The biggest announcements from today’s Made by Google event for the release of the Pixel 8 phones, Pixel Watch 2, Android 14, and a slew of new generative AI features coming to Photos, Assistant, and more are all right here.
Bluetooth Super Wideband is only for Pixel 8 and newer — it’s in the fine print.
Wi-Fi 7 is limited to the US, CA, UK, EU, and AU for now.
For both phones, the “Beyond 24-hour battery life” claim is tested “across a mix of talk, data, standby, and use of other features. Average battery life during testing was approximately 31 hours.”
[support.google.com]
Big, big, big round of applause as Osterloh says support for the Pixel 8 will continue until 2030. We’re wrapping up at the Made By Google event now. Allison and I are about to go run and get some hands-on time with all these new gadgets!
I have a Pixel 6A that’s almost solely for Google Recorder, an incredible tool for journalists due to great real-time transcription. AI summaries... would they be useful? Exclusive to the Pro, apparently.
Pixel 8 starts at $699, and Pixel 8 Pro is $999. They’re available for preorder today and on shelves next week.
A lot of the cool stuff we’re seeing here today isn’t coming at launch. You’ll have to wait for future updates coming in December.
After all that Assistant with Bard barrage, Rick Osterloh is back onstage to give us a highlight reel of everything coming to Pixel. He’s showing off a demo of the Pixel phones creating summaries of long articles. He’s also saying the Pixel phones are the first to run foundation models directly on the device.
This demo of Video Boost shows how it’s supposed to make low-light scenarios much brighter. Except, to my eye, it looks kind of artificial. I lived in Tokyo for seven years, and the muddy contrast between the neon lights and dark alleys... doesn’t really feel like what I just saw. In my opinion.
