Good things come in small (er) packages

We have clearly examined our fair share of smartphones over the last few years and have clearly noticed, along with all others, the trend towards using larger phones. While smartphones, in general, are growing slowly, mobile phones are not always better. I rocked the Pixel 2 XL for about a year and when Google Canada sent the Pixel 3 for review, I quickly called it one of those "faster" reviews. Fortunately, I was wrong. Although other magazines have already been published, we had a solid month and waited a little longer after the release date of the Night Sight camera to offer our readers a full review.

As such, our Google Pixel 3 review examines the smallest of Google's two new flagship devices and finds that great things can still be delivered in smaller packages.

Characteristics

Google Pixel 3 has the following features and specifications:

• Processor: Qualcomm® Snapdragon ™ 845, 2.5 Ghz 1.6 Ghz, Titan M Security Module, 64-bit Octa-Core, Adreno 630, Visual Core ™ Pixels
• Display: 5.5-inch full-screen display, flexible FHD + OLED at 443 ppi, 18: 9, Corning® Gorilla® Glass 5, display always on, playback in progress, 100,000: 1 super contrast ratio, 24-bit total depth or 16.77 million colors, True black level, HDR support (UHDA certification)
• Memory: 4GB RAM LPDDR4x
• Storage room: 64 GB or 128 GB of storage
• Rear camera
  • 12.2 megapixel double pixel
  • 1.4 μm
  • Autofocus + two-phase phase detection
  • Stabilization of optical + electronic image
  • Spectral sensor + flicker
  • opening f / 1.8
  • Field of view: DFoV: 76 °
• Rear camera video
  • 1080p at 30fps, 60fps, 120fps
  • 720p at 30fps, 60fps, 240fps
  • 4K @ 30fps
• Two front cameras
  • 8 MP Wide Angle and Telephoto Cameras
  • Wide angle: aperture f / 2.2 & DFoV 107 °
  • Telephoto: Opening f / 1.8 & DFoV 75 °
• Video of the front camera
  • 1080p at 30fps
  • 720p at 30fps
  • 480p @ 30fps
• Media and audio: Two front-firing stereo speakers, 3 mics, noise attenuation
• Drums: 2915mAh battery, 18W / 2A type C USB charger, 18W fast charge, Qi wireless charging
• Wireless and location: Wi-Fi 2.4GHz + 5.0GHz 802.11a / b / g / n / ac, Bluetooth® 5.0+ LE, NFC, Google Cast, GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, BeiDou
• sensors: Active Edge ™, Pixel Imprint ™ fingerprint sensor mounted at the back for quick unlocking, proximity / ambient light sensor, accelerometer / gyro, magnetometer, barometer, Android sensor hub, haptic function of advanced x-axis for a more precise / defined answer
• ports: USB Type-C ™ 3.1 Gen 1
• Materials: Aluminum frame + hybrid coating, Corning® Gorilla® Glass 5 glass at the front, soft touch glass (Corning® Gorilla® Glass 5) at the back, protection against dust and water IP68
• Operating system: Android Pie (9.0) with Google Assistant
• Colors: Clearly white, just black, not pink
• Dimensions: 145.6 x 68.2 x 7.9 mm (5.7 x 2.7 x 0.3 in)
• Weight: 148 g

What's in the box

• Pixel 3
• Quick switch adapter
• USB-C to USB-C cable
• Pixel USB-C Earphones
• 3.5mm USB-C headset adapter
• SIM tool
• Quick Start Guide

Design

In short, the Pixel 3 series does not differ much from the Pixel 2 series of last year. Outside of its size, the Pixel 3 has the same overall shape with rounded corners and a flat back like the Pixel 2 XL. The rounded edges of the Pixel 3 compared to the Pixel 2 models make a noticeable difference. Personally, this did not really affect the comfort or the holding capacity of the device and both felt equally comfortable.

The power and volume rockers are on the right edge of the phone. While the SIM card slot was on the left side of the Pixel 2 smartphones, it was moved to the bottom of the Pixel 3. It is now to the left of the USB-C 3.1 Gen 1 port located at the bottom.

The back of the phone is also quite similar, with a matte finish for the bottom of the device (about 85%). The Google G icon is centered near the bottom and the fingerprint reader is centered near the top of this cache area. I am a big fan of positioning the fingerprint reader in this position because it is natural and easy to unlock your phone with one hand.

Above is a bright black area with the only camera facing the back and the flash off at the top left of the camera (when you look at the back). A small, slightly different detail is that this shiny black area tilts at the edges instead of being cut straight for a slightly smoother look.

The front of the Pixel 3 sports a top and bottom speaker grille for stereo sound. To the left of the speaker grille, one can see the two cameras facing the front, one wide-angle and the other a telephoto camera.

On top of that, the Pixel 3 is a solid feeling device with its aluminum frame and hybrid coating. The front and back of the device are glass with Corning Gorilla Glass 5 at the front and soft-touch glass Corning Gorilla Glass 5 at the back. The latest Google smartphone is also dustproof and water resistant to IP68, allowing you to safely dive it in 1.5m of water for up to 30 minutes without damaging the device. phone.

To be honest, the design of Pixel 3 is not very different from many other flagship devices on the market today. In fact, some people asked me when I had an iPhone when they saw it for the first time. Anyway, the design works, but most of the time, nothing here stands out or distinguishes it too much from other flagship devices.

Let's go back to my previous comment on the elimination of the smaller size. It only took a few days to ask why I'm wearing a bigger unit for a few years. Of course, a 5.5-inch device is still pretty big – damn it, I remember when 5-inch smartphones were gigantic – but it's so much easier to manage. I had often been aware of the amount of trial and error that I was constantly doing with the Pixel 2 XL but it became something that I just "tune up." I must admit that a smaller device without having to grope while using one hand makes the daily experience much more enjoyable.

Display

The display on the Pixel 3 is just fantastic. I was one of those who did not really care about the Pixel 2 XL screen and did not notice it. However, when it is set side by side, the 3 pixel screen with its 2160 × 1080 resolution is significantly sharper and clear with fantastic quality. Color representation.

While Google has added color modes to Pixel 2 smartphones, Pixel 3s have a new "Adaptive" mode that is enabled by default. Adaptive mode "is designed to deliver crisp, natural color rendering that most users prefer." Two other modes – "Natural" (sRGB) and "Boosted" (sRGB + 10%) – are also included if you want modify it. up. To be honest, I found the default mode very well. The device is also UHDA certificated like a HDR Premium device. In addition to normal use, watching videos was fantastic on the device, whether from YouTube, Google Play Movies or videos taken with the built-in camera.

Unlike Pixel 3 XL, Pixel 2 has no notch at the top of the screen. The upper and lower frames are about medium, with rather thin sides on each side. Interestingly enough, the lower bezel seems a bit higher than the Pixel 2 XL, while the top bezel is about the same size. In any case, if the idea of ​​a notch really bothers you and is a chop breaker, you do not have to worry about it with the Pixel 3.

You can also set the Always On option that allows you to see the time, date, and all active notifications at a glance. Now playing is another feature that you can activate, which automatically displays the name and artist of all the tracks being played that your device could hear or hear. This is a feature that children have become accustomed to since it was launched, as they constantly ask me to look at my phone to see which song is currently being played on or off the radio.

Software

As with all Google smartphones, the Pixel 3 came out with Android 9 (Pie) with Google Assistant. As such, you will also receive monthly security updates for the next two years.

Google has also included some other apps that are part of Android 9 on the Pixel, including Google Assistant and Digital Wellbeing. Of course, Google Assistant is also available on other Android devices and allows you to use your device as a digital assistant. In addition, the Pixels 3 and 3 XL incorporate Active Edge technology, which allows you to simply press the smartphone to launch Google Assistant instead of having to say "Hey, Google" or "OK, Google" to launch it.

Digital Wellbeing is a newer Google application that not only tracks your daily usage, but also limits applications to a certain number of hours allowed each day. Other Digital Wellbeing features include Do Not Disturb, Breakdown, and "Hush" – ability to flip your Pixel 3 face down to activate NPD mode. As far as I know, the Digital Wellbeing app is currently only available on Google Pixel phones.

Some other new features are also included in the Pixel 3, including a call filtering feature that we could not test because it is a feature reserved for the United States at the moment. Driving mode automatically launches Android Auto while driving. This allows you to stay "safe and focused" while driving, as well as using the Google Assistant for instructions, responding to messages, listening to music, and more. without having to use your hands. During setup, you have the option to start Android Auto immediately, wait ten seconds or cancel everything at the same time (in this case, you can be passenger instead of driving).

In addition to Active Edge and the function Turn your phone to silence, other gestures allow you to control and respond to your device by moving or interacting with it in a certain way . By pressing the power button twice, you open the camera. When you turn your smartphone twice when the camera application is open, you switch between the front and back cameras.

The big change in navigation in Android 9 has introduced gesture navigation. Instead of an application drawer button, swipe the main button up to view recent apps and continue dragging will open your app drawer. I've had some problems opening the application drawer without having to double drag, but that's really a minor inconvenience in the grand scheme of things. When you are in the screen of recent applications, you can turn on multitasking, delete applications from the list, select and copy text from one application to another, and scan to open them. recent applications. Even if it takes a little time to get used to it, it's a fairly fluid navigation system.

Pixel 3 also features a custom security chip that Google uses: Titan M.

This year, with Pixel 3, we are advancing our investment in secure hardware with Titan M, a business-class security chip designed for Pixel 3 to secure your most sensitive data and operating system. With Titan M, we took over the best features of the Titan chip used in Google Cloud data centers and adapted it for mobile.

Google can explain this better so you can visit their blog on the new security chip to find out more.

Performance

As with most flagship devices nowadays, the Pixel 3 is equipped with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor. The Pixel 3 also comes with 4GB of RAM and 64 or 128GB of storage space.

In terms of basic performance, the device was perfectly capable of handling any application or game I could run. If you're considering acquiring a 3 or 3 XL pixel, you may have read about potential performance issues. Although I did not notice any problems until I became aware of these problems, it was actually quite difficult to reproduce them. When I could reproduce the problems, it happened infrequently – the most important being that the camera application would close Spotify, but only when switching between the camera, another application and Spotify, which I would not be improbable. pace. In this regard, Google is aware of these minor performance issues and has announced that it will issue a fix in the future.

Our review unit comes with 64GB of storage and a 128GB version is also available. Because the device does not have a microSD connector, you need to determine how much onboard storage you need and purchase the appropriate version. After a month and a little use, I currently have 47% free storage with what I would consider as a normal use and installation of the application. My camera is also set to take RAW format photos, but since the camera comes with a free high resolution photo backup for two years, it's not really difficult to delete the photos saved from your device and access it as needed through the Photos application. and / or online.

Sound quality

With the stereo speakers, Pixel smartphones usually had a decent sound in the past. In the case of pixel 3, this is true for most. When you watch a video or listen to music, the sound is clear and clear even at full volume. As expected, there is not much bass, but the sound quality is generally balanced.

One thing I noticed though is that if you cover one of the speakers, the sound changes drastically. When you cover the top speaker, the sound is still loud enough, but when the lower speaker is covered, you can definitely say that the top speaker is not as loud. On this note, when you do not cover any of the two speakers and you really should not be silent, the sound on board does not sound quite bad.

Camera

Google has decided to stick to a single rear-facing camera on the Pixel 3/3 XL and, to be honest, that's fine. While hardware is the cornerstone of any smartphone camera, the software can also make a big difference in terms of photo quality. Pixel 3 HDR + mode, which is enabled by default, allows you to merge various exposures with no noticeable lag for superb photos with color balance.

Top Shot is another feature that you must absolutely activate because it allows the camera to take a series of photos depending on the blur, the look and the focus, recommend the best photo from a series of photos taken at one time. As for the default HDR + mode, Top Shot seems to take only one photo and recommend the best photo. You can also select another image to save as the best photo and delete other images if you wish.

The camera is also equipped with other features such as Photobooth mode (allows the camera to take a picture using a smile as a shutter release), Selfies groups with the front camera allow a wider angle shooting with the second camera to get more from you and your friends in your shot, as well as the Playground AR mode, RAW mode (DNG), Google lens, auto focus in motion mode and zoom Super Res. Moving Autofocus is a fantastic feature you can focus on. For example, someone's head and the camera will follow it as it moves and will keep your focus while you take the picture. It also works for still objects to relieve the inevitable movement of the human hand when shooting. Super Res Zoom adds extra detail when you use the zoom function and it works pretty well.

One feature that was not available when the phone was launched was Night Sight. Shortly after, however, the camera application was changed and Night Sight was turned on for Pixel cameras. Of course, we had to test this and you may have already seen our previous article on this. In short, Night Sight really changes the game in mobile photography in low light. In case you missed it, here is a preview gallery.

Fortunately, Night Sight is officially available from last week. To be honest, I actually think that the official version is even slightly superior to the draft and really, if you have a Pixel camera, you have to try it because I guarantee you will be amazed. Again, if you're looking for the technical magic that makes Night Sight so incredible, Google publishes an excellent blog post explaining how this new feature could be achieved.

Although Night Sight is also released on Pixel and Pixel 2 devices – and as mentioned in our previous post on this subject, on other devices – it certainly works better on Pixels 3 or 3 XL.

Although I would have liked to give this device a perfect score – it's still the best device I've used on a smartphone so far – it's still difficult to give a perfect score to a smartphone camera. Although smartphone cameras reduce gaps, although they are suitable substitutes for DSLRs or mirrorless cameras in most cases, they are not quite there to completely replace a standalone camera.

Quality of reception / call

Nothing unexpected here. The quality of the reception and calls on the local LTE networks was fantastic, without any complaints. The few phone calls I have made have been clear and clear, the other party being able to hear without problem.

Battery life

The Pixel 3 is equipped with a smaller battery of 2915 mAh, but it offers excellent battery life. I spent almost two full days on a single charge, which is really not necessary given the wireless charging and optional Pixel Stand support. Nevertheless, during tests without wireless recharges throughout the day, I was still able to get between 3 and 5 hours of screen time and have between 30 and 50% of remaining battery at the end of the day. Given the normal daily use (photography, streaming music, checking emails, browsing the web, watching some movies and 30 to 60 minutes of play), Pixel 3 should have no problem providing daytime autonomy.

Accessories

For accessories, the Pixel 3 comes with a fast switch adapter, USB-C to USB-C cable, Pixel USB-C earbuds, and a 3.5mm USB-C headset adapter. As one could expect, the basic accessories work as expected. The Quick Switch adapter allows you to connect a USB-A cable to the Pixel 3, while the 3.5mm USB-C headset adapter allows you to use your prefer pair of earphones or wired earphones.

Although some people still complain about the lack of headphone jack, the fact is that it goes in the direction of the dodo. Fortunately, in addition to the adapter, Google has also included its Pixel USB-C earpieces. Unfortunately, the atria seemed strange to me. Although they were not uncomfortable, they were not too comfortable and did not seem to be sitting in my ears like other atria. The plastic wrapped wire is easy to weave. As for the sound, they are ok. but there are not many serious ones, however, they are clear and sharp. The Google wizard is a feature that worked very well. By holding down the button on the remote control, you can use Google Assistant normally. When you hear a notification chime when you wear ear buds, you can press the button to hear the notification.

We will also be looking at the Google Pixel 3 and Pixel Stand in other journals later this week, but we will not include them here because they are not included in the purchase of the device, such as USB-C headphones .

Price value

With an MSRP starting at 799 USD / 999 CAD, the Pixel 3 is priced at a price comparable to other flagship devices. Fortunately, if you act early enough, Google currently has one, buy one at 50% off for Black Friday from the date of this review.

In terms of value, although the pricing is consistent with other flagship products, Google would do well to lower slightly in order to try to gain more market share. That said, considering the quality of the camera, the quality of the construction and the made as you use pure Android with guaranteed monthly security updates, you get great value for money considering the "normal" pricing of smartphones these days.

In addition, for a limited time, new purchases are also eligible for 6 months of YouTube Music Premium on Google.

pack

If you are looking for a new smartphone, google Pixel 3 is a fantastic device, especially when taking into account new features such as Night Sight. If you're still using a Nexus or an original Pixel device, the Pixel 3 will be an excellent upgrade. The Google Pixel 3 is definitely an improvement over Pixel 2 smartphones. However, most features have come, or will come on Pixels 2 and 2 XL as well, so it's a little harder to justify an update unless you really want or need the latest Google technology.

A good thing about the Pixel 3 and the Pixel 3 XL: the only thing you remove from the 3 XL is a bigger screen (with a notch) and a slightly bigger battery. As such, you can rest assured that you get the same performance, camera quality and build quality regardless of which device you choose. To be honest, even though I liked the Pixel 2 XL, I learned to like and prefer the small size of Pixel 3.

* We received a sample of the Google Pixel 3 for the purposes of this notice.