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The full scope of Motion Sense is yet to be realised - and Google says that this is a system that's just getting started - but as it stands we really can't see that it adds, well, anything. It's not a feature we've been waiting to appear, it doesn't let you do anything you can't already do with voice or a tap of the phone. Having used the phone for a number of months since launch, we've not used those gestures at all - so it seems a little pointless. There's another reason the forehead on the Pixel 4 XL is so big though. It also houses the infrared sensors for the new face unlock system.
This uses the same technology as Apple's Face ID , with an infrared dot projection, so it's biometrically secure enough for banking apps and so on. When the phone was launched there was no third-party support for these systems, but that's slowly rolled out, meaning you're not at a huge disadvantage because of the lack of fingerprint sensor. As for the unlocking itself, it's a lightning-fast system. The one good thing Soli does is wake the phone as you reach for it, powering up the face unlock circuits.
It doesn't care on the orientation either - but it also doesn't care if you have your eyes open. As to the core hardware of the Pixel 4 XL there's a 6. That was something that went down well on the OnePlus 7T and should mean smoother visuals - if you can see the difference.
If you have a work profile, tap Advanced. But it's still fast, automatic, nearly flawless, and requires no finger-reaching or any other specific motion to unlock the phone. Rules is admittedly basic in its functionality. Subscribe to XDA. Videos also turned out very well. Privacy and location.
In reality, we don't see a huge difference in the overall experience, but that might come down to the type of apps that we're using. Outside of the refresh rate, this is a vibrant display, dripping in quality and supporting high dynamic range HDR and we're really impressed with how well it presents content. It's pretty bright too, so it's a big thumbs up in this department. The bump in RAM will likely be welcomed by those who struggled with the 4GB of the Pixel 3 XL , but in many ways the performance will be governed by software optimisation.
As such it seems that the Pixel 4 XL doesn't suffer the same immediate background app closing problem that the Pixel 3 XL did.
What Google has done, however, is launch a new flagship-grade device on hardware that's not quite the top of the pile. There's a new Snapdragon Plus which is finding its way into devices like the OnePlus 7T, for example, and with the Snapdragon announced in December and appearing in devices from February , for the hardcore fans this isn't quite at the cutting edge.
In terms of absolute performance that may not matter as much as the spec sheet perception might come across, because the Pixel 4 XL runs fast and smooth - and we've found it to be a great phone for consuming media and playing games like PUBG Mobile and Call of Duty. What lets the side down, slightly, is the battery life. There's a mAh battery that will get you through the day, but only just.
Intensive use will see you needing a charger - and it comes with an 18W fast charger - so while it doesn't take long to top it up, it's far from a class-leading experience. That was the same as the Pixel 3 XL and this looks like a trend: Google just doesn't seem as good at battery optimisation as the likes of Huawei or OnePlus. When it comes to the camera, however, there's a more of a positive story to tell.
Over the past few devices, the Pixel has excelled with a single camera, able to use software, AI and optimisation to achieve results that others can't manage - even with more lenses. The second lens brings a zoom - a megapixel telephoto - designed to increase the quality for those farther-away subject shots.
What's interesting about it is the implementation. Google isn't giving you the option to switch lenses, you can't tap a button and be in the telephoto lens, instead you have to use the pinch zoom or the slider - and it's seamlessly integrated. The new telephoto lens pops in at 2x and then handles the digital zoom out to 8x using a hybrid system. It's good quality too - and while it's a lot less effective at night or in low light, in daylight you'll get passable results out to 8x and better results if you don't need to zoom so much.
This is a big improvement in terms of zoom for the Pixel. Google has also boosted the skills of Night Sight. The first aspect of this is that it's better in low-light without Night Sight turned on: you can take a passable low-light photo without engaging Night Sight, so it's much more like the Huawei P30 Pro in that sense.
Not a lot of other smartphones offer that kind of confidence.
The irony is that there's a ton of Google's software and processing magic going on in each photo, but the Pixel 4 photos tend to look the least processed and more true-to-life than photos from most other smartphone cameras. I still have to compare the Pixel 4 with other recent phones, especially the iPhone From what I've heard, Apple has caught up in a big way to Google's Pixel cameras. Google added a 2X optically zoomed lens to the Pixel 4 , and as a result, you get great 2X zoomed photos. But Google has seemed proud of what the Pixel 4's zoomed lens can do when you zoom further than 2X, where the phone starts using software-based digital zooming.
Indeed, the Pixel 4's digital zooming is better than what I've seen on other phones, but photos with digital zoom still look like photos with digital zoom — there's still some blotchiness and detail smoothing.
I wouldn't use the Pixel 4's digital zooming to capture anything meaningful. Could you image wider Pixel-quality photos that captures more scenery, colors, and details? Unfortunately, imagining how good ultra-wide Pixel 4 photos would look like is all we can do, since the Pixel 4 doesn't have an ultra-wide camera. It's a shame that the Pixel 4 doesn't have an ultra-wide lens like some of its biggest competitors — it means the Pixel 4 is a less versatile smartphone for taking photos than other recent smartphones, like the iPhone 11 , Galaxy S10 , and OnePlus 7T.
Adding salt to the ultra-wide wound, Pixel 4 owners don't get the free, unlimited Google Photos storage at the "original quality" setting anymore, like Pixel owners did up until the Pixel 4. With the Pixel 4, you get free, unlimited storage at Google Photo's "high quality" option, which is still great.
It's actually hard to tell the difference between "original" and "high quality," but still, it's a demotion. The astrophotography mode on the Pixel 4 captured the night sky amazingly well. At the same time, my night sky is a little boring, and I'd imagine most night skies are pretty boring, too. I think you need to be at a location that's directly under the Milky Way, or somewhere that's absolutely pitch black with no noise pollution, to take photos that look good and interesting.
Otherwise, astrophotos, at least mine, look somewhat boring. No one should have expected Google to reintroduce a headphone jack into the Pixel 4 after ditching it with the Pixel 2. Nowadays, removing the headphone jack is pretty much standard, and I can't accuse Google of being unhelpful for this. If you have a traditional pair of wired headphones and you unbox the Pixel 4, you will not have anything you need to listen to music on your new Pixel 4.
The company surely wants you to buy its wireless audio solution to listen to music on the Pixel 4 — the Pixel Buds 2. But get this: they're not even coming out until next year. So either you're stuck with buying the extremely poorly reviewed original Pixel Buds, Google's USB-C wired earbuds, or your own choice of wireless Bluetooth headphones. So far, there have been no issues worth reporting.
The adaptive 90Hz screen contributes a great deal to the Pixel 4's overall impression as a fast and powerful smartphone. It's purely aesthetic yet surprisingly noticeable and meaningful compared to 60Hz phone screens, like the iPhone 11 series and Galaxy S For reference, the more "Hz" a screen has, the more frames per second it can display. More frames per second means smoother animations. The 3,mAh battery in the Pixel 4 XL will see you through the day, but not as comfortably as other smartphones. I haven't heard great things about the smaller battery in the smaller Pixel 4, either.
With that in mind, it would have been good to see some of the faster 25W-plus charging technologies we've seen in Samsung and OnePlus phones instead of the 18W charger that comes with the Pixel 4. The balance in shots, the realistic colors, and the strong contrast combine to create photos that you want to share and come back and look at again.
The camera in the Pixel 4 feels faster, so you can capture that off-the-cuff moment and preserve it. Google has added dual exposure controls, so if you tap on the subject you get two sliders at the top that you can use to tweak the brightness or shadows. I find the automatic settings tend to get great results, but if you want to capture a silhouette, or take some shadow off a face, these new options are handy.
The headline addition for the Pixel 4 is the zoom. Simply pinch on screen and the slider appears, enabling you some fine control over your zoom level.