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GOOGLE HAS OPENED fire on its rivals Apple, Samsung and Amazon in a new push into hardware – and this time the global giant is aiming at the smartphone market.
The company has today launched its premium-priced Pixel smartphones and a slew of other devices showcasing artificial intelligence (AI) prowess.
The unveiling of Google’s in-house designed phone came as part of an expanded hardware move by the US company, which also revealed details of its new “home assistant” virtual reality headset and Wi-Fi router system.
Today’s event in San Francisco marked a shift in strategy for Google, which is leading a major push to make Google Assistant artificial intelligence a futuristic force spanning all kinds of internet-linked devices.
Google chief executive Sundar Pichai said the new devices were part of Google’s strategy to bring artificial intelligence to a range of new devices.
“We are evolving from a mobile-first world to an AI-first world,” he said, adding that the latest push is an extension of the Google search capacity by assisting consumers in finding and organising information.
Our goal is to build a personal Google for each and every user.
Rick Osterloh, head of a new hardware division at the California-based giant, added: “We believe that the next big innovation is going to take place at the intersection of hardware and software, with AI at the centre.”
Pixel will be available with a 5 or 5.5 inch display, starting at $649 (€579) for US customers, at similar prices to the latest iPhone models. Pre-orders began today in Australia, Canada, Germany, Britain, and the United States.
Made by Google
Google, by using its own name on handsets, is aiming for a bigger slice of a competitive smartphone market dominated by Samsung and Apple.
Until now, Google’s flagship devices had used the Nexus brand with hardware partners that have included China’s Huawei and South Korea’s LG. The California group also sought to expand in the smartphone market by purchasing Motorola in 2011, but sold that unit less than three years later.
“Google today demonstrated that it’s finally serious about hardware,” said Jan Dawson at Jackdaw Research. “The Pixel phones are clearly being positioned as peers to the iPhone.”
The new Pixel phone is “the first phone made by Google inside and out”, said Sabrina Ellis of the Pixel product management team.
By producing both the hardware and Android software, Google is making a more direct assault on Apple and its tightly controlled ecosystem.
Along with being the first smartphone to ship with Google Assistant, it will come with unlimited storage for photos and videos and be compatible with the company’s new Daydream virtual reality platform.
Pixel has a “smart” camera which can select the best images from a stream, and a program to make it easy for users to switch operating systems, a move aimed at winning over iPhone users.
Analyst Patrick Moorhead of Moor Insights and Strategy said it may be challenging for Google to gain market share.
“Aside from the camera, the new Google Pixels are pretty undifferentiated compared to Samsung and iPhone seventh generation phones,” Moorhead said.
They don’t exactly swing anyone around the room.
Apple’s world
Gartner analyst Brian Blau said that “the most exciting part of the announcement today was the assistant”, which showcases Google’s strength in artificial intelligence.
“It’s a different tactic from Google, taking the stance that they want to have that direct relationship with their customers,” Blau told AFP.
“It is clearly a step into Apple’s world,” of controlling hardware and software and services, he added.
Pixel will be sold through US carrier Verizon and telecom groups, and available at Google’s online shop unlocked.
As part of its expanded hardware push, Google also showed off a new Daydream View headset that compatible smartphones can be slipped into to serve as screens for virtual reality experiences.
View headsets are made of soft cloth, purportedly inspired by casual clothes. Daydream View bundled with a controller device will be available in November, priced at $79 (€70).
Google has also added to the coming hardware line-up with a modular Wi-Fi system that lets a set of inter-connected mini-modems be spread around homes to make signals strong in all spots.
“Unlike a single, central router, multiple Google Wi-Fi points do a better job of delivering connectivity to all parts of the home,” said Google executive Mario Queiroz.
The internet giant also introduced its Google Home virtual assistant that will be a direct challenge to popular Amazon Echo devices.
Google described Home as a voice-activated assistant that lets people tap into the company’s online capabilities to answer questions, manage tasks, control devices in homes, stream videos and more.
The $129 (€115) Google Home device will be available in retail shops on 4 November.
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Wouldn’t agree with his politics but when he often stopped personal attacks against Obama during the election campaign stating that he was a decent man. That touch of common decency was severely lacking from the last campaign.
I wonder what the hell Trump will do over the next few days to steal the headlines
@Philip Morgan: Bomb Iran in his honour? He’s been pushing it for long enough, it would be a fitting tribute to his lifes work
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-zoPgv_nYg&feature=youtu.be
@Philip Morgan: not sure if youve actually read about his tactics or just one watched a clip about him not allowing one of his supporters call Obama an Arab, but he actually launched one of the most racist presidential campaigns in preceding 2008.
He is also a Zionist supporter and actively supported Israel’s settlement expansion.
@Dermot Foley: By no means was he flawless, calling his wife a cvnt (she had teased him about balding), a teenage Chelsea Clinton ugly, his fellow senators a$$holes and referring to his captors in Vietnam as g°°ks (he later clarified that it referred only to the individuals that had tortured him, but still). Yes he was an a$$hole, but he did something that seems to be completely dead in American politics now, and that is working across the aisle. His concession speech in ’08 was spectacular. He was flawed, right-wing, personally principled, often well-meaning, sometimes prejudiced, diplomatic, thoughtful, and hot-headed. Claiming that he was evil-hearted is just as dishonest as immortalising him as a “true American hero”. I think he said it best himself, a flawed patriot.
@Dave O Keeffe: Plagiarism is nothing to be proud of, but plagiarising someones eulogy, someone elses personal thoughts and feelings is the epitome of sadness. Hang your head in shame
@JimmyMc: yeah, bits of it summed up my opinion pretty well so I copied it and made some minor tweaks. So what? If that’s your take away from it then I feel sad for you
For those that are curious, this is the copied portion “he was flawed, right-wing, personally principled, often well-meaning, sometimes prejudiced, diplomatic, thoughtful, and hot-headed. Claiming that he was evil-hearted is just as dishonest as immortalising him as a “true American hero”.” Yes I took it from an article in the independent, because it was wonderfully phrased and summed McCain up quite well. Probably should have given credit though.
@Dave O Keeffe: Journalists from national publications summing up your opinion, comical stuff that. Don’t feel sad for me, I’ve never had to resort to using someone elses feeling to express and pass them off as my own
@JimmyMc: when talking about a person very often many people will feel the same. Hilarious I know!
Hundreds of thousands of people are dead because of this man’s urges. He was captured and tortured in Vietnam and held for 2 years. Instead of seeing war, especially modern abstract wars were no one is even sure why they are fighting in the first place, as the antithesis of the evolved human being, he went the other way and became obsessed with pushing US intervention militarily, and the rest is history – endless war, the destruction of Afghanistan, Libya, Iraq, and much of Syria, hundred of thousands dead and the present migrant crisis. Rest in peace John McCain , although I do not think you will find much peace.
@raymond grehan: yes because he was the only voice advocating for war. It’s all very well us criticizing the US but then again we weren’t forced into 2 world wars costing the lives of over 600k soldiers for wars that were on the other side of the world.
@Jay Coleman: You would think that the lives of over 6000k soldiers is an even better excuse not to start wars in Iraq and Afghanistan which have been a proven abject failure.
@Jay Coleman: Please read my comment again. Firstly I do not mention the 2 world wars? Secondly I refer to modern abstract wars were no one really knows why they are there in the first place.
p.s. The Nazis and the communists in Russia were both funded in part by Wall street and Rothchild banking circles .
The research of Doctor Anthony Sutton.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OshpXlULhTk
@raymond grehan: ah stop once you mention that Rothschild nonsense you just come across as a tinfoil hat.
@Jay Coleman: ok ignore the excellent research of Prof. Sutton if you choose. It is your choice.
@raymond grehan: Putting an academic name on the Rothschild theories doesn’t make them any less loony, Raymond.
Fair winds and following seas…
McCain was a warmonger. Whole swathes of the world have been laid waste by the American ruling class. We are supposed to commemorate one of the political leaders of that barbarism? Just because relentless official public opinion tries to befuddle our brains does not mean we can’t actually think for ourselves.
Why the US ruling class mourns John McCain
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/08/27/pers-a27.html
McCain with the fascists in Ukraine:
https://www.channel4.com/news/ukraine-mccain-far-right-svoboda-anti-semitic-protests
have your say