Google Pixel XL in 2021! By Damien Wilde

So here we are with the OG pixel XL. I've lived with it for a little while now, and I'm ready to let you know just how well it holds up here in 2021 before then, though, around 96 to 97 of you out there watching are not subscribers. So, let's change that by slapping the button and turning on all notifications for more long-term looks at hardware, just like the pixel XL and much more on top throughout the year, and then, if you want to take the conversation even further still be sure to join the official channel discord where you'll find all sorts of wallpapers snippets behind the scenes, q a and more on top. So it's encroaching upon five years since the first pixel launched and while the series hasn't quite captured the imagination of the public in ways that google would have wanted, there's just something about a pixel. That's really, really hard to quantify. I'd never actually used the pixel XL, at least until a few weeks ago and after living with android nougat for a little while I did eventually slap android 10 on which is, of course, the last official update.

You can install here honestly, even the older, build, really didn't, leave me wanting or not able to do anything that I would do today before we get deeper into the software, though, let's talk about the design and what has aged well and what, unfortunately hasn't since 2016. For me, the aluminum chassis is truly elegant and for those well maybe or weren't unaware, HTC, actually designed the original pixel and pixel XL, which is why there are some hardware similarities with some HTC devices released in and around the same time frame. The actual frame of the pixel XL has a double chamfer, which makes it surprisingly nice to hold, and although curved edges are on newer models- and personally, I do actually like this approach, as it's quite a nice way to soften corners, but gives a slight edge to grip a hold of, at least in your hand. Another thing I hadn't actually known about with the pixel XL is that it has a very minor wedge shape, getting around a millimeter or so thicker towards the camera area than near the bottom edge. You probably won't notice, but I thought it was an interesting little design quirk that you don't often see or something that you wouldn't necessarily see from newer devices.

It's also actually a lot lighter than the metal build suggests. I think I expected it to be heavy, but it's actually fine uh. Would I like it to be a little lighter? Well sure, but even though this was a massive phone when it launched in 2016 it's fairly average by 2021 standards, I'm a big fan of the hand feel here too, as the glass visor at the top feels smooth and slick, while the aluminum chassis has a very minor abrasive trademark. Abrasive feeling, then, is in direct contradiction to that description, although it feels relatively soft, I'm dancing around a quick way of saying that the two different materials feel good in various ways. The pixel XL is just well machined and well refined, something that was missing from the nexus 6p a little and the cheaper nexus series devices.

If you can remember the excellent HTC, m8 and HTC 10, there are some major similarities and consistencies, but with a little of google flavor thrown in there for good measure flipping around to the display, though, and you can see just how far general smartphone design has come. Yes, we've dropped metal for the most part, but the 16x9 aspect ratio display really does feel like a step backwards, at least from a purely aesthetic perspective. Surprisingly, this is still a fairly solid AMOLED panel, despite its h2. For starters, it's HD, which is a huge selling point, and it's almost weird to think that smartphones have dropped, display resolution down to full HD or full HD plus in recent years, because, despite some brightness issues, the pixel XL display really does hang in there fairly well compared to smartphones. You can pick up now.

I'd even tentatively say that this is probably the most usable one-handed without having to strain too much or at least stretch too much. I don't think that's the case for everyone, but I think it's pretty doable viewing angles are pretty solid. Content looks good, and it doesn't really matter too much that it is 60 hertz in hindsight, it's an AMOLED too. So that does mean that dark mode does help battery or boost battery life, which will always be a major benefit over an LCD panel. You'll need to work out, though, if you can deal with a massive forehead and chin.

I'm just disappointed that the lack of front-facing stereo speakers, because there is plenty of space for HTC of to have at least added them to the pixel XL model, plus the nexus 6p prior to this did have exceptional speakers for the time and no pixel yet has had true front-facing stereo speakers, since the boring frame speaker is a little far too easy to cover and muffle. But the added bonus is that there is a headphone port it's here, but I would have preferred the at the bottom of the chassis rather than the top. As when you pull out your pocket, it sometimes means a little of hand shuffling to get the phone facing in the right direction, or at least it does for me. Given the age, I'm struggling to fault the hardware too. Much, though sure it has aged and looks very much, at least from the front like the iPhone 6 through the iPhone 8 series.

But given the comparisons between the pixel and the iOS of android stuff up on launch that kind of makes sense, it's not going to win any awards for its looks, but that's fine, because the software and the camera are still where the pixel shines pretty brightly. So, as I mentioned right up top, the pixel received its last update in 2019, which rounded out three years of full OS upgrades which took the device from android nougat all the way to android 10. , at least until recently. No other android smartphone released in 2016, has received as much official support as this Samsung has cleaned up their act and confirmed that devices will get at least three years of OS upgrades. But the pixel was the OG, at least in terms of long-term support, at least when this phone released it, as I mentioned, actually ran android nougat for a little while upon opening the pixel XL to get a better understanding as to why this is a big deal, and why, while it wasn't terrible being able to get a fairly recent and sizeable upgrade to android, 10 has made this phone far better in terms of performance and even battery longevity.

One of the biggest unsung reasons why these updates are important is for security and a bigger one is feature set. Google's version of android is at least my favorite bar none, and it's clean, it's concise and while there are features that are definitely needed or missing, it's arguably the best way to experience the platform. More and more of android is being decoupled as well from the core OS, meaning that Google Play Services or google play service update might end up being more important in the long term, because, even though you're stuck on android 10 officially, you can still be able to access neat little things like nearby share, which is kind of like the android equivalent of airdrop, and you don't need an update to android 11. Android 10 also introduced the gesture navigation system to the pixel, which replaces the three button nav, I think, on a 16 by nine screen. It makes a hell of a difference, as you regain a sliver, or at least a sliver of the display, meaning that apps give you a few more pixels a few extra pixels.

I can't say it changes things drastically, but I do think it's a neat little bonus, at least for usability. I can't massively fault the performance as so long as you stay within the bounds of general usage. Everything is fine on the pixel XL. I wouldn't really call things snappy, as there are some sizeable hangs and lag when using certain portions of say the settings menu or when loading up the Google Play Store, but once it's warmed up, it's surprisingly how well most applications actually run, as I mentioned, you'll notice, a fair bit of lag every now and again, but should only put down to the old chipset and slower storage. But four gigabytes of ram actually seems to be enough to keep things chugging along nicely, although to contradict that, if I have a fair amount of apps running and start trying to switch, things do need a refresh after being reopened.

If you play games as well, I think you're probably going to run into or lose progress. Gaming is somewhere where the pixel XL falters quite a lot, and I just don't recommend playing anything beyond simple puzzle. Titles, if you want 3d games, something like stadium or GeForce now might be the way to go. Also, I have to know 32 gigabytes on the base. Storage model is nowhere near enough storage, at least at this stage of 2021.

You can easily fill that up after taking some photos and installing a few apps and games. So if you can pick up the 128 gigabyte model, then I would say go for that. One, the fingerprint scanner on the rear, though that's pretty fast. I like that. It's in a glass kind of window as well- and it's in that perfect position for quickly getting into the main home screen and then there's a bonus of a 3.5 millimeter headphone port. Unless you're happy to go with an series pixel, then this is actually the only mainline device to come with a headphone port and of course, Google did protest too much during the launch only to yank it from the pixel 2.

So it is a little of a misnomer. Obviously I was quite lucky in picking up a brand-new pixel XL that was sealed for, however many years, but it has fairly solid battery for me and I don't want to gloss over things too much, but I can only imagine that if you do pick up a used device, then it will need to have the battery replaced fairly quickly. Naturally, this was sealed so, and I opened it just a few months ago, which means the degradation is fairly minimal, even with android 10 installed. It's still managing to get me to the latter half of the day, with no real issues. I've seen around four to five hours of screen on time a few times, but you're, probably talking closer to two or three with a healthy battery, unless you can optimize usage to get way.

Above that I mean it's a decently sized 3450 William hour cell, but the fact that the snapdragon 821 isn't the most efficient with a HD display at the front. You're not gonna, get the insane life spans, even with the latest OS update. That might make some savings here, and there then factor in just how much of a tall 18 watt charging has had on that battery over the past four years. So years and being realistic, lifespan is probably going to be a problem with the pixel XL. Of course, though, Google's core selling point of the entire pixel series has been camera performance and when you consider the age of this smartphone, it's really hard not to be impressed and in some cases wow android authority has done a fantastic uh comparison of the pixel 1 and the pixel 5 to show just that.

Not really that much has changed in the grand scheme of things saving a few important areas. So I will link that below. If you do want to check that one out, I can honestly hand on heart say, though, that I haven't been disappointed with the camera on the pix XL at any point, since picking it back up and using it day to day night sight even joined the party, I think with android pie, and it gives another shooting mode that wasn't even dreamed of when most phones released back in 2016. , Google's post-processing does all the legwork, so the fairly modest, 12 megapixel Sony, mix 378 sensors gets a big lift in almost all areas. It's not all roses, though, because once you punch in a little it does get a little grainy and there are artifacts here and there plus highlight control and overexposed portions are often a bit of a problem, but take a snap and wait for the processing to finish and hell.

You'd be hard-pressed in most cases to work out what era of smartphone the photos were actually taken within dynamic range and color control is pretty fantastic, and it's just really nice to use the pixel, even though it is an older device. You're only really missing out on a few focal lengths, but kudos to Google's camera team for really pushing the boundaries. The first time around here, if you like, sharp contrast images, and I think you'll be right at home and while you might be missing a few pixels, it's pretty fantastic plus the Google camera app looks a lot nicer and neater than most other stock implementations, but you do miss out on portrait mode. I'm not really sure why, but lens blur still does. Okay, all things considered.

So the bottom line is that the pixel XL is one of a very few old smartphones. I can actively recommend even taking a look at it really does hold up fantastically for a nearly five-year-old smartphone, mainly due to amazing software experiences and fairly recent updates. If you can get one in decent condition, it might be worth picking up as a backup device. I would say, though, that the Pixel 4a is probably a way better smartphone, even with lower mid-range internals. It absolutely flows the pixel XL in almost every area, performance and battery being prime portions, I have to say, though, I'm still pretty amazed at what the pixel XL can do, though it's a phone that came out the same year as a Galaxy S7, and it hammers the Samsung in just about every department, at least through the lens of 2021.

So there we have it the fantastic OG, pixel XL. Let me know how it's treating you if you have managed to hold on that's it. That's a video remember to sub. If you enjoyed this look back at the original Google Pixel, no problems, if not I'll, still be here, plugging away, but until next time I'll catch you in a bit.

Source : Damien Wilde