Today’s event rolled out the two Pixel smartphones, Google’s answer to the past woes of the Nexus lineup and a breath of fresh air for Android purists due to their use of the currently Pixel-exclusive Android 7.1 Nougat. Despite any reservations some may have, it’s hard to deny that there are a vast number of reasons to want one of these two phones, like their incredible cameras and Daydream VR compatibility. While the phones won’t be available everywhere for a while, preorder dates for some areas are already being announced. Those in India who want their very own Pixel, for example, can send their rupees Google’s way as of October 13th.
To recap on exactly why somebody may want to jump on these phones and lay down a preorder, they both come with the powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor and 4GB of RAM. The base Pixel features a 5-inch, 1920 x 1080 panel, along with a 2,770mAh battery, while the larger Pixel XL sports a 5.5-inch panel with a resolution of 2560 x 1440 and a battery size of 3,450mAh. The two phones share a phenomenal 12-megapixel Sony camera in the back, and a selfie snapper boasting 8 megapixels of pore-showing clarity. Both phones also have an IP53 certification for water and other hazards, along with Android 7.1 Nougat, a special version of Nougat packing some features that are, for now, Pixel-exclusive. Both packages are nicely rounded out by Bluetooth 4.2, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a fingerprint sensor.
Google will begin accepting pre-orders for both of the devices on October 13th, but Google has yet to announce exactly when users who lay out their hard-earned dough in good faith from that day can expect to see new devices at their door. Prices for the Pixel family in India will start at INR 57,000 for the 5-inch base Pixel model with 32GB of storage, but pricing details for either size of Pixel XL or the 128GB version of the Pixel were not revealed on Google’s blog post about the pre-orders. Users will be able to choose between Quite Black and Very Silver for all variants, though some colors and storage configurations may end up unavailable on certain dates depending on demand, as with any pre-order.