Google’s Pixel phones always seem to top our lists. My colleague Lauren Goode loved the Pixel 3. It was our favorite Android phone last year. Its cheaper sibling, the Pixel 3A tops our list of the best Android phones this year. That’s why I was excited to get “Googley” with a new Pixel 4 this past week.
And so I did. I got Googley. Super Googley. I tried the larger 6.3-inch XL version in Oh So Orange (the standard, non-XL version has a 5.7-inch screen) and came back with a familiar answer for a Pixel review: I like it a lot. The camera is fantastic. The processor is fast. It has some great new native apps and (subtle) features. And it has the one thing that really makes a Pixel stand out: While owners of other phones may have to wait for them, you get Android software updates as soon as they’re available, directly from Google.
Google designs a new version of its Android operating system each year, and the Pixels are among a handful of devices that get it as soon as it’s released—along with some OnePlus and Nokia models here in the United States. Other handsets get it months later, if ever. Security updates often flow to the Pixel handsets earlier as well.
It’s a low bar, but by simply doing its job, Google wins a lot of points from reviewers like me and tech-savvy people like you. It keeps its device secure and up to date. So when problems come up, like reviewers complaining that the phone’s new face-unlock feature works with your eyes closed, Google can just say that it will issue an update to fix the problem. I’m sure it will.
Both sizes of Pixel 4 come in three colors: Oh So Orange, Clearly White, and Just Black.
Photograph: Google
A Little Face Time
Aside from apparently unlocking when I’m asleep, the Pixel 4’s face-unlocking feature is the best copy of the iPhone’s Face ID I’ve seen. You raise your phone up to look at the screen, and it unlocks almost instantly. And Google knows its tech is good. Instead of relying on a fingerprint sensor as a backup, Google went the same route as Apple, removing the fingerprint reader and going all-in on face scanning. There is no other way to unlock this phone, aside from a PIN. (A PIN isn’t actually a bad way to go if you can handle the minor inconvenience. For whatever reason, I just can’t.)
Also gone is the notch cutout that used to be on the top of the Pixel’s gorgeous OLED display. Instead, it has a large bezel at the top of the display (the only area on the face with a bezel) that’s loaded with a selfie camera and several other sensors that you can’t really see unless you shine a flashlight on them. One of the sensors is a miniature radar device that can detect when your hand is reaching for the phone so it knows to prepare to scan your face. Together, they authenticate your face locally without sending your mug—or any other data—to Google’s vast cloud.
Your face data is stored in a special chip that you just know is secure, because it has a strong name: the Titan M security chip. Titan sounds like titanium, also strong. It all sounds pretty safe—unless you think of Titanic first, but that’s not a very Googley thought.
Google claims its face-unlocking mechanism is incredibly secure, just like Apple claims Face ID is secure. In my use so far, it seems at least as good as a fingerprint. Which is to say, like a locked door, it’s an inconvenience for a thief, but there are always ways of bypassing these barriers if the person stuck outside is smart and resourceful enough. Hopefully your local criminals are not the creative type.
Sense and Repeat
That radar sensor that powers face unlock has another job too. It can detect hand motions. If your hands are slimy from deboning a raw chicken (or worse: chopping tofu!), and you don’t want to touch your screen, you can do a swiping motion to control the phone. Waving your hand left or right in front of the screen switches music tracks in apps like Spotify. The same motion can also silence an alarm. There’s also a Pikachu wallpaper that you can interact with like a Tamagotchi by waving your hands to and fro. Or, at least, that’s the idea. After several days of testing the phone, I still can’t get these features to work reliably, so I’ve stopped using them. For now these gesture capabilities, which Google collectively calls Motion Sense, are gimmicks. Hopefully Google can make them work better in the future.
Other new features are not gimmicks. Like the Pixel 3A, this phone can show augmented-reality walking directions in Google Maps, which lets you hold up your phone and see giant arrows telling you which direction to go as you stroll around. Like turn-by-turn directions were for cars, it’s a game changer for walking in a big city, and I hope every phone gets it soon.
Google’s new Recorder app is also fantastic. Sure, it records audio like you’d expect, but it also transcribes all that audio on the spot with incredible accuracy (if one person is speaking, at least—it can’t discern between multiple voices). It’s one of those features that everyone in the WIRED newsroom will love, and it will benefit students recording lectures or anyone who has difficulty hearing. The rest of you probably won’t use it much. Just know that when you do, it will be the first time you’ve been able to get instant audio transcriptions without paying money for an app or a transcription service. Transcription also happens locally, so it works in Airplane mode too.
The transcription fun doesn’t end there. If you press the volume-up or -down buttons, you’ll see a new icon below the volume meter. It’s called Live Captions and is also a lot of fun. It basically adds a box that automatically displays closed captions (like you see on TV) alongside any audio coming from your phone. So no matter what you’re watching or listening to, it will auto transcribe the text so you can read it. The box is expandable and movable.
Live Caption seems to give up every time I play a song. It usually just throws up a [MUSIC] label, but it does sometimes display a disjointed line or two of the lyrics. Except during Post Malone songs, when it has no clue what he’s saying. Post Malone’s filtered voice is not Googley enough.
It’s nice to see a tech company putting a little more effort toward accessibility with transcription features like these. Hopefully it’s just the beginning.
Outside these exclusive features, the Pixel 4 comes loaded with Android 10 (read our five favorite features), which has a few other interesting bits to it, like full-screen gesture navigation. Instead of tapping that trusty Back button like you’ve been doing for a decade now, you swipe from the left or right sides of the screen. Pulling up from the bottom takes you to the homescreen, and stopping part-way brings up the multitasking menu—just like on an iPhone.
There’s also a Dark mode. I do not understand (neither does Arielle) why so many of you want a dark mode, but it’s there. Enjoy!
Lens Life
The camera is fantastic, just as you’d expect from a new Pixel. This year, Google tacked on an additional lens—a telephoto—for some optical-zoom capabilities and merged it with the impressive digital zooming filters the company has developed. I shot several 8X zoom photos. Usually this level of zoom is a grainy mess, but Google softens the details enough that they often look acceptable, without many visible pixelated artifacts on them. That’s amazing.
I liked being able to toggle brightness by tapping the camera screen, and Portrait mode seems to be a bit better than before at finding the edges of objects and picking the correct place to start blurring the background. It does still struggle with complex objects like frizzy hair. You’ll also want to be sure to go into your camera settings and uncheck the Save Selfie as Previewed box so the phone won’t save mirrored versions of your face. Go forth and be proud of your actual selfie!
Night Sight mode works as well as ever. It lightens photos in dark rooms that would have been unusably dim and fuzzy just a year ago. You do have to stand still for a few seconds while the camera captures all the information it needs, but the resulting picture is worth it.
I have not been able to get far enough from the light pollution in my city to see actual stars, but the camera has an Astrophotography mode too. Google claims it can take detail-rich photos of the night sky, and I look forward to testing this the next time I’m in the wilderness.
Numbers and Feels
If you’re wondering how I got this far without talking about the basics, let me do a speed-run through them. The phone is comfortable to hold, with few surprises. The Power and Volume buttons are where they should be, and it’s all IPX8 water-resistant, so it can take a brief bath (but please don’t).
At first, I thought the frame of the phone was made of high-end plastic, but it’s apparently made of aluminum with a good black paint job. The back is matte glass, which is undoubtedly fragile (buy a case), though it does enable wireless charging and repel fingerprints. It also has pressure sensors so you can squeeze it to activate Google Assistant; you can turn this off in the settings if it annoys you.
On the inside is a Snapdragon 855 processor, 6 gigabytes of RAM, and 64 gigabytes of storage, expandable to 128. There’s no MicroSD slot, so you can’t expand the storage on your own. The 64-GB base option is disappointing for a phone that starts at $799 (even the iPhone is $100 cheaper), and it’s worse when compared to the OnePlus 7T, which has 128 GB, a slightly-faster Snapdragon 855+, and an extra rear camera, for $599.
On the bright side, the OLED display on the Pixel 4 (1080p) and Pixel 4 XL (1440p) is lovely and has an extra-smooth 90-Hz mode like the OnePlus 7T and Razer Phone 2. The 90-Hz mode makes scrolling through web pages or social feeds much smoother and more natural. It looks great, though because of the impact on battery life, I may end up turning it and some of the other special features off.
The battery performance has been bit erratic over my five days with the Pixel 4 XL. The phone will make it through a day, but on days like today, when I’ve been using it a bit more than normal, it’s already at 30 percent around 7 pm. Once a battery gets that low, it’s in spitting distance of dying if you have a long night. Luckily, the Pixel does charge quickly.
So. Close.
If you want an iPhone 11, you should probably still buy an iPhone 11 (or better, an iPhone XR), and if you want an Android phone, I recommend you get the $399 Pixel 3A. It doesn’t have wireless charging or every snazzy new feature, but it will likely get the software enhancements that matter. It also has a headphone jack, which the Pixel 4 lacks. And if you want a faster and more feature-rich phone, the OnePlus 7T would be my top pick. It’s cheaper and just as nice.
The $799 Pixel 4 and $899 Pixel 4 XL work on every US wireless carrier, and they’re among the best smartphones money can buy. Really, they’re great, and they represent Google’s vision better than any other handset. They just aren’t our top choice.
(For more buying options, check our guide to all the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL deals we could find.)
