When Google unveiled the Pixel and Pixel XL on 4th October 2016, I was underwhelmed. The phone had Google Assistant and all the goodness of vanilla Android but the design felt too uninspired and I didn’t agree with the pricing at all. Moreover, I really, really love the front facing stereo speakers from my Nexus 6P and to see them missing on both the Pixels was terrible. But, I was still excited for the phone, especially about the new camera which Google claimed was ‘the best camera ever put on a smartphone’. Bold claims!
So nearly a month has gone by, I’ve gone hands on with the device, and man have my views changed! I tried the Quite Black Pixel and Very Silver Pixel XL and while the Silver felt a bit mundane to me, the black is simply put, gorgeous. The back of the phone is part metal and part glass and this combination looks the best on the Quite Black color. I haven’t been able to use the Really Blue color though so more on that later.
What I love most about the new Google Phones is that the smaller variant, the Pixel is not underpowered when compared to the bigger XL variant.
It gives good battery life and has the same internals as the XL. It does come with a 1080p display compared to a 2K panel on the bigger version, but both the displays look great so I wouldn’t worry about that.
While I could not test the Google Assistant and the Camera in-depth in my brief hands on period, I think it’s safe to say that both are promising at the very least. The camera is said to be on par with the S7 Edge and the iPhone 7 Plus which is a great achievement, since both of them have excellent cameras.
So these were my initial thoughts on the Google Pixel and Pixel XL. I had no idea I would be this excited about these devices when they first launched. Can’t wait to get a review device and bring my full review for you guys. Really high hopes for this one.
