Google Pixel: Tech giant unveils new smartphone to rival Apple's iPhone 7

Unveiled: Guests inspect the new Pixel phone by Google
EPA
Hatty Collier5 October 2016

Tech giant Google today unveiled its much-anticipated new smartphone to rival Apple’s popular iPhone 7.

The Pixel has Google Assistant built into the software, the firm's artificial intelligence program that is designed to understand context and help with tasks.

The new phone was unveiled at an event in San Francisco, both in a 5in and 5.5in XL size.

The tech giant event went as far as to reference Apple on stage showing a “storage full” message from an iPhone, something it said Pixel would avoid with unlimited full resolution backups of photos and videos using Google Photos’ cloud storage.

It has been billed by Google as housing the "best smartphone camera ever made" and the first device to be built to work with Google's new Daydream virtual reality platform.

Sabrina Ellis, Google director of product management, talks about the new phone at the launch in San Francisco
AP

Users will be able to access the Assistant AI program from any screen on the device, and it will be able to understand context.

When demonstrated on stage, Pixel was able to find details on a restaurant that was mentioned in a text message conversation - offering contact details, photos and directions.

Google chief Sundar Pichai said the Pixel marked the beginning of a new era in computing and smartphones.

"We're at a seminal moment in computing," he said.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai talks about the new Google Assistant
AP

"We've always had big shifts in computing in every 10 years or so. It began in the 1980s with personal computers. In the 90s the web arrived and it was the biggest platform shift ever.

"10 years later in the mid 2000s, we had the smartphone revolution. Now the shift continues. We are evolving from a mobile first to AI first world."

Google also revealed the first virtual reality headset for its new Daydream VR platform, Daydream View.

Unlike rival headsets - including Samsung's Gear VR - View is finished in fabric, a conscious design decision, the tech giant said, aimed at replicating the type of materials used in other wearable products.

The phone's come in "Quite Black" and "Very Silver"
PA

The new headset is powered by placing the new Pixel smartphone into it, though Google did also confirm that future Android phones would also come with Daydream support.

It will enable users to watch YouTube videos and access Google Maps in virtual reality, as well as play games.

The headset is also supported by a companion controller that can be used as a remote as well as a way to write and draw in virtual reality.

The tech giant revealed that the View headset will go on sale in November.

Google also introduced a range of new products aimed at creating a "smart home", including Google WiFi, a new system of small WiFi receivers placed around a home to build a network that will improve signal, the internet company said.

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