The Google Pixel and Pixel XL phones are less than a week old, but unsurprisingly, they are nowhere to be found in the official Google Store, at least for those in the U.S.
The king of marketing efforts that Google poured into the Pixel and Pixel XL phones deserve this demand. The handsets are the first to ditch the Nexus branding and they bring quite a lot of new stuff to the table. But does it mean everyone will fall for the new concept from Google? Well, here are 5 things about the Google Pixel and Pixel XL that you may not like, especially if you are a new Android user.
The steep price
Google Nexus phones have been praised for their affordability despite offering great designs, specs, and features. However, the Pixel and Pixel XL have changed this belief, joining the high-end devices from Samsung and Apple in terms of price. The smaller Pixel starts from $649 for the base model of 32GB while the high-end variant costs $749. As for the Pixel XL, the base model is priced at $769 while the high-end 128GB variant costs $869.
With these price tags, not so many will be able to buy the Pixel and Pixel XL, especially when Android has a flurry of top-notch handsets with equally compelling designs, specs and features, but are priced at almost half the Pixel prices.
Missing wireless charging
It’s 2016 and Google has not yet figured out a way to include wireless charging into his most valued mobile device. Samsung did this way back with its Galaxy S and Galaxy Note lineup and the same is being offered by a bunch of other OEMs. The Pixel and Pixel XL are meant to be high-end smartphones by the look of their price tags, which makes it weird to miss such an important feature in the present world.
Water and dust resistance
According to Google, the Pixel and Pixel XL are IP53 certified. When compared to devices in the same price category, for instance, Samsung Galaxy S7, iPhone 7 or even LG V20, the Google phone cannot be considered as durable. Samsung has IP68 while Apple has IP67 rating. As for the LG V20, it takes things to the next level by coming with MIL-STD-810G certification, similar to the Galaxy S7 Active.
Nonetheless, recent reports have shown that the Google Pixel phone can still survive up to 30 minutes in water. But this is no guarantee that the phone won’t be damaged. As for its competitors, the kind of certifications they come with mean they can even survive up to 1 hour in much deeper water than the Pixel tests show.
Poor audio quality
The Google Nexus 6P has two speakers on the front, something that also happened with the Nexus 6 as well as Nexus 9. Surprisingly, the Google Pixel and Pixel XL dropped this idea, instead, coming with a single speaker that is also poorly located. We’ve had these dual front-facing speakers since the HTC One M7, but why Google decided to drop them is still unknown, especially when its closest rivals like the iPhone 7 are busy adopting them for enhanced audio quality.
No optical image stabilization
Every flagship smartphone comes with optical image stabilization on the rear camera. There are even some that are bringing this feature to the front-facing camera, for instance, HTC 10. However, the Google Pixel and Pixel XL are missing on this capability once again.
This feature was not available on the Nexus 6P, but for a phone priced at $500, one could somehow understand its absence. Add $100 to this price tag and OIS is a must-have feature. Samsung has it, Apple has it, LG has it, and even the OnePlus 3, which costs just $399, also has this feature.
Still, the Pixel and Pixel XL phones add EIS that also helps in improving the quality of videos.
Even though things like a lack of removable battery and a missing microSD card slot may also be negatives as far as the Google Pixel and Pixel XL are concerned, many Android users are getting used to this. Still, the Nexus did not come with these features.
The new Google Pixel phones are still the phones to beat, but as usual, every good thing must also carry some negatives on its back.
What other negatives do you see on the Google Pixel and Pixel XL phones? Share your views in the comments.
EXACTLY. I would even go for the higher price if it had Qi wireless, stereo speakers, rear camera OIS.
Really what we want is a reasonable size (5.2″ – 5.5″) of the 2014 Moto Nexus 6 (5.95″ 1440 AMOLED, stereo speakers, Qi wireless, rear camera OIS) but with updated Qualcomm chipset and more RAM. The Nexus 6 was TOO BIG, and even Google realized they made a mistake — coming in smaller each successive year (5.7 1440p, and now 5.5″ 1440p).