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Google Pixel 4 – Astrophotography

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We recently attended a one off urban astrophotography event hosted by Google. All to highlight Google Pixel 4 Astrophotography! We headed up to The Shard and headed out to “The View” and took some incredible shots. The iconic London building even shut off all of the lights for us! They turned off the lights for one hour to allow us to all get closer to the stars and capture the constellations.

Google partnered with the Royal Observatory Greenwich (ROG) for the event, which was very impressive! Astronomer Tom Kerss stopped by to talk about the cosmos and the history of astrophotography. With Google Pixel 4’s Night Sight, a brand new feature which allows us to see into space and capture the Milky Way. Consequently bringing astrophotography to everyone!

In London

New research shows that over a quarter of Londoners (26.7%) said they lived in a city where they can’t see the stars but wish they could! The percentage was higher than any other city in the UK!

Google worked alongside a fantastic team of social experts to look at 3o,000 UK instagram posts. Of which were related to things stars. For example the #NightSky hashtag. Therefore they were able to find out which of the most popular images were from what parts of the capital. As a result Google were able to identify which where the top 10 London locations for Night Sky photography!

Top 10 most popular Night Sky locations in London: 

  1. Tower Bridge
  2. The Shard
  3. The London Eye
  4. The Royal Observatory Greenwich
  5. South Bank
  6. St Paul’s Cathedral
  7. London Bridge
  8. Sky Garden
  9. The 02 Greenwich
  10. Millennium Bridge

So where have you been and are you going to take a look at the night sky tonight?

“Our research has shown that over 10% of Londoners can’t remember the last time they looked at the night sky. We want to inspire people to spend more time looking up at the stars. With enhanced Night Sight on the new Pixel 4, anyone can take incredible pictures of the galaxy – and where better to demonstrate this than in the UK’s tallest building, The Shard.” – Nick Clark, Product Manager for Google Pixel 4

“With so many people living in urban areas it may seem like our connection to the night sky is lost, but even in the glow of London lights the brightest stars, planets and the Moon can still be seen with the naked eye. These days we take photos of everything and it’s incredible that we can now capture the stars using just the smartphone technology in our pockets.”  – Tom Kerss, Astronomer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich

Google Pixel 4 Astrophotography – Photos

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Pixel 4

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The Google Pixel 4 has a camera that captures details that many others can’t, you can even use your phone without touching it, has a brand new Google Assistant and has a fast, responsive display! So, you could argue that the Pixel 4 has packed a ton of new tech into it!

Get the perfect photo with Pixel 4

It has the largest upgrade to a Pixel phone to date, there are now a total of 2 cameras on the back of the phone, including a telephoto lens. The software upgrade? A brand new Super Res Zoom feature, giving you exceptional image quality from a distance!

Super Res Zoom (1x)
Super Res Zoom (2x)
Super Res Zoom (3.1x)
Super Res Zoom (5.7x)
Super Res Zoom (8x)

Night Sight has been upgraded and can be used for shots of the night sky, the stars and even the Milky way! Pixel 3/3a users will also get a version of this upgrade with a camera app update.

All Pixel’s have HDR+ capabilities but with the Pixel 4 you can fine the the brightness and amount of details in the shadows. Pixel 4 also has a Live HDR+ in the viewfinder so you know exactly what the photo will look like, even when you’re using the new controls.

A new Google Assistant

The Pixel 4 has a deeper integration of  Google Assistant. Speech processing has improved and more requests can happen right on the phone without having to go to the cloud first.

The assistant also doesn’t take up as much space on the screen anymore, letting you better multi task across other apps. Google Assistant will quickly open apps, search your phone, share what’s on screen and more. The context of the queries will also do a better job answering.

For example, you can ask the Assistant to “show my photos from New York” and then say “the ones in Central Park.” Then, you can share a picture by saying “send it to Mum.”

A phone that senses what you want it to do

Pixel 4 has a Motion Sense feature that uses miniature radar sensors to detect when you’re about to reach for your phone and it will initiate face unlock or turn off your screen when you aren’t around. Also, new quick gestures let you skip songs when you don’t want to pick up the phone. Simply wave your hand to snooze alarms, dismiss timers or silence the ringer.

New built-in apps

The new Recorder app will record meetings, lectures and anything you want to listen to later, it will even simulatneously transcribe speech. It can also identify sounds such as music and applause. Plus search from within recordings to find a specific word or sound! However, English translation is up first with more languages coming soon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A new personal safety app will automatically call emergency services if you have been in a car accident. The Car Crash detection however,will be available in English in the US.

Built for performance and security

Pixel 4 comes with 6GB’s of RAM, a 90hz display and the Pixel Neural core. Pixel Neural Core is the engine for all the on device processing that goes on on the phone. Therefore more tasks are done directly on the phone increasing performance and privacy.

Also, the Titan M chip from Google provides protection for your most sensitive data and ensure the integrity of the operating system. While all this is combined with the latest version of Android 10, monthly security updates for 3 years, plus access to Google’s advanced security services, the Pixel 4 is designed to keep data secure.

Pricing and availability

For customers in the US the Pixel 4 is available through all the major U.S. carriers for the first time, including AT&T, C Spire, Cellcom, Google Fi, Spectrum Mobile (Charter), Sprint, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular, Verizon, Visible and Xfinity Mobile (Comcast).

You can pre-order a Pixel 4 for $799 and Pixel 4 XL for $899, and phones will ship on October 24, globally. Pixel 4 comes in three colors, including Clearly White, Just Black, and a limited edition, Oh So Orange.

So, what are you waiting for? Simply click here to order!

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Soli: Pixel 4’s Weird (but wonderful) Feature!

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Today Google announced something really ******* COOL! They showed off 2 brand new features that’s planned for their upcoming Pixel 4 device. It will include a ‘Soli’ sensor. Which is a mini motion sensor radar. Soli has been worked on for 5 years and will sit at the top of the screen next to the earpiece. Google outlined in a blog post that Soli will combine unique software algorithms and hardware to recognise gestures. It will also detect when a user is nearby.

Jedi Powers

So basically you DON’T NEED TO HOLD THE PHONE to control it!

With Pixel 4 you’ll be able to skip songs, snooze alarms and silence phone calls with the wave of your hand.

DID YOU HEAR THAT WE CAN CONTROL THE PHONE WITHOUT TOUCHING IT!

 

 

Google Pixel 4 Soli

 

Along with Soli and Motion Sense, Pixel 4 brings face unlock. However, in Google’s version of Face Unlock, you won’t need to lift the device in front of your face or even swipe to get to the home screen. Also it will work in any orientation! (Even upside down!)

Furthermore, Soli can proactively turn on the face unlock sensors when you reach for the phone and it will unlock and open when it recognizes you.

Privacy is also a huge factor and everything is processed on the device. It doesn’t save images (of your face) nor does it share them with Google. All the data is stored in Pixel’s Titan M security chip. Soli sensor data is also processed on the device and not shared with Google either.

So, I don’t know about you but I’m off to practice my Jedi Powers

(MobileSyrup)

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Google Pixel 3 XL revealed?

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Google Pixel 3 XL has seemingly been revealed! As it was left in the back of a Lyft!

Metro are reporting that the driver of the Lyft is a reader of Android Police. A technology website. He is a user of the Pixel 2 XL and immediately noticed that it was different than it!

The thing that was most noticeable to him was the notch. It is completely different! As he had seen it on a number of previous Pixel 3 XL leaks prior. Plus the conspicuous Google Logo on the back of the device would lead him to believe it was a Google Pixel 3 XL.

Google Pixel 3 XL

The driver chose not to have a look within the phone. Yet decided to take pictures of the unknown device instead. Consequently sending them to Android Police. Metro are too reporting that the device was returned to it’s rightful owner.

Google Pixel 3 XL

Maybe we will know more come October 4th at Google’s Pixel event.

However, Metro are reporting that the device will have a 2,960 x 1,440 pixel resolution and run Android 9.

(Metro)

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iPhone X vs Google Pixel 2 XL Camera POst Image

iPhone X vs Google Pixel 2 XL Camera

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iPhone X vs Google Pixel2 XL Camera!

#iPhoneX or #GooglePixel2 XL- which camera is better? Only one way to find out!See more here http://www.howtokillanhour.com/gadgets-tech/iphone-x-vs-google-pixel-2-xl-camera

Posted by How To Kill an Hour on Thursday, 16 November 2017

 

iPhone X vs Google Pixel 2 XL Camera

It’s fair to say that the iPhone X vs Google Pixel 2 XL camera conversation is one that is due to dominate in the last quarter of 2017.  There are many differences between the iPhone X vs Google Pixel 2 XL In this post we will just be focusing on the performance of heir cameras. Please note that we have not ‘touched’ up or edited any of the images / video’s.

Regular photos

‘Point and Click’ has to be the most used feature of any camera phone or even camera across the world right now. So it made sense to do just that queue autumnal leaves!

Autumnal leaves shot iPhone X vs Google Pixel 2 XL Camera

Autumnal leaves shot iPhone X vs Google Pixel 2 XL Camera

As you can see the Pixel seems to offer richer colours. Different, yes but is there a clear winner at this point? Of course not! On to the next test.

Skies!

We all love a a good ol sunset / sunrise don’t we. And here it seems that the pixel takes the upper hand.  Yes there is a little burn out from the sun. But you get a much better range of colours from the Pixel.

London Skyline shot iPhone X vs Google Pixel 2 XL Camera

London Skyline shot iPhone X vs Google Pixel 2 XL Camera

Portrait Mode (Rear Camera)

Portrait mode on the iPhone X uses 2 camera’s and you can preview your foreground and background blurs before you shot. The Pixel 2’s single camera takes a pic.  The blur is ‘processed’ in afterwards.

Dead wood shot iPhone X vs Google Pixel 2 XL Camera 1

Dead wood shot iPhone X vs Google Pixel 2 XL Camera

Dead wood shot iPhone X

Dead wood shot iPhone X

At this point personally the richer colours of the Pixel XL 2 were winning me over. Plus there was a slight mis hap during a well earned mid competition coffee break.

Coffee cup portrait on pixel XL 2

Coffee cup portrait on pixel XL 2

Coffee cup portrait on pixel iPhone X

Coffee cup portrait on pixel iPhone X

Portrait mode (front facing camera)

It’s as if the iPhone X heard the Google Pixel XL taunting it’s rear end (camera). Because when we did portrait with the front facing cameras, this happened:

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The iPhone X seems to find and soften the face slightly which looks good.  The slight saturation seems to add a film like feel to the selfies above.

Low Light

We didn’t test low light situations. We can confirm in low light that there is nothing quite like the Google Pixel Xl 2.  The below images were taken by Gadget show presenter Ortis Deley in a dim environment recently. We know it was dim because we were there too.

In Conclusion

It is a fact that the Google Pixel XL 2 currently has the highest rated mobile camera in the world right now.  It is a consistent performer which gives you a richer set of colours in your pics, out of the box.  If you are a selfie king or queen, the iPhone X’s smooth front facing portrait mode may be for you!

Enough siting on the fence though! For us here at how to kill an hour when it comes to cameras we think the Google Pixel 2 XL wins.

Get the Google Pixel 2 XL here.

To listen to the guys talking about this please click here!