Pixel and Pixel XL are Android smartphones designed, developed and marketed by Google. They were announced during a press event on October 4, 2016, and serve as the first smartphones in the Google Pixelhardware line, succeeding the Nexus line of smartphones. On October 4, 2017, they were succeeded by the second-generation Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL.
The Pixels received mixed reviews. They were called "the best Android phones you can buy" and received praise for camera quality and performance. However, they were criticised for their high prices and lack of
waterproofing, and some critics noted design similarities to
Apple's
iPhone. The Pixels have suffered from a variety of issues after release, including excessive optical lens flare in pictures captured through the rear camera, connectivity issues with some
mobile data bands, unstable
Bluetooth connections, unexpected battery shutdowns, and failing microphones. Google has acknowledged and released fixes for most of the issues.
History[edit]
Google previously co-developed flagship Android devices with
original equipment manufacturers through the
Nexus program, which were designed to be "reference" devices for the Android platform, but the devices retained similarities to other devices made by their respective partners.
[3] Rick Osterloh, former president of
Motorola, joined Google as its senior vice president of hardware in April 2016,
[4] and Google initiated development of an ecosystem of in-house products and platforms, including the
Google Home smart speaker,
Google Assistant intelligent personal assistant, and
Google Daydream, Google's new
virtual realityplatform built for
Android Nougat.
[5] The Pixels were announced on October 4, 2016,
[6] and serve as Google's launch devices for
Android 7.1 "Nougat".
[7]
Osterloh said in an interview with
The Verge that "a lot of the innovation that we want to do now ends up requiring controlling the end-to-end user experience".
The Verge wrote that the Nexus program had "fulfilled its mission", with a Google spokesperson stating that there are "no plans" to make another Nexus device.
[3]The Pixel was designed by and is marketed as being a Google product; although the company used
HTC as a
contract manufacturer, Google has said that the Pixels are not based on any existing HTC device.
[3] It offered
Huawei the contract to manufacture the devices, but after Google refused to
dual-brand the phone with credit to the manufacturer, Huawei declined the offer.
[8]
Specifications[edit]
Hardware[edit]
Pixel uses an aluminum chassis, with a glass panel on the portion of the rear housing the camera and "Pixel Imprint" fingerprint sensor. The phones have a
USB-C connector supporting
USB 3.0, for power and data exchange. The phone features a 3.5 mm
headphone jack, which received media attention for being a contrast to competing smartphone
Apple iPhone 7, which does not feature the port.
[16] The Pixel and Pixel XL both use the
Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 system-on-chip, with 4 GB of RAM.
[17][18] They are offered with either 32 GB or 128 GB of
UFS 2.0 internal storage.
[6]
The two models are differentiated by screen and battery size; the standard Pixel's display measures 5 in (130 mm)
1080p AMOLED with a 2770 mAh battery,
[19] while the Pixel XL's display measures 5.5 in (140 mm)
1440p AMOLED with a 3450 mAh battery.
[20]
Pixel features a 12.3-megapixel rear-facing camera, which uses an f/2.0 aperture, and a Sony IMX378 sensor with 1.55 μm pixels.
[21] The camera uses a digital image stabilization system tied to the phone's gyroscope and motion sensors at a sampling rate of 200 Hz.
[2] To improve capture speed, 30 frames are continuously captured per second while the camera is active. When a photo is taken, up to 10 of these frames are composed to form a single image.
[22]
Software[edit]
Pixel and Pixel XL ship with
Android 7.1 "Nougat", an update to 7.0 that was initially exclusive to the Pixel. It was released for existing Nexus devices in December 2016, but certain features remain exclusive to Pixel.
[7][23][24][25]
Pixel supports
Google Assistant, and provides live technical support services integrated into the OS. Similarly to Nexus devices, it receives Android updates directly from Google.
[6][26] Pixel also supports the
Google Daydream virtual reality platform.
[6] All Pixel smartphones include unlimited full-resolution
Google Photos backup for the life of the device.
[6][22] A November 2016 update added additional motion gestures, including double-tapping the screen to show alerts, and raising the device to wake the screen and raise-to-wake features.
[27]
Google states on its support pages that the Pixel and Pixel XL are guaranteed to receive new Android version updates until October 2018, and guaranteed to receive
security patches until October 2019.
[28][29] In August 2017, Google released
Android 8.0 "Oreo" for the Pixel and Pixel XL.
[30] Android 8.1 Oreo was released for the Pixel and Pixel XL, as well as some other devices, on December 5, 2017.
[31]
Cellular networks[edit]
