I guess, tomorrow is the day.... [Google Pixel 4 launch]

[sze5003]

I was going to post an update tonight. I've finished setting mine up on last night. Everything ported over from my 3xl in less than 7 minutes.

First the screen is very good. I haven't noticed it drop to 60hz and I'm using adaptive brightness. It pops more and it's sharp. You can also chose between natural, boosted and adaptive color modes.

Everything is just super snappy. You can tell with the 90hz how smooth every motion is on the screen. I didn't have any issues with motion sense. It works everytime I've used it in YouTube music.

Surprisingly the speakers, bottom firing and the top are very good and loud. I prefer them compared to the rattling ones I had on the 3xl.

Here's a few screenshots of what battery life looks like so far since 6am this morning.

What's cool is if I leave the phone alone, except at my office since it's under a monitor, the screen goes off and when I go to reach for it the screen activates half way and before I even have it at a position near my face, it's unlocked.

 

[VashHT]

Doesn't look too bad, does it seem about on par with your 3XL's battery life? I guess mine was supposed to be delivered a day early today but I missed it so I'll have to get it tomorrow. Kinda wish Google used UPS for shipping, there's a big shipping center close to me where I can go pick up UPS packages if I miss them.

 

[MrSquished]

Doesn't look too bad, does it seem about on par with your 3XL's battery life? I guess mine was supposed to be delivered a day early today but I missed it so I'll have to get it tomorrow. Kinda wish Google used UPS for shipping, there's a big shipping center close to me where I can go pick up UPS packages if I miss them.

I guess, tomorrow is the day for me too. After calling over 10 AT&T stores near me I finally found one with the XL in stock but they won't be selling it until tomorrow.

edit: nm the damn store only has Just Black XL in 64GB. I'll have to order it online and get it early next week instead. gosh darnit.

 

[jackstar7]

I wonder if they scaled back on stock after the lackluster sales on the 3 so they can then tout higher demand than supply in the early days. Or I'm just being cynical...

 

[sze5003]

Doesn't look too bad, does it seem about on par with your 3XL's battery life? I guess mine was supposed to be delivered a day early today but I missed it so I'll have to get it tomorrow. Kinda wish Google used UPS for shipping, there's a big shipping center close to me where I can go pick up UPS packages if I miss them.

I can't say that my 3XL had very good battery life. Maybe for a couple of months until later updates came out and the memory leak issue was discovered. It only started getting a bit better with Android 10 and dark theme. I do have dark theme enabled on the 4XL too.

One thing I find odd is at home the screen on the 4XL turns off by itself until I reach for the phone (always on display is on in settings too). But at work the time is displayed on the lock screen. I guess it may have to do with the lighting or maybe having the phone close to me at my desk is not letting the radar sense that I'm away. I'm sitting on my couch right now and have the phone on the arm rest. Screen won't go off so it looks like for that to activate you need to actually be further away from the phone.

If you've enjoyed stock Android and you want that and a 90hz screen, you will enjoy how much smoother its gotten. I can't say I would reccomend this phone to everyone though. Its expensive and you can get cheaper alternatives if you don't care about the camera, 90hz, stock android, new assistant, and latest android updates.

I always end up giving my brother my previous Pixel and for my sister, I usually buy her a one plus phone and she came from always having the Samsung S series phones. I do like the Pixel camera a lot and I've just gotten used to always having the latest updates, but most of all I just love the feel of stock Android compared to skins. OnePlus is actually the closest to stock and I hear Google partnered with them to work on Android TV so they must be doing something right.

 

[Ichinisan]

Someone fix the thread title. Every time this thread gets bumped in my "recent posts" feed, I have to tap this thread to remember what it was about.

I have a terrible memory and it wastes a lot of time.

 

[MrSquished]

I can't say that my 3XL had very good battery life. Maybe for a couple of months until later updates came out and the memory leak issue was discovered. It only started getting a bit better with Android 10 and dark theme. I do have dark theme enabled on the 4XL too.

One thing I find odd is at home the screen on the 4XL turns off by itself until I reach for the phone (always on display is on in settings too). But at work the time is displayed on the lock screen. I guess it may have to do with the lighting or maybe having the phone close to me at my desk is not letting the radar sense that I'm away. I'm sitting on my couch right now and have the phone on the arm rest. Screen won't go off so it looks like for that to activate you need to actually be further away from the phone.

If you've enjoyed stock Android and you want that and a 90hz screen, you will enjoy how much smoother its gotten. I can't say I would reccomend this phone to everyone though. Its expensive and you can get cheaper alternatives if you don't care about the camera, 90hz, stock android, new assistant, and latest android updates.

I always end up giving my brother my previous Pixel and for my sister, I usually buy her a one plus phone and she came from always having the Samsung S series phones. I do like the Pixel camera a lot and I've just gotten used to always having the latest updates, but most of all I just love the feel of stock Android compared to skins. OnePlus is actually the closest to stock and I hear Google partnered with them to work on Android TV so they must be doing something right.

You can't beat the Pixels for the reasons you listed. Which is quite a lot really. It was really hard for me to wait this long for the Pixel 4 to come out but no matter how much I read about other phones I knew I'd have to wait for the Pixel 4 to come out before making a decision at least, which would most likely be to get the PIxel. The only other thing that was most intriguing to me was the Huawei offering but that was a no go due to the USA-China tech/trade wars.

 

[sze5003]

You can't beat the Pixels for the reasons you listed. Which is quite a lot really. It was really hard for me to wait this long for the Pixel 4 to come out but no matter how much I read about other phones I knew I'd have to wait for the Pixel 4 to come out before making a decision at least, which would most likely be to get the PIxel. The only other thing that was most intriguing to me was the Huawei offering but that was a no go due to the USA-China tech/trade wars.

If anything try it out in store and see if you like it. But once you've had one pixel phone and you've had a good experience for the most part, you know why you would want the next one.

I still think Google could have done something else other than than the soli radar. Maybe put a bigger battery? Unless they can give us volume control which would be dope. Right now I know that motion sense is a big battery drainer but I don't turn it off because I find it useful that the phone detects when I'm going to pick it up and unlocks, and it does it accurately too.

 

[MrSquished]

If anything try it out in store and see if you like it. But once you've had one pixel phone and you've had a good experience for the most part, you know why you would want the next one.

I still think Google could have done something else other than than the soli radar. Maybe put a bigger battery? Unless they can give us volume control which would be dope. Right now I know that motion sense is a big battery drainer but I don't turn it off because I find it useful that the phone detects when I'm going to pick it up and unlocks, and it does it accurately too.

Yeah the phone should have been slightly thicker with a bigger battery for sure. This is why I'm buying the PIxel 4 XL with the AT&T next plan, because I suspect the Pixel 5's will rectify that, plus have three camera lenses on the back, and I'll definitely want to upgrade then.

 

[sze5003]

I'm sure next year we will see bigger battery and possibly a third camera as Google always is a year behind what apple puts in their phones.

My battery life today is not the same as yesterday , seems to drain a bit quicker. One guy on Reddit mentioned getting 7 hours of use on the regular 4 by disabling literally everything that you would buy this phone for. That's hilarious, if I disable 90hz screen then it's just like my 3XL in terms of smoothness.

 

[VashHT]

I hope they finally ditch the 64gb models next year, it should be 128/256 minimum at this point in time. I can live with 128 pretty easily but 64 just isn't really enough, I'd have to aggressively backup and remove photos from my phone which would get kinda annoying. Other than that a bigger battery is pretty much all I'd really want, but I'd guess they add the ultra wide next year too since every other phone seems to have one now.

Anyways, I thought I put in a request to hold my phone at the fedex store by me but apparently it didn't go through or something because they tried to deliver it to my house again, wish I had just signed the door tag and left it up.

 

[MrSquished]

I'm sure next year we will see bigger battery and possibly a third camera as Google always is a year behind what apple puts in their phones.

My battery life today is not the same as yesterday , seems to drain a bit quicker. One guy on Reddit mentioned getting 7 hours of use on the regular 4 by disabling literally everything that you would buy this phone for. That's hilarious, if I disable 90hz screen then it's just like my 3XL in terms of smoothness.

google is weird like that. I mean if I had to choose only two lenses on a phone I would indeed choose a regular wide angle and a small zoom lens like they did - that matches the standard walkabout lens range of 24-70mm pretty much that is so standard for the dslr and mirrorless worlds. Ultrawide is just less needed, but does come in handy. Really boggles the mind why they couldn't include 3 lenses. Oh well.

 

[VashHT]

Google always seems to be late to add hardware stuff that other companies already have, makes me wonder what their hardware design process is like.

 

[richaron]

Been playing with the Pixel 4 XL for a day or so now and I have to say I'm sold on the face unlock, and less skeptical about the radar chip. Not that the radar is super useful, but even as simply a more powerful proximity sensor it's a positive (to prep face unlock, wake the display, or do something to an alarm).

Lack of fingerprint reader was almost a deal breaker for me but after only using the face unlock for 24hrs I've gotta say it's da bomb. I have zero concerns about security since I'll never completely trust a phone's rinky-dink biometrics. But as far as security goes I'm sure this face unlock is better than a fingerprint and something I now much prefer, even if initially it may seem less convenient.

 

[sze5003]

I'm also enjoying the face unlock. I specifically like motion sense for use of the phone knowing when you go to reach for it. You do save a lot of battery if you turn off motion sense.

I notice in options there's also a setting to prevent your screen from turning off if you are looking at it.

I really hope they expand the use of soli because I like it for the unlocking of the phone but I can't say in public I would use it to change music tracks.

 

[jackstar7]

Joining the trend, my phone arrived this morning, and after the process of getting it all sorted and updated, I am also not mad about the face unlock.
My finger is still reaching for the fingerprint spot on the back of the phone at this point, but overall, I'm adjusting and finding that it works nicely.

No issues so far from any of the things I do with it and hoping to have time this evening to take some night pics and see how that looks.

I do wish if you'd have a pixel 1 that you could maintain the infinite storage tied to your account, but I suppose that was never going to last, especially with the level of detail that the camera can manage now vs then.

No remorse so far.

 

[MrSquished]

Just got my phone and setting it up. I'll have impressions soon as well. The Panda version is quite gorgeous in person also.

 

[ericlp]

I wonder if that radar chip will be able useful for robots to see us or know who is walking through a room. OR maybe even more interesting, instead of a security camera, the chip is so detailed, it could pick a person out of 100 or more.... Sorry if this is off topic.... but, what a way for google to test out machine vision, by having millions of users test its technology and train AI, to detect millions of faces for free. To me, this could be the future for giving robots vision. Can you imagine future implementations of this? This potential for this tech is pure gold.

What's even more interesting... is if you compare the pixel 3 to pixel 4...

They changed the name of Pixel Vision Core to Pixel Neural Core™

That's about the only cool new thing, the radar chip won't sell me on the phone alone. To be honest, all google had to do, was add a nice wide angle lens, and a bigger battery, and I'd have been sold. Such a pity... I too could have had my mug stored digitally someplace on google's cloud. Just think, something so secure, that you just walk into mcdonalds, and by the time, you looked up at the automated kiosk, Mcdonalds already knows who you are, what type of value meal you want, and with those extra tomatoes, etc...etc... how you like it, all you gotta do is hit the green button, and your cash funds are transferred from your bank and your food ready in less than 2 minutes.

All that...and you didn't even have to reach for your phone or wallet. We can tell our grandkids, that we had to actually pay by swiping a credit card... LOL!

 

[sze5003]

A funny thing I noticed about the soli radar motion sense. I put my phone off to the side about a foot away from me. I had turned my head facing the TV. I could tell from my peripheral that the lockscreen on my phone had one black.

I slightly turn my head a little bit and look at the phone. Suddenly, the lockscreen lights up and shows the time and my notifications.

Not gonna lie this was a bit creepy but I've gotten used to it. It's kind of reminds of "Where do you want to go, Dave?" (HAL reference for those of you not familiar).

 

[VashHT]

Well I finally picked mine up Saturday, so far I think it's pretty good. Battery has been good compared to my 3XL, I think even a bit better than when I first got my 3XL. I was a little surprised my 4XL actually stays at 100% by the time I get to work, I've got a pretty short drive but I always listen to music or an audiobook over bluetooth so that usually drains my battery down a little bit at least. I was down to around 38% by the time I went to bed last night, so pretty easily got through the day for me.

I've left everything on for now, honestly I'm not really that blown away by the 90Hz, it looks smoother but really not that much better imo. The screen overall looks a lot nicer than my 3XL, brighter and the colors look a bit better. Face unlock works really well, can't say I'm really missing the fingerprint scanner. My only complaint there is I used to check my lock screen a lot for notifications but now it opens so fast I barely even see the lockscreen, I think there might be a setting to change it so it's like FaceID but I haven't looked yet. The motion controls otherwise are kind of neat, the only one I really use is to snooze my alarm in the morning so far.

Other than that it feels like a pretty boring upgrade but not really in a bad way, overall the phone works as I expected it to so there's not much in the way of anything really surprising or interesting. Only complaint would be a bigger battery for me, I get through a day pretty easily, but I also picked up an iphone 11 pro max just to see how they were and the battery life on there is insane. Contemplating now which one to return, if the 4XL and anywhere near the life of the 11 pro it'd be a no brainer, honestly that's the only thing I really like a lot more on the iphone.

 

[MrSquished]

This is an exceptional phone. I have the P4 XL and have had it for a week. It's probably the best android experience phone out there today. Is it a tad overpriced? Probably. Ideally it should have a slightly bigger battery and a third xtra wide angle lens camera, and then it would be perfection really. But it's so close. If I had to choose between an xtra wide angle or a zoom for a 2nd lens, I'd go with the tele as google did, but these days a flagship should have all 3.

I do find the battery to be quite alright on the XL version for my usage however. If you have a long day and then are going to go out all night, you will probably need a top up though.

The experience is just so smooth. Screen is an upgrade over the Pixel 2xl. Blacks and colors are better. The phone, well it's noticeably snappier, and the P2xl was no slouch in that department. Multi tasking is super smooth as well. The speakers are loud and nice. Face unlock is actually quite nice and responsive. Works with my hat on, glasses on, shades on, hoodie on and in the dark no problem. Just need all financial apps to catch up and utilize the new biometrics API. I've had Android 10 since one of the betas on the P2xl and it just feels like a newer os on the P4xl.

Definitely highly recommend the P4XL. Unsure about the regular P4 as the battery is quite small.

 

[uiremia]

The Google Pixel 4 facial recognition works even if you're asleep / dead.

That seems problematic!

The feature was reported by BBC News - their reporter Chris Fox clearly demonstrated blind unlocking on his Twitter. According to the BBC, the situation repeated when tested on different people. On the images of devices that got into the network before the release, a screen with the settings of the face recognition system was noticeable. There was an inscription "Open your eyes to unlock", but in the devices provided by the BBC for testing this inscription was no longer there. Google has confirmed that they are not going to return this warning to the release version.

However, Google does not hide features. On the support page, a separate paragraph indicates that someone very similar to you or someone who brings the phone to your face when you are asleep can use the face recognition unlock. For those who are not comfortable with this state of affairs, it is proposed to enable entry blocking.

 

[sze5003]

Today they started rolling out an update for the 90hz screen going down to 60hz under certain brightness conditions. So apparently now it won't do that anymore but I haven't really noticed it doing that as I use adaptive brightness.

One thing I notice is that without adaptive brightness, the normal brightness is way low at 50%. Anything ideal is over that value. Don't know why that is.

There is something weird about the area I work in. To test out if my battery was being drained due to bad service, I turned off data, location, and just kept on wifi and Bluetooth. I streamed about 2hrs of music from YouTube music.

I still noticed the battery going down like it would with data and location off. Phone was off the charger at 6am, went to the gym and streamed music including to and from work. It's about 9:25pm now and I'm at 49% with 2hr and 20 min of screen time.

I must be getting better service consistently in the city where my girlfriend lives because on the weekend while I'm there I notice my battery just stays pretty steady but I still don't use as much screen time. Close to 3hrs 30 min total before I feel uncomfortable leaving it at that without charging it.

Like you mentioned above, it will easily last until 9-10pm and have less than 50% battery left but if you plan on going out for a couple more hours, definitely charge it up for 15 minutes or so. Uber, Lyft, camera use will drain it if you try to make it last until you get back.

I actually had to turn it off last weekend when we went to a Halloween party because gf and friends loved the pics my phone takes but I didn't charge it before we went out so it was hanging on to 15% by end of the night.

 

[richaron]

The Google Pixel 4 facial recognition works even if you're asleep / dead.

That seems problematic!

I have zero idea why this issue has so much traction on the interwebs. Seems like a whole bunch of people jumped on the bandwagon without really considering the situation.

It was obviously software fixable from the start, and google directly warn people in the setup procedure. I've noticed heaps of people whinging about what is essentially the second best "phone biometric security" on the market but I don't hear much about all the followers. Sure it's not ideal at the moment but what are we comparing it to? It's not like people can't enter a PIN or use your finger while you are asleep...

I'm expecting decent ongoing software support; to address the above issue, the 90Hz display thing, make the radar useful, and more. The release day 90Hz setting seems like a hack job, maybe for battery reviews, but something which needs deep OS integration to be optimal. And I'm hoping the display hardware is capable of finer tuning than just 60/90Hz. Plus obviously the radar has a long way to go and unknown possibilities.

Lastly I feel a bit like a Beta tester for google's photography team working on their multiple lens algorithms. Not that it doesn't work now (it totally does), and without a doubt it will keep improving. But it feels like they went with 2 rear cameras as a solid first step before really diving in, and it makes me wonder 'what could have been'.