The Google Pixel XL is Perhaps the Best Android Smartphone Out There

The Nexus series of smartphones are no more. Instead, we now have the Google Pixel and Pixel XL. These smartphones have been developed entirely by Google, unlike the Nexus phones for which the company had collaborated with the likes of LG and HTC. Google developed all the hardware and software to produce the Pixel smartphones, which many believe are the best Android devices in the market as of today.

Now, let us take a closer look at the larger Pixel variant – the Pixel XL – and see if the hype is real.

Google Pixel XL – Specifications

Form Factor

The Google Pixel XL has been receiving some criticism for its design and rightly so. The smartphone has a rather rudimentary design, especially at the front. Its big chin seems like an unnecessary waste of space considering the fact that the area offers no functionality whatsoever.

The smartphone has a glass-aluminum unibody design with curved edges. It has the dimensions – 154.7 x 75.7 x 8.6 mm – and weighs 168 grams. The aerospace-grade device has Pixel Imprint at the back, which is basically a fingerprint scanner.

Display

The smartphone has a 5.5-inch QHD AMOLED display with 16.77 million colors. The display has a resolution of 1,440 x 2,560 pixels, which translates to an incredible pixel density of 534 ppi. Also, the 2.5D display comes with Corning Gorilla Glass 4 protection.

More from iSpyPrice: Check out more features on the Google Pixel XL mobile here

Architecture, Memory, and Operating System

The Google Pixel XL is powered by a 2.15Ghz + 1.6Ghz, 64-bit Quad Core Snapdragon 821 processor and an Adreno 530 GPU.

The device has a 4GB LPDDR4 RAM. As for internal memory, the smartphone comes with two options – 32 GB and 128 GB. It does not support a microSD card and, therefore, the memory is not expandable.

As for the operating system, the device runs Android 7.1 Nougat out-of-the-box. Buyers will get two years of OS updates and three years of security updates.

The Pixel phones are the first to have Google Assistant built in, which has impressive machine learning features. The voice assistant seems pretty conversational and intelligent. It is definitely on par with Siri or perhaps even better. Decide for yourself after checking out this video in which MKBHD pits the Google Assistant against the latest version of Siri.

Camera and Battery

Google claims that the Pixel models have the highest rated smartphone camera. The Google Pixel XL has a 12.3-megapixel primary camera and an 8-megapixel secondary camera.

The primary camera has an f/2.0 aperture with 1.55 μm pixels. It features both phase and laser detection autofocus. On the other hand, the secondary camera has an f/2.4 aperture, 1.4 μm pixels, and fixed focus.

As for video recording, the smartphone can capture 1,080p videos at 30 fps, 60 fps, and 120 fps; 720p videos at 30 fps, 60 fps, and 240 fps; and 4K videos at 30 fps.

The Pixel XL is powered by a fairly good 3,450 mAh battery, which allows for Internet use time (Wi-Fi/LTE) up to 14 hours. The smartphone also comes with fast charging; it reportedly holds 7 hours of charge from just 15 minutes of charging.

Connectivity and Sensors

The Google Pixel XL is a single SIM (LTE) device with 4G VoLTE support. Other connectivity features include GPRS, EDGE, Wi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac), Bluetooth v4.2, GPS, USB Type-C, and yes, a 3.5-mm audio jack.

The sensors incorporated in the smartphone include accelerometer/gyrometer, magnetometer, proximity/ALS, barometer, and hall effect sensor.

It is pretty evident that Google, through its Pixel smartphones, is competing with Apple. Google has matched the prices of both Pixel XL variants with those of the iPhone 7 Plus variants (32 GB and 128 GB).

As for specifications, the iPhone 7 Plus has a Quad Core A10 Fusion processor, clocked a little higher at 2.23 GHz. However, it falls short when it comes to memory, as it has only 3 GB of RAM. Moreover, the Pixel XL has a superior AMOLED display, a slightly better camera unit (at least on paper), and a much better battery.

Overall, Google seems to have done a fantastic job with the Pixel smartphones. These devices are less about looks and more focused on performance.

Both Pixel phones come in three color options, amusingly named Quite Black, Very Silver, and Really Blue. Folks on the interweb seemed to have quite a lot of fun trolling the company for the same.

As for price, the 32 GB and 128 GB variants of the Google Pixel XL cost Rs. 67,000 and Rs. 76,000, respectively.