During its blockbuster Pixel event on Wednesday, Google announced Clips, a hands-free wireless smart camera, powered by the Google Assistant AI.
Designed to capture precious family moments without a designated photographer missing from the frame, Clips learns the faces that are important to you and snaps scenes based on that knowledge.
Google says the more you’re with those people, the more the $249 camera will capture them.
The lightweight (59.5g), square-shaped camera also waits for smiles and things like wagging pet tails before it starts capturing 15fps photos and short animations called, you guessed it, Clips.
This learning algorithm is called Moment IQ and can also recognize good lighting and framing and framing conditions.
The hands-free snapper can also be attached (clipped) to practically anything. You can attach it to a soccer goal while the kids practice, or to the top of a trampoline looking down at the folks bouncing below.
It’s also protected by Gorilla Glass 3, so it should withstand a little bit of rough and tumble.
The idea is that you can simply put it somewhere and forget about it, return to review the footage and see what you’ve got. There’s also a manual shutter button too.
The best moments will be automatically be made available to you in the companion app, where individual frames from Clips can be saved as hi-res photos.
Google says privacy is key here and pledges that nothing leaves the device or is backed up into the cloud until the user has a chance to review and share it.
There’s 16GB of storage built in and files will be transferred over Wi-Fi Direct. Battery life runs to 3 hours of smart capture and can be replenished via USB-C.
Google Clips Release Date: When can I buy it in the UK?
It runs on Android 7.0 and requires a Pixel smartphone, Samsung Galaxy S7 or Galaxy S8 running Nougat or up. iPhone 6/6s/6s Plus/7/7 Plus running iOS 10 is also compatible.
The company is yet to reveal a release date in the US or the UK, simply saying it’s coming soon. Users can go on the waiting listfrom the product page on the Google Store.
Are you interested in the Clips camera? Or is it too gimmicky? Drop us a line @TrustedReviews on Twitter.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
