Google has been making the Android ecosystem that has served as the backbone for some of the most successful phones out there: from the Samsung Galaxy series, to LG's G family, HTC's One devices, Motorola's Moto devices, and many others.
None of them, however, seemed to be a perfect platform for Google's Android, and that's why this year Google itself has decided to build a brand new phone that will be just that.
An all-around Google phone
The 5" Google Pixel and 5.5" Pixel XL are exactly that: devices where Google makes not only the software, but has complete control over the design and hardware. Up until now, this has been Apple's biggest bragging right: its iPhone had both its software and hardware made by one company, perfectly optimized for all sorts of added efficiency.
To explore all of the secrets of the Google Pixel XL, you can take a look at our detailed review here, but if you want just the most important stuff about the new 'Google phone', feel free to browse through the slides right below.
Google Pixel XL review key takeaways
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Google claims the Pixel XL has the highest rated camera ever, but does it mean that it's the best camera out there? Maybe not the best, but it certainly seems to be on par with the iPhone 7 and Galaxy S7. It defaults to using Google's smart HDR+ algorithm every time, but the effect you get is simply an image with a very high dynamic range, and not an artificial, HDR-y picture. It's also instant and you can't even tell that you're shooting with an HDR effect turned on: there is no delay waiting for some complex processing as with other phones' HDR feature. Images have luscious color and look very well balanced, skin tones are conveyed in a natural manner, and overall the result is excellent. Its pictures lack a bit of a pop that you get with iPhone images, for instance, and at night, the Pixel XL overprocesses images, but those are minor complaint. Video is shot at 4K and has an extremely good stabilization.
The Pixel XL has an excellent camera on par with the best out there
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The Google Pixel XL is available in a 32GB and 128GB storage models, but you don't ever need to worry about running out of storage: Google provides free backups to its excellent imaging service for life and this gets important after you've used a phone for a year or so, and those pictures have piled up.
You don't need to worry about running out of storage
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The Pixel XL has a 5.5" AMOLED display with the signature impressively deep blacks and rich colors. The default option is for colors to look vibrant, overblown and not sRGB-compliant. Brightness is not on par with the latest iPhone and the Pixel XL is a bit dimmer, which makes it a bit harder to read what's on the screen when you're outside on a sunny day. The XL features a nice 'Night Light' feature that cuts the blue light out of the screen at night and makes it easier to not lose any sleep after using the phone at night.
Its AMOLED screen looks extremely good
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We ran our custom battery life test on the Pixel XL and got 7 hours and 19 minutes of on-screen time, on par with the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, which has proven to be a phone with a very reliable and long-lasting battery. If you expected crazy battery longevity because of Android 7 Nougat and the optimizations that Google has made... well, it's not here, but this is still one phone with very good battery life. In real life, we got around a day and a few hours on a single charge, but we're not yet in that dream two-day territory here. Good news is that fast charging is present, and it takes just a few minutes shy of 2 hours to fully recharge the Pixel XL from 0 to 100%.
Battery life is very good and there is fast charging on board
![Google Assistant knows context and is better than other assistants, but it]()
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The new Google Assistant is in fact the hidden reason behind the Pixel XL's existence: it is the first version of the Google of the future, a personalized search tool / assistant that answers your questions and helps you out. You bring it up by saying out loud Ok, Google (which still sounds kind of ridiculous), or by long a tap on the circular home key. In reality, the Google Assistant still has way too many limitations that you'd encounter and that would quickly frustrate you away from using it regularly. There are two new and good things about it: it understands you better and knows context now. Say, you're browsing a page about an upcoming movie - bring up the Google Assistant there and ask it about the cast and it should know it. Ask about the main actor, and it should know. Ask about his wife and it should know. This context awareness is something that is not yet available with Siri, so Google is ahead of the game here.
Google Assistant knows context and is better than other assistants, but it's still not a smart-enough assistant on its own
image
One of the key features of last year's iPhone 6s was 3D Touch. Press harder on an icon and you get to see neat shortcuts. The feature has become even better and more accurate on the iPhone 7, while Android still lacks something similar. Or rather lacked: the Pixel XL is the first phone from a mainstream brand to offer an alternative: rather than relying on force, you simple long press an icon to get a similar list of shortcuts. It's a perfectly simple solution that is not quite as fast as on the iPhone, but still works well and is better than not having those quick shortcuts.
It features a 3D Touch-like shortcut
image
It's embarrassing for Android as a platform that even some flagships on the platform still come with a slight, but noticeable stutter. Google knows it, after all it's something that Apple often uses to poke fun of Android. Well, here's a fix: the Pixel XL. Thanks to careful optimizations, this feels like one of the smoothest Android phones ever. Under the hood is the Snapdragon 821 system chip that performs about on par with other Android flagships, but falls behind Apple's new iPhone 7 in benchmarks. Benchmarks matter for games and heavy processing, but for the most part it is the specific optimization in daily smoothness of performance on the Pixel XL that really make a difference.
Finally, an Android phone with a buttery smooth performance!
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image
Yes, the Google Pixel XL does have a 3.5mm headset jack (thanks to all deities), but there are no headphones in the box. Google is reportedly saying this is because users likely already have a pair or more at hand, and there is no need for yet another pair of cheap headphones in the box. This makes sense for us, but we can still see some people missing headphones in the box. What you do get is cables, adapters, and lots of them: USB Type-C to Type-C cable used for the wall charger, USB Type-C to Standard-A cable for your legacy ports, and a USB Type-C to Standard-A (Quick Switch) adapter.
There's a bunch of cables in the box, but no headphones
image
Nexus phone owners know the joy of getting the newest version of Android first, but while they were among the privileged few, most people wait for months and sometimes even a year to get the coveted update. Verizon and Google assure customers that the Pixel XL won't suffer from that fate and it will in fact get updates on a very quick timetable.
First in line for future Android software updates
image
Last but not least, the Google Pixel XL has a single bottom-firing speaker that is not as loud as the one on the Nexus 6P, but still outputs fairly good and rich sound for a smartphone. Call quality is also excellent on both ends, and this is important as some of us are still using a phone as... well, a phone.
A single, but well-sounding speaker and great call quality
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Google claims the Pixel XL has the highest rated camera ever, but does it mean that it's the best camera out there? Maybe not the best, but it certainly seems to be on par with the iPhone 7 and Galaxy S7. It defaults to using Google's smart HDR+ algorithm every time, but the effect you get is simply an image with a very high dynamic range, and not an artificial, HDR-y picture. It's also instant and you can't even tell that you're shooting with an HDR effect turned on: there is no delay waiting for some complex processing as with other phones' HDR feature. Images have luscious color and look very well balanced, skin tones are conveyed in a natural manner, and overall the result is excellent. Its pictures lack a bit of a pop that you get with iPhone images, for instance, and at night, the Pixel XL overprocesses images, but those are minor complaint. Video is shot at 4K and has an extremely good stabilization.
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Google Pixel XL review key takeaways
1. The Pixel XL has an excellent camera on par with the best out there
Google claims the Pixel XL has the highest rated camera ever, but does it mean that it's the best camera out there? Maybe not the best, but it certainly seems to be on par with the iPhone 7 and Galaxy S7. It defaults to using Google's smart HDR+ algorithm every time, but the effect you get is simply an image with a very high dynamic range, and not an artificial, HDR-y picture. It's also instant and you can't even tell that you're shooting with an HDR effect turned on: there is no delay waiting for some complex processing as with other phones' HDR feature. Images have luscious color and look very well balanced, skin tones are conveyed in a natural manner, and overall the result is excellent. Its pictures lack a bit of a pop that you get with iPhone images, for instance, and at night, the Pixel XL overprocesses images, but those are minor complaint. Video is shot at 4K and has an extremely good stabilization.
2. You don't need to worry about running out of storage
The Google Pixel XL is available in a 32GB and 128GB storage models, but you don't ever need to worry about running out of storage: Google provides free backups to its excellent imaging service for life and this gets important after you've used a phone for a year or so, and those pictures have piled up.
3. Its AMOLED screen looks extremely good
The Pixel XL has a 5.5" AMOLED display with the signature impressively deep blacks and rich colors. The default option is for colors to look vibrant, overblown and not sRGB-compliant. Brightness is not on par with the latest iPhone and the Pixel XL is a bit dimmer, which makes it a bit harder to read what's on the screen when you're outside on a sunny day. The XL features a nice 'Night Light' feature that cuts the blue light out of the screen at night and makes it easier to not lose any sleep after using the phone at night.
4. Battery life is very good and there is fast charging on board
We ran our custom battery life test on the Pixel XL and got 7 hours and 19 minutes of on-screen time, on par with the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, which has proven to be a phone with a very reliable and long-lasting battery. If you expected crazy battery longevity because of Android 7 Nougat and the optimizations that Google has made... well, it's not here, but this is still one phone with very good battery life. In real life, we got around a day and a few hours on a single charge, but we're not yet in that dream two-day territory here. Good news is that fast charging is present, and it takes just a few minutes shy of 2 hours to fully recharge the Pixel XL from 0 to 100%.
5. Google Assistant knows context and is better than other assistants, but it's still not a smart-enough assistant on its own
The new Google Assistant is in fact the hidden reason behind the Pixel XL's existence: it is the first version of the Google of the future, a personalized search tool / assistant that answers your questions and helps you out. You bring it up by saying out loud Ok, Google (which still sounds kind of ridiculous), or by long a tap on the circular home key. In reality, the Google Assistant still has way too many limitations that you'd encounter and that would quickly frustrate you away from using it regularly. There are two new and good things about it: it understands you better and knows context now. Say, you're browsing a page about an upcoming movie - bring up the Google Assistant there and ask it about the cast and it should know it. Ask about the main actor, and it should know. Ask about his wife and it should know. This context awareness is something that is not yet available with Siri, so Google is ahead of the game here.
6. It features a 3D Touch-like shortcut
One of the key features of last year's iPhone 6s was 3D Touch. Press harder on an icon and you get to see neat shortcuts. The feature has become even better and more accurate on the iPhone 7, while Android still lacks something similar. Or rather lacked: the Pixel XL is the first phone from a mainstream brand to offer an alternative: rather than relying on force, you simple long press an icon to get a similar list of shortcuts. It's a perfectly simple solution that is not quite as fast as on the iPhone, but still works well and is better than not having those quick shortcuts.
7. Finally, an Android phone with a buttery smooth performance!
It's embarrassing for Android as a platform that even some flagships on the platform still come with a slight, but noticeable stutter. Google knows it, after all it's something that Apple often uses to poke fun of Android. Well, here's a fix: the Pixel XL. Thanks to careful optimizations, this feels like one of the smoothest Android phones ever. Under the hood is the Snapdragon 821 system chip that performs about on par with other Android flagships, but falls behind Apple's new iPhone 7 in benchmarks. Benchmarks matter for games and heavy processing, but for the most part it is the specific optimization in daily smoothness of performance on the Pixel XL that really make a difference.
8. There's a bunch of cables in the box, but no headphones
Yes, the Google Pixel XL does have a 3.5mm headset jack (thanks to all deities), but there are no headphones in the box. Google is reportedly saying this is because users likely already have a pair or more at hand, and there is no need for yet another pair of cheap headphones in the box. This makes sense for us, but we can still see some people missing headphones in the box. What you do get is cables, adapters, and lots of them: USB Type-C to Type-C cable used for the wall charger, USB Type-C to Standard-A cable for your legacy ports, and a USB Type-C to Standard-A (Quick Switch) adapter.
9. First in line for future Android software updates
Nexus phone owners know the joy of getting the newest version of Android first, but while they were among the privileged few, most people wait for months and sometimes even a year to get the coveted update. Verizon and Google assure customers that the Pixel XL won't suffer from that fate and it will in fact get updates on a very quick timetable.
10. A single, but well-sounding speaker and great call quality
Last but not least, the Google Pixel XL has a single bottom-firing speaker that is not as loud as the one on the Nexus 6P, but still outputs fairly good and rich sound for a smartphone. Call quality is also excellent on both ends, and this is important as some of us are still using a phone as... well, a phone.
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