Google Pixel review (and XL): Google appears to be killing off its 2016 Pixels

As rumours of the Google Pixel 3 rumble on, teaser images of the OnePlus 6 hit Twitter, and the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL keep getting the odd price cut, it was only a matter of time until we had to face the demise of the original Pixel handsets. 

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Alas, that time is now. Ars Technica is reporting that the tech giant has ceased production of all new Pixel and Pixel XL handsets, and, as chance would have it, neither 2016 phone is available directly from Google anymore.

The Google Pixel handsets were the bees’ knees when they were released in 2016, but more than 18 months since their first release, their specs are lacking and cheap contracts have all but died out. 

If you’ve been wanting to buy one of the old handsets, or you want one for posterity, you can still pick up a Pixel and Pixel XL from Amazon from £469, although at the time of writing there were only three in stock. The news comes on the same day the OnePlus 5T sold out, ahead of the imminent release of the OnePlus 6.

You can read Jon’s review of the original Google Pixels below.

The Google Pixel represents an important moment in the smartphone industry. Why? Because the new Google Pixel phone and its supersized cousin, the Google Pixel XL, represent a paradigm shift. The Pixel phone is Google, finally, going out on a limb and stamping its own mark on a smartphone, and it’s going directly after the big boys. The clue is in the pricing, which let’s face it, is going to be a huge disappointment to fans (and I count myself among them) of the now-defunct Nexus brand.

The Nexus name always stood for reasonable prices, great specifications and a chance to keep up with the freshest, most up-to-date version of Android. The Pixel brand retains only two of those key strengths, ditching low prices in favour of iPhone-matching, wallet-shrinking starting prices of £599 for the Pixel and £719 for the Pixel XL.

So do the new Google phones deliver, and are they a match for the iPhone 7 or the Samsung Galaxy S7? Are they as good as the prices suggest they should be or has Google slipped up? The answer is, as it so frequently is to such rhetorical questions, a bit of both.

Google Pixel and Pixel XL: Key specs

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Google Pixel and Pixel XL review: Design

First up, the Pixel phones both look great. From a design perspective, I prefer them to Apple iPhone 7 and 7 Plus. I was sent the larger of the two to review and was immediately struck by how much impact a little cut in weight and height makes. The Google Pixel XL simply feels more comfortable to hold and slip into the pocket than the iPhone 7 Plus, the standard Pixel even more so, and I’m a fan of the way it looks too.

Essentially, it’s a progression of the design seen on last year’s Nexus 6P, just a little more polished. It could even be described as a touch outlandish, with its inset glass camera surround spanning the top third of the rear panel, encompassing the camera and circular, centre-mounted fingerprint reader. I like it; you may not, but at least you couldn’t call the design bland.

What I’m not so keen on, and more than a little disappointed by, is the relative ease with which that glass rear seemed to scratch and scuff. Not three days after first easing the Pixel XL from its box, and being very careful about how and where I put it down in the interim, I found several short, light scratches marring the surface. I dread to think what it will look like in a year or so’s time after I’ve grown tired of being ultra-careful with it.

Something else I don’t like is the phone’s lack of dust and water resistance. Although it has become apparent since the launch of the two phones that there is a modicum of protection, the two phones are only rated at IP53. That second number is the one that refers to water resistance, and a figure of three, according to Wikipedia, denotes protection from “water falling as a spray at any angle up to 60° from the vertical shall have no harmful effect, utilizing either: a) an oscillating fixture, or b) A spray nozzle with a counterbalanced shield”. So, it’ll probably be okay if you’re caught in a rain shower, but it may not survive you dropping it in the bath.

The iPhones and Samsung phones are IP67 and IP68 rated, affording protection against complete immersion at a depth of at least a metre, and for up to 30 minutes, so they’re far more robust when it comes to the wet stuff.

So, there’s some good news and some bad news. Everything else about the Pixel is firmly middle of the road, right down to the good old-fashioned 3.5mm headphone jack on the top edge and the white/silver and black/charcoal colours it’s available in. It’s good to see at least one manufacturer rejecting the idea of offering a lurid rose-gold finish.