Pixel and Pixel XL announced as first smartphones made by Google

At a special hardware event in San Francisco, Google announced a host of new products and the hotly anticipated Pixel smartphones. Of course, there are no surprises thanks to the plethora of leaks. The company proudly calls them ‘Made by Google’ which feature the Google Assistant built into it. Surprisingly there was no mention of HTC anywhere during the presentation, making it clear that Google wants move ahead from the Nexus. The handsets feature an aluminium and glass build as we saw in the leaks and a new Pixel Imprint fingerprint scanner at the back. The 12.3MP camera has been given a rating of 89 on DXoMark which is the highest on any smartphone camera. The camera features an f/2.0 aperture with the sensor producing large 1.55μm pixels. It is said to offer great HDR+ photos and sees a huge improvement in low light photography as well as support for 4K videos. With that, Google will offer unlimited storage for full resolution photos and videos on Google Photos. The handsets will be automatically updated in the background as soon as a new updated is made available. A 24-hour live phone support will be embedded right into Pixel’s software, allowing a tech support operator to see exactly what’s on your screen to help you better. The Pixel is also the first Daydream-compatible handset and will support the $79 Daydream View headset.  For people who want to switch from an Apple device, Google will offer a seamless transfer tool along with an adapter. You can move contacts, calendar, photos, videos, music, SMS messages, iMessages and more.

The full set of specifications include a Snapdragon 821 quad-core processor with 2.15GHz clock speed, 4GB of RAM, 32GB and 128GB fixed storage options, a 12.3MP rear camera with phase detection and laser guided autofocus and an LED flash, an 8MP front camera with an f/2.4 aperture, USB Type-C and a fingerprint scanner. Connectivity options include 4G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS. The Pixel will offer a 5-inch full HD AMOLED display while the Pixel XL gets a 5.5-inch QHD AMOLED display. The former gets a 2,770mAH battery will the larger one gets a 3,450mAH battery both of which support fast charge that is capable of providing 7-hours of battery in 15 minutes of charge. They will come in ‘Quite Silver’ and ‘Very Black’ colour options with a limited edition ‘Really Blue’ version only available in US on Verizon network. Pricing starts at $649 (Rs 42,800 approx) for the 5-inch Pixel with 32GB of storage and $749 (Rs 49, 400 approx) with 128GB storage, $769 (Rs 50,700 approx) for the larger Pixel XL with 32GB, or $869 (Rs 57,300 approx) with 128GB. They will be arriving in India for pre-order on the 13th of October. If reports are true then the Indian pricing of the Google Pixel with 32GB and 128 storage options will be Rs 57,000 and Rs 66,000 respectively while the larger Pixel XL will go for Rs 67,000 and Rs 76,000 for 32GB and 128GB variants respectively.