Google Pixel 3

The Google Pixel 3 is promising to the best smartphone camera in 2018, or at least that's the bold title that Google is looking to claim thanks to its machine-learning camera array.

We were able to go hands-on with the new 5.5-inch Android Pie phone, which comes in three colors, with names like clearly white, just black, and the pinkish 'not pink.'

It has a 12.2MP camera on back and two front-facing cameras on front, one fit for wide selfies to get an entire group shot without cutting people out of the picture. To this day, the Pixel 2 camera still amazes us, and the Pixel 3 building off of that success gives us high hopes for our forthcoming camera tests.

Is it that much better than the Google Pixel 2? We're currently exploring this phone in a flash hands-on and laying out the specs below. Here's what we think so far.

Release date and price

The Google Pixel 3 release date is October 18 in the US, and November 1 in the UK and Australia. Pre-orders begin around the world today. Countries like the US, UK, Canada and Australia will be the first to get the new phone.

The US Pixel 3 price starts at $799 for the 64GB version, while the 128GB edition is just $100 at $899. You're saving $100 by not opting for the larger Pixel 3 XL.

In the UK, the price is £739 (64GB) and £839. In Australia, you're going to be paying AU$1199 for 64GB and AU$1349 for 128GB. We'll have more Pixel 3 prices as the ship date nears.

Design and display

The Pixel 3 retains Google's familiar two-tone design, but with different materials this year. It has soft touch glass on the back, made with Corning Gorilla Glass 5. There's also Gorilla 5 five protecting the front screen, and it's all sandwiching an aluminum frame with a hybrid coating. That's the only bit of metal you'll find on the outside.

Sure, the all-glass design makes it more susceptible to damage, but it enables a better LTE connection and wireless charging. The latter feature is new for Google Pixel phones and a welcome change now that Google is releasing the Pixel Stand wireless charger (we'll review one of those too).

The 5.5-inch OLED screen is big and expansive, but sits in a phone that's smaller than we had expected. The entire thing measures 145.6 mm x 68.2mm x 7.9 mm and weighs 148g. It's easier to operate than the Pixel 3 XL, we found during our side-by-side comparisons.

The Pixel 3 screen is also better than what we experienced last year from the Pixel 2. It has a few more pixels per inch, yet the screen is expanded by becoming taller. There's noticeably less bezel thanks to its Full HD+ resolution that gives us a 18:9 aspect ratio rather than the dated 16:9 look. Last year's extreme bezel, we felt, was the standout lacking feature about the 2017 smaller Pixel phone. 

This year's Pixel fixes that issue, by sliming down the bezel, while keeping dual front-facing speakers. The Pixel 3 is an engineering feat. No, there's no headphone jack on this smartphone (just like last year) and you won't find a microSD card slot anywhere. The 64GB and 128GB storage configurations are what you're stuck with. There is a SIM card tray slot, interestingly at the bottom of the device right next to the USB-C port. No there's no microSD tray there, either. We looked.

• Comparison: Pixel 3 vs Pixel 2

Battery life and specs

The Pixel 3 has a 2,915mAh battery capacity, which is smaller than we had hoped, but still an improvement over last year's Pixel at 2,700mAh. Google's Android 9 Pie software, if you haven't updated, should give you more juice, too.

You should still be able to get all-day battery life from this device, though, and you'll benefit from fast 18W and new wireless charging.

The Google Pixel 3 

Early verdict

The Google Pixel 3 is offering a lot in a tighter package than the Google Pixel 3 XL. It has dual front-firing speakers, a promising 12.2MP camera backed by machine-learning and a much better display than the one we got last year. This is the one-hand friendly version of the Pixel 3 XL that your grip might appreciate. Its price is cheaper than an iPhone XS and it runs pure Android Pie with promise of the latest updates straight from Google. It's a good value, but we'll have to examine the battery life and camera closer in the coming days.