Wednesday May 10, 2023; 12:56 PM EDT
- The Google I/O 2023 keynote conference is about to start. It's going to be all about AI, and I suspect it is going to be a broken record. Starting off with all the AI stuff Google has been doing all along, before the chatGPT craze.#
- Future AI Examples#
- Help Me Write added to Gmail to help you write emails.#
- Immersive view for routes in Google Maps. Birds eye view, using satellite imagery. Includes traffic and weather forecasts. #
- Picture edits / improvements in Google Photos, called Magic Editor. A picture is not really a picture. Later this year.#
- Applause for the Bard stuff (AI stuff in general) seems to be tepid at best. Not hearing a lot of enthusiasm. #
- Removed the wait list to Bard. Available in more places and languages.#
- Forty minutes in to the keynote... this is boring. Now about an hour in, and still nothing about the hardware!#
- Decided to open up Mastodon to see what is being posted by Google I/O. I found the #googleio tag, but there appears to be only 60 people posting under that tag. #
- Android#
- One hour and 20 minutes in and they finally are talking about Android. Ecosystem, tablets and watches?! A tease.#
- What's App coming to WearOS this summer. WearOS 4 coming later this year. #
- Find My Device will be available to third parties like Tile. Will provide unknown tracker alerts. Published an industry standard with Apple.#
- Not seen anything I am excited by so far.#
- Pixel 7a#
- Tensor G2 chip; 8 GB of RAM#
- Larger camera sensor#
- Available today at $499#
- Directing us to Google Store for more info#
- Per Google Store, buy now and get a pair of Pixel Buds A. I am planning to buy but will wait until this summer, perhaps the fall to see whether the price drops. I will pay $500 for a phone, but that is at the high end of my preference.#
- The Pixel 7a is a significant upgrade from my Pixel 4a, and thus pretty much a no-brainer. I will be upgrading to a 90 Hz display, 8 GB of RAM, a better camera, wireless charging, and a bigger battery. I don't expect battery life to be significantly better given the 90 Hz display. It will also bump up the wireless connections to 5G and WiFi 6. Apparently users can toggle between the 60 Hz and 90 Hz displays, which will have an affect on battery life.#
- I should say better cameras because the 7a has an 64 megapixel primary camera and a 13 megapixel ultrawide camera. Unless the cool kids, I've never owned a phone with an ultrawide camera so that provides something new to explore.#
- It looks like the 7a is about a third of an inch taller than the 4a but the width is about the same. My main concern is about how slippery the phone feels. Wired says the back is a plastic composite that sounds like the same as the 4a. Frankly, the glass body and larger display are significant turnoffs for me. There are rumors that Google may drop the "A" series phones next year, which will be a shame, but I hope they retain a phone with a 6-inch or smaller screen. I would prefer to keep the same size phone as the 4a, but can live with one a tad larger. #
- Pixel Tablet#
- 11-inch display; four speakers. Tensor G2, aluminum case. Integrated stand, looks like a ring where it connects to dock #
- Finger print sensor, where?#
- Promoting voice recognition over typing on the screen for input. #
- 50 Google apps optimized for tablet screen. What about the others?#
- Connect to charging speaker dock, makes it look like a Nest hub. #
- Support multiple users. #
- Ships next month, cost $499. Bundled with the charging speaker dock. #
- Pixel Fold#
- Premium $1799 device#
- Unfolds into an incredible compact tablet; 7.6 inch display#
- Thinnest foldable on the market#