Google says Pixel 6, 6 Pro coming this year with custom AI acceleration

Google today said the latest iteration of its Android smartphones, the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro, are coming this fall. So far the internet advertising goliath has only offered a glimpse of the gear: no official specifications have been released. The Pixel 6 and 6 Pro look like your standard high-end 6.ish-inch aluminium-framed …

[Chris Miller]

?

Who uses a paper clip 'for scale'? I assume they are available in different sizes in the US, just as they are in the UK.

[petef]

Re: ?

It's just the new Clippy. With added AI.

[David 132]

Re: ?

They probably didn't have a banana handy.

[elsergiovolador]

Handler

It's like meeting your new handler, before you invite him/her to your pocket.

Jokes aside, crucial information is missing:

- Where the phone is going to be made? What are the countries of origin?

- This Tensor chip, will I be able to buy it on Mouser or Digi-key? Is documentation going to be available?

- What kind of telemetry it is going to be sending to Google and what this chip is going to be doing with it?

- Can I wipe the OS and install my own?

Google claimed its latest Pixels will have "the most layers of hardware security in any phone," and claims this has been checked by an independent third party.

Oh my sides. How independent that third party is? Are they "degoogled"? Does that _third_ party actually mean the three letter agency? ;-)

[diodesign]

Re: Handler

> crucial information is missing

It wasn't given, FWIW. We're not impressed by the info-lite approach to this launch.

> This Tensor chip, will I be able to buy it on Mouser or Digi-key? Is documentation going to be available?

Seriously doubt this all round. It's an SoC for this one product line.

> What kind of telemetry it is going to be sending to Google and what this chip is going to be doing with it?

The usual Android telemetry.

> How independent that third party is?

No idea.

C.

[Flywheel]

Re: Handler

GCHQ has 4 characters, but MI5, MI6 have 3 :-)

[Kevin McMurtrie]

Translations

"AI acceleration engine" -> Deeply invasive behavioral monitoring and manipulation

"most layers of hardware security" -> Spyware can't be disabled with ADB

"Material You" -> Your life is our product

"upgraded the rear camera system" -> The camera lump grows like cancer but still no room for a headphone jack or modern quantities of storage.

[Anonymous Coward]

Are you just pleased to see me

or is that the Stasi bulging in your pocket?

[Robert Grant]

In other news, Alphabet shows off world's largest paperclip for advertising how small things are. Coming to every advert on YouTube!

[sabroni]

Google Tensor chip

With Google Analytics built right into the silicon. OOOOH, yes please!!!!!!

[Pen-y-gors]

Updates?

"Pixels are also among the first in line to get Android security updates from Google"

Which will probably stop being released as soon as the Pixel 7 comes out!

I wish suppliers would guarantee security updates for at least 5-6 years from product launch date. We don't all have an urge to blow £500 every year on a new phone, just to get a slightly faster chip and an extra few pixels on the camera. I have a fully-functioning laptop, running Win 10, that is 10 years old now. Why can't I get a phone that lasts at least 5 years and can run the latest Android version?

[Vulture@C64]

You can put all the hardware security you like on a device but if you then install Android which is really designed to harvest as much info from you as it can, you may as well not bother with the hardware security.

[FordPrefect]

Let me guess yet again 64GB of storage...

[Warm Braw]

And not much beyond that...

That does seem to be the state of the market: these new devices are not offering significant benefits over the current generation while prices seem to continue to rise. I wonder for how long that's sustainable?

[JimmyPage]

Phablet ?

Isn't 6.7" - whilst welcomed by my partially sighted wife - straying closer to the phablet form ?