Googles $1800 Pixel Fold is real but its not coming to India
Behold the new ultra high-end flagship from Google. On Wednesday, Google took the wraps off the Pixel Fold during its annual I/O developer conference in Mountain View, California. Not only does the Pixel Fold mark Googles debut in the super flagship phone segment dominated by Apple and Samsung for years but it also brings the company into the niche foldable phone space. The Pixel Fold is built on the design template of the Oppo Find N2 but has Google DNA inside. However, unlike Samsungs Galaxy Z Fold 4, the Pixel Fold is much more portable and thinner. Open the Fold and you will see a 7.6-inch OLED 2K display with a 120Hz refresh rate. The 5.8-inch OLED screen (again, boasting a 120Hz refresh rate) is on the outside. The outer screen and the glass covering the rear of the phone are Gorilla Glass Victus which should offer more durability. The stainless steel hinge holds the display, offering up to 180 degrees of movement. The main display is great for watching a movie, reading an ebook, and playing a game. The foldable phone offers split-view, allowing users to use multiple apps at the same time. Google has also introduced a brand new tabletop mode, which basically lets users set up the camera on a tablet and take close-up photos. On the camera front, the foldable phone has a 48-megapixel primary sensor, a 10.8-megapixel ultrawide, and a 10.8-megapixel telephoto with 5X optical zoom. The camera system is similar on the Pixel 7 Pro, so expect similar results, but the Pixel 7 Pro is nonetheless a better camera phone. There are also two selfie cameras: a 9.5-megapixel camera on the front and an 8-megapixel camera on the inner bezel for when it's unfolded. The Pixel Fold is powered by the Tensor G2 chipset alongside 12 GB of RAM, 256 GB of internal storage, wireless charging, and IPX8 water resistance. There's a fingerprint sensor too, but unlike on other Pixel smartphones, this sensor is capacitive and resides in the side power button. Googles Pixel Fold isnt any different from any other foldable smartphones on the market but where it has an edge over the competition is how its software is designed for large-screen devices. Google says it has optimised more than 50 of its own apps for devices like the Pixel Fold. Google hopes developers will be encouraged by this move and update their apps suitable for large-screen devices. Whats also new to the Pixel Fold, besides the promise of a clean, user interface, is a Dual-Screen Interpretation mode in Google Translate. With Android 14, the Pixel Fold will help users to translate to and from foreign languages by simultaneously using the outer screen and inner screen to translate live conversations. The Pixel Fold holds a lot of promise as to how our smartphones might look in the future but its $1800 price limits mainstream adoption of foldable phones. With Pixel Fold, every major smartphone player now offers a foldable smartphone with the exception of Apple. Sadly, Google has no plans to launch the Pixel Fold in India anytime soon despite a booming market for high-end smartphones. But you can buy the Pixel Fold from the US where it is currently available for pre-order and will ship in June.
Thursday, May 11, 2023 at 5:19 am