It’s been a pretty crazy year. Not just for the smartphone industry, but for the whole world in general. I’m here to talk mainly about the smartphone part of course. Looking back, I haven’t actually reviewed that many phones this year. Since this is more of a side hobby, I only buy phones that interests me. So here’s a list of phones I’ve reviewed this year.
So let’s start by talking about what I think are the best phones this year.
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Apple iPhone 7
You can’t go wrong with an iPhone, and the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus is the best iPhone to date. On top of the stellar performance typical of an iPhone, Apple added IP67 water and dust resistance for added durability. Optical Image Stabilisation is now a standard too even on the smaller iPhone 7, battery life has been improved, and the home button is now non-mechanical (which should help with durability).
Design is its weakest link in the sense that it is clearly inspired by the iPhone 6/6S, but at least the minor tweaks makes the phone better looking. The removal of the headset jack could be a potential pain point for many, but for me it’s a non-issue as I use bluetooth earbuds primarily.
iOS 10 is still a beast when it comes to optimisation, and gives great performance and battery life. Not to mention it will be getting prompt software support from Apple for a long time to come. Great hardware, great software. You simply can’t go wrong with the iPhone 7.
Google Pixel
2016 is a milestone year for Android devices. It’s the first time Google has branded and marketed their own Android device. RIP Nexus. Welcome Pixel. The Google Pixel is basically Google showing their own take on Android. How it should be experienced, and what direction it’s going towards.
That direction is Google Assistant, the smart voice assistant that Google thinks will be the future of smartphones. While in its infancy, Google Assistant shows great promise. It’s just not quite ready to take the world by storm yet in my opinion. On the bright side, even without the Assistant, the Google Pixel is a damn good phone.
It’s the smoothest Android phone I have used. With Google’s optimisation and the best Qualcomm has to offer, speed is something the Pixel has abundance of. Not quite at the iPhone 7’s level, but close. Since this is a Google phone after all, you also get fast updates direct from Google. No need to wait around for months after a new version of Android. It also showcases the result of hardware and software wizardry when it comes to imaging. Google’s HDR+ mode is mightily impressive, along with Google’s electronic image stabilisation. The unlimited full resolution Google Photos upload is a great perk too for happy snappers.
The only minor downside would be the lack of any significant water resistance on the phone, which I think should be a standard feature when it comes to a phone at its price point. Which brings me to its major downside that puts it below the iPhone 7 for me. Price and availability. It’s not available in that many countries, and if you want to import it or buy it from an importer, it costs more than the iPhone 7 does and comes without warranty.
If you can live with that caveat, and love Android, the Google Pixel is a pretty magical device.
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Some other honourable mentions for the Android side of things. If you are not willing to compromise on durability and local warranty, Samsung’s Galaxy S7 Edge is the way to go. Top end specifications, in a package that’s not only premium but also water and dust resistance. While this is an honourable mention, you’re not really compromising on the hardware front.
The S7 Edge is probably one of the prettiest phone this year with its curved edges, and glass front and back. A huge feat for Samsung considering just a few years back this was their weakest area. Camera wise you’re also getting one of the best camera hardware around, with the fastest autofocus system on any smartphone camera to date. Samsung also has the best display I have seen on any phone this year as well.
The only reason it’s not at the top of my list is its software. TouchWiz is no longer the intolerable abomination like it was before. It’s tolerable, but still has lots of room for improvements. It comes with it own set of software enhancements (some useful, some not so much), but in terms of performance, it’s still nowhere near the likes of the Google Pixel. The speed of software updates is a huge downside for the S7 Edge too. It’s almost the end of 2016, and there is no Samsung smartphone running Android Nougat yet.
If you’re on a budget or looking to get a phone off-contract, there is another great alternative available. The OnePlus 3T. It requires a bit of savvy shopping, but it’s worth the effort. This is a phone that costs way less than the other alternatives, but provides 90% of the experience.
It has the same processor as the Google Pixel, with 6GB of RAM, and a big battery at 3,400mAh. The OS is also one of the smoothest around, perhaps just behind the Google Pixel a tiny bit. There is no water resistance, and the camera isn’t quite at the level of the top dogs, but for its price, there isn’t really anything to complain about. Well, you have to live without local warranty, but I think it’s worth the risk. On local shopping site Qoo10.sg, you can find the Chinese variant of the OnePlus 3T at around S$500 since they have coupons going on for Christmas. It’s still available as of this post until the 26th of December. For that price, I don't think you can do any better.
Now for my favourite phone of the year. The phone that I spent the most amount of time with. The phone that I use in between reviews. Apple iPhone SE
The thing I like most about the SE is its size. Surprise, surprise. I like phones that I can use one-handed easily, and nothing comes close to the iPhone SE. It has updated internals that gives it great performance on par with most modern phones, and the battery life has been pretty great for my usage. It may not have the latest specifications, but it does everything I need a phone to do, and then some.
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It’s been a pretty good year I think for most manufacturers. OnePlus finally got their act together and put together a solid phone. The HTC 10 is one of my favourite phone this year too. Despite not being the best, it’s a great option if you don’t want something too mainstream. Apple is still putting out great devices, and Samsung isn’t far behind. As a cherry on top, Xiaomi released the impressive looking bezel-less Mi Mix..
On a lower note, BlackBerry has sort of given up on designing their own smartphones. Lenovo hasn’t been doing a great job with the Motorola brand in my opinion. Sony is stubbornly keeping their formula of putting out unremarkable devices at premium pricing. When they did reduce the price a little for the compact series, they took away the high end specifications that used to be a hallmark for the Compact series. LG’s G5 was a flop in my books, and the V20 fails to capitalise on Samsung’s explosive Note7.
Talking about Note7, the way it was handled leaves much to be desired, but you have to respect Samsung for going to such lengths. It's a huge shame considering the Note7 would have been one of the best phone this year if not for the recall.
Despite all that, I think there are plenty to look forward to in 2017 from all the manufacturers. Since LG's modular strategy doesn't seem to be working, it'll be interesting to see what they come up with next. Apple is rumoured to be making some big changes too, and Samsung is bound to have something interesting in the pipeline to make people forget about the whole Note7 debacle. Nokia is even said to be making a comeback. So here's to a better 2017. Merry Christmas to all, and a Happy New Year in advance.
After years of uncertainty, the Motorola brand found a new home at Lenovo. While the acquisition from Google was completed 2 years back, Lenovo stuck with a familiar looking lineup last year with the Moto X and Moto G. Undoubtedly looking to shake things up a bit this year, Lenovo launched the new Moto Z series back in July, and it’s finally available for sale in Singapore. Its selling point? Mods.
If you recall, back when the Moto X was released, you could go to MotoMaker and customise the look of your phone in your favourite material and colour combination. Moto Z takes this a step further by also allowing you to augment or enhance the functionality of your phone based on your needs.
Lenovo is not the only one betting on this “modular” future. LG launched the G5 earlier this year with its “friends”, and Google’s Project Ara aims to be a truly modular phone. But is it really the future? It has been rumoured that LG is abandoning its modular smartphone platform for next year’s flagship, and Google has all but gave up on the gargantuan effort required to bring Ara to life.
Can Lenovo really make this work with its Moto Z lineup?
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Let’s start by taking a look at the phone. The highlight of the Moto Z's design is undoubtedly its thinness. At just 5.2-millimetre thin, this is one of the thinnest smartphone in the market. Despite that, the phone still feels remarkably solid with its metal and glass construction. Design wise, I can only describe it as sharp looking. It’s not the prettiest or most elegant looking phone, but it fits the “high tech” look of a phone that is striving for the cutting edge of mobile technology.
I do wish that they would go without the “moto” branding to keep the look simpler. The front of the phone looks complicated enough as it is. I think the Motorola “batwing” emblem should be recognisable enough.
Being such a thin and relatively large phone with a 5.5-inch screen, the phone is not exactly the most comfortable thing to use one-handed. Perhaps due to space constraints, the power and volume buttons are placed way higher than I would have liked. They are also pretty tiny with little to differentiate between them other than the power button being textured.
Similar to the iPhone 7, the Moto Z lacks an audio jack, which could annoy some people. I don't really mind it either way since I am using bluetooth earbuds pretty much all the time. A USB Type C to 3.5-millimetres audio jack is included in the box if you still prefer the wired option. The brilliant stereo front firing speakers from the Moto X Style unfortunately didn’t make its way over too. Instead the Moto Z has a single speaker at the top doubling as both the call speaker, and for media playback. At least it is still front firing, and it still sounds pretty decent.
The screen is a 5.5-inch AMOLED display with QHD resolution. Outdoor visibility could be a tad better in bright daylight, but in general it’s a decent looking screen. Just below the screen, there is a fingerprint sensor that can be used to turn the display on and off. It takes a little bit of getting used to as the sensor does not work as the home button like on other smartphones. While the squarish design of the sensor doesn’t look too appealing to me, it works well enough. The fact that I can long press to turn off the screen is a huge plus too considering the inconveniently placed power button.
Like most recent Motorola phones, the Moto Z runs a version of Android that is relatively close to stock Android. Instead of theming and changing the look of the user interface, Motorola added minor enhancements and features to the software to make it stand out. The result is a smooth user interface with minimal bloatware. This has been a winning formula for Motorola since the beginning of the Moto series of devices, and it’s great to see Lenovo sticking to it.
(Wave over the display to wake the screen)
(Double twist to launch the camera)
(Double chop to turn on the LED flashlight)
The use of the Snapdragon 820 chipset along with a near stock Android operating system is one of my favourite flavours of Android. Of course since then we have had newer devices like the OnePlus 3T and Google Pixel, both of which uses the newer Snapdragon 821 chipset. However, the 820 is still more than capable enough to handle most that you throw at it. While in day to day use I do find the Google Pixel and OnePlus 3 to be a bit snappier, most people probably wouldn’t even notice the difference unless they have both phones side by side. I did notice that the phone gets a little bit warm when under heavier use, probably due to the combination of being so thin, and its metal body.
Motorola has never been known for their camera prowess, and the Moto Z is sadly no different. The Moto Z packs a 13-megapixel rear camera, f/1.8 aperture, laser assisted autofocus, dual tone LED flash, and optical image stabilisation. Pretty much in line with other high end smartphones on paper.
Image quality wise, it is a decent performer, but still trails behind the top dogs. Images in general looks decent, with punchy colours and decent dynamic range. It’s a perfectly serviceable camera in most situations, just not the best. My only complaint would probably be the viewfinder. The resolution of the preview, and the refresh rate is just a bit too choppy for my liking, especially in low light.
Despite its anorexic look, the Moto Z still manages to pack in top end specifications which is no easy feat, but there’s a catch though. Space is at a premium when it comes to smartphones, especially one this thin. So something has to be reduced, and in this case it’s the battery capacity.
At 2,600mAh, it just isn’t enough to keep the Moto Z powered long enough for my liking. For my normal usage, I could get it to last a day pretty easily. Your mileage may vary though. Any heavier use, you will probably have to charge the phone before the day is done. I have to commend Lenovo on their optimisations on the phone though. I wasn’t expecting the phone to last nearly as long as it did. Still, a bigger battery would have been nice.
This is where the Moto Mods comes into play, because you can sacrifice that thinness for a much longer lasting phone if you want to. The Moto Z allows you to attach a single back shell on the back of the phone that augments or add functionality to the phone. This is not the first time we have seen the idea this year, but it’s arguably the best attempt yet.
This is made possible by the 16 pins behind the phone which allows it to connect to these mods with a snap. Strong magnets along with the camera hump helps hold the mods in place. Motorola already has a handful of mods like a projector, a speaker, a variety of battery packs, a vehicle dock, a camera attachment from Hasselblad, and a variety of back shells for purely aesthetic purposes.
They also promised that they will be releasing more mods, and all those will work with the Moto Z series of phones in the future as well. Developer kits are also available to help developers kickstart making their own mods, and Lenovo are hosting hackathons to create new Moto Mods too.
All these sounds promising, but it does mean that you have to really buy into the ecosystem, and really believe in Lenovo to keep their promise.
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The Moto Z is a decent smartphone, and that’s the best way I can describe it. It does what a modern day flagship smartphone should do, in a package that is thinner than most. But, it is a phone that I find hard to recommend to anyone unless they know what they are getting themselves into. Because if you’re looking for a great smartphone, and don’t care about the mods, there are cheaper and better alternatives out there.
While Moto Mods is an interesting idea, and I applaud Lenovo for trying, it is not something that I find exceedingly useful. It is also one that comes with compromises of its own. Instead of having mods to enhance a particular feature, like the speaker quality or battery life, I rather just have better speakers, and a bigger battery to begin with. The Moto Mods are also the reason why the camera hump is so huge. Other than to hold the camera components, it is also to hold the mods in place. To hide the hump, you have to use the style mods. While that gives the phone a nice unique look, it adds thickness to the phone without adding any extra battery life or functionality.
Then there is the matter of price too. This is not a cheap phone. At a recommended retail price of S$899, it costs almost as much as other flagship devices in the market. In the case of the OnePlus 3T, it is actually way more expensive. Furthermore, to get better battery life, better speakers, you will need to shell out additional cash for the Moto Mods. Best part is, those mods only work with the Moto Z series. This is a huge investment considering we don’t even know whether the next Moto Z is going to be any good. A comparable battery pack, bluetooth speaker, mobile projector, or even camera attachment like Sony’s QX10, costs about the same or less. And, those works with most other smartphones.
The whole Moto Mods and Moto Z ecosystem lock-in is one that requires huge amount of trust and faith in Lenovo. From their actions in the past few years after taking over Motorola, let’s just say it’s running a little low for me.
If you want something done right, do it yourself. I can almost imagine a motivational poster with that phrase being in the same room when the Pixel devices were conceived.
By Pixel devices, I don't mean just the Pixel and Pixel XL phones. The Pixel moniker has been around for a couple of years. The first Pixel device was the Chromebook Pixel sold in 2014, and 2015 saw two Pixel devices: the Chromebook Pixel (2015) and the Pixel C Android tablet. These are what I imagined to be Google showing the world their vision of the platform. They may not always have sold in large numbers, but they often represent the best the platform has to offer.
Alan Kay once said, “People who are really serious about software should make their own hardware”. This has worked magic for Apple, and in a time where even Microsoft is making their own hardware, the duo of Pixel smartphones are inevitable.
The question is, does it live up to the Pixel name?
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The thing about Android smartphones is this. typically, the software and hardware teams do not collaborate together. You have different manufacturers each trying to push their own vision of Android. Some would call it fragmented, Google wants you to think it’s diversified.
The matter of fact is, you are always getting some sort of compromise even on flagship Android devices. It may be an ugly skin, unwanted bloatware, slow updates, or sluggish performance, but it's definitely there. The Nexus line was perhaps closest to Google's vision for Android, but even that had a bit of compromises here and there.
Pixel is Google taking charge of both the software and hardware, and focusing on what they feel like would be the future of Android smartphones.
The Pixel comes in two flavours. The 5-inch Pixel, and the 5.5-inch Pixel XL. Storage options starts from 32GB, with the next step up being 128GB. The only differences between them are just the screen size, resolution, battery size, and importantly price. Talking about the price would probably give some Nexus fans sticker shock (like the Nexus 6 did). It starts at US$649 for a 32GB Pixel which is already significantly higher than last year’s Nexus 6P at US$499. For the Singapore market, the price goes higher than that since you would have to import them, adding tax and shipping into the cost.
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Phone By Google. These are the words that are etched on the back of the familiar looking metal body. While HTC is the manufacturer for the Pixel, you will find no branding that suggest so. Google says they designed the entire phone, but it’s hard not to see the influence HTC had on the design. Some may say that it’s a dead-ringer for the iPhone, but it looks more like an HTC phone to me.
For the most part, the design has grown on me. The glass and metal back gives it a unique look, and probably helps with radio reception. There is no unsightly camera bump on the Pixel due to the wedged shape design on the phone. Meaning the phone still feels thin because the slimmer bottom is where you will be holding the phone most of the time. I was a little concerned about the weight distribution, but the smaller Pixel still feels pretty comfortable in the hand.
The 5-inch FHD (1920 x 1080) screen on the Pixel is of the AMOLED variety, which means great colours, contrasts, and deep blacks. A little too saturated for my liking, but sRGB mode in the developer settings fixes that in a jiffy. It is a great quality display as one would expect from a flagship device. Samsung still has the upper hand here with higher resolution, and outdoor visibility on their S7, but in day to day use it is more than sufficient.
One of the thing I love about AMOLED screens would be its inky blacks. Which is why I am not a huge fan of the colour of the front bezel. The “Quite Black” colour is not quite black enough, and is in fact more like a grey. If the bezels were completely black and blends into the display, the bezel would probably look less prominent than it does now with a black wallpaper. A peculiar decision considering most Nexus devices in the past had completely black bezels.
That chin is huge, I know. Empty too. Unlike the HTC 10 which has a fingerprint sensor at the bottom, or the Nexus 6P which has a front facing speaker there, it is completely barren on the Pixel. On the bright side, it means I don’t have to reach too far down to use the navigational buttons, and it gives me a place to hold the phone in landscape comfortably. But, a speaker there would still be nice. Just saying.
Instead, the single firing speaker is at the bottom of the phone alongside the USB Type C charging port. This is undeniably a downgrade from the Nexus 6P’s solid stereo speakers, but for the occasional YouTube video, it sounds pretty pleasing with good volume and clarity. If that’s not sufficient, there is always the 3.5mm headphone jack on the top of the phone.
Like the Nexus 5X and 6P, the fingerprint sensor is at the back of the phone. I really have little preference about the location of the fingerprint sensor, no matter front or back facing. It's just a matter of getting used to it. The important thing is that it is fast and accurate, and the Pixel is both. It’s not the fastest fingerprint sensor I have used, but it’s consistent. For the Pixel, the fingerprint sensor works as a trackpad to pull the notification shade down, and saves your thumb a stretch.
The great build quality of the phone should come as no surprise considering HTC is the ODM (original design manufacturer) for the Pixel. The phone feels extremely solid, and even the buttons feels fantastic. The only minor gripe I have would probably be the lack of any significant water resistance. These days, it is possible to implement such features with no compromises (flimsy flaps) to its design. For a phone priced to compete with the best Android and iOS has to offer, it falls a little bit short in this aspect.
(It's interesting how the first Nexus and Pixel smartphone were both built by HTC,
just the the latter lacks any HTC branding)
The Pixel is the smoothest Android phone I have used thus far, and for a Google branded phone it has to be. With little to no dropped frames in the user interface animations, and a snappy touch response, the Pixel is now the yardstick for how an Android smartphone should perform.
The Pixel is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 821, 4GB of RAM, and UFS 2.0 storage. The top of the line specifications are kind of a requisite considering its price tag. Despite Google’s best effort, gaming performance on the Pixel still plays second fiddle to Apple’s latest offerings. It’s perfectly acceptable, but utterly unremarkable. But overall in day to day use, the Pixel is a silky bundle of joy.
The key to the Pixel is “optimisation”. Both software and hardware. The touch response, and the consistency of the excellent performance of the phone are testament to it. It shows in the battery life too. The Pixel I had with its 2,770mAh battery capacity lasted a day of use with absolute ease. It matches or outpaces comparable Android devices with larger batteries.
I have used every single Nexus smartphone. Nexus One, Nexus 6P, and everything in between. Despite being the “vanilla” Android experience, it has never felt well-optimised to me. The software may be smooth, but they weren’t always consistent. Battery life were never as good as the battery size suggests as well. Some were better than others, but nothing comes close to the Pixel. Google finally decided to pull in the reins, and for their first smartphone, the results are pretty magical.
With a 12.3 megapixel camera with an f/2.0 aperture, a 1.55-microns pixel size, two ways to focus; phase detection and laser auto focus, two tone LED flash, and a lack of optical image stabilisation, the camera hardware is pretty “meh” on paper. Google product VP Brian Rakowski calls this "the best smartphone camera anyone has ever made.", and backs it up with the highest score for a phone yet on DXOmark. Once bitten twice shy, so forgive my skepticism here.
After taking a ton of shots with it, I am happy to say the camera is largely pretty great, and sits at the top end of the spectrum alongside the Galaxy S7 and iPhone 7. Best is subjective though. In my opinion, the Pixel is just as good, but not quite above the rest. Which one you prefer would be just down to personal preference.
The same magic word “optimisation” can probably be used for the Pixel’s camera. Google achieved this with some clever software magic called HDR+. The lead of the computational photography team at Google Research, Marc Levoy explains it best, "The moment you press the shutter it's not actually taking a shot — it already took the shot. It took lots of shots! What happens when you press the shutter button is it just marks the time when you pressed it, uses the images it's already captured, and combines them together."
The results are pretty incredible in some instances. In daylight with Auto HDR+, the dynamic range in the photos are pretty phenomenal, and details are very well-preserved. The colours veer towards the vibrant side of things much like Samsung, but in general images look pretty pleasing to me. This may not be everyone’s cup of tea though. While the images looks pleasing, the iPhone still produces a more natural looking image which some may prefer.
The shot above was taken at ISO 4519 with a shutter speed of 1/15s. HDR+ does a great job controlling noise and grain while preserving details. It is interesting to note as well that the phone defaults to a faster shutter speed to prevent camera shake in low light. Google is relying pretty heavily on processing since the phone lacks optical image stabilisation, and the results are pretty good actually.
For a camera smartphone, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Hardware, software, and user experience all plays a part. On the Pixel, it’s three for three. Like the rest of the phone, the camera app launches and starts taking photos with no hesitation. The viewfinder refresh rate is smooth even in low light, and even HDR+ processing is much quicker than it was on the Nexus 6P. The camera defaults to auto HDR+, and takes a couple of seconds to process the image in the background while you can continue taking images. You can even manually turn HDR+ on to force the camera to take higher quality HDR+ images, but that might slow things down a bit. Focusing speeds doesn’t quite match Samsung’s Dual Pixel sensor in dimmer lighting conditions, but for the most part goes head to head with the Galaxy S7 in daylight.
For all of its high end specifications, the lack of optical image stabilisation is a curious omission for the Pixel. Much like for images, the solution is again software. The Pixel has video stabilisation software that ties the camera sensor to the gyroscope (which reads the gyro data 200 times a second). This isn’t exactly anything new or groundbreaking though. Remember Instagram’s Hyperlapse app that came out on iOS 2 years back?
From footage I have captured and seen, the videos taken are indeed stable, but with its limitations. The software is perhaps just trying a little too hard to stabilise the footage, resulting in it being slightly shifty at times. Panning can be a little bit jerky too with the software trying to predict whether I actually wanted to pan, or was it just a shake that it should correct. In short, the iPhone 7 still does a better job with the combinations of software and optical stabilisation. I believe though, with further updates, the Pixel could achieve better results.
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Could Google have done the same type of optimisations on a flagship level device, call it a Nexus, and sell it at flagship pricing? Absolutely. But remember what I said in the beginning about the Pixel lineup offering the best that the platform has to offer? In this case, it's not just Android. Think Google Assistant.
It all starts with a long press of the home button, and then just talking to it. You can use the phrase “Ok Google” too, but it doesn’t work too reliably for me. The interface of the Google Assistant is almost like a conversation, with you asking something, and Google answering it. My main use for the assistant is simply asking it to do some simple tasks like settings alarms, reminders, memos, and searching for something quick. For the most part it works well enough, but pronunciation can be a bit of a challenge at times.
There is a lot hanging on the Google Assistant. From the announcement of the Pixel, Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, believes that this is the next frontier. To create a personal Google for each person. In some capacity, it’s a valiant effort, but just not quite there yet. It does the basics well, and offers some great features like being able to search for my photos in Google Photos, add a new note in Google Keep, or just helping me remember something on the fly. However, it doesn’t seem to be able to talk to too many third party apps just yet, and struggles with more complex commands. I would love to be able to tell Google Assistant to “start a new 30 minutes workout on Endomondo, and play some music”.
The measure of how good a voice assistant to me, is how I can talk to it. If I can talk to it normally like I would a person, I think I will be more willing to use it. For now I still have to change how I talk to it so that it understands what to do.
While Google Assistant isn’t quite the next frontier just yet, the platform built to showcase it is another story though. Being a Google phone, this is a great chance for Google to show the world Android as they intended it to be. Android has taken a lot of flak for being jankier than its iOS counterpart, or third party apps simply aren’t as well optimised. Even nearing a decade old, some of those claims still holds some merit. That changes with the Pixel though. Mostly.
(Android Nougat finally brings native spilt screen multitasking)
The Pixel runs Android Nougat 7.1, a newer version of Nougat with a small handful of Pixel specific features. The thing you’ll notice first would be its launcher, which is using rounder icons as well as a new swipe up gesture to get to the app drawer, freeing up another spot for a shortcut. You also get chat and phone support built into the settings app, along with screen sharing features. Sadly it doesn't work if you’re using the phone in Singapore though. The best feature that we do get to enjoy would be the free, unlimited full resolution upload to Google Photos for every photo or video you take with the Pixel. This means that you almost never have to worry about running out of storage.
There is a new storage management option that can help you to clear away photos and videos that are already backed up to Google Photos. This takes the hassle and inconvenience out of having manually manage your storage especially if you have got the 32GB Pixel. The best part is, this might not be a Pixel exclusive feature as the same option is found on the 7.1.1 developer preview on my Nexus 5X.
The same goes for the 3D Touch-like shortcuts you get when you long press on an app icon. I think Google’s implementation is actually easier to use compared to Apple’s. You can even pin the shortcuts as an icon on the home screen if it’s something you use frequently. This comes in really handy because like 3D Touch, I always forget this functionality exists.
The Pixel has a few extras too which aren’t necessarily exclusive, but just limited to the Pixel for now because Nougat is so new. Like the support for Google’s VR platform Daydream VR, and the seamless update feature which allows updates to be installed in the background on a different partition. The phone simply and seamlessly switches over when the update is ready when you restart the phone. Goodbye to the “Installing Updates” screen rendering the phone useless for minutes on end. This feature can also serve as a backup of sorts should something go awry when installing an update.
The Pixel gets its software right. It focuses on the basics, and polished it to a shine. It just works, and really well I might add. If this is Google taking a more “opinionated” approach on their software, sign me up for more.
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In the end, I think this is a Pixel device through and through. It showcases the best that Android can offer now, and in part the best that Google Assistant has to offer. Calling the Pixel a remarkably good phone might be a bit of an understatement considering I think it might be the best Android phone I have used this year. In a few metrics it might not be at the top of its game, like the speaker, optical image stabilisation, display quality, lack of water resistance, or the design. But the whole is a lot greater than the sum of its parts. It is how the entire phone was put together that tells you that most aspects of the phone have been carefully considered and choreographed to work in synergy with one another. Plus the free unlimited full resolution backup to Google Photos is pretty neat too.
This is how Android should be experienced. For someone who is invested in Google services, and wants them to be integrated tightly into various aspects of their phone, the Pixel is a pretty magical smartphone. Google Assistant may not be quite the game-changer just yet, but you can be sure Google is hard at work right now.
So should you buy one? Probably not.
The biggest hurdle would be its price. The Pixel is not a cheap phone. In Singapore, the prices of the Pixel are higher than even the equivalent iPhone 7 variant. Since the phones are not sold in Singapore officially, you can only get it through importers or import one yourself. All the extra costs for a phone with no local warranty. The Pixel is good, but not THAT good. No phone is.
Google's first attempt at their own smartphone is pretty solid, despite a few shortcomings. For a smartphone today, it's one of the best Android phone you can buy. Just be prepared to pay a premium for it. But I already can't wait to see what the next Pixel will offer. Hopefully by then they will consider selling it in more countries. The flagship category of Android devices just got a whole lot more interesting.
