Google announces a new generation of Pixel: Live photos and unboxing

At their global event, Google has announced two new additions to their Pixel family: Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL. Claimed to bring the best of Google to its users, the two phones are powered by AI for more helpful, thoughtful, and personal experiences.

The smartphones are available in two sizes — the 5.5-inch Pixel 3 and the 6.3-inch Pixel 3 XL — and three colours: Just Black, Clearly White, and Not Pink. They flaunt Pixel’s iconic two-tone design, which is defined by a soft-touch glass back that feels great in the hand.

With the Pixel 3, Google says you can “capture smiles, not blinks.” A feature called Top Shot uses AI to help you capture the perfect photo every time. When you take a photo, it analyses the images just before and just after you press the shutter, looking for those where everyone is smiling, with eyes open, and facing the camera. If there is a better shot, the camera will give you the option to save it. Super Res Zoom is a computational photography technique, traditionally used for astronomy and scientific imaging, that produces sharp details even when zooming into the subject.

The Pixel 3 lets you take natural-looking photos in dark surroundings, all without a flash. With Night Sight, you can take bright, detailed, colourful shots around the campfire, in a moonlit forest, or a selfie as you’re headed out of that dimly-lit club.

Get everyone in the picture with Group Selfie, which gives you 184 per cent more room in your selfie shots, is it with a large group of friends or an expansive backdrop. Photobooth mode uses AI to recognise that when you’re smiling or making a funny expression, you’re ready for a selfie. It snaps the photo on its own so that you don’t need to reach for the shutter button—a good option for candids.

When you take photos in Portrait Mode, you can change the blurriness of the background, or change the part of the picture in focus even after you’ve taken it. Pixel 3 also brings you Color Pop so that you can make the subject of your photo stand out, in colour, while the background is changed to black and white.

In Playground, you can make photos, selfies, and videos come to life by adding your favourite superheroes, animated stickers, and fun captions. In celebration of Marvel Studios’ 10 Year Anniversary, you’ll enjoy seeing the characters from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (exclusively on Pixel) react to each other and to you.

When you want to capture something that won’t stop moving—think of an adorable toddler or a hyperactive puppy—Motion Auto Focus will make sure your Pixel 3 camera stays in sharp focus automatically, as you record. And if you happen to be taking a selfie video while walking or moving around, Pixel 3 brings you front-facing video stabilisation.

Once again, you can save all your favourite moments with free, unlimited photo and video storage in the original resolution. It’s hassle-free, you don’t have to think about back-ups. Come back to Google Photos later and search for the beach photos you took on your Pixel 3, and they’ll pop right up.

The AI in Pixel 3 enables new features that make your day-to-day actions simpler and easier. If you want to know more about something you’re looking at, use Google Lens, built right into your Pixel 3. To scan and translate text, find similar styles of clothing, or identify popular plants and animals, you can now long press in the Pixel 3 camera to easily invoke Lens. When you point your camera at the information you want to remember or don’t feel like typing in—like a URL or QR code on a flyer or an email on a business card—Google Lens suggests what to do next, like calling a number, going to the website, or creating a new contact.

The Google Assistant is also baked into Pixel 3 to help you find answers and control your phone and compatible smart home devices—all with a simple squeeze or just by using your voice. Many of the new AI-powered features on Pixel, including camera features like Top Shot, Photobooth, and Lens suggestions, are processed on-device. AI on-device means these experiences are fast, private to you, and use up less battery.

That’s not all — this year you can also count on even more assistance across apps, including Gmail’s Smart Compose, now available for mobile on Pixel 3. Smart Compose suggests phrases in your emails so that you can draft them faster, on the go. Gboard, the keyboard built into your Pixel 3, will recommend GIFs, stickers, and more, to make your conversations fun and engaging.

The Pixel 3 comes with an 18W fast charger in the box, which can give you seven hours of use in 15 minutes of charge. And with AI-powered Adaptive Battery, Pixel 3 prioritizes battery power for your most important apps to make your phone last all day.

The new Pixel Stand is a new Qi compliant wireless charger sold separately at ₹6,900). While charging in the Pixel Stand, your phone turns into a smart speaker and smart display powered by the Google Assistant, a photo frame, a control panel for your smart home, and much more. If you set an alarm, your screen will gently brighten over 15 minutes before your alarm goes off, mimicking the sunrise and helping you wake up naturally.

Pixel 3 is IP68 water and dust resistant and has a security chip custom-designed by Google called Titan M, making it the most secure phone the company has built yet. Titan M enhances mobile security behind the scenes by protecting your unlock credentials, disk encryption, app data, and the integrity of the operating system code itself. Powered by Android 9 Pie, Pixel 3 comes with the latest Android operating system.

Both the Pixel 3 variants come with high-quality Pixel USB-C earbuds and a USB-C Digital to 3.5 mm headphone adapter in the box. Pixel 3 comes with dual front-firing speakers tuned by a GRAMMY-winning music producer to turn your phone into a powerful speaker.

The Pixel 3 64GB is priced at Rs 71,000 whereas the Pixel 3 128GB costs Rs 80,000. The Pixel 3 XL 64GB starts at Rs 83,000 and goes up to Rs 92,000 for the 128GB variant.

Meanwhile, the Google Pixel 2 XL (64GB) will continue to be sold at Rs 45,499.

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