We thought last year was bad for Google and the amount of leaking that occurred of their flagship announcement. This year has to be about ten times worse with so many of them out in the wild in non-Googler’s hands.
Today we have had Evan Blass finishing the clean sweep of Pixel 4 renders releasing an Oh So Orange Pixel 4 render, which does not seem as in your face as we first thought it would be. This orange seems to be more in line with the coral we have seen in the Google Home Minis — a subtle Google colour. This one seems to have an even subtler orange coloured power button. Nothing else new to see here but it is great that the orange is not super bright after all. Maybe they should have called it Just Orange.
Also today it seems that 9to5Google has managed to get their hands on an absolute treasure trove of Google Pixel 4 information. We will try and summarise it here for you.
First up, key specs
As part of the specifications, there’s also a thing called the “Pixel Neural Core”. Last year’s Pixel 3 range had a Pixel Visual Core, but it’s getting a name change and – it seems – a power boost, becoming the Neural Core and delivering greater photographic prowess (expanded upon below).
The last “specification” (if you consider it one) is what’s in the box. This year’s Pixel 4 will come with the following inclusions:
- The phone itself
- 1m USB-C to USB-C (USB2.0) cable
- 18W power adaptor
- Quick Switch adaptor
- SIM tool
- Quick Start Guide
Notably absent are earphones, at least in the US. Note, in some markets, phones are legally required to include earphones, so in those places expect to see the same USB-C buds we saw last October.
The camera will include a feature called “Dual Exposure Camera Controls” to help create the best image possible no matter the lighting conditions. This will allow the user to “manipulate the highlights and shadows” in the photo. Check out the video below for how it will work:
The camera gallery will include samples of astrophotography and other samples. According to 9to5Google the full size of these photos look amazing and they are confident that the Pixel 4 will move Google back to the top of smartphone photography. You can see some of the samples below:
Gone is the fingerprint reader to be replaced with face unlock. 9to5Google has also managed to garner some information on the Face Unlock coming on the Pixel 4, including a promotional video of it. The unlock process is extremely quick. When a notification comes in the Soli sensor senses the hand of the person reaching for the phone and brightens the display. The sensors then quickly identify the user and moves from the lockscreen to the home screen without ever actually touching the display — although this touchless entry is apparently optional.
The Soli functions remain a bit of a mystery on how they work but 9to5Google has also obtained information on it. The video below demonstrates the actions that are used and what they can do. check it out:
Other notable inclusions include:
A re-designed Google Assistant interface, which takes up a little less room on the display and is a little more transparent, making it a little less intrusive. There’s a video below of how this new Assistant appears on your Pixel 4’s screen:
9to5Google has done a full walkthrough of the new Assistant interface (and yes, Google will be advertising it as The New Google Assistant apparently).
The last thing – which caught my eye – was a new game designed to take advantage of the Soli features on the new Pixel 4. Which game? Well, Pokemon of course!
Before you get too excited, it’s not a full game, just a demo more than anything else, but it’s pretty cool and shows off how to use the motion sensing technology to full effect. As 9to5Google reports:
Pokemon Wave Hello allows you to learn your way around the device by doing some gestures with the Pixel 4’s Soli radar sensor, and what better way to do that than with Pokemon?
How’s it look? Like this:
Let us know in the comments what you think of the latest Pixel 4 leaks!
