[Smartphones] | Pixel 3 and 3 XL | What's new?

The New Pixels are here!

I don't think there is any other smartphone which has been leaked as much as the pixel 3 and 3 XL has over the past couple of weeks. The phone has been shown in a full unboxing video multiple times, and it even started to sell in Hong Kong for an absurd price tag even before the launch!

Obviously, the rumors were already true and the pixel 3 and 3 XL look exactly like what we expected them to. The Pixel 3 now has an 18:9 aspect ratio display and the 3 XL has that gigantic notch, which looks absolutely hideous in my opinion. But that doesn't mean that I hate the pixel 3 XL altogether.

The pixel 3 and 3 XL (let's just call them 'the new pixels') bring a lot of new features to the table despite being very similar to the predecessors. How about we take a quick glance over everything that's new with these 2018 Google flagships.

Bear in mind that there are lot of small improvements which I don't want to cover in a single article. I'll mention some of my favorites and the ones that might interest a lot of people. With that said, let's get started.

What's new?

Let's start off with the obvious area:

That notch!

The pixel 2 XL as a humongous notch which was a result of Google's attempt to give you a full screen experience. Just like all the other notched phones, they have managed to achieve a very impressive theoretical screen to body ratio, but failed to deliver in the aesthetics department to many people like myself.

Front cameras

Just like what we saw in the smartphones that was selling in Hong Kong, there are now 2 front cameras (8 mp each). One standard angle and the other one being a wide angle sensor for group selfies. Google claims that the difference between the two is quite staggering. I tend to take their word for it because of how jaw dropping the pixel 2 cameras turned out last year.

Call answering

The phones can now answer calls on their own if you ask them to. Google claims that you will never have to pick another spam call ever again thanks to this feature. I'm actually pretty excited to check it out and real life, because one of our Indian service providers is quite notorious for such calls. Trust me, if you not from India, you have no "idea"!

See what I did there? No? Moving on...

Top shot & other camera improvements

Basically, a set of photos.

Using machine learning, Google is able to tell which of the shots that you taken looks best regardless of when you pressed the shutter. This means that, if someone blinked while you took a picture, you can actually scroll back to a moment when everything was fine in the viewfinder. That's pretty amazing if you ask me. I just hope it works as good as they showcased it in their keynote.

This is pretty neat!

You can also tap on a moving object to fix the focus on it so that it never gets blurry. We've seen similar implementations from Samsung before this, but it's cool to see manufacturers jump on this tracking autofocus train whenever they do.

Wireless charging via Pixel Stand

With the pixel 3, you finally get wireless charging with the help of a special charging stand known as the pixel stand. Nothing spectacular in terms of the name but the product itself themes pretty cool.

When your phone is on the pixel stand, it can conveniently act as a stylish alarm clock or automatically turn into a picture slideshow when you are not using it. Google says your phone is supposed to turn into a more of a visual object when it is on the pixel stand.

The colors

Just black, Not pink, and Clearly White

I'm not usually the one who would go crazy over a phone's colors, but Google's naming scheme always tickles me. This time, the phone colors are called just black, clearly white, and not pink. Hilarious and ingenious at the same time, don't you think?

Bonus points for the accented power button!

I was kind of let down in the specs department of the pixel 3. It still houses the same Snapdragon 845 chip from last year and doesn't improve on the RAM size either. I can't blame them for the chipset because the new SD855 is not unveiled yet, but they can at least increase the RAM to something like 8 gigs for the top model. 4GB starts to feel a bit dated for a 2018 flagship, wouldn't you say?

Oh, and the base variant of the pixel 3 will cost you $799 and the 3 XL starts from $899. 

Final thoughts

Thoughts?

Anyway, these are my first thoughts on the new pixels. What are yours? Leave them in the comments down below or shoot them on my social media handles at Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. I love engaging into geeky discussions like this one.

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Cheers!