And so the Leaks were true and they do establish the Google Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL as the most leaked smartphone in history. Rumors were pretty much accurate and there wasn’t much left for us, the onlookers, to imagine in the latest offering for the Pixel series. Google being the developers of Android, use Pixel, their homegrown champ, as a showcase for latest in features that Google has to offer in pure Android form. Which also in a way, established Google as full spectrum player like Apple. And Google gets its very own Flagship to boast about. Like last two years of Pixel and the erstwhile Nexus smartphone series, this year too is full of exciting features. And these do not leave the potential Pixel 3 owners bereft of the overwhelming feeling of owning the latest Flagship.
The build quality this year is par excellence. A perfect marriage of Aluminum and Glass. This year Pixel phone has full glass back and it also has wireless charging built in. Although the overall design language is same, it is carried off gracefully and is bolstered with superior build quality.
First off, the phone dimensions for Pixel 3 are almost exactly similar to Pixel 2 at 145.6 x 68.2 x 7.9 mm. Thanks to the new whole body Glass finish, the Pixel 3 (148 g) is slightly bulky in comparison to Pixel 2 (143 g). Google has restrained itself from going Dual SIM, reasons for which are unknown. Even a flagship like he Samsung Galaxy Series that runs on Android OS has a Dual SIM option.
Now despite of similar dimensions to the previous version of Pixel phone, the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL feature bigger display screens. E.g. Pixel 3 has 5.5 inch screen in comparison to 5.0 inch screen on Pixel 2. And, guess what? The screen is P-OLED capacitive screen (probably Samsung made). The screen is a paradise with mesmerizing resolutions of 1080 x 2160 pixels (Retina display? Ahem).
The colors this year have equally peculiar names i.e. Clearly White, Just Black, Not Pink.
Thankfully Pixel 3 has not lost the touch, that squeezy feeling which launches the Google Assistant.
That Notch! While the notch on our Pixel 3 XL seemed quite big, it did not cause much of a hassle in operation as the screen area is quite vast to accommodate grouped notifications on Android 9 (Pie). It does hinder to a certain extent in videos played in landscape mode.
And the presence of the notch on Google Pixel 3 is not missed at all, as the screen looks much taller than Pixel 2 yet it still has little bit of chin at the bottom.
While we were not complaining about the battery performance of Google Pixel 2 or the Pixel 2 XL, an additional 215 mAh of power is most welcome on the Pixel 3 at 2915 mAh. The Pixel 3 XL has 3430 mAh Li-ion battery. Internal memory on both the devices cannot be expanded and batteries are non-removable.
Google continues to offer the much loved front facing (sort of) dual speakers on the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL. And these phones also continue to skip 3.5 mm headphone jack like their predecessor.
Snapdragon 845, a notch above previous year’s 835 is a natural upgrade along with upgraded processors Octa-core (4×2.5 GHz Kryo 385 Gold & 4×1.6 GHz Kryo 385 Silver). Adreno GPU also sees an upgrade from 540 to 630.
RAM and internal memory remain same at 4 GB and 64/128 GB, respectively.
The already over-rated, yet worth of its ratings Camera has not been tinkered much, but the Camera App has undergone several changes with several shooting modes, etc. Lens width has been increased from 27 mm to 28 mm, rest all specs remain same at 12.2 MP dual pixel rear camera with f/1.8 aperture with optical stabilization.
Front camera has grown organically from single to dual camera setup. Now there are two selfie cameras: first, 8 MP with f/1.8 aperture 28mm (wide), PDAF and second, 8 MP with f/2.2 aperture 19mm (ultra wide) with no AF.
One of the most striking features of the Google Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL phones, which other OEMs ought to take note of is that there is no spec discrimination between the two versions, only the screen size and battery capacities vary. These smartphones are sure to rock the mobile world, yet continue to be the most dependable daily drivers of their respective users.
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