Consumer Technology Confirmed Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL specs and features from "Made By Google" launch event

[Nokra]

It looks like most of the information from the leaks was accurate, though of course there were a few features that weren't really revealed. This site seems to have a good summary of the new features, as well as video from the event.

 

Hardware specs, from the article:

Quote

 

Display: Pixel 3: 5.5-inch flexible OLED at 443ppi/2160x1080, 18:9 aspect ratio; Pixel 3 XL: 6.3-inch flexible OLED at 523ppi/2960x1440, 18.5:9 aspect ratio (plus a notch!)
Dimensions: Pixel 3: 5.7 x 2.7 x 0.3 inches, 148 grams; Pixel 3 XL: 6.2 x 3.0 x 0.3 inches, 184 grams
Rear camera: 12.2MP dual-pixel, f/1.8 aperture
Dual front camera: 8MP wide-angle and normal field-of-view cameras. Wide-angle has f/2.2 aperture and 97° field of view. Normal camera has f/1.8 aperture and 75° field of view
Silicon: 2.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 845, Pixel Visual Core chip, Titan M security module, 4GB RAM, and either 64GB or 128GB storage
Battery: 2915mAh (Pixel 3), 3450mAh (Pixel 3 XL), fast charging and wireless charging
Audio: Dual front-firing speakers, USB-C earbuds bundled in
Colors: Clearly White, Just Black, Not Pink
OS: Android 9 Pie
Pricing: Pixel 3: 64GB for $799, 128GB for $899; Pixel 3 XL: 64GB for $899, 128GB for $999
 

 

 

So the hardware specs aren't especially groundbreaking, but it seems to have quite a few cool software features. The more interesting features are linked to above, but for anyone who doesn't want to check out the link, the big things appear to be:

 

Top Shot: The camera takes multiple pictures and then uses machine learning to recommend what is likely to be the best shot.

Super Res Zoom: The camera takes multiple photos and then these are algorithmically combined to create a high res zoomed shot.

Night Sight: Uses machine learning to choose the right pixel information for low-light shots.

Dual front-facing cameras: Ultra-wide selfie mode (they're claiming 184% more scene content than Apple's iPhone Xs). 

Pixel Stand: A wireless charging base ($79) allows your Pixel 3 to basically become a Google Home hub.

Call Screening: If you don't want to or are unable to take a call you can screen the call, which lets the caller know they're speaking with Google Assistant and they can say their name and why they're calling, with this information being displayed to you.

 

 

I had a Nexus 5 way back when which I was happy with until it had the ubiquitous power button problem, and since then I've been using a Huawei P9 Lite for a couple years, which even when it came out was pretty basic. I can't wait to make this my next phone.

[TwinIon]

I'll probably upgrade my OG Pixel XL after the reviews come out and there aren't any of the issues that have cropped up before with Google's phones. I'm curious as to how good the camera is.

 

I'd like to get my hands on them to see how bad the notch is in person. I'm considering going with the Pixel 3, rather than the XL. They're both 5.5" screens, but the difference in aspect ratio means the 3 is a bit smaller, I think.

[Nokra]

17 hours ago, TwinIon said:

I'll probably upgrade my OG Pixel XL after the reviews come out and there aren't any of the issues that have cropped up before with Google's phones. I'm curious as to how good the camera is.

 

I'd like to get my hands on them to see how bad the notch is in person. I'm considering going with the Pixel 3, rather than the XL. They're both 5.5" screens, but the difference in aspect ratio means the 3 is a bit smaller, I think.

 

A friend has one of the newer iPhones which also has a notch and it didn't bother me as much as I expected it to. I think the biggest annoyance would be that you have less room for notifications so I guess that after 3 or 4 they don't display an icon for them. But honestly if I have more than 3 or 4 notifications I tend to not look too closely at them anyway and just swipe down to look at everything. 

 

I'm also a little worried about possible screen problems as we've seen in the past, and I can't say I'm a huge fan of not having a headphone jack. Sure you can use a USB-C adapter (which appears to be included) but then you have a dongle hanging off the phone. 

 

Overall though I think it will be a decent improvement over your OG Pixel XL. It seems that they'll be releasing a lot of of the software features to the previous Pixel models in the coming weeks though. 

[Jason]

I'm tempted to get the non-XL assuming the reviews pan out. The screen size would still be a nice step up from the S7, and from what I recall of previous Pixels the screen curvature isn't nearly as severe as Samsung does, meaning you can actually protect the phone with a case. 

 

On the other hand, it's super tempting to see if the S10 rumors turn out to be true. 

[Nokra]

11 minutes ago, Jason said:

I'm tempted to get the non-XL assuming the reviews pan out. The screen size would still be a nice step up from the S7, and from what I recall of previous Pixels the screen curvature isn't nearly as severe as Samsung does, meaning you can actually protect the phone with a case. 

 

On the other hand, it's super tempting to see if the S10 rumors turn out to be true. 

 

With "screen curvature" are you meaning just the curving at the edges? So you mean you can protect it with a screen protector, right?

 

I'm pretty careful with my phones (haven't dropped one yet) and never had a problem with scratches, even when I never even used a screen protector such as on my Nexus 5. Unless the screen scratches particularly easily I'm not sure that I would even bother with a screen protector. 

[Jason]

2 minutes ago, Nokra said:

 

With "screen curvature" are you meaning just the curving at the edges? So you mean you can protect it with a screen protector, right?

 

I'm pretty careful with my phones (haven't dropped one yet) and never had a problem with scratches, even when I never even used a screen protector such as on my Nexus 5. Unless the screen scratches particularly easily I'm not sure that I would even bother with a screen protector. 

 

I do mean the curvature at the edges but I'm not talking about scratches. I've always bought cases where the case extends a bit forward past the plane of the screen, so that you can place the phone face down without the screen touching the surface, and so that the screen is protected in a drop. I actually don't even use screen protectors yet this has been enough to keep my screens from scratching despite dropping my phone a lot. 

 

The Samsung screen curvature is so severe that you can't really make cases like I'm describing for them, instead cases I've seen just come out past the top and bottom but leave the sides exposed. And, go figure, I've seen a lot of people with their Samsung phones in those with their screens busted up. 

 

The Pixel screen curvature, on the other hand, seems to be much less severe and thus you can make a case for them that offers proper protection. 

[Nokra]

There was this post on Twitter about how the back apparently scratches fairly easily. Maybe a case is necessary, at a minimum.

 

 

[Nokra]

On 10/10/2018 at 8:57 PM, Nokra said:

There was this post on Twitter about how the back apparently scratches fairly easily. Maybe a case is necessary, at a minimum.

 

 

I went to a big electronics store here in Germany (called "Saturn" - it's basically the Best Buy of Germany) today and played around with both the Pixel 3 and the Pixel 3 XL and came away pretty impressed. The build quality seems great to me, and the supposed scratching issue I quoted here doesn't seem like it will really be much of a problem if one takes even a minimum amount of care with it (e.g. don't put it in the same pocket as your keys). Their display unit didn't have a scratch on it (ok it's the first day out on display, but still) and even when I intentionally tried to make a mark with my thumbnail it didn't do a thing. In any case, I'm pretty sure that the white model will suffer even less from this.

 

Overall it looks like a great phone. Very speedy and a beautiful screen. I didn't mind the notch at all, which surprised me a bit. It's hard to say how it will be in real-world applications, with several notifications at once, but at least in my first maybe 10 minutes with the phone, I'm impressed. 

 

Unless some glaring problems come up in the next few weeks, I think a 128 GB white Pixel 3 XL shall be mine.

 

[Jason]

I've read that the back isn't scratching, that it's actually abrasive and that what's happening is that a little bit of the key or whatever you're trying to scratch the back with is getting left behind. 

[vaxick]

It's a pass for me.  It's just too little of an upgrade to justify the cost.  Google needs to join the rest and add a second camera on the back.  Yes, Google is a wizard with software, but they really need to stick a telephoto lense on the back.  The software tricks to improve the digital zoom are neat, but it's a far cry from a camera with a real zoom.  Ironically, nearly all the "exclusive" features have already been ported to the Pixel 2 by the community.