Google Pixel 4 & 4 XL Review: More Than Just Great Camera

Google Pixel 4 & 4 XL Review: More Than Just Great Camera This Time Around - Kind Of

For the past 3 years, Google’s Pixel line of smartphones have been sitting pretty w/ a camera & features others couldn’t offer. You would expect the same for the Pixel 4 but things have changed. Any other year, this wouldn’t be too much of an issue. But for 2019, the competition has caught up or surpassed in many ways. Samsung can take great photos too, OnePlus offer more specs & battery for less, and Apple can do a lot of what the Pixel can do but starting at a lower price point.

Let’s see if anything changes and how the overall experience of the specs & new features fare for the Pixel 4 and the Pixel 4 XL. Our detailed review starts past the break.

A slight evolution is how I would describe the look + design of the 4th-generation Pixel. It’s still a minimalist look to it while retaining select elements. So you still have the bright color Power button and the mic + bottom-firing speaker setup on the bottom. Gone is the notch (Thank God) and now you got a thicker top bezel for the new sensors and slim bottom one. You got a raised camera bump w/ a new housing for the extra camera + sensors. All while having an aluminum frame w/ a matte finish + rounded metal frames also w/ a matte finish for a great grip.

Both sizes of the Pixel 4 offer great OLED panels for all of your viewing pleasures. The new panels offer great viewing angles and colors but on the dim side compared to the competition. Not something you’d notice unless you’re outside or have it next to a new iPhone. But the new Pixels has something the new iPhone doesn’t, a display w/ a 90Hz refresh rate. Its a variable one as it automatically switches between that and the average 60Hz whenever the phone thinks you need it like gaming and such. You can go to Developer Settings and enable it to be 90Hz all of the time but that would be at the expense of the battery. More on that later.

5.7inch FHD+ HDR OLED display w/ 90Hz Smooth Display (Pixel 4)
6.3inch QHD HDR OLED display w/ 90Hz Smooth Display (Pixel 4 XL)
Snapdragon 855 CPU
6GB of RAM + 64GB of storage
f/1.7 12.2MP rear-facing sensor armed w/ auto-focus Dual Pixel phase detection w/ OIS + EIS
f/2.4 16MP rear-facing telephoto sensor w/ auto-focus phase detection w/ OIS + EIS
f/2.0 8MP selfie camera
Active Edge
Pixel Neural Chip co-processor
Motion Sense radar chip
Titan M Security module
stereo speakers mics + noise suppression
Bluetooth 5.0 w/ AptX, AptX HD, & LDAC support
2800 mAh battery (Pixel 4)3700 mAh battery (Pixel 4 XL)
18W fast wired & wireless charging

I was surprised that Google didn’t opt for the Snapdragon 855+ chipset over the now-older 855. However, w/ they made up for it by finally beefing up the memory up to 6GB of RAM. We hoped that it would ease the performance issues of Pixels past and w/ our brief time w/ it, the added RAM makes for speedier and lag-free performance. Add this w/ their super-fast 90Hz display, this all makes for a great overall experience. I would like to see next year Google beef it up to make 128GB the minimum storage option for their premium pricing.

The battery on both models are just OK but lacking by 2019 standards.

The smaller Pixel 4 has a slightly smaller battery from last year’s Pixel 3 (from 2915 mAh to 2800 mAh) while the bigger Pixel 4 XL is a bit larger than the Pixel 3 XL (from 3430 mAh to 3700 mAh). The Pixel 4 got me around 10 hours of juice using it heavy while on the Pixel 4 XL, I’m getting closer to 14-15 hours on a single charge. Probably my one gripe is that I wish Google had upped the battery on both. Especially when the competition can get you about a 1 day and a half of juice w/ heavy usage. On the more positive side of things, Google made the new Pixels support any wireless charging instead of only 2 accessories as well as upped it to 11W.

So outside of Android 10, there is no new version of the software that comes w/ the Pixel 4. However, they made sure to add a lot of new software features to the phone to give it a unique experience. There are 3 big ones and 3 good ones in total. Let’s break them all down.

So the new Pixel 4 ditched the fingerprint reader and opted for the facial recognition route called Face Unlock. Instead of using the same old front-facing camera, they went the real route w/ infrared cameras, dot projectors, flood illuminators, and the new Motion Sense radar chip. The result makes for a super-fast Face ID competitor. Just hold it up and the phone unlocks lightning-fast directly to your homepage w/ no swiping required. The downside is that it currently works w/ your eyes closed as well. Google will be rolling an update to fix this in the coming months but you can workaround it using the Lockdown option in the meantime.

And speaking of the Motion Sense radar chip, it came from their Project Soli tech a few years back and is now on a smartphone. The technology involved can do a lot but at the current time, it’s only regulated to swiping to snooze alarms/phone calls, skip songs, and can detect your presence to turn on/off the Always-On Display feature. If you don’t see the glowing light under the phone’s top bezel, it’s not gonna read you. Also, it has to be a fluid motion and not too fast BTW. I think this is a slightly better LG’s version of that on the G8 earlier this year. Motion Sense gives Google a bit more of a wider radar range over LG’s technology.

The all-new Google Assistant feels refreshing as it moves and understands things a lot faster than previously. This is in part thanks to their Pixel Neural Core co-processor which does a lot on in-device processing that would previously have to go online to a server and then back to your phone. You’re able to pull up Google queries, open up apps, send messages, make calls, play music, play media and more by just telling your phone to do so. This gives you a bit of that Jetson futuristic feel to using your phone. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work w/ G Suite account and requires you to have the gesture-based navigation on. Google says a fix for it is coming by the way of a software update.

Next up, we got the new Live Captions that can turn just about any audio (minus songs and phone calls) into a real-time closed caption on your phone. This is courtesy of their new co-processor inside and works w/ the sound on or off as well. This is a welcome feature to the deaf, hard of hearing or someone who wants to watch a video in a quiet space w/o blaring audio. This can eat up your battery so try not to leave it on all of the time.
We highlighted the new Recorder app in our hands-on and like the Live Caption, it works really, really well. Keep in mind, that for transcribing for both isn’t 100% but its more like 89% accuracy. This is great for taking notes, capturing interviews, and more. It offers timestamps and keyword searches to find exactly the note you’re looking for.
We weren’t able to test out the Personal Safety feature as we would have to get into a fender bender or an accident to see how well it works. And we don’t have the hookup at a crash testing facility so, at this point and time, we’ll have to take Google’s word for it.

So after 3 years of rocking out w/ a single camera, the Pixel finally adds another camera to their repertoire. However, while every other phone maker went for the ultra-wide route, Google opted for the telephoto shooter. So along w/ the f/1.7 12.2MP main sensor, we now have an additional f/2.4 16MP telephoto sensor w/ 2x optical zoom and up to 8x both digital + optical combined w/ their AI. Both are armed w/ both optical & electronic image stabilization.

Before we dive into the actual photo quality of it all, Google made some new changes to their Cameras UI. You can now swipe down from the camera app to access Timer, Flash, Motion, Ratio, & full camera settings. Also new is their new dual exposure controls that allow you to manipulate the overall brightness & shadows of HDR photos. This gives you a bit of more control of what your image will look like and give you an edge when editing your pics afterward. Live HDR+ gives you a preview of what your final product will look like before you take the pic and ahead of rendering. And lastly, you got Social Share which gives you a faster way to share your photos via native /3rd-party apps from the camera app w/ a touch of a button.

The main shooter still holds it down being a top point-and-shoot smartphone camera. You got even better details, improved white balance, great dynamic range, more sharpness, good colors for your standard shots over the Pixel 3. Portrait mode is still superb. The updated Night Sight does a good job of brightening up dark situations. The new astrophotography mode lets you take shots of the stars. Of course, the week of us putting this together, we had rain and cloudy nights. With patience, you can pull off some amazing shots. I mention patience as it can take 5 mins or longer to get certain shots based on the exposure of the environment.

Click image for full resolution

As excellent as Google's camera hardware & software for photos is, Apple is on its heels.

Now onto the additional telephoto lens. Google utilizes both hardware & software to pull off a much better quality photo from afar. So they announced Super Res Zoom last year and it returns again to enhance zoomed-in photos and now their new 2nd sensor, you can pull off some usable to good shots. Pit them against the telephoto lens on the iPhone 11 Pro and Google is the clear winner there.

However, the video side of the new Pixel 4 is still just OK. Google has spent the past 4 years focusing on the photo side of things and leaving its video capabilities w/ an average overall quality. The rear shooter cap out at 4K@30fps and the selfie shooter can only do 1080p also @30fps. Outside of that, the audio quality and stabilization is pretty good.

For 2019, it’s not so simple to just declare an actual winner over the Pixel 4 and the iPhone 11 in the photo department. Simply due to the arrival of Apple Deep Fusion camera software update coming soon.

If you're picking up a Pixel 4, I would go for XL for better battery.

Well, there’s a lot to say about the new 4th-gen Pixel. Whether good or bad, this is definitely the most divisive Pixel to date. There is a lot to be disappointed in like the loss of original resolution backup to Google Photos, the smaller batteries, and for some, the lack of an ultra-wide sensor. However, there’s a lot to be excited about like the 90Hz display, the faster + more useful Google Assistant, and can still take amazing photos. The sum of all of its features & parts still makes for an Android experience that’s exclusive to Google. If you’re interested, I would say to opt for the larger Pixel 4 XL due to battery. Now the question you have to ask yourself: is this what I’m looking for in a smartphone experience or do I need/want more?