Google’s new ear buds offer real-time translation

Google demoed a new product in the US this morning that looks like it could be useful for business travellers – or anyone in need of a quick translation: its Pixel Buds wireless earbuds that offer real-time translation.

The company already has its Google Translate app, which offers good enough translations to get by (Japanese and Korean students on home stays at my kids' primary school use it regularly).

The way it works is you stick the Pixel Buds in your ear (yes, in the manner of the Babel Fish in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy).

You then hold your finger down on the right earbud and say, for example, "help me speak French” and speak a phrase (40 languages are supported). When you lift your finger, the Translate app speaks and displays your translation. Then the person you're speaking to holds a button down on your phone and says their reply, which you hear in your ear.

A reviewer from The Verge notes, “I'm a little dubious that this is any more convenient than just passing your phone back and forth and doing everything there, but it worked really well in the demo: a fairly natural voice in my ear translated what the other person said. It's not quite in real time, but it's very fast.”

Throw in the likes of Samsung's Bixby virtual assistant, which can translate written text you capture on your phone's camera, and we're starting to see some genuinely useful apps in this area.

Google's wireless Pixel Buds are more conventional looking than Apple's AirPods and come with a chord for wrapping them around your neck

The Pixel Buds ($US169) can also be used to deliver any voice command to an Android phone with Google Assistant, just as Apple’s wireless Air Pods can be used to control an iPhone.

Unlike the Air Pods, the Pixel Buds come with a chord for hanging them around your neck. That’s a small thing, but I note from social media that a lot of people seem to be losing their $269 Air Pods (or in the case of one NZX-listed accounting software company CEO, dropping one then running over it in his car).

Google's Pixel 2 smartphone: squeeze its sides to trigger Google Assistant, Google's equivalent to Siri

And why has Google suddenly released wireless earbuds?

Because it’s also just previewed its 5.5-inch Pixel 2 (from $US649) and 6-inch Pixel 2 XL (from $849) smartphones (the former is made by HTC, the latter by LG. Like Microsoft, Google makes a small amount of hardware to showcase the capability of its software).

The Pixel and Pixel 2 have all the mod-cons you’d expect on a smartphone today, edge-to-edge displays. Their most obvious point of difference is that you give the phone a firm squeeze to trigger Google Assistant (Google’s version of Siri).

It’s a trick borrowed from HTC’s U11 (HTC has been struggling; Google is in the process of buying much of the Taiwanese phone maker’s intellectual property assets and is also taking on its design team).

The Pixel 2 XL has a smaller bezel than the more traditional display on the Pixel 2. Both come in three colours. And unlike last year's model, both are IP67 water and dust resistant

By all accounts, the feature works well with the U11. Google says it will use AI and machine learning to eliminate the problem of “false squeezes."

You can also set up routines on your phone via Google Assistant. So if you get in the car and say “Okay Google, let’s go home,” it’ll tell you what traffic is like, what texts you have waiting, and resumes your podcast from wherever you left off.

Google also bundles a cloud storage perk: you can store an unlimited number of pics taken on your Pixel 2 on Google Photos — at least until 2020.

And on the charging front, Google is promising seven hours life from a 15-minute fast charge. See the full tech specs here.

The PixelBook 2, Google's third generation of Chromebook

Google also released a new Chromebook, called the PixelBook (a Chromebook being a laptop that runs on Google’s Chrome OS rather than Microsoft Windows).

Chromebooks (also made by all the major PC makers) have yet to make much of a dent on the workplace.

But a study released last month by independent market researcher IDC found Chromebooks accounted for 46% of shipments to schools in the first half of 2017 with Chromebooks, ahead of Windows-based PCs (32%) and Apple computers (22%).

Chromebooks were on the shopping list provided by my kids’ primary school at the start of this year. It’s not hard to see their appeal to parents; basic models start at under $300. And my kids don’t miss any desktop apps as literally all the software, services and content they access is in the cloud.

As a showcase piece of hardware, the 12.3-inch display PixelBook has flasher hardware specs than the average Chromebook, and a much higher price ($US999 to $US1649, depending on options).

It’s also very thin (10.4mm) and by ChromeBook standards, a bit of a looker.

Frills include an optional pen ($US99) for writing or drawing onscreen, a button to trigger Google Assistant, and the ability to “tent” the PixelBook in an upside down “V”, the better to watch videos (a trick borrowed from the Lenovo Yoga).

Tiny home
Google has also released Google Home Mini ($US49), a cheaper, smaller version of its Home speaker that can take voice commands. The Google Home has never been available in New Zealand, but those who have a parallel imported one say it responds just fine to the Kiwi accent.

Google Clips - a camera that takes the photos it thinks you want
Rounding out Google's new products is the Clips — a camera that looks like a GoPro, but is not built for rough-and-tumble.

Like a GoPro, it has minimal controls (there's no screen). There is a shutter, button, but use of it is optional. The idea is that Clips uses AI to learn the sort of pics you like to take, then automatically takes a photo of your kids or pet when they do something it considers photo-friendly.

Sounds interesting on paper ... and like something that will probably hit its stride in version 3 or 4.

A rep for Google ANZ is trying to find out New Zealand pricing and release details (if any) this morning.

The company sells hardware through its Google store, but you can also find it in retailers, including PB Technology.

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