Not only the Google Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones. The Mountain View giant at the event on October 4 also pulls out of the hat other interesting news
An event full of products. The web giant, in addition to the Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones, presents the DayDream View visor for virtual reality, the smart home devices Google Home and Google Wifi, and the new HDMI key Chromecast Ultra.
The rumors on the long-awaited event organized by Google on October 4 in San Francisco were many, but perhaps few expected such an abundance of news. The company captained by Sundar Pichai has challenged all competitors by illustrating the road it intends to take in the near future. Artificial intelligence is at the center of the Mountain View giant's strategy that keeps all devices tied together as in an ecosystem where the user is the protagonist who must be "pampered", informed and served at best. Is this really the beginning of a new digital era with a sci-fi flavor?
Virtual reality at full force with DayDream View
It is the designated heir to the Cardboard visor. The new DayDream View is not a standalone product like, say, the HTC Vive, but designed to work with compatible smartphones, Android of course, and in particular with the new Pixel and Pixel XL that will be the first to be able to experience it. It is a product, let's say, cheap - it costs only $ 79 - made of microfiber and therefore very comfortable and lightweight to wear even for several hours. How does it work? You insert your smartphone in the appropriate compartment and automatically starts the management platform of apps and games. At the moment, the choice is limited, but many companies are already working to develop new content: Google promises at least 50 applications by the end of the year. DayDream View also comes with a remote control. It doesn't offer the same potential as the HTC Vive's controller, but it's still a good compromise given its affordable price. DayDream View is the only product presented by Google that will arrive in Italy in November in three different colors - slate, red and snow white - at a price of 69 euros ... yet to be confirmed.
Google Home and the "butler" becomes virtual
(Taken from YouTube)
At first glance it looks like a simple "jar", but underneath hides a concentrate of all the technology made in Google: voice recognition, Internet search, Artificial Intelligence and management of connected home devices. Google Home, in practice, is an audio speaker consists of 4 speakers with two microphones. The upper area is touch sensitive and allows you to raise or lower the volume simply by forming a circle with your fingertip clockwise or counterclockwise. But the real highlight of this innovative device is the Google Assistant, also present in the Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones. It is sufficient to speak in a normal way to Google Home to receive answers to our questions. Its secret? In an extremely fast way, it searches the web and Google services for what we are interested in knowing. Obviously we couldn't miss the music: the Google "jar" is, in fact, able to play the requested songs retrieving them from multiple sources such as YouTube, Spotify, Pandora or TuneIn, but also from web radio and podcast sites. But that's not all. Google Home becomes, if necessary, our personal secretary that reminds us of our commitments, fixes appointments and helps us to compile the shopping list. In short, you can consider it a new member of our family always listening and ready to intervene if asked. A product that, however, is raising many doubts about the issue of privacy. Google wanted to clarify that it is always possible to turn off the microphone, but what will be its behavior if more people live in the house. In short, many questions still unanswered. It remains, therefore, that to wait for his arrival, expected in the United States on November 4 at a price of $ 129 and, perhaps ask for explanations to Google Home in person.
Google Wifi and connectivity has no boundaries
(Taken from YouTube)
It's a router! Or rather it's a modular router. What's the difference? Getting WiFi to the entire house can be a difficult, if not impossible task: there are walls, maybe multiple floors, and potential sources of interference that create areas where, in practice, "there is no field". Google has, therefore, thought that "union is strength" so each Google Wifi is a point of access to the network and just add others to cover the entire surface of the house. The operation of this modular system relies on a technology known as Mesh WiFi that creates a network consisting of many individual access points that can manage the flow of data in an absolutely autonomous way. Not to mention that the configuration is completely automatic and therefore the user does not have to do anything at all to make it work. The more geeky ones however have an application available to manually set the configuration. Google WiFi will be available in the United States from the beginning of November - it is not yet known when it will arrive in Europe - and is available in two formats: a single Google WiFi will cost $ 129, while the package with three devices will be sold at a price of $ 299.
Chromecast Ultra transforms the home into a multimedia environment
(Taken from YouTube)
It is the latest model in the family of HDMI "sticks" designed by Google for home multimedia entertainment. The main novelty is the support for the 4K resolution now present in most of the latest generation televisions. Chromecast Ultra allows, in practice, to bring to the TV screen streaming content such as movies, TV series, music, videos and photos - but documents or Web pages - stored on your smartphone. Among other improvements, the WiFi 802.11ac connection that, currently, offers the best performance in terms of coverage, speed and stability and that, therefore, is optimal when it is required the transmission of a data stream of considerable size as, in the case of videos in Ultra HD format. But since not everyone has a WiFi network of such power, Google has decided to equip its multimedia dongles also with an optional Ethernet connection. New to which is also added support for HDR (High Dynamic Range) mode and Dolby Vision technology. Chromecast Ultra, easy to install and configure thanks to the Cast application, will also be available in Italy at a price of 79 euros, initially only through the official Google store.
Andromeda, the great absent
announced in the hours before the event, Andromeda was the great absent. Il nuovo sistema operativo, che nei piani di Google dovrà sostituire nei prossimi anni Chrome OS e Android dai portatili e dai tablet realizzati dall’azienda di Mountain View, molto probabilmente sarà il protagonista di un evento futuro in cui sarà presentato anche Pixel 3, il laptop all-in-one su cui Big G ha puntato per scalfire il dominio Apple. Sul progetto Andromeda Google tiene il massimo riserbo, al momento le uniche informazioni trapelate sono state pubblicate da una fonte anonima su Twitter e riguardano la presenza all’interno di Android Nougat, di alcuni file che menzionano il nuovo sistema operativo. Tra le ipotesi più plausibili, Andromeda utilizzerà come "cuore pulsante" Android e prenderà da Chrome OS solamente alcune funzionalità legate alla produttività. Invece, totalmente nuova sarà l’interfaccia grafica. Nei prossimi mesi ne sapremo sicuramente di più.
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