Google is bringing some new and upgraded features to its hardware lineup as part of the June Pixel feature drop. The update will start rolling out today to all supported Pixel phones, tablets and smartwatches. First of all, Google is expanding access to its Gemini Nano generative AI model, which will now be available on Pixel 8 and Pixel 8a. Until now, it's only been present on the Pixel 8 Pro. At the outset, the model will be available as a developer option on Pixel 8 and 8a and this can be enabled through the device settings.

Google will stop supporting Assistant on smartwatches running Wear OS 2 in the near future. "Google Assistant support on this watch is ending soon," reads a message in the latest version of the Wear OS companion app, as spotted by 9to5 Google. "Please upgrade to a newer watch that supports Google Assistant and runs Wear OS 3 or later." The companion app is only needed for devices that use Wear OS 2 or earlier versions of the operating system. There's a dedicated Assistant app for Wear OS 3 devices, such as the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4, Fossil smartwatches and, of course, the Pixel Watch.

The artificial intelligence incursion has made its way to the App Store. BlueMail, an app that uses AI to write emails and manage people's calendars, was set to release an update to its service that would utilize OpenAI's popular ChatGPT engine. Apple, citing ChatGPT's ability to spew out nearly any kind of text imaginable, blocked BlueMail's updates out of concern that it could generate text that would be offensive or unfit for minors. It just stopped the app maker from publishing the update without content restriction filters. Still, BlueMail's developer has protested the move, saying Apple was stifling its innovation efforts.

After months of rumors, Google announced its own smartwatch, called the Pixel Watch, will be coming this fall. Although the tech giant has supported smartwatches through its wearable operating system and completed its acquisition of Fitbit last year, this is Google's first branded smartwatch. The Pixel Watch will have a circular, domed design made with recycled stainless steel and customizable bands. Even though the watch also has plenty of features not concerned with health tracking, Rick Osterloh, Google's senior vice president of devices and services, teased the Pixel Watch's "deep integration" with Fitbit that will include heart rate and sleep tracking as well as workout metrics users can measure against their goals. Meanwhile, Google is entering a crowded market for health-tracking wearables, with competitors like Apple, Amazon, Samsung, Withings and Garmin.

Google has become synonymous with powerful search, incredible hardware, and quirky, fun technology. Unfortunately, that includes stretching the limits of privacy and a reputation for giving up on its product lines too soon. But these negatives notwithstanding, Google is at it again at its Google I/O event near its company headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., enticing developers and consumers alike with a number of new hardware products, software and services. Yes, Google just revealed new Pixel phones, including the Pixel 6A and the Pixel 7. But those weren't the coolest technologies Google showed off on Wednesday.

For the first time since the start of the pandemic, Google's annual I/O developer conference returned to the historic Shoreline Amphitheatre. In an in-person event that saw the company share details on its latest breakthroughs in AI, machine translation and more, Google also found time to outline some of the hardware it plans to release later this year. In case you missed the chance to watch the event live, here are the biggest announcements from I/O 2022. Google may have teased its latest flagship devices at I/O, but the company's new Pixel 6a stole the show. Available to pre-order on July 21st, the $449 device will feature the search giant's homegrown Tensor AI chipset and a 12-megapixel camera that shipss with the latest version of Google's Magic Eraser photo editing tool. The company also promised to support the Pixel 6a with five years of security updates.

The Wear OS update that Google announced at IFA has arrived. With new navigational shortcuts, tighter Google Assistant integration, and a smartphone-style notification "stream," your old Android Wear smartwatch will certainly feel different once it's installed. While older watches will enjoy some interface improvements, Google's update isn't about fixing your current device. Android Wear and Wear OS smartwatches won't see much of a speed or battery life boost with the update, for instance. But next year's models, which will also utilize the new Qualcomm Wear 3100 chip, absolutely will.

With barely a month to go until Google holds its annual Pixel event, it seems as though one of the most anticipated announcements won't be happening. In an interview at IGA on Friday with Miles Barr, director of engineering for Wear OS, former Macworld reporter Caitlin McGarry of Tom's Hardware learned that Google won't be releasing a watch this year, as had been previously rumored. Well, at least we now know how Google was actually able to keep something secret. We'll likely never know whether the project was canceled, delayed, or simply never existed, but the fact of the matter is that we haven't seen any leaked Pixel Watch shots because there weren't any to take. So now there probably won't be any surprises at the event since we've already seen every square inch of the Pixel phones.

Your wrist is about to get a serious upgrade. Google announced on Wednesday that a long-overdue Wear OS redesign will be rolling out to all watches over the next month. It's not the first Wear OS refresh we've gotten--Google has quietly been updating the OS formerly known as Android Wear throughout 2018, including bringing a true dark mode that finally takes advantage of the OLED screens on nearly every smartwatch--but this is the first full-scale redesign it's gotten since Android Wear 2.0 landed back in February 2017. And while it's not quite the revolutionary overhaul some want to see, it does bring a nice visual improvement and a few necessary navigational shortcuts to help us spend less time touching the screen. Of note, watches will now use Google's Products Sans font, bringing them in line with the Pixel phones.

Google's line of smartwatches formerly known as Android Wear, now known as Wear OS, have suffered from sameness and repetition. But there are big changes coming this year. Google's confirmed there will be a revamp of Wear OS watches, starting with at least one product arriving this fall, maybe even up to three. Will it be Google's own Pixel watch to join the Pixel 3 phone and Google's growing line of self-made products like Google Home, Daydream View, Google Clips and the Pixelbook? Or, will it be made by others, like Google tends to do with some products?