Google kicked off its Made by Google event today, not with its Pixel 4 smartphone, but with the unveiling of its 2nd generation Pixel Buds. At a glance, the new Pixel Buds are a far cry from its predecessor; Instead of a cord that links them together, the earbuds are now truly wireless.
On that note, the Pixel Buds have their own oval-shaped charging case. On average, Google says that the earbuds are able to go play music continuously for five hours on a single charge, and up to 24 hours with the charging case.
Google has also added long-range Bluetooth connectivity to the Pixel Buds. It is said that users can expect to use them up to three rooms away indoors and an entire football field for outdoors usage. To that end, the Pixel Buds also have directional boom microphones installed to ensure better quality calls.
To drive the Pixel Buds’ audio quality, both earbuds are fitted with custom-designed 12mm dynamic speaker drivers. On a side note, there wasn’t any mention of the accessory having active noise cancelling, just Sony’s WF-1000XM3. However, the search engine had mentioned that the earbuds will come with new software that dynamically adjusts volume according to a user’s surrounding, thus keeping ambient noise out.
The Pixel Buds also integrates Google Assistant and can be woken up with the “Hey, Google” command. Additionally, Google also added in the feature that enables users to get information from the earbuds without having to whip out their phone.
The Google Pixel Buds will be available sometime during the Spring of 2020. The wireless earbuds will retail cost US$179 (~RM749) and will be available in four distinct colours: Clearly White, Oh So Orange, Quite Mint and Almost Black. Sadly, the Pixel Buds – along with Google’s other recently announced products – won’t officially be making its way to our shores. Not unless Google has a sudden change of heart.
(Source: Google)
