The Pixel 6

If the Pixel 6 works as advertised, Samsung and Apple will finally have real competition in the smartphone space as the Tensor chip will change how one interacts with the device. The video's a sell but with a difference, an intelligent discussion of how AI driven tech should interact with the real world with emphasis on the personal. Check it out. I love my Samsung 21Ultra but the Pixel give one pause as said phone is most attractive to someone who writes and is deaf as hell, a condition making talking on the phone a real drag without question. Realtime translation also works as my daughter in law is Chinese. 

As stated so many times, tech never sleeps. :)

Click the Pixel 6 image to see realtime translation happening 

on the Google products website. The gif's too big to download

Every few years, machine learning (ML) completely changes the way we use tech. And we're proud to say that sometimes, Google products are part of that. We’ve seen Google Assistant make your devices more helpful and Google Translate break down language barriers, but we haven’t always been able to bring the best of ML to the smartphone.

That’s why we made Google Tensor. A chip that can deliver totally new capabilities for Pixel users by keeping pace with the latest advancements in ML.

For example, Google Assistant on Google Tensor uses the most accurate Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) ever released by Google. And for the first time we can use a high quality ASR model even for long-running applications such as Recorder or tools such as Live Caption without quickly draining the battery.

You’ll also be able to better communicate with people in the language you are most comfortable with thanks to Google Tensor and the new Live Translate feature on Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro. More chat apps — like Messages and WhatsApp — will allow users to translate directly in the chat application, meaning no more cutting and pasting text into the Google Translate web service. Google Tensor also enables Live Translate to work on media like videos using on-device speech and translation models. Compared to previous models on Pixel 4 phones, the new on-device neural machine translation (NMT) model uses less than half the power when running on Google Tensor.

Google Tensor also powers computational photography and video features, which are part of what make Pixel such an impressive phone.

Google Tensor

More factoids ...

There’s also a 20-core GPU that Google says “delivers a premium gaming experience for the most popular Android games.” It is 370% faster than the Pixel 5, which uses the Adreno 620 GPU

At the Pixel Launch Event, Google went into Tensor and explicitly touted the inclusion of two high-performance ARM Cortex-X1 cores at 2.8 GHz. They are joined by two “mid” 2.25 GHz A76 CPU cores, with Ars Technica’s Google Silicon interview pointing out how they are based on a 5nm process rather than the 7nm original found in flagship phone chips last year. Four high-efficiency/small A55 cores round out the CPU. 

The dual-X1 approach allows Google to throw more power at workloads that are of medium intensity. In a normal CPU, the mid cores would handle such tasks, like Google Lens visual analysis, but be “maxed out.” Google says using two X1 cores in that scenario would be more efficient, and that’s what Tensor is optimized for. In real terms, it’s 80% faster than the Pixel 5’s Snapdragon 765G. 

Throwing smarts to crunch data, formidable without issue.

Addendum: Reviews are in. Apple and Samsung now have real competition and ... I want one.