Google has sent out invites for the latest “Made by Google” hardware event. On October 15, the company will officially launch the Pixel 4 and probably a slew of other hardware. The livestream is already registered on YouTube, with a launch time of 10am ET.
The Pixel 4 is the worst-kept secret of the year. In addition to leaks from the usual suspects and Google’s own public announcement of device features, any semblance of secrecy was killed last week when several Vietnamese YouTubers got hold of a Pixel 4 prototype and started posting full video reviews.
Key features of the Pixel 4 include a 90Hz OLED display (just like the OnePlus 7 Pro), two rear cameras and a time-of-flight sensor (the first multi-rear camera setup for a Pixel phone), and a thick top bezel packed with sensors for things like face recognition (apparently the only supported form of biometrics) and air gestures. Air gestures—which requires you to wave your hand above the phone screen to control it—have been tried on phones before, usually with poor results. For the Pixel 4 though, Google is using a “Soli” radar sensor that it developed in house, which will hopefully make the feature more useful.
As usual, we’re expecting two phones, this year packing 5.7-inch and 6.3-inch OLED displays. The specs are a bit behind the competition, with the Snapdragon 855 instead of the faster Snapdragon 855+, only 6GB of RAM instead of the 8GB of RAM you get from other phones in this price range, and batteries that seem on the small side.
Google’s Pixel phones have always been about software, though. With this release, you’ll get Android 10 and probably the “Next gen” Google Assistant that was announced at Google I/O 2019 as “coming to new Pixel phones.” There’s also the Pixel’s top-shelf camera setup, which this year includes a focus on astrophotography.
Alongside the yearly smartphone launch, Google is also in the habit of launching a plethora of other hardware. This year, the expectations are a second-gen Google Home Mini (probably rebranded the “Google Nest Mini”) with better sound and an aux jack, and maybe even a Google Pixelbook 2, codenamed “Atlas,” which popped up at the FCC in July. With Wi-Fi 6 ready for devices it’s also time for a new Google Wi-Fi, and various Chromium commits have been hinting at a next-gen version of Google’s mesh router. With Google’s track record for leaks, we’ll probably hear even more about these devices in the time between now and the launch event.
We are already signed up for the event, so we’ll bring you the latest on whatever Google announces on October 15.
