Hi, this is Wayne again with a topic “Google Pixel 5: it’s time”.
Thank you to ting for sponsoring this video welcome to Samsung Galaxy unpacked welcome to the launch of something we know. You’Ve all been eagerly waiting for and welcome to the Steve Jobs theater. So, with new phones, seemingly coming out every few weeks, there’s still one device annually that I get really excited about almost more than any others and that’s the pixel line. I love to see what Google’s going to do next and that’s no exception with the pixel file.
You start seeing rumors of what this phone is going to be probably start to shape up. There’S a lot to be excited about, and I thought through in that vein it’d be really good time to look back at the pixel 4 and pixel 4xl and do our final review. The pixel line has never been universally loved, beautiful, designed line of phones in a lot of ways, its function over form, and I think, there’s still a lot of beauty in that and kind of. In that vein, I’ve enjoyed the utilitarian aesthetic of the pixel 4x al. I’Ve really grown to appreciate the function of what it can do. The giant forehead hasn’t really bothered me. I look at it the same way. I look at the notch on the iPhone, at least it’s there for a reason. It’S enabling a really good face, unlocking, and that was actually the reason that I wanted to switch to.
The 4x L is my first phone. When I made that Android switch. I wanted to have that really fast face unlock it.
When the phone first came out, there was a bit of a problem with it. It would unlock with your eyes closed and fortunately do the beauty of software updates. The best fix that and that’s a longer, an issue and what you’re left with is one of the quickest and most secure faced.
Unlocking systems going so one big knock on pre pixel for phones was the screen and I think Google stepped up their game tremendously with the 4 and the 4 XL. So we’ve got OLED here. We’Ve got in 90 hours of refresh rate, all things that are really awesome and if you think of the modern smartphone screen, I think most people tend to think of Samsung screens and oneplus screens that are really poppy and bright. Vibrant colors, the pixel screens, are not of that. They are much more muted, less bright and a lot of folks like that look. Maybe I’ve gotten used to the poppy colors and that’s kind of been what my eyes tend to gravitate towards the time that the phone came out.
90 Hertz was awesome, it couldn’t believe cool did that that was amazing to have, but now in the area of really regular 120 Hertz and having variable refresh rates, it’s weird to say, but starting to show its age. The big knock that I have on the screen is still the same one that I had initial review. The brightness does not get that bright, but it’s not to say it’s a bad screen.
It’S actually a very different screen. Then a lot of the modern smartphones. I say modern phones have come out in the past 7 months, so initial review.
I talked a lot about project Solly. It’S the radar features that we’re on the phone now, how I hoped it over time. Software updates would enable new things and in some ways they have what you get is the radar helping that fast base unlock, which I really liked, and you can play and pause music here. You can swipe the next song, but beyond that I essentially forgot that it was here. I can see Google very easily for the pixel 5 kind of Google Plus in it and axing it in the favor of costs for the next gen phone guess it was a cool case study, but I don’t think it’s anything that anybody really needed to have or Was buying a pixel for to have that features? There are two things I think you have to talk about when it comes to the pixel line of phones, cameras and battery life, and, let’s start here with the battery life, when I first started testing the pixel for was really bad. The pixel for did not get any better at all and, in fact of the reports that executives knew. The pixel for battery was not going to be very good and have since left the company, and it was mind-blowing. They added. So many new things from the three of the four you’ve got radar face: unlock 90 Hertz, a refresh rate and they put in a smaller milliamp hour battery in the pixel 3.
That was a recipe for failure, but switching gears from the 4 to the excel. It’S a bit of a different story: it’s not like battery King. It’S not gon na win battery the Year awards and say it’s a four day phone, but you can get through a full day and I think that is sort of the barrier to entry to making a phone be easy to recommend. I could get through a full day on the Forex out, so the pixel line and cameras are at this point synonymous like most people who are buying a pixel or they’re doing it. For software, for the amazing cameras and used to be good at the pixel. Was the best still camera you could get in a phone and it still now, amongst the best, it’s not to say that it’s not good just that they set the bar so high the competition. Actually, I think, in a lot of ways caught up to what Google was doing, but having said that pretty much any still picture in any setup that you do with the 4 or 4 XL is going to be some version of really good.
It still amazes me how incredible the machine learning is with portrait mode, for example, they always look amazing nitesite looks like magic has happened to bring dark images to life with really not that much noise astrophotography will something. I don’t use all that often really good to have there just every shot I take. I have confidence, knowing it’s going to be good. Video, though, is still very much a different story. There’S something I talked about in the initial review: hardware-wise, it’s still very capable of shooting 4k 60, but Google is not allowing it and that’s fine. You don’t have to shoot 4k 60. The video that comes out of it. It’S still not great, and I can share an example of how what kind of impacted me when I went to San Francisco for the galaxy s2, 20 pre-brief or I could see the phones a lot of the view, role that I shoot is usually with the phone.
I have on me at the time and I was using the pixel for excel. I didn’t trust the video coming out of it to be good enough for the quality that I want it for youtubes. I had to bring another device with me which video I thought was better now it’s not bad video. I don’t want that to be misinterpreted, but it’s certainly mid to lower tier 4. You can get with new Android devices. I don’t want to harp on video too much if your use cases, Instagram or shooting videos upload to Twitter or even YouTube, it’s still decent enough and the whole camera system sort of still in video combined is amazing on the phone and what this can do is Still making me moving more excited for what’s gon na come next with the five, while the competition is still very fierce in the optic world, and google is still definitely keeping pace with them, but it’s very clear.
The area’s need to improve, as we’ve seen, the change in the past seven months in smartphone landscape, since the four came out so, as you guys are inevitably stuck at home or maybe starting to venture out looking for ways to save money. I think one of the best way to save a few bucks is on your cell phone bill and plan and that’s or something like ting comes into play. You pay for what you are using. You can pick and choose the amount of data and text.
That’S right for you! So a couple awesome things: if you’re on a family plan, the more devices you bring over to ting the cheaper it gets LT, there are no contract store either. So ting isn’t a prepaid cell phone service. You actually pay at the end of the month for what you’re, using so you’re, not paying for data and features that you didn’t use that month and your cell service isn’t gon na change. It works with the best networks. It’Ll work on Verizon’s Network t-mobile, Sprint. You’Re always going to have service. That’S really gon na change is your bill and if you’re looking to save as much money as possible, you can actually get a plan for like in the twenty dollars. You don’t need a special phone or anything to work on ting. Pretty much any smart phone will work, but they’ve got a checker to make sure your device is compatible there and you sign up. They send you a SIM card, you pop it in and you are good to go. They make it really easy to port. Your number. All that really changes is what you’re paying per month. So I challenge you to give it a shot. Go to John ting com, decide to sign up, give you twenty five dollars of credit. That’S gon na equal outs like almost a full month, a free cell phone bill, depending how you configure it it’s awesome.
I’Ve used it personally as a way to save some money and it’s a great way for you. If you’re looking to serve, obviously keep your cell phone working as you’re used to but not pay for things just straight up, not using maybe one of the most underrated things about the pixel line. Is a software getting a phone that you know is going to be supported with updates for three years? Is awesome and those monthly updates come pretty close to the first of the month that you can count on it? You can count on new features and new things. Coming to the phone that software peace of mind is really nice and over, there updates or huge benefit of modern smartphones, you’re, always getting these amongst the best of what Android can offer, and that’s really a nice peace of mind to have. I, like the software experience.
I like what Google is doing and there’s still some disappointments on the software front, I kind of bummed out they got rid of unlimited backups of original file size for photos. I was something that was really cool that offered in the pixel line, so that negative is, I think, more than balanced out by some of the awesome positive stuff on device. Real-Time transcription is really useful and helpful. I thought myself going back to the pixel as I’m testing a new phone when and just dictating notes to make sure I included a review. I really liked having that on here and another. Perhaps it was underrated feature on any phone. It’S not unique to just a pixel anymore, but the call screening feature that still seems like magic and it saves me a lot of kind of robots telling me that they are calling from IRS and I am late in taxes. So, on the whole, not much has changed on the four and the four Excel the stuff that was good back then, is still really good, and the stuff that was frustrating – and I was hoping we’d – get improved – still really hasn’t improved that much, but I think the Big question now with the four line, so the regular and the Excel is just right now, should you buy it and you’re at a starting price point of eight hundred dollars, at least retail, for the four and as good as the four is. I don’t think that should be a phone. Anybody should buy, do just a battery life, so you’re looking at a starting price point of $ 900 for the XL, with an insanely anemic, 64 gigabytes of storage. At that price point it’s hard to recommend any of the pixel lineup, but we don’t live in an MSRP world.
There are insane deals to be had on even the four in the four XL dropping the price down in some instances to around 500 to 550 dollars. At that price point, it is an absolutely incredible Buy yet you’re gon na get a very, very capable phone, but kind of holding over this phone’s head is the imminent release of the for a now. We don’t know battery capacity or, if the for a is gon na, come with a for a XL brother, but the for a has been leaked all over the place, their hands on videos and billboards this phone. And if we use what the three a was astir of a marker, you’re gon na get the best of what the four line has to offer.
So that’s really camera software experience and that should filter down so starting price point of around three hundred and fifty bucks. So that’s gon na come out to you. What’S worth it and not worth it. If you decide that you’re in the Android camp – or you want to be in the Android camp and you’re willing to spend the top-tier money for a pixel phone, your best bet still, though, is probably gon na wait a few months for that pixel five.
So those are looking back 7-inch months later it hasn’t been a disappointing phone. It has certainly not been a perfect experience, but Google and a lot of ways delivered on that initial pixel promise with the four there are flaws and areas to be improved on, but I still really enjoyed using the phone. It was a really good experience for me in my use cases. I think if you can take that experience away and view the flaws with maybe a little bit of distance, what Google delivered is still a really capable really good series of devices. .