For the last few years, many of us have seen Android through the eyes of manufacturers such as Samsung, HTC, LG, Micromax and many others. It’s not just the hardware but these manufacturers have also changed the OS experience with the help of customised UIs. Liking them or not is a completely personal choice, but there are many Android enthusiasts out there who like Android OS just way it’s designed by Google. For the last six years, Nexus phones were the closest thing to having a complete Stock UI experience. However, Google this year has changed their strategy completely, by deciding to manufacture a smartphone themselves. It was a bold move and the outcome of the move are the new Pixel and the Pixel XL. Google announced them in October this year. Although the hardware might still come from a third-party OEM, there’s no doubt these phones offer the most authentic Android experience you can get. The phones come with state-of-the-art hardware and feature the latest Android 7 (Nougat) operating system. They also come integrated with Google Assistant, the new and advanced voice assistant by Android. The Pixel XL, going by the name is the bigger brother, the only difference being a bigger 5.5-inch screen and a bigger battery. Obviously it’s also big on price. The 32GB variant of the Pixel XL is priced around Rs. 67,000*, which is not shying away from other flagships in the market right now. However, does the Google brand give the Pixel XL an edge over other big-screen smartphones? Let’s find out in this detailed review.
Design and Build
Google has done a decent job of making the Pixel XL stand out. The Pixel XL features an aluminium body, which makes the phone sturdy. The smooth brushed finish on the chassis and the antenna strips at the bottom gives it a premium feel too. However, the most distinctive feature of the design has to be the glass coating on the upper portion of the back panel. It gives the Pixel XL a unique identity. At the centre of the glass coating, is the fingerprint sensor. The phone is available in two colours. Google calls them Quite Black and Very Silver. We have the black unit, which we think looks very good.
When you compare it with other phones, the Pixel XL does seem a little bulky, measuring 8.5mm in thickness. At 168g though, it’s actually one of the lighter big-screen phones. It’s also easy to hold. The slightly chamfered edges and curvy corners makes the phone easy to operate with in one hand.
At the front, the screen is protected with a Gorilla Glass 4 coating. It’s strong but fingerprints are a problem. The same goes for the glass panel at the back. The bezel around the screen is thin, but we think the chin of the phone could’ve been smaller. It would’ve made the phone more portable. The screen-to-body ratio is 71.2 per cent, which is still decent. You can still operate the phone with one-handed operation. However, people with smaller hands might need to get used to the huge form factor.
A big disappointment is that the Pixel XL is only IP53 rated. This means that the phone is both dust and water resistant, but only to an extent. It’s water resistant in the rain, but taking it out with you by the pool won’t be a good idea. That’s bad because most flagships today are waterproof and we expected the same from the Pixel XL, especially when it demands such a high price. The headphone jack is placed at the top, while the USB Type-C port is at the bottom. There are slim speaker grills on either side of the USB port. The phone supports only one Nano SIM and the tray for that can be seen on the right side of the phone. The standby button and the volume rocker keys are placed on the other side and are easily accessible while using the phone in one hand.
Features
On paper, the Google Pixel XL features state-of-the-art hardware. The Pixel XL comes with the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor. It’s one of the most powerful processors at the moment, featuring four cores, clocked at 2.15 GHz. The processor supports all the latest features, including better graphics and improved battery efficiency compared to its predecessor (Snapdragon 820). It also raises the bar for VR support, which is highly anticipated on the Pixel XL, because of Google’s VR offering, Daydream. In the memory department, you get 4GB of RAM, which should prove to be pretty good for multi-tasking, when tagged along the Snapdragon processor. There is no SD card support, but if you want more storage space, you can opt for the 128GB variant, which will set you back a good Rs. 76,000*. Besides that you get the latest features from Pixel XL, including VoLTE, Wi-Fi AC and NFC support. What really makes Pixel XL special is what’s on the inside. The new Android 7 (Nougat) comes layered with a new launcher and a whole set of features. The interface is quite different this time around. The homescreen doesn’t have an app drawer button anymore. On the Pixel XL, sliding up from the bottom, reveals the app drawer. Stock Android also means no bloatware to deal with. So you only get the standard Google apps when you open the app drawer.
The Settings panel has also undergone many changes. Now, you can slide a layer of added settings. You also get some suggestions here. The notification bar also gets an additional panel. Scrolling down reveals the quick settings like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Airplane mode and others. Swiping down further extends the panel showing more settings. You can customize these to your preference.
The best part though is the ability to respond to notifications right from the notifications panel. For example, if you get a text message on WhatsApp, you can simply scroll down on the notification bar and type in a reply without even having to open the app. We absolutely love this feature. It’s very handy. Talking about shortcuts, Google has also embedded app icons with some quick pop-up options. You can long-press an icon and the see relevant quick shortcuts. However, it only works with a limited set of apps as of now. More apps might use this feature as it becomes more popular.
Besides security, Google has integrated three gesture controls. Our favourite is using the fingerprint sensor as a touch panel to scroll down the notifications bar, without having to touch the screen. This is handy while playing games or watching videos. The talk of town though is Google Assistant. It’s the new voice assistant on Pixel XL, which might replace Google Now. It’s quite the upgrade too and it’s more advanced in every way. It understands context much better than Google Now, which increase possibilities almost tenfold. For example, you can ask it to look up for Photos of your vacations from last year or direction to home. Its integration with the Google ecosystem helps it understand your preferences better and thereby present more relevant results. That encourages you to use Google Assistant more often.
Google Assistant also comes with its own party piece. It’ll even entertain you when you’re bored by cracking jokes if you ask it to. It has all kinds of games integrated too. We see Google Assistant as a pivotal feature when it comes to choosing Android over other operating systems and the fact that all these features are available on the Pixel XL, gives it an edge over its competition. The 5.5-inch screen comes with a QHD resolution (1440 x 2560) with a high pixel density of 534ppi. The bigger, shaper screen lets the Pixel XL take full advantage of the new split-screen feature in Android 7.0. The results are vibrant and detailed no matter if you’re watching videos, playing games or browsing pictures. It also features a Night Light feature, which gives the screen a warmer tone making it much subtler to look at during night time.
Google openly claims that the Pixel phones have the best cameras at the moment. The claim comes on the basis of the DxOMark test, in which it scored the highest score of 89. The rear camera on pixel features a 12.3MP sensor, with the capability of shooting 4K videos. At the front you get an 8MP camera with a wide angle lens. Google seems to have improved on their HDR+ mode, first featured in their Nexus phones which was able to capture better contrast while reducing noise in the image substantially. The camera can also maintain good exposure and detail in low-light scenarios. It’s surprising that optical image stabilization doesn’t make the cut. However, Google claims that their electronic stabilization system works better, especially while recording videos.
Google has also included a Lens Blur mode, which lets you keep a certain part of the frame in focus and make the background blurry. The Camera app looks pretty neat. It boasts a good number of features but it isn’t cluttered. It’s easy to use and quite quick at its feat too. You can switch between photo and video modes, with the help of a single swipe on the screen. One of the gestures included lets you switch between cameras by simply shaking the phone. When in hurry, you can also open the camera app by pressing the standby button twice or by even asking Google Assistant to do so.
Google knows how crazy people are going to go using the camera on the Pixel XL and for that reason you get unlimited storage for photos and videos online, through the Photos app. You can choose to automatically sync all your recorded photos and videos online.
The battery on the Pixel XL has a capacity of 3,450 mAh, which is decent for a 5.5-inch screen phone. The phone carries a Type-C port and supports fast charging technology. You get up to 7 hours of battery life in just 15 minutes of charging. This is a good feature for those constantly on the move. Overall, with the added efficiency of the Battery Saver Mode and the Doze feature, you should be able to use the Pixel XL without charge for more than day.
Performance
In the time we spent with the Google Pixel XL, we absolutely fell in love with phone. It has everything a flagship has to offer, in some cases, even more. Right from the start, the performance was just astounding. The interface felt lightning fast when playing around with settings and jumping between apps. Even with multiple apps and games running simultaneous, we couldn’t find any sort of lag. It’s just fun to see a phone respond so quickly. We ran a couple of benchmarks on the Google Pixel XL and got the following results.
The device fails to take the top spot on the AnTuTu and Quadrant Standard benchmark charts, but it’s not too far behind other flagships. On GeekBench, scores were lacking in both, single core and multi-score. In practicality though, we see the Pixel XL’s performance to be on par with other flagship phones. With heavy games like Asphalt 8: Airborne, FIFA 17 and N.O.V.A 3, the performance was just brilliant. We even ran these games side-by-side and didn’t face a single issue. The games ran smoothly at the highest quality, which made them more fun to play on the Pixel XL’s big screen. The phone does get a little warm, but it’s not as big a problem as we’ve noticed with other devices. The Pixel XL is truly one of the best smartphones for gaming.
The 5.5-inch display is really good. It’s not extremely bright, but looks vibrant under bright sunlight. The Pixel XL offers an immersive experience, be it games, videos or pictures you’re looking for. The split-screen feature works brilliantly on the screen. We used it on multiple occasions, and loved just how simple it was to go through the Instagram feed while browsing the web on Chrome. The only time it doesn’t work well is when you try typing something on the app in the lower half of the screen. The keypad takes over the screen. You can still work with it, in landscape mode.
The two speakers at the bottom are loud, but not very clear. The output distorts a bit when you crank the volume to the max, when you’re playing games such as Asphalt 8: Airborne. Photos we clicked using the rear camera are extremely detailed. It’s possible to see every single spec of detail, even when you zoom in on images. The camera is quick to focus, from the moment you start the camera app. With decent amount of light around, the camera capture accurate colours. However, with brighter lighting, images can look a bit more saturated and carry a warm colour tinge. In every other scenario though, the White Balance gets the right exposure.
In low-light situations you have to depend on the HDR+ mode. It makes a big difference in images. We noticed some colours to be subtle, but the overall contrast makes up for it, while not forgetting to mention that the sharpness makes images look surreal. On most occasions, the Lens Blur is a great feature to play around with. It works marvellously with standard portrait shots and adds a dramatic feel to them. However, with macro shots, we found it a little difficult to get the focus right. Up close, the camera gets a little jittery and doesn’t focus correctly in the first try. The lack of optical image stabilization doesn’t really show while taking photos. We shot full HD videos while walking around and the results were very smooth. The camera focusses swiftly while turning around. The results weren’t similar while shooting in 4K. We covered the same ground and found the recorded videos to stutter a bit.
The 8MP front camera is also a delight to use. It’s smooth and the wide angle make it perfect for using video calling apps such as Skype and Duo. Selfies look vibrant with natural skin tones, but photos don’t look as well detailed.
Verdict
Is the Google Pixel XL the best smartphone out there? That can be debatable, but does the Google Pixel XL have the best Android experience? There is no doubt about that. The Google Pixel XL is a great example of where the software and hardware come together to offer a streamlined experience all around. For us, it’s the clean Android interface, stunning camera performance and Google Assistant that puts it above its competition.
