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Google’s upgrades to its Pixel smartphones and other gadgets are its latest steps toward turning its digital services into ‘your back-up brain’ with products packed with artificial intelligence.
The company’s widely-used search engine, Gmail, maps, Chrome web browser and other services have yielded a fountain of data the company has used to smarten up its software and offerings.
Over the past year, Google has been transplanting that knowledge into its Pixel line of phones, internet-connected speakers, a new type of laptop and a small, hands-free camera that automatically learns when to snap pictures or record video of candid moments.
Google also announced wireless headphones, called Pixel Buds. In addition to relaying audio from the phone, the headphones can also translate spoken language in real time, working with translation software built into the new Pixels.
Although analysts suggest that, in many respects, Google is simply copying or offering slight variations on devices made by Apple, Samsung and OnePlus that have been bigger hits so far, Google believes its services can give it an edge over its rivals.
The second generation of its Pixel phones unveiled last week feature larger, brighter screens that take up more of the device’s front, changes that Apple is also making with its iPhone X scheduled to be released next month.
Google has also souped up the already highly-rated camera, boasting that it will take even better photos than the iPhone. A new mode for taking portraits has been added, using AI software that adjusts photos automatically to enhance close-ups and blur backgrounds.
The company, however, still has a long way to go before making a significant dent in the smart phone market. In the past year, Google sold just 2.8 million Pixel phones, accounting for less than one per cent of the worldwide market.
The smaller Pixel will sell for under BD250, BD18 less than the iPhone 8. The Pixel XL will sell for around BD320, or BD18 more than the iPhone 8 Plus. Prices for the iPhone X, by comparison, start at a suggested BD377.
