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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Jonahtrav - Friday, November 8, 2019 - link
has a pixel 3 a user I was excited to see the pixel 4 come out but I usually wait for all the reviews and then decide and have you seen the jerry-rigged video where he test the durability of the pixel 4 and it fails miserably with cracking in four areasOliseo - Sunday, November 10, 2019 - link
Yeah, it's for halfwits.edzieba - Friday, November 8, 2019 - link
Coming from a Pixel 2XL, it ticks all the boxes for me. Performance (in terms of responsiveness rather than sustained benchmarks) is great, 90Hz display is a nice step up, the return of Qi charging means battery life is a nonissue for me (Put it down on the desk, and oh, it's charged when I go to pick it up again), and Soli has thus far been generally useful in a subtle way (activation on reach, and quieting alarms and rings before contact, rather than hand-waving demos). Camera is Good Enough for the few times I take photos. I miss the fingerprint reader for the notification swipe gesture, but it also means I can unlock and authenticate payments (pattern/code unlock is no good here) quickly without taking my gloves off - or even taking the phone out of the mount - to pay for fuel which is a nice convenience.Then there are the alternatives. Iphones are right out, ain't nobody got time to deal with Apple's ecosystem. Samsung (and most others) get the boot due to their glacial update rate and/or OS-fiddling. And as this is by definition a device intended to be network connected continuously, it's either updated or it's PWNed. Out of the manufacturers who are vaguely on the ball when it comes to consistent, reliable and timely updates and don't go messing with the core OS that leaves basically Nokia, Essential, and Sony. Essential seem to be dead for all intents and purposes, Sony still haven't gotten Qi implemented, and Nokia lock their bootloaders (and are still on Android 9).
edzieba - Friday, November 8, 2019 - link
Biggest thing I'm missing is an up/down motion gesture for scrolling recipes with dirty hands.Andrei Frumusanu - Friday, November 8, 2019 - link
> Samsung (and most others) get the boot due to their glacial update rate and/or OS-fiddling. And as this is by definition a device intended to be network connected continuously, it's either updated or it's PWNed.My S10 is on the November security patch since a couple of days. The Pixel 4 XL is still on the October one. People need to get their facts right.
thestryker - Friday, November 8, 2019 - link
I could be wrong, but I believe the point he was getting at is over device lifetime. This is the predominant reason I'm still using my Droid Turbo. Outside of Essential and Google the device makers for android bail on their device OS updates relatively rapidly (ex: Pixel 2 running 10, Galaxy S8 running 9). Samsung seems good about security updates as old devices do get those albeit at lower cadence, but that doesn't mean the devices get OS support.Android in general is a nightmare when it comes to OS support, but the alternative is Apple, so that's a non starter for me. In general it'd be nice if Google did the work to square away OS updates so they could be device independent, but there is no pressure on anyone to do this it seems.
imaheadcase - Friday, November 8, 2019 - link
What does security update have to do with what he said? Andrei security updates are pushed on pixel phones in normal updates as well so its tied into regular autoupdates anyways now.His point is valid, OS specific UI can totally ruin a phone experience, especially when upgrading is not a must have thing for you. Samsung is notorious for not pushing updates, or even down right lying about updating. Look at Tablet line they have..they still sell tablets and make them WITHOUT updates of any kind, despite them constantly saying after a couple years they will unlock them for users.
I have the Pixel 3 and love it, i won't be going to Pixel 4 (want fingerprint unlock). I might consider it for home use if price drops way low.
Andrei Frumusanu - Friday, November 8, 2019 - link
> What does security update have to do with what he said?Because he specifically brought up security concerns?
Sigil224 - Saturday, November 9, 2019 - link
Would an article on this be possible?I’m currently on an iPhone Xs but have been looking at Androids as a change but have had doubts over some of them because of concerns over update cadence due to anecdotal evidence (Samsung, normally) but if that’s not right then that changes things a bit.
Oliseo - Sunday, November 10, 2019 - link
You'll get three years MAX from the BEST android phone OEM (including Google) and that's from the Launch date.Prepare to junk it after 4 years at the latest (and that's a year with no OS upgrade).
And these are BEST CASE SCENERIOS.
Pick the wrong phone and it will be junk soon as you buy it.