Google’s Pixel 5 and Chromecast event: all of the latest news – The Verge

Google says the Pixel’s Soli radar and Motion Sense will return

2020-09-30T20:37:11-04:00

Google's $799 Pixel 4 had built-in radar. The new $699 Pixel 5 does not - it ditches the sensor-laden forehead of its predecessor entirely in favor of thinner bezels and a hole-punch camera, like the $349 Pixel 4A before it. The result is more screen, but Google's "Motion Sense" gestures and its answer to Apple's Face ID are totally gone.

But Google hardware boss Rick Osterloh tells The Verge that the Project Soli radar and gestures will return. "They'll be used in the future," he says. They were just too expensive for the phone that Google wanted to build this time.

(He didn't say whether they'd appear in a new phone, specifically; a rece …

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Verizon has an exclusive Pixel 4A 5G that’s $100 more expensive

2020-09-30T16:20:09-04:00

Verizon is getting an exclusive model of the Pixel 4A 5G: it comes in white, it supports Verizon-specific 5G bands, and it's $100 more expensive. Verizon has dubbed this model the "Google Pixel 4A 5G UW" to highlight its support for the carrier's "ultra wideband" 5G network.

If you're on any other carrier, you're not missing out. And if you're on Verizon, this is probably a worse option than buying a standard Pixel 4A 5G at the regular price of $499, rather than spending $599.99 on Verizon's model.

Pay more to maybe use Verizon's 5G network

The issue here is Verizon's limited 5G network. Unlike AT&T and T-Mobile, Verizon's 5G network so far …

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Google’s Recorder app is getting an audio editing feature

2020-09-30T15:50:38-04:00

At today's Google event, the company announced that its Recorder app, which is available for Pixel 2 or newer phones, is getting a nice update that should make it a lot easier to search through audio files. The update will allow you to select a snippet of audio from a recorded clip, which you can then either share or remove from the larger audio file.

Additionally, you can search for specific words in a recorded transcript and delete them. So if you're someone like me who tends to say "uh," "um," or any other crutch word during interviews, you can theoretically find and remove them with this new update.

According to Google, you'll be able …

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How to preorder the Google Pixel 5, the Pixel 4A 5G and the Nest Audio

2020-09-30T15:03:59-04:00

Google announced a bunch of products at its big hardware event. As expected, we saw the Google Pixel 5, its new $699 flagship 5G-ready phone. We also saw a more affordable Pixel 4A with 5G support that costs $499.

In the US, only the Pixel 5 is available for preorder with a release date of October 29th. The Pixel 4A 5G is coming to most countries in November and you can join a waitlist through the link below (it's coming to Japan first on October 15th).

If you were interested in the new Chromecast, you won't have to preorder that; it's available starting today from a variety of retailers, including Best Buy and the Google Store. As for the …

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Google Play Movies & TV is now Google TV but it’s not the same Google TV that runs on Android TV on the new Chromecast, it’s an app

2020-09-30T14:30:00-04:00

Along with the launch of the new Chromecast with Google TV, which we've just reviewed, Google is changing the name of the Google Play Movies & TV app to Google TV. The rename is happening on Android phones to start, though you can expect it to change on other platforms eventually as well.

The app is Google's store for renting and buying movies and TV, and in truth Google is following Apple's lead here. Apple uses its Apple TV app as the hub for all its video offerings as well, whether they are TV shows or not. Apple also uses the Apple TV branding in multiple ways - as hardware, app, and its own streaming video service.

Google's TV offerin …

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The new Chromecast with Google TV won’t officially support Stadia at launch

2020-09-30T14:30:00-04:00

Google's new $50 Chromecast with Google TV will support a lot of the streaming services most people would want, although Apple TV Plus appears to be a notable holdout. Those sorts of gaps are fairly normal for a new platform, but the new Chromecast does have one very strange omission: Google's own game streaming service, Stadia. At launch, the new Chromecast with Google TV won't support it. Google says support will come sometime in the first half of 2021.

That said, we were able to get Stadia running on the Chromecast using sideloading, which means it's unclear why Stadia isn't supported on the new Chromecast. To get to a place where we can …

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Google announces new Chromecast with the new Google TV interface

2020-09-30T14:30:00-04:00

The new Chromecast | Google

After seven years on the market, Google is finally giving the Chromecast its most-requested feature: a remote control. Today, the company is announcing the launch of a new Chromecast that also runs new software. And its official name is the somewhat awkward "Chromecast with Google TV." The company is resurrecting the Google TV as an interface layer that runs on top of the actual OS powering the new Chromecast, Android TV.

The Chromecast with Google TV will cost $49.99 and is available in the US beginning today. Actually, it was available a couple days ago if you happened to visit the right Home Depot, and Chris Welch has already posted his …

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Google announces Pixel 4A 5G with larger 6.2-inch display for $499

2020-09-30T14:22:41-04:00

Google today announced the Pixel 4A with 5G, a variant of the budget phone it released back in August that supports 5G networks, during its "Launch Night In" fall hardware event. The device costs $499, a $150 jump over the standard 4A, but the 5G variant comes with a few notable hardware differences beyond its upgraded cellular modem. The phone is launching on October 15th in Japan, with eight more countries to follow in November, including the US.

The Pixel 4A 5G's OLED screen is larger, for one, at 6.2 inches over the standard 4A's 5.8-inch display. The device also carries a slightly faster processor, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G, compare …

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Google announces the Pixel 5 for $699

2020-09-30T14:21:24-04:00

Google has officially taken the wraps off of the $699 Pixel 5, its latest Android flagship. Compared to last year's Pixel 4, Google is focusing less on dramatic new technology - like the much-hyped Motion Sense gestures on last year's model - and emphasizing instead the unique features that already help set the Pixel apart, like its stand-out camera software.

The Pixel 5 will feature a Snapdragon 765G processor - notably not the top-tier Snapdragon 865 or 865 Plus - complete with Qualcomm's integrated X52 modem for 5G support (a benefit of the slightly less powerful chipset.) It's a break from the usual Pixel strategy, which has sought to o …

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Google’s new Nest Audio smart speaker is official, costs $99.99

2020-09-30T14:13:33-04:00

Google Nest Audio | Photo: Google

Google has officially announced the new Nest Audio smart speaker, the latest in its line of smart speakers powered by the Google Assistant. The Nest Audio replaces the original Google Home from 2016 as Google's midrange smart speaker, slotting above the Nest Mini and below the Nest Max in the lineup. It costs $99.99 and will be available starting October 5th in 21 countries. You can preorder it right now.

Unlike the Google Home's air freshener aesthetic, the Nest Audio's soft rounded corners and vaguely rectangular shape make it more reminiscent of a loaf of bread standing on its end. Like the Nest Mini, it's completely wrapped in fabric, w …

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