CLOSE Google is introducing two new phones, the Pixel and Pixel XL, to take on big players like Apple and Samsung; these are the top five features. 
 
 Google CEO Sundar Pichai is betting on Google Assistant. (Photo: John G. Mabanglo, EPA) 
 
 SAN FRANCISCO — The star of Google's splashy launch event in San Francisco was the one with the speaking part: The super-smart digital helper Assistant whose task is to maintain the Internet giant's tight grip on consumers and their wallets as their attention shifts to smartphones and Internet-connected devices. 
 
 Assistant will create a "conversation between our users and Google," CEO Sundar Pichai said in San Francisco on Tuesday. 
 
 The goal: "a personal Google for each and every user," Pichai said. 
 
 Assistant is central to a new and very aggressive push by Google to sell its own consumer electronic devices, rather than supplying the software to manufacturers. 
 
 On Tuesday, Google executives showed off a series of gadgets: 
 
 A new line of Pixel smartphones with a powerful camera and long-lasting battery — not to mention the dedicated headphone jack — to compete with Apple's iPhone. 
 
 A new Home Internet-connected speaker device that responds to voice commands like Amazon's Echo. 
 
 A virtual reality headset called Daydream View. 
 
 A Wi-Fi system. 
 
 A new version of Chromecast's media-streaming device. 
 
 Diving into hardware is a risky and costly move, yet Google needs its own devices to make sure its online services and digital ads stays front and center with consumers. What distinguishes Google's new wave of devices: years of investment in artificial intelligence that produced the Assistant. 
 
 At Tuesday's coming out party for Assistant, Google introduced two new devices that have the Google Assistant baked in: Home and the Pixel smartphones, both vessels to showcase what the Assistant can do and to "get Assistant in the hands of our users," Pichai said. 
 
 Google launched Assistant last month in Allo, a new messaging app. It's similar to other digital helpers such as Apple's Siri, Amazon's Alexa and Microsoft's Cortana. And Google would like it to be inside devices it makes and that others make. 
 
 "The Assistant was clearly at the center of the announcement today," said Gartner research analyst Brian Blau. "Google is building a brand around their ecosystem in a way they have not done before and they are using this Assistant as the glue that's going to tie together, not only the new devices and how you use them, but a lot of the services and app Google has made popular over the years." 
 
 Rick Osterloh, chief of the company's new hardware division, told reporters that Google will now focus on this intersection of hardware and software. 
 
 Google has struggled with hardware in the past. Its Google Glass wearable device fizzled and it recently abandoned a project to develop modular phones. Google's Android software powers most of the world's smartphones but sales of Nexus phones have lagged other devices. 
 
 Osterloh joined Google in April to create a cohesive hardware strategy and bring the company's hardware groups into one division. 
 
 "It lets us take full advantage of our capabilities like the Google Assistant and lets us harness years of expertise we have built up in machine learning and AI to deliver the simple, smart and fast experiences that users expect from us," he said. 
 
 At the heart of Pichai's vision for Google's future is the belief that we are increasingly moving toward a world that runs on artificial intelligence, meaning no matter what screen we are interacting with — a smartphone or a smart-home device — we will be helped by the invisible hands of smart machines that answer our questions and help us complete everyday tasks. 
 
 UBS analyst Eric Sheridan summed it up this way: "Hardware + Software + AI = Future Google." 
 
 It's a big leap forward from the days of typing a string of words into the Google search engine, allowing the Internet giant to show lucrative search ads. Now Google is competing with other tech giants to assist consumers in their everyday tasks to get a better shot at selling advertising or other services. 
 
 
 
 Assistant, if successful, "could cement Google in a generation of devices to come," said Search Engine Land founding editor Danny Sullivan. 
 
 On the other hand, many competing digital helpers don't live up to their hype, says Jan Dawson, chief analyst with Jackdaw Research. And therein lies a great risk for Google. 
 
 "It’s very important that the Google Assistant is successful — this is Google’s bread and butter," Dawson said. "A failure here would call into question Google’s entire value proposition." 
 
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 It's difficult to tell when you're in the midst of a landmark moment in history. 
 
 Few guessed that in 2008 when Google debuted the G1, the first phone to run Android, the mobile software would transform the wireless world. It didn't help that when Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin went up on stage, they were wearing roller blades. 
 
 Page and Brin are probably laughing their inline skates off these days. Nearly nine out of every 10 phones sold run on Android software. 
 
 On Tuesday, Google took its best shot at making history again. The company introduced the Pixel and Pixel XL, which represent the first time it will offer superphones in the same class -- complete with the full backing of Google, a lofty price tag and an exclusive partnership with Verizon Wireless -- as Apple's iPhone franchise. At long last, Google's phones give us a showdown between two of the world's most powerful tech titans. 
 
 2:03 Close Drag Autoplay: ON Autoplay: OFF 
 
 The devices, which will start at $649 for the Pixel and $769 for the Pixel XL (£599 and £719 in the UK), are the closest things we've ever seen to a true Google Phone. More than any other phone the company has put out in the past, the Pixels aim to capitalize on the search giant's brand power as one of the best-known corporate names in the world. This new line of phones is officially called "Pixel, a phone by Google," and each handset has the company's signature G emblazoned on the back. 
 
 "The company has the best vehicle available for continuing to deliver its software and services -- and now, products too," said Jefferson Wang, a senior partner at IBB Consulting. 
 
 History or hype? 
 
 Another key company executive already sparked the history talk, suggesting in a tweet last month that we'd look back at this event with the same reverence as the original launch of Android. 
 
 "We announced the 1st version of Android 8 years ago today," wrote Hiroshi Lockheimer, who heads up Android. "I have a feeling 8 years from now we'll be talking about Oct 4, 2016." 
 
 Google has traditionally launched phones through its Nexus program: the search giant handles the software and other manufacturers, including LG, Huawei and Samsung, build the hardware. (The Nexus brand doesn't seem to be dead yet. Rumors of future Nexus devices are starting to crop up.) 
 
 With Pixel, Google teamed up with a partner to manufacture the hardware. This time, it's HTC. The Taiwanese phone maker seems to be the go-to when a tech giant wants to put its stamp on phones. The company made the HTC First, Facebook's ill-fated attempt to turn its social network into a quasi-operating system for phones. 
 
 Or perhaps Google is just a fan of history. HTC made the G1, too. 
 
 It's still about Google Assistant 
 
 The history chatter may reference Google's focus on artificial intelligence. In fact, Google CEO Sundar Pichai kicked off today's event talking about that topic. 
 
 "We're moving from a mobile-first world to an AI-first world," he said. 
 
 Google Assistant, a digital assistant that uses artificial intelligence to help you search for info like news and driving directions or to turn on the lights in your house, is the marquee feature in both the Pixel phones and the Google Home smart home hub it announced in May. 
 
 "It's a great example of hardware and software come together beautifully," said Brian Rakowski, software manager for Pixel. 
 
 The company devoted most of its Google Home presentation to showing off Assistant's "knowledge graph" capability, supplying information from its database and snippets from other sources like Wikipedia. "Finally, you have an assistant who can bring the knowledge of Google just by asking for it," said Rishi Chandra, a vice president at Google. 
 
 Google isn't alone in its AI ambitions. Microsoft has long pushed its Cortana assistant, and Amazon has steadily gotten its Alexa helper into homes through its Echo speakers (the $50 second-gen Amazon Echo Dot just debuted). And, of course, there's Apple's Siri, which kicked off the voice assistant craze back in 2011. 
 
 Tripling down on the home 
 
 Beyond Google Home, the search giant also unveiled a new version of its Chromecast streaming stick and a smart Wi-Fi router. 
 
 Chromecast Ultra is an update to Google's streaming stick that now takes advantage of sharper 4K resolution. But the new Chromecast, which costs $69 or £69 -- double the price of the old one -- comes as Roku and Amazon have added new choices for streaming media. Roku's cheapest option, the Express stick, costs just $30. Amazon's $40 Fire TV Stick comes with a remote that responds to voice commands 
 
 Google 
 
 Google also showed off its latest attempt at a Wi-Fi router. It's called Google Wifi. The company entered the router fray last August with the OnHub, touted as a router for the smart-home age. The idea behind it was simple: make a router that's not an ugly box so you won't hide it in a corner and obstruct the Wi-Fi signal. 
 
 Google Wifi was developed by the same team behind OnHub and designed in-house without a third-party manufacturer. The company envisions you buying multiple Google Wifi devices to expand coverage in the home. One unit costs $129, and a three-pack costs $299. Preorders begin in November, with the product shipping the following month. It's only available in the US for now. 
 
 Bringing VR to the masses 
 
 Google also unveiled Daydream View, a virtual-reality headset that will run on the Daydream VR platform first unveiled at its May developer conference. It represents a step up from the cheap $15 Cardboard VR viewers the company introduced in 2014. 
 
 James Martin/CNET 
 
 The original intent of the cheap Cardboard viewer was to give smartphone users a way to play with VR. Today's announcement is an acknowledgement that Google needs a more polished experience, with more content. 
 
 "Google's strategy to design a VR experience optimized for existing content libraries like those available from Netflix, Hulu and HBO, while also partnering to create immersive VR experiences, gives consumers plenty of ways to immediately enjoy a range of VR experiences," IBB's Wang said. 
 
 The $79/£69 View, available in November, is meant to serve as a road map for other companies looking to build their own smartphone-powered VR headsets. Companies such as Samsung and Alcatel OneTouch have already built their own units, but those devices typically only work with the company's own phones. Daydream View takes an open approach, letting you use any Android phone that's compatible with the Daydream platform. Naturally, the first Daydream-ready phone is the Pixel. 
 
 Google is hoping history repeats itself and that it sets the pace in the new areas of VR and AI. We'll see. 
 
 Update, 12:41 p.m. PT: To include a comment from a consultant. 

 Today's Google event was dedicated to how its new hardware and software will blend together. Google started off with an official Pixel phone unveiling, after weeks of rumors and leaks. That kicked off a focus on software, especially the way Google's new Assistant software will power the Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones and Google Home. Google also showcased its Daydream View, a cozy-looking VR headset covered in fabric. The new 4K Chromecast Ultra made an appearance, as did Google's modular Wi-Fi router system, and Google Home, the AI-powered speaker aimed at Amazon's Echo. We've got the details below, along with full coverage of Google's hardware event right here. 
 
 Google Pixel and Pixel XL 
 
 After weeks of leaks, Google unveiled what we were all expecting: the Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones. Both have a similar design and are differentiated mainly by the size of their screens. Google's Pixel includes a 5-inch 1080p display, and the XL features a larger 5.5-inch Quad HD panel. Both devices are built by HTC and are powered by the latest Snapdragon 821 processor, 4GB of RAM, and 32GB or 128GB of storage. 
 
 Google has included fingerprint sensors on the rear, and both Pixel smartphones run a specialized version of Google's Android software, which includes support for the Daydream virtual reality headsets and Google's new Assistant software. Google's new Assistant is a key part of the Pixel and of Google's keynote in general, and the search giant took a lot of time demonstrating what the Assistant can do, from answering traditional search queries to reaching into apps to make restaurant reservations or play music. 
 
 Read next: the inside story of the Google phone! 
 
 Google also focused on photography with the Pixel, boasting that DXOMark scored the Pixel camera 89, the highest ever for a smartphone. Google is providing free unlimited storage for Pixel owners so you can store full-resolution pictures and videos on Google Photos. Both Pixel devices will ship with the latest Android Nougat release, and updates will be available immediately. Pricing starts at $649 for the smaller 5-inch Pixel, available for preorder today. Google is also giving out promo codes for Daydream Views with Pixel preorders. 
 
 Daydream View headset 
 
 Google unveiled its first headset for the Daydream VR platform today: Daydream View. Compatible with any Daydream-supported phone, the new lightweight headset has been designed to be "soft and cozy," thanks to the fact it's made from the type of fabric you'd find in clothing. Google has worked with clothing designers to perfect the design, but apart from the fabric it looks like a regular VR headset. Google has crafted an area on the headset to hide the remote control away, and it slots neatly into the front of the device. 
 
 Like the Pixel unveil, Google spent a lot of time focusing on the software aspects of the Daydream View. There's Google Street View, YouTube, and Google Photos apps that are controlled from the remote. Naturally, you can watch 360 VR videos with the YouTube app, and explore around streets with a click of a button. Daydream View and the controller will go on sale in November for $79. 
 
 Chromecast Ultra 
 
 Chromecast got an upgrade with Ultra, a version that supports HDR, Dolby Vision, and 4K content. The basics of the Ultra are largely the same as its predecessors — a disc you plug into your TV — but it now has an Ethernet port integrated into the power adapter. It’s also more expensive, at $69. You can preorder the Ultra in November, and it ships in December. Google Play movies will also start streaming 4K content in November. 
 
 Google Wifi 
 
 After last year’s foray into router partnerships with OnHub, Google is now making routers itself. The new system, called simply Google Wifi, is a multi-point network similar to Eero, letting you place modular router points throughout your house for maximum coverage. The system manages your connection as you move through the house, optimizing which router you're connected to. You can also actively manage the network through the app — including, in the demo, the ability to kick your kids of the internet by pressing "pause." A single router costs $129, while a three-pack costs $299. Preorders start in November and it ships in December. 
 
 Google Home 
 
 Google Home goes on sale next month for $129. Google announced its smart home assistant at I/O in May, but today Google Home finally got a price and a release date. Home will ship on November 4th and cost $129, with a three-pack for $299. That's a very deliberate shot at the Amazon Echo (currently going for $179), and given Google's new smart assistant features, it will be interesting to see how the two products stack up. Home is also designed to work with multiple units in a single house, although the team is still working on support for multiple Google accounts. It also comes with a free six-month trial of YouTube Red. 

 Today, Tuesday, October 4th is Google’s biggest hardware event, all the leaks will tell you, with everything from a pair of "by Google" smartphones to Google Home smart speakers, new wireless routers, and a 4K Chromecast. But the overriding thing that Google will try to sell us is its vision of integrating that multiplicity of physical gadgets and trinkets into its digital empire of software and services. Just like Apple. 
 
 Google’s competition with Apple has always been asymmetric because that other California company has been able to control and fine-tune both the hardware and the operating system of its world-conquering iPhones and iPads. The Android alternative, as good as Google might try to make it, just can’t match the iPhone’s level of polish, coherence, and refinement, because the devices running it are out of Google’s hands. Today, Google is going to grasp that thorny issue by investing itself fully into the business of being a phone maker as well as software provider. 
 
 The full cachet of the Google brand will be leveraged for a marketing campaign built around "made by Google" and "phone by Google" messages. It’s shaping up to be an abandonment of the Nexus program, which was practically a hobby inside Google HQ, in favor of what looks like a more serious and integrated approach to Google’s long-term mobile strategy. Judging by pre-event leaks, the first and most prominent benefit of Google’s hardware-plus-software approach will be its Daydream virtual reality platform — which is likely to be best experienced on the upcoming Google Pixel and Pixel XL phones. 
 
 Read more: Google is taking on the iPhone directly 
 
 Synergy is a tainted term in the tech world, having been sullied by a steady succession of invocations tied to ill-fated mergers. AOL Time Warner, Palm and HP, eBay and its "power of three" strategy with PayPal and Skype — none of those materialized into actual synergy, and so we’re wont to just shrug off the word as mere puffery. But synergy is the thing that all modern tech successes are built on. Apple’s App Store relies on a consistent, unfragmented, and predictably powerful iPhone platform on which developers and game makers can build their wares. That same hardware relies on said game makers to capitalize on its power and make the annual spec upgrades meaningful and worthwhile. 
 
 Google is rectifying the asymmetric nature of its struggle vs. Apple 
 
 What Google is aiming to do today is to become the world’s second Apple. By controlling the hardware on which Android runs, Google can emulate Apple’s leading example by synchronizing its software and hardware improvements — so that they complement and support one another — and it can also offer up a reliable platform for developers to build on. Consider how nascent Google Daydream is, and consider also the consequently high level of risk for any serious developer to invest time and effort into developing for it. An iPhone-like tier of Google-certified premium Android smartphones — with VR made integral to the OS — provides at least some reassurance and risk mitigation for prospective Android VR devs. That anti-fragmentation concern is evident in Google’s choice of closely matched, almost identical specs between the 5-inch Pixel and 5.5-inch Pixel XL. 
 
 To compete in the mobile world without control of the hardware your software runs on is tantamount to playing a lottery. One day Samsung will thrill you with its excellent hardware design and class-leading cameras; the next day it will throw you into depression with its exploding batteries. Google tried doing things that way: most of Android’s history up to this point has been a narrative of negotiated mutually beneficial hardware and software development between Google and its Android partners. But the synergy that Google’s able to obtain with self-interested hardware manufacturers is a suboptimal compromise. The interests of the Mountain View company and its partners are as likely to clash as they are to align, leading to such frictions as Google’s spat with Samsung over the latter’s excessive customizations of Android. This summer it was revealed that Google has begun a naughty list of partner companies with the intent of shaming them into doing what Google thinks is right (like more timely security patches and software updates). 
 
 Someone needs to be in charge of premium Android phones 
 
 Google’s broad Android strategy won’t change, and it will still rely on others to build on top of its software and expand its already extraordinary reach to the furthest corners of the world. But Google will now also be responsible for its own phone lineup, aiming to secure the premium Android tier and attract what it’s missing: more spendthrift mobile users that would both spur development of Android apps and raise the value of Google’s core advertising business. In this two-pronged approach, Google is closely mirroring what Microsoft is doing with Windows and its Surface device line. 
 
 All the major software and services firms, it seems, have grown conscious of the synergistic advantages of having control over the devices running their wares. Amazon is now an important player in home automation — every smart thermostat or energy metering provider in the UK was on hand for the European launch of the Echo last month — precisely because it was able to tie its smart technology down with physical products. Google is pursuing exactly the same anchoring effects by developing its own phones and other hardware, including the Echo-rivaling Google Home speaker. Even while Google’s ecosystem strength might reside in the proverbial cloud, it’s these physical devices that give expression to it and that people interact with directly. 
 
 No more Nexus, it's all "made by Google" from here on out 
 
 Hardware without software is meaningless, we all know that. But the new recognition that seems to be emerging in Mountain View and elsewhere is that software without control of the hardware can be just as fruitless an endeavor. After witnessing Android’s uneven progress through the years, and trying to nudge it straight through the Nexus program and a variety of behind-the-scenes maneuvers, Google looks set to today return to the classic approach of "if you want something done right, do it yourself." 
 
 Read next: the inside story of the Google phone! 
 
 Google Daydream VR demo in May 

 Google wants you to start looking at it as a hardware company. Today, it announced new Pixel phones, a smart voice assistant-powered speaker called Google Home, a VR platform and more. Here are the coolest things the company announced today. 
 
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 The Nexus Is Dead, Long Live the Pixel Phones 
 
 Google unveiled two brand new phones, the Pixel and Pixel XL. The Pixel line of phones look like they’ll be replacing the Nexus phones as the “pure Android” experience from here on out. Unlike previous Nexus phones, which were made in partnership with third-party hardware manufacturers, these phones are entirely Google-branded (even though HTC still seems to be involved with the production, according to FCC filings). 
 
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 The Pixel will be the first phone to include the Google Assistant (which we’ll discuss in a bit). The company spent a great deal of time touting how it made the “hardware and software together” which implies that it won’t be a simple software rollout to add Google Assistant to older phones. 
 
 The Pixel phones will also include unlimited photo and video backup through Google Photos. It even saves them at full resolution. That’s a pretty big deal when your phone is recording at 4K. Normally, Google limits you to 16 megapixels and 1080p video, otherwise your uploads count against your Google Drive quota. They’re also the first phones to support Daydream VR (again, we’ll come back to that). You can read a detailed breakdown of the phones’ specs over at Gizmodo. 
 
 The new Pixel phones will start at $650 (or financed for $27/month), which is a huge departure from past Nexus phones. Previously, Nexus phones were solid, but at least one of the models was usually much cheaper than Apple or Samsung’s flagships. This is a clear push into a more premium market. We’ll see if Google can compete at this level. 
 
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 Google Assistant Will Follow You Everywhere, Replaces Most of Google Now 
 
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 Google started its event by talking about Assistant, and it was the focal point of nearly every product. A lot of Assistant’s functionality will look familiar if you’re used to Google Now and Google Now On Tap. You can search for events nearby, make reservations, send text messages, and play music. 
 
 None of this is terribly new, but Assistant makes it a more unified, conversational experience. For example, you can search for a restaurant, then follow up that command by asking “How far away is it?” and Assistant will understand that “it” refers to the restaurant. A lot of this has been promised for a while, but it’s finally arriving. You can even try it out in Allo right now. 
 
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 On the phone, Assistant takes over most of the Google features you’re used to. You can hold down the home button to pull up Assistant for voice commands (previously, this would trigger Google Now On Tap), or swipe up from the home screen to get contextual suggestions based on what’s on your phone’s screen (this used to open the Google Now feed). 
 
 This is also the first time that Google’s voice assistant actually seems fun. This might seem silly, but Siri, Cortana, and Alexa all tell jokes, have funny easter eggs, and seem a bit more human than Google. Even though Google’s arguably been doing smart voice commands longer than all of them, the company’s struggled to make its assistant relatable. This might actually make regular folks remember Google Assistant a bit more, which goes a long way towards getting in the habit of using it. 
 
 Google Home Launches November 4th, Will Cost $129 
 
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 We first heard about Google Home at Google I/O earlier this year. Now, we have a price. It will cost $129, launch November 4th, and you can pre-order it now. This is Google’s answer to the Amazon’s Echo, the little speaker that sits in your living room, kitchen, or bedroom and passively listens for voice commands. However, Google wants to take its speaker to the next level with Google Assistant. 
 
 Just say “Good morning” to Google Home and it will rattle off a ton of information to get you ready for the day, including the weather, what’s on your agenda, and more. You can ask more targeted questions like when your next appointment is or what the weather’s like. 
 
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 Google Home can also control devices in your home. For example, you can ask it to play a video from YouTube or Netflix on your Chromecast. Google will automatically find the video you ask for, connect to your Google Cast-enabled device, and start playing the video. Google will also work with smart home providers like Philips Hue, Samsung SmartThings, and Nest (which Google’s parent company Alphabet also owns) to control more devices in the future. 
 
 It will also learn about you over time. For example, the first time you ask for it to play music, you might have to specify that you want it to play over Spotify. However, when you ask again in the future, it will remember you prefer Spotify, so you can just ask “Play that song” and it will automatically default to your favorite app. 
 
 Assistant also brings smart interpretations to your voice commands. If you ask “Play that Shakira song from Zootopia,” as Google demoed, it will first tell you that the song was called Try Everything, then start playing the song. 
 
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 Perhaps the coolest feature of Google Home is that it will be able to intelligently determine which device you’re talking to, if you use multiple units throughout your house. Amazon Echo users are all too familiar with this problem. If you have two devices within earshot and you shout “Alexa!” you can get multiple devices trying to reply to you at once. Google Home devices will communicate with each other (as well as your phone) to determine which speaker you’re closest to and only reply from that one. 
 
 The Chromecast Ultra Brings Simple, Cheap Streaming to Your 4K TV 
 
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 The Chromecast might be one of Google’s more clever ideas in recent years. Now, if you have a 4K TV, the Chromecast has your back. For $69, you can get the new Chromecast Ultra, which supports 4K video. Google says it made the device faster, but let’s be real. The only reason you’re getting this device is if you need 4K. Otherwise, just get the regular Chromecast for half the price. 
 
 Daydream Is Google’s VR Platform, Coming First to the Pixel Phones 
 
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 I hope you aren’t tired of Pixel-exclusive features! Daydream is Google’s next foray into virtual reality. The company announced the Daydream View VR headset. It’s very similar to Samsung’s Gear VR, just with a bit more polish. The headset comes in a selection of colored fabrics (red, gray, and white), comes with a simple controller, and retails for $79. Simply drop your phone into the headset to get an Oculus-like VR experience. 
 
 Google demoed several new experiences to give you an idea of what Daydream can do. The company showed a Harry Potter game, where players can pretend to be wizards, which might be the best use of VR yet. Google also announced VR-capable apps for YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, and more so you can watch 360 videos, or just watch movies in a virtual home theater. 
 
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 Google WiFi Makes It Easy to Extend Your Network, Has Parental Controls, More 
 
 Google’s continuing its effort to get into the home networking game with the Google WiFi router. For $129, the device bears a striking similarity to the OnHub router the company released last year. It will let you control it remotely, selectively block certain devices from the network (to give your kids an internet time-out, for example), and reset your router. 
 
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 The most head-turning feature, however, is that Google wants to make it dead simple to expand your network for large houses. Just add another Google WiFi device to your home and it will extend your network. Of course, if you’re savvy you can accomplish the same thing with any old router, but if you’d rather spend the money to let Google do it for you, the company offers a three-pack of its routers (yes, really) for $300. 

 Google Home, the company’s answer to Amazon’s Echo, made its official debut at the Google I/O developer conference earlier this year. Since then, we’ve heard very little about Google’s voice -activated personal assistant. Today, at Google’s annual hardware event, the company finally provided us with more details. 
 
 Google Home will cost $129 (with a free six-month trial of YouTube red) and go on sale on Google’s online store today. It will ship on November 4. 
 
 Google’s Mario Queiroz today argued that our homes are different from other environments. So like the Echo, Google Home combines a wireless speaker with a set of microphones that listen for your voice commands. There is a mute button on the Home and four LEDs on top of the device so you know when it’s listening to you; otherwise, you won’t find any other physical buttons on it. 
 
 Because Google wants Home to be something you could easily put into your living room, you can choose from bases in different colors that will help you match the Home to the rest of your interior design (though the overall design best lends itself to the living room of a mid-century Eichler in Palo Alto). Google argues that it took its design cues from wine bottles and candles and it will offer a total of seven different bases for the Home. 
 
 What Google Home is really about, though, is the Google Assistant — the next-gen conversational version of what we currently know as Google Now. If the Google Assistant on Google Home is anything like the first text-centric version of the service we’ve seen in Google Allo, then it’ll offer users a mix of delight (when it gets things right) and utter frustration (when it doesn’t). As Google’s new Allo chat app has shown us, the Google Assistant often can’t answer your questions. On the screen, that means Google can show you links, but on Home, it will read out snippets from Google Search. 
 
 Google today stressed that the company wants to be able to personalize its services to the point where we all get “our own Google.” Home with the Google Assistant is clearly geared toward that. 
 
 A new Assistant feature, “My Day,” also gives you a morning update with current weather, commute times and a summary of your schedule (assuming you opt in). 
 
 It’s no secret that Google is relatively late to the game here. With its line of Echo devices, Amazon has already cornered much of the early adopter market for this kind of device. This early lead means that Amazon’s Echo line also works with the vast majority of smart-home gadgets, be those Nest thermostats or Philips Hue lights (Amazon is even selling the Echo in bundles with those third-party devices). 
 
 Unsurprisingly, Google has partnered with Nest, Phillips, Samsung and IFTTT to support their smart home devices. That’s not a lot of partners, but IFTTT itself does support quite a few devices already and Google can piggyback on that. 
 
 
 
 
 
 As for music, Google Home will feature built-in support for Google Play Music, Spotify, Pandora and others. You can set up a default music service, too, so you don’t always have to tell Google that you want to play a song “on Spotify.” Google also noted that Home’s music search is powered by Google, so it can understand relatively complex queries. Music on Google Home will also support podcast listening and because it’s a Cast device, you can stream music to it from any other Cast-enabled device. 
 
 Home integrates directly with Google’s Chromecasts and Cast-enabled TVs. For now, that mostly means watching YouTube videos, but Google says it will soon support Netflix, too. 
 
 Over the last few years, Google mostly worked on creating protocols for smart-home devices, and, with the acquisition of Nest, it signalled its own intentions to become a major player in the market. Under Google, though, Nest stagnated and Google, despite hits like the Chromecast and launching what could’ve been the core of an Echo competitor with its OnHub routers, seemed to lack focus in its offerings. 
 
 With Home, that tide may finally be turning. Google Home finally offers the central living room-based hub for its products and like the Echo, it’s relatively future-proof because its intelligence is in the cloud. With its Cast protocol, Google now also has a way to tie the Home to other devices, including its highly successful Chromecast dongles. 
 
 That means its hardware — and especially its microphones — has to work really well, though, and we’ll have to spend some hands-on time with the Home before we can draw any conclusions about it. Google argues that its microphones are “best in class” and that the speakers will deliver a full range with rich bass sounds. 

 Now playing: Watch this: Google debuts Pixel phone with built-in Assistant 
 
 Google was widely expected to introduce a number of new hardware products and its launch event in San Francisco and it did just that. We got the Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones, a 4K Chromecast Ultra video streamer, a new Google WiFi router, the Daydream View (the company's new VR headset) along with pricing and availability for Google Home, the Amazon Echo competitor the company announced earlier this year. 
 
 Sure, that's a lot to talk about at one event, but some people were hoping we'd see a rumored new tablet and laptop powered by a new operating system called Andromeda, which is said to merge Android and Chrome OS. Alas, neither Andromeda, that tablet nor any laptop materialized. 
 
 Rumor had it that Andromeda would get its debut on a Huawei tablet with Nexus branding, confusing given previous rumors Google would do away with the Nexus name. 
 
 Given that Android Police reported that an "ultra-thin" convertible laptop called "Pixel 3" would supposedly make its debut near the end of 2017, we thought thought the odds were slim that Google would announce a new laptop, but perhaps it might tease the new operating system. 
 
 It didn't. So we'll most likely have to wait until next year for Andromeda along with Android Wear 2.0, the company's next big next big wearable update that was initially expected this fall but has been pushed till 2017.
– Google made a major move into the hardware business with its "Made by Google" event Tuesday, with many experts noting it appears ready to go head-to-head with a particular tech giant. Here's what you need to know: Lifehacker has a lengthy explainer of "everything ... that actually mattered" at "Made by Google." That list includes Google's new Pixel phones, Google Assistant, Google Home, and Chromecast Ultra. On the other hand, CNET discusses everything "we didn't get" at "Made by Google," including a tablet or laptop and Andromeda—an operating system rumored to combine Chrome and Android. As for the aforementioned Pixel phones, CNET reports they're Google's "best shot at making history again" by taking on the iPhone directly in a "showdown between two of the world's most powerful tech titans." TechCrunch focuses on Google Home, the company's version of Amazon's Echo that goes on sale Tuesday. The wireless speaker picks up voice commands to give you the weather, play music, queue up YouTube videos, and more. The Verge gives a quick review of some of the other hardware announced by Google, including the Daydream View virtual reality headset and Google WiFi, Google-made routers that can give maximum WiFi coverage around the house and even let parents kick their kids off the internet when it's time for bed. USA Today reports that Google Assistant—which is integrated into both Google Home and the Pixel phones—was the "star" of the event. Google CEO Sundar Pichai says he wants Assistant to be a "personal Google for each and every user." Finally, the Verge concludes that the major takeaway of "Made by Google" was one of imitation: "The overriding thing that Google will try to sell us is its vision of integrating that multiplicity of physical gadgets and trinkets into its digital empire of software and services. Just like Apple."