- We designed the world's best smartphone camera,
and we've put it inside the world's most helpful smartphone.
Any company making such a bombastic claim
in 2018 is politely gonna be laughed out of the auditorium.
Well, any company, maybe, but one.
(lively music)
For the third year running, Google is
out to set a new standard for smartphone photography
with the Pixel 3, a device that,
in most other respects is predictably iterative.
But before we get to that, I wanna touch
on the other big mobile news
from today's announcement, the Pixel Slate.
This is not just the latest Chromebook from Google,
it's the company's opportunity
to wipe the slate clean, sorry,
when it comes to its tablet strategy.
Instead of just another Android tablet, destined
to be dusted by the iPad, the Pixel Slate is a
Chrome OS convertible, with an interface
that optimizes itself for touch
when it's a tablet, and trackpad, when it's a notebook.
The conversion is made possible
by a keyboard accessory that has a lot
of good stuff going for it.
Unlimited angle adjustment, using magnets,
a soft Alcantara finish, and a backlit keyboard
that felt very comfortable, coming from my MacBook Pro 17.
On the downside, there was a lot
of play in the demo device I tried,
when it was closed, and the keyboard carries a $200 premium
over the Slate's $600 starting price.
Now, to be sure, the six hundo gets
you great stuff in the Slate.
In the hand, it's finely-honed balance is more notable
that its somewhat generic aluminum casing.
Google's engineers told me they put
all the critical boards and brains
of the Slate in the center, then ringed
that center with the batteries,
to give it a symmetrical weight profile.
And you know, it really does make
it more comfortable to hold.
Those batteries, by the way, are rated
for up to 12 hours of mixed usage,
which is about the same as last year's Pixelbook.
Also here, dual front-firing speakers,
a densely packed 12.3 inch display,
a power button moonlighting as a fingerprint sensor,
and two cameras, the front one
of which has a wide-angle lens,
and larger pixels for low-light video calls.
Chrome OS lets you run apps windowed
or side-by-side, and there are several processor
and RAM combinations available,
but the more power you want, the more
you'll have to shell out.
The Pixel Slate goes on sale later in the year.
All right, let's get to the phones.
There's almost nothing surprising, here,
on the spec sheet, if you've been paying attention
to the leaks, which have been numerous.
So let me tell you what it's like to spend time with them.
Google gave me the choice of the smaller
or larger model, when it came to a demo device,
and this year, I actually went for the petite Pixel.
I bet you can guess why.
That ridiculous face, up top, on the big one.
Look, I've gotten used to notches
on my phone displays in 2018, but the
one on the Pixel 3 XL is a massive bathtub,
and for me, just too ugly to ignore.
The smaller Pixel 3 has balanced bezels
at top and bottom, each punctuated
with a front-firing speaker that's 40% louder,
and richer, than last year's.
It also packs the same combination
of standard and wide-angle selfie cameras
that its larger sibling does, and
I'll share some early samples in a second.
While the Pixel 3 looks a lot like last year's Pixel 2,
its narrow form makes one-handed use a dream.
And by etching the Gorilla Glass 5
around back, the new Pixel emulates the feel
of last year's coated metal, while
also allowing for wireless charging.
Big round of applause, there, and another one
for Android's new ability to display photos
or Google Assistant information
while the phone is topping itself up.
The most interesting thing
for me is the camera implementation.
While other companies keep adding more cameras
to their phones, Google's only done
that up front, for the wide-angle.
Around back, the company sticks with the single camera,
and lets computation do the legwork, a strategy
that's made the Pixel name synonymous
with stellar photos for two years running.
In the new phone, the AI is used
to make digital zoom a little less terrible.
It should help combat blinking,
and other portrait ruiners, and
it promises to make night photography even better
than it already is.
I'm just sharing a handful of samples
with you from my first day, here,
since my full review won't be ready for a few days, yet.
No conclusions, just early impressions, here.
At a starting price of 799,
the cost isn't a surprise, either.
The Pixel has never been a cheap phone,
but with the last year's display bugs
seemingly ironed out, and new features,
like IP68 water resistance, joining
up with what is hoped to be Google's best camera yet,
I'm expecting the Pixel 3, if it delivers
on its promises, to be a very strong contender
for my second pocket in 2019.
You can preorder the Pixel 3 today,
and if you don't wanna stick it
in a bulky case, budget a few extra bucks
to protect your phone with today's sponsor, dbrand.
You know their name 'cause a lot
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in the business, and they're made
to keep your phone safe, while also sprucing it up, some.
Get your dbrand skin for the Pixel 3
at the link in the description below.
And folks, tell me what you wanna learn
about the Pixel 3 in my full review.
Drop a comment below, follow me on Instagram,
for more hot shots straight out
of this camera, and be sure you're subscribed
to the Mr. Mobile on YouTube, so
you don't miss that full review when it lands.
Until next time, thanks for watching,
and stay mobile, my friends.