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Whether you're a keen observer of the mobile industry who likes to keep track of all the early rumors and leaks regarding the next big stars of the global smartphone market or just casually follow the top stories and news headlines about the world's most popular handsets, odds are you've already seen the Pixel 5 XL design that Google might have in the pipeline for a fall release.
In one form or another, Google has been selling own-brand phones for a decade, and yet the company is still not ranked among the world's top ten or America's top five vendors. Some might say the search giant is not really playing the volume game, but what good are nice and thick profit margins if you're only shipping a few million devices a year?
A radical change of some sort is badly needed after four underwhelming Pixel generations, but thinking too far outside the box could be just as dangerous as playing things safe yet another time. I know what you're thinking. Before you even thought it, I saw it coming. You're wondering why in the world we're paying so much attention to a render of a prototype potentially being considered for the final Pixel 5 XL design, which will probably only be officially unveiled in October One of three early prototypes, to be exact, according to the guy who set the internet on fire with his purported leak a couple of weeks ago.
The answer is very simple, and whether or not Google decides to adopt that universally derided triple camera system commercially is beside the point. The very fact this ghastly design is in consideration and for what it's worth, I believe Jon Prosser given his solid recent track record suggests something that should keep hardcore Google fans up at night fearing what the Pixel 5 could become.
It suggests that the company is getting desperate in its pursuit of an original design helping the Pixel lineup stand out from the pack while not requiring much engineering wizardry. The time for wacky experiments has gone, as the market continues to get more and more crowded with incredibly powerful devices sold at very competitive prices. Even if Google insists on trying new things for the sake of trying, a protruding camera module strongly resembling a surprised face and yet another substantial "forehead" are certainly not the way to go.
Although I fully realize the "Pixel Ultra" envisioned by many hopeful Big G fans a couple of years back remains a utopian dream, that's the only direction that makes sense for the Pixel lineup right now and the company should focus entirely on inching closer to that vision instead of considering eccentric concepts that would match or perhaps multiply the negative attention generated by 's notched Pixel 3 XL.
While Google should definitely stay away from a possible repeat of the Pixel 3 XL embarrassment, the boring Pixel 4 design also needs to die. It sounds pretty much impossible to walk that fine line without falling flat on your face and completely messing up the delicate balance between originality and maturity, but the dreamer in me thinks Google can pull it off with relative ease. The fact of the matter is beauty is not only highly subjective but also largely unimportant in today's smartphone landscape. Does anyone really think the iPhone XR is pretty?
I would personally rate its design a solid "meh", even by standards, but the internals are great and the price just right , which clearly went a long way last year. Heck, even Samsung's crazy expensive Galaxy S20 Ultra looks In other words, maybe Google doesn't need to completely overhaul the Pixel 4 after all. Not on the outside, at least. As many folks who were willing to give the released high-enders a chance despite their humdrum looks and unimpressive specs might be discovering, these stock Android phones are holding up well.
Especially the XL , so perhaps Google simply needs to refine that tedious design, minimizing the bezels at the expense of the Project Soli radar system no one really cares about and keeping the camera setup as "clean" as possible. Sure, that's not going to knock anyone's socks off, but with the right internals more memory and storage and a bigger battery, please , the same amazing camera as always, and most importantly, a fair price straight off the bat, Google could finally stop being the laughing stock of the mobile hardware landscape.
It's something that Google will surely improve over time, and I'd bet money that more comprehensive controls will someday come to the Pixel 4 or future Pixel phones. It's a pretty safe bet, as Google has already said that Motion Sense at the Pixel 4's launch is just the start. Overall, Motion Sense is good because it's starting off slowly with just a few little features and functions. It's not overpromising anything, and it seems to have the best chance out of any other company's attempts to make motion gestures a "thing.
Wherever you are, whatever you do, Pixel phones just seem to take a great photo that you'll be happy with, and the same goes for the Pixel 4. Not a lot of other smartphones offer that kind of confidence.
The irony is that there's a ton of Google's software and processing magic going on in each photo, but the Pixel 4 photos tend to look the least processed and more true-to-life than photos from most other smartphone cameras. I still have to compare the Pixel 4 with other recent phones, especially the iPhone From what I've heard, Apple has caught up in a big way to Google's Pixel cameras. Google added a 2X optically zoomed lens to the Pixel 4 , and as a result, you get great 2X zoomed photos.
But Google has seemed proud of what the Pixel 4's zoomed lens can do when you zoom further than 2X, where the phone starts using software-based digital zooming. Indeed, the Pixel 4's digital zooming is better than what I've seen on other phones, but photos with digital zoom still look like photos with digital zoom — there's still some blotchiness and detail smoothing.
I wouldn't use the Pixel 4's digital zooming to capture anything meaningful. Could you image wider Pixel-quality photos that captures more scenery, colors, and details? Unfortunately, imagining how good ultra-wide Pixel 4 photos would look like is all we can do, since the Pixel 4 doesn't have an ultra-wide camera. It's a shame that the Pixel 4 doesn't have an ultra-wide lens like some of its biggest competitors — it means the Pixel 4 is a less versatile smartphone for taking photos than other recent smartphones, like the iPhone 11 , Galaxy S10 , and OnePlus 7T.
Adding salt to the ultra-wide wound, Pixel 4 owners don't get the free, unlimited Google Photos storage at the "original quality" setting anymore, like Pixel owners did up until the Pixel 4.
With the Pixel 4, you get free, unlimited storage at Google Photo's "high quality" option, which is still great. It's actually hard to tell the difference between "original" and "high quality," but still, it's a demotion. The astrophotography mode on the Pixel 4 captured the night sky amazingly well.
At the same time, my night sky is a little boring, and I'd imagine most night skies are pretty boring, too. I think you need to be at a location that's directly under the Milky Way, or somewhere that's absolutely pitch black with no noise pollution, to take photos that look good and interesting.
Otherwise, astrophotos, at least mine, look somewhat boring. No one should have expected Google to reintroduce a headphone jack into the Pixel 4 after ditching it with the Pixel 2.
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Nowadays, removing the headphone jack is pretty much standard, and I can't accuse Google of being unhelpful for this. If you have a traditional pair of wired headphones and you unbox the Pixel 4, you will not have anything you need to listen to music on your new Pixel 4. The company surely wants you to buy its wireless audio solution to listen to music on the Pixel 4 — the Pixel Buds 2. But get this: they're not even coming out until next year.
So either you're stuck with buying the extremely poorly reviewed original Pixel Buds, Google's USB-C wired earbuds, or your own choice of wireless Bluetooth headphones. So far, there have been no issues worth reporting. The adaptive 90Hz screen contributes a great deal to the Pixel 4's overall impression as a fast and powerful smartphone.
It's purely aesthetic yet surprisingly noticeable and meaningful compared to 60Hz phone screens, like the iPhone 11 series and Galaxy S For reference, the more "Hz" a screen has, the more frames per second it can display. More frames per second means smoother animations. The 3,mAh battery in the Pixel 4 XL will see you through the day, but not as comfortably as other smartphones.
I haven't heard great things about the smaller battery in the smaller Pixel 4, either. With that in mind, it would have been good to see some of the faster 25W-plus charging technologies we've seen in Samsung and OnePlus phones instead of the 18W charger that comes with the Pixel 4.
That way, should the Pixel 4's battery life start to cause concern, a quick charge would help settle some nerves. Is it the radar, then? With the seamless unlocking and swiping away the brutal morning alarm? Or perhaps it's getting Android updates as soon as they roll out? Maybe the 90Hz screen? It's up to you whether that stuff makes up for some of the shortcomings on the Pixel 4.
I don't mind the design, I can live with the mediocre battery life, I have my own Bluetooth headphones already, and I barely store anything on my phones as everything is in the cloud, so the 64 GB base storage isn't an issue. The supreme performance of the Pixel 4's camera helps make up for the lack of an ultra-wide lens, but it still stings.
I do really like the Motion Sense stuff, as it's helpful in small, meaningful ways. I'd say, sure, consider it. Get the latest Google stock price here.