Tag: CES 2018

Home deadbolt and locking manufacture Schlage has announced that Google Assistant support will be coming to their range of Sense Smart deadbolts in the coming months.  It will allow owners of the locks to use Assistant via their phone or Google Home devices to lock or unlock the deadbolt on their homes.

The integration with the Schlage locks and Google Assistant will also allow users to check if they locked the deadbolt.  Using voice commands, they can ask Assistant if the deadbolt is locked and, if it is not, will be prompted on if they want to lock it.  This can be done both inside the house as well as outside.  The idea being, if you were in a rush to get to the office in the morning and can’t remember if you locked the front door, you will be able to ask Assistant if you did and lock it remotely.

Sony’s mid-range of Android phones are getting a refresh.  At CES 2018, the company announced that the Sony Xperia XA2 and XA2 Ultra and they are expected to be available in February.  These two phones are fundamentally the same when it comes to their internals with the XA2 Ultra sporting a 6″ display over the XA2’s 5.2″ display.  Both will render at 1920 x 1080 FHD and both are powered by the Snapdragon 630 SoC and 4GB of RAM.  Storage wise, you will have the option of 32GB or 64GB and there is a MicroSD expansion slot.

Camera wise, both have the same 23MP rear camera and both have 8MP, 120° wide angle selfie camera.  The XA2 Ultra adds a second front facing camera that has OIS despite the fact that the rear camera on either phone doesn’t have image stabilization.  Powering the Utra is a 3580mAh battery while the standard XA2 will have a 3300mAh battery.

HP clearly is continuing to support Chrome OS in a big way.  After announcing two new Chromebooks, the company has announced the 2nd generation of their Chromebox, the HP Chromebox G2.  With the option to power this new Chromebox with up to the latest 8th generation Intel i7 processor, this will be a powerful option for those looking for a workstation or at home Chrome device.  It will be available this Spring.

Keeping with the small form factor, the new HP Chromebox G2 will measure 5.87 x 5.87 x 1.57 inches and weigh 1.48 lbs.  That is pretty consistent with the first generation HP Chromebox.  What changes though are the internals.  The base model will be powered by the Intel Celeron 3865U processor but there is an i5-7300U and i7-8650U option available.  The Celeron option will have the Intel HD Graphics 610 integration graphics option while the Core i models will have the UHD Graphics 620.  Also, you will be able to have up to 16GB of DDR4 RAM and either 32GB or 64GB of storage built into the device.

For the first time in many years, Google will be at CES in Las Vegas this coming week.  It is the first time the company has had any real presence at the massive electronics show since 2015 but it has been a lot longer than that since they have had a booth.  Not only will they have a booth, a massive one in the Central Plaza, but it looks like they are going to be heavily focusing on Google Assistant during the show.

The company made a blog post yesterday, highlighting the growth of Google Assistant and Google home over the course of 2017.  Assistant is now available on 400 million devices and in a doze different countries.  But the takeaway from the post was the last paragraph.

No matter where you are, the Google Assistant is here to help you make the most of 2018. And next week, we have even more things in store for the Assistant at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. If you’re at CES, stop by the Google Assistant Playground (Central Plaza-21) to check out some of our new integrations, devices, and the newest ways you can use your Assistant

It would appear that next week, we are going to see some announcements about Assistant and, potentially, some new hardware.