Google Pixel 3 XL smartphone - pros and cons

In the fall of 2018, two highly anticipated new items were released Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL. The excitement before the release was no less than at the presentation of the new Apple or Samsung. These smartphones have been waiting for as the popular second generation Pixel models have been very successful. The Pixel 3 XL has been particularly controversial. This review is dedicated to her.

Differences between Pixel 3 XL and Pixel 3

Pixel 3 XL is the older version of the third generation of smartphones from Google. As the name suggests, XL differs primarily in size and, accordingly, screen characteristics. It has a display of 6.2 inches versus 5.5, and a resolution of 2960 x 1440 versus 2160 x 1080. The XL also has a more powerful battery of 3,430 mAh versus 2,915 mAh. The rest of the filling is the same.

In terms of looks, the XL is certainly larger and heavier. The front panel design of the classic "three" is rather ordinary, without bangs, in contrast to the controversial XL design with a large monobrow.

Equipment

The delivery of the smartphone includes quite a few adapters and a good branded headset. In the box, in addition to the smartphone itself, you can find the following:

• charging supporting fast mode;
• wired headphones;
• USB Type-C cable;
• adapter for 3.5 mm jack;
• adapter to the USB Type-A interface;
• a clip for removing a SIM card;
• instruction.

Appearance

The first thing that immediately catches your eye on the front panel is a large monobrow and a rather big chin. Reviews about bangs and chin on the Internet are already numerous and extremely unflattering. In the end, design is a matter of taste, some will like it, and some will not pay any attention to it. You can probably somehow explain the large, monitor-free areas above and below the fact that the phone has a dual front camera and stereo speakers. But other manufacturers have managed to solve the issue with more elegant speakers, and modern cameras do not take up too much space. The bezels are very narrow at the edges of the screen.

Body materials - glass and plastic. On the rear glass panel there is a glossy strip on top, frosted glass below. The device is pleasant to the touch and comfortable in the hand. The back panel, unlike the front, looks good, but the matte surface is very scratch-prone. At the top left there is a single video camera and a flash. In the middle is a fingerprint scanner. The sensor is easy to find as its texture differs from the rest of the glass panel surface. It works clearly and quickly.

On the left is a SIM card slot. On the right is the volume rocker and the power button, which stands out in color in all color options except black.

The phone is dustproof and waterproof. Dimensions of the device: 158 x 76.7 x 7.9 mm.

There are three colors available:

• the black;
• white;
• light pink.

Specifications

Below in the table are the main specifications of the Google Pixel 3 XL

Screen

The smartphone has a large OLED screen, diagonal - 6.3 inches, resolution - 2960 x 1440 pixels. Very good ppi at 522 ppi. The aspect ratio is stated to be 18.5: 9, but in reality it is closer to 2: 1, since the rounded corners and the monobrow take up a lot of space. Only service information fits next to the bangs.

Perhaps the screen is not bright enough for a flagship. Not everything is clearly visible in the sun. The brightness is only 424 nits, which is even lower than the second generation Pixel. And the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 is about one and a half times brighter. But this is the only drawback of the display. Otherwise, it surpasses everything that was released in the fall of 2018. Here, the viewing angles are record for the smartphone market, though slightly, but surpassing both the Galaxy Note 9 and the iPhone XS Max.

Color reproduction is very accurate, almost perfect white. In addition, in the settings you can choose from three modes of color saturation. The Pixel 3 XL has the best anti-glare coating in a smartphone, close to the records set by the latest iPads.

In general, the display (with the exception of one indicator) tops the rating of quality flagship screens. It's great for playing games as well as watching videos and photos.

operating system

Software is, of course, the strongest point of Google smartphones. As usual, Google has a clean and newest Android 9 Pie on its smartphone. Unlock by face is supported. There is also a touch frame with which you can control your smartphone, as was the case with HTC devices. Clicking on the frame launches Google Assistant, connecting all of its functionality. The sensitivity of the sensor can be adjusted.

The gesture control system, which was launched in Pixel 2, received further development. If you get used to it (and it will take no more than a few days), it turns out that it is more convenient than the traditional control of buttons.

Android 9 introduces many new AI-powered features. Android monitors and analyzes user actions and tries to adapt to him. For example, if a user is constantly rejecting messages of a certain type, then after a while the operating system will suggest not showing such notifications at all. If in some applications the user constantly performs the same operations, then Android itself will offer to do this action.

There is a new useful Digital Wellbeing feature that keeps statistics of the time spent by the user for each application. This allows you to analyze where the time is going and to do time management. This will help App Timer, which allows you to set a limit on the use of certain programs.

Here, for the first time on a smartphone, the Smart Compose function of Gmail is implemented. It is a continuation and extension of Smart Reply. It is difficult to say how useful this can be in real life, but, in any case, it is curious.

And a nice bonus - when buying a new Pixel, you get unlimited space on Google Drive until January 31, 2022, where you can store videos and photos.

Performance

Qualcomm's flagship Snapdragon 845 together with pure Android 9 give excellent performance.In 2018, many of the best manufacturers are presenting their popular models on this chipset. The processor has only 8 cores, 4 at 2.8 GHz plus 4 - 1.8 GHz. The graphics processor is Adreno 630. The chipset is very smart. Already well tested, suitable for active games and for working with many different applications. In addition, to aid video processing, Google also added its Pixel Visual Core processor, which was first used in the second generation Pixels.

After a long enough time spent playing games, the phone heats up a little, but not too much. Everything goes without brakes even at maximum game settings, and everything looks great on a large high-resolution screen.

The RAM is only 4 GB, which is enough in most cases, but very little for a flagship. External memory 64 or 128 GB. This is also a bit, considering that it cannot be increased in any way, since there is no microSD slot.

Autonomy

The Pixel 3 XL has a 3,430 mAh battery, which is not very capacious by modern standards, and even with all the optimization of Android, mediocre autonomy. With continuous operation, the battery lasts for about 10 hours, in games it lasts for about 5 hours.

The included charger allows you to charge your phone very quickly. In an hour and a half, it is possible to charge the device by about three quarters. Along with 3rd Generation Pixels, Google released its own wireless charger for $ 95, which isn't cheap to say the least.

Cameras

The popularity of previous generation Pixel models is largely due to the exceptional quality of the cameras. Some buyers bought smartphones just because of them. Let's see how the device takes pictures, whether it managed to keep the high bar set at the time by Pixel 2.

Main camera

Google goes against global trends and puts a rear camera consisting of only one module, while most manufacturers put 2 or 3 modules each, and Samsung has released a model already with 4 optical modules... Google is trying to prove to the whole world that the main thing is not the hardware, but the software part in this process. Indeed, the camera parameters are modest - 12.2 megapixel resolution, f / 1.8 aperture. There is optical stabilization here, which helps, of course, artificial intelligence to correct the imperfections of photographs.

During the day, the picture quality is excellent. Autofocus works flawlessly. Color rendition, detail, sharpness - everything is on top. The quality of pictures during the day is comparable to those of the iPhone XS Max.

Budget models now differ from the top ones not in how they shoot during the day, but how their camera takes pictures at night. And here you can immediately see that Pixel is the flagship. Detail is not lost, focus remains at a height, and artificial intelligence skillfully draws what the optics could not see. In night shots, Pixel even beat the iPhone.

But the physical limitations of a single camera cannot always be circumvented. Still, there is not enough real optical zoom and real background blur. Google has undeniably the best solution for one camera, but one camera is difficult for a flagship. And contradicting itself, Google has already used two optical modules in the front camera.

If the Pixel 3 is ahead of the “two” in photo quality, then the video shoots about the same. An interesting innovation is the ability to switch from 30 frames per second to 60 frames without stopping the shooting, which, however, has already been implemented on new iPhones.

Selfie camera

The front camera has two 8 megapixel modules, one regular, the other wide-angle. The second module is for group selfies. Here is an interesting Photobooth function that allows you to take a photo without pressing a button, just recognizing a smile. Selfies are very good quality, especially wide-angle portraits look fresh.

Sample photos

Wireless interfaces

Everything is fine with modern technologies - there is NFC, dual-band Wi Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS. But Dual Sim is not supported. Instead of a full-fledged second SIM card, an electronic e-SIM, which is far from being supported everywhere. This of course can be understood - Google initially focused its smartphones on the American market.But it's hard to forgive, even the indestructible Apple has already given up on this issue. There is also no radio.

Sound

The stereo speakers are not only loud but also good in sound quality. The phone vibrates slightly at low frequencies. The sound from the speakers is comparable to the iPhone XS and better than the Galaxy Note 9. The sound from the headphones is good, they are comfortable enough, but they have almost no noise isolation. Plus, they support Google Assistant. Therefore, by holding down the volume button, you can receive voice messages.

Price

How much does the Pixel 3 XL cost? Average price - $ 899 version with 64 GB and $ 999 with 128 GB. Expensive, considering the phone's characteristics that are not outstanding for a flagship. Where to buy Pixel profitably? Unfortunately, official deliveries to the markets of Russia and Ukraine are not planned. This is another disadvantage of this smartphone.

Comparison with other models

Is the Pixel 3 XL worth the money and which model should you buy? Some of Google's software bells and whistles aside, it turns out that many low-cost Snapdragon 845-based models are not much different from the Pixel 3 XL. This series includes Xiaomi Mi 8, OnePlus 6, Meizu 16, LG G7 and others. Many of them have a more attractive appearance, more memory, and even the cameras of some are closer to the Pixel (for example, Xiaomi Mi 8). And they are all much more attractive in price.

When compared with the flagships of Apple and Samsung, the Pixel 3 XL, approaching them in cost, can hardly compete with them in the technical part. His camera is still very competitive though. How to choose the right model? All determine the selection criteria. The third generation pixel can still only be bought because of the camera, although the competition has certainly come a lot closer. The question of which smartphone is better for many is also not worth it, since Google certainly has its fans.

Bottom line: the pros and cons of the Google Pixel 3 XL

• high performance;
• latest reference Android 9;
• large screen with high resolution;
• great cameras;
• good speakers and headphones included;
• support for wireless and fast charging.

• controversial design;
• only 4 GB of RAM;
• there is no way to expand memory;
• support for only one SIM card;
• insufficiently powerful battery;
• high price.

The Pixel 3 XL is a step up from Google's second generation models. It is a reliable and productive smartphone with a very good screen and cameras and with a price equal to the flagships of Apple and Samsung.