I've seen a lot of mixed reviews on the Pixel 4 XL and my initial reaction and response to the offerings of the Pixel 4 XL were not warm and fuzzy. Now, from my experience of having actually owned one, it has been a great device. Googles' computational photography is once again off the charts. The facial recognition is lightning fast and the screen is beautiful. Although I DO wish I had the choice of a fingerprint scanner as a secondary means of biometric security. On the hardware and design side of things, it is superb. I've never had a device that felt so good "in hand". It just feels premium. It doesn't have the cold empty feeling of metal OR glass even though that is exactly what it is made of. It has the feel of a warmed marble tile. Smooth; and with some heft to it. The performance has been great. No stutters or lagging. The 6GB of ram is a welcome upgrade along with the 90hz display capabilities. Battery life has also been pretty good for me. Not much different than what I was getting on my Pixel 2 XL with anywhere between 4.5-6.5 hrs. of screen on time (depending on my activity). Battery life is very subjective because no 2 people use their devices the same. I have better LTE reception and clarity with no dropped calls at all so far compared to my last Pixel its no contest, the 4 outclasses it in call quality. Hands down one of the best devices available at this moment. Is it expensive? Absolutely! But, when you consider that every other manufacturer out there has their flagships at or above the same price point than the software and hardware experience the Pixel 4 XL offers wins by a landslide. Now if you HAVE to have an ULTRA-WIDE camera then obviously this isn't going to be the device for you. But, if your more concerned with color accuracy and picture quality than this is the way to go in my humble opinion.

I have been a google phone fan since before the Nexus so I was very excited to get their newest flagship, the Pixel 4 XL. I got even more excited when I got the iPhone 11 Pro Max as my work phone so this review will compare the two flagships. In the box is the phone, charger, USB C cord and a USB C to USB B adapter which is needed to transfer data from your existing phone to the Pixel. The device is beautiful, shiny black glass on the back and the OLED screen on the front. I recommend getting as case for it as the phone is slippery and slides easily on most surfaces. The Pixel feels lighter than the iPhone. It is a bit narrower which makes it easier to hold, especially if you have smaller hands. Initial setup was simple and the Pixel walks you through it. Answer a few questions and select some options, then transfer your data from your old phone, which can be done from either another android or iPhone. Using a cable to transfer data requires using the included adapter. My existing phone, an Essential PH1 also USB C, but using the charging cord didn’t work for data transfer, I had to use another cord and the included adapter. The transfer went smoothly and most of my settings and data transferred fine. The phone did have to download all of my programs from the playstore again, which took several hours. The face ID is fast and works well. It uses motion detection to begin the process as soon as your hand approaches the phone and I love that it goes right to the home screen, unlike my iPhone which requires an additional swipe after recognition. Like you may have read in other reviews and in the text at the bottom of the Face ID setup page, the phone DID unlock with my eyes closed so I’ll have to update that setting. Size wise, the Pixel is as tall as and not quite as wide as the iPhone 11. Unlike the 11, the Pixel has a bezel on the top rather than the screen going all the way up, there is no camera bump since it's in the bezel, the actual screen size is about the same minus the camera bump. It took a minute to get used to the large bezel but i've grown to like it just as I have with previous bumps. There is no longer the home and back buttons, these have been replaced with gestures which took a few days to get used to but after a few days I’m navigating like a champ. Adding to the navigation is Google's Motion Sense and allow you to just wave your hand over the phone to move forward and back, like changing music tracks. It worked as expected most of the time. You can see a little wave of color at the top of the screen moving in the direction of your hand so it would appear that the few times it didn't work may have been due to the app that was running rather than the hardware not sensing the motion. You can also use this feature to snooze and silence alarms rather than having to pick up the phone and fumble with finding the right buttons. Speaking of cameras, there are two forward facing and one selfie and there are multiple modes, Camera, Portrait, Night Sight, Video, Panorama, Photo Sphere, Slow Motion, Time Lapse, Playground which lets you put emojis and other stickers in your pictures, and Lens which uses AI to recognize what's in the frame and find it on the internet for you. You can adjust the exposure and HDR on screen before you take the shot. The phone takes great pictures in every environment. I found the unedited color does not seem as saturated as my iPhone but the sharpness of your subject is a bit cleaner. Portrait mode does a great job of separating the subject from the background. Video offers 1080 at 30 or 60 fps and 4K 30 fps (enabled via settings menu). All looked good in normal light but seemed a little grainy in low light, but all very useable. One downside, Google has stopped unlimited storage of your photos unless you opt for a compressed version of them. You can till store full quality to your Google drive until you run out of storage. You can also purchase additional storage as needed. Speaking of AI, the Pixel 4 offers live view in Google maps which overlays the directions which is really cool. Hey Google works as expected and you can access it just by saying it or you can quickly squeeze the phone and it comes right up. The OLED screen is crisp and clear and with 90hz refresh, scrolling is smooth as silk and phone apps are responsive and fast. Since this is a phone, calls sound crisp and clear, volume is good both in the earpiece and via the speaker. Callers on the other end can hear you and you sound just as if you were on a wire-line phone. One of the biggest complaints I’ve seen is the battery life. I will say my iPhone does last longer but I have been able to get through an entire day on a single charge. The phone charges quickly with the included charger and it also has wireless charging which I love. It’s charged without incident on several wireless charging pads I have and if you don't have one, I highly recommend getting one. Long gone are the days when a phone only had numbers, a send and end buttons and you only got them from your wireless carrier at a heavily subsidized price. Now it seems you almost need to mortgage the house to afford these technological achievements. When you consider the technology and how well the OS interacts with the hardware, the Pixel 4 is definitely a winner in my book. While most people will make their phone buying choice based on their existing ecosystems, the Pixel 4 holds its own on every level and I highly recommend it to everyone!

if you're a spec sheet warrior, this phone is not for you. If you want a reliable, fast, zero lag/stutter, buttery smooth, non-bootlooping, daily driver that will definitely BE THERE when you need it then I can not recommend this phone enough!! definitely worth it! p.s. not touching the camera as we all.jnow this right here is camera king... followed CLOSELY by the iPhone 11 Pro

Bought it on first day of it's release. Using it for 10 days here is my review for it. Pros: Great camera with many features. Beautiful design and display. Buttery Smooth 90hz display. and Most important Original Stock Android experience. Cons: Decent battery life. No headphone jack. No expandable storage But overall a delightful experience and thanks to best buy for making it available on it's very first day of it's release.

After reviewing multiple phones I decided to go with the Pixel, to me having a great camera and an amazing display is a must! I have owned it for a little over a month now and I love it, crisp clean photos with amazing filter options and a display worth every penny.