The Google graveyard gets a new member: the Clips camera, announced back in 2017 but is now officially dead, just like many other Google services.
Google introduced a lot of new camera technology at its recent hardware event except the Clips. It made no mention of the artificial intelligence-powered camera at all, and the reason is it killed it without everybody knowing.
Gone is the Google Clips camera from its online store, and although the company has yet to confirm this, disappearing from the store is well enough a sign it's en route to the famous Google graveyard.
Google Clips
Though Google Clips failed to gain mainstream popularity, there was an interesting idea at the core of it. Billed as a device that can capture precious moments of loved ones, it was a wide-angle camera programmed to use AI and start recording whenever it determines something is relevant or interesting, such as a baby's first steps.
It came with an LED indicator that flashed whenever it would record, plus 16 GB of onboard storage and up to three hours of maximum recording time. Google sold it for $249 a pop.
The problem was it proved less impressive than on paper. According to The Verge's review, it didn't capture anything special over a couple weeks worth of testing. This, added with the steep price, made Google Clips a tough sell.
It's hard to gauge whether or not people actually liked Google Clips since not very many people bought it in the first place, itself an indication that there might not be a demand for a device like this yet, or at least people maybe weren't willing to shell out big bucks for something that didn't fulfill its intended promise.
It's Still Not Over Yet
Still, that concept did have promise, and perhaps it's something Google can work more on in the future. It's a cool idea bogged down by an unfriendly price point and lackluster results. If Google decides to integrate Clips' machine learning know-how into other security cameras, though, that would open up a whole other world of possibilities, and perhaps rekindle interest.
For now, though, Google Clips is heading toward the graveyard, where it'll lay to rest like most of Google's other abandoned services — cough, Inbox, cough — and be forgotten soon.
Rest in peace, Google Clips. Did you think it had a promise? As always, feel free to sound off in the comments section below if you have any thoughts!
