Google launches the Pixel 5 and 4a (5G) along with new connected-home products

Google has unveiled its latest products during its Launch Night In, an event held solely via its own online portal. This show has confirmed extensive leaks concerning the Nest Audio and Chromecast with Google TV, new smart-home products with updated form-factors and features. The former is a smart speaker with 19 millimeter (mm) tweeters and a 79mm woofer.

The OEM asserts that this combination makes for rich, clear audio when called for via the device's built-in Assistant. It also features Voice Match, which may allow it to adapt its content and responses on a per-user basis. The speaker has new Sage, Sand and Sky colorways in addition to the previously-leaked Chalk and Charcoal, and can be pre-ordered for US$99.

The new kind of Chromecast causes a new Android TV-like UI to appear on any TV into which it is plugged via HDMI. It also has its own remote, as rumored, which (of course) can respond to voice commands via its own Assistant. It comes in Snow, Sunrise or Sky colorways and goes for $49.

However, many who tuned into this show may have been most interested in the new 5G Pixels. Unlike its 4G-only counterpart, the 4a (5G) has a 6.24-inch FHD+ OLED display. It has a larger 3800mAh battery, which, as Google asserts, may keep going for "a day plus another day" thanks to an Extreme Battery Saver setting. It has 1 6GB RAM/128GB internal storage SKU, comes with a polycarbonate unibody and a price of $499.

It also shares the Snapdragon 765G processor with the Pixel 5. This new flagship also has only 1 8/128GB configuration, and also has a familiar dual rear 16MP ultrawide/12MP dual-pixel camera array with an 8MP wide-angle punch-hole camera. Google has not let the pandemic stop it from packing them with new features, which include HDR+ with Bracketing, Night Sight in Portrait and Cinematic Pan.

The new Pixels also support Hold for Me, an AI-powered service by which the phone monitors a call on hold for the user, alerting them when an actual respondent has come back on the line. Then again, this only applies to English-language situations and may fail to detect an on-hold state in some situations.

The Pixel 5 does indeed come in a shade of green this year. Its marketing name is Sorta Sage, and is the only option besides Just Black for this phone's 100% recycled aluminum chassis (unusual at this point). It is also up for pre-order and is priced at $699. However, it will not actually be available until October 2020.

Buy Google Pixel 4a now on Amazon