The latest Google Pixel smartphones, Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro, are bringing generative AI to your pocket. Featuring the new Google Tensor G3, the tech firms inaugural AI-first processor. Will the on-device chip give Android devices a clear hardware advantage over Apple’s iPhone?
Will Google Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro have AI?
Yes, more so than any other smartphone so far!
Brian Rakowski, VP of Product Management shares the exciting new AI-centric developments we can expect from the flagship Pixel phones, including an impressive revelation about support longevity. The new smartphones are “engineered by Google and built with AI at the center for a more helpful and personal experience. These phones are packed with first-of-their-kind features, all powered by Google Tensor G3. And they’ll get seven years of software updates, including Android OS upgrades, security updates and regular Feature Drops.”
Seven years of software updates! Not bad.
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The new AI capabilities comes as a new range of AI tools called Best Take, Magic Editor, Audio Magic Eraser, and Call Screen. In addition to these specific features, Pixel voice recognition sees a substantial upgrade in the way it understands “the nuances of human speech, so you can talk to it more naturally to get things done.”
As a result, voice assistants will interpret your intended input commands more accurately. This comes in addition to Google’s mobile assistant itself getting an AI upgrade with the integration of Google Bard. Now, “If you take a pause or say “um,” it will wait until you’re done before responding.” Speech recognition has never been so consistent, “even if you speak multiple languages.”
Best Take
Best Take “uses the photos you did take to get the photo you thought you took. To make that happen, an on-device algorithm creates a blended image from a series of photos to get everyone’s best look.” Having the Google Photos app installed on your device is a prerequisite for this feature to work.
Magic Editor
Magic Editor “in Google Photos is a new experimental editing experience that uses generative AI to help you bring your photos in line with the essence of the moment you were trying to capture. You can reposition and resize subjects or use presets to make the background pop.”
Audio Magic Eraser
While also requiring the Google Photos app, Audio Magic Eraser lets you “easily reduce distracting sounds in your video, like howling winds or noisy crowds. This first-of-its-kind computational audio capability uses advanced machine learning models to sort sounds into distinct layers so you can control their levels.”
Google Pixel Summarize
Summarize allows Pixel 8 to “generate a summary of a webpage, so you can quickly understand the key points. And your Pixel can even read aloud and translate webpages for you so you can listen to articles on the go.”
It’s a text-based AI task, using the NLP (Natural Language Processing) functionality of Google Bard to summarize text of any format, in much the same way OpenAI’s ChatGPT can using GPT-4.
Google Pixel Call Screen
This very welcome feature is sure to demonstrate the benefits of AI to the masses, reducing spam calls by up to 50%!
“It will silently answer calls from unknown numbers with a more natural-sounding voice to engage the caller. It’s also smart enough to separate the calls you want from the calls you don’t,” explains Rakowski, “and soon, Call Screen will suggest contextual replies for you to tap to quickly respond to simple calls, like appointment confirmations, without having to answer the phone.”
What’s new in the Pixel 8?
Google’s new pixels will feature a 6.2 inch, and 6.7 inch Actua display respectively – the firms brightest ever smartphone screen. The Pro model even features an all-new temperature sensor, allowing you to tell the temperature of any surface with a quick scan!
This in addition to an upgraded camera system with greater sensitivity in low-light conditions, the “bigger ultrawide lens delivers even better Macro Focus, the telephoto lens captures 56% more light and takes 10x photos at optical quality, and the front-facing camera now has autofocus for the best selfies on a Pixel phone”. Technical camera controls, typically considered ‘pro tools’ such as manual control over shutter speed and ISO, also now come as standard across the new range.
Both phones are available to pre-order now, starting from $699 for a Google Pixel 8 in Rose, Hazel or Obsidian, or $999 for a Google Pixel 8 Pro in Porcelain, Bay or Obsidian.
Google Tensor G3 AI chip
Monika Gupta, VP of Product Management at Google lays out the challenges of AI research and development with optimized hardware – particularly on mobile devices.
“This past year we’ve seen incredible AI breakthroughs and innovations – but a lot of those are built on the kind of compute power only available in a data center,” she explains. “To bring the transformative power of AI to your everyday life, we need to make sure you can access it from the device you use every day. That’s why we’re so excited that the latest Pixel phone features our latest custom silicon chip: Tensor G3. Our third-generation Google Tensor G3 chip continues to push the boundaries of on-device machine learning, bringing the latest in Google AI research directly to our newest phones: Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro.”
The new Tensor G3 AI chip will work in conjunction with the Titan M2 security chip, bringing the highest degree of hardware security yet seen in the Google Pixel smartphone lineup.
