The first set of Google Pixel reviews are out, and it looks like Google’s first smartphone has turned out to be more impressive than its spec sheet suggested. Besides coming with powerful internals, the Pixel and Pixel XL also come with a 12MP shooter, which on paper does not sound as impressive as the iPhone 7’s 12MP shooter.
However, as the reviews suggest, the 12MP shooter of the Pixels is right there at the top alongside the Galaxy S7 and iPhone 7.
The Verge
There is no getting around the fact that the Pixels look like the iPhone.
Let’s start with familiar and say the obvious thing: the Pixel kind of looks like an iPhone. Every high-end phone these days is designed with some combination of metal and glass, and so you could argue that there are only so many ways to make a rectangle. But even so, look at the bezels on the front, the curves at the corners, the antenna lines, and the placement of the speaker; the thing looks very familiar.
And it’s also not surprising to see them being the fastest Android smartphone on the market right now.
The Pixels are fast — noticeably faster than Samsung’s Galaxy S7. On performance alone, these are easily the best Android phones you can buy. For a phone made by Google, that’s absolutely the expectation — it’s just good to note that at its first time at bat, Google hit a home run.
The 12MP camera is impressive.
The Pixel bested the iPhone in picking up detail and color in my test shots. To my eyes, it seems to be making more pleasing decisions with lighting and HDR, too. I want to put the emphasis on “more pleasing,” because my hunch is that if we looked at the raw input each sensor is getting we’d be hard-pressed to tell the difference.
Google Assistant, one of the key selling features of the Pixel is impressive but needs works.
To be very clear: the Google Assistant is absolutely the smartest of the assistant bunch, but it’s not yet in a class of its own. Google knows so much more about me than, say, Apple, and it’s assistant should reflect that. Because Google itself is placing so much emphasis on the Assistant, it should be held to a higher standard than all the rest — and there’s clearly still some work to do.
Wired
Kelsey Mcclellan for the Wired thinks that the Pixel is the phone to get now over the iPhone.
The Google Pixel changes that. It offers the look and competence of an iPhone, with a truly great camera and loads of innovative software and services. It changes my answer to the question I hear most often: What phone should you get?
You should get a Pixel.
Yes, the Pixel looks like an iPhone.
Yes, the Pixel looks like an iPhone, and that’s totally OK. My review unit is the 5.5-inch Pixel XL: a teensy bit smaller in my hand than the iPhone 7 Plus, but so similar that I confuse the two. The beveled aluminum body is a little sharper and harder than the round, smooth iPhone, but feels solid and nice to hold.
On Assistant, she expressed similar thoughts as other reviewers. Its nice, but it needs work.
Assistant does share common stumbling blocks with Siri and Amazon’s Alexa. It likes to answer easy questions by showing web results, and it speaks at unexpected, often jarring moments. “HERE ARE YOUR EVENTS!” is not a useful thing to yell when asked about my calendar. I wish I could type questions into the pop-up prompt instead of saying everything aloud like a tourist or opening an app like a nerd. In theory, Google’s deep knowledge of you and your life sets Assistant apart, but that didn’t always pan out.
The 12MP shooter of the Pixel is as good as the iPhone 7.
In fact, the real difference between the Pixel and the iPhone’s camera is a matter of approach as much as of execution. The iPhone faithfully reproduces the exact light of the image, even when it’s boring or flat or dark. The Pixel, like most Android phones, subtly enhances everything to make it a little brighter, a little more vibrant. You can watch the automatic HDR processing in real time, if you open a photo right after shooting.
To conclude:
The immediate joke everyone, including me, made on Twitter after the Pixel launch was that Google made an iPhone. Well, that’s true. As it turns out, an iPhone running Android is exactly what I’ve been waiting for.
Droid-Life
The 12MP shooters on the Pixels lack OIS, but the way Google has implemented EIS on the phones is downright impressive…magical. Check out Droid-Life‘s camera review of the Pixel to see a sample footage of EIS in action.
Ars Technica
Ars’ review of the Pixel echoes what other reviewers have said. The Pixel and Pixel XL are great phones albeit pricey.
The phones’ metal sides are flat, with a wide chamfer handling the transition to the display, while a round corner handles the transition to the back. Mixing the two design motifs feels a little weird, and the look suffers in comparison to the iPhone 7’s rounded sides, which transition seamlessly to the glass panel. The iPhone also feels substantially more “dense” and “solid” than a Pixel does. While the Pixel’s construction is in the same ballpark as Apple, Apple still gets more of the little details right.
On the camera:
The “best ever” label may be up for debate, but the Pixel camera consistently produces great shots for a smartphone camera. Smartphone cameras are all so good now that there isn’t much separation to see in well-lit shots, but in low light the Pixel captures stands out when producing bright colors and preserving detail. It’s easily on par with the iPhone 7 Plus camera—despite that one having two lenses. (Once you take pictures, you’ll need somewhere to store them, and for that Google offers Pixel customers “unlimited, full resolution” storage on Google Photos.)
Pixel points to a promising future:
Still, Google is just getting started. The company successfully established enough design, engineering, supply chain, and marketing expertise to get Google Phone 1.0 out the door. Maybe in the future, Google will make even greater changes to its hardware. Maybe we’ll see some of that fabled “hardware and software integration” that doesn’t seem to have happened much this time around. Maybe we’ll even see some of Google’s crazy experiments integrated into Google hardware—like a Project Tango phone. For now, though, we have a first attempt.
So, it looks like the Pixel and Pixel XL have turned out to be a worthy iPhone competitor from Google. Do you think you will be buying the Pixel or Pixel XL over the iPhone 7 now? Drop a comment and let us know!
