Details of Google’s new Pixel smartphones revealed online

3 Oct 2016

Google. Image: Denis Linine/Shutterstock

Smartphone stores have released details on Google’s as yet unreleased Pixel and Pixel XL devices, with the tech giant expected to reveal all at tomorrow’s 10/4 event (4 October).

UK retailer Carphone Warehouse has followed the lead of Canadian stores Bell and Telus in revealing the specs and image renders of Google’s Pixel and Pixel XL, the company’s new branded smartphone.

Google Pixel XL

‘Introducing Pixel, Phone by Google’ is the tag of the devices, with the inclusion of microSD slots in the specs catching the eye. Android Police suggests this could simply be an oversight by Carphone Warehouse though, and we won’t know until the official reveal.

One of the cooler software details is the inclusion of unlimited cloud storage for photos and videos, at full resolution. Google is taking all of its cloud products and putting it under the easily remembered name of Google Cloud, including the new name for its work apps: G Suite.

Google Pixel

With a 5in and 5.5in screen respectively, Pixel and Pixel XL will be unlocked by fingerprint sensor, according to Carphone Warehouse’s notes.

Each sporting 12.3MP rear cameras, they will be powered by Snapdragon 820 processors, sporting 4GB of RAM. Pixel and Pixel XL will each contain a setting that allows them to detect when storage is required, presumably deleting unused items when the need arises.

Google Assistant will play a prominent role in the Pixel smartphones, something the company has been hinting at for quite some time now.

Google’s plans to get in on the home assistance craze will be driven by the company’s AI armoury, which has used mobile devices to help fine tune vocal and digital commands and queries for years.

Company CEO Sundar Pichai feels home assistance is the future for technology companies, after he revealed that one in five queries on Google are performed via speech.

GSMArena nabbed screenshots of early leaks of the devices from Canadian stores, with Bell (left) and Telus renders below.

Google Pixel XL

Google. Image Denis Linine/Shutterstock

Gordon Hunt was a journalist with Silicon Republic

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