DESIGN

Google usually lets someone else design its phones, but the Pixel is all its own work. Saying that, there are some pretty obvious, er, inspirations. Those rounded corners and antenna stripes sure look familiar. The two-tone metal/glass won’t be to all tastes and the placement of the fingerprint scanner on the back divides opinion, but there’s no arguing about the big bezels on the front. What’s the point when Android uses on-screen buttons? Headphone socket removal aside, Apple might not have drastically changed the iphone’s design since 2014, but we’ll take subtle refinements over a flawed tribute.