Google brings competition to India, launches Pixel smartphone at Rs 57,000, pre-orders begin October 13

NEW DELHI: Google made competition in the premium smartphone segment tougher on Tuesday night, launching the Pixel at Rs 57,000 for the India market with pre-order beginning October 13, and sales by month end.

India, interestingly, is among the first six markets where the device will be available, along with the US, UK, Canada and Australia, putting the South Asian nation in limelight.

The search giant's latest smartphone venture, after Android One, has been designed by Google from scratch, and will have key apps - Google Assistant, Google Duo, Photos with unlimited storage on Cloud and the virtual reality enabler Daydream - built in.

Pixel will be available in two sizes - 5” or 5.5” and two colors - Quite Black and Very Silver with memory configurations of 32GB and 128GB sizes.

Pre-order will begin at Flipkart and at over 1000 plus organized and multi-brand retail stores with leading retail partners including Reliance Digital, Croma and Vijay sales among others.

Indian consumers will also get interest free EMI programs and attractive upgrade offers, besides a toll free phone support number along with 54 walk in service centres across more than 30 cities.

Pixel has been designed by Google to make it easy to grip. The device has 2.5D Corning® Gorilla® Glass 4 on the front display and back glass, which features a fingerprint sensor.

Its powered by a battery that can charge up your phone for up to seven hours in just 15 minutes.

Pixel ships with the newest Android operating system, Android 7.1 Nougat. Pixel Phones will get software and security updates as soon as they’re available, directly from Google.

Google claims that it's camera on Pixel is the best built ever, even better than the latest iPhone.

With the built in Google Assistant in the Pixel, users can have a natural conversation with Google to find answers or get things done on the go, by saying "Ok Google" or touch and hold the Home button. It's one of the key features that Google intends to communicate to users globally.

The Assistant can also offer help with what’s on-screen in any app. For example, if your friend texts you to meet up at a new restaurant, you can just say “navigate there”.