Google has launched its Pixel smartphones, marking the end of the Nexus lineup. The Google Pixel is the smaller of the two smartphones, and it is among the first-ever smartphones to come preloaded with Google Assistant. Though the Pixel smartphones have been manufactured by HTC, nowhere will you find any indication of the Taiwanese company's presence. There only the 'G' logo on the smartphone's back, and they are being touted as ‘Made by Google’.
With its new Pixel smartphones, Google is following Apple’s playbook. So in essence, both the Pixel smartphones look the same and are only differentiated on the basis of size. The overall design isn't what you would call standout, and is a tad uninspiring to say the least. The top half of the back panel is covered with glass and the lower half of the back panel is covered with metal. It will be available in three colors -- quite black, very silver, and really blue.
Though the design is nothing to write home about, the software features are some of the highlights. The Pixel is preloaded with Google’s latest apps like Allo and Duo. There is also Google Photos app that gives users unlimited photo backup and that too at their maximum resolution for a lifetime.
Like the Nexus smartphones, the Pixel too runs on the latest Android Nougat out-of-the-box. But rather than it being stock Android, the OS is wrapped under the Pixel UI. This new UI not only features a new design with round icons, but is also built to maximize Google Assistant AI. The Assistant not only makes it easy for users to interact with their smartphones, but it also communicates with other Google products like Home and apps like Allo. You can long press the home button and swipe up on the screen to get Google Assistant to bring additional info from contents on the screen.
Google Pixel specifications
The Google Pixel smartphone flaunts a 5-inch full HD (1920x1080 pixels) AMOLED display with 441ppi and protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 4. Under the hood is Qualcomm's Snapdragon 821 quad-core processor clocked at 2.15GHz. The smartphone comes with 4GB of LPDDR4 RAM, and storage options include 32B and 128GB.
On the photography front, the smartphone sports a 12.3-megapixel rear camera with f/2.0 aperture, phase detection auto-focus, laser auto-focus, LED flash. The camera is capable of 4K video recording, and it also boasts video stabilization. Up front, there is an 8-megapixel selfie camera with f/2.4 aperture.
The smartphone features a fingerprint scanner placed at the back, and also comes with a 2,770mAh battery with Quick Charge support. Google says the battery is capable of offering up to 32 hours of talktime and up to 552 hours on standby mode. With Quick Charge support, the smartphone can offer up to seven hours of usage with 15 minutes of charging.
Connectivity options include 4G support, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac 2x2 MIMO, Bluetooth 4.2, NFC and USB Type-C port. Unlike many modern flagship devices, the Pixel does retain the 3.5mm audio jack.
Google has said that the prices for the Pixel in India start from Rs 57,000. This is a tad on the expensive side, and at this range will compete against the likes of the new Apple iPhone 7, Samsung Galaxy Note 7, and even the lower-priced flagship devices like the HTC 10 and Samsung Galaxy S7.
