Google unveils new low-cost Pixel phone, Watch and teases tablet return

Google has kicked off its I/O developer conference with a new lower-cost Pixel phone, the Pixel 6A, a look at the new Pixel Watch and announced a return to the tablet market next year.

The company also teased the upcoming Pixel 7 and 7 Pro phones, which will be released later this year.

The event is expected to see much of Google’s vision for the future of computing and how its Pixel devices will fit in with the “ambient computing”.

"In a multi device world, people don't want to spend their life fussing with technology. An ambient approach gets the tech out of your way," said Rick Osterloh, SVP of devices and services at Google.

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“We’re working toward a world where the front door knows when to lock itself and your devices know whether to send an incoming call to your phone to your earbuds or to your watch. Your TV will pause itself when you get up to grab a snack, and building on our ambient computing vision and our end-to-end Google tech stack, we’re able to extend what Pixel devices can do for you and be even more helpful.”

Features

He showed off Google’s entry level Pixel phone, the Pixel 6a, which has many of the advanced smart features of its Pixel 6 and 6 Pro siblings.

It has the same two tone design as the Pixel 6, and comes with a 6.1 inch display. It also has the same camera bar that is on the Pixel 6, with a dual rear camera system that includes 12 megapixel main and ultra wide lenses.

The new device brings some of the magic of the Pixel, including the magic eraser feature that allows you to remove unwanted objects from your photos, and real tone, which gives more realistic photographs of people. It also includes Night Sight for low light photography.

The phone comes with 5G connectivity, and the same security architecture to help prevent attacks, with Titan M2. The Pixel 6a also has the same premium Google Tensor system on a chip as the Pixel 6, which Mr Osterloh said was “a big deal” for the price of the phone. Tensor, which was introduced with the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro, is the first system on a chip made by Google and is designed for machine learning.

“Google Tensor is the brains inside Pixel 6, our state of the art machine learning models run five times faster than on Pixel 5 so we can provide better performance and richer AI driven experiences for the same low price,” he said.

There is also an under-display fingerprint sensor, and five years of security updates for the phone. However, the 6a will follow the current trend and eliminates the headphone jack.

“We believe it’s truly the best smartphone that’s ever been offered at this price,” he said.

Design

Mr Osterloh also revealed a bit about the popularity of the Pixel 6, saying it was the fastest selling Pixel in its first six months. “Pixel 6 has sold more than Pixel 4 and 5 in their first six months combined. We want to keep that momentum going,” he said.

The Google executive also showed a first look at the upcoming Pixel 7 and 7 Pro, with an updated design and the next generation of Google Tensor for more powerful artificial intelligence. The phones will ship with Android 13.

“Pixel 7 Pro and its triple camera system sets a completely new standard for photography, performance and design,” he said.

Google has also added a “pro” tier to its earbuds range, with the Pixel Buds Pro the first to include active noise cancellation. The buds use a new custom audio processor, with a six-core audio chip running Google’s algorithms and tuned by its in house audio engineering team.

“Great earbuds don’t just allow you to hear things, they also allow you to be heard, so with Pixel Buds Pro wind, traffic and other background noise will be suppressed and your voice will be clear no matter where you are,” Mr Osterloh said.

The Pixel Buds Pro will get about 11 hours out of a single charge, reducing to seven once the active noise cancelling it turned on.

The buds will also work with Google Assistant for getting directions and real time translations, and will support intelligent audio switching, so you can move between a podcast on your phone to a video call on your laptop without having to click into any Bluetooth settings. Later in the year, an update will bring spatial audio to the Pixel Buds Pro for compatible content.

Users

The Pixel Watch will be available later in the year, bringing with it the new Wear OS user interface with smart notifications, with deep integration with Fitbit’s health insights.

That means users will be able to get continuous heart rate and sleep tracking, active zone minutes when working out and tracking your stats and progress against personal fitness goals.

“Google Pixel Watch is a natural extension of the Pixel family providing help whenever and wherever you need it,” Mr Osterloh said.

However, the company is still standing by its previous pledge to keep Fitbit and Google data separate, with the health data processed by Fitbit remaining hived off.

In 2023, Google will also bring out a Pixel tablet, marking a return to the market for the company. The new tablet will be powered by Google Tensor, with the company claiming it was planning it to be the “most intelligent tablet in the world”.