It is October and it has become a tradition of sorts for Google to announce their latest Pixel branded phone and now we have the new generation.
Google has finally unwrapped the Google Pixel 3 and this was one phone that got the lion share of the leaks this year. Last year’s Google Pixel phone was lauded for its amazing camera and vanilla Android software and the latest generation is building up on that.
The leaks were true. The Google Pixel 3 doesn’t look radically different from the design introduced last year. It still features the same metal chassis design with a single primary camera at the back but now, the front now features the infamous notch on the XL model which is now in line with the 2018 aesthetic.
The display on the Pixel 3XL is a 6.3 inch OLED screen with a resolution of 1440 x 2960 pixels and the regular Pixel 3 has a 5.5 inch 2960 x 1080 display with no notch of course.
The phone is powered with the Snapdragon 845 which has been used extensively this year by flagship devices and has 4GB of RAM, which is low by current flagship standards. Google Pixel phones typically haven’t featured MicroSD card support and this is still the case.
You get a choice of 64GB or 128GB of internal storage depending on your needs or budget. The phone is also iP68 water resistant finally! They still feature stereo speakers which is something that should be in every phone. The Pixel 3 has a 2915mAh batter while the Pixel 3XL has a larger 3430mAH and of course they don’t feature headphone jacks because that is for budget phones now. They also feature wireless charging finally for the Pixel line thanks to the all glass back.
Google Pixel phones have been praised all over due to their camera prowess and their use of computational photography (their epic HDR+). This new generation is no different. It features a 12.2 MP primary camera with a f/1.8 aperture and OIS. Both phones feature two front facing cameras, one standard 8MP one with f/1.8 aperture and one 8MP wide angle camera with an f/2.2 aperture for better wide selfies. The rear camera can shoot only upto 4K at 30fps and slow-mo 1080p footage at 120fps.
The Google Pixel 3 ships with Android Pie (9.0) like its predecessors and as usual it will get 3 years of updates. Google offers this phone with the radical colour naming scheme they have with this line of phones: Just Black, Clearly White and Not Pink. The price is steeper now: The Pixel 3 starts at $799 and the XL starts at $899, at least it is not a $1000 phone I guess.
