First look at Google's new $179 wireless Pixel Buds
Bluetooth Headsets
Google announced a lot of products, here in New York City at its Made By Google event.
There's a Pixel 4. There are new Nest products.
Nest WiFi.
There's a Pixelbook Go ChromeBook.
But one product that's not coming out until the spring are Google Pixel Buds.
These are Google's wireless ear buds That looked to compete in a pretty crowded market.
But if you look at what pixel buds had before, and some of the features that were hooked into Google Assistant, that's what's going on here, with Google Pixel buds in their wireless form, they're going to be 179.
They're not coming until spring 2020.
That's a little ways off.
The case here, has a nice magnetic case, that's, kinda like air pods in the sense of they, flip shut easily, open up, they have a nice mechanism.
And their LED lights to show status and also here to show how they're charging.
And they magnetically drop in, and stay in place.
Google has designed these to kinda look like Good Nest mini's, [LAUGH] Like little speakers that would pop in your ear.
They're pastel colored, they're round, but they do have special fits in different sizes.
Google Pixel Buds are meant to stay in your ear, with an in ear plug, but they also have an ambient pass through to create more of an open air feel, so it doesn't feel like your ears are quite as sealed off while wearing them There are touch controls on the front that we'll be able to tap into Google Assistant and also get to volume.
These are not working models yet, but I'm going to be an ear model to test them out.
I popped them in my ear.
They feel pretty good.
Google Pixel buds tap into Google Assistant, of course.
But they also connect to Google Translate which is one of the really cool features that was on Google Pixel Buzz before.
It's also the case has wireless charging and it's USBC, which is convenient.
These pixel buds also have a better wireless range.
So the Bluetooth is meant to last across a number of rooms.
Google says it will last through three different rooms or across the length of a football field outdoors, which is pretty extensive.
Now I can't tell you how they sound, but I'd love to tell you how they sound.
How they feel in my ear, I don't notice them that much and they feel like they're not going in my ear too much.
They're resting comfortably on the outside.
It's up to you to decide whether they look intrusive.
I don't feel like they look intrusive.
I feel like I would wear these around.
Now Google Pixel buds promise five hours of battery life on a charge 24 hours of battery life in the case that matches up with some other competitors that are out there.
There are a lot of competitors in the wireless headphone space, a lot of wireless ear buds.
Pixel buds arriving on the market a little later than some of the competition but we'll see how they perform In terms of their charging, pocketability, and most importantly, audio performance and assistant performance when we get to test them in 2020.
I'll try to store the case.
It seems kind of like a bigger that Tic Tacs box.
Stick it in my pocket, not too bad.
If you're curious about the size, it's a little bit bigger than AirPods.
but still pretty compact.
I think I have, here is an [UNKNOWN] one in my pocket.
So you get a sense about how they compare.
Google designed its case to feel like a river stone.
It's definitely smooth and comfortable.
Here it is next to an Airpods case, similar in terms of how they open and close, equally comfortable a little bit bigger I really love that these have volume controls.
That's something that AirPods don't have, and they can still tap into Google Assistant.
How do they feel compared to AirPods?
I'm still used to having a little handle dangle down from my ear.
It doesn't have that, but it feels good and it's still pretty easy to remove them.
I don't feel like I'm reaching too much.
There's enough grip, too, in my ear.
Well, it feels like, even though there are different sizes that will come in the packaging, the small size seems to fit my ear pretty well.
So I like it, it doesn't feel like it's pushing into my ear too much.
I'm curious to see how the different tips will fit and how that will affect audio quality.
I still feel I can get some ambient sound around me with these in my ear.
Obviously, they're not working, but They still feel like I can hear the room around me and I haven't put in earplugs, will know a lot more when pixel buds are available in early 2020.
And we get to really test drive them.
This is just a quick demo here in New York, because we're curious.
I'm Scott Stein, and here I am with Google Pixel buds jammed in my ears.
[NOISE] Watch, I'm gonna do this, cool?
Yeah.
[BLANK_AUDIO]
That's cool.
[LAUGH]
A little Pixel Bud magic, I'm gonna work the room, yeah.
Okay so we're about to get kicked out of your spot.
I love it, I love it!
I might try and go get us some