Google Pixel Review

Google Pixel

Specs:                 

NETWORK	Technology	GSM / CDMA / HSPA / EVDO / LTE

LAUNCH	Announced	2016, October
	Status	Available. Released 2016, October

BODY	Dimensions	143.8 x 69.5 x 8.5 mm (5.66 x 2.74 x 0.33 in)
	Weight	143 g (5.04 oz)
	SIM	Nano-SIM
		- Splash and dust resistant

DISPLAY	Type	AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
	Size	5.0 inches (~69.0% screen-to-body ratio)
	Resolution	1080 x 1920 pixels (~441 ppi pixel density)
	Multitouch	Yes
	Protection	Corning Gorilla Glass 4

PLATFORM	OS	Android OS, v7.1 (Nougat)
	Chipset	Qualcomm MSM8996 Snapdragon 821
	CPU	Quad-core (2x2.15 GHz Kryo & 2x1.6 GHz Kryo)
	GPU	Adreno 530

MEMORY	Card slot	No
	Internal	32/128 GB, 4 GB RAM

CAMERA	Primary	12.3 MP, f/2.0, EIS (gyro), phase detection & laser autofocus, dual-LED (dual tone) flash
	Features	1/2.3" sensor size, 1.55µm pixel size, geo-tagging, touch focus, face detection, HDR, panorama
	Video	2160p@30fps, 1080p@30/60/120fps, 720p@240fps
	Secondary	8 MP, f/2.4, 1/3.2" sensor size, 1.4 µm pixel size, 1080p

SOUND	Alert types	Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones
	Loudspeaker	Yes
	3.5mm jack	Yes
		- Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic

COMMS	WLAN	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, hotspot
	Bluetooth	v4.2, A2DP, LE
	GPS	Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS
	NFC	Yes
	Radio	No
	USB	v3.0, Type-C 1.0 reversible connector

FEATURES	Sensors	Fingerprint (rear-mounted), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer
	Messaging	SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Mail, IM
	Browser	HTML5
	Java	No
		- Fast battery charging - MP4/H.264 player - MP3/WAV/eAAC+ player - Photo/video editor - Document editor

BATTERY		Non-removable Li-Ion 2770 mAh battery
	Stand-by	Up to 456 h (3G)
	Talk time	Up to 26 h (3G)
	Music play	Up to 110 h

MISC	Colors	Quite Black, Very Silver, Really Blue
	SAR US	0.92 W/kg (head)     0.58 W/kg (body)
	SAR EU	0.33 W/kg (head)     0.61 W/kg (body)

TESTS	Performance	Basemark OS II: 2901 / Basemark OS II 2.0: 2461 Basemark X: 33023
	Display	Contrast ratio: ∞
	Loudspeaker	Voice 74dB / Noise 68dB / Ring 78dB
	Audio quality	Noise -93.0dB / Crosstalk -92.6dB
	Battery life	Endurance rating 64h

Review:

As you’d expect from a premium phone, the Pixel is made from metal and glass. What’s not obvious is that the case tapers from top to bottom: it’s thicker at the top. This does avoid a camera bump, though and until someone pointed it out, we hadn’t noticed.

The front is featureless aside from the front camera and earpiece, which also houses a stealthy notification LED. The top and bottom bezels are thick like an iPhone, but it’s a shame Google didn’t put a second speaker in the bottom bezel for front-firing stereo sound. In fact, there’s only a mono speaker in the bottom edge.

Positioned in the centre is a USB-C port – that’s USB 3 rather than USB 2 as found on a lot of phones - and there’s a headphone jack off-centre in the top edge. Power and volume keys are on the right – as per usual – and a single nano-SIM tray hides in the left-hand edge. There’s no dual-SIM option and no microSD expansion.

On the back is the opinion-dividing glass panel which is a contrasting colour to the rest of the phone (no matter whether you choose Quite Black, Very Silver or - exclusive to the US - Really Blue). It surrounds the fingerprint scanner, camera, LED flash and microphone.

The 5in screen is protected by Gorilla Glass 4 and is an AMOLED panel. It’s half an inch smaller than the Pixel XL’s and has a resolution of 1920x1080, which gives a density of 441ppi. That’s fine for most people and it has great colours, contrast and viewing angles. It also looks perfectly sharp from normal viewing distances.

However, full HD isn’t so great when you look at it close up, such as when using a Google Daydream headset. The Pixel is one of just a handful of phones including the Moto Z which are Daydream ready, and it’s one reason to choose it over its Daydream-incompatible rivals. But the Pixel XL’s 534ppi display is a good reason to opt for the bigger phone if you’re planning to get a Daydream View

The Pixel does not disappoint with its specs. There’s the Snapdragon 821 (a tweaked version of the 820 that’s around 10 percent quicker), 4GB of RAM, Cat 12 LTE (up to 600Mb/s downloads when networks eventually support it), 802.11ac with 2x2 MIMO, GPS, NFC and Bluetooth 4.2. Cameras (see below) are top notch, too. Storage is either 32GB or 128GB, and it’s not expandable which is disappointing.

The battery – of course – isn’t removable, but there’s quick charge support using the USB-C specification rather than Qualcomm’s technology. You get a quick-charge mains charger in the box as well as USB-C to USB-C, plus USB-C to USB-A cables. In practice, we found the Pixel would charge rapidly even when connected to our in-wall-socket USB port, which was nice.

You can expect it to last a full day of normal use, and a couple of days of really light use. But when used as our main phone, we found there wasn’t enough juice to leave it overnight and make it into work the next morning, so a nightly charge is likely.

For Repair/Service of your Google Pixel, login at www.bigfix.co.in | or call - 18002001240