It was Google's turn on Wednesday to announce a litany of devices and updates. The Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro were the headline acts, though there was lots of interest further down the bill including the reveal of the Pixel Watch 2 and the public version of Android 14 making its way out into the world. You can catch up on everything by watching the Made by Google event yourself or checking out our liveblog for real-time insight and analysis. Alternatively, we've rounded up all the major announcements for you right here. The stars of the Made by Google show are, of course, the company's latest smartphones.
Say hello to the new Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro! Google finally stopped messing around with leaks and rumors and gave us the goods on Wednesday, fully unveiling its next-generation flagship line. The base model starts at $699 and is available in Obsidian, Hazel, and Rose colorways. Pixel 8 Pro, on the other hand, starts at $999 and comes in Obsidian, Bay, and Porcelain. At first glance, these two phones look very similar to the Pixel 7, with a slightly altered horizontal camera bar returning to both devices. However, there are some surface-level changes worth noting.
During its Made by Google event on Wednesday, the company announced that it's integrating its Bard AI chatbot into Google Assistant. The company describes the feature as combining Bard's "generative reasoning" with Assistant's "personalized help" to provide more contextually aware responses for mobile users. It will be available within the next few months. The feature was first rumored this summer. "While Assistant is great at handling quick tasks, like setting timers, giving weather updates, and making quick calls, there is so much more that we've always envisioned a deeply capable personal Assistant should be able to do," said Google VP of Assistant / Bard Sissie Hsiao during the keynote.
Google's hardware event has been chock full of information on new devices, like the Pixel 8 smartphone, but camera software has also gotten some TLC. The company announced a ton of Pixel 8 features exclusive for shutterbugs and video editors. The new Best Take feature solves the issue of, uh, one person looking really gross in group photos. When enabled, the software takes a series of photos in quick succession and you can actually mix and match faces to create the perfect group shot, sort of a face-based riff on the pre-existing Magic Editor tech. Grab a face from one photo and slap it on the next.
As Google takes the New York City stage today to unveil the latest Google Pixel 8 series and Pixel Watch 2, I can't help but notice how many new features would be quintessential to my life as a parent. Parenting isn't easy; we know that. So having gadgets that make it easier to get through the hectic days isn't just smart; it's survival. Here's why the new Google Pixel 8 Pro is shaping up to be one of the best phones for parents who need al the help they can get. The Pixel 8 Pro has one eye-catching new feature that the iPhone (or pretty much any other phone) has yet to adopt: a new camera temperature sensor.
At the'Made by Google Event' in New York, Google teased a new "generative AI" feature that will be built into the Fitbit app sometime next year as part of the Fibit Labs program. The app, which will pair with new wearables like the Google Pixel 2 Watch and the Fitbit Charge 6, will use artificial intelligence to analyze trends in a wearer's fitness capabilities and be able to provide insights about overall performance. The app will feature a chatbot that can carry a conversation to help you understand how you did during a tracked run, for example, while providing debriefed stats on the activity, like overall pace and elevation gain. The AI tool will take it a step further and be able to explain why you performed the way you did by drawing on affiliated health data, like sleep hygiene, recovery history and other workouts. If you felt that a workout was extra difficult, the app will be able to look for related info to explain why you might be struggling.
Over the course of its Made by Google event on Wednesday, it became clear that Google intends to infuse its its new Pixel 8 phones with generative AI. The company is adding support for on-demand summaries, translations and read-aloud features for articles and web pages, plus more tricks, the company announced during its keynote. All of this is handled through the Assistant, either via spoken word or on-screen prompts. On the new Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro, the Assistant will be able to quickly summarize website text, offering a breakdown of the page and bullet points of relevant content. Prompts will pop up at the bottom of the summary with potential follow-ups -- an article about iPhones, for example, will end with action buttons reading, "About iPhones," and, "Who invented the iPhone?"
Voice assistants were the pinnacle of AI about a decade ago, but with the rise of generative AI, they have remained somewhat obsolete. Despite needing an upgrade, Google has neglected its voice assistant to pursue more ambitious projects like its Google Bard chatbot -- until now. At its Made by Google event on Wednesday, the company gave some much-needed TLC to its Google Assistant, infusing it with new AI features that expand its capabilities for users. The new features even make Google Assistant stand out from those found on other smartphones. The biggest announcement of the event was that Google Assistant is going to be infused with Bard to become a more personalized digital assistant -- Assistant with Bard.
Big Tech companies have been rushing to design and produce new "generative" AI products since OpenAI unveiled ChatGPT last November. But the question of how the companies would get people to use -- and pay for -- the expensive new technology has swirled around the industry for months. Google, Amazon and Apple all have millions of customers already speaking to the companies' existing voice assistants to set alarms, check the weather and make notes for them, representing a ready-made group of consumers to test out the new AI chatbots on.
That's basically where we're at this year: The search giant officially announced the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro today, and unsurprisingly they're sporting a new Tensor G3 SoC. The Tensor hardware made a big splash when it arrived with the Pixel 6, and now the company appears to be focusing on AI performance even more. Google claims the largest machine learning model on the Pixel 8 is ten times more complex than what was on the Pixel 6, a testament both to Google's engineering capabilities and how much tech companies are racing to become AI leaders. The Tensor G3 chip is faster than the G2, as you'd expect, but honestly that's never been the highlight of Google's SoCs. What's more important are the new features it'll deliver.