Kamis, 13 Juni 2019

This is a love letter to Google's Purple-ish Pixel 3A smartphone - Fast Company

This is a love letter to Google’s Purple-ish Pixel 3A smartphone

Google’s budget smartphone comes in a color scheme that’s both idiosyncratic and subtle—a bold statement in a sea of boring sameness.

[Photo: Jared Newman]

Google’s Pixel 3A phone has a lot of admirable qualities. It sports a great camera that rivals the higher-end Pixel 3. Like other Pixel phones, it’s first in line for Android updates straight from Google. You can squeeze it to speak with the Google Assistant. And its starting price of $400 unlocked is tough to beat.

If I’m being honest, though, the best thing about the Pixel 3A is the “Purple-ish” color option. So against my better instincts I’ve decided to write an entire article extolling it. The smartphone color schemes we choose tend to be bland, and for good reason: No one wants to spend hundreds of dollars on a phone that ends up looking tacky or drawing too much attention to itself.

The purple Pixel 3A’s great triumph is in the way it manages to be distinctive and subtle at the same time. While Google has always offered at least one offbeat color scheme for its Pixel phones, the purple Pixel 3A is the company’s high watermark. It should be a reminder to other phone makers–and Apple in particular–that they’ve been playing it too safe. Heck, that lesson might even apply to aspects of phones beyond their color.

Don’t call it purple

The key to the Purple-ish Pixel 3A is right in the name: It’s not obviously purple. Depending on how it catches the light, it can just as easily qualify as off-white or plain white. The actual hue only becomes apparent with some extra scrutiny; even Google’s own product photos seem to overstate the depth of purple-ness involved.

The same ambiguity doesn’t apply to the power button, a sliver of tennis-ball yellow that runs along the phone’s right edge. According to basic color theory, it’s the perfect complement to the Pixel 3A’s purple enclosure, and it stands out precisely because the rest of the phone doesn’t.

The Purple-ish Pixel 3A’s success isn’t a fluke. Instead, it’s an example of iteration by Google’s hardware team, which over the past few years has gotten better at making unique color options that people might actually want to carry around.

With the first-generation Pixel in 2016, Google offered standard silver and black phones, but it also put out a limited edition “Really Blue” model that reminded some folks of Fisher-Price toys, and not in a good way. In trying to create an interesting color option, Google had gone way over the top.

2017’s Pixel 2 line dialed things back with a more subdued “Kinda Blue” option, but it also introduced the idea of contrasting power buttons. The Kinda Blue Pixel 2 came with a light turquoise button to offset the phone’s paler sea-foam tones, while the “Black and White” Pixel 2 XL combined an overly loud back panel with a bright orange power button. (Depending on who you asked, it either earned the nickname “Penguin” or “Panda.”)

Google only seemed to become more confident in its color choices with last year’s Pixel 3 line. It added a minty green power button to its standard white Pixel 3, but it also started playing with understated body colors. The “Not Pink” color option, with an orange power button, looked a bit like the inside of a thoroughly cooked salmon.

The Purple-ish Pixel 3A is the culmination of these efforts, successfully straddling the line between uniqueness and broad appeal. Whereas Google’s pink, penguin-themed, and bright metallic blue Pixels all felt like risky choices, the Purple-ish Pixel 3A isn’t a drastic break from convention. But it’s still a less boring choice than the white-silver-black spectrum of most phones.

Granted, a lot of folks will just put a case over their phones anyway, somewhat negating the benefits of added color. However, Google has preempted this issue by releasing its own fabric cases. The “Seascape” Pixel 3A case is a deep indigo that stands in perfect contrast to the Pixel 3A’s almost-white body, which remains visible through cutouts for the camera, fingerprint reader, top headphone jack, and bottom speakers. Google’s fabric cases have always made Pixel phones feel less sterile than a typical aluminum or plastic smartphone, and they’ve progressively gotten better at matching the style of the phones themselves.

Learning from Purple-ish

No one—well, almost no one—is going to choose a phone primarily for its color scheme, which means that the Purple-ish Pixel 3A probably won’t get the attention it deserves. Compared to the Pixel 3, the cheaper Pixel 3A lacks wireless charging, waterproofing, and the dual-lens front camera for wide-angle selfies. It also has a flat front panel instead of curved glass edges, which makes it a bit harder to use with the edge swipe gestures in Google’s forthcoming Android Q update, and its processor is slower than high-end handsets. While the Pixel 3A is an excellent budget smartphone, most folks are better off buying something nicer and keeping it longer.

But other phone makers should take inspiration from Google’s choices. While some Android vendors have been getting adventurous with color gradients and “prism” effects, most of their phones lack the subtlety that Google’s achieved with the Pixel.

The same is true of Apple’s iPhone XR, whose blue, yellow, and coral options make the same mistake as Google’s original “Really Blue” Pixel: When spending $750 or more on a smartphone, choosing a loud color over the standard black or white feels like a pretty big commitment. Meanwhile, Apple continues to play it safe with the iPhone XS, offering the same gray, white, and gold options that it’s been pushing for years. It’d be great to see Apple borrow some of the more subtle playfulness that Google’s pulled off with its Pixel line.

If all else fails, we can at least hope that Google keeps building on what it’s learned over the past few years. Now that it’s mastered understatement for its lighter-colored phones, I’d love to see future Pixels break free of the boring black options that Google’s been offering this whole time. It’s not hard to imagine dark-themed Pixel phones in forest green or burgundy, or even just plain black with colorful power buttons.

Or, at the very least, Google should consider bringing back Purple-ish for the Pixel 4, because limiting the Pixel’s best color option yet to a budget phone just seems like a waste.

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https://www.fastcompany.com/90362932/this-is-a-love-letter-to-googles-purple-ish-pixel-3a-smartphone

2019-06-13 12:00:00Z
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The Morning After: Google leaked the Pixel 4 - Engadget

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https://www.engadget.com/2019/06/13/the-morning-after/

2019-06-13 11:18:26Z
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Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild 2 Revealed For Nintendo Switch At Nintendo Direct E3 2019 - GameSpot

Nintendo has revealedthat a sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is in development for Nintendo Switch. The news was revealed during the company's E3 2019 press conference, capping off a presentation that was already full of announcements. Nintendo premiered a short teaser trailer for Breath of the Wild 2--or whatever it's to be called--which you can see above.

Nintendo followed the teaser with a short statement that read, "The sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is now in development." No release date, title, or further details were announced. The teaser trailer, which you can watch above, showed Link traveling with Zelda herself on horseback, and we see something happening with Hyrule Castle in the distance. The video also featured some eerie music and a stunning landscape similar to the one seen in the original game. We've got a Breath of the Wild sequel trailer breakdown that dives further into what there is to glean from this debut video.

A subsequent press release recapping the event, unfortunately, did not share anything further, only reiterating the game is in active development and will be released for Nintendo Switch.

The first game was released as a cross-generation launch title for the Nintendo Switch. It received universal acclaim, including a 10/10 in GameSpot's Zelda: Breath of the Wild review. Our critic, Peter Brown, wrote: "No matter how gorgeous its environments are, how clever its enemies are, and how tricky its puzzles get, the fact that Breath of the Wild continues to surprise you with newfound rules and possibilities after dozens of hours is by far its most valuable quality. It's a game that allows you to feel gradually more and more empowered yet simultaneously manages to retain a sense of challenge and mystery--which, together, creates a steady, consistent feeling of gratification throughout the entire experience. Breath of the Wild is a defining moment for The Legend of Zelda series, and the most impressive game Nintendo has ever created."

For more, check out all the news from Nintendo's E3 2019 Direct press conference, during which the company also announced Banjo and Kazooie for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

More E3 news:

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https://www.gamespot.com/articles/e3-2019-zelda-breath-of-the-wild-2-announced-for-s/1100-6467700/

2019-06-13 06:37:00Z
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Rabu, 12 Juni 2019

Why Google’s surprise Pixel 4 tease raises the stakes - The Verge

Well that was unexpected.

Just one day after we reported on the first Pixel 4 leaks, Google decided to mount a social media hype campaign by literally tweeting out an image of its upcoming Pixel 4. It was a savvy recognition of how the run up to phone launches actually work and an even savvier way to take advantage of that dynamic. It was also, I believe, a statement: The Pixel 4 is going to be unapologetically high end.

That’s just my prediction, but if Google is smart it will prove me right. With the release of the mid-range Pixel 3A smartphone this year, Google has created some space for itself to make something top of the line from both a software and a hardware perspective. That’s something we haven’t seen Google truly try to do yet with the Pixel line, and if it wants to prove it’s serious about making a real business out of selling hardware, it should be a priority.

Let’s back up and unpack all that, because the dynamics around Google’s Pixel line of phones are complicated and unique — and because maybe the tweet that kicked all this off shouldn’t have been unexpected at all.

If you’re not caught up — and who could blame you since this all went down within the last day — here is the story. Act one of the usual script for phone leaks kicked off with renderings of a possible phone and then a metal slug for case makers. We also saw a rumor of a unique feature — gestural control via a radar sensor.

We know how the rest of the script goes. Act two is yet more leaks of possible features. Act three are part leaks and glimpses of actual cases designed for the new phone. Act four is real photos of the new phone and (if you’re Google) some of them falling off a truck and getting “reviewed” before the phone is even released. Act five, the conclusion, is the official announcement. It’s always a tiny letdown, because we already know everything before an executive confidently strides on a stage somewhere to tell you how their latest device is the best one ever.

Google knows this script too. Everybody does. So really, what does the company have to lose by flipping it? We all know Google is going to release a new Pixel phone some time later this year. We all know that it’s going to get leaked six ways to Sunday before hardware chief Rick Osterloh can say peep about it. Why not just tweet out a photo acknowledging the phone is coming and — critically — actually drive the hype cycle instead of getting ground down by it?

Well, I will tell you why not: because it raises expectations. It sets a bar that’s higher than it otherwise would be if you just stayed silent. We are able to look at the big square camera bump and see that there are two camera lenses, a microphone hole, an LED flash, and what looks like a spectral sensor. We’re able to spend the intervening months speculating about just how much Google will be able to do with those parts. Asking what photography or video could possibly be good enough to justify that honking cube sticking out of the back of the phone. Picking apart every detail, acting like it’s basically been fully announced.

Google must really not be worried about hurting Pixel 3 sales right now — probably because they’re really uninspiring. The traditional reason companies don’t pre-announce products is because of the Osborne effect, where people won’t buy your current thing because they’re waiting for the new thing. Fair enough that Google is willing to risk that — but it’s quite a move to make right after it has just started selling Pixel 3 phones at T-Mobile and Sprint stores.

By posting the image, Google not only cleverly giving us stuff to speculate about, it’s doing so with a real image. It will get credit for driving a conversation that would have happened anyway. Most importantly, though, I see this as Google throwing down a gauntlet: speculate away, we got this. It’s a sign of not just confidence, but chutzpah.

Apple is rumored to be making a phone with a nearly identical square camera bump. So it probably tickles Google to know that it got its phone out there before Apple, even though — assuming Google sticks to the script — the next iPhone will come out in September while the Google phone won’t arrive until October.

But that little piece of cleverness doesn’t change the fundamental thing Google chose to do here: raise the stakes for itself. And in so doing, I believe the company needs to rise to the occasion. It needs to make the Pixel 4 something that doesn’t feel dowdy when compared to other flagships like the Galaxy S10, iPhone XS, Huawei P30 Pro (RIP), or even the OnePlus 7 Pro.

I say that not only because Google is engaging in a game of expectations chicken with this Twitter tease, but also because there is a powerful and real business need for it. The Pixel, Pixel 2, and Pixel 3 were all fine phones — and in some cases the best Android phones for most people. But they have never been the most impressive phones from a hardware perspective.

The Pixel 1 felt barely distinguishable from a Nexus phone. The Pixel 2 had those screen issues. The Pixel 3 seems to have persistent and persnickety RAM management issues (and a positively doofy notch on the XL model). All three, though, were not daring from a design or materials perspective.

The Pixel 4 might be — though we only have this one image to go off of. It jettisons the matte + glossy finish. It drops the rear fingerprint sensor. It’s different from before — and again, all signs point to it looking very much like the next iPhone. If your phone looks exactly like the next iPhone, it had damn better feel and perform as good or better than the next iPhone.

Google’s Pixel line now is bifurcated into two price tiers. The 3A is a great value, but it’s much harder to make that case anymore for the Pixel 3. Competing Android phones are faster, have better cameras, nicer screens, and yet still cost less. If Google wants to justify prices over $800 or $1,000 this year, it needs to make compelling hardware to justify that cost.

The Pixel also has a timing problem. It comes out in October, which is off the cycle for when Qualcomm releases its newest and best mobile processors. That means that every Pixel has a top-of-the-line chip when it’s released, but within 5 months there are other Android phones with much better chips and often fresher designs. Design isn’t the only thing that affects or drives sales, but it doesn’t help to having a dated-looking phone when everything else on a carrier shelf looks much cooler. Google itself knows how well this went with the Pixel 3, which it admitted did not sell as well as expected or even as well as the Pixel 2. Making nicer hardware that feels as premium as it costs is an important way to offset that issue.

The Pixel 4 is also going to be the second Pixel phone that Google is producing fully with its “Taiwan team,” aka all the HTC engineers it acqui-hired in January 2018. The first was the Pixel 3A, but that’s midrange phone. Now that all those HTC engineers are fully integrated into Google, the first flagship phone they produce needs to be great.

Last but certainly not least: Google finally started distributing Pixel phones across all US carriers this year (AT&T excluded, but I bet that will change this fall), but only just recently with the Pixel 3A. That means the Pixel 4 will likely be the first flagship phone it’s launching across all carriers in the US, and making something uninspiring will mean getting much less marketing support and worse retail store placement. As shown by the Pixel 3’s sales performance, or lack thereof, how much weight a carrier puts behind a phone can make or break it on the market.

More than anything else, Google needs to stop quietly suggesting that it’s still new at this hardware thing and really ramp it up. After four years, it’s time to start selling in volume, start making phones that are directly competitive with the iPhone on every metric, and stop everybody from wondering if selling hardware is just a side business, just a hobby.

This year, it’s go big or go home time for the Pixel.

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https://www.theverge.com/2019/6/12/18662941/google-pixel-4-leak-editorial-premium-high-end-phone

2019-06-12 23:03:42Z
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The first major casualty of Huawei’s US ban is a new MateBook - Android Authority

Huawei has endured a rather tough time as a result of the U.S. trade ban against it, as major partners around the world either cancel or assess their relationship with the brand. The firm has been able to weather the storm and launch devices anyway, but it looks like we’ve got our first canceled product as a result of the ban.

Huawei consumer CEO Richard Yu told CNBC that an upcoming MateBook laptop has been put on indefinite hold due to the situation. “We cannot supply the PC,” he was quoted as saying.

Yu said the length of the trade ban would determine whether the company would be able to launch the new MateBook. But he added that it wouldn’t be launched if Huawei was on the so-called Entity List for a long period of time.

Alternatives to Intel, Microsoft?

The MateBook line is heavily reliant on U.S. companies, as Huawei uses Intel’s processors and Microsoft’s Windows 10 as the operating system of choice. One possibility is for Huawei to switch to AMD‘s processors, having previously used them in some laptops. However, as a U.S. company, AMD is almost certainly subjected to the trade ban. Huawei will also need to find alternatives to other U.S. laptop parts.

Huawei MateBook 14 review: A sexy design ruined by the dreaded nose-cam

Earlier this year we reviewed the MateBook 13, which we loved. Now Huawei is already back with another new laptop — the Huawei Matebook 14. Let’s dig into our Huawei MateBook 14 review and see if Huawei's …

As for the operating system conundrum, it’s possible the company could switch to Linux or an Android-derived OS in lieu of Windows. But there are no guarantee users will buy a MateBook without Windows.

Huawei’s smartphone business isn’t quite as hard hit as the U.S. trade ban, as the company designs much of the silicon in these devices (including the modems and Kirin processors). Still, the new MateBook’s scuppered launch underscores the critical situation Huawei finds itself in right now.

Would you buy a MateBook without Windows? Let us know in the comments!

NEXT: Smartphone tripods — Everything you need to know

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https://www.androidauthority.com/huawei-matebook-cancel-launch-997176/

2019-06-12 14:08:46Z
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Watch AMD's E3 keynote in just 15 minutes - Engadget

The Pixel 4 might have an exciting new feature that’s not available on any iPhone or Android - BGR

Google often announces technology innovations that aren’t ready to be turned into commercial products, prompting us to wonder whether they’re just vaporware. But that doesn’t mean development for said projects stops, and the Pixel 4 might prove exactly that. A couple of rumors claim the Pixel 4 will have a chip unlike anything available on iPhone or other Android flagship, a new type of tech that Google first unveiled back in 2015.

Called Project Soli, the chip was unveiled all the way back at Google I/O 2015, alongside several other projects coming from Google’s ATAP group.

What you need to know about it is that Soli uses radar to read the fine movements of one’s fingers, turning those gestures into actions on the screen of a phone, for example. In other words, the Pixel 4 might pack this Google-made chip to let you interact with the phone without touching the screen or any buttons.

That’s an exciting technology for the future of mobile phones, one that could help manufacturers create those button-less devices that are in the pipeline. A few weeks ago, we had a Pixel 4 rumor that said one of Google’s prototypes lacked any physical buttons, packing capacitive sensors into the sides where the real buttons would go. More recent leaks, however, showed that the phone would have buttons on the side.

Getting back to Project Soli, we’ll also remind you that in early 2019 we told you that the FCC allowed Google to operate its Soli chips at higher power levels. At the time, we had no idea what Google was working on and speculated that Project Soli chips might pave the way for computers with Minority Report-like technology.

The reason why this Pixel 4 Project Soli rumor is so exciting is because we have more than a source mentioning it. First, 9to5Google reported that the Soli radar chip is integrated into the Pixel 4, without explaining what it does.

But then xda-developers came forward with a discovery in the most recent beta that seems to reinforce the Soli rumor.

Google included two new gestures in Android Q called Skip and Silence, although they’re not functional on any devices. It’s pretty clear they refer to media playback, which would be a cool use for Soli. After all, Google imagined exactly that kind of interaction with Soli devices back in 2015 when it released the video at the end of this post.

The report further explains that the new gestures need a new Aware sensor that’s not defined on any of the current Pixel devices.

With all that in mind, it sure looks like the Pixel 4 will have a radar-based chip inside that will support gestures unlike anything seen on competing devices. The other day I explained how Google approach about making Pixel phones has been consistently wrong so far, with Google often having to follow the moves of the iPhone. I also said that the Pixel 4 might be Google’s chance to step out of the iPhone’s shadow with some sort of risky decisions. Soli would just about qualify — check out the initial Soli demos in the clip below:

[embedded content]

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https://bgr.com/2019/06/12/pixel-4-vs-iphone-11-leak-says-soli-radar-gestures-are-on-the-way/

2019-06-12 11:31:00Z
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Kamis, 13 Juni 2019