Google Pixel 3
Price: £739 inc VAT from fave.co/2RDX8sL
Possibly one of the most leaked smartphones of all time is here. It’s a shame that almost nothing about the Pixel 3 was a secret, though it’s still a fantastic device. Read on to find out more.
Availability
Google’s phone goes on general sale on 1 November, though you can pre-order it now at fave.co/2RDX8sL.
Design
There’s not a huge design change when it comes to this year’s Pixel phone as on the whole, and Google is
sticking to the same style and look of its predecessor. The Pixel 3 has a distinctive style on the rear, with a two-tone effect that may not be to everyone’s taste. The glossy section at the top houses the camera, while the lower part containing the fingerprint scanner.
This time around, it’s a glass design with the bottom section offering a matte finish that both looks and feels luxurious. It’s also more grippy than a typical glass back and won’t show fingerprint marks as much. This change also enables wireless charging.
It’s the front that looks even more different this year due to a change in the display’s aspect ratio – an industry-wide trend. Smaller bezels not only look better but mean you get a larger screen in a body that’s essentially the same.
Whatever side of the fence you are on, it’s worth noting that the regular Pixel 3 is the model without a notch. The Pixel 3 XL (see page 10), for the first time on a Google phone, has the divisive feature.
Much of the elements we are used to are the same, so you get a USB-C port and waterproofing – it now has a rating of IP68 compared to it’s predecessor’s IP67. There’s no headphone socket.
Colour options are once again Clearly White, Just Black and the new Not Pink (which has a peach tone in real life) – each with a difference accent colour on the side button apart from the black model.
Hardware
Like the design, there’s not huge overhaul when it comes to the specifications and features. This is more of a refinement sort of product.
The most obvious change is the display, which is now using an on-trend tall aspect ratio. It’s 19:9 to be precise and sticks with a Full HD+ resolution (2,280x1,080) and AMOLED tech.
Jumping from 5- to 5.5in gives you more real estate to play with. If you want even more, then the XL has a 6.3in display, albeit with a larger than average notch. Either way you’ll need to get used to the new gestures of Android Pie, which we’ll talk about later.
When it comes to the core specifications, there’s a predictable upgrade to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 – the firm’s flagship processor for 2018. Memory remains at just 4GB and you’ll once again need to choose from 64- or 128GB of storage. Pick wisely as there’s no microSD card slot.
Performance appears to be as slick as you’d expect from an in-house Google Android phone, but we’ll test it further once we get a review sample.
Where other manufacturers force you to buy the larger model out of two phones to get enhanced photography, normally an extra camera, the Pixel 3s have the same setup.
Interestingly, neither model has dual cameras at the rear. Google is confident that it can offer excellent photography and video capture with a single rear lens. The specifications look the same as the Pixel 2 at 12.2Mp, an f/1.8 aperture, OIS and dual autofocus (phase detection and laser).
Google’s software, namely HDR+, is the reason why it only needs one lens. A new feature called Top Shot will take multiple shots so you can choose the best, rather then end up missing that key moment.
Night Sight is also new and aims to help you get great results in low light without using a flash with machine learning.
Oddly, then, the new tech is at the front where there are two cameras. Both are 8Mp with an f/1.8 or f/2.2 aperture and like the LG V40, one is a standard focal length, while the other is wide-angle (107 degrees instead of 75), so you can fit more people into the frame. They both look pretty good.
There’s plenty more about the Pixel 3 that essentially remains the same as before with similar connectivity, the rear fingerprint scanner. That means there’s no fingerprint scanner embedded in the screen, which is a shame as it’s set to arrive on the OnePlus 6T which will be a cheaper rival.
A new feature, although it’s nothing new in the grand scheme, is wireless charging. It’s a welcome
addition and the battery capacity is a little larger, too, at 2,915mAh. Get the new Pixel Stand and the phone will turn into a sort of smart display where you can control it with your voice or handy on-screen icons. It costs £69 from fave.co/2RDX8sL.
Active Edge remains too, so you can squeeze the phone to trigger various actions like the Google Assistant or opening the camera.
It’s no surprise that the phones come with Android 9.0 Pie, although they’re not the first to market with the latest version – see our review of the Sony Xperia XZ3 on page 18.
The main change here is that you’ll have to get used to gestures for navigation that are akin to the iPhone XS. Swipe up and you’ll get your app draw, swipe and hold and you’ll get recent apps where
you can close them with throwing them satisfyingly off the top of the display. You can’t switch the old navigation buttons on, even if you want them, which is a shame. Otherwise, you get the same pure Google experience with the Google Assistant a swipe away from the home screen and, of course, no bloatware. Chris Martin
Specifications
• 5.5in (2,880x1,440; 443ppi) P-OLED capacitive touchscreen • Android 9.0 Pie • Qualcomm SDM845 Snapdragon 845 (10nm) processor • Octa-core (4x 2.5GHz Kryo 385 Gold, 4x 1.6GHz Kryo 385 Silver) CPU • Adreno 630 GPU • 4GB RAM • 64/128GB storage • 12.2Mp rear-facing camera: f/1.8, 28mm (wide), 1/2.55in, 1.4μm, OIS, dual pixel PDAF • Dual front-facing cameras: 8Mp, f/1.8, 28mm (wide), PDAF; 8Mp, f/2.2, 19mm (ultra wide), no AF • 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi • Bluetooth 5.0 • A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO • NFC • Fingerprint sensor (rear mounted) • USB 3.1, Type-C 1.0 reversible connector • Non-removable 2,915mAh lithium-ion battery • 145.6x68.2x7.9mm • 148g