showcased 3-D and augmented reality effects to make search that much more meaningful; it brought a virtual shark onto the I/O stage during one demo.
What's more, using the Google Lens tool, the company showed how you could point a camera at a sign in a foreign language to not only translate that sign but to read aloud its contents.
And it announced the next generation of the Google Assistant (coming later in the year) that Google says is 10 times faster than today's Assistant.
Here are some of the highlights of most interest to consumers.
Cheaper Pixels
Just seven months ago, Google released a pair of highly thought of smartphones, the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3XL. At I/O, Google introduced two new handsets, not successors to the 3 and 3XL, which remain in Google's portfolio, but rather far less expensive variations that manage to retain many of the same appealing features.
These are the Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL, and they fetch $399 or $479, respectively. Consider the Pixel 3 starts at $799, though you can find it cheaper with trade-ins. The new phones start shipping immediately.
The latest handsets will be available in three colors (Just Black, Clearly White and Purple-ish), from all of Google's carrier partners, including Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint, Google FI Spectrum (Charter) and C Spire. (The phone will be supported on AT&T's network as well).
And yes, they boast such impressive camera features as Night Sight, which as the name suggests is all about capturing images in dim light without a flash. (The feature worked well in a brief pre-launch test). It also has Portrait mode on the front and rear cameras; pics are backed up free on Google Photos.
Google says the battery on the new phones will deliver up to seven hours of use on a 15-minute charge and last 30 hours on a full charge with a battery system that is said to learn your favorite apps and prioritize power for the ones you use most frequently.
Security comes through the Titan M chip. You can squeeze the side of the phone to summon the Google Assistant.
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