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The Pixel 5 is on sale this year.
Jay mcgregor
If you plan to buy the Pixel 5 from Google, I have some good news for you: there are some decent cash discounts on the Android flagship from major retailers and from Google.
Best Buy has cut $ 100 off the Pixel 5 (unlocked), while the Google store has discounted the flagship for $ 50. No, it’s not in the same territory as Samsung’s Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, which is hugely discounted. from $ 250 at Best Buy and Samsung directly. But Google’s phone starts from a much cheaper position at $ 699, which has now dropped to $ 599.
To get to that price, Google had to make major concessions to features and as a result launched a phone that is visibly more budget than its predecessors. But that’s not necessarily bad news, because fewer power-guzzling features also mean better battery life. Much, much better.
Here’s what you need to know about Google’s Pixel 5 before you buy it.
If you want to see the phone in action, check out my video review below.
The battery life is the best I’ve experienced in years.
My battery stats show that a full charge takes 1.5-2 days. It’s worth noting that “full charge” means you can turn your phone on by 20% and the stats still count it as part of a single charge. That said, I have experienced 48 hours of power on a single charge with the Pixel 5.
My screen usage statistics, with a current battery level of 80%, show that the device has managed 2 hours and 14 minutes of screen touch time so far. Conservatively, I’d say I can comfortably get six to seven hours of heavy screen use, including a bit of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, ‘Gramming, and indulging YouTube procrastination a lot. This is an uncommon level of long-lasting power for a flaghsip phone from one of the major manufacturers.
To achieve this, Google has increased the battery size (4080 mAh) and scrapped key features of the Pixel 4 like the Soli radar chip, meaning there is no Face Unlock or gesture controls. I miss the first, minus the second. The Pixel 5 is also lighter, thinner, and has a smaller screen than its predecessor. But, most importantly, use a more energy efficient processor.
Simple camera technology still produces some of the best results
When it comes to specs, Samsung and Apple phones look best on paper. But that doesn’t tell the whole story.
Google’s advantage in computational photography means that its phones take good pictures despite having fewer megapixels. I have tested the phone extensively and the results are good. Google essentially uses the same 12.2MP sensor it has on previous phones, but it has added a new 16MP ultra-wide lens and removed the telephoto sensor from the Pixel 4.
However, the real MVP is Google’s post-processing skills. The software means that the images have excellent, natural color accuracy, not overly saturated like Samsung’s technology, and an excellent amount of detail. Google’s Night Sight, which takes a lot of photos at different levels of exposure and combines them to illuminate an image, works exceptionally well. The new portrait light feature, which lets you adjust the light source in an image after the fact, is smart. The Pixel 5 takes some of the best smartphone images, but at a much cheaper price than rival technology from Samsung and Apple.
It’s refreshingly compact
Google’s Pixel 5 is a story of losses. No more 3D Face Unlock, powered by its Soli radar technology, as is Active Edge to open the Assistant and glass frame. Therefore, it is lighter than the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL. In fact, it’s lighter than all previous XL Pixel phones and has a higher screen-to-body ratio than the Pixel 4 XL because it has virtually no notches or bezels. In English, that means you get more screen in a smaller phone. In the context of traditional smartphone design, this is a triumph.
The new recycled aluminum material is also a smart move. It has more grip, I prefer a matte material to the touch, and I don’t lose sight of sweaty fingerprints on the back of my phone.
But..
A mini storm is brewing in the Pixel 5 community right now. Owners have complained about a screen-to-body gap that appears on some units, raising questions about the phone’s IP water and dust rating. There were 400 comments on a single Reddit post, along with dozens of other posts. The first complaint on Google’s support forums received almost 1,000 upvotes and 612 responses, most of which complained of the same issue. Several affected users have also contacted me directly with the same issue.
Google says this is a normal part of the design, but it is also replacing the affected drives. Take what you want from that, but you should be aware that there is a chance that your phone will arrive with potentially problematic screen space.
