Offering a Pure Android experience coupled with the new AI-based Google Assistant, does the Pixel XL have enough to stand out against a plethora of smartphones, both running Android and not? Will the generic design deter users away from Google’s flagship or should you look past it to any goodies that may lie within?
With the Galaxy Note 7 now consigned to an early death, are the Pixel and Pixel XL the perfect replacement? Let’s find out in this, our Google Pixel and Pixel XL review.
Design
Let’s address the elephant in the room – the Pixel XL is basically the closest you’ll ever come to an iPhone running Android. Somewhere in Cupertino, there’s likely to be a team of lawyers pouring over Google’s latest flagship and looking at every patent, which is likely what Google did when coming up with this design.
By way of comparison, the Nexus line-up has always offered quirky, unique designs (though sometimes closely inspired by Google’s partner OEMs designs) that stood out amongst a sea of competition, and the generic design of the Pixel XL removes this. The front especially doesn’t stand out at all, and you could easily mistake it for another generic smartphone, especially with the bottom chin beneath the display essentially being wasted space.
The design itself is almost certain to be the most polarizing element of the Pixel XL and personally, I’m on the fence. While the design was generic at first, it has definitely grown on me but at the same time, I do miss the quirky design of the Galaxy Note 7 and S7 Edge. With so many Android smartphones on the market, Google is largely relying on its marketing push and word of mouth to help the Pixel XL stand out as it’s unlikely many users will pick this handset based on its design.
On the back, there’s a combination of a matte metal finish and a glossy plastic finish in the upper half of the back, and it’s an eclectic combination, which leaves a lot to the imagination. The matte part of the finish provides welcome grip while the glossy part adds one of the few elements that make the Pixel XL stand out. The back also houses the fingerprint sensor, which is rather snappy but more on that later, and Google’s G logo, which replaces the Nexus logo of old.
Moving around the rest of the phone and on the right, you’ve got the power and volume buttons, which are quite stiff, yet easy to press. On the left, you’ve got the single SIM card tray and for those used to dual SIM and/or microSD card expansion on other Android phones, neither of these is available on the Pixel XL. Up top is the headphone jack while at the bottom is the USB Type-C port, single speaker and microphone.
The build of the Pixel XL leaves a lot to be desired for me; despite not being dropped at all since I’ve had it, there are a few dents on the body already and a couple of scratches as well. In a bid to ensure the software and camera elements are great, it does seem that Google has cut corners with the design, at least in my opinion, and honestly, I wouldn’t expect these concerns from a flagship, let alone one that costs as much as the Pixel XL does.
Say what you like, the Nexus range could always be relied upon to offer a unique experience and if Google is opting for generic designs for the Pixel range going forward, this could pose a rather big problem. Many would say the iPhone has a generic design but that’s actually become a big strength and from generic, it’s now become iconic. It remains to be seen whether the Pixel XL design language in its current form can become iconic but from my time with the handset, I think Google needs to tweak it at least a bit more with the next generation. As Josh puts it, it’s not flashy and it doesn’t seem attractive to a lot of people, until you turn it on and a lot of goodness comes out of it.it’s not flashy and it doesn’t seem attractive to a lot of people, until you turn it on and a lot of goodness comes out of it.
Display
The main difference between the smaller Pixel and the larger Pixel XL is the display, with the larger handset sporting a 5.5-inch Quad HD AMOLED display. Sporting 2560×1440 resolution and a pixel density of 534 pixels per inch, it’s a bright, vibrant panel that’s a joy to use, even in outdoor conditions. Corning Gorilla Glass 4 protection also helps to protect the handset so the display should survive a bump or two, even if the actual build may look worse for wear.
Running the Pixel XL’s AMOLED display through our display tests reveals a slightly cooler color temperature of 7859 Kelvin, which essentially means the screen has a blue tint. Interestingly, at least according to our spectrophotometer readings, the when the display is set to the standard mode (rather than the default adaptive mode), it scores 7131k, which is much more accurate compared to the recommended temperature of 6500k.
A max brightness of 420 nits, even under direct light, doesn’t quite tell the full story as although the Pixel XL has a lower max brightness than other devices, there are no noticeable legibility issues in direct sunlight. Overall, I’d have to agree with Lanh when he says anything you want to do on this phone, you won’t be disappointed.
Performance
Under the hood, the Pixel XL is powered by the latest Snapdragon 821 chipset – which features 2 high-power Kryo cores at 2.15GHz and 2 high-efficiency cores at 1.6GHz) alongside 4GB of RAM and an Adreno 530 GPU. With this package, the Pixel XL is mostly future proof, at least until Qualcomm’s next flagship chipset – expected to be the Snapdragon 830 – lands next year.
Before getting into the actual real world performance, let’s see how the package stacks up against the flagship processors inside the competition, including the A10 Fusion chipset powering the iPhone 7 Plus.
Under the hood, the Pixel XL is powered by the latest Snapdragon 821 chipset – which features 2 high-power Kryo cores at 2.15GHz and 2 high-efficiency cores at 1.6GHz) alongside 4GB of RAM and an Adreno 530 GPU. With this package, the Pixel XL is mostly future proof, at least until Qualcomm’s next flagship chipset – expected to be the Snapdragon 830 – lands next year.
Before getting into the actual real world performance, let’s see how the package stacks up against the flagship processors inside the competition, including the A10 Fusion chipset powering the iPhone 7 Plus.
Next up is AnTuTu which combines CPU testing with an element of GPU testing and is a great way of testing all round performance. In this test, the Pixel XL scores 136883, which puts it high above the A10 Fusion (114975) and Exynos 8890 (127507) but it does fall slightly short of the Snapdragon 820-powered Xiaomi Mi 5, which scores 142084.
Lastly, we come to heavier GPU testing, with the Adreno 530 GPU inside the Pixel XL scoring 2476 in 3DMark’s Slingshot test (using ES 3.1). By way of comparison, this is higher than the iPhone 7 Plus’s A10 Fusion chipset (2210), the Exynos 8890 inside the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge (2187) and is on par with the Snapdragon 820 that powers the LG G5 (2447). Qualcomm’s Adreno GPU has always led the benchmark tests (versus the Mali GPU used in most other chipsets) and this certainly seems to continue with the Snapdragon 821.
Overall, the benchmarks show the Pixel XL has a computing package that’s on par, if not better, than the one inside it chief rivals but as we’ve seen previously, benchmarks scores don’t necessarily reflect real world performance.
Hardware
On the hardware front, the Pixel XL definitely seems to be on par with most flagships, save for the lack of microSD card expansion. There’s two storage options – 32GB and 128GB – and while you do get unlimited full resolution uploads to Google Photos with either Pixel, you’ll likely want to grab the 128GB version. In just 10 days, I’ve managed to use up 25GB of the 29.7GB available out of the box albeit this was without having backups to Google Photos turned on.
Having full uploads to Google Photos enabled coupled with automatic backups when connected to WiFi and charging makes it rather simple to always ensure the images have been synced to Google’s servers. When you do run low on space, Assistant’s Free Up Space feature checks which images on your phones have been backed up and can then delete them from local storage to free up space. As long as you’ve got an internet connection, you’ll still be able to see and access those images in the Photos app, but it’s quite slow, especially on a mobile data connection.
Storage aside, the Pixel XL does come with a plethora of hardware features you’d expect to see on a flagship smartphone in 2016, including LTE Cat 12, dual-band Wi-Fi n/ac, Bluetooth v4.2, NFC and a reversible USB Type-C 3.0 connector.
Also onboard in a fingerprint sensor on the rear, which is slightly larger than most fingerprint sensors used on other Android smartphones. Like the sensors in Huawei handsets, the Pixel XL also supports a swipe-down gesture that lets you quickly pull down your notification panel and while you won’t use it all the time, it’s definitely a nice feature to have. The fingerprint sensor is also rather quick to unlock your handset and seems to work almost all the time, although sometimes it’s possible to remove your finger before it’s been recognised. That being said, you’ll most likely find it the simplest way to unlock your phone, especially as you can unlock and wake the phone from sleep using just your fingerprint.
Durability is fast becoming a feature found on most flagship handsets, but while most devices seem to have an IP6X rating for proper dust and water resistance, the Pixel XL is rated at just IP53. What does this mean in real world usage? It’s rather simple – while the iPhone 7 Plus and Galaxy S7 Edge should survive a drop in the toilet or being caught in a heavy rainstorm, the Pixel XL most likely won’t. If you’re someone who’s broken a phone thanks to the liquid damage before and need this level of protection, the Pixel XL definitely doesn’t deliver.
While the hardware certainly seems to be on par with most flagship devices, it definitely seems that Google has stuck to the bare minimum. A software and services company at heart, this definitely shows as the Pixel XL relies on software elements to make up for any deficiencies in the hardware. The problem for Google is that charging a large amount for a flagship and then offering the bare minimum hardware isn’t a combination that entices users and against something like the Galaxy S7 Edge, which offers much better hardware at a similar price, the Pixel XL definitely comes up short.
Battery Life
Under the hood, there’s a 3,450mAh battery powering the entire Pixel XL experience, which is slightly more than the 3,000mAh unit inside the Pixel. The extra capacity doesn’t deliver any different battery life (thanks to the larger, denser display) and Josh, Lanh and I have all had mixed results when it comes to the battery life.
Lanh’s handset generally lasts an entire day and consistently achieves around 5 hours’ screen on time, even with very heavy usage. Meanwhile, the battery life on Josh’s handset is on the lower end of the average, with around 4 hours’ screen on time, again from a day of heavy usage.
Putting the handset through our custom battery testing app, we found the gaming battery life to be 4 hours and 45 minutes, which is on par with the experience we’ve all had. Of course, factors such as display brightness, how many apps are syncing in the background and how much you’re using the phone definitely impact on battery life but most, if not all, users should easily be able to get through an entire day’s usage.
For the times when you are running low, the Pixel XL supports rapid charging and within 30 minutes, you’ll find you can add up to 40 percent battery, although the whole thing does take around 2 hours to charge, which is definitely slower than Qualcomm’s own QuickCharge solution. Either way, Rapid Charging definitely helps to top up the battery when you’ve only got a limited amount of time.
Camera
At the launch of the Pixel and Pixel XL, Google focused on five key selling points for its flagship handsets, with the camera one of the key messages. Google claims the Pixel XL has the highest DxOMark rating for any smartphone (with a score of 89) but as we’ve seen previously, it doesn’t always reflect what’s most pleasing to the eye. As it stands, the Pixel XL camera definitely seems to live up to Google’s claims, mostly.
At the launch of the Pixel and Pixel XL, Google focused on five key selling points for its flagship handsets, with the camera one of the key messages. Google claims the Pixel XL has the highest DxOMark rating for any smartphone (with a score of 89) but as we’ve seen previously, it doesn’t always reflect what’s most pleasing to the eye. As it stands, the Pixel XL camera definitely seems to live up to Google’s claims, mostly.
In lowlight, the camera also continues to deliver, although it does have a few chinks in its armor. The biggest of these is the lack of Optical Image Stabilisation as while the ES (Electronic Stabilisation) does deliver somewhat, you need to keep your hands perfectly still otherwise you’ll likely end up with a noisy image full of grain. During my time with the Pixel XL, I’ve found that while the low light performance isn’t the best, most of the time, the photos are still good enough to share on social which is all most people will use it for.
Specifications
| Google Pixel | Google Pixel XL | |
|---|---|---|
| Display | 5.0-inch AMOLED 1920 x 1080 441ppi Fingerprint- and smudge-resistant oleophobic coating Gorilla Glass 4 | 5.5-inch AMOLED 2560 x 1440 534ppi Fingerprint- and smudge-resistant oleophobic coating Gorilla Glass 4 |
| Processor | Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 2.15Ghz + 1.6Ghz, 64Bit Quad-Core | Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 2.15Ghz + 1.6Ghz, 64Bit Quad-Core |
| GPU | Adreno 530 | Adreno 530 |
| RAM | 4GB LPDDR4 | 4GB LPDDR4 |
| Storage | 32/128GB | 32/128GB |
| MicroSD | No | No |
| Cameras | 12.3MP rear camera with f/2.0, 1.55μm large pixels, Phase Detection Autofocus (PDAF), Laser Detection Autofocus (LDAF), 4K (30fps) video capture, HD 240fps (8x), Full HD 120fps (4x) slow motion video, broad-spectrum CRI-90 dual-LED flash 8MP front camera with f/2.4 aperture, 1.4 µm pixels, Full HD video capture (30fps) | 12.3MP rear camera with f/2.0, 1.55μm large pixels, Phase Detection Autofocus (PDAF), Laser Detection Autofocus (LDAF), 4K (30fps) video capture, HD 240fps (8x), Full HD 120fps (4x) slow motion video, broad-spectrum CRI-90 dual-LED flash 8MP front camera with f/2.4 aperture, 1.4 µm pixels, Full HD video capture (30fps) |
| Battery | Non-removable 2,770mAh Fast charging: up to 7 hours of use from only 15 minutes of charging | Non-removable 3,450mAh Fast charging: up to 7 hours of use from only 15 minutes of charging |
| Media | Single bottom-firing speaker Adaptive audio amplifier 3 microphones (2 front, 1 rear) with noise cancellation | Single bottom-firing speaker Adaptive audio amplifier 3 microphones (2 front, 1 rear) with noise cancellation |
| Wireless and location | 4G LTE with 3x Carrier aggregation Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac 2x2 MIMO, dual-band (2.4 GHz, 5.0 GHz) Bluetooth 4.2 NFC GPS and GLONASS Digital compass | 4G LTE with 3x Carrier aggregation Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac 2x2 MIMO, dual-band (2.4 GHz, 5.0 GHz) Bluetooth 4.2 NFC GPS and GLONASS Digital compass |
| Network | World-wide network/carrier compatibility with:1 GSM: Quad-band GSM UMTS/WCDMA : B 1/2/4/5/8 CDMA: BC0/BC1/BC10 TDS-CDMA: N/A FDD LTE: B 1/2/3/4/5/7/8/12/13/17/20/25/26/28/29/30 TDD LTE: B 41 LTE 2xCA: B2+B2, B2+B4, B2+B5, B2+B12, B2+B13, B2+B17, B2+B29, B2+B30, B4+B4, B4+B5, B4+B7, B4+B12, B4+B13, B4+B17, B4+B29, B4+B30, B5+B30, B7+B7, B12+B30, B25+B25, B29+B30, B41+B41 LTE 3xCA: B2+B2+B12, B2+B2+B13, B2+B4+B4, B2+B4+B5, B2+B4+B12, B2+B4+B13, B2+B4+B29, B2+B5+B30, B2+B12+B30, B2+B29+B30, B4+B4+B12, B4+B4+B13, B4+B5+B30, B4+ B7+ B12, B4+B12+B30, B4+B29+B30, B41+B41+B41 Pixel is an unlocked phone and works on major carrier networks. | World-wide network/carrier compatibility with:1 GSM: Quad-band GSM UMTS/WCDMA : B 1/2/4/5/8 CDMA: BC0/BC1/BC10 TDS-CDMA: N/A FDD LTE: B 1/2/3/4/5/7/8/12/13/17/20/25/26/28/29/30 TDD LTE: B 41 LTE 2xCA: B2+B2, B2+B4, B2+B5, B2+B12, B2+B13, B2+B17, B2+B29, B2+B30, B4+B4, B4+B5, B4+B7, B4+B12, B4+B13, B4+B17, B4+B29, B4+B30, B5+B30, B7+B7, B12+B30, B25+B25, B29+B30, B41+B41 LTE 3xCA: B2+B2+B12, B2+B2+B13, B2+B4+B4, B2+B4+B5, B2+B4+B12, B2+B4+B13, B2+B4+B29, B2+B5+B30, B2+B12+B30, B2+B29+B30, B4+B4+B12, B4+B4+B13, B4+B5+B30, B4+ B7+ B12, B4+B12+B30, B4+B29+B30, B41+B41+B41 Pixel is an unlocked phone and works on major carrier networks. |
| Ports | USB Type-C Nano SIM 3.5mm audio jack USB 3.0 data transfer | USB Type-C Nano SIM 3.5mm audio jack USB 3.0 data transfer |
| Sensors | Pixel Imprint Accelerometer/Gyroscope Magnetometer Barometer Proximity sensor/Ambient Light Sensor Hall sensor Android Sensor Hub | Pixel Imprint Accelerometer/Gyroscope Magnetometer Barometer Proximity sensor/Ambient Light Sensor Hall sensor Android Sensor Hub |
| Other | RGB LED notification light | RGB LED notification light |
| Wireless charging | No | No |
| Water resistance | IP53 | IP53 |
| Software | Android 7.1 Nougat | Android 7.1 Nougat |
| Colors | Very Silver, Quite Black, Really Blue (Limited Edition) | Very Silver, Quite Black, Really Blue (Limited Edition) |
| Dimensions and weight | 143.8 x 69.5 x 8.6mm 143g | 154.7 x 75.7 x 8.6mm 168g |
Conclusion
There’s no doubt that if you want the Pixel or the Pixel XL, you’ll definitely be paying a premium for having access to Google’s latest experience. The question you’re probably asking right now is – should you buy either?
Positives
Google Assistant is fantastic
Excellent camera with HDR+ and ES
Lighting fast experience
Above average battery life
Above average speaker performance
Great display
Pixel Launcher is one of the best interfaces
Excellent camera with HDR+ and ES
Lighting fast experience
Above average battery life
Above average speaker performance
Great display
Pixel Launcher is one of the best interfaces
Negatives
Generic, understated design
Easily chipped and dented
Lack of OIS can affect videos
High price tag
Easily chipped and dented
Lack of OIS can affect videos
High price tag
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