Google Pixel XL

The Google Pixel XL, along with the Google Pixel, is the first phone 'made [almost entirely] by Google', and it’s the best way to experience the latest and greatest that Android software has to offer.

It puts the immense power of Google search behind everything you do with the all-new Google Assistant, a context-understanding AI that’s often smarter than Siri. Sorry, Apple fans.

The Pixel XL also launches with the Android 7.1 Nougat update, which gives the phone virtual reality powers when paired with the newly released Google Daydream View headset.

Even if you’re not into VR, this means it has top-of-the-line specs good enough for power-hungry gamers, and that’s fantastic news for anyone who wants a fast phone.

The phone debuts the Snapdragon 821 processor, with 4GB of RAM inside of a glass-and-metal body. The camera is touted as 'best in class', and the 5.5-inch 2K-resolution screen looks superb.

Google is ditching the affordable, developer-focused Nexus brand in favor of the Pixel XL and its smaller 5-inch Google Pixel counterpart. They’re more expensive handsets, but also showcase greater ambition on Google's part.

The Google Pixel XL is sized and priced to compete with the elegantly designed Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge (that's the one that doesn't explode) and iPhone 7 Plus – and Google has picked the perfect time to launch a brand new contender for our best phones list.

Right now, with Apple’s headphone jack-less iPhone 7 irritating longtime fans and Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 cancellation disappointing users, fans of those brands may be looking elsewhere for the first time in years. So let’s zoom into this Pixel XL, to see if it’s as good as the hype claims.

Price and release date

• More expensive than any Nexus handset
• But in line with Apple, Samsung and LG phones
• On contract from Verizon in US and EE in UK

The Google Pixel XL launches on October 20, and it’s Google’s smartphone all grown up. That means it’s more expensive than the now discontinued Nexus 6P. These are grown-up prices too.

It costs $769 (£719, AU$1,269) for the 32GB version, and $869 (£819, AU$1,419) for the 128GB model. There’s no 64GB in-between edition, and no microSD slot for expandable storage.

You’ll notice that these are the exact same prices as for the iPhone 7 Plus, Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge and forthcoming LG V20 in the US, so Google is simply following an unfortunate trend there.

Not willing to pay full price? In the US, the Pixel is a Verizon exclusive on-contract, costs $32.08 a month over 24 months and comes with day one updates, according to the carrier.

But we'd suggest skipping the contract and paying everything up front for the SIM-free Pixel XL. It’s not filled with Verizon apps, and works just as well on AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint.

In the UK you can get the Pixel on contract from EE, paying £9.99 up front and then £55.99 per month for 10GB of data and unlimited calls and texts.

Design

• Premium – but peculiar glass-and-metal – design
• No camera bump on the back whatsoever
• Not waterproof, and no stereo speakers

Google called the Pixel XL design “bold” during its initial announcement, noting that the back of the phone’s glass-and-metal makeup gives it “personality and character”.

If that sounds like a backhanded compliment, it’s kind of deserved. It’s almost as if Google heard that people like metal phones, but also like glass phones, so it decided to throw in both.

It’s an odd, two-toned mix on the back side, making the Google Pixel XL feel like we’re one step away from unwrapping the Neapolitan ice cream of smartphones.

The good news is that, as funky as it looks, the materials are solid: strengthened Gorilla Glass 4 for the top third around the rear fingerprint sensor and camera, and polished anodized aluminum on the bottom two-thirds where your hand wraps around the phone.

Clutching this phablet shouldn’t be a problem if you could get the taller Nexus 6P in your hands. It measures 153 x 76 x 8.58mm, and tapers off to a depth of 7.31mm around the back.

It’s slightly thicker and boxier than most phones, including the iPhone 7 Plus at 7.3mm, but not quite as tall or, more importantly, wide. Normal-sized hands will do okay here.

Google has thrown a lot into the Pixel XL design, but there’s one thing you won’t find: an annoying camera bump. The rear camera is completely flush with the glass plate on the back, a design feat that Apple and Samsung have yet to achieve.

Unfortunately, the Google Pixel XL doesn’t live up to those manufacturers' waterproofing standards. Its IP53 rating means you can’t get this one wet, never mind accidentally dunk it in the sink, pool or toilet.

On the front, surrounding the 5.5-inch display is a rather big 'chin' for a phone that contains no physical home button. All of the face buttons are on-screen, while the riveted sleep/wake button and smooth volume rocker are on the right side.

It does, however, use that extra room at the top to include a headphone jack. There’s a speaker on the bottom, but while there are two speaker grilles, there’s just one firing out sound. If you accidentally cover it up with your finger when watching something in landscape mode, it’ll kill the volume. 

Showing that it does, in fact, have 'personality', the Google Pixel XL colors include Very Silver, Quite Black and a limited-edition Really Blue, a poke at ridiculous phone-color naming conventions.

You’re probably going to get a Live Case to cover up the peculiar glass-and-metal design anyway, so if you can do without a water-resistant phone and stereo speakers, you’ll be fine. 

It’s odd, but not quite the Google Glass of smartphones old from the Mountain View hardware team.

Display

• Bright and colorful 5.5-inch AMOLED display
• Better for VR than the 5-inch Google Pixel
• No rise-to-wake or always-on screen

The Google Pixel XL further proves why AMOLED displays look the best for smartphones, thanks to its colorful and bright screen that outclasses LCD panels every time.

It’s vivid, ready for virtual reality on a budget, and one of the key reasons we’d suggest you upgrade from the normal-sized Google Pixel that’s just Full HD or 1080p.

The screen looks better than an iPhone 7 Plus, but it’s missing one key feature we like about Apple’s display and newer Samsung and LG handsets: a rise-to-wake or always-on screen.

Having to reach for the tiny, side-mounted sleep/wake button on this phone just to light up the lock screen made us miss this informative display feature.

Google does include an Ambient Display feature that lights the screen up in a black-and-white color palette when notifications come in, but it’s just not the same.

Google has finally upgraded its new phone to include a Night Light mode that matches the iOS 9.3 feature. It lacks the adjustable orange-to-blue levels Apple has had from the beginning, and turns from blue to orange rather abruptly at sunset, but it’s a start.

Google Pixel XL ushers in a lot of firsts: Android 7.1 Nougat, Google Assistant and the new Snapdragon 821 processor (a chip that hasn’t launched outside of Asia before today).

That’s why you’re paying a lot more for a Pixel vs a Nexus phone: usually we’re getting some new software and six-month-old internal specs. But Qualcomm is debuting its latest chip here.

The idea is that you’re going to have a long-lasting phone and a better experience in the time that you do have it. That’s almost how we feel about the entire package.

Google Assistant

• Smarter than Siri, Cortana and Google Now
• Contextually understands words “it” and “here”
• Can’t “name that tune” and gets mixed up by apostrophes

Google Assistant is your personal AI buddy that’s one graduating class ahead of Siri, Cortana and Google Now voice commands. It holds a two-way conversation and understands context.

Asking “Okay Google. When is the next Presidential Debate?” brings back a correct response in the US. Asking “what channel is it on” gives you an answer, too, despite using the word “it.”

Three years ago, Google foresaw that search would begin to understand what “it” means, and we’re finally seeing that play out in our phones with simple questions and answers.

“Okay Google. How long does it take to get to Downtown LA?” comes up with a response along with a link to Google Maps. “What if I biked there?” returns a map with a harrowing bike route.

“Okay Google. What’s a zebra?” followed by “What color is it?” followed by “Show me photos” all bring back relevant results, and it’s all baked into an overlay window in the operating system.

Just for fun, we asked, “What do you think of Apple?” which resulted in “They have good products. I’m a fan.” “What do you think of Siri?” returned in “She seems clever.” Maybe another backhanded compliment?

This is the same Google Assistant that’s coming to the Google Home speaker and is meant to take on Amazon Echo and the e-retailer’s Alexa AI. It’s an amazing rival, but not perfect.

Going back to ask “When’s the next Presidential Debate?” with an apostrophe confuses the AI, which returns only partially helpful web results you have to tap on and read.

It’s also only able to toggle some of the Android system commands (You can’t turn Night Light on and off with your voice, for example), and it can’t “Name that Tune yet.” That’s basic bot.

The good (and scary) news is that Google controls so much of our search data that it’s likely to anticipate everything we want to know. It’s only going to get smarter, and this is a intriguing start.

Interface and apps

• Unlimited cloud storage for photos and videos
• Ready for Google Daydream View with Android 7.1
• Battery life information and Google Allo are too hidden

Google Pixel XL shows that it’s ready for the future with Android 7.1  Nougat and the promise of operating system updates for the next two years and security updates for three years.

Its minimalist approach to the homescreen and the notifications shade is an unassuming contrast to the depth (and real focus), Google Assistant.

People love that about stock Android vs an interface like Samsung’s TouchWiz. You’re not going to be bombarded with too many unnecessary apps. What’s here, you’ll actually use.

Google Photos, is a great example. It provides an easy backup solution for all of your media, and Pixel photos and videos get backed up at full resolution with unlimited cloud storage.

That’s a huge relief if you only go for the 32GB Google Pixel XL and aren’t into taking photos with a DSLR and transferring them to your phone. That still counts against your cloud quota.

But this phone is more than a fast pass to early Google updates and a clean, straightforward Android interface. This year it actually debuts a second (literal) front-facing feature: VR.

We tested out the Google Daydream View headset with the Pixel XL, and it worked as it should: giving us an immersive 360-degree virtual reality experience via an inexpensive headset.

It’s akin to the Samsung Gear VR, but Google’s software library is just getting underway. That should change as more Android phones begin to work with the fabric-coated headset.

This may be your first chance to test out Google Allo (messaging) and Google Duo (video chat). They comes pre-installed with the phone, and works okay as an iMessage and FaceTime rival. 

Allo uses your phone number (a huge deal in the US where people still give out their number for SMS and don’t use WhatsApp) instead of your personal Gmail address like Hangouts requires.

However, both Allo and Duo need cross-platform support (on computers and tablets especially) and it should fully replace Messenger in the dock if it’s going to work the same way.

Another thing that needs work is the battery life indicator. We still have to dive into the hidden, developer-intended System UI tuner to reveal battery life information in the top system tray. 

We’ve never said “You know what I don’t want to know? How much battery life I have left.” That’s always been an annoyance with Nexus phones, and nothing has changed on the Pixel XL.

Movies, music and games

• Vivid 5.5-inch display to enjoy watching videos and playing games
• No stereo speakers, but there is a headphone jack

We’re increasingly being entertained by our phones, even with big-screen TVs and tablets close by. Android games and Facebook videos in short bursts make our phone the go to device.

The Google Pixel XL gets the job done visually. It has that excellent AMOLED display that rocks deep blacks and saturated colors. They make movies and games seem impressive at 5.5 inches.

However, we did run into a problem when holding the phone in landscape mode and trying to enjoy just about any two-handed game experience like futuristic racer Breakneck.

Covering up that one speaker killed our enjoyment just a little bit. Luckily, Google didn’t follow Apple or Motorola’s trend by killing off the headphone jack, so our quickest solution was a pair of earbuds.

What’s really a shame is that the Nexus 6P, which was cheaper and had a bigger 5.7-inch display, included stereo speakers – one at the top and one at the bottom. This seems like a step backward.

Specs and performance

• Debuts the Snapdragon 821 processor
• Same specs as the 5-inch Google Pixel
• Still not as fast as Samsung’s non-US phones

Both the Pixel and Pixel XL have Google introducing new internal specs instead of sticking with a six-month-old chipset, and that’s part of the reason you’re paying a premium this year.

It delivers the faster Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor, which is a step ahead of the 820 System-on-a-Chip found inside the US Samsung Galaxy S7, HTC 10 and LG G5, for example.

This 64-bit quad-core chip runs at 2.15Ghz with 4GB of RAM and an Adreno 530 GPU that’s one step ahead of its current Qualcomm-based competition. 

It cracked a 4,000 multi-core score in our Geekbench tests, giving us an average of 4,077 after three rounds with the CPU benchmarking app. That’s impressive. 

What’s interesting is that the 5-inch Pixel has the same specs (outside of the bigger battery and display on the XL), giving us basically the same results after another series of tests: 4,029.

If you want that curved screen from Samsung, you have to ditch the 5.1-inch phone for 5.5 inches. If you want Apple’s dual-camera setup, you have to forgo a 4.7-inch handset for a huge 5.5-inch phone. With Google, the choice is a little easier to live with.

We would have loved Google to push its phablet a bit further, but also appreciate the company including all of the bigger phone features for often-deprived smaller hands.

Google’s phone performance has come a long way in smaller packages, with solid call quality on both Verizon and AT&T and 47-second boot times.  That really contrasts with the Nexus 6 from two years ago, which had us suffering through minute-and-a-half boot times. A long, long way.

Battery life

• Pixel XL lasts a day and a quarter
• Longer battery life than the Pixel
• Charging with USB-C adapter can be a pain

Google packed a big 3,450mAh capacity battery into the Pixel XL, and that was a good decision because the bright and pixel-dense 2K resolution can really drain it if you’re not careful.

We found that we were averaging a day and a quarter during our week with the phone, using it as we normally do to: checking social media every hour, playing game while waiting in line and making that rare phone call.

Screen-on time is where the battery life escapes the quickest. Watching a 90-minute looped HD video as part of our lab test wore it down to a pathetic 68% from its 100% starting point.

That’s technically worse than every other 2016 Android phone, which means two things: 1) The screen brightness is enough to burn a hole in the ozone layer and 2) Google’s software, with Doze 2.0 battery-saving background techniques, is really efficient when we’re not using the phone outside of the lab.

You’re better off with the Pixel XL than the standard Pixel, which, despite its Full HD screen, gave us a day before we ran back to a charger. Its smaller 2,770 mAh is just that much less.

Of course, you’re way better off with either Pixel phone vs the Samsung Galaxy Note 7, which now has the battery life rating of: explosion.

Google, like many phone makers these days, includes a quick charger, and there’s good news and bad news here. Its 18W adapter charges the phone in a speedy one hour and 50 minutes (that’s the good news).

The bad news is that the adapter uses a USB-C port to achieve those speeds, meaning you have to lug around the USB-C-to-USB-C cable everywhere. Sounds okay, right? 

But wait, if you want to plug your phone into a normal, non-USB-C computer, you’ll also have to carry around the (also included) USB-C-to-USB-A cable.

We found that charging the phone with this USB-C-to-USB-A cable and a Samsung (which accepts normal USB-A ends) to be about 25 minutes slower. Yet the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, with a slightly bigger battery, could charge in about a similar one hour and 53 minutes.

Displaying the battery life levels in the system tray (and when the power is off) and improving the charging interface are two areas in which the Pixel falls behind, even if it’s battery life is acceptable.

Camera

• Another new Android with a great 12MP sensor
• Lack of Optical Image Stablization isn't a big deal
• Camera app is limited vs the competition

Every year we are promised a “the best Nexus camera ever” by Google, and with the Pixel, we got teased with something slightly different and even better: the best camera in any smartphone.

Google arrived at this conclusion not just by marketing hype, but by being analyzed by DxOMark testers, racking up the highest score yet for a phone at 89, higher than the 88 for the S7 Edge.

Sure enough, our own side-by-side camera tests proved that the Pixel XL’s 12.3MP camera is outstanding, capturing some of the most highly detailed and color-accurate photos we’ve seen on a phone.

Is it really better than the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge camera? Yes and no. Samsung amps up its photos with more saturated tones in almost every shot, and really cranks up the brightness.

That’s awesome for blue skies and green grass, where everything really comes alive against white clouds. The day (and everyone in your photo) looks unnaturally perfect.

The Pixel XL has vivid colors and low light performance that looks almost as good, but where it wins out is when things become too bright for Samsung’s otherwise leading camera.

Catch something that’s already too bright in your photo on the S7 Edge, like beach sand on a sunny day, and the sand can become overblown and it really distorts the scenic beach photo.

The Pixel XL captures more natural tones and that may come off as a bit duller by comparison in side-by-side match-ups, but it works well enough in almost every shot.

What worried us at first was the lack of Optical Image Stabilization. Google’s camera bump-less design forges OIS in favor of software optimized Electronic Image Stabilization (EIS). But during playback, we didn’t find a problem in photo sharpness tripod less or video smoothness when playing. The lack of OIS is overblown.

Where Google could really use some work is in the default camera app. LG and Samsung fill their cameras with more features than you can explore in a week. It’s the full mobile suite.

Google doesn’t have quite as many modes, and feel as though it’s just getting by with lens blur, panorama, photosphere.

The front-facing camera is a different story, however. We shot some of the best-looking 8MP selfies on the Pixel XL, which thankfully includes HDR+, and there’s less barrel distortion than on the S7 Edge, even if the picture isn’t at as wide of an angle.

Google Pixel XL recasts the developer-focused Nexus smartphones with ambitious new software features and cutting-edge specs in an effort to reach mainstream consumers.

Its timing couldn’t be more perfect. You won’t find a headphone jack on the new iPhone, and you may be doubting Samsung’s reliability after two Samsung Galaxy Note 7 recalls. 

All of a sudden, the Google Pixel XL launches with the helpful (but still-work-in-progress) Google Assistant, powerful Snapdragon 821 processor and an awesome, top-ranking camera.

It has almost everything you need outside of a waterproof design and stereo speakers. Google’s attempt at an iconic design throws a little too much into the pot with a metal-and-glass look. It’s ugly on the outside, but not on the inside.

What’s more important to us is that its Android interface remains minimalist and easier to use than ever, and that’s really the driving force behind owning a Pixel, even if it costs a lot more than a Nexus.

Who’s it for?

Google is attempting to broaden its Nexus fanbase with the Pixel XL, adding the latest chipset, nifty AI, and an excellent camera, something that it didn’t put in its past co-created phones.

That means you’re getting a phone that’s more powerful than any inexpensive Nexus handset, and it’s combined with the most streamlined user experience of any Android in 2016.

It also means you have to be someone who is willing to fork over a lot more money. It’s a hardware and software combination that’s also a one-two punch to the wallet.

Should I buy it?

The Google Pixel XL is one of the most sure-fire bets you can make if you’re looking to try a brand new Android phone in 2016. It’s the rookie of the year thanks to Google designing it from top to bottom.

If upgrading to Android 7.1 Nougat and taking advantage of its budding VR capabilities are important to you, this is your smartphone. If not, you can find a just-as-good camera on a Samsung, LG or the iPhone at the same price.