Google Finally Announces the Pixel Watch

After weeks of rumors, speculation, and leaks, Google finally confirmed that the Pixel Watch is indeed real, and it is launching sometime this fall.

During the Google I/O 2022 keynote, the tech giant showed off the design of the upcoming wearable, which confirmed the leaks showing a circular dome design with a crown located on the side of the watch. The watch will be compatible with all Android phones that have Android 8 or newer mobile OS installed on the device, according to Google.

Google noted during the keynote that the Pixel Watch will feature an "improved" Wear OS with support for native Google Apps and software available on Wear OS, including Emergency SOS. Google confirmed that the Emergency SOS feature will arrive on Wear OS later this year.

Throughout most of 2022, there had been talks that Google was working on a Pixel smartwatch. Last month, Google filed a trademark for "Pixel Watch" with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A few days later, Android Central reported that it had images of the rumored Pixel Watch prototype. Additionally, a Reddit user posted photos of them wearing the Pixel Watch on a wrist shortly after the Pixel Watch images leaked.

While there is no word on pricing, Google did confirm that the Pixel Watch will offer cellular and Wi-Fi options when it is available. As far as a release date goes, Google says the Pixel Watch will release alongside the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro, all of which are slated to release sometime this fall.

Alongside the first-ever Pixel Watch being announced, this year's Google I/O keynote also announced three new Pixel smartphones, the Pixel Buds Pro, and Pixel Tablet. If you missed the keynote, check out our roundup, detailing everything announced at Google I/O 2022.

Taylor is the Associate Tech Editor at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.

Google Finally Announces the Pixel Watch

After weeks of rumors, speculation, and leaks, Google finally confirmed that the Pixel Watch is indeed real, and it is launching sometime this fall.

During the Google I/O 2022 keynote, the tech giant showed off the design of the upcoming wearable, which confirmed the leaks showing a circular dome design with a crown located on the side of the watch. The watch will be compatible with all Android phones that have Android 8 or newer mobile OS installed on the device, according to Google.

Google noted during the keynote that the Pixel Watch will feature an "improved" Wear OS with support for native Google Apps and software available on Wear OS, including Emergency SOS. Google confirmed that the Emergency SOS feature will arrive on Wear OS later this year.

Throughout most of 2022, there had been talks that Google was working on a Pixel smartwatch. Last month, Google filed a trademark for "Pixel Watch" with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A few days later, Android Central reported that it had images of the rumored Pixel Watch prototype. Additionally, a Reddit user posted photos of them wearing the Pixel Watch on a wrist shortly after the Pixel Watch images leaked.

While there is no word on pricing, Google did confirm that the Pixel Watch will offer cellular and Wi-Fi options when it is available. As far as a release date goes, Google says the Pixel Watch will release alongside the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro, all of which are slated to release sometime this fall.

Alongside the first-ever Pixel Watch being announced, this year's Google I/O keynote also announced three new Pixel smartphones, the Pixel Buds Pro, and Pixel Tablet. If you missed the keynote, check out our roundup, detailing everything announced at Google I/O 2022.

Taylor is the Associate Tech Editor at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.

Everything Announced at Google I/O 2022: Pixel 7, Pixel Watch, Pixel Tablet and More

Google I/O 2022 was easily Google’s biggest developer conference yet. The search company announced updates for nearly all of its services and ended the show with six hardware announcements including the Pixel 6a, Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro, Pixel Buds Pro, Pixel Watch, and Pixel Tablet. In case you missed all the live developments earlier in the day, here’s a quick catch-up on all the biggest announcements.

Google Translate

Google Translate is getting a huge shot to the arm with 24 new languages added to the service. Among the new additions are the languages of indiginous native americans.

Google Maps

Google maps is representing more machine-learning scaled buildings on its maps. Google highlighted its maps now represent five times more buildings in Africa now for a total of 300 million now. Additionally, it has doubled the number of accounted for buildings in India and 20% more globally overall.

Additionally, Google Maps can now show more detail of buildings based on still images of their interior. The search company demoed showing the inside of restaurants using a flyover view created by neural renderings.

Google Maps is also getting eco-friendly routing to help you save on gas. According to Google, people have already been using them to travel 86 billion miles and saved enough gas to equal the equivalent of taking 100,000 cars off the road. Europe will be getting eco-friendly routes this year too.

YouTube

Expect to see more chaptered videos on YouTube soon. Google is applying its multimodal technology from DeepMind to increase the number of videos with automatically generated chapters by ten times. Additionally videos will also feature transcripts thanks to speech recognition and auto-translation.

Google Docs TLDR

If you’ve ever dreaded looking at a 25-page Google Doc, TLDR is here to save you by automatically summarizing documents.

Google Meet

Google is hoping to improve the way you look on a video call by introducing AI-powered portrait lighting. Users can simply drag a circle around to change the way virtual lighting is hitting your face for a better picture. Google says it pulled the tech over from its previous 3D telepresence project, Starline.

Google Multisearch

Google showed off a demo of the new Multisearch the company launched last month. Essentially it lets you search by taking a photo and asking a question at the same time in the Google app.

Real Tone

Real Tone started as a Google Pixel 6 project to better capture darker skin tones and now Google is expanding it to make all its products more inclusive. To that end, Google has developed a Monk Scale in collaboration with Dr. Mon to better represent skin tones. Now users can look up bridal makeup looks and then filter by skin tones to find more relevant results.

Beyond that Google is adding Real Tone as a search filter within Google Photos. In the coming months, Google plans on using skin tone, hair tone, and texture as a new way of labeling images through attributes.

Look and Talk

If you’re tired of saying Hey Google every time you want to use your Google Assistant, Google is making it a bit easier with Nest Devices.

Basically, if you have a Google device with a camera, like the Nest Hub Max, you can just look at it and just talk to it after your device recognizes you. The Google device just needs to match your face and voice before it starts listening to you.

Additionally, Google is adding quick phrases to do things like answer calls, stop timers, toggle lights, and more without having to say “Hey Google.”

LaMDA 2

Google is also making its AI assistant more conversational while reducing the number of inaccurate or offensive responses. Additionally, Google showed how LaMDA 2 can hold a conversation or even run a text-based adventure.

Virtual Credit Cards

Google is introducing virtual credit cards on Chrome and Android. Basically, you can pay with your real card through Google, but at the point of purchase, you’ll get a virtual card number to reduce fraud. Google says Visa, Amex, Capital One, MasterCard are all onboard to roll with the virtual card program starting this summer.

Google Pay

Google is overhauling Google Pay to make it more usable with tickets, passes, IDs, and more. The new Google Pay is minimalistic and useful for showing digital tickets, theme park passes, and student and state IDs.

Google Wear

Google Wear is finally getting an Emergency SOS feature so you can use it in life and death situations. Google also announced its earthquake alerting system is being expanded too.

Android 13

Google announced the Android 13 beta is dropping today. Android 13 promises to expand Material You color schemes to third-party apps and icons, as well as the media player. Google Messages will also finally get RCS support for group messages as part of a beta. The new version of Android should also come with Matter support, allowing users to quickly pair their smart home devices.

Google Pixel 6a

The first of many hardware announcements at Google I/O 2022, the Pixel 6a is Google’s newest budget smartphone that’ll release on July 28 for $449. It also happens to be Google’s first budget Pixel phone to feature its own self-made tensor chip. As you can see it takes its styling cues from the Pixel 6 phone series including the prominent camera bar. This new handset will also feature a 12MP main and ultrawide cameras, and it should be smaller than the Pixel 6.

Google Pixel 7

Google also teased us with the new Pixel 7 coming later this Fall. The search company showed an image of the new backsides of the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro in white with a matte and shiny aluminum camera bar.

Google Pixel Buds Pro

The Google Pixel Buds Pro is the company’s first noise-canceling earbuds yet. They also feature Google’s new custom audio processor, with 6 cores and a neural processing engine. Additionally, users can expect to get 7 hours with ANC turned on and 11 hours without ANC. The Google Pixel Buds Pro will be available for preorder July 21, and released July 28, for $199.

Google Pixel Watch

In yet another surprise, Google revealed its new Pixel Watch that will be arriving this fall. The WearOS smartwatch features a round and curved display with a tactile crown and stainless steel frame. Google also announced it will have deep Fitbit integration.

Google Pixel Tablet

And last but not least, Google announced its plans on introducing a Pixel tablet in 2023. Mercifully, the android tablet doesn’t feature a camera bar (yet), but it will be running some form of Google’s Tensor chip.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Kevin Lee is IGN's SEO Updates Editor. Follow him on Twitter @baggingspam.

Everything Announced at Google I/O 2022: Pixel 7, Pixel Watch, Pixel Tablet and More

Google I/O 2022 was easily Google’s biggest developer conference yet. The search company announced updates for nearly all of its services and ended the show with six hardware announcements including the Pixel 6a, Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro, Pixel Buds Pro, Pixel Watch, and Pixel Tablet. In case you missed all the live developments earlier in the day, here’s a quick catch-up on all the biggest announcements.

Google Translate

Google Translate is getting a huge shot to the arm with 24 new languages added to the service. Among the new additions are the languages of indiginous native americans.

Google Maps

Google maps is representing more machine-learning scaled buildings on its maps. Google highlighted its maps now represent five times more buildings in Africa now for a total of 300 million now. Additionally, it has doubled the number of accounted for buildings in India and 20% more globally overall.

Additionally, Google Maps can now show more detail of buildings based on still images of their interior. The search company demoed showing the inside of restaurants using a flyover view created by neural renderings.

Google Maps is also getting eco-friendly routing to help you save on gas. According to Google, people have already been using them to travel 86 billion miles and saved enough gas to equal the equivalent of taking 100,000 cars off the road. Europe will be getting eco-friendly routes this year too.

YouTube

Expect to see more chaptered videos on YouTube soon. Google is applying its multimodal technology from DeepMind to increase the number of videos with automatically generated chapters by ten times. Additionally videos will also feature transcripts thanks to speech recognition and auto-translation.

Google Docs TLDR

If you’ve ever dreaded looking at a 25-page Google Doc, TLDR is here to save you by automatically summarizing documents.

Google Meet

Google is hoping to improve the way you look on a video call by introducing AI-powered portrait lighting. Users can simply drag a circle around to change the way virtual lighting is hitting your face for a better picture. Google says it pulled the tech over from its previous 3D telepresence project, Starline.

Google Multisearch

Google showed off a demo of the new Multisearch the company launched last month. Essentially it lets you search by taking a photo and asking a question at the same time in the Google app.

Real Tone

Real Tone started as a Google Pixel 6 project to better capture darker skin tones and now Google is expanding it to make all its products more inclusive. To that end, Google has developed a Monk Scale in collaboration with Dr. Mon to better represent skin tones. Now users can look up bridal makeup looks and then filter by skin tones to find more relevant results.

Beyond that Google is adding Real Tone as a search filter within Google Photos. In the coming months, Google plans on using skin tone, hair tone, and texture as a new way of labeling images through attributes.

Look and Talk

If you’re tired of saying Hey Google every time you want to use your Google Assistant, Google is making it a bit easier with Nest Devices.

Basically, if you have a Google device with a camera, like the Nest Hub Max, you can just look at it and just talk to it after your device recognizes you. The Google device just needs to match your face and voice before it starts listening to you.

Additionally, Google is adding quick phrases to do things like answer calls, stop timers, toggle lights, and more without having to say “Hey Google.”

LaMDA 2

Google is also making its AI assistant more conversational while reducing the number of inaccurate or offensive responses. Additionally, Google showed how LaMDA 2 can hold a conversation or even run a text-based adventure.

Virtual Credit Cards

Google is introducing virtual credit cards on Chrome and Android. Basically, you can pay with your real card through Google, but at the point of purchase, you’ll get a virtual card number to reduce fraud. Google says Visa, Amex, Capital One, MasterCard are all onboard to roll with the virtual card program starting this summer.

Google Pay

Google is overhauling Google Pay to make it more usable with tickets, passes, IDs, and more. The new Google Pay is minimalistic and useful for showing digital tickets, theme park passes, and student and state IDs.

Google Wear

Google Wear is finally getting an Emergency SOS feature so you can use it in life and death situations. Google also announced its earthquake alerting system is being expanded too.

Android 13

Google announced the Android 13 beta is dropping today. Android 13 promises to expand Material You color schemes to third-party apps and icons, as well as the media player. Google Messages will also finally get RCS support for group messages as part of a beta. The new version of Android should also come with Matter support, allowing users to quickly pair their smart home devices.

Google Pixel 6a

The first of many hardware announcements at Google I/O 2022, the Pixel 6a is Google’s newest budget smartphone that’ll release on July 28 for $449. It also happens to be Google’s first budget Pixel phone to feature its own self-made tensor chip. As you can see it takes its styling cues from the Pixel 6 phone series including the prominent camera bar. This new handset will also feature a 12MP main and ultrawide cameras, and it should be smaller than the Pixel 6.

Google Pixel 7

Google also teased us with the new Pixel 7 coming later this Fall. The search company showed an image of the new backsides of the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro in white with a matte and shiny aluminum camera bar.

Google Pixel Buds Pro

The Google Pixel Buds Pro is the company’s first noise-canceling earbuds yet. They also feature Google’s new custom audio processor, with 6 cores and a neural processing engine. Additionally, users can expect to get 7 hours with ANC turned on and 11 hours without ANC. The Google Pixel Buds Pro will be available for preorder July 21, and released July 28, for $199.

Google Pixel Watch

In yet another surprise, Google revealed its new Pixel Watch that will be arriving this fall. The WearOS smartwatch features a round and curved display with a tactile crown and stainless steel frame. Google also announced it will have deep Fitbit integration.

Google Pixel Tablet

And last but not least, Google announced its plans on introducing a Pixel tablet in 2023. Mercifully, the android tablet doesn’t feature a camera bar (yet), but it will be running some form of Google’s Tensor chip.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Kevin Lee is IGN's SEO Updates Editor. Follow him on Twitter @baggingspam.

Google Announces New Pixel 6a Phone

As part of its annual Google I/O event, Google has officially announced the third phone in its Google Pixel 6 series — the Pixel 6a.

The Pixel 6a will launch on July 21 and will retail for $449. Like the other two phones in the lineup, the Pixel 6a does include the Tensor AI chip and will include features, such as Magic Eraser, which will allows you to remove unwanted objects from your photos, such as a photobomber.

Alongside the announcement of a third phone in the Pixel 6 series, Google also confirmed that it plans to release the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro smartphones this fall. While not a ton of details were shared on the next generation of Pixel smartphones, Google did share a few images of what both devices will look like as seen in the screenshot below.

The Pixel 6 and 6 Pro launched last October and has become the fastest-selling Pixel phone yet, according to Google. In our Pixel 6 review, we praised the phone's cameras and competitive pricing, rewarding the device with a nine on our review scale.

In comparison, the Pixel 6 Pro received a 10 out of 10, with my colleague Kevin Lee praising the fact it offered a ton of features commonly found in high-end smartphones, such as a 120Hz refresh rate, stellar cameras, and superb battery life, all while keeping the price under $1,000.

In addition to new smartphone announcements, Google I/O's keynote also announced the first Pixel Watch, Pixel Buds Pro, and Pixel Tablet. If you missed the keynote, check out our roundup, detailing everything announced at Google I/O 2022.

Taylor is the Associate Tech Editor at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.

Google Announces New Pixel 6a Phone

As part of its annual Google I/O event, Google has officially announced the third phone in its Google Pixel 6 series — the Pixel 6a.

The Pixel 6a will launch on July 21 and will retail for $449. Like the other two phones in the lineup, the Pixel 6a does include the Tensor AI chip and will include features, such as Magic Eraser, which will allows you to remove unwanted objects from your photos, such as a photobomber.

Alongside the announcement of a third phone in the Pixel 6 series, Google also confirmed that it plans to release the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro smartphones this fall. While not a ton of details were shared on the next generation of Pixel smartphones, Google did share a few images of what both devices will look like as seen in the screenshot below.

The Pixel 6 and 6 Pro launched last October and has become the fastest-selling Pixel phone yet, according to Google. In our Pixel 6 review, we praised the phone's cameras and competitive pricing, rewarding the device with a nine on our review scale.

In comparison, the Pixel 6 Pro received a 10 out of 10, with my colleague Kevin Lee praising the fact it offered a ton of features commonly found in high-end smartphones, such as a 120Hz refresh rate, stellar cameras, and superb battery life, all while keeping the price under $1,000.

In addition to new smartphone announcements, Google I/O's keynote also announced the first Pixel Watch, Pixel Buds Pro, and Pixel Tablet. If you missed the keynote, check out our roundup, detailing everything announced at Google I/O 2022.

Taylor is the Associate Tech Editor at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.

Superbad 2: Judd Apatow Doesn’t Get Why the Stars Don’t Want to Make a Sequel

The first Superbad is a classic comedy film that’s still loved today. Yet, somehow, it still hasn’t gotten a sequel despite earning $170 million at the box office in 2007. And according to Judd Apatow, who produced the film, it's the stars who aren't on board.

According to an interview with Apatow on the “Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum” podcast, he doesn’t understand why the stars of the original aren’t clamoring to join him in making a sequel.

“I know that Jonah said, ‘Oh it’ll be funny to do it when we’re 70 or 80,’ but I really wanted them to do a ‘Superbad’ in college where Jonah flunks out of college and just shows up and visits Michael Cera at college.”

In January 2022, Superbad star Jonah Hill said he’d make an “old-folks-home-Superbad” when the cast is all 80, but Apatow thinks that a second one could be just as good as the first. In the interview, he says the cast expressed concern that they’d “screw up Superbad” by making a “crappy second one.” So far, it looks like Apatow is alone in wanting a sequel.

Even Hill’s fellow co-stars Michael Cera and Seth Rogen have sworn off committing to a sequel. Cera expressed his own reluctance and that the rest of the cast was “staunchly against” a sequel in Esquire’s Explain This series.

Rogen, who co-wrote and starred in Superbad, told LADBible in 2020 he’d “100% probably never touch” Superbad again. His reasoning? He doesn’t think it “requires improvement or anything to be built upon it.”

Apatow has been busy, though. His Netflix exclusive film The Bubble was released early last month. In our review, we said it “scores with an awesome cast but fizzles in meta-concept and design.”

Casey is a freelance writer for IGN. You can usually find him talking about JRPGs on Twitter at @caseydavidmt.

Superbad 2: Judd Apatow Doesn’t Get Why the Stars Don’t Want to Make a Sequel

The first Superbad is a classic comedy film that’s still loved today. Yet, somehow, it still hasn’t gotten a sequel despite earning $170 million at the box office in 2007. And according to director Judd Apatow, it's the stars who aren't on board.

According to an interview with Apatow on the “Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum” podcast, he doesn’t understand why the stars of the original aren’t clamoring to join him in making a sequel.

“I know that Jonah said, ‘Oh it’ll be funny to do it when we’re 70 or 80,’ but I really wanted them to do a ‘Superbad’ in college where Jonah flunks out of college and just shows up and visits Michael Cera at college.”

In January 2022, Superbad star Jonah Hill said he’d make an “old-folks-home-Superbad” when the cast is all 80, but Apatow thinks that a second one could be just as good as the first. In the interview, he says the cast expressed concern that they’d “screw up Superbad” by making a “crappy second one.” So far, it looks like Apatow is alone in wanting a sequel.

Even Hill’s fellow co-stars Michael Cera and Seth Rogen have sworn off committing to a sequel. Cera expressed his own reluctance and that the rest of the cast was “staunchly against” a sequel in Esquire’s Explain This series.

Rogen, who co-wrote and starred in Superbad, told LADBible in 2020 he’d “100% probably never touch” Superbad again. His reasoning? He doesn’t think it “requires improvement or anything to be built upon it.”

Apatow has been busy, though. His Netflix exclusive film The Bubble was released early last month. In our review, we said it “scores with an awesome cast but fizzles in meta-concept and design.”

Casey is a freelance writer for IGN. You can usually find him talking about JRPGs on Twitter at @caseydavidmt.

Disney Could Lose Copyright for the Original Mickey Mouse Under US Law Changes

Senator Josh Hawley has proposed a bill that, if successful, would see Disney immediately lose the copyright for the original Mickey Mouse.

As reported by Deadline, the bill would ultimately reduce copyright protections from 95 years to 56 if it passes, meaning Disney would lose its older copyrights.

While the bill itself generically refers to entertainment or theme park corporations with a market capitalization of more than $150 billion, Hawley mentions "woke corporations like Disney" before blatantly saying "it's time to take away Disney's special privileges".

He said in a press release: "The age of Republican handouts to Big Business is over. Thanks to special copyright protections from Congress, woke corporations like Disney have earned billions while increasingly pandering to woke activists. It’s time to take away Disney’s special privileges and open up a new era of creativity and innovation."

The bill is the latest in a string of Republican moves against Disney after the company spoke against the Parental Rights in Education Law, which bars discussion of gender identity from kindergarten until grade three.

Mickey Mouse isn't the only Disney character at risk of falling to copyright legislation as a legal battle between Marvel and heirs of comic book legend Steve Ditko began last September.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Disney Could Lose Copyright for the Original Mickey Mouse Under US Law Changes

Senator Josh Hawley has proposed a bill that, if successful, would see Disney immediately lose the copyright for the original Mickey Mouse.

As reported by Deadline, the bill would ultimately reduce copyright protections from 95 years to 56 if it passes, meaning Disney would lose its older copyrights.

While the bill itself generically refers to entertainment or theme park corporations with a market capitalization of more than $150 billion, Hawley mentions "woke corporations like Disney" before blatantly saying "it's time to take away Disney's special privileges".

He said in a press release: "The age of Republican handouts to Big Business is over. Thanks to special copyright protections from Congress, woke corporations like Disney have earned billions while increasingly pandering to woke activists. It’s time to take away Disney’s special privileges and open up a new era of creativity and innovation."

The bill is the latest in a string of Republican moves against Disney after the company spoke against the Parental Rights in Education Law, which bars discussion of gender identity from kindergarten until grade three.

Mickey Mouse isn't the only Disney character at risk of falling to copyright legislation as a legal battle between Marvel and heirs of comic book legend Steve Ditko began last September.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.