It was the software, not the hardware, that really made an impact at the #MadeBy Google event

As expected, today's #MadeByGoogle event went by without a single hardware surprise left to discover. The new Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL contain the exact features that have leaked for months including the deep notch (XL only). The first Chrome OS tablet, dubbed the Pixel Slate was announced including a neat-looking circle-key keyboard with backlighting and a hefty price tag. To start it all off, we were introduced to the new Home Hub smart display with proper YouTube support and friendly price tag; it will probably be in my home by the holiday season. All in all, exactly what was expected.

However, the real story of the day is what Google announced on the software side with a ton of new features announced thanks to things like the Pixel Core chip. Even more, some these features will be coming for not only the new Pixel 3, but also the older generations of Pixel. It is the new software announcements that will keep Google at the top of the tech news for months to come.

Google Duplex

A little while back, Google announced the introduction of Duplex, an artificial intelligence feature that could call various businesses to complete tasks on your behalf. People both loved (and feared) the feature for its natural speaking voice and initial lack of transparency, and soon, it will be live. Google announced that beginning next month, Duplex will begin rolling out on a city-to-city basis meaning small tasks such as restaurant reservations and haircut appointments may soon be a job for Google Assistant.

Call Screening

In addition to making some calls on your behalf, Pixel phones will also be able to not only detect spam calls, but also answer them for you. Today, Google announced a new addition to the Phone app that can can screen calls by answering the call, announcing it is a screened call, and provide real-time transcription as the call occurs. This new feature should help individuals not only screen calls from unknown numbers, but also provide context as to what these calls may be about. The feature will launch immediately on the Pixel 3 while coming to the rest of the Pixel family next month.

Top Shot and Photobooth

The camera for Pixels, arguably the best smartphone cameras on the market, continue to get better thanks to the technological marvel that is Google's computational photography. Top Shot, announced today, works much like the current Motion Photos in that multiple images are taken at a time except now, you will be able to choose the best one for the shot. This should eliminate those pesky scenarios where something like a blink can ruin a shot. As for Photobooth, this new feature will automatically take the picture on the front camera when it determines people are smiling (or making a funny face).

Super Res Zoom and Night Sight

In addition to the fun new features with the camera, Google has introduced new features to make sure you get the best photo possible in different scenarios. With Super Res Zoom, the camera will take burst of photos to maximize resolution when zooming to ensure best quality; this is their answer for not including a telephoto lens with the Pixel. In addition, Google created Night Sight which uses all the power of machine learning to artificially lighten dark shots without the use of flash. While the sample did border on unnaturally light, it certainly blew away the iPhone Xs image.

YouTube Bundling

While the new software by Google was the real champion today, Google made sure their existing ecosystem features were not forgotten; to do this, they bundled it with everything. For those that purchase a new Home Hub, you will be getting a free 6 month subscription to YouTube premium which includes YouTube Music. If you decide to go all in with the Pixel Slate, you can enjoy 3 months of YouTube TV, and for those new Pixel 3 owners, take 6 months of YouTube Music.

While today was a big day for Google in terms of new hardware, the software was the real story. Everything was already known about hardware going in to this event, and Google did nothing to surprise us or blow our socks off. However, all of the software features were not only unknown, but tremendously useful. We will see how well hardware does this time around for Google, but folks are sure to be excited about the future of Google software.