For those of you following along over on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook & Instagram, this will be old news to you, as I have stated all of these things already. But for those who are not, I wanted to put together a single post where you can see the Google Pixel XL in action. Note that this is based on my phone usage, which is typically photos, videos & social media.
DISCLOSURE: Verizon loaned us a demo version to try out. We received no compensation from Verizon for this review.
PROS:
- The video & photo quality is EXCELLENT for a phone. Just watch. I was impressed.
- The OS is fast. Really fast!
- I LOVE how the social media apps work on this phone. I'm not sure if that's due to the latest version of Android, or the phone itself, but it was easier to navigate than my daily phone is.
- Everything backed up to the cloud quickly. Sometimes my daily phone takes hours to get around to it.
- You have both the cell service (Verizon's is very fast) & Wi-Fi available. Always a must these days.
- It charges fairly fast.
- The screen size is perfect!
- Oh, and the phone quality is good too. But I don't actually talk on my phone a whole lot. (Weird, I know.)
- There are a bunch of other bells & whistles for those who are into that sort of thing.
CONS:
- When recording video in the dark (outside at night), the video was fine for being dark, but the audio sync was way off. I'm wondering if the camera somehow tries to watch your mouth to stay in sync.
- It is a bit pricey (currently $769.99). If you're an iPhone user this might be fine with you. But for me that would be hard to justify since phones usually need replaced every 18-24 months.
- After about 6 weeks the battery started losing its charge a lot faster. But that's how every phone that I've ever had has been, as is the nature of rechargeable batteries. Not super fast, but instead of charging every day & a half, it definitely needed charge daily, sometimes twice if I was doing a lot.
- It doesn't come with a case…at the price point it really should come with an Otter Box, or a code to customize and order a case. I know that no phones come with a case, but they really should. I was scared to death that I was going to drop this thing, but luckily I never did.
VERDICT:
The only thing holding me back on getting one for myself is the price tag on this phone. The functionality issues are minor ones, and the features are amazing. But man, there are a lot of decent “cheap” cameras I could buy for that money. And that would be around for years to come. Say the Canon EOS M3 (hint, hint, if anyone wants to buy me a present).
That said, here are the videos:
And a few pictures:
