Lots of news from Google yesterday. Among the product announcements are a pair of new phones, the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL, and an AirPods-like set of wireless earbuds, the PixelBuds.
A few thoughts:
Take a few moments to read this first look at the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL by The Verge’s Dieter Bohn. This is a nice little guided tour with lots of pictures.
Now take a moment to read this post from Nick Heer (it’s short), taking the Verge review to task, just a bit. A taste:
That’s the sole mention of the headphone port in Bohn’s preview. That’s weird, because less than a year ago, Bohn agreed with Nilay Patel’s sentiment that removing the headphone port was “user-hostile”. Even two months ago, Bohn was “going to continue to be a curmudgeon about” the removal of 3.5mm headphone port on today’s smartphones.
It is interesting how much grief was sent Apple’s way over the removal of the headphone port. This was Apple skating to where the puck is going to be, not to where it has been.
No matter. Moving on.
To me, the more interesting announcement yesterday was that of the PixelBuds. Here’s a backgrounder from Mark Gurman.
Forget the wire connecting the two buds, forget the look, forget the sound. Instead, focus on the killer feature:
The headset’s most show-worthy feature is a live translate mode, which lets users hand their phone off to someone speaking another language and that speech will automatically convert to the wearer’s native tongue and be played back by the Pixel Buds.
Google has made a real chess move here. Apple has a choice to make. Will they pull resources off other projects to build a similar feature for iOS and the AirPods? If not, this is a terrific marketing discriminator for Google, a feature of their ecosystem that you can only get if you move to Android.
The ecosystem walls are getting taller, the feature sets richer, and the engineering demands becoming that much more intense. One significant distinction I think will become more important over time: Apple is developing a large (getting larger) lead in hardware, especially when it comes to chip design.
As natural language processing, image detection, augmented reality, and machine intelligence play larger roles in this space, Apple’s investments in bringing chip design expertise in house will start to pay dividends. The iPhone X and Face ID are just the very beginning.
As evidenced in that Verge review, Google has also done a fantastic job marketing their “best smartphone camera” designation, even though the iPhone photos generally look better than the Pixel’s.
Jiminy Christmas, those pixel buds are yuuuuge…but of course they won’t be derided like the airpods were, will they?
Two things.
This article: https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/5/16428570/google-pixel-2-no-headphone-jack-apple-wireless-future
Not really seeing the need for hand wringing here. We knew and acknowledged that Apple would get raked over the coals while everyone went through the stages of grief over the next year. It’s just normalized now.
Anybody know what the profit margin on these will be? They’re seem pricey for such a pragmatic design.
When Apple removed the headphone jack, people cried, “you ruined my life!” When Google does it, it becomes ‘pragmatic’.
Oh, yes, this is a primary consideration of mine when I choose which phone to buy. [cheap sarcasm]
Oooo, that plastic feel soooooo gooood.
OMG, did he just write that?
Yup, it’s always listening to you. Privacy b’damned!
If you’ve ever used Google Translate on the web then you know that the “killer feature” will just be a way of generating vaguely related gibberish from spoken word.
While cool (if perhaps technically/linguistically dubious) I don’t imagine the market for those needing real-time translation is big enough to be a meaningful benefit to the Google ecosystem. I’d imagine the need is more acute in regions Android is already dominant.
That’s because he is in the final stage of grief: acceptance.
A year or two from now, he’ll have completed the cycle by claiming the headphone-jack removal was Google’s idea first.
The Verge is to Google as Fox News is to Republicans. Everyone knows that.
I don’t doubt that Google’s coming up with some interesting ideas that merit attention. I’ll learn about them from outlets other than Verge.
“This was Apple skating to where the puck is going to be, not to where it has been.
[…] Google has made a real chess move here.”
In a game of hockeychess, how do we even determine a winner?
(“King to Queen’s rook for a long shot to the goal!”)
“Apple has a choice to make. Will they pull resources off other projects to build a similar feature for iOS and the AirPods?”
Actually, this should only take a minor software update, since Siri in iOS 11 introduced translation. It’s just a matter of creating an app that puts the translation to your words through the iPhone’s speaker, and the incoming translation through your AirPods (or any headphones, wired or unwired).
“Pragmatic”
Thats a good one. They’ve found a way to spin lackluster into a positive remark. iPhone 8 on the other hand, well thats just boring…iterative…OMG BEZELS. Google on the other hand is just so darned pragmatic, those clever dogs over there.
What is with the tone and atmosphere on tech sites becoming overly snobby and pretentious? I swear, this “pragmatism” praise is almost making me spit out my coffee. Like Apple is so insensible with that recklessly exciting new iPhone X. Don’t dare push things forward. Don’t get rid of headphone jacks, because we will call it pragmatism 1 year later when Google follows your lead.
I’d assume Google would just make this bit of software available for iOS sooner or later, much like they do pretty much every other Google product.
The translate feature is awesome demo fodder. And that’s about all. Aside from ongoing quality (the demo was obviously scripted with carefully chosen words and sentence structure), the vast majority of people simply don’t need real time translation of conversations. As with a lot of freshly released Google stuff it’s impressive tech that doesn’t answer much of a market need.
I disagree. I’ve compared both and Pixel by far took best photos consistently in comparison to any phone, including Apple.
Did you watch the demonstration? The translate feature is artificially tied to the Pixel Buds, everything is done on the phone. Instead of playing one side of the translation on the phone’s speaker, it plays through the ear buds.
Quality of photo? I prefer the iPhone because of it’s daylight rendering and focus options. The Pixel looks like it has excellent low light capabilities. A lot of this is personal preference and how well the photographer can use these amazing tools.
Me – I’m a Mac user since 83. Love my iPhone 7+, iPad Pro 10.5, and MacBook Pro. However I do think Google revealed some excellent products yesterday. Friends of mine in their ecosystem are quite excited by the Pixel XL and Pixelbook. And good for them.
Will I buy them? No. I think my iPad Pro is the best computing device that I’ve ever owned. I love the software and integration in the Apple ecosystem. However, am I glad that there are interesting products coming out from Google and Microsoft? You bet. That means my next iPad or MacBook or iPhone will be even better.
It’s a magical age we live in and I love all these products.
Every review or hands-on of the Pixel 2 quietly mentions the fact that there’s no headphone jack.
And I rush to their comments section pointing out their utter hypocrisy.
Wait, a Nexus fan disagrees? Say it ain’t so. 😉
Honestly, the cameras in both phones are so damn good that it’s really down to subjective preferences at this point. The beauty of healthy competition in the marketplace.
If there is one writer I’m inclined to cut some slack to over at The Verge it’s Dieter. The guy absolutely loves iOS and is inclined to be harder on Apple designs, I think, than others because they’re the devices he uses daily. We’re always toughest on our own kids. Watch his video on the new features in iOS for the iPad from a few months back, it’s a love letter to the OS.