Google’s Pixel 8 and Pixel Watch 2 Have Arrived. Here’s What’s New

Google's October hardware event took place this morning in New York City. The new phones are flush with new features, from secure face authentication and seven years of software support to a built-in thermometer, while the second-generation Pixel Watch has more modest improvements over its predecessor. Google Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro Photograph: Google It's year eight for Google's Pixel smartphones, which means the handset line has officially survived longer than Google Reader. Google's going the Apple route of giving its OLED displays a proprietary name—the Pixel 8 has an “Actua display” and the Pixel 8 Pro has a “Super Actua display.” Like Apple's Liquid Retina Display, the cute name doesn't really mean anything special. If you've been following Pixel hardware over the years, you'll remember that the Pixel 4 was the only one to ever support facial recognition as a secure biometric authentication method, utilizing Google's radar technology.