Add in that this photo was taken in the dark, using Night Sight, and it's remarkable how Google has been able to overcome hardware limitations that have quelled the rest of the industry using computational photography pretty much alone. And yet there's more you can do with the Pixel 4's cameras. New Dual Exposure controls allow you to adjust highlights and shadows independently while shooting. Although I did play around with Dual Exposure, I found that Google's HDR system usually knew how to get the best shot — so, in most situations, it won't be particularly relevant.
That said, I suspect professionals will love the potential for creativity. You'd hope the Pixel 4's three-dimensional Face Unlock system would work well, because there's no fingerprint sensor to fall back on. Much like Apple's Face ID technology, Google's system unites an array of infrared cameras, a flood illuminator and a dot projector to identify your face reliably. The way Motion Sense enhances Face Unlock is the phone's cleverest feature.
The radar chip knows when you reach for the Pixel 4, so it's ready to identify you before you wake it. Theoretically, Google's Face Unlock is secure enough to be used for mobile payments, too. I say "theoretically" because it's not yet supported in any of the banking apps I use, which previously worked with fingerprint sensors. That's an issue Google admits it must solve quickly, though it's mostly the responsibility of third-party developers.
In practice, however, Google's first crack at Face Unlock works well and offers a few advantages over Apple's approach. It works when the Pixel 4 is lying flat, and it even registers when the device is held in landscape orientation. The iPhone 11's TrueDepth camera can't match either claim. Face Unlock on the Pixel 4 even works while your eyes are closed, though Google has come under scrutiny for this; the company is working to deliver an optional setting in an update that forces the phone to confirm attention before unlocking. Overall, the system is very fast, which brings us to the Pixel 4's other party piece: Motion Sense.
Built upon Google's Project Soli radar technology, Motion Sense allows the Pixel 4 to monitor midair gestures and other movement around it. You can wave your hand above the phone to skip tracks in apps like Spotify and YouTube or snooze alarms. When you do either, you'll see a subtle glow move across the top edge of the display, indicating that the Soli radar sees your hand and recognizes its placement.
The Soli chip knows when you reach for the Pixel 4, even when the phone is sleeping. Once it realizes you're motioning to use your device, it fires up the Face Unlock stack so it's ready to identify you before you wake it. Those gestures are surprisingly intuitive, but there's a slight learning curve. There's some muscle memory you'll have to ascertain, particularly with that waving shortcut. Fast, passing motions are preferred; slower actions seem to confuse the radar. MORE: Smartphone buying guide: 9 tips for finding the right phone.
In other words, if you wave your hand from right to left to go forward one track and then move your hand back to the right to do it again, that return motion will trigger a skip in the opposite direction unless you're really careful about keeping your hand away from the device.
Motion Sense isn't perfect, and Google still has work to do. But it's not the fundamentals or usability that have me concerned but that there's so little you can do with Motion Sense right now outside of controlling media playback and snoozing alarms. The functionality feels pretty limited at launch, similar to Google's Active Edge squeezing feature, which returns from last year's model and once again has little use outside of summoning your Assistant.
Motion Sense has potential, but for now, it feels like a well-intentioned idea without a defining purpose. Those are necessary improvements, but they still leave the Pixel 4 behind other premium Android phones — not to mention Apple's latest A13 Bionic-powered iPhones, which remain the best-performing smartphones. In Geekbench 5, which evaluates overall system performance, the Pixel 4 delivered a multicore score of 2, The iPhone 11 demolished both, at 3, That's serviceable yet behind the Note 10 5, , which utilizes the same processor but has more RAM.
And unsurprisingly, it trails the iPhone 11 Pro 6, by an even larger margin. The numbers aren't record-setting, but Google's phones have never been about raw performance. Rest assured that the Pixel 4 still feels snappy in regular use and handles demanding games, like Asphalt 9 and PUBG Mobile, about as well as other flagships. And just like its rivals, the Pixel 4 starts to heat up when you ratchet the battle royale shooter's graphics up to HDR quality with anti-aliasing.
What the benchmarks don't tell you is that the Pixel 4 has an all-new coprocessor — the Pixel Neural Core — joining the Visual Core and Titan M security chip. As the name suggests, it's the Neural Core that is tasked with accelerating machine-learning tasks and handling Google's on-device language models, allowing many Assistant tasks to be conducted locally. As a result, Google Assistant feels really fast on the Pixel 4, with commands deciphered at a pace I've never witnessed on another handset. That includes the iPhone 11 Pro, which took nearly 10 seconds to respond to a simple alarm command.
In contrast, the Pixel 4 clapped back with an alarm set for 5 p. Between the Hz display, Soli radar and all the sensors and projectors necessary for Face Unlock, the Pixel 4 packs a lot of additional power-sipping components the Pixel 3 did not. So you'd imagine Google would have increased the size of the battery, right? The Pixel 4's battery life is not only worse than the Pixel 3's; it's well off the longevity of the iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro and Galaxy S Actually, quite the opposite.
That doesn't sound encouraging, and well, the results weren't, either. In Tom's Guide's battery test, which forces the device to endlessly refresh web pages while set to nits of screen brightness, the Pixel 4 called it quits after an average of 8 hours and 3 minutes, across two tests. One additional session, run with the display adjusted to a less-energy-consuming 60 Hz, produced a slightly better time of 8 hours and 36 minutes.
MORE: Best phone battery life — longest-lasting smartphone batteries. How does that compare to other flagships? It's not only worse than the Pixel 3 butwell off the longevity of the iPhone 11 , iPhone 11 Pro and Galaxy S10 In an age when high-end phone makers are finally listening to consumers and sacrificing some thinness for much-needed endurance, Google is still inexplicably reluctant to follow suit. During one day of moderate use — no photography or gaming, but lots of browsing, flipping between apps and messaging — I made it from 8 a.
That's not much better than the Pixel 3 I've been using for a year now. It's the same adapter that came with the Pixel 3 and the Pixel 3 XL, so no improvements have been made there. Additionally, the Pixel 4 again supports wireless charging, either over third-party Qi pads or Google's own Pixel Stand.
Shifting up design
Like you'd expect from a Google phone, the Pixel 4 launches with Android 10 and will be supported with updates until Three years of major version upgrades is more than the two that most flagship phones get, and because they're coming directly from Google, you won't have to wait six months before Android's newest features trickle down to your device.
If you're interested in a deep dive into the Pixel 4's operating system, you can head over to our Android 10 review. In a nutshell, it adds some small, noteworthy improvements but feels unfinished in many areas, particularly with Google's piecemeal approach to Dark Theme and the absence of Live Caption. That last point is critical, because the Pixel 4 marks Live Caption's debut. The feature is like omnipresent subtitles across your phone.
Google Pixel 4 review | Tom's Guide
No matter what's on screen or what app you're using, if there's speech, Live Caption will spell it out, on the fly. There's a short delay between the audio and the caption, because the Pixel 4's Neural Core is transcribing what it hears in real time. It even modifies earlier words and punctuation based on contextual cues that become evident later. Live Caption is a powerful tool that leverages the Pixel 4's artificial intelligence in a useful way.
But it does expend a lot of battery power, as Google points out the moment you switch on the feature which, conveniently enough, you can do right from the volume slider. So you won't want to leave Live Caption on indefinitely. The intelligence that powers Live Caption has also been extended to Recorder, Google's built-in voice recording app.
With the power of machine-learning-aided transcription that's remarkably accurate, the Pixel 4's recording software has instantly become my favorite way to record interviews. And fortunately, it's already been isolated as an APK that can be sideloaded on other handsets. Over time, the Pixel 4 should learn many new tricks, now that Google has announced it plans to regularly update the device with "feature drops" that include new capabilities.
The introductory drop, due out in December, adds enhancements to Duo video calls, memory management improvements, the ability to add bokeh into old portraits via the Photos app and automated Call Screen using the Google Assistant. Previous Pixels came with unlimited original-quality photo storage in Google Photos for several years, but surprisingly, Google has eliminated this hugely beneficial perk.
Images captured on your Pixel 4 count against your Google Photos storage cap if stored at full quality, just like on any other device. If you're low on space, you can back up content at "high" quality, but those pictures and videos will be compressed. It's a very disappointing decision, given the Pixel 4's phenomenal imaging. Google clearly wants to move customers to cloud storage subscriptions, as evidenced by the free three-month trial of Google One that the company includes with this device.
If you got a Pixel 4 for Christmas, you should probably return it
But losing this bonus makes the Pixel 4 not only a less-compelling value but a less-attractive mobile camera. And yet, a state-of-the-art handset doesn't mean much if it doesn't last long enough on a charge, has a display that's too dim to read outdoors and offers limited storage without the fallback of a cloud-based solution. The Pixel 4 XL could be the answer for people concerned about battery life, but at 6. It's ironic, because Google is executing all the high-level, machine-learning stuff far better than its contemporaries.
Yet, in doing so, Google forgot to execute all the basics.
The Pixel 4's design is unimpressive, but that's because it's useful.
Tom's Guide. Home Reviews. Our Verdict The Pixel 4's industry-leading cameras, super-smooth display and intuitive Face Unlock help it stand out, but short battery life holds it back. Against Disappointing battery life Relatively dim display Motion Sense gestures need work No unlimited photo storage and original quality.
Google Pixel 4 XL review: not quite ready for primetime
See all comments 0. No comments yet Comment from the forums. Suggested Apps. Navigation Gestures Customizable gesture control for any Android device.
- the best mobile track application Alcatel 5V.
- mobile tracker on Moto Z4.
- Most Active Google Pixel 4 Topics.
- Radar and camera(s).
XDA Labs Labs is an independent app store that gives developers full control over their work. Substratum The ultimate, most complete theming solution for Android. XDA Feed The best way to get cutting edge news about your device! Most Active Google Pixel 4 Topics.
Google Pixel 4 Real Life Review.