Google's fascination with hardware stretches back years. Remember the early days of Android and the G1? It took Google a while, but that fascination turned into a sort of experimental hobby, and now into something far more serious. Software is Google's art, and the company has been working for a long time to craft the right canvases. Google has more control over the development -- and destiny -- of these two smartphones than it ever had with any Nexus phone. It's not surprising, then, that the company has turned to close friends to help chart this new course. Former Motorola Mobility CEO Rick Osterloh is back at Google heading up hardware after the search giant sold his company to Lenovo. HTC, which most recently worked with Google on the Nexus 9 tablet, is handling the Pixel phones' production and assembly. There's a palpable sense that Google wanted to round up its A-team for this project.

I write about gadgets, which means everyone asks me what laptop/ phone/ dishwasher to buy. I struggle with this, because the answer often starts, "It depends." Unless you ask about a phone. In that case, I usually say get an iPhone. But the phones can be … frustrating.

Google is coupling its Pixel phone with the new Google Assistant. Introduced in its Allo chat app, the Assistant is the updated version of Android's Google Now features. Say the words, "Ok, Google" aloud and the Assistant is summoned and ready to answer questions. Based on your location, the Assistant will serve up pertinent information regarding what's happening around you. And depending on what you're seeing onscreen, bringing forward the Assistant will have it chime in with info on that (after swiping up on the Assistant) screen. These superpowers are nothing we haven't seen from the search company in the past from features like Google's Now On Tap.

Google made a splash earlier this month when the company announced it would be shipping a dongle with every Pixel phone it sold that helps iPhone users migrate to its Android flagship. As a lifelong iPhone user, I decided to put Google to the test and find out how well that process really works. And after spending a weekend working through it, I came to a nuanced and messy conclusion. Broadly speaking, migrating works fine, but the nitty-gritty details of the process are painful to deal with. I expected the transition to be far from frictionless.

The Pixel XL is the first Android phone to deliver an emphatic, cohesive, surprise-and-delight experience. Samsung and the other Android phone makers have tried to give users something magical before, but they never quite made fetch happen. Even Google itself has toyed with a unified software/hardware gestalt via its Nexus phones, but those devices could sometimes feel like stripped-down vessels for disconnected software services. But in the Pixel XL we finally have an Android phone that directly competes with the iPhone in terms of holistic design. For this we can thank Google Assistant, which serves as a central entry point for all the Google services I've been using daily since I switched from the iPhone in 2014. It really ties the room together.

Google has been selling phones since the Nexus One landed almost seven years ago. In fact, there have been eight Nexus phones, one each year through 2014, and two last year. They have generally been good phones, especially in the last few years. But the Pixel is not a Nexus. With the Pixel, Google did more than partner with a phone maker to slap Android on an already-designed handset. It created its own hardware and software innovations on top of stock Android. The result is a phone that may displease Android purists, but should delight everyone else. This is Google's first real attempt to push a phone to the mass market, and the Pixel competes directly with the iPhone as well as pricey flagships from Samsung and LG. The Pixel is smaller, with a 5-inch 1080p display instead of the Pixel XL's 5.5-inch 1440p display. The smaller display--along with the Pixel's smaller battery--is the only difference between the two models. Nexus phones were built in partnerships with hardware partners like LG, Motorola, and Samsung.

Columnist Ed Baig reviews Pixel, which features the high-IQ Google Assistant and a competitive, high-end smartphone camera. NEW YORK--Google's new Pixel phones should be on a smartphone shopper's shortlist -- and not just for those disheartened by Samsung's Galaxy Note 7 recall. Pixel is a winner for anyone looking for an excellent phone. Start with cameras that are at the very least on par with the terrific cameras on the Samsung Galaxy S7 and iPhone 7 that represent its main competition. Add the baked-in voice-enabled Google Assistant, Google's answer to Apple's Siri, Microsoft's Cortana and Amazon's Alexa, where another battleground is poised to take place.

Google couldn't have picked a better time to hit reset on its flagship phones. Samsung's Galaxy Note7 is literally burning up in flames, and that's created a gaping hole in the premium Android market. The company's new Pixel and Pixel XL replace the Nexus phones. The names are new and they're positioned as premium phones, but, make no mistake, they still stick to the Nexus mission: to offer the very best and purest experience of Android and Google services that you can get. Which isn't to say the Nexus phones were flawless. The problem with Nexus wasn't bad hardware (last year's 5X and 6P were the best Nexus phones yet) or poor software (stock Android will always be superior to any custom skins), but that they never moved outside of the geek circle: Google barely marketed them, and they never really sold at scale.

Over the last several decades, technology has changed tremendously. I can't tell you how many times my father has told me about a computer science class he took in college where the computer required punch cards to function (sorry to date you Dad!). Fast-forward and we have artificial intelligence at the palm of our hands, hands-free texting in our cars and smart watches that monitor our health from our wrists. But it's not only our personal lives that have been affected by these changes in technology, it's our work lives as well. At PGi, we're always trying to innovate our products to make your work life easier, so naturally we're curious about new technology and the effect it has on our work lives. Over the next few weeks, we will be producing a blog series on just that--the future of work.

Just when you thought that 2016 was practically over as far as the big smartphones are concerned, Google drops us a bombshell of a device. The Google Pixel and Pixel XL are, indeed, groundbreaking smartphones in the history of Android, tough less because of the specs and more because of its features and implications. But for now, we set aside the conspiracies and ignore the conspiracies. For now, we dig deep into those very hardware and software features to see if the Pixel is truly a blast or just a dud. As with any smartphone, the first thing people will notice will be the device's design.