Google is now accepting advanced orders for the Google Clips, the company’s first artificial intelligence-powered camera. The device is available for pre-orders on the Google Store, with its listing revealing that Google will start shipping it on February 27th or 28th. The initial stock is understood to be limited so if the gadget ends up gaining some traction, Google is likely to run out of units to sell before spring, as was the case with select models of the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL.
The camera was originally announced in early October 2017. While the company never attached a specific availability window to the Google Clips, it debuted the product with a “coming soon” label. It’s now that the company is putting the Clips up for pre-ordering. The reasons behind the apparent delay of the Google Clips remain unclear, with Google not reflecting on the matter to date.
The camera is available for pre-orders at $249 which may limit its commercial potential; in most aspects, the Google Clips is treading entirely new ground, being advertised as a one-of-a-kind home camera that records videos automatically but not for security purposes. Instead, the AI technologies powering the device are meant to detect unique family moments and record them on their own, later allowing you to transfer any locally stored clips to your smartphone.
The device features 16GB of internal flash memory which should be enough to store months of its footage, especially as one cannot operate it manually and make it record longer videos. The camera captures content at 15 frames per second but its resolution varies and can actually be increased without sacrificing details using a dedicated smartphone companion app.
Its handset support will be somewhat limited at launch as it will only be able to communicate with Google’s Pixel devices, Samsung’s Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S8 lineups, and Apple’s iPhone 8 series.
