Pixel 4 XL in 2021! By Damien Wilde

By Damien Wilde
Aug 14, 2021
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Pixel 4 XL in 2021!

2020 was a confusing year for the pixel line, making it harder to suggest picking one up, but if it did one thing it solidified how good the Pixel 4 XL can be, albeit with some notable problems that we're going to discuss here so yeah. This is the Pixel 4 XL in 2021, warts and all before. We fully dive in, though how about subscribing. If you want to see more videos just like this, it genuinely does help the channel reach more people, and you can get some pretty nice content there too. I also have a discord channel. If you want to kick back and chat tech smartphones, you name, it's also growing, and you might even get some snippets and info on any of my upcoming projects right. Let me say that until the pixel 5 came out, I used the Pixel 4 XL on and off as my main smartphone and the main reason was the inconsistent battery life as to why I didn't use it constantly I'll talk more about that later on, but I want to get that out the way up front.

I know the pitfalls and problems of this device, probably better than most people out there. I think it feels very much like a pixel, but the design is a standout in the series for a number of reasons: the matte black side rails and frosted finisher, the black and white 4xl- is my favorite scheme, thus far lined up with all the previous pixels. It's pretty unique, and I mean that in a perfect way. One of the reasons I really like the pixel series is just how approachable the design has been implemented by google, and it's tough to really be massively negative. From a look and feel standpoint, I have managed to take a few chunks out of the side rails from drops, but even though it's mainly glass, it's held up pretty well.

It feels nice in the hand too, with that soft satin glass finish and the matte paint with that side rails really adds some extra grip. I think that a lot of phones, kind, of lack with sharp metal side frames its big in the hand as well, but it provides a certain balance as well that I can't quite quantify, but the short answer that it is its a great phone in terms of design. It's also flat on both sides with those soft corners rather than slippery curved edges that we kind of see from many of the flagships even of the same era. What I failed to say in the short is that the Pixel 4 XL isn't in any way lavish, and it's all the better for it. It stands out from a crowd of plain glass boxes.

That is for sure, because it's a little more playful in how google has followed the design principles of previous devices. It stands out for another design decision as well at the front to accommodate some impressive tech and face unlock sensors. There's a big fat forehead there, it's kind of hard to miss it's easier to get used to though, and it kind of feels like the screen has been offset incorrectly. When you look at it, but it's better than a dew dropper at least a teardrop notch as far as I'm concerned, so here's what you get with a larger forehead, though well you get 3d face unlock, which is absolutely excellent and superfast there's also a sole radar sensor, which, while impressive, at least on paper, isn't that great in practice. So here's what it does.

You can use hand waving gestures, and it's called motion sense and, while I'll give google credit for trying something new, the feature really isn't worth, enabling, as it will affect your overall battery life. I like the efforts, but it's just not worth it. Unfortunately, gimmicks in that forehead aside. They don't detract from an excellent HD, plus 90hz display it's large, not with without the cutouts as well, and it's sharp at HD plus resolution. The colors are fantastic here as well.

It's perfectly calibrated text looks sharp, and it's just a joy to use, because everything looks lovely and slick with that extra high refresh rate. I wish it would get a little brighter. The actual max brightness is around 440 nits, which is pretty low when other phones are hitting, and even surpassing, that 100, nit or 1000 level. I should say- and it's a little disappointing, because you're going to see this side by side with the Samsung's of the same era and there's no denying that the Samsung panels do look a lot more vibrant, at least from afar. What we'll say, though, is that the Pixel 4 XL is amazingly fast still.

It uses the snapdragon 855, which puts it actually atop the performance tree with regard to recent pixel series, if you value speed and fluidity, the Pixel 4 XL is actually the best to pick at least if you're watching this video before the pixel 6 series has been released. Gaming is easy, apps load in super quick fashion, it's all good from a day-to-day experience perspective, and it will be for a long time to come because of Google's clean and bloat-free approach to android. It's easy to say that this is the best way to experience android, although I need to correct the millions of people who wrongly call it stock android. The pixel has its own distinct, pixel version of android, with unique features like now playing on device assistant, call screening and tons more if you're looking for stock android. That's what I would consider android one and what is genuinely normally considered a stock android a little of math, and you should be good to android 13 officially, after that, it's probably going to be a world of third-party ROMs and whatnot, which is something you'll have no problem with it's not hard, or it's hard, not to love getting updates the day.

Google releases them, and you can even try out android 12 right now by enrolling on the preview program. If you really want to, I can't really fault the software as it's my favorite but sure go elsewhere. If you value a shed load of features right out of the box, just expect a little of bloat, I'm sure you'll be happy with another device. You would kind of think that a 3700mah battery in a device such as this size would be fairly solid in the Pixel 4 XL, and I'm sure for some of you, it's absolutely fine. It has been fine I'll say with certainty, though, that my experience has been mixed at best.

I've done a few full device resets and even deleted all but essential apps to make it last a full day, I'm not sure if battery degradation has had a big impact, but in no way is the Pixel 4 XL an all-day phone for me, and it never has been, even though I picked this up right on launch, I'm just never outright confident that it will, even last until bedtime and being truly honest, I have found it to have terrible battery life, which was a big annoyance, not enough for me to kind of stop using on a daily basis, though I might add, because I really do like the experience, which has meant I've kind of had to live with and change my charging habits accordingly. Turning that display down to 60 hertz really does help a little and with some extra battery saving mode in there too, I can kind of sometimes squeeze a full day out of it, but it's just disappointing. As far as I'm concerned, that said, android 11 has seemed to help quite a bit. I have tried the android 12 previews and android 12 beta programs, and I can't say for certainty if it has helped I'm kind of not sure. So I'm not going to kind of give you a verdict on that, but I think if you have had good battery with this device and give me some tips on how to extend battery life with the pixel 4xl down below, I'm sure someone out there can help me eek a little longer from this phone.

I've left the camera until the very end of this retrospective, as I just genuinely adore the pixel 4 camerae, just like about every pixel today to my eye, it nails the shot around 98 to 99 of the time, which is exactly what you want from a smartphone. Yes, it's using an older sensor, but the post-processing and that pixel neural core helps make images. Look exceptional image. Exposure, just always seems to be perfect. Dynamic range is always accurate, colors are saturated, but never quite too much and the white balance is almost always accurate to real life.

Sure you can get higher resolution pictures, but the magic is in Google's wondrous, post-processing. It maybe helps the images aren't massive, because baseline 64 gigabytes, internal storage can fill up quick, and I have noticed that on the 64 gigabyte model kind of wish had a gun for the 1281 now overall, the bottom line is that the Pixel 4 XL is the very best pixel in 2021, or at least early 2021. At least. We hope until the pixel, 6 and pixel 6 pro or XL arrives. It's powerful has an excellent camera plus that telephoto, which I love it's awesome, although it discontinued it's still a lot better on paper than the pixel 5, which is just not up for debate.

I've kind of formed a love-hate relationship with this phone. I love using it. Furthermore, I just hate the fact that I can't use it all day without having to worry about the battery life. Maybe a battery replacement might help resolve some of my problems, and I think if you want what is currently the best pixel, then you should be wary of the potential life span. Problems.

Google's lack of focus in some fundamentals of a smartphone are evident as ever nearly two years after release. The good definitely outweighs the bad here. If you're looking to buy the Pixel 4 XL just be wary of paying over the odds, that's the Pixel 4 XL, currently or at least the time of upload the best pixel you can buy, at least on paper, pixel owners. Let me know, though, if your device is treating you well down in the comment section below, and also I want to hear some battery tips. If you've got some, I'm really interested to see how you're getting on what you love, what you hate so be sure to.

Let me know I'll speak to you later. You.


Source : Damien Wilde

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