Customer Ratings & Reviews

This phone is blazing fast! Applications open up fast and switching between apps is smooth and quick also. The camera is probably one of the best currently out and the low light pictures I took have turned out great. I found that I really didn't miss the optical image stabilization as much as I thought I would. It simply works good. If you like to have movies and lots of music stored on your device I would suggest getting the 128gb version, although the 32gb will suite me just fine. I just have to get used to letting Google photos delete my old photos to make room. It's nice that they give you unlimited full size storage in you photos account now. Now the bad, I don't care too much for the boring design, I wish it was a little flashier. But to be honest, I will just hide it in a case anyway. I also came from using a Samsung device and I do miss the physical home button and the onscreen buttons are taking some time to get used to. All in all, this is a great phone and you won't be disappointed with it.

The Google Pixel XL phone looks ordinary and bland on the outside. The thick white front bezel resembles the famous white phones from another well known phone maker. The back of the phone is smooth except for the upper third which has a glass plate. Within the confines of the glass plate are the fingerprint reader, the rear facing camera lens, flash, and sensors. The right edge has a nicely textured power button to differentiate it from the volume up and down buttons located along the same edge. Google retains the headphone jack along the top edge for those of us who still haven’t gone totally wireless yet. The usb-c charge port and the speaker are located along the bottom edge. However, the phone’s interior hardware belies the pedestrian exterior. Inside the phone is some serious muscle: Qualcomm Snapdragon 821, 4GB of RAM, 12mp rear/8mp front-facing cameras, dual band wifi supporting 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth v4.2, and more. See the product specs for more details of what can be found under the hood. Internal storage is limited to either the 32gb, or 128gb if you are willing to pony up the extra cash. I find it disappointing that Google continues to omit the micro-sd storage on its phones. While I understand Google is encouraging us to use its Cloud, I do not feel totally comfortable having my precious memories and private digital information stored in Google's servers. Performance wise the Pixel XL is a champ. The Snapdragon 821 chip makes everything fly at lightning speed on the phone. Swipes are very fluid and responsive. Apps open nearly instantaneously. And with 4GB of RAM, the phone can handle a number of apps simultaneously without slowing down. However, I noticed that when the phone was downloading files or when the camera app was being used, the phone would get very warm. I figure the processor was generating the heat which was being dissipated through the back of the phone. Not a big deal, but something to take note of. The Google Pixel's defining feature, besides the pure android experience, is the Google Assistant, a virtual assistant that will respond to your questions and commands. I'm still experimenting and learning to use it, but in the limited time I had with it, I can tell you the Google Assistant is quite advanced and impressive. It got most of my queries correct, and I can have a conversation with it. As a sample of things I had the Assistant perform which included opening apps, dictating and sending e-mails, looking up restaurants and driving directions, and inquiring on the weather forecast. I found the camera on the phone to be very good. The camera handled outdoor daylight pictures well. Pictures are vibrant, sharp, and vivid. The HDR mode is good at balancing the exposure to control highlights and dark shadow areas. The camera also performed well indoors with low lighting. Keep in mind that the camera does not have image stabilization so when taking those indoor, low light photos, keep your hand steady to reduce motion blur. The camera's burst rate is very fast. I held the button down for burst mode for ten seconds and was able to take 90 pictures. In another trial run, I was able to take 84 photos. I am guessing from my simple testing, that the camera can take between 8-9 photos per second in burst mode. While you can use the burst mode to take action shots, this camera neither tracks the subject nor re-focuses between frames. Keep your expectations in check and don't expect dslr quality burst action shots. I briefly shot some videos, and they were also very good. The phone can shoot video in 4K. In my testing, I used the phone to browse the web, take pictures, watch some youtube videos, and listen to music with bluetooth connection. I was able to use the phone pretty much all day without needing to re-charge. Of course battery drain will be different for each user since this will be dependent on how bright you adjust the screen, whether you're downloading and watching videos, and using processor intensive apps. So if you are planning to use the phone like I do, then you should be good to go for the day with a re-charge overnight. In summary, besides the bland exterior, this is one of the best phones, if not the best one, available on the market today. Combined with the latest state-of-the-art hardware and the pure android experience, Google pulls ahead of its competition, at least for the time being. The latest Android 7.1 is a joy to use and the Google Assistant proves to be a promising addition to the Google line up which will one day be as essential as Gmail and Google Maps are today. Finally, I compiled a brief list of what I thought are the Pros/Cons of the phone: Pros +Very responsive; blazing fast +No lag opening apps +Even though it is Verizon, it is unlocked and can be used with other carriers +Headphone jack (I am glad that Google did not eliminate the headphone jack) +Effortless pairing and connection of Bluetooth v4.2 +Textured power button +Very good camera +Night Light – tints screen red to make it easier to read in dim light. Cons -Large bezel -Ordinary design -Gets warm when downloading files and using camera -No micro sd slot -Not water resistant

The Pixel XL is a great fast android smartphone that will not disappoint.. It comes with all the bells and whistles you would expect from a flagship smartphone; premium build, amazing screen, quick charging, fingerprint reader, all day battery life, and a really great camera. Google did a great job with their first smartphone. The camera is great for sure. It takes great photos in any lighting situation and while it doesn't have optical image stabilization, Google pulls some really cool software magic to make videos extremely steady. If you're looking for a phone to shoot pictures, this is the phone to get. From the software side, you get the latest and greatest android and Google really packed in some great features here. It's crazy smooth and the new Google Assistant recognizes your voice better than any other voice assistant, including Google Now. One of my favorite features on this phone is unlimited storage on Google Photos for all photos and videos taken with the phone. Google will save them at full resolution for ever. So if you don't mind all your photos being on the cloud, this saves a tone of space on hte phone. My biggest complaint about the phone is the hardware. I really think it's kind of a boring design. There wasn't any risks taken. But, it still feels great in the hand so I'll let that one slide. Overall the Pixel XL is great smartphone that works very well and takes amazing photos. Hopefully Google will continue to add more software features to this phone and continually improve the Google Assistant.

Great Camera can't be beat by any other smart phone. Stock Android is always nice and it takes out a lot of bloat ware. Simple on design. Great phone to have if your not worried about design.

Google First phone is a great, there are very few flaws on the phone and most of them have more to do with android software as a whole than anything in particular about the phone. The biggest problem the phone has is the small storage space on the phone. I recommend to anyone interested in the phone to get the 128gb version. I am not saying the 32gb is unusable but if you like to have a lot of media on your phone like videos or music you will run out of space very quickly. Photos are not that big of a deal because google lets you upload and backup at full resolution an unlimited amount of photos and videos. My only other issue with phone is the design of it. While the phone feels great to hold the actual look is rather uninspiring, most people that saw me with thought at fist it was an Iphone 6 plus. it wasn't until they saw the rear with the fingerprint scanner and partial glass backing could they tell the difference. Now on to the good, The performance of the phone is great everything is smooth and sleek and runs well. In my time with the phone so far i have not had any stuttering or freezing with any apps. The Camera on the phone is phenomenal, I have been blown away by the photos i have been able to take. The quickness that the camera app loads and can take photos is great. Google's first phone is great and it makes me excited to see what they will do in a couple of years.

It's been a nice phone. Although it's slippery so get a case right away!

First thoughts on the Pixel XL: First and foremost - this phone is fast. I have no specific speed tests, but individual pictures within Google Photos load faster than I have ever seen them before. The screen is very responsive and “zippy” - much faster than I have ever seen an Android phone perform. The screen is nice - visually comparable to the other high end offerings. Games, YouTube and Netflix are all as wonderful as you would expect and sounded very nice. The cameras were fine. I didn’t see a difference between pictures shot with the pixel as compared to other similar phone offerings. Also as expected, the Pixel is very Google App (G-Suite) centric. Certainly not a problem for me as most of my life revolves around Google technology. My negatives on the phone are few. 1) I hate the stock keyboard. I found the keys too close together, even on the XL 2) I am not sure I’ll ever get used to the home button / fingerprint sensor on the back of the device. I have not yet tried the Pixel XL with a case, but have to believe dealing with a cutout will be annoying. 3) Aesthetically, the phone is “blah.” It looks like a dulled down version of every other smartphone available today. In summary - if you are looking for an Android based device, this would be my first choice. I look forward to the future of the Pixel.

Did a lot of research of the phone, liked the reviews. But when I got the phone itself I felt the design was poor. Going from iPhone to Pixel, thought it was a very more high tech phone. If your an iPhone lover, stick to the iPhone.