Practical work on Google Pixel 3: not the best first impression

NEW YORK – After an almost infinite number of leaks, the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL have finally been released. After cleaning the living room for information and experience with the new handsets, we are back to talk about the impressions.

The first thing you notice when you take one or the other of the 3 pixels is the texture of the back. Pixel phones have traditionally a two-tone look, made possible by a mainly metallic back with a glass top. This year, the back is entirely made of glass, but the two-tone look remains thanks to two different glass treatments. The top is composed of frosted and glossy glass and a fingerprint magnet, while the rest of the phone is covered with a matt coating with a soft, satiny touch.

The coating is pleasant to the touch, but it does not seem very resistant. The two demonstration units I've photographed already had visible scratches, which you can see, and it's easy to damage the back with something as commonplace as a cable USB-C. The two demo phones that I shot during the show already had several scratches. Hard camera lighting is just about the worst case scenario for detecting scratches, but I've never seen demonstration devices as old-fashioned as ever before. I've been disappointed by the switch from metal to glass, but it's a double whammy: all the fragility of glass without scratch-resistant hardness.

The liner on the back stops before reaching the edges of the phone. Since the matte coating is so nice, I wanted to cover the sides of the phone immediately, but I wonder if this was designed for durability. The phone has a glass sandwich construction, with a glass panel at the top and bottom and a strip of material in between. Google tells me that the side is aluminum, but it has a kind of coating that gives it a glossy finish and attracts fingerprints.

I am sad to say that the design of the facade is as disappointing in real life as in images. Google has launched two phones that are simply not up to the 2018 contest. The Pixel 3 XL is following the trend in notch display, but Google has the widest notch in the industry. The cut extends so far in the screen that it does not fit in a normal Android status bar. The bar is twice as high as normal, which is ridiculous. The width of the notch means that you can only see three notification icons on the screen before running out of space. In combination with the wide bottom bezel of the 3 XL, I do not think there is a single 2018 phone in the price range of the Pixel 3 that you can designate and call a model even worse. Google is pretty much at the bottom of the pack here.

The Pixel 3 is not better. Its top and bottom frames are taller than virtually all other 2018 smartphones in its class. At least, it's not as ugly as the Pixel 3 XL; it's just dated and does not look like a flagship design from 2018.

The justification for these two compromised front designs is due to two features: the dual front camera system and the two front speakers, so they have better be fantastic. I'll have to try the speakers in a quieter place than at a big event, but Google says they're 40% stronger than the Pixel 2 speakers. That's it a good sign, because, despite their appearance on paper, the "front speakers" of the Pixel 2 were no better than the more compact headphone and speaker combos on devices like the # 39; s iPhone.

The camera system is another thing that will have to wait for the review. The front dual camera system can switch between a wide angle and a normal camera lens, allowing it to zoom out and have a better view of a group of friends or a selfie with something in the background. I am a little disappointed that Google has not developed a face unlock system, despite the fact that it was necessary to create much of the front to get additional sensors.

The displays looked great during the show and in pictures. The shots you watch are just under the singular light of the show, however, so it's too early to say more. Apparently, DisplayMate did some preliminary testing and left A big fan of the Pixel 3 screen, this gives the impression that Google has finally found a respectable display provider. The Pixel 2 XL was using an LG OLED with tape and lapping issues, so let's hope these days are behind Google. (I imagine that he's switched to Samsung screens.)

On the software side, the Pixel 3 runs Android 9 Pie, so there is not a ton of changes. The biggest change is that gesture navigation is now mandatory – it's enabled by default and you can not turn it off. It's a very strange decision considering the fact that it has been almost universally solved online throughout the beta process and publication. Google does not seem to care about the return in this case.

The pixel stand

Numerous demonstrations have focused on the stand at $ 79 Pixel Stand, a new wireless charging accessory allowing the phone to go into ambient display mode. Paste the phone on the stand, let the display turn off and the new mode will start.

It would be great if the phone started the Google Home Smart Display software, but rather as a classic Android lock screen with some extra features. A photo frame mode can take over when the phone is idle and display your Google photos. If you set an alarm, you will get this cold sunrise effect on the screen as the alarm time approaches. If someone rings the door next to the camera, your phone will show a camera stream. When you play music, you get album art and music. (This feature does not work with Android multimedia notifications, it should work for all multimedia applications.) If nothing of this happens, you get the black Android lock screen with a new Google Assistant logo and search suggested below.

The wireless charging stand at 10 watts. This will be slower than the 18 watt wired charger that came with the Pixel 3, but still respectable. The phone still responds to "OK Google", but it has always done so even without the support. There is a big gap between the performance of hot words between a connected Google Home and a battery powered Android phone, solely because of the battery saving techniques of a smartphone. I'll have to check if the Pixel 3 closes this space while it has the unlimited power of a load support.

I do not think anyone can call the basic hardware package Pixel 3 a good starting point, but Google can still offer unique features through the software. Unfortunately for this article, it means a lot of features that do not demonstrate well in less than five minutes during a launch event. I am sure that the camera is great and that it has about a million features on the front and on the back. Google has talked about a huge game with "Night Sight" showing him that he was demolishing an iPhone XS in a photo comparison, but this feature is not ready yet. Pixel support seems to be a potentially useful feature. The display must be put to the test. As in previous years, it seems that Pixel 3 will be entirely dedicated to the software, but can this software compensate for poor hardware design?

Oh, and there is still no headphone jack.

I always want one.