Top smartphone track app Google Pixel 4
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This was the most stand-out feature to me, and lives up to the high standards Pixel phones are known for. The three cameras on the Pixel 4 truly make it special, particularly in three areas: dual-exposure control, super high-res zoom, and an improved Night Sight that can even take pictures of the cosmos. Throughout my time with the Pixel, I did not need to use any photo editing software as the exposure controls allowed me to take photos any way I wanted to.
For example, this photo below was taken at roughly 9pm at night.
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Of course, as with all digitally zoomed photos, there is still some degree of blotchiness and detail smoothing. Google said it will add eye detection in a future update to ensure users are looking at the Pixel 4 during unlocking. The lack of a fingerprint sensor also creates problems in third-party apps. Many Android apps support only biometric authentication for fingerprints. Google said several popular password manager apps support face unlock, with more apps in the works.
The Pixel 4's other new feature is Motion Sense, which can detect hand gestures for hands-free operation. Basically, you flick your hand in a large sweeping gesture. A visual cue - a glowing strip at the top of the screen - lets you know that the feature is active.
It is not the first phone to support such air gestures - LG and Samsung have tried something similar - but Google is the only one using a miniature radar in the top bezel to do so. At launch, Motion Sense is limited to skipping audio tracks in media apps such as Spotify, silencing calls and snoozing alarms. What I found cool is that the gestures work even when the phone is showing the lock screen or when the media app is in the background. It is also used to sense people's presence.
This can help prepare the phone for face unlock or to save power by turning off the always-on display when there is no one nearby.
Motion Sense can be frustrating to use initially. I was so annoyed by failing repeatedly to snooze an alarm with my flailing hand that I was fully awake by the time I succeeded. But there is potential in this feature, if Google adds more functionality like scrolling. If that happens, I can see myself using it to browse the Web while eating.
Samsung moved the fingerprint sensor to the power button on the right edge of the S10e. And while the bezel below the display has been trimmed to iPhone 11 -esque proportions, the bezel above it is about as prominent as the Pixel 3's. Please make sure that it is spelled correctly. Get things done. Also great. Other flagship phones tend to receive one or two major updates at best, and cheap phones usually get zero to one.
Past Pixel phones took excellent photos despite having a single megapixel MP camera. Google has upgraded this to two cameras by adding a 16MP telephoto rear camera 2x optical zoom with 8x digital zoom for the Pixel 4. An ultra-wide camera, though, would arguably be more useful for group selfies and landscape photos.
More so as Google already uses software to good effect in older Pixel phones for zooming. In any case, there is no ultra-wide camera. But Google has improved the Pixel 4's camera, such as by having dual exposure controls that let users adjust the highlights and shadows of a scene in the viewfinder before shooting. This feature is easy to understand and use for non-experts and can achieve artistic shots like having the subject in silhouette.
Night Sight remains very good for low-light photos, though it now has serious competition from other phones. Hence, Google has added an astrophotography feature that can take long exposure shots up to four minutes long of the night sky. I did not try this because of the lack of time to hunt for a suitable location in Singapore that is dark enough. But the sample photos look fantastic.
- Google Pixel 4 tips and tricks.
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- Google Pixel 4 review | Tom's Guide.
Google also improved the bokeh effect in Portrait mode while the auto white balance is now more accurate, thanks to machine learning. Overall, the Pixel 4 maintains the series' excellent reputation for still photography. But video recording is another story. I love the design, the feel, the 90Hz screen and incredible camera. The new on-device natural language understanding is a marvel. Face Unlock is genuinely great. A transformational leap just as Face ID was three years ago on the iPhone X , but only when it works.
Only one app I routinely use a fingerprint with supports Face Unlock.
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The Pixel 4 XL is therefore a very hard phone to grade. Once Google fixes the problems and apps have been updated, the only thing really holding the phone back is below-average battery life. Cons: poor third-party app support for Face Unlock, Face Unlock needs eyes-open fix, Google Assistant needs G Suite fix, below-average battery life, no fingerprint scanner option. OnePlus 7T Pro review: the best kind of deja vu. OnePlus 7T review: the new cut-price flagship king. Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max review: salvaged by epic battery life. Huawei P30 Pro review: game-changing camera, stellar battery life.
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