Google’s Pixel 8, Pixel 8 Pro and Pixel Watch 2 available for pre-orders

by Hansraj Agrawal | Oct 5, 2023 | Technology

Google unveiled its latest products – the Google Pixel 8, Pixel 8 Pro, and Pixel Watch 2 – all of which are now open for pre-orders in India.

The Pixel 8 is priced at Rs 75,999 while the Pixel 8 Pro will retail for Rs 106,999. The Pixel Watch 2 is available for Rs 39,900. Customers can start purchasing these products from October 12 via Flipkart.

The Pixel 8 boasts a 6.2-inch Actua display, offering a brightness level 42 per cent higher than its predecessor, the Pixel 7. Its design features include satin metal finishes and a polished glass back, available in Rose, Hazel, and Obsidian shades.

On the other hand, the Pixel 8 Pro, with its 6.7-inch Super Actua display, is touted as having Google’s most luminous screen. It presents a matte glass back combined with a polished aluminium frame, available in Bay and Obsidian colours. Notably, it also incorporates a novel temperature sensor on its back.

Camera upgrades are a significant highlight for both phones. They feature 50-megapixel main cameras, providing a 21 per cent improvement in light sensitivity over the Pixel 7. The Pixel 8 introduces an enhanced ultra-wide camera with autofocus for Macro Focus. The Pixel 8 Pro sees improvements across all its cameras, notably a front-facing camera with autofocus, and a telephoto lens that captures 56 per cent more light than its predecessor, the Pixel 7 Pro.

Additional features on these devices include Google’s Best Take, Magic Editor, and Audio Magic Eraser. Moreover, the Pixel 8 Pro is set to receive the Video Boost feature later this year, aiming to enhance video processing by combining Tensor G3 with Google’s data centres.

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Google launches Pixel 8 series, Watch 2: India prices, introductory offers

by Hansraj Agrawal | Oct 5, 2023 | Technology

Google on October 4 announced the Pixel 8 series smartphones and Pixel Watch 2 at its Made by Google event. The Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro, and the Watch 2 are now available for pre-order with introductory offers, exclusively on e-commerce platform Flipkart. The Pixel 8 is offered in 8GB RAM + 128GB on-board storage at Rs 75,999, whereas the Pro model is offered in 12GB RAM + 128GB on-board storage at Rs 106,999. The Pixel Watch 2 is priced at Rs 39,900. All the devices will be available for purchase starting October 12.

Introductory offers

Pixel 8: Google is offering up to Rs 8,000 in bank offer and Rs 3,000 exchange bonus on trade-in deal.

Pixel 8 Pro: Google is offering up to Rs 9,000 in bank offer and Rs 4,000 exchange bonus on trade-in deal.

In addition, Google is offering bundle deal on both the smartphones in which it is offering the Pixel Watch 2 at a discounted priced of Rs 19,999 or the Pixel Buds Pro at a discounted price of Rs 8,999.

The Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro boasts 100 per cent recycled aluminum housing. The Pixel 8 has a 6.2-inch Actua display, which Google said is 42 per cent brighter (at 2,000 nits) than the Pixel 7’s display. The Pixel 8 features satin metal finishes, a polished glass back and comes in Rose, Hazel and Obsidian colours.

The Pixel 8 Pro, on the other hand, sports a 6.7-inch Super Actua display of variable refresh rate, which ranges from 1Hz to 120Hz. Google said the display is capable to hit 2,400 nits peak brightness. The smartphone has a matte glass back with a polished aluminum frame and comes in Bay and Obsidian colours. The Pixel 8 Pro has a new temperature sensor on the back that would allow users to scan an object to get temperature details on the phone.

Also Read: Samsung Galaxy S23 FE, Tab S9 FE series, Buds FE launched in India: Details

Both phones boast 50-megapixel main camera sensors. In addition, the Pixel 8 gets a 12MP ultra-wide-angle sensor with autofucs that enables Macro Focus for close-up shots. On the Pro model, the ultra-wide-angle camera features a 48MP sensor. In addition, it has a dedicated telephoto lens of 48MP with optical zoom range of up to 5x. The front-facing camera on the Pro model has autofocus.

Besides the sensor upgrades, Google has loaded the Pixel 8 Pro camera interface with Pro Controls that opens access to settings like shutter speed and ISO. You can also get high-resolution 50MP images from across the zoom range, in both JPEG and RAW.

Coming to software-based features, Google introduced Best Take that will allow users create a blended image from a series of photos to get everyone’s best look. Besides, Google announced generative AI-based Magic Editor feature in Google Photos that will allow users reposition and resize subjects in the frame post capture. In addition, Google announced Audio Magic Eraser feature for videos. It will allow users to reduce distracting sounds in video, like winds or noisy crowds in the background. Google said this is a first-of-its-kind computational audio capability, which uses advanced machine learning models to sort sounds into distinct layers so you can control their levels.

Later this year, the Pixel 8 Pro will get Video Boost, which it said pairs Tensor G3 with its powerful data centers to apply cutting-edge processing to your videos. It adjusts colour, lighting, stabilisation and graininess. Video Boost would enable Night Sight Video on Pixel for better low-light smartphone video quality, said Google.

Lastly, Google announced it would provide seven years of software support for the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro — including OS upgrades, security updates and regular Feature Drops.

Google Pixel Watch 2: What is new

Google said the Pixel Watch 2 is designed for all-day (and night) wear. Its housing is made from 100 per cent recycled aluminum. The Pixel Watch 2 is powered by a new quad-core processor, which is said to bring smoother and stronger performance. It is paired with a low-power co-processor, which enables a full-day on-battery time even with an always-on display. The Pixel Watch 2 supports fast-charging – 50 per cent in 30 minutes.

Also Read: Vivo V29, V29 Pro smartphones with curved displays launched: Price, specs

The Pixel Watch 2 has three new sensors. Its heart rate sensor is said to feature 25 times more LEDs than Pixel Watch. Besides, Google has enabled Fitbit’s Body Response feature on the Pixel Watch 2, powered by a continuous electrodermal activity (cEDA) sensor. According to Google, this new sensor can point to possible signs of stress using a machine learning algorithm that incorporates heart rate, heart rate variability and skin temperature. Google said its skin temperature sensor on the Watch 2 tracks at night to reveal insights into sleep and monitors for changes in overall wellness.

The Pixel Watch 2 boasts an on-wrist auto exercise detection for seven workout types. Other features on the Pixel Watch 2 include Daily Readiness Score, Sleep Profile, Sleep Score, Active Zone Minutes and 40 workout modes.

The Pixel Watch 2 is based on Wear OS 4 platform with Google apps built-in, including a two new additions – Gmail and Calendar. Besides, Google has improved the existing set of apps such as YouTube Music and Maps. Google has also added more apps to download on Google Play for Wear OS.

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Apple Inc considered switching to search engine DuckDuckGo from Google

by Hansraj Agrawal | Oct 5, 2023 | Technology

By Leah Nylen

Apple Inc. held talks with DuckDuckGo to replace Alphabet Inc.’s Google as the default search engine for the private mode on Apple’s Safari browser, according to people familiar with the discussions.

The details of those talks are expected to be released later this week after the judge overseeing a federal antitrust suit against Google ruled Wednesday that he would unseal the testimony of DuckDuckGo Chief Executive Officer Gabriel Weinberg and Apple executive John Giannandrea.

Judge Amit Mehta initially let Weinberg and Giannandrea testify about the negotiations in closed court. But the judge ruled Wednesday that the testimony “goes to the heart of the case” and should be released. Some testimony about similar discussions between Microsoft Corp. and Apple also hadn’t been made public.

Talks about “partnership deals – I’m talking about the testimony concerning potential deals between Microsoft and Apple and DuckDuckGo and Apple – that will be unsealed,” Mehta said in an order from the bench, adding that he viewed it as “critical to the case.”

The private browsing mode doesn’t track websites that a user visits or keep a history of what websites a person has accessed.

Apple and Google requested that the testimony remain private. Mehta said he went through the transcripts “line by line” and will release the executives’ comments with the exception of trade secrets, such as the project names within Apple, and the exact financial figures under discussion.

DuckDuckGo declined to comment on the judge’s ruling. Apple didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Justice Department alleges that Google has paid billions of dollars to Apple and others to be the default search engine on web browsers and smartphones. Those deals kept other search engines, like Microsoft’s Bing and DuckDuckGo, from building up users and becoming rivals to Google, according to federal and state antitrust enforcers.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella testified Monday about his company’s negotiations to persuade Apple to make Microsoft’s Bing the default search engine on Apple’s Safari browser rather than Google. Nadella said Microsoft was willing to lose billions of dollars if Apple made the switch.

First Published: Oct 5 2023 | 7:04 AM IST

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Dyson launches noise-cancelling headphones Zone with air purifier

by Hansraj Agrawal | Oct 4, 2023 | Technology

British tech firm Dyson on Wednesday announced its entry into the wearables category in the Indian market, with the launch of noise-cancelling headphones.

The company, known for its vacuum cleaners and air purifiers, has introduced Dyson Zone noise-cancelling headphones equipped with a removable visor, which acts as an air purifier when travelling in polluted urban areas or in public transport, the company said.

It has compressors in each earcup, which draws air through the double-layer filters and passes two streams of purified air to the user’s nose and mouth through the non-contact visor, it said.

Its electrostatic filters remove particles as small as 0.1 microns, while activated carbon filters absorb gases such as nitrogen dioxide, as per the company.

Priced at Rs 59,900 and Rs 64,900 — it is available in two models — Ultra Blue and Absolute +, the company said.

Some of its key features include up to 50 hours of continuous playback, with ultra-low distortion, advanced noise cancellation and faithful audio reproduction across the entire sound spectrum, it said.

The headphones are equipped with 11 microphones, eight of which are used to reduce noise pollution by up to 38 decibels, Joe Staniforth, Dyson Head of Wearables Category, said.

However, with visor, the playback time is reduced from 8 hours to 3 hours,.

“Incorporating science and relentless testing, the Dyson Zone headphones have been engineered to actively monitor and combat city noise, while ensuring an uninterrupted, immersive listening experience through high fidelity and low-distortion audio,” Staniforth said.

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Meta expands generative AI tools to boost effectiveness of advertisements

by Hansraj Agrawal | Oct 4, 2023 | Technology

Aisha Counts

Meta Platforms Inc. is rolling out new generative AI tools for all advertisers, expanding on an earlier test of the features that let marketers create images and text more quickly.

Meta’s tools use artificial intelligence to generate background images for products, come up with different variations of advertising copy or automatically resize ads to fit on Instagram or Facebook. The new features will be available to marketers in Meta’s Ads Manager, with global access completed by next year, the company said Wednesday.

Meta previously allowed a small number of advertisers to test the tools in “AI Sandbox,” which was launched in May. Publicis Groupe and Media Monks were among the early advertising agencies that participated in the testing. Based on a survey by Meta, the company said 50% of advertisers expect the tools to save them five or more hours per week creating ads.

Meta has been steadily infusing AI into its advertising products to improve performance and make up for the loss of targeting data spurred by privacy changes from Apple Inc. In May, the company also launched Meta Lattice, which helps businesses predict the performance of ads.

Meta’s efforts to boost its ad business seem to be working. The company’s digital ad revenue increased 12% in the quarter ended June 30, driving its share price to an 18-month high. The company also predicted as much as 20% sales growth in the period that ended in September, driven by spending on artificial intelligence, revenue from short-form video product Reels and improvements in ad targeting.

First Published: Oct 4 2023 | 8:46 PM IST

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DMRC launches Hindi version of Delhi Metro Rail mobile application

by Hansraj Agrawal | Oct 4, 2023 | Technology

The DMRC on Wednesday unveiled a Hindi version of its Delhi Metro Rail mobile application that includes features such as interactive route maps, advanced station search options, real-time first and last train time calculators, and next and nearest station alerts.

The app was so far only available in English, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) said in a statement.

This launch comes as a testament to DMRC’s commitment to the Digital India initiative, aimed at providing government services electronically with improved online infrastructure and inclusivity, it said.

The state-of-the-art app in Hindi marks a significant milestone in DMRC’s mission to provide world-class digital platforms for metro users in Hindi as well. The DMRC website has already been functioning as a bilingual platform in both English and Hindi.

The app, available on Google Play Store and the Apple App Store, has undergone continuous improvements, officials said.

The website and the app both include interactive route maps, advanced station search options, real-time first and last train time calculators, and next and nearest station alerts on the app.

The bilingual platform caters to a wider audience and aligns with DMRC’s commitment to inclusivity, it added.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Oct 4 2023 | 7:55 PM IST

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