Google Pixel XL review: The new Android flagship in the market
Google Pixel XL review: This one delivers on all fronts of a premium smartphone, but it is not without flaws.
Google Pixel is the company’s ‘first’ attempt at a smartphone. Unlike the Nexus, there’s no co-branding with LG or Huawei. Sure the phone’s box says manufactured by HTC, but it’s like how iPhones are made by Foxconn in China. Pixel and Pixel XL are a Google-only effort from top-to-bottom. The company is tying up with distributors in India to get this phone into offline retail stores as well.
Google Pixel starts at Rs 57,000 going up to Rs 76,000. The phone highlights the best of Google: the Assistant, an excellent camera, unlimited storage for photos, and performance that’s top notch. So should Samsung be worried? Does the iPhone 7 have a challenger? We got the ‘Very Silver’ version of the larger Google Pixel XL, and here’s our review.
Specifications: 5.5-inch QHD AMOLED Display | Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor | 4GB RAM+ 32GB storage | 12.3 MP rear camera with f/2.0 aperture with HDR+ +8 MP front camera | Android 7.1 Nougat | 3450 mAh battery with Type-C USB charging
Price: Rs 57,000 onwards; Rs 67000 for 32GB version of Pixel XL
Google Pixel XL
Google Pixel XL is the bigger version. The Pixel has a smaller 5.0 inch full HD display with a smaller 2750 mAh battery. The Pixel XL given its display size can be considered as the rival to the iPhone 7 Plus and the Samsung Galaxy S7 edge, both of which are the go-to premium flagship smartphones.
Google is promising software updates to Pixel smartphones till October 2018 and this will come with regular security updates. The updates are downloaded in the background and installed at night, without bothering the user. On my phone, apps got automatically updated on WiFi.
The front of the Pixel XL looks a lot like the iPhone, and it’s all glass. So far I’ve no
t noticed any deep scratches, which is good because usually all phones are thrown unceremoniously in my bag with a bunch of wires and chargers. But Pixel XL is bulky. While I’m not a fan of the big display smartphones, I didn’t find this impossible to use.
On the back, Google has opted for a rather strange mix of glass and aluminium. The top half has a rectangular glass panel (a very white one in case of the Silver colour), and it just looks odd. You can see half cut antenna bands on the top, and wonder if the glass is there to hide these. The bottom half has a band running across it as well, and the G of the Google logo is placed just above it. The round fingerprint scanner is placed inside the little glass slab on the top, and the camera is on the top left corner with some space between the flash and the camera lens. Since Google hasn’t opted for OIS on this one, the camera module doesn’t jut out at all.
The volume rockers, power button are on the left, while the right side has the SIM slot. At the bottom is the type-C USB port with the speaker slots, and on the top is the headphone jack.
Pixel’s design is unique, but I like uniformity. I wish Google had made up its mind about going with glass or all metal. But overall the build quality on this phone is quite good, and I guess if it was all glass it would have been a lot more slippery.
So what’s good?
The phone is supposed to be the best of Google. And yes, Google wants to poach iPhone users. The phone comes with a Device Transfer, which has type-C USB port and a regular USB port on one-end. I used this to transfer all my data from the iPhone, which included messages, contacts, events, onto the new Pixel. It took around half an hour with the iPhone (no photos or videos were transferred) . Sure the Messages took some time to load, but it was done. It’s good to see how Google has made data transfer a seamless task, which is still a pain point for users when buying a new phone.
