This summer was longer than usual. Even at the end of September, many people were wearing sandals. When the weather continues like this, you want to stay inside an air-conditioned room. At such times, your smartphone is your best friend.
Thanks to the widespread use of the Internet and smartphones, we can do almost anything no matter where we are or what position we are in. We do things that were previously unimaginable, like watching a movie on a small screen while on the train. Of course, smartphones are not suited to technical work, but you can make time to sit down and use your PC. When it comes to replying to emails, the quicker the better, so replying immediately from your smartphone is the best.
In any case, we are now in a smartphone society. Moreover, it has completely matured. In the past, cheap meant bad, but now there are many smartphones that can be used normally. However, Google does not stop evolving. Although it is a latecomer, it continues to release popular models and seems to be becoming a very big presence with each passing year.
Google is best known for its search service. But in fact, the company has been involved in the history of smartphone development since a relatively early stage. Currently, smartphones run either iOS or Android OS, but the latter was developed in 2007 by a group of companies including Google and Qualcomm. Its defining feature is that it is open source. The freedom to develop on a Linux base, allowing anyone to do so, is characteristic of Google, which was one of the factors that promoted the spread of the Internet.
After a while, Google entered the smartphone market in earnest in 2016. It announced the "Pixel" series, and began selling the Pixel 3 in Japan in 2018. The latest model, released in September this year, is the high-end model, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, which we will be looking at this time.
The best feature of the Pixel 9 Pro Fold is that it can be folded, as you can see! The outer display has a 6.3-inch OLED display, and when opened, an 8-inch inner display that is almost square appears. This is the size of a tablet and is very easy to use. At first, I thought it would be scary and troublesome to open and close it, but that's not the case at all. Rather, I'm all for the big screen. It's especially easy to watch videos and manga, and I realized that being big is a good thing.
What made me happiest as a web editor was that the site looked different depending on the display I was using. When folded, the outer display showed a design for smartphones, and when opened, the inner display showed a design for PCs, and they automatically switched. This is super convenient. I can check the site design and how the articles look, so I can do a lot with just this one tool.
Speaking of which, the split screen was also convenient. When closed, you can display two screens, one above the other, and when open, you can display different information on the two screens, one above the other. You can look up something while looking at a map, or even reply to an email while watching a video on YouTube. For example, workaholics can try connecting a keyboard. In this way, it seemed like a model that represents the modern age where multitasking is the norm.
This is the second generation of Google's folding smartphone, and it is lighter and thinner than its predecessor, making it much easier to handle. When folded, it doesn't feel strange compared to the size of modern smartphones, and of course you can hold it with one hand. The rounded corners are also very impressive. With such high perfection, I'm worried that any changes to the hardware from now on will be mostly minor updates. But in reality, I don't think that's the evolution that Google is aiming for.
So what is the main point? It is the fusion of generative AI (artificial intelligence) and smartphones. The conversational AI Bard was born and was renamed Gemini this year, and it is constantly evolving. Absorbing the ever-increasing amount of information on the Internet and answering questions is one of Google's specialties. Gemini Live Chat, which supports more than 40 languages and allows you to talk to AI, is now available for free without subscribing to the Gemini Advanced monthly plan. It is surprising that they are not satisfied with image search, but have also made it possible to search from videos. We can expect Google to evolve in this way, not limited to hardware and apps. And their specialty editing magic is also impressive. The AI processing that converts colors and makes predictions from surrounding information is quite accurate, and if you just look at it casually, you really don't notice it.
I tried out the photo function of the "Pixel 9 Pro Fold". First, a moving bullet train. What do you think?
Actually, I couldn't take a good picture, so I used a magic eraser to take the picture. At first glance, it doesn't look out of place at all!
Next is a shot with photographer Naito-san, who was on the business trip with me.
Actually, there was a person in this photo, so I erased it with a magic eraser. Since I was at it, I also erased a manhole. This was so accurate that you wouldn't even notice it if you weren't told.
Next we'll try something more complicated.
It's kind of fun, like finding the difference.
We also tried to improve the quality of zoom images using AI, which was implemented this fall. It was amazing how something so small could be predicted and generated.
The "Pixel" series commercial is set up as if it is being used while traveling. When I actually took it on a business trip, I felt like I understood why. It teaches you things you don't know, and makes things possible. And above all, it's worth killing time... By the way, I personally wanted to recommend it to my parents. After retiring from active duty, I ended up with a combination of a tablet and a smartphone instead of a PC and a smartphone, but with this, I only need one. I want to give it as a gift, but the price is a bit of a problem... High-end smartphones are great, but they can break the screen if you handle them roughly, so I'd be happy if there were a few more variations. However, it has a solid strength, such as the use of 2D glass, so I think I can use this one for a long time.
