One Month With The Google Pixel XL: Still The Undisputed King

Pixel Front

I have spent a month with the Pixel XL now. I was very skeptical when it was launched. I was even very vocal about the fact that I wasn’t in favor of Google killing the Nexus line and shifting to the costlier and seemingly not exciting phone. I then started using the phone and I am now a hardcore Pixel fan. I will even tell you without a second thought that it is still the undisputed king of Android smartphones

Pixel XL

The phone quite literally puts the power of Google, at your fingertips. Every touch, every interaction, every moment made easy and extremely smooth. This phone comes with a 5.5-inch WQHD AMOLED display, 3450 mAh battery. The storage options are 32GB, and 128GB. The color variants are Quite Black, Very Silver, and Really Blue. I had the silver and black versions and eventually held the black one for a long time.

The phone specifications may not sound like earth shattering when you look at them first. I was very reluctant to move to the Pixel. There are many phones that have similar specifications now in the market. Some have even more memory and storage options. Then there is the OnePlus 3T which has the exact same processor and tons of memory and storage to go with it. But then, let me assure you that the experience on the Pixel is superlative to say the least. The words lag and stutter do not exist in the world of the Pixel. Severe multitasking is a breeze. Heavy graphics are no longer a bother. And then there are some more important areas where the phone literally kills every other phone that tries to compete with it.

Pixel Front

Google assistant being baked into the phone is a big plus. There are endless applications and value additions that can be derived  out of it. Starting with tasks as simple as looking for movies that are playing nearby or getting the weather report for the week. I was able to easily set reminders, call people, send messages, check emails and make memos just by talking to the assistant. Google is looking to add keyboard input as an option to the assistant soon and when that happens, it will be better and more useful.

It would be a crime to talk about the Pixel phones and not to mention the camera. I am not a big fan mobile photography. I totally lack any semblance of skill in that area. The fact that I can use only one hand to both hold and snap makes this very complicated for me. But the Pixel Camera was quite a revelation. To put it very mildly, it made a proper photographer out of me. I took the Pixel out with me on various occasions in varying light conditions and here are a few pictures I took with it

Snowman

Fire

Minions

Continuing on the topic of images, you will never ever run out of space on your Pixel for your images and videos. You get unlimited space on Google photos to add them in their original resolution. There is a smart storage manager that very efficiently manages the swap between the cloud and local storage in the background. Configure it once and you are all set. Add that to the fact that Pixel will get Android updates as an when Google makes them available, the ugly out of space message is a thing of the past.

Pixel phone charging

The phone has a USB Type-C socket for charging and data transfer. Needless to say that it supports very high speeds on both. I was able to run a full day on a single charge and when I came back and hooked up the charger, I got up to 70% juice in under 20 minutes.

Just the experience of stock Android on superlative hardware, a brilliant camera and all the right features like the easy migration from your old Android or iPhone device make this an unbeatable phone for now. So all hail the king! From a purely experience and performance standpoint, The Pixel XL is still the undisputed king of Android smartphones! Let’s see who is the successor to this one this year!

About Shakthi

I am a Tech Blogger, Disability Activist, Keynote Speaker, Startup Mentor and Digital Branding Consultant. Also a McKinsey Executive Panel Member. Also known as @v_shakthi on twitter. Been around Tech for two decades now.

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