Well it's been a month since Google sent us our Pixel 5 and in that time I have used this
phone as my main phone and I've gotten to play around with it enough.
We're now I'm going to tell you some of the things I really like about this phone.
The standout features and in this review, we are going to go in depth on the photography
and videography capabilities of the Pixel 5.
Also tell you some things.
I don't like about the phone and then ultimately I'll give you my recommendations on who should
get one.
First, let's get the basics out of the way.
This phone hits all of the marks for me.
It has a good resolution.
Ole.
Screen with much better viewing angles than the Pixel 4A The 90 Hertz screen makes scrolling
look very smooth Google also went with an all-screen display this time which makes this
phone look incredibly modern and I much prefer this design with the whole punch for the selfie
camera then the pixel 4 XL last year with its larger bezels.
One thing to note is there's no top speaker and it's under the display with the Pixel
5, so the speaker quality isn't as good as the Pixel 4 XL that I had in my opinion, but
it's adequate enough for me to use where I haven't really noticed it all that much.
The battery life isn't.
Insanely good It's probably the best battery life I've ever experienced on a phone I've
been seeing a full charge last me about a day and 10 hours or so on average which means
if I forget to charge it at night, it's not just going to be dead when I wake up in the
morning Google was able to include wireless charging on this phone which is great and
something I definitely missed while using the similar looking Pixel 4A.
They also put a pixel imprint sensor on the back foregoing the great face unlock feature
they debuted on the Pixel 4 last year.
I have to say the pixel imprint sensor has been quite a convenient feature.
Especially while wearing a mask during the pandemic However over the long term I still
prefer having face unlock.
I think it's just a more convenient way of unlocking your phone, but in an ideal world
you'd have a phone that had both face unlocked and an imprint sensor.
Another basic this phone absolutely nails is the materials used in its construction.
Google went with aluminum, meaning the phone is much lighter than other phones out there
and weighing 150 grams which makes it easy to use in one hand for long periods of time.
I think the weight of phones is definitely something a lot of people.
Overlook and is one huge benefit in my book with this phone I wish more phone manufacturers
would copy Google here and make lighter phones.
The rounded edges and the matte back material on this phone results in a phone that's easy
to hold for long periods of time and easy to grip.
It's not slippery and it's water resistant, unlike the pixel 4A.
Another thing that makes this phone such a joy to use like in years past is the Pixel
version of Android that runs on it.
It's simple there's not crapware or ads loaded onto it, like you get with other phones from
other men.
Ufacturers Google also adds some really nice tie-ins to other Google products with this
phone like adding smart home controls to the power button menu or the on-device Google
Assistant that has some really great pixel-specific features like call screen where the Google
Assistant will screen out spam calls.
This feature was incredibly useful to me on the Pixel 4 XL that I used before the Pixel
5.
This year Google added another similar feature to the Google Assistant called Hold for me
where the Google Assistant will stay on.
A call for you when you're put on hold and will ring your phone when the representative
is there ready to speak with you.
So far I've used this.
Few times already and it actually works quite well Now moving on if you're fan of haptics,
the pixel 5 sports a haptic experience that's very similar to last year's pixel 4.
Now when compared to an iPhone 12, the pixels haptics aren't as subtle as the iPhones can
get but overall.
I still like the pixel 5's haptics and I absolutely love that haptics are on the keyboard by default.
It makes the typing experience so much better.
The performance of the phone is fine.
It's Snappy and everything feels fluid.
I've only run into the phone freezing on me once made.
Me twice in the month I've been using it The only constant area you will notice the phone's
performance drop from the Pixel 4 and 4XL last year is in photo processing.
The pixel 5 just takes a second to process a photo compared to the almost instantaneous
processing that we saw with the Pixel 4.
Speaking of photos, let's talk about the camera.
The camera is probably one of the main selling points for the Pixel 5 because it's often
considered one of the best cameras in the smartphone industry and in my experience it's
been an impressive camera that you can do a lot with.
The Pixel 5's camera has.
Knitted quite a few stunning photos especially thanks to its color correction and automatic
white balance adjustments When comparing photos to the new iPhone 12, I think the Pixel 5
is pretty comparable in most situations when you have bright sunlight.
There are certainly corner cases where one phones camera will outperform the other though.
Take this example of a forest starting to change into fall colors near sunset.
The pixel captures the glow of the sun a bit better and does a much better job capturing
what the ground actually looks like than the iPhone which just punched up the highlights
and whites on the ground.
Making it not look that visually appealing However on the flip side take a look at this
picture of a sunset at Lake Crabtree in Raleigh.
The iPhones HDR tech does a much better job at showing the warmer tones of the sunsets
yellow and orange colors and it doesn't have as much exposure blowout at the center of
the sun like the pixels photo does.
Now in general, I still think I like the look of the pixels images a bit better than the
iPhones because of their cooler look with a bit more contrast.
And the pixels tendency not to up the highlights of a photo as much as the iPhone but that's
a personal preference.
All The pixel fives camera UI layout is excellent and easy to use One change to the camera hardware
this year is the inclusion of a wide-angle camera instead of a telephoto camera making
it much more comparable to the experience of other smartphones out there.
The wide camera produces some great results that I think are actually pretty comparable
to the iPhones, if not better thanks to Google's outstanding HDR.
After using the pixel 5's camera now for over the past month.
I have to say that I don't really miss the telephoto camera that came with the Pixel
4 from last year and that's because the Pixel 5.
Like.
Previous pixels is using Google's Super Resume Technology to achieve basically the same look
through software.
And when comparing it to the telephoto images from my Pixel 4 XL, the 2X zoomed in photos
look pretty much identical.
Like in years past the Pixel 5 supports raw photos and all you have to do is hit the arrow
at the top of the screen to bring up the camera settings where you can turn on raw camera
support.
The selfie camera on the Pixel 5 is quite good.
It produces nice clear images with a good amount of detail and is also pretty comparable
to the iPhone.
12 selfie camera Compared to the pixel selfie camera on the four I like that you can do
not just one X it can also do 1.4 X as well.
Next let's talk about the video capabilities of the Pixel 5 and this for me has been one
of the only downsides that I've encountered with this phone, especially when you compare
it to the competition.
First let's talk about what's been improved with the Pixel 5's video capabilities compared
to last year's Pixel 4.
Google has adjusted the colors and contrast in the video to make things look less washed
out and gray.
They also added some new stabilization mode.
Which in my experience work really well especially the cinematic mode which gives you great looking
slow panning shots to help set the scene.
The locked stabilization yields some impressively smooth video when you're shooting a faraway
subject.
The active stabilization mode works well but can result in some wonky colors.
Google also added 4K 60 frames per second which was missing in last year's pixel and
is a video mode where I think you can see the most improvement in video quality compared
to the previous pixels, especially when it comes to color accuracy.
Take this shot from Her example The grass looks the correct view of green that you see
in real life Now where things go a little wonky with the colors is when you use some
of the other stabilization modes like active stabilization.
I had instances where the green didn't look quite right but then the phone auto adjusted
it later, but that switch back and forth wasn't great or predictable.
The main camera sensor like in most phones is definitely better in terms of producing
less grainy video compared to the wide sensor and that certainly true with the pixels cameras
for video.
When comparing the pixels video quality to something like the iPhone 12s, the Footage
I get on the pixel still looks oddly more compressed when comparing the exact same shot
on an iPhone 12.
The iPhone's footage just looks a bit crisper.
Take this example of a panning shot of the company mill trail sign.
You'll notice that the iPhone's footage is crisper on the sign, even though the pixels
might pick up slightly more detail in the sine groups itself.
Now the other difference you'll notice in the pixels video quality compared to apples
is the iPhone produces video with a bit of a warmer tone where the pixels has a cooler
cast.
Now, this is also the same for Photography where I actually prefer the pixels look in
general However for video I think it's cool cast is too much to the point where some things
you take a video of don't represent the actual colors you see in real life like for example
water in a stream.
There are some edge cases where I notice that the pixels video quality is better than the
iPhone.
It's like picking up the sunlight's glow through fall leaves in the afternoon.
Overall, I'd say the pixel 5's video quality is fine.
There are some areas that Google does need to improve like the colors but overall I'd
say that the pixel 5 actually produces pretty good.
Video.
Quality The pixels video footage is actually better than I was expecting and produces way
more usable footage than I anticipated compared to the Pixel 4's video quality, which just
wasn't great.
Alright, so we've gone over the things I like about the pixel 5 some of the things I don't
like about it and that brings us to the fundamental question of who should get this phone.
Now for existing pixel users, I think anyone with the Pixel 3 or older should probably
consider upgrading to the Pixel 5 if you're looking to upgrade.
The new design way improved battery life and camera upgrades probably make this upgrade.
Worth it to you And considering the Pixel 5 is a lower price than the Pixel 4 was last
year that was also an added bonus.
Now speaking of the Pixel 4, if you haven't pixel 4, you may also want to consider upgrading
to the Pixel 5 considering the battery life has been vastly improved over the Pixel 4.
Now, if you have a Pixel 4 XL, you don't really need to upgrade to the five.
I don't think there's enough there to make that upgrade worth it.
Plus there's no Excel version of the Pixel 5 this year.
Now, if you're looking at the Pixel 5 compared to the Pixel 4A and ask me which one I'd recommend.
I'd say the Pixel 5 is worth it when you look at the better screen 90 Hertz display wireless
charging and water resistance.
Wireless charging and a better screen are a must for me with any phone that I use as
my main phone in 2020, but that costs trade off may not be worth it to you depending on
what you want out of your phone.
Now, if you're thinking about switching to a pixel from an iPhone we have a video that
I'll link here that describes my experience of switching from an iPhone to Android one
year later.
So definitely check that out if you want to see how it's been going.
Now in general, I Think the pixel 5 is a phone that just does all of the basics really well
I have to admit that when Google sent me the Pixel 5 and I first got it.
I wasn't all that excited about it.
It didn't have any cunning edge features like face unlocked last year, the solely radar
that just were supposed to wow me even though the solely radar thing didn't really pan out
but the face unlock thing was quite good on the Pixel 4.
Now as I've started to use the Pixel 5 more over the past month, I have to say I have
really enjoyed using this phone.
It's a pixel experience without compromise.
The phone has a great screen design good battery.
Life a fantastic camera with improved video quality and will continue to get features
throughout its life with pixel feature drops, which are something I've loved on the Pixel
4 XL.
It's an easy phone to recommend to anyone who wants a solid Android experience without
compromising on the fundamentals and plus it has one of the best cameras on any Android
device.
All right, well that's it for our one month later review of the Pixel 5.
Now, we'll have an additional review of this phone at the six-month mark, so if you want
to see that video as well as other reviews of Google and other tech products.
Make sure you subscribe to the channel.
Now, I hope you found this video helpful and informative and if you did make sure you hit
that thumbs up button below.
For 6 Months Later,
I'm Josh Teder,
Thanks for watching.