Customer Ratings & Reviews

I’ve always been hesitant to own an Android phone due to being overwhelmed by the operating system and navigating my way through it. I can genuinely say that the Google Pixel is user-friendly and performs far better than I had imagined. There’s a learning curve to the Pixel it’s not overwhelming. It didn’t take long to adjust to the fact that there’s no physical home button but instead, there’s a virtual one on the screen that appears no matter what app is opened when you double tap the screen. Having no physical home button would allow the phone to utilize more screen space but for some reason, there’s an empty spot where the tactile button would have been. This isn’t a deal breaker, just an observation. Where other smartphones require a thumb scan (usually in the location of the home button) the Pixel has a finger scanner on the back of the phone which wakes up the phone when you naturally cradle it in your hand. The Google Pixel runs on the latest Nougat operating system which I can definitely say it competes with other phone systems. Google Chrome, Google +, Google Photos, Gmail and Google Drive can all be synced to the Google Pixel making it a more of a powerhouse than it already it is. Customizing the phone is SMOOTH! Wallpaper, ringtones etc can be adjusted to your needs and wants. The HD wallpapers look STUNNING on the rich display. The voice recognition is incredible! Once I started using Google Assistant, I couldn’t stop using the voice capabilities! Rarely were my voice commands not understood. Now let’s talk about one of the most important applications which is the camera. The 12.3 MP camera is fast and has built in features that I haven’t seen on other smartphones like Sphere Mode and Photo Blur. Trust me; these are just a couple of fun photo features that can be played with. The camera does a great job with low light pictures. I did notice that sometimes in daytime photos, colors like red or green and be oversaturated but this was a rare occurrence. Here’s another fun feature; when you want to take a selfie with the camera app opened, you simply flick your wrist and the front facing camera is activated. Games such as Real Racing 3 and Angry Birds 2 load fast and look beautiful on this device. With all that said, I have to admit that there are some negatives to the phone but only a few. The Google Pixel isn’t water resistant which would’ve been nice to have. In my opinion, the Google Pixel feels too light in the hand. It almost floats as it were but this issue can be easily remedied with a phone case on it. Finally, stereo speakers would’ve been a really nice finish. At the end of the day, the Google Pixel XL is definitely an option for those that don’t feel comfortable with an iPhone or other brands. In fact, the Google Pixel XL might draw envy from other people.

If you are a fan of Google's (not Android in general) utilitarian style, then you will love this phone. I prefer a little more dressing on my phone however. The look of the phone is a bit boxy with no curved glass. It has a big white bezel that has no function on the bottom of the phone. There is no actual home button or touch features on the bezel, so it seems to be a bit of wasted space. On the other hand, it makes it easier to pick up the phone without accidentally hitting buttons. The fingerprint sensor works well, but it is on the back of the phone which takes a little getting used to and means you have to pick up the phone to use the fingerprint to unlock it. The screen looks beautiful with rich colors and sharp images. One odd thing I noticed is that when viewing pictures, it doesn't seem like it zooms in as close as other phones I've had. It pretty much stops zooming before the image starts to look degraded. Not a big deal I guess. The camera takes some stunning pictures, especially portraits. It has a lens blur feature that automatically blurs the background and makes the subject of the photo stand out better than any phone camera I've used. I love that feature. It also has a Photo Sphere feature that lets you take a series of pictures to create a 360 degree image. It's the next best thing to having a 360 degree camera. If you like to manually adjust settings to shoot like a pro, you're out of luck though. This camera is made for those that like to just point and shoot and get a really good picture without the work. The user interface is all Google. It's very sparse. I couldn't even figure out how to rearrange apps or create app folders except for on the home page. I prefer to have a clean home page with apps neatly arranged on an app page. That doesn't seem possible here, or if it is, it is not intuitive. There is no expandable storage for this phone, which means you can run out of room fast. You do get unlimited storage of pictures in the cloud, but who knows when/if you will have to start paying for that service. The battery life seems to be excellent and it really does charge up to 70% very quickly. Overall, I'd say this is a well made phone. If you like bells and whistles, you might want something different. If you like stripped down, no nonsense features that work well then you'll like this phone.

The new Pixel XL smartphone by Google sets the bar in the Android market and excels in most areas with a few exceptions. Not only do the specs and hardware Google used to create their new smartphone speak for itself, the performance is noticeable from the moment you begin to use the device due to the quad-core processor speed combined with the LPDDR4 RAM. The larger 5.5 inch screen ergonomically fit my hand and worked great with the backside fingerprint reader. For those of you hesitant to go big, after using it a few days I have no regrets and will go with the bigger screen in the future as well. The aesthetics and screen are stunning and the 12.3 MP main camera absolutely lives up to the hype with sharp, colorful pictures and 1080P video even in low light. I have gone over 24 hours of moderate usage without having to charge my battery and the battery charges relatively fast when using the provided charger and USB-C cables. Another great function of the phone and it's OS is Google Assistant which I recently used on several occasions while traveling and looking for something to do or somewhere to eat. Some room for improvement are the lack of a SD card slot and that it's not waterproof. Even with those exceptions, I still believe the Pixel XL deserves a 5/5 star rating and have already recommended it to several people in the market for a new phone.

OK, I ran this phone through its paces over the last 24 hours doing everything I would normally do with my iPhone, and while I'm impressed with it as an Android phone it is not better than the iPhone 6 that it replaced and certainly not better than the 6S or the new iPhone 7. I'm going to walk that statement back for one thing. Speed. This phone is incredibly fast. Apps open in a blink of an eye and close down just as fast. I was quite impressed with that feature. Google is touting this a a great photo device but after doing some pixel-peeping (see what I did there) and some A-B comparisons of shots taken with the Pixel and the iPhone 6, the iPhones still produce a nicer shot. The color in the iPhone shots is brighter and they just have more pop! That being said I have not played with any of the shots in a photo editor because I wanted to see what they would be like right off the sensor. Speaking of editors though, I will say that the editing tools that Google baked right into their Photo app are really very good and I could have probably made the photos looks as good as the iPhone ones but again, the iPhone shots were really pretty good as they were. In the pictures below you can see the phone and all of its accessories as they were right when I opened the box. On the left you have the guidebooks and the phone in its wrapping. On the rights was a disconcerting array of cables and adaptors. On the top right you have the charging brick which only accepts a USB-C plug (ugh, now I need Lightning, micro-USB, and USB-C cables? Seriously?!). Below that is the USB-C to USB-C cable for use with the aforementioned brick. In the area to the left under where the phone was is a USB to USB-C cable to plug your phone into a normal brick, charging station, or computer. Above that in the little cubby above is a USB to USB-C adaptor primarily to be used to transfer data from an iPhone to the Pixel. I appreciate that Google is trying to take market share from Apple and to make it a bit easier to get your data from one device to another (heck Apple has been doing that for years with their computers to great effect), but it did not work out as nice as I would have liked. After connecting the two devices together, I had to log in to a website on the iPhone's browser and select the info to transfer. In the interest of time I just did the basics and did not try to move my huge photo or music libraries but stuck with the basic data to make the phone usable. While much of that data come over without a problem, some data came over weird and jumbled. The data that did come over easily is all of my Gmail and other Google app data which I kind of expected since Google does a nice job within their own ecosystem. I do have to say another couple of things that I like about the Pixel. The screen is big, beautiful, and bright and may even edge out the iPhone though I would have to put them at the same brightness settings a such to make a true comparison. Also, I like the fingerprint sensor on the back of the phone and how it immediately opens up the phone without a press. Just being able to rest my index finger where it would normally land anyway and having the phone pop on is nice and definitely helps this phone feel a bit more 'snappy' in its usage. OK, almost done with this review but I can't end without saying something about the battery and the call quality... wait, this is a phone and I'm actually going to have to talk to someone on it? The battery life is very good and gave me a full days worth of pretty heavy usage though I did not do any streaming of video or music since I never really do that anyway. Mostly, it was heavy internet surfing, photo use, and calling. Speaking of calling, I don't know what it is but the calls didn't sound as clear as they do on my iPhone. I'm using the Pixel in all the same places that I used my iPhone and even swapped the SIM card back into my iPhone to check and the Pixel sounded a bit hollow and distant. Not sure what that is about. I could still hear the other person but they sounded like they were talking into their phone from a distance unlike when I talked to them with my iPhone. So, final word. If you are deep in the Android ecosystem, then this is a great phone for you. It is fast and will do everything that you are used to doing very well. If you are in the Apple ecosystem, get an iPhone 7 or heck, even a 6S if you want to save some money. This is not the iPhone killer Google wanted but it is a solid phone and it will do a very good job for you no matter your OS allegiance.

This review is for Google Pixel XL Very Silver, Verizon version. I want to start by saying that this phone has very simple yet, practical design. But don't let this trick you, the finishing on this phone is beyond phenomenal . it feels very elegant when holding it in your hand, its not slippery, and you won't see fingerprint smudges all over it after use. the package of this phone has all your needs except for a headphone (but Thankfully the phone still has a headphone jack!!). - the charger of this phone come with 5 V, 3.0 Amp output, this charger will make a huge difference in speed charging this phone. it has a USB type C input, and comes with a USB type C cable on both ends. Also, included in the box a standard USB to USB type C cable, A dongle with Standard USB input and USB type C output to help you transfer the contents of your old android phone to your new Google Pixel phone. also, the package contains a complimentary free 3 months subscription to Google play music and ad-free videos with Youtube Red, the phone has 5.5 inch screen which is super responsive, dual speaker, fingerprint security, and a Snapdragon 821 processor, and off course the latest Android 7.1 version with Google assistant. i have been playing with the phone for about 10 hours now and it is AMAZING! setting up the phone was a breeze, and Google Assistant is actually very interesting and helpful. the phone was able to connect to my 65 inch 4K smart TV withing seconds and I was able to cast all kinds of content directly from my phone. all in all this phone is all I need for now, and I also can't wait to get a chance to try out the Daydream VR. a final note: although the phone was a Verizon only phone, fortunately enough, there was absolutely no junk-ware installed on the device.

After pre ordering the Black model with best buy and it being delayed I was quite disappointed, however my local store had the Silver/White model in stock on launch day and while my heart was originally set on the black I was somewhat glad my pre order was delayed as it gave me an opportunity to see the white in person which I wound up liking more. The camera is phenomenal on this device and battery life is one of the best I've experienced on an Android device. The fingerprint reader is fast and effecient and the the gestures you can do with it are quite convenient. The Pixel Launcher is very smooth and for the first time I don't find myself needing to download a third party launcher . Google Assistant is a lot of fun to utilize. Their is really nothing negative I can say about my time with this phone. The screen is gorgeous and the phone feels smaller in the hand than it really should for a screen this size.

Replaced my Note with this phone. Faster, easier and not as bloated as the Samsung phone. Doesn't work on my wireless charger, but that is the only thing I have found not compatible. Nice big screen, love the fingerprint opener.

Coming from a Galaxy S5 this phone is a much needed improvement at a reasonable cost. Like the screen size, speed, and camera. Photos saved to Gmail account is a nice feature.

I got my Pixel XL a month ago and I say I love it. First of you can get pure android without any bloatware from either provider of manufacturer of your choice. Second of all you can get the most recent version of Android OS in my case is was Oreo as well I was able to get recent update 8.1 pretty fast. I never use big screen. All my previous smart phone had screen size 5". But I found that 5.5" is not that big and you can easily adopt to use it. Highly recomend it to Android fans.

When I purchased my new phone I was leaving Samsung. Prior to this phone I had a Samsung Galaxy. I was nervous leaving what I knew how to use... but I couldn't be happier with my Google Pixel phone. The Verizon sales associate at Best Buy was very helpful answering my questions and letting me know that it wouldn't be very difficult getting familiar with the Gogle pixel and he was right. I love my phone it's super easy to understand and it does not come pre-loaded with a bunch of apps which was really important to me. The widgets are easy to load and I can customize my screens just like the Samsung. It's light and the screen is large and the camera is great. I would definitely recommend this phone!

Pixel XL is a top-notch phone that is a joy to use, it feels like Google is mostly playing catch-up with their competitors rather than innovating a must-have device.

The packaging is neat, it includes actually two type c usb 3.0 cables and one adapter (so you can transfer all your old phone settings and data connecting the two phones). I was able to setup the phone within less than 10 minutes of receiving it that way (older android phone to this one, I read you could also transfer from an iphone to this one downloading an ios app from google for this purpose). The phone is thin and sleek, a metal unibody and the glass camera cover portion didn't bother me as much as I thought. I must say this is the most quick and snappy android phone I ever used. No classic android lag at all. Its very polished and I'm loving the new Pixel launcher. The screen is gorgeous and I got zero defects. By the way, for anyone wondering, the phone is indeed carrier unlocked. Its a Verizon one, but you can pop in any sim card and it will work. I tried a tmobile one and all worked fine, so If you travel a lot like me, you can pop in a sim card of whatever country you are in (granted it supports the bands in such country). I'll point some pros and cons. Pros: -Perfect size, not as humongous as my previous nexus 6 but large enough to be considered a phablet. -Gorgeous quad hd screen. -Superfast charging with the included charger. -So far have been installing and restoring several apps and I have not gone down less than 50% battery, so battery life is very good. -Great call quality, tried a couple of phone calls and was crisp clear. -Finally a Google phone with a notification light! (none on my nexus 6). -It has a earphone plug! (I'm glad they didn't follow apple on this). -SIM unlocked. Cons: -No stereo front facing speakers, this should be the norm these days. -Average visibility on sunlight (its an super amoled screen, so all of them suffer this). -No SD card slot.

I have always been a Samsung phone guy but decided to try the Pixel xl. Wasn't sure that I would be happy with such a big phone, but now I don't think I will ever go back to a small one. The camera is amazing and the screen is very sharp.

Awesome phone but came with an external speaker issue. Volume won't increase past a whisper. I have been told they are working on a fix. Blazing fast phone, beautiful screen and perfect size. Shame the speaker prevented a 5 star rating.

Pictures from this phone are phenomenal. Learning to use it was easier than expected, although there are still things I have not figured how to complete. The XL is larger and therefore heavier but I don't make as many typing mistakes b/c the letters are spaced better than most phones. Would recommend this to others and would purchase same product again.

The Pixel XL by Google is a performance champ. In my 48 hours with the phone I've only had two instances of freezing or lag, both issues I believe where within the apps themselves and not the system software. Swiping through menus and loading apps is nearly instantenous and the new double tap recents to switch apps is quite handy. The XL also has enough screen real estate to make the split screen function useful rather than a novelty. The screen is nice, providing good color, and the pictures are gorgeous. I appreciated the double press power key option for quick launch, and while I didn't really use it, the wrist flick to switch between cameras is also pretty neat. The camera did have a rare auto focusing issue once, but it resolved itself after I panned away and then back again. Setup from my existing device was seamless and painless. Two USB cables are included, one for charging the phone; which is type c to type c and the other for the transfer; which is traditional type c to usb. I had a couple other type c to usb cables as well and all of them worked without issue, just be aware that you'll have to use a different wall adapter since the offical one only accepts a type c input. Speaking of which, that's the only charger I've tested so far that will get the phone to say it's charging rapidly. Battery life has been pretty strong so far, easily making it through the day with some juice left at night, so fast charging hasn't been an issue thus far. Screen mirroring via Chromecast was very smooth with no perceived lag. The fingerprint scanner rests on the back of the phone and is pretty easy to find with your index finger. It's very accurate and there is not a delay in unlocking the phone. A nice touch is that you can enable it and use it sort of like a back touch screen so you can pull the notification shade down a little faster than reaching with your thumb. The phone itself is a little plain with a 'me too' kind of feel. There isnt much that separates it visually from a moto g4 headon, however the aesthetic isn't offensive. Niether ugly, bold, or iconic, it's just kind of there. It's incredibly safe, and there's nothing wrong with that. It's not heavy to hold and had a satisfying weight to it. But it may not be for everyone's taste. I did have one issue with the data transfer I mentioned earlier, my wifi passwords did not sync. Having setup a few devices this year it was strange that this was the first time this happened to me but it did give me the chance to try out the built in tech support. If you go to settings support, there is always a swipe left away and to call 24/7 or chat during the day. I chose the chat option and was receiving help within 5 minutes. Unfortunately there was no way to restore the passwords without a reset and being short on time I elected to just enter the passwords in as needed instead. The system software is cool if you're into the google services. The google search app is on the left most screen, allowing me to quickly get access to weather and news at a glance and on the go and there are recent apps at the top and has a search option to keep things moving quickly. The Google Assistant is awesome. You can adjust any setting on your phone via voice, play a game with the feeling lucky command, and generally get things done with less fuss just by saying "okay google." This is especially helpful when you've forgotten or can't find a setting. It just really adds a degree of convenience to the experience that makes you wonder why it wasn't always there, however at the outset you will have to remind yourself that the option exists since it kind of fades into the background. And that's kind of a good way to describe the phone as a whole. A powerful piece of tech that seamlessly blends with your lifestyle; sometimes to the point that you forget about the device itself and focus on living and doing and using. There may be other phones with slightly better screens, subjectively better cameras, more ergonomic or striking desgins, but I have yet to find a phone that outperforms the Pixel. And honestly it comes down to what means more to you: performance or beauty. I wholeheartedly recommend anyone to try the phone out for themselves. It's not really a phone that's going to wow you in a quick demo (outside of its camera) but after really using it you'll notice a night and day difference between a phone that really gets out of your way, allows you to live your life, without a right in your face approach, but is there when you need it. This Google Pixel XL phone is a performance champ that I'm rating 4.8 stars out of 5.

The Pixel and Pixel XL are being celebrated in the media as great alternatives to the iPhone and to the exploding Samsung Galaxy Note 7’s - but since I have never owned an iPhone or a Galaxy, I can only react to my new Pixel XL as it works for me. Setup for my Pixel XL was very simple and straightforward. And the phone updated itself completely using my wifi as soon as I had entered my basic information. The Android on the phone runs faster than I’ve seen Android work on any device before. The hardware handles the interface with no problems - all the applications I have used load immediately and quit immediately. And that shouldn’t be a surprise since Google designed both the phone (with help from HTC) and the software. The fingerprint detection/unlock mechanism was very easy to setup and is extremely fast. I scanned four different fingers during setup and the phone unlocks immediately as soon as I touch the sensor in any direction using those fingers - the reading and reaction are instantaneous. The much anticipated camera is remarkable. The sensor was made by Sony and the device depends heavily on AI (in some cases combined cleverly with multiple camera shots) to generate very sharp pictures. It takes good pictures in low-light (I mean LOW-light) - and in normal lighting the pictures are outstanding. From what I’ve read, the Pixels even use AI to produce stabilized pictures as opposed to using the optical image stabilization algorithms used in most other phones and cameras. The camera is capable of taking video in 4K but I lowered my default setting to 1080 x 30 so the videos would take up less space - but it’s cool that the camera is capable of taking 4K videos. The camera also sports a few specialty modes: slow motion, panorama, photo sphere, and background blur. If you’re interested in macro shots, the camera will focus as close as about 2” away from your subject. My specific phone was made for distribution through Verizon (my service is through Verizon). But the Pixel and Pixel XL phones are all unlocked (even mine, I believe) and can be used with any contract or pre-paid service provided you have your own SIM card. My Pixel XL has a higher-resolution display (2,560 x 1,440) than the smaller Pixel (1,920 x 1,080 ) - it is bright and very clear (and exceeds the resolution of the latest iPhone 7!). But it’s big. I like the size of my Pixel XL, though - I have kinda big hands and the phone fits comfortably in my palm in a way that positions my index and middle fingers right under the fingerprint sensor. It has a slim profile but feels well made and not flimsy or breakable. The Pixels sport a rapid charging feature that has worked well for me so far. While a full charge (from dead) takes several hours, Google is advertising that the phones will charge enough for 7 hours of use in 15 minutes - I’ve been getting by with short daily charges with no problem. The Pixels also have a Google Assistant feature that I have only used a few times - it’s like a Google version of an Amazon Alexa (or a smarter version of Apple’s Siri) - the phone wakes up and goes into verbal assistance mode by just speaking “Ok Google” into it and telling it what you want. I haven’t seen this feature on any other Android device. It’s really slick - it trained on my voice during phone setup and will only wakeup the phone with my voice. Tell it to set a timer. Tell it to lookup something. Ask it about the weather. Get directions. Yeah…I know that sounds kinda pedestrian but you really need to see the feature in action - it really is slick. I know I used a lot of superlatives in the review above but I’m genuinely delighted with my new Pixel XL.

This is a great phone for Google. It has a super great camera and nice screen. It is an excellent Google phone

I got this phone because it was the newest google phone available at that time. I didnt have time to read reviews and research the best phones like i usually do. I was told by the bestbuy employees it was a popular phone and I should be happy with it. They were right! Great phone. It has a larger sceen then im used but its easy to hold. Alot of great features on this device.

Awesome phone if you use Google apps and accounts. I love the large screen of the xl. My only gripe is that there is only one external speaker on bottom left. It gets covered by my hand constantly.