The Google Pixel 4 XL Review: Stuck In The Past In 2019
by Andrei Frumusanu on November 8, 2019 11:30 AM EST- Posted in
- Mobile
- Smartphones
- Pixel 4
- Pixel 4 XL
Video Recording
Video recording on the Pixel 4 is a relatively simple topic as Google hasn’t changed much to the formula other than the inclusion of the new telephoto module. Even this one addition isn’t quite fully supported by the cameras as Google’s 60fps recording mode is only available for the main camera sensor. Another omission, is the lack of a 4K60 recording mode. It’s quite unfortunately that Google still hasn’t been able to expand the recording features over the past few years.
In terms of video quality, it’s relatively ok. Stabilisation and bit-rates are competitive. I would strongly recommend to switch over to HEVC recording in order to save storage space. Dynamic range of the capture on the other hand isn’t really up to par with what we see from the competition, and the Pixel 4 largely falls behind in this aspect.
What’s really unfortunate is the audio recording quality. Unfortunately, the phone doesn’t seem to have any good wind noise cancellation. It wasn’t particularly windy when I was recording the samples, yet the wind noise is particularly distinct in the recordings.
Speaker Evaluation
The speaker setup on the Pixel 4 has changed substantially compared to the Pixel 3. Google is no longer using two front-facing speakers, opting for a more traditional earpiece + bottom firing speaker setup.
This does cause some problems and represents a downgrade for the new Pixel. While last year the Pixel 3’s stereo bias was actually biased towards the earpiece speaker as the stronger and louder unit, this year it’s very much extremely biased in favour of the bottom firing speaker. Volume isn’t an issue as the phone gets plenty loud.
The audio quality of the phone isn’t bad, however there’s a notable lack of mid-range and especially lack of lower mid-range which unfortunately leads to a less “full” audio playback and the phone doesn’t really compete with either Samsung or Apple’s devices in terms of audio playback ability.
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watzupken - Tuesday, November 12, 2019 - link
To me, the great Android experience is basically negated by poor battery life, QC and high price on the Pixel 3 and 4 series. Battery life for a mobile device is an essential requirement which this fails bitterly for a flagship phone. I agree it's a very gimmicky phone. It's rare to see reviewers being so harsh in their conclusion, but I feel Google really deserved a harsh wake up call and not be half hearted when they design a product.nostriluu - Tuesday, November 12, 2019 - link
I really think the author missed the point of the Pixel series. They are about Google's machine learning based smarts, which are well ahead of other providers. I plan to buy a Pixel 4 for the on-device transcription feature alone, though other features, not related to the the up-to-dateness of its SoC, are making me hesitate.kaesden - Thursday, November 14, 2019 - link
the one benefit of this phone vs a samsung, is getting a clean Android install without a bunch of bloatware installed on it by either samsung and/or the carrier's image, which allows for timely updates rather being 1-2 years behind all the time. However i dont see this as a compelling 'upgrade' from a pixel 3 at all.BabelHuber - Friday, November 15, 2019 - link
I think that this review is a bit too harsh.I agree that the Pixel 4's battery is a bit too small, but the 4 XL should have sufficient capacity.
The Pixel 3a XL I have lasts 3 days under light use and more than a day under heavy use, in fact I never was able to deplete the battery within a day before I came home, even when it was late in the eveing and used the phone excessively.
So with a bit worse battery runtime, the 4 XL should still be fine, perhaps except of the most extreme use cases.
I have played around with both the 4 and 4 XL and they both are very snappy and the face unlock works as advertised. It's not enough improvement for me to upgrade, though.
When we skip all the fancy gimmicks, there are a lot of pros for the Pixels:
- Bootloader unlocking and re-locking with fastboot, no crap like KNOX or warranty void
- Very easy to apply updates even when rooted
- Pixel users get new features first, like Google Lens
- Timely, monthly security updates (at least for 3 years)
- First to new Android versions via Google's beta channel
- Still a very good camera (in my opinion)
- The best software. I know this is subjective, but I e.g. cannot stand Samsung's or LG's launchers, phone apps, contacts etc.
The software features are the main point for me personally. I don't give a rat's a$$ about bezel sizes, popup cameras or slightly better screens, but I want the newest software and being able to easily root the thing.
Other people might put mnore emphasis on things I don't care for, but for me Pixels are the best.
MooseNSquirrel - Sunday, November 17, 2019 - link
Agree. The actual experience of owning and using the phone matters more than opinions about marginal differences in specs.Ive had the Pixel 3 since release and its great, especially the camera. Battery life is fine.
Frankly any of these top phones are great, regardless of who makes them. I just refuse to buy into Apples annoying walled garden and so will never own an Iphone.
Hubert Satheesh - Monday, November 18, 2019 - link
Well if Astrophotography and Soli radars are gimmicks, what about forced touch for 6s? I just remembered about the glowing tribute to force touch when it was launched in 6s in Anandtech. It praised how it's going to be the future of touch... only to be discarded by Apple a few yrs later as it was not practically useful. Though astrophotography is not a common occurence brushing it aside as gimmick makes one wonder whether theres an inherent bias towards anything Google and being lax on Apple!! Going by the same yardstick, the reviewer makes noise about pixels low display brightness. Now how many of us practically use our phone in bright sunlight to want that? Do we really need levels abouve 800 and 1000? So practicality is not the issue in most cases. As much experience and features a phone can pack, its better. If not you, someone will be benifitted by it. However it's of crucial importance for the pixel team to read such reviews as they are out of touch with reality. It's as if the team is living under a rock!! It's interesting to see how chineses OEMs with limited budget, resources and know how, easily surpass the mighty google in hardware and software design. Google needs a serious introspection.tranceazure1814 - Thursday, November 21, 2019 - link
When you can buy a OnePlus 7 standard model with snapdragon 855 and 256gb of UFS 3.0 and 8gig of ram and android 10 oxygen for 300 pounds,with far better battery life and decent camera why would you pay for a pixel 4coronafelix - Tuesday, August 25, 2020 - link
Really odd camera review, zero testing when it comes to subject focusing or how the cameras deal with actual subjects. Which makes sense considering the narrative mostly focuses on samsung's 'advantage' in dynamic range. (I do agree with their advantage there, but they have weaknesses as well). I think more categories needed to be tested for all cameras..TheinsanegamerN - Thursday, October 1, 2020 - link
It looks like a much better phone then the pixel 4, but for $700 I'd expect a headphone jack and at least a 5000 MaH battery, or no headphone and 5500+MaH. I've given up on google ever using SD cards again.