Google’s upcoming Pixel Pill is ready to reach packing the most recent connectivity tech, together with ultra-wideband assist (UWB), primarily based on a regulatory itemizing noticed on-line.
An FCC (US Federal Communications Fee) itemizing for a ‘Google-made hand-held gadget’ was noticed by 9to5Google, which speculates that UWB assist may very well be used to allow options like digital handoff for audio; that’s, tapping your telephone to switch the audio stream by way of a supported app or enabling it to faucet into Google’s reported Discover My community rival.
For clarification, the itemizing doesn’t say that the gadget in query is a Pixel Pill – fairly it identifies a ‘Google-made hand-held gadget that doesn’t assist mobile capabilities’. That’s both a touch that Google’s planning on constructing the following iPod, or it is the Pixel Pill the corporate already introduced a 12 months in the past which needs to be.
Constructing a rival ecosystem
Extra than simply being thought of merely a Nest Hub substitute, Google may very well be contemplating the pill type issue as the middle of your digital life. In different phrases, the Nest Hub options are merely additions to additional this objective, fairly than its complete raison d’etre.
With its Android 12L and Android 13 updates, Google started investing closely in Android gadget interconnectivity. Partly as a result of this, we received a small trickle of Android tablets that highlighted this Apple handoff-style interconnectivity (enabled by UWB), as a part of their attraction – the upcoming OnePlus Pad stands out for instance of an Android producer leaping into the pill marketplace for that cause.
The important thing query stays whether or not Google can go additional than Apple, fairly than merely copying this key function. The corporate’s most bold cross-device options trace at a major deviation, with Chromebooks set to quickly achieve the power to stream apps from Android telephones (albeit a 12 months later than Google’s 2022 announcement implied). That’s additionally a function the as-yet-unreleased OnePlus Pad boasts, and one which Google may spotlight with its Pixel Pill.
Mix that with a Nest Hub-style dock, a big display screen that allows you to find all of your units, and highly effective audio system – so your music can shine, and also you get a really feel for the potential a Pixel Pill may have.
We’ll study extra about Google’s cross-device plans at Google I/O in Could 2023, however we’re already excited for the potential, as extra info trickles out.