GOOGLE'S SINGLE-MINDED QUEST
GOOGLE'S SINGLE-MINDED QUEST right now is to make Google Assistant absolutely unavoidable. From your phone to your living room to your TV to your laptop to your car, the company wants to make sure its virtual helper stays readily available no matter where you are. That, more than a desire for great sound quality or terrific connectivity, explains the new Pixel Buds headphones.
At Google's second annual fall hardware gala today, the company announced its first-ever set of headphones. They're wireless earbuds, connected by a rope-like cable that goes behind your head or around your neck. They'll cost $159 when they go on sale in November.
Using a touch-sensitive control on the right bud, you can tap to play or pause your music, swipe forward and back to change volume, or long-press to talk to Google Assistant. Their battery lasts five hours, and the charging case holds four charges. And yet even with all those electronics, the Pixel Buds sit remarkably light in my ears. They stick out a bit, but no more than your average wireless earbud.
The Pixel Buds are steeped in Google's whole product ethos: They come in the same colors as Google's phones, stow and charge in a fabric case that looks a lot like the Daydream View VR headset, and exist mostly to help you get to Google Assistant faster. Basically anything you'd do with a Google Home, you can do with the Pixel Buds. Press on the right bud and start talking (holding while you speak) and the Pixel Buds' audio processor starts recording your words immediately. There's virtually no delay before you can start talking, which makes talking into the Pixel Buds feel a lot more natural. Once you're done, the Pixel Buds send your words to your phone, where the Assistant processes them and spits back a response.
Google recently announced a program for optimizing headphones for Google Assistant, initially partnering with Bose on the new QC35 II. The Pixel Buds seem to work mostly the same way: They can read your notifications aloud, check and send messages, and the like. But since these are Google-made headphones, they're more integrated with Android than anything else on the market. If you buy Pixel Buds and have a recent Android device (running Android N or later), your phone will prompt you to connect your earbuds as soon as you take them out of the case. No hassling in Bluetooth settings—just one tap and you're off. If you get a Pixel, the integration goes even further. You can say "help me speak French," and start speaking and listening through Google Translate.
Sound familiar? It should. I've probably gone too far here without mentioning AirPods. Apple's dangly wireless earbuds were a surprise hit of 2016, and clearly the competition took notice. Google's wireless headphones are at once a validation of the idea—headphones you can wear all day, connect easily, and offer constant access to virtual assistants—and a rejection of Apple's approach. The Pixel Buds include a small loop of cable that tucks into the folds of your ear to keep the buds secure, as opposed to the one-size-hopefully-fits-all AirPods. Adam Champy, a product manager on the project, says that Google connected its buds with a cable because users don't want to deal with lots of small, easily misplaced pieces. Champy wore his Pixel Buds around his neck during a briefing with reporters, and pointed out how much more accessible they were than if they'd been in a case in his pocket every time they weren't in his ears.
In a super-short demo, I was impressed by the sound of the Pixel Buds. They were rich and loud, despite only being semi-occluded. Google tried to build headphones people could wear all day, which meant avoiding heavily isolated experiences. But they're only secondarily about sound quality. Ultimately, these are portals to your Assistant, another way to stay connected and get stuff done without needing to look at your phone.
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