The highly anticipated Google Pixel 7a smartphone and Pixel Tablet are here, but Aussies won’t yet get their hands on the long-awaited Pixel Fold.
Announced overnight at the Google I/O developer conference in California, the new Pixel hardware was launched alongside an in-depth preview of Google’s AI ambitions.
The search giant’s ChatGPT rival, Bard AI, is now open to the public and includes a wealth of new features as well as the ability to integrate directly into Gmail, Sheets and Docs.
Bard AI runs on a new PaLM 2 large language model which is trained on more than 100 languages. Along with creative writing capabilities, Bard AI can now code in 20 programming languages and has strong mathematics skills.
New hardware featuring the Google Pixel 7a
On the hardware side, the new Google Pixel 7a inherits many of the premium features of the Pixel lineup. Sporting a 6.1-inch OLED display, it runs on the Google Tensor G2 processor and includes a 64 MP main sensor supporting the photography features of the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro.
Google has also added wireless charging and extended the battery life, with an Extreme Battery Saver mode promising to last up to 72 hours. An affordable alternative to the Pixel 7 range, the 7a continues the company’s trend of offering a third model to choose from. Last year, the Google Pixel 6a impressed us on multiple levels. Meanwhile, the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro are both excellent phones, with early reactions indicating that the 7a also delivers on the brand’s strong pedigree.
The new 11-inch Pixel Tablet is the first tablet to run on the Tensor G2 processor. It comes with a charging stand that allows the tablet to act as a Google Nest Hub smart screen when not in use.
The tablet features 8 MP front and rear cameras, three microphones and four speakers, while the dock also includes built-in speakers. It also supports Chromecast for streaming content.
Meanwhile, Pixel Fold is Google’s first foray into folding smartphone territory. It features a 5.8-inch external display, folding open to reveal a 7.6-inch screen.
The Pixel Fold also runs on Google’s Tensor G2 processor, featuring a rear triple camera array – 48 MP wide, 10.8 MP ultrawide and 10.8 MP telephoto – as well as an 8 MP front camera.
Available in Australia today, the Google Pixel 7a sells for $749. The Pixel Tablet sells for $899 and is available on pre-order today, while arriving in stores on June 20. Pixel Fold is not launching in Australia “at this point”, according to Google.
What does “at this point” mean as a long time Pixel fan and user, I’m extremely disappointed that Australia was left out of the countries getting the Pixel Fold, I’m no stranger to folding smartphones, I’ve used a Samsung galaxy fold 4, for a few months and the build quality is good and the software is also pretty great, however it ain’t a Pixel, with all it’s software exclusive features, and absolutely non bloat,I absolutely love the way android is represented with its software on the Googles Pixel range of smartphones.
I currently carry daily a Pixel 7 pro, and a Surface Duo, the Duo is mostly used for book reading and for those times when I want to run 2 full screen applications at once, I was really looking forward to carrying one device again, that being the Pixel Fold.
I’m hoping Google is just briefly testing out the global market response to its Foldable device, because it’s not acceptable to leave Fans of its Pixel Fold range “waiting in Vain”😏.