The Google Pixel 3XL: 6 Months Later

As we get closer to Google I/O 2019, we wanted to take a look back at their polarizing flagship: the Pixel 3XL. We say polarizing as it had its fair of issues/complaints in either design and/or performance at launch. In regards to design, the massive notch and the bugs of the software within the 1st batch of owners. We check back in w/ you all to see how it has been over the past 6 months.

The hardware on the Pixel 3 is still a step-up from the Pixel 2. The rear’s matte glass finish is great to look at but many folks have cracked theirs early on. We lucked out and got ours late so I cased up mines immediately. Still feels premium but I cased up and have yet to see how fragile it is.

The overall performance wasn’t quite flagship quality at launch for some. Many or some folks got laggy camera app, slight hiccups on the navigation, or random reboots out of the box. Both versions of the Pixel 3 offer a Snapdragon 855 CPU + 4GB of RAM when everyone was upping things up to 6GB of RAM. This should’ve worked out fine but somewhere in the software was a bit janky.

Over several monthly updates, that issue has been no more – for me anyways. However, many Pixel 3/3 XL owners are still suffering some various issues. From slow-to-crashing Camera app, Ambient Display issues, bad memory management remains, and more. Since this is still an issues for some, this might be the reason not to pick this up.

The battery has a 3430 mAh inside which holds you down pretty well. Its gotten a little bit better over time. The Pixel 3 will get you up to 11 hours w/ moderate to heavy usage and the 3XL will get you over 14 hours w/ moderate to heavy usage. Good enough to hold you down as a daily driver.

The photos that come from the cameras are still superior to most if not all smartphone cameras. The 2nd front-facing sensor comes in handy for group selfies or certain situations. NightSight is still the Night Mode to beat on a smartphone and the feature can come in handy in select well-lit environments as well. However, I’m gonna still need some of the machine learning action to make its way to its video abilities moving forward though.

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Now Playing is still a must-have for music fans. The always-on Shazam feature adding a history feature which should’ve been there to begin with. I can go back all the October to when I 1st get the device to see what songs I was listening to. This is ideal for creating playlists for yourself and to share.

Call Screening is the latest must-have feature which allows to either block or have Google screen your call for you. This is an essential tool for spammers, bill collectors, or those you don’t want to speak with. Still use it at least once or twice a week.

To buy or not is a tough call as some performance issues still exists on some Pixel 3 devices.

So the notch is still a bit of an eyesore. While my device is performing better, every Pixel 3 owners can’t say the same thing. Even though this is probably still the best or one of the best cameras on a smartphone, there’s a lot of baggage that comes along w/ it at the current time.

You can check out our original review of it here. So how is your Pixel 3 or Pixel 3 XL been treating you over the half of a year?