The Google Pixel is conceived from the beginning as a cell – luxury- CNET in Spanish

there is nothing new under the Sun. But, when it comes to phones, design something totally different may not be a great idea.

if, therefore, at first sight of the new cell Pixel from Google will reminded other high-end devices in the market, that may not be so bad — at least for the company of Mountain View.

That is because after gambling for a strategy in the middle sector with phones of high quality and low price that offered the promise of being the first to have the new taste of Android, now Google has rejected the mark Nexus in favor of a Pixel, a line that, from its inception, it was proposed to compete in the high-end segment, currently dominated by Apple and Samsung.

The phone was designed from the beginning as a device premium. “All the decisions that we make from the beginning, from materials to components such as the camera and the finger sensor of high quality, they were intended not to save costs,” says Alberto Villarreal, of mexican and creative director of industrial design of mobile devices Google, part of the team that designed the phones Pixel.

One of the aspect most distinctive design of the new phone Pixel is the upper back, where it has a glass plate that, according to Alberto Villarreal, one of its designers, has a function that is both aesthetic and practical.

Josh Miller/CNET

although one of the major promises of the Pixel is that for the first time Google has controlled the design of the software and hardware completely, promising an experience much more integrated (one of the strengths of Apple), in the supersaturado phone market of high-end it is important to distinguish at what comes in first for the eyes: the design of the device.

“The challenge in design is always to attempt to achieve a balance between being innovative, at the same time not to alienate people,” says Jan Dawson, analyst at the research firm Jackdaw Research. “So your design has to be distinctive without being too different from what everyone else is doing.”

After the presentation of the Pixel 5-inch and the Pixel XL of 5.5 inches on October 4, the comparison did not wait. Both for analysts and for observers of the industry, the price of the new phones, which are aligned with the prices of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, indicate that Google wants to compete with the phones of high range of Apple. But beyond the price, the front part of the Pixel recalled to many the design of the cell’s flagship giant from Cupertino.

“The reality is that the iPhone is the phone to premium of higher sales in the market, and Google has positioned the Pixel to purpose directly against the iPhone,” says Dawson. “So it will be inevitable to compare”.

however, the back of the Pixel and its interiors are distinctly Google. The Pixel is the first phone with Google Assistant integrated — the new digital assistant powered by artificial intelligence — in addition that is compatible with the platform of virtual reality to Daydream. Also, it is the first phone in the market with Android Nougat 7.1. The cherry on the cake is that Google offers unlimited storage in the cloud for photos and videos, without changing the original size.

But there are several unique details in its exterior design, also. The upper part of your back has a glass plate that complies with a function of both aesthetics as a practice (to facilitate the exit of the rf signal). The fingerprint reader is in the middle of this plate, “in a position very ergonomic,” says Villarreal. “The fact of just putting your finger there and wake up the phone immediately; it is something that makes the user experience without barriers, that the phone is already ready to be used”.

Also, the designer of a mexican highlights the edges shaved, which create a subtle flat surface for greater comfort to the hour of taking it. In addition, the power button has a texture, which make it easier to find the button without looking at the device. And the colors, despite names somewhat far-fetched (Remove Black, Very Silver, Really Blue), have warm-toned (silver and grey) and saturated (blue) that distinguish it from that offered by the competition.

“we Do a lot of research in different regions of the world, in addition to the data that we have on how people use the phones, [including] ergonomics, preference of materials, colour, comfort in the hand, kind of curvatures…,” says Villarreal, who are 40 years old, and three and a half working in Google. After considering the cultural aspects and the components they want to use, “we combine all this and get to the blender to make the conceptual proposal,” he says. “It is a work of efforts multiple”.

For example, so it was opted to create this minimal flat surface to shave on the sides. “People have some preference curvature, but prefer a flat part so that the phone is not dancing [in his hand],” says Villarreal, who studied industrial design at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, and a master’s degree in design for transport in Sweden.

The mexican Alberto Villarreal is the creative director of industrial design of mobile devices Google, part of the team that designed the phones Pixel.

One of the biggest challenges for designing a Pixel, explains Villarreal, was to place the component of the camera, without the hump that characterizes other phones (like the iPhone). Google has promoted the Pixel as a phone with one of the best cameras on the market, and the way in which he managed to hide that bulge which so many upset was to shape the body of the phone in the form of a wedge: while at its base has a thickness of 8.6 mm, the upper part, which houses the camera, it measures 7.4 mm The difference by having it on hand is almost imperceptible, and meets the goal of completely hide the camera.

“We have confidence in that it is a solid product, and that offers a holistic experience,” says Villarreal, pointing to the integration between hardware and software as one of its greatest qualities. Villarreal, who is from the City of Mexico, he also worked on the Nexus phones, that in their most recent version were designed by LG and Huawei.

Although the Pixel are manufactured by HTC — armed, really — are fully designed by Google, something that the company put the emphasis when he promoted his presentation a few weeks ago, the hashtag #MadeByGoogle, and when you print a blunt “G” in the back of the phone.

“we’re very happy with the product,” says Villarreal.

The Pixel, at first glance, it meets all the expectations of the design of a phone of high range. But, in this saturated segment led by Apple and Samsung, it remains to be seen if it is sufficiently different and novel to seduce the most important character in this saga: the consumer that wants innovation, but in something that is familiar to you.