google pixel 3 xl review

But the Pixel lineup is approaching perfection; Google just needs that final bit of polish and execution to make its ideas really shine as a cohesive unit. The camera app still doesn’t have manual control, but it offers a few new tricks. The notch is an eyesore. Introduction. It’s truly impressive what Google can do with a single lens, and the Pixel’s all-AI method results in some truly excellent shots you can’t get on any other phone. The latest flagship’s gorgeous new display and exquisite build make your photos, videos and games look so good you won’t mind the $150 price hike. After spending nearly a week with the Pixel 3 XL, my three first impressions of Google’s newest handset haven’t changed: It’s the fastest Android phone I’ve ever used. You can unsubscribe at any time and we'll never share your details without your permission. And its slowness is affecting my daily life: can't answer a phone call, can't capture a picture of my cat when he's doing f... Great camera and a nice screen. If you absolutely hate it though, Google is working on an update to allow you to blacken the sides of the screen and "hide" the notch, similar to how you can do it on the LG G7 ThinQ and Huawei P20. The Google Pixel 3a XL is a different kind of flagship phablet. And that's the point of the Pixel 3: turning Pixel into a platform. When you zoom in, the Pixel 3 automatically measures every tiny movement and shake of your hands to compensate for the blur and combines multiple frames to make your shot clearer. It's undoubtedly the thickest notch I've seen, but seeing how wide the iPhone X's notch is, the black tabs look to be about equal in size. Overall, though, we are looking forward to diving into this phone. We may earn a commission for purchases using our links. I’ve been using it on the Pixel 2 XL for awhile, but on the Pixel 3, “Swipe up on Home button” feels more natural then ever. Frankly, the shade here is subtle -- it definitely isn't a version of "rose gold." And it needs to be, since Android 9’s new gesture navigation isn’t just on by default—it’s the only way to use the Pixel 3. It doesn't have expandable memory or a headphone jack. In typical Pixel fashion, there has been a good bit of angst and controversy in the months since. There are features of other phones that may be better—the Galaxy S9’s design, the Huawei P20’s camera hardware, the Note 9’s battery—but no single Android phone can top the end-to-end performance that the Google delivers with the Pixel 3. Animations fly, app switching is buttery smooth, and the new haptic feedback engine gives the whole system a subtle tactility that makes it much easier to grasp. PCWorld helps you navigate the PC ecosystem to find the products you want and the advice you need to get the job done. But that's not a bad thing. Most of the time burst mode shots are so slow that you capture 5 frames when you thought you'd captured 15; other times it rattles off 30 in a row without issue. I didn't even need to adjust the color settings from "Natural" like I didn't with the 2 XL. It's water resistant, has wireless charging and its Google Assistant has convenient new skills such as call screening. Lab results for continuous video playback on airplane mode yielded an average of 16 hours, 49 minutes. RSS feed The question, then, is this: If all the best stuff about these phones is basically software updates that even older devices will ultimately get, is there a point in shelling out for the new hardware? The company made little changes to streamline the look of the devices, like moving the SIM tray from the side to the bottom, next to the charging port. while a screen-recording app was capturing what I was doing. Staff Writer, The problem comes when I hit the device harder — the battery simply doesn't hold up. This lets you you grab a pic before someone blinked or after something blew into your shot. Mostly. Camera could be even better with a dual lens. Sometimes it gets to the point of force closing your background media app, or fails to capture when you press the shutter, or just locks up and doesn't do anything for a few seconds. Sure I've had my phone in a leather case for a majority of my time with the phone, but I can still appreciate the sleek and efficient design — paired with great fit-and-finish — every time it's outside of its case. The Pixel 3 XL is Google's latest flagship smartphone. Every issue and complaint has been picked apart, and considerable improvements and bugfixes have been addressed with monthly software updates. Though that's notably shorter than the Note 9's exceptional 19-hour result, it's still a good time. Thanks to these tweaks and its HDR+ smarts, the Pixel 3 takes well-exposed pictures. And the speed and crispness of animations make it feel like it has a 120Hz refresh rate (it doesn't). We already saw the results of LG’s new display process in the V40, and it’s even more evident here. When you're doing absolutely nothing else with your phone, the camera is pretty quick. Wind Down, however, which turns your screen black and white when it's near your bedtime, is more effective at reminding me to put my phone away. Out of the box, the Pixel 3 XL doesn’t feel like another great Android phone, it feels like a whole new platform. Where my Pixel 2 XL’s screen is dull and lifeless, the Pixel 3 XL’s display is as sharp, bright, and vibrant as any OLED I’ve used, with none of the annoying blue shift that plagued its predecessor. It just grabs light that even your eyes can't discern, and makes lovely photos with considerably better quality than the auto mode. Privacy Thankfully, the first two qualities make up for the third. Now, back to the camera performance I mentioned above. With the Pixel 3 XL (left), Google has added more than a quarter-inch of screen in the same body as the Pixel 2 XL. Google's smarts also come in handy when you're replying to emails. You’ll be able to see a real-time translation of what the person on the other end says, and you can either pick up the call or continue the conversation using Assistant. The Pixel's lack of expandable storage is a bummer, and it complicates its overall value. Smart Compose on the Pixel 3 suggests autofills for your sentences as you're typing replies, and so far I've found it pretty helpful. There’s still no headphone jack, with the same USB-C connection as on the previous Pixel phones and is increasingly found on most Android devices (and now the Apple iPad Pro). Such is the curse of the new smartphone in 2018, that the Google Pixel 3 XL is new, but at once instantly familiar, undeniably impressive but somehow underwhelming. Basically, the new Pixel feels like the Android equivelant of a new iPhone, with a super-speedy UI, acceptable battery, and bare-minimum RAM. I would like to receive news and offers from other Future brands. All these phones also cost about $200 more than the Pixel 3. Meanwhile, the Pixel 3 XL clocked about three hours more than its smaller brother on our battery test, and it generally hangs out half a day longer, too. It’s that simple. It’s the emergence of the Pixel as a bona fide smartphone platform. At this point, however, the Pixel’s camera is basically equal parts arrogance and hubris. When holding it up to the Pixel 3 side-by-side, the Pixel 3 has punchier reds and purer whites compared to the 3 XL. I used my 3XL for six months. Pixels have always been great "set it and forget it" experiences for me, which I perhaps appreciate more considering how often I'm expected to switch phones. It's also longer than the standard Pixel 3's 14-hour run time, and another reason beyond screen size to pay up for the XL. But it also occasionally picked up false positives, resulting in some embarrassing, derpy pictures. The somewhat controversial, somewhat inconceivable Duplex chat bot will be able to make restaurant reservations on your behalf. And there are many people reporting this problem. New Macs are missing a key ingredient: 5G, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, Mac Mini run on Apple's self-designed M1 silicon, Ring recalls 350,000 smart doorbells over fire concerns, Discuss: Google Pixel 3 XL review: Everything we love about the Pixel 3 on a bigger screen, OLED displays are more prone to the issue. Right: Wide-angle selfie. These aren’t mere weather reports and alarms. Full to bursting with amazing technology, the Pixel 3 XL is one of the best big-screen flagship phones on the market, and for serious fans of the Google ecosystem, perhaps the best yet. The majority of the updates to the Pixel 3 revolve around photography -- specifically, the new Top Shot, Photobooth, Super Resolution Zoom and Playground. Anyway, enough introductions. We delete comments that violate our policy, which we encourage you to read. And there's no difference between the two handsets apart from size -- you no longer have to spring for a bigger, more expensive phone for the best features. For as much engineering time Google has clearly put into the photographic qualities of the Pixel 3 XL, it feels like camera performance was a complete afterthought. This value-buy powerhouse does a lot right and very little wrong. On the back of the Google Pixel 3 is a 12.2-megapixel sensor, with an f/1.8 aperture and OIS. By default, the Pixel 3's screen is set to the new "Adaptive" mode, which Google says provides a mix of vibrant yet natural colors that "most users prefer." Portrait mode has been improved over the already-great Pixel 2’s implementation, and you now have the ability to change the specific amount of bokeh effect you want, as well as isolate your subject against a black-and-white background. VideoCamera: Brian OhEditor: Kyle MaackScript: Cherlynn LowScript editor: James Trew. It has everything you expect from a high-end Android phone —fantastic camera quality, a … I don't feel Google gets enough credit for the hardware quality of the latest generation Pixels. The camera even does pretty well in low light, and that's without the upcoming Night Sight feature. However, the phone may not come with an S Pen in the box. Launch Photobooth if you're feelin' cute and want to get into a selfie session without fumbling around for physical or onscreen buttons. The biggest thing keeping me on the Pixel 3 XL really is the simplicity and consistency of the software that requires such little thought. It's also interactive, letting you decide what to do with the call as it happens, like ask for more information or hang up. Google Pixel 3 XL review The Google Pixel 3 XL is an excellent example of a big Android phone and it has one of the best ever smartphone cameras. No spam, we promise. If you can deal with it, get the Pixel 3 XL. On paper, the Pixel 3 XL isn’t all that impressive. For more on these design elements, head over to my Pixel 3 review. Save for its notch, higher price tag and bigger battery, which compensates for the larger screen, the phone basically serves up a nearly identical experience to its smaller 5.5-inch Pixel 3 counterpart. If you look inside the XL’s notch (or in the left corner of the bezels on the Pixel 3), you’ll see Google has actually upgraded the camera hardware, adding a second wide-angle lens for so-called groupies: Main camera: 8MP, f/1.8, 75-degree FOVSecondary camera: 8MP, f/2.2, 97-degree FOV.