- The first phones ever designed by Google, the Pixel
and the Pixel XL are finally here and unlike the Nexus
devices that came before, which were just Google's
guidelines kind of handed off to a manufacturer and told
to go make what they wanted with them,
these are actually entirely designed by Google
and just brought to fruition by HTC.
Now, knowing this, two questions immediately arise.
One is what exactly does Google think a phone should be?
And then two, do I want what Google thinks
a phone should be?
(upbeat hiphop music)
So I have here the Pixel XL, the larger and more popular
of the two judging by which models and colors
went out of stock the fastest during ordering.
Despite the larger size, though, there isn't much difference
between the two devices.
A bigger 5.5 inch screen and a 2.5k resolution
on the Pixel XL and a five inch 1080p screen on the Pixel.
A larger 3450 milliamp battery in the XL
and a 2770 milliamp battery in the Pixel.
And finally, there is a $120 price difference
between the two.
Other than those things, a review of the Pixel XL
basically covers the Pixel and vice versa.
The Pixel's both have this honed aluminum body
with chamfered edges that actually make them feel great
in hand with a good weight and a solid feeling.
The top half of the back is covered in this glass that,
while unique, was probably put in there to allow for better
cell reception and connectivity.
The front of the device, however,
looks well, oddly familiar.
Two similarly sized bezels at the top and bottom
of the screen make it look like another phone and, yes,
I have numerous times tried to tap a Home button
that just doesn't exist.
Above that, though, we have one of the nicest screens
available on an Android phone with really deep blacks,
vibrant colors, and everything just kind of pops.
All in all, though, the design of the phone
isn't anything spectacular, if we're honest,
and isn't going to turn any heads except that
the Really Blue is really frickin' blue.
It doesn't feel cheap at all, though, and does have
that premium hand feel that's a bit harder
for me to describe.
On the back there is also a fingerprint sensor at the bottom
of the glass portion that I like a lot.
If we're honest, a fingerprint sensor on the back
of a phone is going to be where your hand is more naturally
most of the time than, say, at the bottom of the front.
It works super fast as like on most phones with a
fingerprint sensor like this.
And the only time it isn't convenient is if it's laying
face up on a table.
At the bottom of the device we have what looks
deceivingly like stereo speaker grills that are, in fact,
a microphone on the right and a mono speaker on the left.
The sound coming out of the one speaker is loud enough,
though, for my taste without getting distorted
as I usually use headphones while listening to music
on my phone anyway.
Speaking of, there is a headphone jack at the top
of the device, which I feel slightly odd
having to point out.
But it seems that everybody is very polarized on the fact
that Apple took theirs away so there you go.
It's there.
Now, because this is an Android phone directly from Google,
it is running plain vanilla Android, which,
if you know me at all, know I always prefer.
On top of that is the latest version of Android
called Nougat or 7.1 and it brings some minor changes
to Android along with it.
The app launcher, which is normally an icon you tap
in Android, is now a dock of five icons that can be
swiped up on.
Anywhere, by the way, which makes it a larger target
for your hand when you're holding it one-handed,
which is kind of nice.
Swiping up on that does reveal the app drawer.
Also, Google now has its search bar replaced with a G icon
you can tap to get to Google Search or swipe over
to get to your Google Now and your cards.
Aesthetically, icons are now circular and folders have
this look of being peepholes kind of ripped into
the background, which I like.
And there is now a native multi-window feature
that allows you to put two apps on the screen at once
which we've seen on other Android devices just added
by the manufacturer instead of how it is
baked into Android here.
I personally never use this because maybe it's just habit
but, for me, I find that it's faster to just tap
the multitasking icon and then switch between them that way.
One of the most talked about software features on the Pixel
phones and is, essentially, the reason that Google
gave for why they wanted to make their own hardware
to go along with their software is their new AI
called Google Assistant.
Google Now, Google's voice-assisted software,
has been around on Android devices for some time now
and it's hard, at least at this point,
to really tell a huge difference
between it and the newly Christened Google Assistant.
There are some easily apparent things.
The fact it can be summoned when the screen is off
and not plugged in, the speed of it is clearly improved,
it's more conversational in its tone with things like
jokes, poems, in a more realistic timbre and tone
to the entire thing.
Now the idea being that over time it will get better
with its machine learning and figure things out about you
and be able to help you in other ways but I find that
at the moment it's just kind of like
a slightly better Google Now.
Regardless, though, it is definitely on par with Siri,
if not a little better than Siri, even as it is right now.
So, not the biggest issue, it's just not quite
the breakthrough feature that I think
Google wants it to be just yet.
The camera, on the other hand, is a breakthrough feature.
The camera on here is fantastic.
This is made more apparent by the fact that Nexus cameras
haven't always been very good and when compared
to an iPhone at the same time, it just kind of falls behind.
Now, this camera, on the other hand, has no problem
keeping up with the latest iPhone.
In daylight photos, especially, one could argue
that the Pixel camera is actually a little bit better
at reproducing colors that are bit more true to life
than, say, an iPhone.
Nighttime or low light is still pretty good but I'd say
the iPhone 7 Plus might eke it out in that department
some of the time.
As for the video camera, the Pixel definitely gets points
for its blazing fast auto focus which is thanks to
its phase and laser auto focus sensors
on the back of the phone.
Now, it doesn't have optical stabilization in which
the actual lens is suspended by electromagnets
and adjusted based on the device's gyroscope, etc.,
but, instead, has an electronic stabilization
where the software just tries to keep the image stable.
This actually works fine for a lot of scenarios
but the minute things get a bit rougher it tends
to kind of freak out and just jump across the image.
Comparing this to the optical stabilization of the iPhone
7 Plus, for example, you can see the differences
the that I'm talking about.
Now, I don't know about you, but I'm not gonna be
chasing things with my phone trying to film them.
And if I was, I would probably use something like a gimbal
or some type of mount to keep things stable instead of
relying on what's in the phone, regardless of which one
I was using.
So, I'm not sure it's the biggest of deals.
The device comes in 32 gigs and 128 gig versions
but does have an interesting feature that other Android
phones don't get, the ability to upload all photos
and videos from the phone to Google Photos
at full resolution without any cost or limit.
And since, for most people, the largest use
of their storage is photos or videos,
you can actually just tap Free Up Space and it'll remove
any of these from the device that you've already backed up
to Google Photos and then you can just still access them
from the Google Photos app as long as you have
an Internet connection.
Now, if we're honest though, Google Photos gives you
unlimited back up at a high quality and not full resolution
regardless of what phone you have and that quality,
according to their site, is 16 megapixels.
This phone has a 12 megapixel camera on it.
So, that would mean that all of the photos
would get backed up automatically anyway
at that full resolution.
Now, videos, on the other hand, is another story.
Google Photos only allows you, on the high quality setting,
to upload videos at 1080p, so if you tried to upload
a 4k video it would get downgraded to 1080p
and then get stored for free.
With this phone, 4k video will get uploaded at 4k
and will get stored at that resolution.
So, really, if you think about it,
the only big benefit here, is if you're shooting a lot
of 4k video.
As far as battery life is concerned, it's good.
I'm not sure how people are claiming two full days
of battery life with these phones or even a full day,
if we're honest.
I don't know if they just don't use their phones
or if I'm doing something incredibly wrong
but I've never really had a phone last me a full day.
It's very rare.
Now, one thing that is nice, though, is that it has
properly fast charging and so plugging it in
when it's running low, even for about an hour or so,
will give it almost a complete charge, so that's nice.
Which finally brings us to the price.
Unlike Nexus phones of the past where they had flagship
features and not quite a flagship price,
which is why they had such a cult following,
this Pixel and Pixel XL have flagship features
but kind of a flagship price to match.
The price is $649 for the 32 gig smaller Pixel
and $769 for the 32 gig larger Pixel and that puts it on par
with things like the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus,
which is why I keep comparing certain features
like the camera to that phone.
Now I'm well aware that no iPhone user is gonna switch
to the Pixel.
It's just probably not gonna happen.
So, the closest Android phones that we're talking about
here are probably like the Galaxy S7 Edge,
the LGV 20 maybe, and the Moto Z.
Now, when you compare it to those other phones
it has arguably a better camera by most comparisons.
It's going to updates from Google every time, automatically,
all the new features that ever come out,
you'll get instantly.
And then on top of that there's the speed.
Just doing daily activities on the phone
and setting it next to anyone else with those other phones
is gonna really show the difference in performance
and make them feel like they have, I don't know,
last year's model.
On top of that, go into the Developer Options
and turn the animations down to half.
And then you'll really see how fast an Android phone
was meant to be.
And there, you guys.
I hope you enjoyed that.
If you guys want more photos and videos from other phones
as well as the Pixel, click the link below
to be taken to my full written review.
Also, head to that link below or even write down
in the comments below this video here on YouTube
and let me know what you guys think of the Pixel,
of my review.
I'm interested.
Be nice, be constructive, but go ahead and tell me
and I'd love to hear from you guys.
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thanks for watching.
(upbeat hiphop music)