Google, with new Pixel and camera, is serious about devices

The search giant has no other choice but to go all-in on hardware if it hopes to catch up with Apple, Samsung and Amazon.

这家搜索巨头没有其他选择，只能孤注一掷，如果它希望赶上苹果、三星和亚马逊。

Last October, Rick Osterloh, the head of Google’s newly minted hardware division, stood on stage in San Francisco and made his pitch to consumers everywhere: Google is not just for Googling anymore.

去年10月，谷歌新成立的硬件部门负责人里克•奥斯特洛(Rick Osterloh)站在旧金山的舞台上，向各地的消费者推销自己的产品:谷歌不仅仅是谷歌的产品。

Instead, he said, come to Google for physical products that fit in your pocket or live in your house: a phone, a smart speaker, a Wi-Fi router. It was a brash sell for a company known the world over for its iconic search engine and mobile software, asking you to trust it with things usually associated with Apple, Samsung and, increasingly, Amazon.

相反，他说，来谷歌购买适合你的口袋或住在你家里的实体产品:一个电话，一个智能扬声器，一个wi-fi路由器。这是一家为其标志性的搜索引擎和移动软件而闻名世界的公司，要求你把它与苹果、三星以及亚马逊(Amazon)等公司联系在一起。

Exactly one year later, Google is doubling down on that message and showing just how serious it is about being a contender in the crowded and cut-throat world of consumer electronics. On Wednesday, Google unveiled the second generation of its hardware products, including two new phones, a smart home hub and virtual reality headset.

一年后，谷歌在这条信息上翻了一番，显示出在拥挤而残酷的消费电子世界中，成为一个竞争者是多么的严肃。周三，谷歌推出了第二代硬件产品，包括两款新手机，一款智能家居集线器和虚拟现实耳机。

The new phones are the next generation of the company’s Pixel phones, first introduced last year. The Pixel 2 starts at $650 while the bigger Pixel 2 XL starts at $850. Google also unveiled new wireless earbuds, called Pixel Buds, that can do things like translate languages in real time and play a song by voice command.

新款手机是该公司去年推出的下一代像素手机。像素2开始于650美元，而更大的像素2 XL开始于850美元。谷歌还推出了新的无线耳机，名为Pixel蓓蕾，可以实时翻译语言，并通过语音指令播放歌曲。

The other products are the new version of Google’s Daydream View VR headset, a new convertible laptop called the Pixelbook, and new versions of the Google Home smart home hub. The Home Max is a $400 premium update with high-end audio. The Home Mini is a cheaper $50 version, akin to Amazon’s Echo Dot. There’s also a standalone camera called Google Clips, for $250, that incorporates the company’s machine learning technology.

其他产品是谷歌的Daydream View VR头盔的新版本，一款名为Pixelbook的可转换笔记本电脑，以及谷歌家庭智能家居中心的新版本。Home Max是一款400美元的高端音频升级版。Home Mini是一个便宜的50美元版本，类似于亚马逊的Echo Dot。还有一个独立的摄像头，叫做谷歌剪辑，250美元，融合了公司的机器学习技术。

“We’ve been working on software and hardware together, because that’s the best way to drive the shifts in computing forward,” Google CEO Sundar Pichai said Wednesday.

谷歌首席执行官桑达尔皮查伊(Sundar Pichai)周三表示:“我们一直在一起研究软件和硬件，因为这是推动计算进步的最佳方式。”

Up until now, Google’s consumer electronics operation has had its share of fits and starts. The company’s released some clunkers, including the Nexus Q in 2012, a $300 streaming device that looked like a black orb. It was quickly discontinued. Then there’s Google Glass, the much-maligned internet-connected headset that became a lightning rod for controversy because of its built-in camera. The $1,500 smart glasses were technically still in prototype stage, but Google ended up halting the consumer project in 2015. (Glass is still used, though, by workers on factory floors.)

到目前为止，谷歌的消费电子业务已经有了一定的适应和开始。该公司推出了一些旧车，包括2012年的Nexus Q，一款售价300美元的流媒体设备，看起来像一个黑色的球体。它很快就停止了。然后是谷歌玻璃，这是一款饱受诟病的联网耳机，因其内置摄像头而成为争议的焦点。1500美元的智能眼镜在技术上仍处于原型阶段，但谷歌在2015年终止了消费者项目。(不过，在工厂地板上的工人仍然使用玻璃。)

In 2012, Google bought Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion, only to turn around two years later and sell the phone maker to Lenovo for $2.9 billion. Earlier this month, in what’s probably the biggest indicator Google’s recommitting itself to hardware, Pichai and his team announced a major deal with hardware maker HTC. Google had already been working with the manufacturer to make the Pixel phone. The agreement, worth $1.1 billion, brings about 2,000 HTC employees – many of whom work on the Pixel – to Google.

2012年，谷歌以125亿美元的价格收购了摩托罗拉移动(Motorola Mobility)，但两年后才转向，并以29亿美元的价格将这家手机制造商卖给了联想。本月早些时候，在可能最大的指标谷歌重新投入硬件的时候，皮查伊和他的团队宣布与硬件制造商HTC达成了一项重大协议。谷歌已经与制造商合作生产Pixel手机。该协议价值11亿美元，带来了大约2000名HTC员工——其中许多人都是在Pixel上工作——到谷歌。

“They’re fully in it for the long haul,” Jan Dawson, principal analyst at JackDaw Research, said. “But it takes time to build up credibility.”

JackDaw Research的首席分析师简•道森(Jan Dawson)表示:“他们完全是为了长期的发展。”“但建立信誉需要时间。”

A new era

Google’s previous modus operandi for selling devices wasn’t so much to become a market leader or make money. It was to be a showcase for Google software or to demonstrate to other hardware makers what their devices could look like. That was the goal with Google’s Nexus program, a beloved but niche line of phones that ran “stock” Android – a bare-bones version of Google’s mobile operating system without the flourishes or extra apps that carriers and manufacturers usually add to the software.

谷歌之前出售设备的做法并不是要成为市场领导者或赚钱。这将是谷歌软件的展示，或者向其他硬件制造商展示他们的设备是什么样子的。这是谷歌的Nexus程序的目标，这是一款深受人们喜爱但也很流行的手机，它运行的是“股票”安卓系统——它是谷歌的移动操作系统的一款裸骨版，没有任何运营商和制造商通常在软件上添加的花哨或额外的应用。

Each year, Google worked with a different hardware partner, including LG, Huawei and HTC, to put out the phones. The Nexus program ended last year, when Google decided instead to introduce a branded phone, the $600 Pixel.

每年，谷歌都与包括LG、华为和HTC在内的不同硬件合作伙伴合作，推出手机。Nexus项目于去年结束，当时谷歌决定推出一款品牌手机，售价600美元。

So why is Google going all-in now? The market has changed in the last few years. Where Google Glass stumbled, Snapchat has stepped in with its $150 Spectacles smart glasses, a less ambitious version of smart eyewear that’s been better received as more socially acceptable. (Google, meanwhile, is retooling Glass under a secretive project called Aura, run by Osterloh.)

那么谷歌现在是什么呢?在过去的几年里，市场发生了变化。在谷歌玻璃失足的地方，Snapchat推出了售价150美元的眼镜智能眼镜，这是一款不太有野心的智能眼镜，在社会上更受欢迎。(与此同时，谷歌是一个名为Aura的秘密项目，由Osterloh运营。)

Alphabet, Google’s parent, has also poured money into hardware elsewhere in the company. In 2014, it bought Nest, the smart home device company cofounded by Tony Fadell, an Apple veteran and hardware guru known as the “godfather of the iPod.” Fadell left Nest last year after lots of public turmoil. But last month the company unveiled its first major new products in two years, including an internet-connected doorbell called the Nest Hello and a security system called Nest Secure.

谷歌的母公司Alphabet也将资金投入该公司的其他部门。2014年，它收购了Nest，这个智能家居设备公司由托尼·法德尔(Tony Fadell)创立，他是苹果资深的硬件大师，被称为“iPod教父”。在经历了许多公众动荡之后，法德尔于去年离开了Nest。但上个月，该公司推出了两年来的首个主要新产品，其中包括一个名为Nest Hello的联网门铃和一个名为Nest Secure的安全系统。

Consumers are finally ready to make their homes smart. Amazon surprised the world and became the unlikely market leader when it released the Echo, a voice-controlled speaker and smart home hub, in 2014. Google followed suit last year with its rival Google Home. Apple plans to join the market in December with its $350 HomePod.

消费者终于准备好让他们的家变聪明了。2014年，亚马逊发布了Echo，一个声控扬声器和智能家居中心，这让全世界都大吃一惊，成为了不太可能的市场领导者。谷歌在去年与其竞争对手谷歌的家进行了跟进。苹果计划在12月推出售价350美元的HomePod。

But Amazon is still the king of the voice speaker world, owning 70 percent of the market, according to eMarketer. Google is a distant second. And CEO Jeff Bezos continued Amazon’s assault last week, after releasing five new Echo products that range in price from $35 to$150. “Amazon’s event really reinforced their leadership in the market,” Dawson said.

但据eMarketer的数据，亚马逊仍是语音扬声器世界的王者，拥有70%的市场份额。谷歌是一个遥远的第二。亚马逊首席执行长贝索斯(Jeff Bezos)上周继续对亚马逊发起攻击，此前他发布了5款新的Echo产品，价格从35美元到150美元不等。“亚马逊的活动确实增强了他们在市场上的领导地位，”道森说。

As for Google, in terms of market share, it’s in catch-up mode, he added. “They’ve got a lot of work to do.”

至于谷歌，在市场份额方面，它处于追赶模式，他补充道。“他们有很多工作要做。”