Google just wrapped on their Pixel 6 Fall 2021 launch event and they actually gave
a bunch of time to security and privacy along with the usual information we get
from these kind of live videos. So this is my recap and overview of the event.
If you want to see an unboxing, hit that subscribe button as if it's a broken coffee maker that just
needs a little tap because caffeine is important for the creation of a well rounded youtube video.
So the event was filmed in Google's new NYC store and had a major focus
on big new features like their Tensor SOC and the cameras. I watched this thinking "did Google to
get out of a hardware contract and go nuts with this phone?" because that's what it seems like.
Pricing WAS confirmed as $599 and $899 respectively, and the store actually
went down during preorders this morning so uh... the hype is real. They definitely hit
the right price point. I was skeptical but that's real. That's our pricing this year.
We got to see some more specs for the displays [pic]. We got an unboxing during the event, and
there's no power adapter in the box. Color names were confirmed, we got a look at the new cases
which are semi translucent so you'll still be able to show off the color of your phone, and we
learned that these new devices are using recycled aluminum - 14% of the product based on weight.
These are confirmed as IP68 and they include 2x more scratch resistance.
Material You was shown off with more detail including some looks at how the
Home Screen and Lock Screen will work. But my big question was how security and privacy are
impacted by the new hardware - that Tensor chip. Luckily they gave this a pretty decent time slot.
I always like discussing consumer security and privacy so if you're into that as well,
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Google built the "most secure pixel yet" and apparently received a perfect score when
it was evaluated by analysts. Ok, Tensor has a security core built into it which is a CPU based
subsystem. It's an actual core on the chip that's separate from the application processor.
It works as an isolated environment to protect sensitive tasks. It works in
line with the new Titan M2 chip to protect things like PINs, passwords, and user data.
They've also paid good focus to hardware security of the Titan M2 chip by protecting
the hardware from things like voltage glitching, electromagnetic analysis,
and laser fault injection. They used independent lab tests to determine this protection.
Google is including an open source trusted execution environment,
which I think is included in the Tensor SOC but I need more info on how this works
so I can get a full understanding of what this means and how it interacts with on device content.
Google has extended the security window to 5 years of updates as well.
In the UI, we'll see upgrades to safety features, like the first to pixel Security
Hub, which includes an easy to understand color based settings page showing that
you're good to go or if you should make changes. They'll also include a little
icon at the top of the phone telling you if an app if accessing your mic
or camera. There will be toggles to easily turn on or off the mic and camera access, app based.
The privacy dashboard will include permissions for apps accessing to your information.
Along with this, they also added that a feature called Private Compute Core which
will protect sensitive information like captions, translations, and gboard keyboard data. Private
Compute Core is how machine learning tasks keep your information private in an on device sandbox.
The anti phishing capabilities have been improved for calls, texts, emails, and links.
This phone is quoted at 80% faster for the CPU over the pixel 5, and 370%
faster for the gpu over the pixel 5. So... gaming? Maybe? Faster processing of heavy camera usage?
They didn't talk much about battery life other than saying it'll be efficient and
is the biggest one in a pixel device yet, so let's move onto the new camera features.
The specs look great, this is definitely a quality line up of lenses, but I'll be
testing this to really dig into the photography and videography abilities. We finally got some
video examples! I know y'all wanna know more so that's on my list for testing.
I'm very intrigued by the new features of the camera system. Magic Eraser looks hecka
useful as a content creator to erase anything from a photo that isn't needed in the final photo.
Face Unblur looks like some kinda magic sauce, and motion mode looks like a fun effect to try out.
A big one is Real Tone, though, which focuses around the diversity of human skin tones.
I'm excited to see how this is going to improve the quality of photos. They discussed how Real
Tone is using better white balancing, better auto exposure, face detection, less blurry
portraits and reduction of stray light to make this the "most inclusive camera available". And
to keep that inclusivity going, it'll also be available to third party cameras as well.
Language processing is seeing some major improvements using Tensor, which will use half
the processing power. Google says it's the "most advanced speech recognition", and it'll give you
fast and effortless voice typing. For example, the mic will stay open so if you need to add context
to something you say, you can add it via voice instead of switching to typing. It'll understand
when you're ending a sentence and add the right punctuation. What. That's cool. You mean I
won't have to say "period" or "exclamation point" every time? And it'll remember proper spelling of
names too. So cool. I've been using an iPhone 12 for the past year and the voice to text suuuucks.
Call screening gets some improvements as well,
and I'm looking forward to using that. I was on hold with Disneyland a few weeks ago
to fix a ticket and I cannot express how annoying it was to deal with that hold music for several
hours. I'm pretty sure they just want you to go insane and hang up. Anyways...
Translations! This is something I've used many times when traveling, especially in Japan,
so their focus during this event on having a conversation in Japanese was fun to watch.
Live translate is seeing an 18% improvement.
Translations are built into the camera. And they had Marie Kondo there to do a demo. I
could understand some of the conversation and it was pretty accurate. I was impressed!
So was Marie Kondo. May I assume that the Pixel 6 Pro sparked joy? hehehe.
I gotta say I was pretty impressed. Given all the leaks, there weren't many surprises
spec-wise but they focused on what matters. Usage. Creating a phone for everyone. Something
that works FOR YOU, not something you have to change or adapt to in order to use.
And surprise (or not)!!! I've got a Pixel 6 Pro (?) phone on the way. As soon as it arrives,
I'll share an unboxing and some first reactions to the hardware.
I'll test it out for a few days and post my review as soon as I'm able
to, along with TONS of camera and battery and 5g tests. Here's some other videos I've
done recently on Pixel phones. I'm excited. Actually kinda hungry. I need more coffee.