The 11 coolest announcements Google made at its biggest product event of the year
1. The Pixel 3 has an impressive-looking feature called Night Sight, which could blow other low-light modes on rival smartphones out of the water.
Google came up with a better solution to flash photography in smartphones, which "blinds your friends and leaves you with an unnatural-looking photo," according to Google's Liza Ma.
Night Sight made a pretty big impression at Tuesday's event. When Google showed off two photos, one taken with the Pixel 3 and one taken with Apple's new iPhone XS, the crowd started laughing and clapping.
The Pixel 3 photo looked much brighter and clearer than the iPhone photo, as you can see above. Google pointed out that neither photo was edited after being taken.
How good Night Sight is in the real world, we'll have to test that for ourselves. But the early impressions look promising.
2. Google came up with a way to let you capture wider selfies in the Pixel 3, so you can include more people and details.
Google's "Group Selfie Cam" in the Pixel 3 lets you capture more of your selfies by simply zooming out. Google says you can capture 184% more of your selfies with the Pixel 3.
Given how much people love selfies, this could very well be a game-changer. This was easily one of the cooler announcements to come out of the event.
3. Photo Booth Mode, a new camera mode for the Pixel 3, will automatically take pictures if you're smiling or making a funny face.
This is a really clever touch that will probably result in more fun and natural-looking photos.
4. Google integrated its futuristic Lens feature into the Pixel 3's camera, so if you point your phone at a restaurant menu, it can spot the address or email address, and prompt you to open those items in Google Maps or Gmail, respectively.
You can also point your camera at things you want to buy. So let's say you see someone wearing a beautiful-looking jacket: Just point your Pixel 3 camera at them — try not to be creepy — and your phone will surface similar-looking jackets you can buy online.
5. Google's Pixel 3 takes Portrait Mode to the next level, even one-upping the iPhone XS.
Portrait Mode on the Pixel 3 lets you adjust several different settings after the photo is already taken.
You can edit the depth of field, like you can in the new iPhone XS, but you can also make colors pop by muting other colors, or change the focal subject of the photo — something tech companies have been trying to accomplish since the Lytro Camera.
The number of new portrait-mode features, and the level of control you get for each one, shows why Google's smartphone cameras are best in class.
6. Google's new Pixel 3 phones come with a feature called Super Res Zoom, which gives you better close-up photos that don't lose detail.
Here's Google's Brian Rakowski describing the feature:
"Anyone who’s tried to take a photo at a concert knows that phone cameras take terrible zoom. Instead of shooting a grainy photo, Pixel 3 shoots a burst of photos, each a bit different, taking advantage of the natural tiny movements of your hand. We run the variations through a merging algorithm to create a beautiful zoomed-in shot.
"This technique of merging slightly different photos for higher resolution has been used in advanced astronomy research to image the surface of Mars. Pixel 3 puts this technology into a device you can hold in your hand."
So basically, Google is using the same technique astronomers use to map out planetary surfaces, but for your smartphone, so you can get better zoomed-in photos. How cool is that? Amazingly cool is the correct answer.
7. Flip to Shhh is a great new feature for the Pixel 3. If the setting is on, and you put your phone face down on a table, it will automatically mute sounds and notifications.
Every smartphone should have this feature.
8. Google's new Call Screen feature for the Pixel 3 is the first time you'll be able to use Google's advanced Duplex technology, which uses Google Assistant to deal with phone calls on your behalf.
With Call Screen, if you don't know who's calling you, or if you think it's a telemarketer, you can have your Google Assistant answer the call. It will tell the caller that it is, in fact, an assistant responding on your behalf, and ask what it's about. At that point, the entire conversation will be transcribed on your lock screen, in real time, so you can choose to either answer the call, or hang up.
9. Google also introduced a special accessory for the Pixel 3: a $79 wireless charger called Pixel Stand, which actually changes how your phone looks when it's docked.
When you dock your Pixel 3 to the Pixel Stand, it basically becomes a little Google Home Hub, another product Google unveiled on Tuesday that can show you visual information at a glance. With the Pixel Stand, you can use your Pixel 3 as an alarm clock — where your phone's screen gets increasingly bright until your alarm finally goes off — or just to check the weather.
The Pixel 3 can also become a digital photo frame when it's attached to the Stand, and not busy with other tasks. It will automatically scan your Google Photos, being careful to remove blurry or "bad" photos, to make sure your phone is only displaying your best pictures.
10. The Google Home Hub, a new smart-home device Google unveiled on Tuesday, features a "Home View" where you can control all of your various smart-home devices in one place — no need to open a million different apps.
One of the biggest issues with current smart-home devices is that they all have their own apps and interfaces. With Google Home Hub, all of those connected devices can be controlled from a single place, making operating your smart lights and thermostats a whole lot easier. You’ll also be able to access this same Home View from your Android phone.
11. Google made a special keyboard for its new Pixel Slate tablet — and it will probably give you keyboard envy.
Google unveiled the Pixel Slate tablet at its big hardware event, but an accessory for that device stole the thunder. Google made a new keyboard where you can push the Pixel Slate down into it, and it will click in — and once you hear that click, just start typing.
You don’t have to worry about recharging the keyboard, or syncing it up with the tablet; it all just works. The keyboard also comes with a full trackpad, and quiet, backlit keys. It's pretty to look at, but it also sounds comfortable and easy to use.
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