After the long awaited arrival of the latest iPhones, Google has finally de-queued its own flagships in the form of the Pixel and Pixel XL. The rumor mill duly suggested that the name Nexus was nearing its end due to some reason Google deemed necessary for it to make a genuine impact and there we have it; Google’s new smartphone line will be marketed by the name of Pixel phones. Details about the Pixel XL after the jump.
Build quality and display
The Pixel XL is the larger of the Pixel siblings imminently arriving in the market. Just like the Nexus 6P was to the Nexus 5X, same goes for the Pixel and Pixel XL but we do believe that the 6P was a more beautiful smartphone. The Pixel XL features an all metal unibody like its smaller counterpart with the front panel receiving Corning Gorilla Glass 4 protection and an unknown quantity in the form of a glass window stretching from the camera to just below the fingerprint sensor taking its place on the Pixel XL’s back.
We’re not sure if it has some purpose but we do feel it’s effecting the smartphone’s looks in a negative manner. The 8.5mm width is also more than full mm thicker than the Nexus 6P with no waterproofing either! That’s one of the areas where Google could’ve made the Pixel XL a little bit better.
The display features a 5.5 inches AMOLED capacitive touchscreen with 534ppi pixel density. This translates to a staggering 1440p HD resolution ensuring that viewing even your home screen is a pleasure without bounds.
Cameras
We’ve continually sung the praises of Google’s Nexus cameras so the Pixel XL has all our best wishes to perform at at-least the very same level. The new primary camera is known to perform extremely well under lowlighting due to its excellent 12 megapixel sensor with phase detection and laser autofocus while the 8 megapixel selfie camera is also welcome news.
Hardware and Software
The Pixel XL is powered by an excellently optimized group of hardware comprising of a Quad-Core processor and 4GB of RAM. In short, no lag on the built in Android Nougat v7.1 while the internal storage banks at 32GB with another one being a 128GB variant albeit with no external card slots. Fingerprint and USB Type-C are its other notable mentions while the large 3450 mAh battery promises excellent battery time.
General Features | |
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Release Date | 01 Oct 2016 |
SIM Support | Nano-SIM |
Phone Dimensions | 6.09 x 2.98 x 0.33 in |
Phone Weight | 168 g |
Operating System | Android 7.1 (Nougat), upgradable to Android 9.0 (Pie) |
Display | |
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Screen Size | 5.5 inches |
Screen Resolution | 1440 x 2560 pixels |
Screen Type | AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors |
Screen Protection | Corning Gorilla Glass 4 |
Memory | |
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Internal Memory | 32/128 GB |
RAM | 4 GB RAM |
Card Slot | No |
Performance | |
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Processor | Quad-core (2x2.15 GHz Kryo & 2x1.6 GHz Kryo) |
GPU | Adreno 530 |
Battery | |
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Type | Non-removable Li-Ion 3450 mAh battery |
Camera | |
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Front Camera | 8 MP |
Front Flash Light | null |
Front Video Recording | 1080p@30fps |
Back Flash Light | Yes |
Back Camera | 12 |
Back Video Recording | 2160p@30fps, 1080p@60/120fps, 1080p@30fps (gyro-EIS), 720p@240fps |
Connectivity | |
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Bluetooth | Yes |
3G | null |
4G/LTE | Yes |
Radio | No |
WiFi | Yes |
NFC | Yes |