Google I/O 2023: Were the Rumors True? Pixel Fold, Pixel 7a, & More!

Google IO 2023 happened like an hour ago and these are my top announcements for users you need to know about.

#1 is the Pixel Fold

This is the first Google foldable. The front display is big, and unfolded, it’s Google’s thinnest phone yet. That’s… impressive. I was worried about the official specs, because the Z Fold first gen was pretty iffy, but this one is pretty great. It unfolds completely flat, 7.6” display, its weather resistant, and packs in premium pixel lenses. There’s a dual screen interpreter mode which OMG I really wanna use this in Japan - how freaking cool. It’s got a Tensor G2, we also got to see a demo of the screen folding. I love multitasking views, I’m gonna be using that a lot. It costs $1799 and ships next month - and you can get a free Pixel Watch with it including the LTE version - so that’s pretty cool, that’s a really good deal. Here are some of the specs from the website that you can read over in case you are interested. I preordered one, hopefully it gets here in a decent amount of time so I can get a review out ASAP.

#2 is the Pixel Tablet!

This tablet is confirmed to have a Tensor G2, 11” display, 4 built in speakers, aluminum enclosure, and more. Here, you can pause this screen if you want to read all of the specs on your own. It looks sleek, and comes with the Google photo editing features we love. The apps are being optimized better for larger screens.

The charging speaker dock, which comes bundled for free, it costs over $100 if purchased separately, turns it into a hub and it can then be used kinda like a Google Home Hub - as a photo album, home control, and more. It also has a fingerprint sensor - so cool. It will work to control all of your Matter enabled devices.

Multi-user switching helps with privacy. It also has Chromecast Built In. Dang, they thought of everything for this product! A stand is included in a case for the Tablet, I preordered one of those too but it’ll ship separately.

3 colors, preorders start today, and it’ll ship for $499.

BTW, If you like this video, a subscribe would me a lot to me. I use subscriptions as an indicator that I am actively building an audience here who is interested in these topics, and it lets me know you find value in this kind of content.

#3 is Android:

Google is working hard to implement RCS into messaging to 800M users, and c’mon Apple, get on board. I posted a video about RCS and secure texting just a few weeks ago so check that out for more info.

Generative AI is making android look more expressive with Magic Compose. It’s fun! Very personalized. Material You will get more customization options thank god, I want prettier options. I’m loving the lock screen options they’re bringing. The cinematic wallpaper is really cool.

Lots of updates and pretty things to look at, and many useful features are being updated this year.

#4 is AI!

Help Me Write uses AI to generate emails for you, such as a response to a airline to request a full refund instead of a flight voucher. It even pulls in relevant information such as your flight itinerary from previous emails. How useful.

Immersive view in Google maps got an update, now called Immersive View for routes, so you can now see turn by turn directions from a birds eye view and it looks sooooo nice. This will also show you traffic and weather. It’ll be available in 15 cities to start, including Tokyo, so I’m hoping I can use this when I go to Japan in October!

Google Photos is getting smarter - magic eraser is getting some updates and a new name called Magic Editor - my response watching this live was “whaaat?” - Editor can make edits like adjust where your subject is or change the sky to look more blue and cloudless. If reposition a subject to be more centered, and AI will generate whatever was cut off. If you edit the sky, the rest of the photo lighting would change too. Ooo, this is gonna be so fun to play with for my Instagram photos.

Google is introducing upgraded backend technology called Palm2 and SecPalm - for better language models, security, AI collaboration in specialized domains and more.

and #5 is Bard!

Let’s chat about Bard! Google Announced it’s already learned over 20 coding languages. Now, tools are coming to Bard. That means you can use services or extensions while collaborating with Bard. They mentioned security but didn’t go into detail, so I’m curious to hear more about how this will work. Oh, and export is now a thing. Bard is opening up to 180+ countries today without the waitlist, so now you can try it out yourself! Plus you can talk to it in Japanese and Korean now, with more coming. A ton of AI will be brought to Google Workspace via Duet AI as well.

Search is getting an AI makeover, with generative results. They gave some examples of what you’ll be able to do with it and this actually looks really helpful. Might even be great for content creators since it could generate results based on what’s in a video.

And just a note: The Pixel 7a was officially announced! Powered by the Tensor G2 and 8G RAM. And it is confirmed for $499, with preorders starting today. I also ordered this too. My wallet is hurting a lot right now. But I want to get these products in to test.

Keep an eye on my channel for the upcoming reviews of these Pixel devices, I ordered everything, and updates to consumer-facing integrations of AI. I’ve got a recent Android video here, or check out this video youtube thinks you’ll enjoy!

Bye yall!