iPhone 11 vs Pixel 4 | In-Depth Comparison & Review By InsideTech

Those of you have seen, the full review will know that I've been pretty critical of the Google Pixel for a lot of its best features, don't work as promised. The battery life is relatively poor, and it struggles to compete with cheaper alternatives on the market. In that review, I spoke of an upcoming pixel 4 vs. iPhone 11 video and alluded to the fact that the iPhone seemed to offer much more, but in an even cheaper package. Well, this video will determine exactly that. I've been putting both phones through their paces over the last few weeks, comparing all the specs and features and compiling the results into this video we'll be pitting the two best smartphone cameras against each other to decide the camera champion of 2019, but also finding out which of these phones offers the best value for money.

Overall, let's take a look starting things off with the design. These phones are pretty similar. In fact, the pixel for more closely resembles an iPhone than any other Android device. Do they both have glass front and rear panels with aluminum frames and also a rounded square camera bump? The black versions of each phone have glossy glass. Where is the pixel also has a matching glossy camera module, whilst the iPhone uses a contrasting frosted glass instead, I personally much prefer not only the darker glass on the pixel, but the matching camera module for me looks much nicer, even though both phones have dual lens cameras.

The pixels are much more subtle and sleek. Interestingly, the pixels other color options have matte textures for their rear glass, which I think would have looked and felt much nicer to have on the black model. ? these glossy back panels don't feel nearly as nice in the hand as the matte models and remain huge fingerprint magnets with the iPhone you'll have to get one of the pro models. If you want to frosted glass back, but it does have an advantage over Google when it comes to variety. The iPhone 11 offers six different color options, as opposed to just three with the pixel for the metal frames are also color matching with the iPhone 11, whereas these are black for all three of the pixel fours.

The power buttons are located on the right hand, side where Google also include the volume rockers and the iPhone includes the SIM card tray. The pixel instead has this on the left side, but the iPhone places the volume buttons below the handy, mute, switch. The SIM card trays are both single slot, so there's no expandable storage on either phone, but they both offer dual sim support with an e sim. The phones both have microphone and speaker calls at the bottom of the phone, and these are flanking the Lightning port on the iPhone, but the more useful USB see on the pixel. The phones both have a water resistance rating of ip68, but the iPhone offers slightly better performance with protection up to two meters for 30 minutes versus one and a half meters with the pixel in terms of size.

The pixel four is slightly shorter and noticeably narrower and lighter than the iPhone 11. The iPhone, of course, has a larger display, though, and actually sits between the pixel 4 and 4 XL in terms of screen size. The trade-off between how much easier the smaller four is to hold in use against the four excels larger screen real estate forms the basis for choosing between the two models, and she could argue that the iPhone 11 could be compared to either phone since the smaller four is the more comparable in price to the iPhone.11 I'll focus on this model for now, but I'll bring in the Excel model for the relevant parts of the video. The smaller pixel four is the more comfortable phone to use, especially one-handed, and for me, is the nicer looking of the two phones purely based on aesthetics. The pixel four takes the edge of the iPhone.

A major part of the phone's appearance is in the display design, and these two friends represent perhaps the least modern looking devices in 2019. The iPhone 11 is sporting, the iconic large notch. Whilst the pixel offers a rather thick forehead, they have roughly the same size chins, but the pixel has slightly thinner side bezels, although the iPhone offers a larger screen real estate overall. So this would be my preferred design of the two now the reason that these phones don't have the all screen design of their competitors is that they both offer 3d scanning face unlock systems. The iPhones face, ID was the only 3d face unlock on the market and therefore the only one to match the security offered.

My fingerprint scanners Google have joined the party there with their face unlock, which is actually even faster than face. I'd combining face unlock with the new radar sensor, the phone Prime's itself for unlocking, as you approach it, so that it's ready to scan your face before you even pick the phone up and the subsequent unlock is then extremely fast. What's nice is that it can take you straight to the home screen without the need to tap or swipe and works at multiple angles which face ID doesn't with the iPhone. You still need to swipe up once the phone is unlocked which, although only a minor inconvenience, is still something that will affect you multiple times per day. Purely from a convenience point of view, the pixels face unlock is the better choice, but unfortunately, this isn't the only factor to be considered.

The perhaps more important aspect is security, and here the pixel suffers from a major flaw. Currently, the pixel can be unlocked, even with your eyes closed, which opens it up to potential security risks. Some ups and companies have actually now rejected the use of face unlock until the issue is addressed. Google have acknowledged the issue and are working on a fix, but have said that this will only be available in the coming months, which is a pretty poor turnaround for such a major flaw. As soon as this floor is fixed I think the pixels face unlock will become my favorite biometric on a smartphone, but until then I don't think that the risk is worth it so for me, face ID is the better option.

The pixel force radar sensor also allows a couple of new features. Alongside that faster face unlock, for example, it will illuminate the always-on display when it detects that you're near incidentally, the always-on display is another benefit of and that the iPhone doesn't have. But even if this was available on the iPhone 11, it doesn't have an OLED display, so this would kill the battery life. The radar also enables motion sense, which lets you use, gestures to control, music playback and stop alarms, as we saw in the pixel review, though this feature is extremely limited and finicky. It worked for me less than half the time.

The first few times of waving my hands around above the phone in frustration made it pretty clear that motion sense is much more of a gimmick than a genuinely useful feature, which is a shame. I do hope to see some big improvements and more features to arrive in the future. But for now it's not something. I found myself wanting on the iPhone 11, so that's the technology compromising these phones displays and -. Whether you think this is worth sacrificing.

An old screen design will be down to your own preference. The displays themselves, though, are different in more ways than just the outside appearance, and here the pixel is much more technically advanced. It's OLED versus LCD. It has a much higher resolution, especially in the Excel model, and also supports a 90s refresh rate. The display is one of if not the most important difference between these two phones and certainly an aspect that will affect you on a daily basis.

The biggest difference for me is the pixels OLED display and if you've used an OLED display before you'll know just how good true, blacks look and that much higher contrast ratio. If you use your phone to watch a lot of movies, you'll really notice the difference, and it's hard to ever think of switching back to LCD once you've used OLED. This doesn't just affect media content, but dark mode, which both of these phones have looks. Much nicer on the pixel not to mention is more energy efficient, -. The highest screen resolution is also important since everything looks much sharper on the pixel of 4, which allows you to watch true 1080p content or 1440p with the 4 XL on YouTube.

You have the option to select 1080p on the iPhone 11, but its screen doesn't actually have the resolution to support it, so this is kind of misleading. Now, at this point you might be thinking the iPhone 11 Pro has an OLED display. Why aren't you comparing the pixel to that instead? And the answer to that is that the pro is in a different category of smartphone and the huge price difference only highlights this. Obviously, if you pay a lot more you're going to get a lot more, so it makes a lot more sense to compare the two. Similarly, priced phones and analyze their differences rather than the two phones that happen to have similar displays.

If you do watch a lot of videos and movies through the phone speakers, I can tell you that both sound pretty loud and clear I think the pixel is ever so slightly louder, but the audio is a bit richer, but take a few extra features. The stand-out displace back here, though, is the pixels 90s refresh rate, navigating iOS on a new iPhone is a breeze, but even this is trumped by the smoothness of the pixels high refresh rate, a feature I think every smartphone should have it's impossible to show you the true benefit of this on YouTube, in a video capture to tell our frame rate. But those if you use high refresh rate displays in real life will know just how much of a difference. This makes you'll need to force 90 Hertz and the developer settings to benefit from this fully, since the display will typically operate, adjust, 60 Hertz and only occasionally switch up to 90 with the default settings to give the iPhone some credit. It does have a display advantage in two areas.

The first one is that it's much brighter than the pixel four, and this is especially apparent when using the phones in bright, sunlight. In fact, the pixel force maximum brightness is relatively low and are typically had to use it set at max brightness all the time. The second advantage is this true tone feature which adjust the displays white balance. According to the lighting conditions, the pixel 4 has a similar feature called ambient EQ, but it doesn't work nearly as effectively and the changes here are much more subtle. The iPhone 11 has one of the best LCDs on the market, but it's still an LCD, so the pixel 4 clearly has the upper hand.

Here. The pixels 90 has only display seemingly blows the iPhone out of the water and looking at the specs it easily does, but things aren't quite as simple as they first appear and there's a significant price to pay in order to enjoy the full benefits. If the pixels great display that price is, of course, battery life, the pixel force battery life is perhaps the most talked about aspect of the phone and for good reason to the pixel.4 has one of the poorest battery performances from any smartphone this year and I struggled to reach even 6 hours of screen on time, with daily use, even with the larger Excel model, I've had trouble of reaching the 8 and a half hours I have reached in my last video, which even then is only average at best. Compared to the competition, to give you an idea of context, the iPhone 11 gave me around 10 hours the screen on time and is one of the better performers for battery life for 2019 smartphones, using the phone to its full potential. The pixel for would struggle to make it through the day, and it's a shame that some of its best features are undermined by poor battery life.

The decision to include such a small battery in the phone is a confusing one because having to disable features just to extend the phone's battery life to a practical level, ultimately spoils the enjoyment of using the phone when it comes to charging. The phones are much more similar with each offering Wireless and fast charging support, although, as we've seen, the pixel does use the more versatile USB. Its biggest advantage, though, is that the fast charger is included with the phone, whereas Apple are still packing. The measly 5 watt charger amid the iPhone 11, so you'll need to buy a separate charger to get access to fast charging. For me, this doesn't nearly make up for the pixels poor battery, which I personally found so crippling.

That is other great features struggle to make up for it. If you're planning on using your phone a lot throughout the day or for battery intensive tasks like editing or gaming, the iPhone 11 is by far the better choice. Second, perhaps only to the display. This is the aspect that could really be the deal-breaker when choosing between these phones moving on now to the defining feature of the pixel, which is the camera, the pixel for built on the fantastic camera from last year, adding some minor improvements and too new to times telephoto lens. But Apple's iPhone has seen a major overhaul with the camera which has allowed it not only to catch up with the pixel but potentially reclaim the top spot from it.

The phone's main lenses are quite similar as we'll see shortly, but they each take a different approach with the secondary lens. The pixel 4 opts for a telephoto lens, whilst the iPhone 11 has an ultra-wide lens I've spoken before about how I wish Google had also chosen the more popular ultra-wide lens for the pixel 4 and I. Just don't feel is that the telephoto lens adds as much to the camera as the ultra-wide does, especially when only 2 times optical zoom is being offered Google even have their super red, seem soft, wear for improved digital zooming, making the telephoto lens even more redundant and an ultra-wide lens. The more logical option. I think.

The main reason people tend to prefer the ultra-wide to the telephoto lens, as shown by these photos here, is that the pixel is physically incapable of capturing the ultra wide-angle taken with the iPhone. The lens reveals the entire building, and this can't be achieved or mimicked with any software or settings. You'd need to physically stand back and lower the phone to even attempt to get this shot on pixel, whereas with this telephoto image from the pixel, the iPhone can digitally zoom to produce a similar, albeit poor resolution version of the pixels optically zoom shot. The pixels' telephoto image quality is very good, much better than a digitally zoomed photo, but the iPhone offers greater versatility and I think a more useful camera setup than the pixel. Whether you'd want to take ultra-wide shots is a different question and maybe a telephoto lens is better for you.

But I think this explains why the ultra-wide lens is more popular. It allows you to be more creative and is why more people prefer to have this on their phone instead. So that's the biggest difference between these two phones, cameras and getting into the side-by-side comparison. You'll see that the results are much more similar. The phones often switch back and forth as to which traits they're displayed or as to which camera performs better.

But there are a few trends that appear -. First, the iPhone shots tended to be slightly brighter, which I thought was interesting, since the main lens aperture is actually smaller than on the pixel for the sharpness was typically very similar, but the pixel images had a noticeably more contrast and, if I'm cropping on the tree in building here, you can see this more clearly. This gave the pixel images are more processed and often more striking. Look, whereas the iPhone pictures tended to be more natural and true to life, which reflects results. We've seen before the theme continues with this phone box here, and you can now see that the pixels colors are a bit more saturated -.

The red is a bit richer, although the iPhones image is closer to what I saw in real life. These images more clearly demonstrates the difference in white balance ?, and although this could sometimes change the pixel images tended to be warmer. Color accuracy is a strength of both of these cameras, but you'll probably notice that the flowers are a bit more striking in the pixel image, because of that higher contrast and a little more saturation -. But if you look to the right-hand side, you can clearly see how the shift in white balance has really affected the sky. In the background, these images of Tower Bridge highlight this even further, where the sky really suffers from the warmer tone.

To the point where the pixels image now seems pretty lifeless, you can also make out a higher contrast in the pixels image, but the difference is in white. Balance are really what set the cameras apart here with portrait mode again, we see a brighter image with the iPhone, but the pixels image is much sharper and has more accurate color. Here it is a little over sharpened, but in this instance, I actually think the result looks a lot better. The edges are also characteristically soft on the iPhone and even though both have done a good job with edge detection I prefer the sharper cutout pixel. This can sometimes look a little unnatural, like the subject has been superimposed into the image, but this is certainly a good example of the effect working well.

The pixels edge detection was generally better, though, and here you can see how the iPhone has completely missed one of the edges of this thermometer. The images again brighter, though and I found the iPhones portrait shots to be generally warmer, which is interesting, Lee the opposite to what we saw for photo mode. One thing I prefer on the iPhone is the viewfinder. The iPhone 11 shows a live preview of the portrait effect before you take the photo. So you can use this to help guide you and to compose the shot.

The pixel applies all portrait effects impost, which not only takes a few seconds to process, but also leaves you guessing and hoping that the portrait effect will turn out well in the final image. This was also an issue with the normal camera mode too, especially the telephoto lens which, on the pixels live preview, displayed a much poorer resolution image than the final processed image. The iPhone generally captured an identical image to the live preview processing, the image in full, as and often before, you even press the shutter, which is testament to the phone's processing power. The pixel, of course, does have live exposure controls, letting you adjust the shadows and highlights individually in real time before taking the photo. So this is a nice benefit over the iPhone video, as you'd probably expect, is much higher quality on the iPhone, a theme that transcends camera specs, and we're yet to see any phones match the nitrate smoothness or stability of the iPhones video recording.

In this instance, the pixel can't actually match the iPhone 4 specs, either maxing out at 4k 30, rather than 60 frames per second, which we perhaps should be seeing in a 20-19 flagship. Slow-Motion recording is offered at a higher frame rate on the iPhone 2, so the iPhone 11 provides better video recording around the pixels front. Camera pales in comparison to the iPhone 2, which has a higher resolution lens and much better video recording capabilities. The iPhone is actually the only phone on the market able to record in 4k 60 on the front camera, which is leaps and bounds ahead of the pixel, for which only has 1080p 30 recording when there's much less to separate. These phones are at nighttime, Apple added a new night mode feature to the iPhone 11, which gives competition to Google's fantastic night sight.

Again, it really depends on the situation as to which performs better. Both phones produce excellent nighttime photos with vibrant colors and good exposure. You'll notice that the highlights are much more prominent on the pixel, which clearly makes the image stand out a lot more, but there are occasions where this has taken a bit too far. You'll also often notice that the shadows have increased exposure which can turn dark night skies a navy-blue and also introduce some unwanted noise to your photos. These images here highlight at this point pretty well.

You can clearly see how the pixel has boosted the exposure of the shadows, which has the negative side effect of the color shift, and the edit noise in this instance I think the iPhones image has better contrast, which helps the highlights to stand out against the night sky. In certain situations, the extra processing of the pixel can produce almost cartoon-like results. I know a lot of people will actually prefer the pixels more vibrant and stylized image, but the iPhone represents a more realistic interpretation of the role I've seen the pixels higher exposure works really well for these images. Here, though, and the building especially is brighter and more striking, but the sky doesn't suffer from any unwanted noise or color shift. These are probably the two best night modes available right now and just with the other photos, it really depends on the scene in the lighting as to which camera performs better Google does have a nightmare trick up its sleeve, with a straight photography when mounted to a tripod.

Both phones can take long exposures in extremely dark conditions to capture the night sky. The new night mode features can transform images that ordinarily look like this into this. The pixel 4 has dedicated macrophotography built into night mode and is able to take up to 4 minute exposures to produce images like this, the OF maxes out to 30 seconds exposure time, and you can really see the difference. Google's longer exposure and image processing makes here, the pixel fall clearly has an edge here. The image is sharper has more accurate, color and is essentially better in every single way.

There aren't many phones that can do even what the iPhone is capable of here, and it deserves credit in its own right, but that really puts into perspective just how incredible the pixels' macrophotography really is. The cost of this higher quality, though, is time, and although you can stop the four-minute exposure earlier, if you choose, you really need to hang on the full amount of time to get the best results. Occasionally, the iPhone can basically match the pixel with both phones taking a maximum exposure shot. So clearly, the iPhone can have the upper hand when it comes to convenience, am I often going to get my phone out set up a tripod and then wait for minutes to take a photo? No, but the feature is undeniably impressive, and I love, knowing that my phone is capable of taking these kinds of photos overall is pretty clear that the camera performance is highly dependent on the situation and the lighting conditions, so crowning a camera champion is pretty tough. The iPhone generally took more accurate and realistic photos and has far superior video recording, but on the other hand, the pixel has a better portrait mode and fantastic macrophotography features.

It really depends on how you want to use these cameras and the types of images you want to take as to which phone will be better for you for me personally, there's not enough of a difference in image quality to outweigh the more substantial benefit of having the iPhones ultra-wide lens. Combining this with best-in-class video recording and a battery life. That's up to the task of a full day of shooting the iPhone 11 would be my preferred camera companion, the camera that best suits you will need. Some preferences may be different, but one thing that is clear is that these are the two market leaders for smartphone cameras getting into performance. As you probably expected, the iPhone is the more powerful of the two phones, and it's a 13 chip is the fastest processor in a smartphone coupling this with how well optimized iOS is the hardware and software combined for a superfast and fluid user experience.

The pixel is no slouch, though, and the snapdragon 855 chips, coupled with a spotless and refined version of Android 10, delivers similarly seamless and snappy performance for a flagship, Android device. The RAM is on the lower end, but Tony when pushing the phone to its limits with multiple high intensity tasks did I notice any signs of slow performance. The iPhones 4 gigs of ram is just enough to maintain high performance, but when it comes to multitasking, the pixel easily takes the win purely for the fact that Android lets you use multiple apps at once. The pixel might not be packing the same power, but from a Productivity standpoint, it's the more capable device at the -. If you are looking to do any kind of power, intensive tasks like editing photo or video or bounce gaming, then the iPhone 11 is easily your best choice, not to mention the fact that the pixels' battery life would be very limiting here.

But Hardware aside, it's the software that still defines each of these phones and the classic battle of iOS versus Android is still likely to be a huge factor in which device you'd rather purchase what I love about iOS still hasn't changed, no matter which Android phone I compare it to, and the simplicity in fluidity of the user interface as the integration with other Apple devices remains. Unrivaled features like airdrop, iMessage and FaceTime are class, leading as the Apple ecosystem still offers the most comprehensive, consistent and convenient experience for multi device users. However, I still need the freedom and flexibility that you can only find in an Android device. Customization remains a huge selling point over iOS from simple small adjustments to radically changing the themes and layouts of your device, I personally listen to a lot of music and on many devices, and this is where the pixel becomes much more useful than the iPhone NFC allows me to instantly pair with Bluetooth speakers or headphones and switch between them more quickly and extensive support for Bluetooth codecs lets me stream audio with a lower latency and at a higher resolution. Android has benefited from this for years, and iPhone users are still being left behind with such basic, but brilliant features.

I should also mention the new version of the Google Assistant, which is hands down the best voice assistant on a smartphone using the pixels active edge feature it's available with just a squeeze of the phone is much more capable than Siri, and now that more functions can be handled on the device itself, I found myself using it a lot more. The iPhone does also have modern tech features like Wi-Fi 6 and the u1 shape the spatial awareness, the latter of which I'm pretty excited about its potential. These features help future-proof the device, but although there will be a lot to benefit from this in the future, there's still not much to enjoy from this just yet now, if you're looking to purchase either of these phones, the iPhone 11 is available from 699 dollars and the pixel for from $7.99, and this for me, is another significant factor separating these phones. As I mentioned earlier. There will be many who consider the larger XL to be the true competitor, and that starts at $200 more than the iPhone.

Both phones come with a measly 64 gigs of storage in the base models which, by today's standards, is pretty appalling. Google also removed unlimited photo storage for original quality images this year, so even they've now adopted the Apple approach of pushing you to pay for cloud storage, although in fairness, the still unlimited storage for high quality images, which is more than offered by Apple. What Apple do provide, though, is a wider variety of storage options, with the iPhone maxing out at double the storage of the pixel, with no expandable storage in either phone. Those who want to keep a lot of media on their device will be better off with the iPhone. There are a few different factors that you could argue compensate for.

The pricing difference, for example, Google includes the fast charger in the box and with the price Apple charged for their own fast chargers. This already closes a large amount of the price gap here in the UK. The iPhone is actually more expensive than the pixel and, of course, it's far more likely you'll find the pixel discounted before the iPhone, which realistically will only see a discount when the new iPhones are released next year. So, even as you watch this video, the pixel could well be available at a lower price, but if the phones were offered at the same price, I think the iPhone offers better value for money overall, so a substantial discount would be needed to make the pixel worth it. I think the biggest problem with the pixels pricing isn't so much how it fares compared to the iPhone, but to other Android competitors.

A lot of what I love about the pixel 4 is down to Android 10 and obviously this is also available on many others, including better value devices. Although pixels version of Android 10 is my favorite, this isn't enough to make me want to choose it over cheaper and, frankly, better phones like the galaxy s tinny or the OnePlus 7 pro, even though some aspects like the class-leading camera are better than on any other Android device. Ok, this is a pixel 4 vs. , iPhone video, but so much of what was pushing me towards the pixel is Android and not exclusively the pixel itself. To put it simply, the iPhone 11 is the best value iOS device, whereas I can't say the same for the pixel 4 on Android.

So this is what would steer me towards the iPhone. Don't get me wrong? There is plenty to love about the Google, pixel 4 and plenty of benefits over the iPhone 11. But when you really consider what's important in your smartphone, the iPhone comes out on top. It's all well and good, having lots of exciting and fancy features to show off, but when a lot of these features don't work as promised, and when the battery life is too poor to let you enjoy them anyway, then. What's the point for me, what the iPhone is missing from the pixel isn't enough to justify all of its shortcomings.

I think there's more potential in this pixel for than the iPhone 11, but the execution doesn't quite meet Google's optimistic ambition, but let me know down in the comments section which of these phones. You prefer, if you enjoyed this video, then please give it a like and to make sure you are subscribed to see more videos like this one. You can also follow the channel on Facebook to attend Instagram at inside tech ltd, for all the latest news and some extra content too I hope you will enjoy the holidays, whichever ones you may be celebrating, and I'll see you all in the next one.

Source : InsideTech