Today at the Made by Google 2018 event, Google officially unveiled the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL, its latest line of smartphones. Sporting what it describes as the most powerful camera on a smartphone to date (they showed seven different magazine covers that were shot using the Pixel 3 camera) the device is set to launch on October 18th with pre-orders open now, starting at $799 through Verizon, or unlocked on the Google Store and with Project Fi.
The camera really does look remarkable in terms of quality and the AI powering it with a 12.2-megapixel rear lens capable of shooting 4K video, but that’s not really directly relevant to VR or AR immediately.
Inside of the Pixel 3 is a Snapdragon 845 processor with 4GB of RAM and either 64GB or 128GB of internal storage. By comparison, the Oculus Go has a Snapdragon 821 and the forthcoming Oculus Quest will have a Snapdragon 835. Both phones have a flexible OLED display and are powered by a 2915 mAh battery.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKSA_idPZkc
According to the official Google blog post, the Pixel 3 is 5.5″ and will start at $799, while the Pixel 3 XL is 6.3″ and will start at $899. Both models are available in “Just Black,” “Clearly White,” and “Not Pink” because cheeky color names are fun. In the box you’ll get a pair of USB-C earbuds and a USB-C 3.5mm headphone adapter, as well as an 18-Watt fast charger that can reportedly “give you seven hours of use in 15 minutes of charging.” All Pixel 3 purchases also include 6 months of free YouTube Music Premium.
Depending on storage size the price varies as well. Here’s the breakdown:
Pixel 3 64GB: $799
Pixel 3 128GB: $899
Pixel 3 XL 64B: $799
Pixel 3 XL 128GB: $999
There wasn’t a single peep about Daydream at all during the show, although on the specs page of the Pixel 3 website it does indicate: “Built for VR to work with Google Daydream View headset,” so it’s not a missing feature altogether at least.
AR did get a brief shout out via AR Stickers, which have been re-branded as Playground with even more options. Nothing on ARCore though. Both phones also have two front-facing camera sensors, presumably to help enable more powerful AR content.
Do you plan on getting a Pixel 3? Let us know down in the comments below!
