The Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL: A Hands-On Review

We're finally here at the Pixel Event, and the moment we've all been waiting for has arrived – the unveiling of the Google Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL. As I look at these phones from my design perspective, it's clear that they share a similar aesthetic with their predecessor, the Pixel 2. The curved back is still a signature feature of the Pixel series, but there are some notable differences on the back of these new devices.

Instead of the typical glass and aluminum combination, the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL have a soft touch finish on the back, which differentiates the main glass from this softer, more premium material. This not only adds a layer of protection to the device but also allows for wireless charging, a feature that's been missing from previous Pixel devices. The addition of wireless charging is made possible by the introduction of a new Pixel Stand, priced at $79, which not only charges your phone wirelessly but also doubles as a mini Google Home device.

The front of the phones are where we really see the improvements over last year's model. Gone is the blue tint issue that plagued the Google Pixel 2 XL, replaced by OLED screens that deliver deep blacks and crisp whites. I'm not seeing any blue shift on these displays, and they look absolutely stunning. The Pixel 3 XL will be sporting a QHD+ resolution, while the standard Pixel 3 will come with a Full HD+ display.

One of the most notable features of the Pixel 3 XL is its massive notch, which some might find intimidating. However, this notched design allows for a wider-angle camera that provides a more comprehensive field of view when taking group selfies or wide shots. The Pixel 3 also features a wide-angle camera, but with less screen real estate to work with. When using the camera app, you can zoom out from the main sensor to capture even more of your subject.

The rear cameras on both devices are still limited to a single shooter, which is a departure from some other flagship phones that offer multiple camera options. However, Google's approach has always been focused on software, rather than hardware, and they've made significant strides in improving their camera capabilities. The Portrait mode, for example, remains excellent, with improved edge detection and the ability to track subjects moving across the frame.

The Pixel 3 XL also boasts a new Night Mode camera feature, which uses AI-powered technology to enhance low-light photos by bringing them up to a more natural brightness. This feature takes a few seconds to work its magic but results in surprisingly effective shots that were previously difficult to capture. Other camera features include focus tracking, which allows the phone to maintain focus on moving subjects.

In terms of hardware, both devices are powered by the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor, accompanied by 4GB or 6GB of RAM and up to 128GB of storage. This has led to some concerns about performance with just 4GB of RAM, but Google's approach to software optimization means that we're hopeful this will work smoothly.

Finally, we have the color options for the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL. The Clearly White model features a teal power button, while the Just Black version sports an orange power button. If you opt for the Pink variant (although it seems there was some confusion about whether the Pink would be available), the power button will also have a slight orange hue to it.

That's all for our hands-on time with the Google Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL – stay tuned to Android Authority for more in-depth coverage of these devices, including articles on their cameras, performance, and software features.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enokay guys after months of leaks and rumors and just different renders they are finally here we are out here at the pixel event this is the pixel 3 and this is the pixel 3 XL now if you look at these from my design perspective they look really really similar to the pixel 2 in pixel to excel at least on the back they've got that same googly curve but you can see on the back here instead of doing a glass and then aluminum they've actually got glass and then glass again it's actually Gorilla Glass 5 but they've got this soft touch on the back which really differentiates the main glass from this back glass and this allows for a lot of different things that pixels haven't traditionally had but I'm really glad to see they're adding them in like wireless charging and ip68 water resistance and the wireless charging is fast wireless charging - you can pick up this pixel stand for $79 which adds this fast wireless charging capability it also kind of turns it into a little mini Google home so you can use it to talk to the Google assistant and you can also wake up to the morning with your alarm and kind of shut it off as if you were using a normal alarm now if we move to the front of the phones it's obvious here that these screens are much much better than they were last year we had that weird blue tint issue with the Google pixel 2 XL but that is definitely not the case here these are still OLED screens so you're gonna get those deep blacks and those white whites but I'm not really seeing any blue shift here at all it's really just looks amazing the pixel 3 XL is qHD and the pixel 3 is going to be 1080p and of course this pixel 3 XL is going to have that giant notch and yeah the leaks and rumors were true the notch is pretty much bigger than any other notches we've seen before but the thing that this knotch adds is a wide angle camera and the pixel 3 also has this wide-angle camera but you're not getting quite as much screen real estate as you are on the 3 XL now what this wide-angle camera does is allows you for to take these group selfies and group shots but you really just couldn't get in the pixels before it when you're in the camera app you can zoom out from the main sensor and just kind of get a much wider field of view and I think that's really important to get in phones especially when you're taking a lot of group selfies or just selfies with you and a friend there are other cold portrait mode capabilities like the to black and white everything around you and make you and the store the subject just really pop out and you can also do things like adjusting the aperture after you take the photo which is something that we saw in a lot of other phones this year as far as the rear cameras go we're still just getting one rear camera on each of these devices and Google seems to be wanting to tell the world yes we can do just as quality of a job as everyone else with one rear camera the portrait mode here is still really really good and Google is saying that they have better edge detection than last year there's also oh is in these lenses you should get some really buttery video there's also things like focus tracking so you can track on a certain object while they're moving and it should keep focus the entire time another cool camera feature that Google showed off is this new night mode camera feature which allows you to take photos in really underexposed areas and it will raise them to make them look a lot better than they did previously now this takes a few seconds to work but it looks really amazing in the demo and we're really excited to get our hands on this feature when it launches later this month so now we've got to talk about the hardware and these are still pretty flagship phones they're running snapdragon 845 64 to 128 gigabytes of storage and 4 gigabytes of RAM and a lot of people are a little bit worried about that but Google has always been about software and not really that much about hardware so we're hoping that Google has optimized Android enough to work pretty well with 4 gigabytes of RAM we're gonna have to see how this holds up in the future the Google pistol 3 and Google pixel 3 XL are coming in clearly white just black and not pink and the not pink has this little orange power button while the clearly white is getting this little teal power button if you want the just black phone you're just getting a black power button so that's effectively been it I hope you guys have enjoyed our hands-on of the Google pixel 3 and pixel 3 excel if you want more details head over to our site Android Authority comm because we got a ton of articles detailing all the new things that Google's announced here and stay tuned for future videosokay guys after months of leaks and rumors and just different renders they are finally here we are out here at the pixel event this is the pixel 3 and this is the pixel 3 XL now if you look at these from my design perspective they look really really similar to the pixel 2 in pixel to excel at least on the back they've got that same googly curve but you can see on the back here instead of doing a glass and then aluminum they've actually got glass and then glass again it's actually Gorilla Glass 5 but they've got this soft touch on the back which really differentiates the main glass from this back glass and this allows for a lot of different things that pixels haven't traditionally had but I'm really glad to see they're adding them in like wireless charging and ip68 water resistance and the wireless charging is fast wireless charging - you can pick up this pixel stand for $79 which adds this fast wireless charging capability it also kind of turns it into a little mini Google home so you can use it to talk to the Google assistant and you can also wake up to the morning with your alarm and kind of shut it off as if you were using a normal alarm now if we move to the front of the phones it's obvious here that these screens are much much better than they were last year we had that weird blue tint issue with the Google pixel 2 XL but that is definitely not the case here these are still OLED screens so you're gonna get those deep blacks and those white whites but I'm not really seeing any blue shift here at all it's really just looks amazing the pixel 3 XL is qHD and the pixel 3 is going to be 1080p and of course this pixel 3 XL is going to have that giant notch and yeah the leaks and rumors were true the notch is pretty much bigger than any other notches we've seen before but the thing that this knotch adds is a wide angle camera and the pixel 3 also has this wide-angle camera but you're not getting quite as much screen real estate as you are on the 3 XL now what this wide-angle camera does is allows you for to take these group selfies and group shots but you really just couldn't get in the pixels before it when you're in the camera app you can zoom out from the main sensor and just kind of get a much wider field of view and I think that's really important to get in phones especially when you're taking a lot of group selfies or just selfies with you and a friend there are other cold portrait mode capabilities like the to black and white everything around you and make you and the store the subject just really pop out and you can also do things like adjusting the aperture after you take the photo which is something that we saw in a lot of other phones this year as far as the rear cameras go we're still just getting one rear camera on each of these devices and Google seems to be wanting to tell the world yes we can do just as quality of a job as everyone else with one rear camera the portrait mode here is still really really good and Google is saying that they have better edge detection than last year there's also oh is in these lenses you should get some really buttery video there's also things like focus tracking so you can track on a certain object while they're moving and it should keep focus the entire time another cool camera feature that Google showed off is this new night mode camera feature which allows you to take photos in really underexposed areas and it will raise them to make them look a lot better than they did previously now this takes a few seconds to work but it looks really amazing in the demo and we're really excited to get our hands on this feature when it launches later this month so now we've got to talk about the hardware and these are still pretty flagship phones they're running snapdragon 845 64 to 128 gigabytes of storage and 4 gigabytes of RAM and a lot of people are a little bit worried about that but Google has always been about software and not really that much about hardware so we're hoping that Google has optimized Android enough to work pretty well with 4 gigabytes of RAM we're gonna have to see how this holds up in the future the Google pistol 3 and Google pixel 3 XL are coming in clearly white just black and not pink and the not pink has this little orange power button while the clearly white is getting this little teal power button if you want the just black phone you're just getting a black power button so that's effectively been it I hope you guys have enjoyed our hands-on of the Google pixel 3 and pixel 3 excel if you want more details head over to our site Android Authority comm because we got a ton of articles detailing all the new things that Google's announced here and stay tuned for future videos\n"