- Among Star Trek fans, Kobayashi Maru
is synonymous with "no win scenario".
This year, in mobile tech, my Kobayashi Maru
is the Pixel 3 review.
Because this phone is marred by
so much controversy and compromise
that phone geeks will flay me for
even suggesting it's worth it's asking price.
At the same time the normal folks
at whom this phone is aimed will
see a fantastic iPhone alternative,
for two hundred dollars less the 10S,
and for them, the defects I call out
may seem barely worth a mention.
As usual, reality is somewhere in between.
[Upbeat Intro Music]
So, this is the Pixel 3, not the larger 3XL,
and I chose it, mainly to avoid the XL's prodigious notch.
Well, in the bargain, I got probably
the best one handed phone around.
If you're someone who is always
out doing stuff, you don't always
have two hands for your phone, this size is perfect.
The backplate's etched finish makes
it easy to slip into a pocket,
it doesn't get all greasy, like most glass phones,
and against the skin it feels pleasantly smooth,
like it's made of chalkboard.
In the looks department, this is a pleasant evolution,
and when you compare it to the first
generation Pixel of 2016, there's a sense of
minimalist balance here that I quite admire.
But, bit by bit, the fun seems
to be draining from Google's design.
A bunch of us affectionately called last year's
Pixel 2XL "The Panda", because of it's cheeky
black and white paneling, and the year before
that, there was a fetching "Really Blue" paint job.
This year, white is white, black is black,
and pink is, well, not pink.
There's nothing wrong with understated
design, but we already have a big tech
company building understated phones.
I just think the folks competing
with it should, I don't know, think different.
Now, in possibly the Pixel's most
important feature, Google does do things differently.
In a world of ever multiplying
cameras on phones, the Pixel 3 sticks
with one, at least on the back.
While I do find that limiting compared
to other options, the Pixel continues
to be the camera I trust the most,
because I can pick it up, snap a quick click,
and four times out of five, no joke,
it's gonna give a better shot than I could
get out of any other with the same low effort.
Google has gotten so good at processing
images through it's HDR+ approach,
that anytime I don't want to tote
around my big studio camera, I shoot stills with a Pixel.
Now, I'm not saying the Pixel 3
always takes the most accurate photo.
It's pretty obvious there was a
ton of processing involved in this picture,
but, look, that's what it took
to keep my face visible with all
the back lighting from the sunset,
and notice that it also preserves the detail in the
lights of the surrounding buildings, that's not easy.
Neither is properly exposing for the
light bulbs of this shot, which the
Galaxy Note 9 blew out a little bit.
In this picture, my new favorite cafe
in London, it's a little too vibrant,
but not cartoonishly so, it's just full of life and depth.
That's how I remember this place being,
and that's how a lot of photos
come out of the Pixel 3, it's great.
As usual, the computational tricks
have multiplied here, Google uses
handshakes to it's advantage to
make a crisper zoom photo, it's not always
as crisp as you'll get with a dedicated
telephoto lens but definitely a
better zoom shot than we've had before.
There's also a new low light mode that was
just hitting phones when the video went to press,
finally giving Huawei a run for it's
money, with extreme low light photography,
and, the reason I've relied on a
Pixel for my backup video camera for the
past two years is still here as well.
The best video stabilization in phones.
One last point on optics, given Google's stubborn
stick-to-itivness on the single
back camera it's interesting it
opted to double up on the selfie side.
But, like I hinted in the hands on, it works.
Having the wide angle shooter for
group shots is quite useful, and it's nice
to have the option of switching
back to the higher quality narrow lens.
A new software here too, by the way.
Switch to PhotoBooth mode, and the phone will
automatically shoot when it decides
your face will make for a good picture.
Kind of making life into a YouTube
thumbnail, for better or worse.
So, we've got an A+ handfeel, an A+ camera,
and, I might as well say right here that it's
also got awesome haptics from the vibe motor.
Phone calls are clear and comfortable,
thanks in part to the small form factor,
and the front firing speakers are surprisingly loud.
So, where's all that controversy I promised?
Well, it's in the display, for one thing.
Not in color quality this year,
this panel is beautiful, but its also quite dim.
So get ready to crank that brightness
if you spend a lot of time outdoors.
That might be a part of the reason
battery life is my second complaint.
Apparently, not even removing the
headphone jack can free up enough
space for a bigger power pack so,
this is a phone usually need to charge before bed.
Google makes that easy with wireless charging,
complete with a photo frame mode
for the Pixel stand, but if you want the
faster 10 Watt charging that the phone supports,
for now, that $80 Pixel stand is your only option
until other compatible chargers hit the market.
There's actually a lot to this story AndroidCentral
has a detailed article on it, which I'll link to
in the description, feel free to subscribe to
The Mr. Mobile on YouTube, while you're down there.
The Pixel 3 also has a few more software
hiccups that I've come to expect from Google.
Memory management issues mean that
doing something as simple snapping
a photo while listening too music
sometimes causes Spotify to force close.
And even when it's working well, the Pixel 3 forces
you to use the new Android Pie interface.
I hate to say it, because I love
gesture based software, and I was
hopeful on this front, back in the Spring,
but the final product is just kinda confusing.
The contradictory way the Pill works where a
flick cycles between the last two apps,
but a drag causes the carousel of apps advance.
The ugly assymetry of the come and go back button.
The awkward way you need to call up the app drawer
with either a double swipe, or a long thumb stretch.
That's not to say there's not a lot of
great stuff in Android Pie, there is.
It'll learn which notifications you usually dismiss
and offer to hide them going forward, that's nice.
And it'll screen spam calls for you too, which is a godsend.
But this basic function you use a hundred times a day,
opening apps and going home, just feels kind of broken.
I wish Google had just adopted
Motorola's approach to gestures instead.
That's a lot of compromise to swallow
for a phone that starts at $799.
But, consider everything you get here,
the absence of carrier bloatware,
the way the phone builds in hardware under
the hood so it can evolve over time.
Last year, it was the Pixel visual core,
this year it's the Titan M security chip.
The earbuds, adapter, and fast charger,
all bundled in the box just like they should be,
the guaranteed software and security
updates for three years, and a camera that, if you
called it the best you can get on a smartphone,
I don't know if I'd disagree with you.
Look, if you're a phone geek, than yeah,
you already know you can sacrifice
some of those features for more
exciting devices that suit your taste.
But, when I really focus on the most important
things a phone can offer to most people,
the Pixel 3 delivers most of them, even if,
at 800 bucks, it asks a bit too much for the privilege.
Now, that's still a lot of money,
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Get 15% off your Tec21 case for
the Pixel 3 or almost any phone
at the link in the description below,
and thanks to Tec21 for sponsoring this video.
You're gonna be seeing a lot more
from the Pixel 3 in the form of video footage
of much weirder and wilder phones in the
next few weeks as Phonetoberfest rolls on, folks.
Be sure to hit that Subscribe button
and if you liked this review and, let me
know if you've bought one of the new
Pixels already, I'd like to hear you experience.
Until next time, thanks for watching,
and stay mobile, my friends.