Google Pixel

Google's Pixel 4 exhibited various flaws in our test while at the same time neglecting important smartphone core competences. What good is innovation if the phone cannot even last until the end of the day?

A few weeks ago, in spite of its SoC disadvantage, the Google Pixel 4 XL destroyed the OnePlus 7T in a resource-intensive transcoding test designed to reflect real-world performance. In a longer, more brutal test, the Pixel 4 XL is pitted against the LG V50, Asus ROG Phone 2, and OnePlus 7T. The results are...well, interesting.

XDA contributors have found that Google has included code that supports its long-touted "Lift to Talk" setting for Assistant in its app. This feature allows the voice-activated AI in question to be prepared to answer queries whenever a user holds a given device up to their face. However, the researchers have found this option is still buggy when enabled.

Google's new Pixel 4 phones have been faced with numerous challenges since they were launched a few weeks ago. Further compounding issues, the larger Pixel 4 XL just made its way to popular YouTube channel JerryRigEverything, where it failed rather painfully.

The November 2019 security updates for Android are now available for the Pixel 2, Pixel 2 XL, Pixel 3, Pixel 3 XL, Pixel 3a, Pixel 3a XL, Pixel 4, Pixel 4 XL, and the Essential Phone. Noticeably absent from this list are the original Pixel and Pixel XL, which are no longer supported by Google. This security update includes several feature improvements, including at least part of the promised fix for the Pixel 4's 90 Hz display woes.

Google introduced a new kind of Recorder app with the Pixel 4 series. It is not merely capable of capturing audio, but of transcribing it in real time and making the resulting text searchable with the help of AI. A Mountain View representative has confirmed that it is coming to older phones of the same line soon.

Google’s parent company Alphabet is said to be deep in negotiations to buy fitness wearables company Fitbit. Fitbit had indicated late last month that it was interested in a sale of the company and it looks like it might likely end up either as part of Google’s product lineup or as a standalone Alphabet backed brand.

Artem Russakovskii of Android Police has posted a video showing his Pixel 4 XL taking ages to open the Settings and Spotify apps. Video recording on the phones also appears to be less than stellar, with obvious stutters at the start of the video. So much for being the smoothest Android device.

Phones with a headphone jack are becoming unicorns, especially in the premium segment of the market. After the launch of the Galaxy Note 10 duo, lovers of the 3.5mm jack now have their work cut out for them in the search for impressive phones with the ever-elusive port, so why not make things a tad easier for them?

The Pixel 4 phones have caught a lot of flak for being unable to record 4K video at 60 fps. According to a discovery, however, it would seem that the devices were originally able to do that but the feature ended up not making it to release software.

The Google Pixel 4's 90 Hz Smooth Display feature seems to be dependent on the display brightness setting and not on the 'content' as was originally claimed by Google. This was first discovered by a Redditor and subsequently confirmed by other reviewers as well. Although there is a way to force 90 Hz in the Developer settings, by default, the Pixel 4's screen can refresh at 90 Hz only if the brightness slider is set above the 75% mark.

iFixit has now published its Pixel 4 XL teardown, with the new Google phone earning a 4/10 repairability score. The report also reveals some previously unknown details of the phone's hardware, most notable being that of the 90 Hz QHD+ AMOLED display.

Night Sight 2.0 with a new astrophotography mode, Live Caption and offline Google Assistant are just three examples of features debuting on the Pixel 4 series. However, these will not remain Pixel 4 exclusives, with Google planning to bring them to older generations too. We have laid out Google's plans in a brief overview, underlining that you need not buy the latest tech to get the latest software.

DxOMark has now published its Google Pixel 4 camera review. Going by the website's test criteria, the Pixel 4 is overall a worse camera phone than the OnePlus 7 Pro and Honor 20 Pro. On the flip side, it's somehow the the joint best phone when it comes to videos.

A series of tests have shown the Google Pixel 4 XL hilariously outpacing the OnePlus 7T in real-world, resource-intensive processing tasks. The fact that the Pixel 4 XL has less RAM and a weaker SoC than the 7T makes it all the more impressive.

The Google Pixel 4 phones don't have support for shooting 4K60fps videos even though Android phones have been able to do that for well over a year. Google has now explained the rationale behind the decision but it's woefully unconvincing.

Google introduced Digital Wellbeing in order to allow users to track and manage their phone use, which extends to a per-app basis. This feature is now integrated into a new Chrome browser update. It can be used to display screen time and how much of it is spent on each website visited.

It's been almost a week since Google unveiled the Pixel 4 phones in New York but it's still baffling just how poor the phones are—the smaller Pixel 4, in particular. In fact, some choices by the company were so off the mark that one could almost be led to believe that the entire thing was a joke.

The Pixel 4 XL's 90 Hz QHD+ AMOLED display has been hailed for its impressive quality, even winning DisplayMate's "Best Smartphone Display" award. That raises a few questions, of course, the most important being: who exactly made the phone's display?

If you own a Pixel 3 and were about to use the Pixel 4's trade-in program to get Google's latest device for significantly cheaper, think twice. You see, Google seems to be of the opinion that the 128 GB Pixel 3 XL is worth a measly US$295, and that's a load of nonsense.

The Pixel 4 series only uses face unlock for biometric authentication; it is that secure. Or is it? Well, a video of one device unlocking to closed eyes suggests otherwise, as does the possibility of someone who merely looks "a lot like you" authenticating payments with your face data. Is the face unlock on the Pixel 4 series not so secure after all?

The new Google Pixel 4 phones may have their issues but the quality of their displays isn't to be questioned—that of the bigger Pixel 4 XL, at least—if DisplayMate's latest review is anything to go by. The new flagship has won the Best Smartphone Display Award while smashing records along the way.

Google also announced its new Nest Wi-Fi home product at the 2019 Pixel launch event. It consists of scalable router and point units in various muted colors. A single 802.11s router covers up to 2200 square feet of space each, whereas each point doubles as a smart speaker.

At its Made by Google 2019 event, Google finally took wraps off the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL smartphones. The new Pixel 4 series comes with features such as a Soli radar chip for advanced hands-free gestures, on-device AI and voice processing, and improved AI-assisted cameras. The Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL can be pre-ordered starting today and will be shipping from October 24.

Google unveiled its second-generation Pixel Buds at its 2019 'Made By' event. They are truly wireless products that, as the OEM claims, have been designed to be as compact and streamlined as possible. Nevertheless, they are rated for 5 hours of battery life, or 24 hours from their charging case.

The Google Pixel 4 series launch is almost upon us, with the company expected to announce at least a Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL. While the two devices will feature more cameras than their predecessors, a new leak highlights some absentees too. In short, it seems that Google is going the way of Apple, which undoubtedly will disappoint Pixel fans.

It might be hard to believe, but the Pixel 4 leaks keep coming. This time serial leaker Evan Blass has leaked official Pixel 4 renders and marketing shots ahead of its official launch next week.

The Android Instagram page has recently posted a short video that hints at a dark theme for Google Maps in the near future. It appears to cause every aspect of the app, including the map-markings themselves, to conform to a color palette that is much less bright.

Google’s forthcoming Pixelbook Go has been leaked in full ahead of its launch. The device takes on a more rounded design language than previous Pixelbooks but remains very much focused on portability.

According to sources cited by the Nikkei Asian Review, Google may be working on a 5G-capable Pixel 4. The handset may be announced at Google's Pixel event on October 15th but likely wouldn't be available for months. However, considering how new and small 5G networks are, a 5G-compatible Pixel 4 seems unlikely.

The Google Pixel 4 phones are just about a week away from their official launch event. A new leak has revealed some previously unknown details about the phones and a particular specification of the smaller Pixel 4 may just leave fans seething.

Some launch prices for the Google Pixel 4 and 4XL flagship smartphones have been posted on Twitter by well-known tech insider Evan Blass. The prices are for the Canadian market, which show that the entry-level Google Pixel 4 with 64 GB storage will cost CAD$1,049.95 (~US$788), while the 128 GB storage variant of the Google Pixel 4 XL will allegedly cost CAD$1,359.95 (~US$1,022).

The Pixel 4 has already been quite heavily leaked ahead of its launch, including by Google itself. However, the first official render that clearly shows the entirety of the front and rear of the device has now surfaced as well.

Google has already conceded that numerous leaks concerning Motion Sense, a new ability in the upcoming Pixel 4 smartphones by which they can respond to various hand gestures, are valid. Now, a new report claims to list all the regions in which those intended to control media on the devices will be available on lauch.

Atlas is a code-name that has popped up in a few Chromebook-related leaks over the past few months. It is linked to development by Google and has been thrown around as a Pixelbook successor. Now, 9to5Google's sources claim that it is indeed part of this series, but not perhaps as some may have assumed.

A couple of more Google Pixel 4-related leaks have surfaced, one concerning the apparently official names for the colors the smartphones will come in and another about the not inconsiderable price tags. According to one specific retailer, potential Pixel 4 buyers in Ireland will have to cough up just under €820 (~US$903/£723) for the 64 GB variant of the regular-sized model.

Business Insider has published a new report that claims to offer an insight into the development of Google-brand smartwatches. It also outlines the nature of the "secret" technology purchased by this company from Fossil, which allegedly results in hybrid devices that are removed from the pure Wear OS device that may be expected of a first-gen Pixel Watch.

Just like recent leaks claimed, the Google Pixel 4 phones will be launched at an event in New York on October 15. There's not much we don't know about the phones' hardware at this point, so we're a lot more interested in the software Google will showcase at the event.

Google Assistant had been reported to gain a dark theme at the start of 2019. However, this update did not get to all users at once. Now, it appears that the Mountain View giant is pushing this change again. This new roll-out, which also affects the Google App, has been observed in a small number of countries thus far.

The Google Pixel 4 phones are set for launch next month and a set of leaks have revealed even more about the upcoming flagships, with a focus on some of the deficiencies the devices may come saddled with, as is customary with Google's flagships.

The Google Camera app v7 has leaked out and has been torn down. This has resulted in references to a slew of new abilities that may debut in the Pixel 4 and 4XL. They include the Mountain View's versions of Samsung's Motion Blur and Audio Zoom. They may also extend to real-time HDR edits, phone astrophotography and a new form of depth-perception.

Leviton's new duplex wall socket also has in-built USB outputs. These welcome and increasingly welcome upgrades to electrical fittings are type-C ports with the Power Delivery (USB-PD) standard. This means they are rated to charge compatible devices at up to 30 watts.

There is nothing like a sale to get rid of old stock ahead of a new product release. While all the talk has recently been about the huge volume of Pixel 4 and 4 XL leaks, Google is running a sale on all Pixel 3 and 3 XL models. You can take US$300 off across the board, but only while stocks last.

The soon-to-be-released Google Pixel 4 XL is back in a new unofficial video that does not leave much to be discovered at launch. The video shows the upcoming flagship device with a round camera module on the back that makes it similar to the iPhone 11, a 90 Hz display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 processor, 6 GB of memory, and more.

9to5Google claims to have learned that Google has a new Call Screen-like function for the Assistant in the works. It may become known as "Hold my Phone", and will enable a device's AI to handle a phonecall that has gone on hold by itself. This, apparently, will involve alerting the user when a respondent has come back on to the line.

Apple is hosting its "Special Event" tomorrow, but the internet is talking about the Pixel 4. Why? Well, an apparent Pixel 4 promotional video has leaked online, the timing of which is suspect, to say the least. Google may have a trick or two up its sleeve too.

If the recent volume of leaks is anything to go by, then the Pixel 4 series is edging ever nearer to being unveiled. While the bezels and square rear-facing camera housing may put off many people, Google may have a few technological innovations up its sleeve.

An image showing three Google Pixel 4 smartphones in different colors has seemingly leaked on Weibo. Unsurprisingly, both a black and white SKU are visible, but the choice for the third color has caused some eyebrows to be raised. It had already been leaked that Google was going with orange as one of the Pixel 4’s color options.

The anticipated successor to the Pixel 3 has appeared on Geekbench. It shows that the device has 4GB of RAM, is powered by the Snapdragon 855 SoC and runs Android 10. Therefore, it stands a decent chance of actually being a Google phone - however, the leak does have some inadequacies.