pixel and Pixel XL, 100% Google smartphones
The Pixel are two high-end smartphones where design and technology have been specially taken care of by Google.They have Snapdragon 821 processor and 4 GB of RAM with variable storage configurations without slots for microSD memory.The Pixel has 5 '' FullHD and the Pixel XL 5.5 '' (qHD).
The 12 Mpx camera and opening f2.0, according to Google has the highest DxO Mark index on the market above the iPhone 7 or the Galaxy S7, with a special emphasis on the speed of the interface and image processing.
As an operating system you will have Nougat, along with the integration of the Google Assistant assistant natively and unlimited storage in full size in Google Photos for images and videos.It is at this point that Google begins to make a difference with other Android terminals, by including access modalities to Google services that other terminals cannot use .
The terminals, beyond the hardware and the possibility to choose between three colors, have as special attraction the integration with these Google services and receive updates first , before anyone else or even exclusive.
Other aspects have also been taken care of, such as the battery charge that is now ultra-fast, with about six or seven hours of use with a 15-minute charge.The fingerprint is not missing, of course, with priced from $ 649 for the 5 ”and 32 GB Pixel model. It's easy to think that XL models with 128 GB of storage memory will be more expensive.The availability date in Spain will not is still defined .
Virtual reality according to Google: Daydream
In addition, the Pixels are compatible with the new Google virtual reality viewer: the Daydream View .Daydream is the name with which Google has renamed its virtual reality platform, which now also It includes a specific command to interact with VR applications and content.
In addition to the content of third parties, Google has the integration of Daydream into Street View, YouTube or Google Play Movies .
The Daydream View viewfinder has nothing to do with the famous Cardboard.Now it is manufactured with quality and comfortable materials, with different colors and a finish of a high-end product.It already has content adapted to Daydream, but this provided that there are many more for Christmas.
The price of this accessory will be $ 79 when it goes on sale in the United States .In Spain, for now, there is no news about its price or availability.
Connectivity according to Google
The third product presented yesterday was the Google WiFi .An extremely compact router with an elegant design with which Google wants to facilitate the installation and management of the local home network .They can be used independently or in repeater mode, with a management app that allows you to pause WiFi, establish access policies for different users, configure parental control of the smallest connectivity, etc./p>
The availability of Google WiFi in Spain is not determined yet.Its price will be $ 129 when it goes on sale in the United States .If purchased in a pack of three, the price is $ 299.
Chromecast Ultra: 4K streaming now available
Of the products presented yesterday, Chromecast Ultra is the only one that is already available in the Google Play Spanish store at a price of € 79 .It is similar to the previous ones Chromecast, although with the possibility of streaming in 4K and with WiFi and Ethernet connectivity.
At the moment, its greatest virtue is the increase in quality associated with 4K and compatibility with Dolby Vision (HDR) and (hopefully) HR10, but in the future you can integrate with Google Home to turn it into a remote intelligent distance and by voice for the TV.
The connected home: Google Home
The last of the devices presented yesterday was the "table" assistant Google Home .Similar in concept to Amazon Echo, is designed to have a point of interaction with Google Assistant at home.
Its microphones and loudspeakers are optimized for a domestic use in rooms with echoes, reverberations and ambient noise from a very diverse environment .The goal is to make you understand our voice in a correct way And without mistakes.Google Home allows you to consult information by voice, as well as interact with devices such as Nest thermostats, Philips Hue lighting system or IFTTT platform, not forgetting Chromecasts to make it a kind of "butler" for the connected home.
It is that integration with third parties that makes it a much more interesting proposal than it might seem at first. The possibilities of use are multiplied by many orders of magnitude when integrated into services like IFTTT, or with devices like Philips Hue.
The price will be $ 129 in the US when it goes on sale in November, without news even about its arrival in Spain.It remains to be seen how it is being accepted by other companies, but its potential is extraordinary.It is not an idea new, being Amazon Echo an unquestionable pioneer.But on paper the Google platform is more versatile.
An event with a lot of chicha
In the end, I did not talk about Andromeda, the operating system that is supposed to be a merger between Android and ChromeOS, but what is presented, despite expected, finds in Google Google a union link that gives the hardware an additional attraction .Google is positioning itself in the middle between hardware and software.A kind of "humanware" where the goal is to create a universal platform to handle information in an "assisted" and intelligent way.
The use of the adjective "intelligent" must be handled with care.It is different to speak of artificial intelligence than to speak of expert systems.Expert systems are skilled at handling large amounts of information, but they are not really "ready" in the human sense of The word: However, Google has a differentiating and useful bet on its Machine Learning platform .
Google Now, with its automatisms, automatic image subtitling, or the assistant that creates movies and stories autonomously within Google Photos are useful applications that make them good services. The Google Assistant is a I spend more in that direction , where the hardware is a mere instrument to access it.
Made by Google means for Google the entry into the market of careful, aesthetically attractive hardware with a price far from the aura of "cheapness" that the first Google devices had, but they are competitive and , on paper, they paint well and deserve to be taken into account when acquiring technology, not only for electronics, but also for Google services and applications as a differentiating argument.
Appendix: third-party guides
During the presentation there was no shortage of competition to the competition .Particularly sympathetic was the one that referred to the audio jack, ironically qualified as "not new".The objective was to ironize on the absence of the jack audio on the iPhone 7, of course.
Also allied to virtual reality devices that need to have cables to work (such as HTC Vive or Oculus Rift), in front of Daydream, where everything is integrated into the viewfinder along with the wireless controller.
In any case, a presentation without excessive surprises, but interesting as a letter of introduction from Google as a company with hardware closely linked to the software .
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