Dare we say it? The Android iPhone is finally here… well, maybe with one standard issue headphone jack and a generous helping of privacy concerns to boot!
With the Pixel, Google’s taken all that secret sauce that’s made Android so in tune with your daily lives, and given it some nice spit and polish to take the fight to Apple.
And you know what? It’s done pretty darn well, we think. So much so, Google’s first #MadeByGoogle phone has edged ahead of Cupertino’s flagship duo on six counts. If competition raises the game in the Android vs iOS war, sign us up!
Google Assistant
Think of Google Assistant like a Siri for the Pixel, only smarter and contextually more aware of the conversation you’re having with the device.
Long press on the on-screen home button or say “OK Google” and you can ask Assistant just about anything – “How far am I from home?”; “Show me selfies from yesterday” or even a “How tall is Mila Kunis?” and follow it right up with a “Is she single?” and Assistant will know contextually what you’re talking about… and let you know that Ms Kunis is, in fact, very much married.
Assistant is, by far, the best voice assistant on a smartphone… as long as you’re willing to let Google be Big Brother (most of us already are, FWIW!)
Unlimited Free Storage
Neither the Pixel nor the iPhone offer expandable storage, but where Apple offers an anaemic 5GB free iCloud storage for your iPhone, Pixel owners get unlimited free storage for full-resolution video and stills.
The moment your phone starts getting low on storage, your images and 4K videos can be pushed up to the cloud (your broadband or 3G data plan willing!) so you never run out of space on your device. Now that’s a serious carrot to lure in potential Pixel owners!
Fast Charging
Battery life tests are somewhat subjective and depend on your usage, but no matter whether you go iPhone 7 Plus or the Pixel XL, you’re good for a day’s worth of use on either.
Where the Pixel scores is on fast charging – with the included USB-C wall charger, you can go from dead Pixel to about a half-days’ worth of use in 15 minutes, and a full charge in an hour and a half, both faster by any objective measure than on the iPhone.
Headphone Jack
Never has 3.5mm (or lack thereof) made such news, but if you’re used to the convenience of a wired set of headphones and don't like carrying a dongle along everywhere you go, the Pixel has a port for you (although one that’s inconveniently placed on top). ‘Nuff said.
Higher Resolution Display
It’s 2016, so expecting better than a full HD display on a premium flagship isn’t asking for the world, is it? The Pixel XL’s 5.5-inch, 2560×1440 display is tack-sharp and flat-out gorgeous… and all those extra pixels aren’t going to waste.
Remember, at some point of time in November, Google’s Daydream VR headsets will start delivering, and you’re going to want these high quality quad-HD screens for that.
Camera Performance
Going into our review of the Pixel, we were skeptical of how a seemingly inferior set of hardware specifications (f/2.0 lens, no OIS) would match up to the best smartphone cameras out there. More so after those disappointing Nexus cameras of the past.
But boy, were we wrong! Google’s secret sauce – the HDR+ image processing algorithms behind each shot – lets you capture brighter, richer colours and more detail in day lit landscape photos, both near and far, compared to the iPhone. In low light too, the Pixel camera impressed with its dynamic range and colour saturation, but it did often let a fair bit of noise creep in too.
If the current Pixel camera is so good, can you imagine what an optically-stabilised set of f/1.7 lens could do to a Pixel? The mind boggles.
Where the iPhones Score
Subjective parameters aside – which mobile platform you prefer, etc – the iPhones still hold their own against the Pixel duo in the war for premium flagships. For the past several years, iPhones have largely been without parallel when it comes to optimising the mobile experience for their hardware… but the new iPhones have a few new tricks up their sleeves too.
You can, for instance, take the new iPhones for a splash or a shower… not something we’d recommend doing with the Pixels.
Notch one up for peace of mind. Two speakers are, almost always, better than one, as is with the iPhone duo. There’s the excellent Taptic Engine too, which adds a perceptibly better user interface feedback mechanism. The iPhone 7 Plus also packs in a smartphone camera rarity – actual optical zoom, with none of that pixel-busting digital zoom we actively discourage readers from using.
And of course, there’s the “iPhone” factor – with the Pixel priced in direct competition with Apple’s iPhones, Google is going up against a device with a nine-year-old legacy and near-total domination in the premium smartphone space.
(Tushar Kanwar is a technology columnist and commentator and has been contributing for the past 15 years to India’s leading newspapers and magazines. He can be reached at @2shar)
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