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The new Google’s Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL: This is what stock Android is all about

cjmagowan  —  5 years ago ( Oct 15, 2018 )    |    Mobile  /  News

It had been the subject of numerous leaks and is one of the most talked about devices in recent memory but last week, Google finally announced the new Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL with other bunch of Google tech goodies, but for this post, let’s focus on these two new smartphone devices.

The new Pixel 3 and its larger XL variant are basically the same phone that differs entirely on their size, battery and the notch. So users will get the same experience on both phones with the same performance on both devices.

Pixel 3

The regular Pixel 3 is obviously the smaller of the two and features thin bezels and luckily without the notch on top. I don’t hate the notch by the way but having them out is way much better in my personal opinion, so there it is, a display without a notch is one less obtrusive and that’s good.

Moving on with the display, it has a 77.2% of screen-to-body ratio with its 5.5-inch P-OLED panel that allows the handset to support Always-On display feature that shows notification and alerts in low power mode. It sport a resolution of 1080 x 2160/Full-HD+ in 18:9 aspect ratio.

The Pixel 3 runs on an embedded 2,915 mAh battery, a slight in a fraction upgrade over the Pixel 2. It supports Fast charging through its USB-C interface and now with Qi Wireless charging.

Pixel 3 XL

The Pixel 3 XL on the other hand features is quite bigger than the regular Pixel 3 with a notch and a bigger display. It comes with a P-OLED panel as well but in 6.3-inches. What’s good with the notch though is that it increases the screen real estate on the Pixel 3 at a 82.8% screen-to-body ratio.

It has a higher resolution display in 1440 x 2960 pixels QHD+ and also supports HDR10 and Always-On. That notch on top gave the Pixel 3 its 18.5:9 aspect ratio and we’ll take about it in a bit.

The pixel 3 XL doesn’t have its own Face Unlock feature like on the Apple iPhone X or those devices from Xiaomi, instead, the notch houses its front-facing cameras and the earpiece, if you are looking for some crazy 3D or infrared based facial recognition hardware then you’re out of luck. Without any Face Unlock features, the handset still has its fingerprint scanner on the back.

While it has a lot of good stuff in it, what seems to a downgrade over its predecessor is that it only comes with 3,430 mAh, that’s just a 100mAh less than a the Pixel 2 XL. Is it a bad thing? not probably as real world usage often differs on what apps and services are running on the device.


Unlike most flagship devices nowadays, Google Pixels (at least at this time) relies on a single lens system. The rear-facing cameras on the Pixel 3 and the Pixel 3 XL is unchanged from the Pixel 2 with its 12.2 Megapixel sensor that features an f/1.8 Aperture and Optical Image Stabilization, HDR+ support with Google’s new Top Shot.

For its front-facing camera, the new Pixel 3 and the Pixel 3 XL got two of them which comprises two 8 Megapixel sensors with one having an f/1.8 Aperture with Autofocus and a regular 75-degree lens while the secondary sensor offers a 97-degree wide-angle lens and f/2.2 Aperture fixed-focus lens. What’s more appealing with the Pixel 3 XL though is that the Google maximizes the notch with both the two lens accommodated on that location.

The hallmark of Google’s great imaging system is in its software using a state of the art AI algorithms to achieve every effects and even more. The new camera software that comes with the Pixel 3 includes a lot of new features including Top Shot in which the camera takes a few number of photos and the system will then select the best shot from those multiple shots ensuring that everything is at their place as possible with everyone having their eyes open, smiles are given and that blur are nowhere to be seen.

In addition to that, there’s also the new Photobooth mode that takes your photo as it detects your smile or make a funny face. One of the much awaited feature for the Pixel 3 camera is the Super Res Zoom that enhances the quality of its digital zoom making its quality up par with devices equipped with telephoto lens and then there’s the new Night Sight mode which brightens dark and dimmed images without the use of flash.

Now moving on, the handset is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 but it’s a toned-down version of the chipset with the larger cores running at 2.2GHz instead of the usual 2.5GHz while the smaller cores clocks at 1.6GHz. While you’ll get basically a less-powered processor running, its advantage is that it consumes less battery which in turns saves battery life. It’s RAM like in its previous models settled at 4GB with its storage being either in 64GB or the large 128GB and do note that they are not expandable storage so you’ll have to pick how much you’ll really need.

This new handsets comes with stereo speakers and they are front-firing ones with one at the top and one at the bottom. The Pixel 3 and its XL variant adopted the no 3.5mm policy of new generation flagship devices so wired audio headphones will have to go through the USB-C port which the handset supports. With that, Google now provided one Pixel USB-C earbuds out of the box with Google Assistant built-in that can take voice commands, read out messages and does auto replies.

In addition to that, Google also adds a new USB-C to 3.5mm adapter and promises low-power consumption and faster response to from plugging-in the headphones to actually playing the music.

So basically, the best that Google could provide for any smartphone users in the market is there complete with the latest Android 9.0 Pie, AI and all about AI, squeeze gesture, IP68 water-resistance and finally Wireless charging.

The new Google Pixel 3 and the Pixel 3 XL comes with various color options including Just Black, Clearly White and the new Not Pink. These phones will finally hit the shelves on October 19 in the US and on November 2 in Europe. In the US, prices for the Pixel 3 starts at 800 while the Pixel 3 XL starts at $900. In Europe, the Pixel 3 is priced at €850 and €950 for its 64GB and 128GB variants. The Pixel 3 XL 64GB goes for €950 while the Pixel 3 XL 128GB settles at €1050.

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