Customer Ratings & Reviews

Phone works great. Only drawback was Verizon not allowing bestbuy to activate the unlocked phone on day of release. I could do it if I upgraded to an unlimited plan.. but just a ploy for Verizon to get more money. Bestbuy service was too notch and would very much recommend going there for a phone. The pixel 4xl takes amazing dark light pictures.. better than any other phone which is why I purchased it.

Overall I like the device. The camera is pretty great (my friends are more impressed with it than I am) but is very clear and vibrant. The processor is still a bit slow to me (upgrade from 3XL); mine lags when using the app switcher or moving from one screen to the next. It feels nice to hold. The edging is matte-like so the grip feels nice without feeling like it will slip out of your hand. Still recommend a case. The gesturing is something to get used to as the active edge is very responsive but susceptible to unintended input. The face recognition works great but could use improvement on the accuracy/speed as it tends to lag if the unlock sequence is done to many times in a row (example: you look away then go back just after the device locks.

First off let me say I jumped from a pixel (1) to this guy so it was quite a change. I really hate how there is no back button on the screen like the original because I constantly trigger the back feature while trying to do other things by moving my hand a certain way. Also there's no headphone jack, so there's that. But I do like it overall.

This is a a great phone for you Android die hards out there, but it really is just a small update from the pixel 3. The soli radar stuff is cool, but for me gimicky. It feels better than the last pixel, but on the xl the battery doesn't seem to cut it. Get it if you already love the pixel, but you can get another phone for the same price if not cheaper.

Google’s new Pixel 4 XL smartphone has many things to like, but also some disappointments. Other flagship phones that the Pixel 4 specifications, performance and user experience will likely be compared against are the Samsung Galaxy S10+, and the Apple iPhone 11 Pro. The Pixel 3 is now one year old and the Pixel 4 improves on it. The Pixel 4 is certainly competitive with other flagship phones, but it is also not equal or superior to other phones in some important ways. Google’s phones are the only phones to get the latest Android updates as soon as they are available, and that has been the compelling motivation for many Pixel buyers. The Pixel 4 and 4 XL arrive with Android 10, for a pure, unadulterated Android experience. Samsung owners are still using Android 9 (Pie), and some other phones are still running Android 8 (Oreo). Google assures that the Pixel 4 will receive all OS updates and security patches for three years; however, I believe that expensive, high-end smartphones should be supported for longer than just three years. For those people who have a compelling interest in a pure Android experience, coupled with the most rapid delivery of Android updates, and who are satisfied with three years of updates, the Pixel is the phone of choice. The hardware specifications are good, but regrettably are not the best available. Considering the price of the Pixel models, Google should not have economized on the hardware. The Snapdragon 855 CPU is very fast and powerful, but the 855+ is more so. The Pixel 4 has 6 GB of RAM, but at this level, it should have 8 GB like other flagship phones. The base storage memory is only 64 GB, unless you spend more for 128 GB. In either case, the memory is not expandable, while many other phones accept SD cards and are expandable up to 2 TB. Google is no longer furnishing the previously provided original quality photo storage to Pixel 4 owners. That benefit helped to mitigate the limited, non-expandable storage limitation of Pixel phones. To have only 64 GB of non-expandable storage, and no other original quality photo storage alternative is highly problematic. It is ill-advised to have a great camera but only the absolute bare minimum of on-board storage capacity for those great photos. The on-board storage is already about 27% consumed, by the system and just a handful of typical apps. The phone is very fast, experiences no lags , and the high resolution OLED display is super-fast, undoubtedly benefiting from the 90 Hz variable refresh rate display (Smooth Display). The color rendition is excellent. The screen is bright enough indoors, but suffers badly in sunlight, more so than Samsung and iPhone which have substantially brighter screens. There is no notch, but instead the top of the screen is a large, full width black band concealing cameras and sensors. Google replaced fingerprint security with facial recognition security. The cameras and sensors include two IR facial recognition cameras, a face unlock dot projector, an IR illuminator and a Project Soli Radar chip. The Face Unlock feature is very fast and largely reliable so far, but it will unlock the phone even if your eyes are closed (unlike Apple Face ID). Some apps which work with fingerprint validation, may not work with facial recognition as yet due to lacking the necessary API. Face Unlock works with glasses (not dark sunglasses). Since it uses IR rather than visible light spectrum, it works fine in dark rooms, as well. Although Face Unlock is remarkably fast and convenient, it simply is not as secure as a password or PIN. The Motion Sense (project Soli) radar sensor detects your hand reaching for the phone, turns on the display and activates the Face Unlock cameras, so by the time you focus on the screen, the phone is unlocked and available to use. The Motion Sense accommodates air-gestures for some functions, without actually touching the phone. So far, this has worked fairly reliably, but there just aren’t that many functions that can be controlled with air-gestures. Google touts the cameras and imaging software enhancements on the Pixel 4, and the photography performance is really impressive. The rear telephoto lens (Super Res Zoom) results in outstanding shots with 2x optical and 8x interpolated zoom. But, there are no ultra-wide-angle lenses, rear or front, as the competitors have. Color rendition and white balance appear very accurate. Google has done great things with the software that supports photography, and provides on-screen sliders for adjusting exposure prior to taking the photo. Adjusting exposure brightness and shadows is a great tool and enhancement. Live-HDR software provides a preview of the photo, before you commit to the shot. Night photography (Night Sight) is also superior, and delivers remarkable photos instead of the typical low quality photos that many other phones produce in low light. Astrophotography Mode has not been explored due to urban light pollution, but without a wide-angle lens, that feature is potentially less spectacular than it could be. Video production is hampered by the 30 fps at 4k spec, rather than the 60 fps at 4k that competing phones produce. That deficiency seems inexplicable on this level of phone. Overall, the phone is aesthetically very nice. It is sleek and predominantly comprised of nice polished glass. I don’t particularly care for the large, square, bumped out camera area on the back of the phone, but it is less obvious on the black phone. (I don’t like it on the iPhone, either). This black phone has a polished Gorilla Glass 5 back, but the white and orange phones have matte finish backs. The white plastic power button on the side is the only detraction, as it does not compliment a high-end smartphone (the white phone has a pastel orange colored plastic button). The sides of the phone are a matte black aluminum frame providing a good hand-grip. There is no headphone jack, nor is there a USB-C dongle included. The audio speakers sound very good without distortion. The Pixel 4 appears to consume a lot of power, likely owing to the additional drain of the radar and face unlock features (which are always on), and the 90 Hz refresh rate screen (which reverts to 60 Hz when the faster rate is not needed), as well as all of the other typical operations. Live-Caption is another battery-drain, but I turn it on only when desired to reduce battery drain. Recorder, which has many practical applications, performs real-time transcription as it records speech, and it does so onboard, rather than in the cloud. Google put relatively small batteries in the Pixel 4, which was one of the reasons for selecting the 4 XL, which has a larger 3700 mAh battery than the 2800 mAh battery in the smaller phone. I’m hoping for decent time between charges. However, the Pixel 4 had only about 25% residual charge compared to over 75% battery on another phone which had been simultaneously fully charged. Hopefully that battery utilization will be adaptive as the phone adjusts to usage patterns and application demands. The Pixel 4 is a complex device with a robust feature set, some of which might not be intuitive to some users. Other smartphone manufacturers produce a downloadable User Guide (PDF for all but Apple which uses Apple Books). Google instead, provides us with user help links and some hints (phone based). Some provide adequate information, some do not. I would find a downloadable manual to be useful and helpful. I am spending far too much time searching Google for operating guidance. Wi-Fi performance is excellent, and comparable to my other phones. Voice call quality is good. The speaker phone is fine, but the ear-transducer delivers relatively low volume, even with the Volume setting at maximum amplitude. It is acceptable in a quiet environment, but difficult to hear in outdoor and noisy environments. Whether this is a design issue, or a defect in my phone is unknown. Cellular network performance is not bad, but I am observing about a 10-20 dBm difference from another phone on the same network in side-by-side comparison. I therefore surmise that the Pixel 4 RF receiver has lower sensitivity than the comparison phone. This is suggestive of the potential of experiencing service problems, including dropped calls in low signal areas. The new flagship Pixel 4 is demonstrative of brilliant software development and a sound implementation, with powerful AI and HDR. The still photography capabilities are potentially best-of-breed. But, the Pixel 4 is not capable of 4k video at 60 fps, like its competitors. Google shouldn’t economize on the hardware platform, particularly at these price levels. It should have 8 GB of RAM, and very importantly, it absolutely needs SD card expandable storage to support 2 TB. It has an outstanding display, but at only 444 nits, viewing suffers severely in daylight and especially in bright sun. It should have a wide-angle lens in addition to the great telephoto lens. The chassis needs to be filled with the largest capacity battery that the form factor will support, and there really should be downloadable documentation to fully support the user experience. Google should fully support the Pixel 4 for more than three short years. The sophisticated features like Motion Sense, Face Unlock, Night Sight, Live HDR, on-board processed captions and transcription all are very impressive. However, overcoming the shortcomings which include non-expandable storage, low capacity battery, lack of RAM, lack of ultra-wide angle camera, etc. is problematic. As I said earlier, the Pixel 4 XL is truly a very nice phone overall which has both compelling strengths and some weaknesses. I am presently enjoying the phone and I do offer a favorable recommendation, especially for users who crave a great camera and a pure, stock-Android experience, which is enhanced with powerful AI and HDR capabilities.

Camera is amazing! Phone runs smoother with all the new updates

Upgraded from the 2xl, was worth every penny. Fluid, better screen, camera, etc etc

Easy to use. Great camera. Cool features. Just a little pricey.

Speed and easy to use. The camera is so good and night shoot is wonderful.

Great phone. Takes beautiful pics. Easy to use. Very fast. Love it!

This phone is solid. I'm a hardcore Android fan that roots. Motion Sense is a little gimmicky but otherwise this phone is everything I was hoping for. Face Unlock is great but took a slight adjustment coming from the fingerprint sensor. Initially I missed it but quickly adapted. The phone is fast and smooth. The battery lasts me all day. You won't regret your purchase.

Camera best in a smartphone, excellent battery, after 1 day use. Unplugged from charger 0700 and at 2330 placed on charger with still 52% charge. It is expensive so you have to weigh the benefits (instant updates, unlimited storage). So far I am very happy.

Phone and camera are amazing, battery is okay so far

I read a lot of reviews and most did not make it sound like this phone was a good buy (& especially complained about abysmal battery life), but the price on this phone has come down so I decided "what the heck". Overall, the phone suits my purposes & I have no real complaints. The battery life can last me most of a day, depending on usage. Some days I don't need to charge it until bedtime, others need a few minutes of charge here and there; but I have chargers everywhere (work, truck, living room, night stand, etc), so a few minutes on a wireless charging pad here and there doesn't bother me- and it's nothing I haven't been doing anyway with previous phones. I half expected more from the camera, based upon all of the reviews about how awesome the camera is... That's not a complaint about the phone tho, it does take some good pictures - it just was crazy hyped I guess. One thing they did fix is the facial recognition to allow you to turn on/off unlocking with your eyes closed. So, all the hysterics in reviews about unlocking with your eyes closed are mute

An upgrade from the Google pixel 2XL. I love the Google cameras and the format of the phone. One big difference that is taking some getting used to is there are no more buttons on the bottom of the screen. It's similar to how an iPhone works as far as the multi screen button and going back, you have to swipe now

GREAT DISPLAY. GREAT PICTURES.GREAT PROFORMENCE. GP4 IS THE WAY TO GO.

Way better than the pixel 3. Camera is better and has a better design

Google seems to have a group in the Pixel team with a cripple hammer. They'd build an excellent phone and then the team comes in to cripple it. This time, they did it by putting in a smaller battery in a phone with a top tier price. The phone becomes worth the price on the hefty discount I got it at.

Don't believe all the negatives this phone is a beast! Battery live has been very good and only getting better by the day. This thing has something called adaptive battery it learns you usage and optimizes. And the camera is above all others I taking long-distance shots. If you want Android phone it just works the way it's supposed to then this is for you.

overall solid phone. 90hz screen is amazing. battery life is average. bluetooth has good connectivity. doesnt have the best snapdragon processor and has only 6gig ram but Android is streamlined on the pixel to make everything more efficient and quicker. easily best camera on the market right now especially with the software from Google.