There is only one Pixel in this entire 4K video that we care about... and that's the
Google Pixel.
The latest phone by Google.
It could very well could be one of the best phones of 2016.
Especially since the Note 7 just explosively dropped out of the running.
Last years google phone, The Nexus 6P did not do so well during my durability tests...
So lets see how this newcomer holds up.
[Intro]
The Pixel seems like a combination of all the other flagships morphed into one, We have
the angled edges from the HTC 10, the Antenna lines from the iPhone 6, the Glass panel from
the Galaxy S7 and the rear fingerprint scanner of the LG v20.
Kind of like they all decided to Morph into the Megazord of cell phones.
Lets start with the screen scratch test.
I have a set of picks that tell me where the screen falls on Mohs Scale of Hardness.
A plastic screen like the Droid Turbo 2, would scratch at a level 3.
A sapphire screen would scratch at an 8 or 9.
And glass typically starts scratching at a level 6.
Which is exactly where the gorilla glass 4 on this screen falls.
You can see the scratch at a level 6, and a deeper groove with a much harder level 7
pick.
This is totally normal, so no surprises yet.
This also means that the front 8 megapixel camera is protected by the same glass.
No buttons at the bottom to check , so lets look at the ear piece.
This is the first thing that surprised me.
The earpiece mesh is made of cloth.
Unlike the metal or plastic speaker grills on other phones.
It'll be interesting to see how this effects call quality over time.
If you ever need to clean out your earpiece, because of dirt or make up getting inside
that little slot, make sure not to puncture it.
Ripped cloth over a speaker does not sound too good.
The rear 12.3 megapixel camera is protected by the back glass panel.
So it should be relatively scratch resistant.
Unlike the plastic camera lens of the Sony Z5 Premium.
The back glass panel does seem to be slightly softer than the front glass though.
My razor blade was able to leave some super fine scratch marks on the really blue panel.
But if I take the same razor blade and scratch the front glass of the phone, it does not
leave any marks.
So keep that in mind when you are playing with knives around your cell phone.
Lets find out what the rest of this phone is made of...
The really blue aluminum part of the body is indeed aluminum, it is not covered by any
primer or plastic.
The LG G5 had to use a thick primer to mask the seams.
But as you can clearly hear....
{nails on a chalk board}
... the Pixel manages to join the glass and aluminum with no extra coverings.
This blue phone makes the perfect backdrop for a lovely cottage house.
Just add in some Bob Ross style mystic mountains.
And I'm almost finished!
Adding in some key scratches as clouds, but the markings rub completely off.
This Really Blue aluminum color holds up even better than the iPhone against keys and coins.
That definitely deserves a thumbs up.
Unfortunately the deeper scratches do not rub off.
But remember, "We dont make mistakes, we just have happy accidents."
- Bob Ross
Onto the fingerprint scanner.
This part of the phone unfortunately is not glass.
It feels more like a thin rubberish coating.
And can be scratched off.
Luckily the button isn't protruding though.
So I doubt it will get scratched easy in real life.
Even if it does get heavily scratched though, the fingerprint scanner keeps working 100
percent of the time.
Pretty impressive how much damage it could take and still function.
The sim card try, power button, and volume rockers are all made of metal.
Every touchable surface of this phone is made from a 'premium' material.
Another minor perk is the textured power button.
Similar to what was on the HTC 10.
It makes finding the button in your pocket or in the dark much easier.
I'm liking this phone more and more.
But lets see how well it holds up to the last two tests.
The burn test.
The pixel is using a 5.5 inch AMOLED screen.
Similar to what Samsung uses on their phones.
This display was able to last about 11 seconds under my intense flame before turning white.
It never did fully recover from the heat.
That little white dot is permanent.
I'm still not totally sure how the burn test is relevant to anything.
But it was interesting to watch the black pixels of the LG V20 magically recover from
the flame test yesterday.
Onto the most definitive part of my tests.
The bend test.
I've tested over 40 phones.
Some of them are built better than others.
Ive only had a few phones catastrophically fail... and this Pixel is not one of them.
Pressing from the back, I can get the screen to bulge out just a little bit.
There is no water proofing on this phone, so nothing is being structurally compromised
at this point.
And when I bend from the screen side of the phone, it has zero flex.
This Pixel phone could very well be one of the most durable, well built phones of 2016.
The things you should watch out for, while owning this phone, is the little cloth covering
over the ear piece.
And the tiny scratches on the back glass panel.
There wont be any fragile volume button crinkling issues like there were with the Nexus 6P.
Overall I am very impressed with this phone.
My Shelf of Shame playlist has all the phones that spectacularly failed my durability tests.
So check that out, And hit that subscribe button so you don't miss any of my future
reviews.
I check build quality on purpose, so you wont have to on accident.
My twitter followers found out the results of this test before the video was posted,
so follow me over there if you want to stay in the loop.
Thanks for watching!
Hope to see you around.