Pixel 5, Chromecast with Google TV, Nest Audio

Pixel 5, Chromecast with Google TV, Nest Audio: All of today's Google announcements

Last week Amazon dropped its annual armada of new products on us -- now it's Google's turn. The company's Launch Night In stream Wednesday follows its unveiling of the Pixel 4A budget phone in August. That event confirmed the existence of its next flagship phone, the Pixel 5, and the Pixel 4A 5G. They were launched today, along with a new Chromecast and a new Nest-branded smart speaker, the Nest Audio. There were few surprises, however, other than the Hold for Me phone feature, which puts those awful you're-on-hold-forever calls in Google Assistant's hands.

The Pixel 5 announcement, as with Google's previous flagship phones, has been leakier than ancient plumbing (or perhaps, as CNET's Lynn La suspects, the "leaks" are part of Google's marketing strategy).
Google's latest flagship adds 5G support to Google's rota, and it went live on Google's store before the announcement. It starts at $699 (£599, AU$999). The camera adds Portrait LIght and Night Sight in portrait to the camera. And with the new phone, Google's added a big bundle of services called Google One, a la Apple One.

Chromecast with Google TV is the streaming device's biggest upgrade yet: Hands-on

Google's original Chromecast helped popularize streaming to TVs when it first came out in 2013. The $35 device allowed you to "cast" video from apps on your phone, like YouTube, Hulu and Netflix, to watch on a big TV. That's a common feature in TVs now, but subsequent iterations of the dongle have gained new capabilities like 4K streaming. On Wednesday Google gave the Chromecast its biggest upgrade yet. It's called Chromecast with Google TV, and I've had a few hours to play with it.

Available now for $50 (£60, AU$99), the new Chromecast is the first to include a physical remote, complete with Google Assistant for voice control. There's also an actual on-screen menu system, powered by Google TV, the company's new name for its Android TV operating system. Google TV is similar to its predecessor, with access to thousands of apps including Netflix, Disney Plus, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max and Spotify (but not Apple TV Plus).

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