This Wednesday (10), Google held its I/O 2023 event to present news in several areas, such as mobile devices. Among the releases are the Pixel Fold and the Pixel Tablet.
Throughout the developer conference, company executives released more details, including curious inspirations about new products. Want to know and understand each one? Detective TechSmart explains it to you.
One of the highlights of the Pixel Fold is its thickness – the smallest among foldables –, which allows it to be 2 mm thinner than an iPhone 14 when opened. Once closed, it has a straighter end and the other curves.
According to the website fast company, Google’s design director in the area of phones, Claude Zellweger, confessed what would be the reference for the look: a Moleskine notebook. The focus here is on creating satisfaction in opening and closing the device.
“I would say the inspiration behind this was the Moleskine notebook. There’s a real satisfaction in opening and closing, so we spent a lot of time studying like closed books, closed doors, stuff like that.”
Claude Zellweger
Google Design Director
Moleskine is a famous notebook brand. The pieces are characterized by not having a spiral, but a straight edge, while the ends of the opening are more rounded, in a format that resembles, in fact, the closed Pixel Fold.
Regardless of whether you like it or not, it is a fact that car door slamming generates an unmistakable sound effect. And here’s another inspiration for the Mountain View giant’s new foldable phone.
One of the features of the Pixel Fold is its hinge, which allows the device to be completely flat when opened, as well as to close completely, without any opening in the middle. Into this comes the sound effect of a premium car door, as well as the feeling of satisfaction when this occurs.
Still regarding the hinge, the technical part of its construction was thought to function similarly to recent mountain bikes, according to Zellweger’s statement.
You know those shocks seen in the front suspension of bikes? They are generated by moving around a single pivot point. In the case of the Pixel Fold, the mechanism has a kind of “virtual pivot point”, to allow flexing with greater freedom.
We’ve talked about the design, construction and hinge before, but the camera array also had its inspiration. Google used astrophotography as a basis to work on the capabilities of the sensors of its new foldable.
The search giant even hired astrophotographer Nicholas Wilson to help develop features that match the area.
Among the highlights here are the improved Night Vision, for photos of up to 16 seconds of exposure, in addition to the possibility of leaving the device on any surface to capture the images, without needing a tripod.
“You don’t have to fiddle with apertures like you do with a traditional camera. Google Pixel takes all the hard work out of the process.”
Nichols Wilson
Astrophotographer who worked with the Google team
Finally, the Pixel Tablet had its reference imagined to give the feeling of being “at home” with it. The conclusion was to create a material for the body that simulates the touch of a porcelain plate.
For this, the search giant found the formula through ceramics. The company has developed a nanoceramic coating for aluminum that makes the user feel as if they are touching a household item.
So, which reference used as a basis for the new devices of the Google Pixel family did you like the most? Join us!
