By Rishi Iyengar and Rachel Metz, CNN Business
Google on Wednesday unveiled an expanded lineup of hardware products, in the latest sign it is committed to moving beyond its core advertising business and competing with the likes of Apple.
At its first in-person developer conference in three years, Google announced three new smartphones and its first in-house smartwatch, with plans to release a new tablet next year as well. Google also announced updates to many of its most popular tools, including Maps, Google Translate, and its core search product.
Here are the major takeaways:
three new pixel smartphones
Google on Wednesday surprised fans of its smartphone lineup by teasing two new flagship devices – Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro. Although the company did not share many details, it is expected that both the smartphones will be released this fall.
Google also announced the Pixel 6a smartphone, a more affordable version of the Pixel 6 lineup that was released earlier this year. The Pixel 6a is powered by Google’s in-house Tensor chip and will come in three colors – green, white and black.
It will cost $449 and will be available on July 21.
pixel watch
There is no dearth of Android smartwatches in the market, but now Google is planning to make a new smartwatch of its own for the first time.
The company teased the much-hyped Pixel Watch, which will use Google’s WearOS operating system and be compatible with services like its voice-enabled Google Assistant, Google Maps and Google Wallet.
Integration with Fitbit, which Google acquired in 2019, will add a number of activity tracking and fitness features.
Along with the Pixel 7 lineup, the Pixel Watch will be available in the fall. Google also teased a new Pixel tablet, which the company says will be released in 2023.
Pixel Buds Pro
Google also announced a new iteration of its Bluetooth earbuds, called the Pixel Buds Pro.
Available in four colors – orange, green, white and black – the new earbuds offer features like active noise cancellation and spatial audio. The Pixel Buds Pro will cost $199 and will be released on July 21.
immersive maps
In addition to the hardware, there were also several new software updates. Google Maps users will soon be able to get a real-world view of some cities via 3D visualization of popular landmarks, restaurants and businesses to better visualize the space. While Maps already offers satellite view and Street View options, Google says its new Immersive View feature combines both of them to “create a rich, digital model” that makes users feel like they’re on the ground. are on.
A sliding scale will let users see what the area looks like at different times of day, how busy it is, and local traffic conditions.
Immersive View will be available later this year in Los Angeles, London, New York, San Francisco and Tokyo on all mobile devices using Google’s Android operating system. The company said it plans to add more cities as it develops this facility.
Google translation
Google is adding 24 languages to its translation tool, Google Translate – a move the company said is broadly focused on the languages of Africa and India, and languages generally underscored by the technology.
These include Quechua, which is spoken in the Andes, especially in Peru; language spoken in Lingala, Democratic Republic of the Congo; Assamese, which is spoken in Northeast India; and Tigrinya, which is spoken in Ethiopia and Eritrea.
The company said the additional languages bring the total number that the tool can translate to 133, and will be available to all Google Translate users in the coming days.
a new skin-tone scale
Google is launching a new skin-tone scale it hopes will make its products more inclusive.
Many beauty and tech companies classify skin colors based on the Fitzpatrick scale. Developed by a Harvard dermatologist in the 1970s, it is used to classify how different skin colors react to UV light (and, through this, predict a person’s risk of sunburn and skin cancer). We do). Despite only covering six skin colors, it’s used by tech companies to inform everything from the colors of emoji and how wearable heart rate monitors work on different skin tones to Facebook’s efforts to improve AI. We do.
The company said it will begin using the Monk Skin Tone Scale, which was developed by Harvard professor Alice Monk and includes 10 different shades. Google is using it to test how well AI models (such as those that can recognize faces in pictures) work on people of different skin tones. The company is also using scale in Google Images searches, such as to allow people to narrow down aesthetic image queries by skin shade.
Google will also open-source Scale so that others can use it.
virtual card
Google is rolling out virtual credit cards to help protect users’ financial information when they shop online.
The feature generates a virtual card number that users can autofill on an Android mobile device or in Google’s Chrome browser, instead of their actual card information, masking the actual credit card number of the company they’re making purchases from. Huh.
The virtual cards will roll out this summer — initially only for US users with Visa, American Express and Capital One credit cards. Google says it plans to add support for MasterCard later this year.
Find Privacy Controls
Another feature announced Wednesday aims to give users more control over what results appear when they search for their name in Google.
Starting in the coming months, the feature will make it easier for users to request that their personal information such as phone numbers, emails and home addresses be removed from search results.
Google plans to allow users to customize the ads they see when surfing the Internet with the ability to choose the brands and types of ads they do and don’t want to see.
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