Google has officially unveiled new Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro smartphones powered by Google Tensor, the company's first-ever processor.
Both devices come with Android 12. Pixel 6 starts at $599 and Pixel 6 Pro starts at $899.
Here's a look at the features as announced by Google...
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Distinct design
Pixel has a bold new design this year with a cohesive look across the software on the inside and the hardware on the outside. The first thing you’ll notice is the Camera Bar, giving the phone a clean, symmetrical design that puts the camera front-and-center.
Pixel 6 has a distinctive graphic and vibrant look. The matte black metal band complements the expressive, versatile color options. Pixel 6 Pro was inspired by the finishes you see in luxury jewelry and watches. It’s made with a polished metal unibody and transitions into gorgeous curved glass in colors that complement the metallic frames.
Speaking of color, Android 12 brings a full redesign to the OS, with Material You.
Android 12 on Pixel 6
Android 12 builds on the best features of Android so your phone can really be your phone: It can adapt to you, it’s secure by default and private by design. And Android 12 looks especially stunning on Pixel 6.
When you choose your wallpaper, your entire UI will update to reflect that choice. Everything will feel more responsive and smoother. At a Glance, which shows up on the home and lock screen, has a fresh new look and some new capabilities. Here, you’ll find what you need, right when you need it — like your boarding pass the day of your flight or stats from your current workout.
And Pixel 6 is again the highest rated phone for security. It includes the next generation Titan M2TM, which works with Tensor security core to protect your sensitive user data, PINs and passwords. We’ve also extended our support window to at least five years of security updates, so your phone has the most up-to-date protection.
New Pixel, new camera
Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro have the most advanced cameras we’ve ever built. The entire camera experience is improved from the hardware to Pixel’s revolutionary computational photography.
Both Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro have a new 1/1.3 inch sensor on the back. This primary sensor now captures up to 150% more light (compared to Pixel 5’s primary camera), meaning you’re going to get photos and videos with even greater detail and richer color. Both phones also have completely new ultrawide lenses with larger sensors, so photos look great when you want to fit more in your shot.
Pixel 6 Pro also has an amazing telephoto lens with 4x optical zoom and up to 20x zoom with an improved version of Pixel’s Super Res Zoom. There’s also an upgraded ultrawide front camera that records 4K video. You can make use of that wider front camera in Snapchat’s new ultrawide selfie feature. Plus, for instant Snapchat access, the new Quick Tap to Snap feature is coming exclusively to Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro later this year.
Magic Eraser makes distractions in your photos disappear, just like that. With a few taps in Google Photos, remove strangers and unwanted objects.
Motion Mode features options like Action Pan and Long Exposure, which bring movement to your shots. You can use Action Pan to take photos of your kids riding their scooter or landing crazy skateboarding tricks against a stylish blurred background. Or create beautiful long exposure shots where your subject is moving, like waterfalls or vibrant city scenes.
Another significant advancement in photography across Pixel and Google Photos is Real Tone. Going back decades, cameras have been designed to photograph light skin — a bias that’s crept into many of our modern digital imaging products and algorithms. Our teams have been working directly with photographers, cinematographers and colorists who are celebrated for their beautiful and accurate imagery of communities of color. We asked them to test our cameras and editing tools and provide honest feedback, which helped make our camera and auto enhancement features more equitable.
Smarts and speech
Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro also have improved speech recognition and language understanding models, so it can make everyday tasks easier. For instance, you can now use your voice to quickly type, edit, and send messages with Assistant voice typing in Messages, Gmail and more. Let Google Assistant help with adding punctuation, making corrections, inserting emojis and sending your messages.
You might find yourself occasionally trying to decide if you have time to call a business now, or if you should call later to avoid waiting on hold. Now, Wait Times and Direct My Call, available in the U.S. and in English, make that decision easier: Before you even place your call to a toll-free business number, you’ll see the current and expected hour-by-hour Wait Times for the rest of the week.
And when you call the business, Direct My Call helps you get to the right place. Powered by Duplex technology, Google Assistant transcribes the automated message and menu options for you in real-time and displays them on your screen for you to see and tap. For more information about these advancements in calling assistance, please see our blog post.
Finally, Live Translate enables you to message with people in different languages, including English, French, German, Italian and Japanese. It works by detecting whether a message in your chat apps, like WhatsApp or Snapchat, is different from your language, and if so, automatically offers you a translation. All of this detection and processing happens entirely on-device within Private Compute Core, so no data ever leaves the device, and it works even without network connectivity. With support for Interpreter mode, you’ll also be able to take turns translating what is said in up to 48 languages. Activate Assistant and say “Be my interpreter.”
One more thing: When you get an incoming call, just say “accept” or “decline” without having to use “Hey Google” every time by enabling Quick phrases. You can also “stop” and “snooze” alarms and timers.
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Pricing and Availability
Google Pixel 6 starts at $599 and Google Pixel 6 Pro starts at $899. The phones will be available on store shelves at all major U.S. carriers on October 28.
Google has also announced Pixel Pass, a subscription that starts at $45/month and gives you a new Pixel 6 along with Google One, YouTube Premium and YouTube Music Premium, Google Play Pass and Preferred Care. Pixel Pass with Pixel 6 Pro starts at $55/month.
Read More
Both devices come with Android 12. Pixel 6 starts at $599 and Pixel 6 Pro starts at $899.
Here's a look at the features as announced by Google...
-----
Distinct design
Pixel has a bold new design this year with a cohesive look across the software on the inside and the hardware on the outside. The first thing you’ll notice is the Camera Bar, giving the phone a clean, symmetrical design that puts the camera front-and-center.
Pixel 6 has a distinctive graphic and vibrant look. The matte black metal band complements the expressive, versatile color options. Pixel 6 Pro was inspired by the finishes you see in luxury jewelry and watches. It’s made with a polished metal unibody and transitions into gorgeous curved glass in colors that complement the metallic frames.
Speaking of color, Android 12 brings a full redesign to the OS, with Material You.
Android 12 on Pixel 6
Android 12 builds on the best features of Android so your phone can really be your phone: It can adapt to you, it’s secure by default and private by design. And Android 12 looks especially stunning on Pixel 6.
When you choose your wallpaper, your entire UI will update to reflect that choice. Everything will feel more responsive and smoother. At a Glance, which shows up on the home and lock screen, has a fresh new look and some new capabilities. Here, you’ll find what you need, right when you need it — like your boarding pass the day of your flight or stats from your current workout.
And Pixel 6 is again the highest rated phone for security. It includes the next generation Titan M2TM, which works with Tensor security core to protect your sensitive user data, PINs and passwords. We’ve also extended our support window to at least five years of security updates, so your phone has the most up-to-date protection.
New Pixel, new camera
Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro have the most advanced cameras we’ve ever built. The entire camera experience is improved from the hardware to Pixel’s revolutionary computational photography.
Both Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro have a new 1/1.3 inch sensor on the back. This primary sensor now captures up to 150% more light (compared to Pixel 5’s primary camera), meaning you’re going to get photos and videos with even greater detail and richer color. Both phones also have completely new ultrawide lenses with larger sensors, so photos look great when you want to fit more in your shot.
Pixel 6 Pro also has an amazing telephoto lens with 4x optical zoom and up to 20x zoom with an improved version of Pixel’s Super Res Zoom. There’s also an upgraded ultrawide front camera that records 4K video. You can make use of that wider front camera in Snapchat’s new ultrawide selfie feature. Plus, for instant Snapchat access, the new Quick Tap to Snap feature is coming exclusively to Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro later this year.
Magic Eraser makes distractions in your photos disappear, just like that. With a few taps in Google Photos, remove strangers and unwanted objects.
Motion Mode features options like Action Pan and Long Exposure, which bring movement to your shots. You can use Action Pan to take photos of your kids riding their scooter or landing crazy skateboarding tricks against a stylish blurred background. Or create beautiful long exposure shots where your subject is moving, like waterfalls or vibrant city scenes.
Another significant advancement in photography across Pixel and Google Photos is Real Tone. Going back decades, cameras have been designed to photograph light skin — a bias that’s crept into many of our modern digital imaging products and algorithms. Our teams have been working directly with photographers, cinematographers and colorists who are celebrated for their beautiful and accurate imagery of communities of color. We asked them to test our cameras and editing tools and provide honest feedback, which helped make our camera and auto enhancement features more equitable.
Smarts and speech
Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro also have improved speech recognition and language understanding models, so it can make everyday tasks easier. For instance, you can now use your voice to quickly type, edit, and send messages with Assistant voice typing in Messages, Gmail and more. Let Google Assistant help with adding punctuation, making corrections, inserting emojis and sending your messages.
You might find yourself occasionally trying to decide if you have time to call a business now, or if you should call later to avoid waiting on hold. Now, Wait Times and Direct My Call, available in the U.S. and in English, make that decision easier: Before you even place your call to a toll-free business number, you’ll see the current and expected hour-by-hour Wait Times for the rest of the week.
And when you call the business, Direct My Call helps you get to the right place. Powered by Duplex technology, Google Assistant transcribes the automated message and menu options for you in real-time and displays them on your screen for you to see and tap. For more information about these advancements in calling assistance, please see our blog post.
Finally, Live Translate enables you to message with people in different languages, including English, French, German, Italian and Japanese. It works by detecting whether a message in your chat apps, like WhatsApp or Snapchat, is different from your language, and if so, automatically offers you a translation. All of this detection and processing happens entirely on-device within Private Compute Core, so no data ever leaves the device, and it works even without network connectivity. With support for Interpreter mode, you’ll also be able to take turns translating what is said in up to 48 languages. Activate Assistant and say “Be my interpreter.”
One more thing: When you get an incoming call, just say “accept” or “decline” without having to use “Hey Google” every time by enabling Quick phrases. You can also “stop” and “snooze” alarms and timers.
-----
Pricing and Availability
Google Pixel 6 starts at $599 and Google Pixel 6 Pro starts at $899. The phones will be available on store shelves at all major U.S. carriers on October 28.
Google has also announced Pixel Pass, a subscription that starts at $45/month and gives you a new Pixel 6 along with Google One, YouTube Premium and YouTube Music Premium, Google Play Pass and Preferred Care. Pixel Pass with Pixel 6 Pro starts at $55/month.
Read More