Google Pixel 3 XL, 2 years later - Review By 91Tech

The, Google Pixel 3 XL is one of the more controversial smartphones in recent history. Thanks to well, I probably don't even need to say if it's pretty obvious, but at its core, it's a solid smartphone with a terrific camera, even if it is from 2018. , hey how's it going. I'm josh from 91 tech, and today we're taking a look at the Google Pixel 3 XL, a phone that was said to be a notch ahead in photography but kind of mediocre everywhere else. How does it hold up two years later, and could it be worth buying? So my last video on the pixel 2 XL, some of you mentioned that I had two search bars on my home page for some reason and I kind of realized. Oh my god, that is a bit weird.

So don't worry about this video I fixed it on my pixel 3 XL, so we're all good there's both so much to love and hate about this phone. Besides the notch, this is actually my favorite pixel design and the XL looked like the smaller pixel 3 I'd say: it'd, be about perfect. The frosted glass on the back feels great in the hand and, in my opinion, looks fantastic. If much prefer it personally to the newer look with the pixel 4, but that is just me. This video is particularly focusing on the 3xl, but a lot of what I say should apply to the smaller one as well.

I do think, ultimately, the 3xl is the better one to go for nowadays, mainly due to the better battery life and, if you're, more interested in the smaller three I'd actually recommend, looking at the Pixel 3a or 4a, as they're, both relatively cheap and have the same or better, camera and design. This phone was, namely praised for its camera quality, and I can say it's definitely pretty darn good. Even two years later and considering you can find this phone for around 200 one bay. If you look around a bit well, it's fair to say this isn't a bad option, especially if you're looking to save some cash and still be able to take some great photos. Is this phone worth buying for around 200 to 250 bucks? Absolutely, in fact I'd argue.

It's probably more worth buying now than it was in 2018. It's fully supported on android 11 and should get at least to android 12. The phone still feels pretty smooth to use for me and while the design isn't exactly ideal, I think the pros do make up for the cons. But let's take a step back here and talk about the most controversial aspect of this phone. The design, particularly with the display the notch, has been mentioned already a million times and yeah its garbage.

It might be acceptable if there is no chin, but there is one, and it's gigantic. There are a couple benefits. We get front firing speakers that are pretty darn good, as well as two selfie camera lenses that I'll get to a bit later. The OLED display itself is actually quite nice with a size of 6.3 inches and a resolution of 1440x2960. It's not anything spectacular, but it's more than good enough and doesn't have the awful blue tinting of the pixel 2 XL that drove everyone crazy.

So that's a win in my book. The back of the phone is easily its best feature in terms of design with frosted glass that has a matte feel to it, and then glossy glass at the top surrounding the single camera lens apple kind of stole the whole frosted glass thing with their iPhone 11 Pro the next year, and I am totally cool with that, because it's awesome, I really love the look of this phone and I kind of wish they had kept it with the pixel 4. The fingerprint sensor lies under the camera there, and it's very fast, absolutely no complaints with it. The overall feel of this phone is actually great. The flat edges and frosted glass is really, really nice, and, although that notch is ridiculous, it does start to fade into the background after you use it for a bit.

There are also many methods of making the notch disappear through developer settings or apps off the play store. I used this phone for a period back in 2019 after selling my iPhone 10s and while it was a bit of an adjustment, I found myself not hating the notch by the end of it. I actually quite liked the phone certain things about android, such as the haptic feedback, with the keyboard really appealed to me, and the phone is also very light making it comfortable to hold, compare that to my iPhone 11 Pro max, which is an absolute unit, and it feels like a brick in comparison. We have no headphone jack on this phone, just like the pixel 2, but we do get USB-C on the bottom there and a dongle and earbuds were included in the box. This phone is ip68 water, resistant, meaning a quick drop in the toilet shouldn't be a big deal, although I'd be a bit more careful.

If you have a nasty crack in the screen like mine, I didn't crack it by the way I bought it. This way off eBay, as the deal last year was just too good to resist, even with the cosmetic damage and the phone is fully functional. We have an interesting feature here where you squeeze the phone and Google Assistant will pop up. This is on the newer pixels as well. Internally.

We have either 64 or 128 gigabytes of storage, and that should be enough for most people. Wireless charging is here as well and that's something I really appreciate as it was lacking on the aluminum pixel 2 XL, the battery is sized at 3 430 William hours. For me, it isn't fantastic, but it got me through the day, no problem when I was using it in colors we have a few options: clearly white, just black and not pink. While I don't mind these colors and do quite like the black, I wish they had brought back the black and white option with the pixel 2 XL, as that is one of my favorite smartphone designs of all time. The not pink is pretty unique and if that's your thing, it'll definitely stand out from the crowd.

If you know there were crowds right now, but forget all this, because the reason you would buy this phone in 2018 and probably still even today, is because of the camera. It's pretty great. We've got 12 megapixels on the rear sensor that takes arguably the best photos of 2018 smartphones, and I'd, say they're right up there with what most phones are producing today, at least without too much nitpicking. HDR isn't always perfect, but the cool, realistic tone that the pixel takes has always been very appealing to me and there's no question that the software driven portrait mode is absolutely terrific. The pixel 3 XL also has night mode for photos which is pretty standard on phones now, but it was new in 2018 and allows you to take much better lit photos in the dark.

These are good pictures. There's a certain point where you have to wonder how much better smartphone cameras are really getting. I'm sure the new pixel and iPhone are technically going to be better, but these still look great, and I think tech reviewers have gotten much too nitpick in recent years, and I mean they have to be that's their job. It's my job, but I think basically, any phone from the last few years holds up really well in photography and as you've been able to see here. That applies in spades for the pixel 3 XL, specifically photography, though not so much when it comes to video.

The rear sensor can shoot 4k at up to 30 frames per second, and I'll be honest. It isn't very good. The mediocre, HDR poor white balance and over sharpened look is nowhere near what iPhones can do, and it's the one area google just can't seem to nail, but unless, for some reason you need to be taking the best possible video I'd say the photography more than makes up for it. There are two selfie cameras on the front, something unique to this pixel as it wasn't brought back the next year, there's the normal 8 megapixel sensor and then there's also an extra, also 8 megapixel sensor that is ultra-wide, so that you can capture more in frame is perfect for group selfies. If you have friends which I don't so instead, it just makes my arm look worryingly huge compared to my head thanks to the wide angle, lens distortion.

So no surprise the camera is still great and that's the big draw of this phone, something that was already pretty boring at launch- is the internal hardware, as the pixel 3 XL has the snapdragon 845 processor and four gigabytes of ram. While this chipset was the norm for 2018, the amount of ram was already pretty low for an android phone and with Samsung's and OnePlus pushing out ridiculous amounts of ram with 8 12 and even 16 gigs, it's fair to say this phone falls significantly behind, but in real life performance. This generally doesn't mean too much. Your apps in the background might not stay open very long, but general speeds, at least to me on android 11 seem to be pretty darn decent with very few slowdowns, only happening here and there I'm not the kind of reviewer who goes very into depth into this kind of thing. No speed tests or anything as some of you would know, I more prefer to take kind of just an overall look at every aspect of the phone in a relatively short time frame, but in my opinion, right now, this phone is performing fine, not great, but fine, and I'd imagine it'll be just fine next year as well on android 12.

However, thanks to the low ram I'd be a bit surprised if it got past android 12. Theoretically, you could always get it to run newer versions of android through backdoor methods, but odds are you'll, be ready to upgrade by then anyways. Ultimately, this phone is absolutely worth the 200 to 250 dollars. It costs on ebay. com, and I don't think, there's much question of that.

The real debate is whether you should get this or, if you're, really leaning towards a pixel. Specifically, you could opt instead for the newer budget pixel with the 4a, the 4a is only 349. And while there isn't an Excel version, the phone looks significantly more modern from the front and the camera is going to be a pretty decent improvement. Is it worth it over the 3xl? That's really up to you: the phone is plastic and so you're losing out on the premium nature of the formerly high-priced pixel, but that might be worth it to avoid the notch. The 3a XL seems to be right around the same price as the 3xl, so I wouldn't bother with it.

While it doesn't have the ugly notch it is still plastic and in my opinion you might as well go for the nicer model. The 3xl also has a better chipset. The question I set out to answer in this video is: how does this phone hold up? It's fine, it's not bad, and the camera is great. The other question I wanted to answer is: is it worth it right now, and the answer is a very resounding yes.200 to 250 for this phone is terrific. I wouldn't pay much more than that, as once you get past 250 personally, I'd rather save my pennies and go for the 4a just for the nicer design and better camera, but yeah.

I absolutely recommend this phone and I really wish google hadn't moved away from this design. Furthermore, I think it's really nice, but what do you guys think? Does anyone have a pixel, 3 or 3 XL how's it going for you? Let me know in the comments down below if you found this video interesting or helpful, maybe hit that like button and consider subscribing for more content. Just like this, my throat is kind of sore. So sorry about my voice. If it's a little croaky, you can follow me over on Twitter and Instagram 91 underscore tech.

If you'd like to for some reason, you can also join the discord if you'd like link in the description. Thank you so much for watching I'm josh from 91 tech, and I will see you all next time you.

Source : 91Tech