The Pixel and Google’s direction

Having used the Google Pixel for the last 48 hours, it’s still not very clear to me why they went this route instead of following through with the Nexus Program and the Android One Program.

For many years, Google has partnered with various mobile phone vendors to create a Nexus device. They’ve helped HTC, Samsung, Motorola, Asus, Huawei and LG make some of, if not the best, phones every single year. The last time they did this was with Huawei for the Nexus 6P and with LG for the Nexus 5X. Then that was it.

The Android One Program was also a laudable one. The aim was to bring the Nexus experience to really affordable, mostly sub-$100 devices. Google even partnered with local vendors like MyPhone and Cherry Mobile to really push the effort in the Philippines.

However, in the past 12 months, I have not seen or heard of any new Android One phone. Suffice it to say, I think Google has effectively abandoned the program as well.

Last month, Google made a surprise announcement with the Pixel and the Pixel XL.

Unlike the Nexus phones where Google merely collaborated with a vendor to push the latest Android operating system into the device, the Pixel line is completely Google’s own design from ground up. In effect, Google is now exactly the same as Apple when it comes to smartphones.

That runs counter to Google’s track record in the market considering that it bought Motorola in 2011 (for $12.5 billion) only to sell it off to Lenovo (for $2.9 billion) three years later.

I must admit, it’s quite hard to figure out what Google is trying to pursue here.

The Pixel phones aren’t cheap ($649 for the Pixel and $769 for the Pixel XL) either so it looks like it really wants to compete with Apple, or Samsung, head-on.

Anyway, since I’ve been using the Google Pixel for just two days, I can only share a little bit of what I think  about it.

The Google Pixel has the genes of a high-end flagship smartphone. It’s powered by a Snapdrgaon 821 chip with 4GB of RAM. Only drawback is that the 32GB/128GB storage options are not expandable due to the absence of a microSD card slot. Everything else is on point.

Up at the front, the Pixel has that uncanny resemblance to the iPhone 7  and the HTC 10 minus the physical home button. On the right side is the power button and volume controls; the SIM card tray on the left, 3.5mm audio port up top and a USB Type-C charging port and speaker grills at the bottom. You can also see the antenna bands around the sides going all the way to the back. The chunky corners and chamfered edges are reminiscent of those on the HTC 10.

The five-inch AMOLED display is protected by Gorilla Glass 4  and has a full HD (1920x1080pixel) resolution. The screen looks really nice, crisp and bright. The 1080p resolution is just about right for its size.

At the back you’ll see the matte aluminum finish with glass panel on the upper section that covers the camera, LED flash and a few sensors as well as a fingerprint scanner. I also tried the camera for a short while. It’s good in daylight but not so much on low-light conditions.

Under the hood, the Google Pixel comes with Android 7.1 Nougat. The homescreen has been redesigned with a new UI and app drawer. It looks more intuitive, snappy and responsive.

There were a few things I wish Google had addressed on this phone. One is the massive chin up front. That extra space could have been optimized for something useful. The second is the meager battery (2,770mAh) and third is the absence of a mciroSD card slot.

So far, I’m still liking it a lot – nice, unique design, solid build quality, great performance and, of course, the latest Androud Nougat right out of the box. Google Pixel specs:

5-inch AMOLED display @ 1080 x 1920 pixels, 441ppi

Corning Gorilla Glass 4

2.15GHz Quad-Core Qualcomm MSM8996 Snapdragon 821

Adreno 530

4GB RAM

32GB, 128GB internal storage

12.3 MP f/2.0 PDAF rear camera with dual tone LED Flash, OIS

8 MP, f/2.0 front camera

4G LTE, 3G HSPA+

Dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/a

Bluetooth 4.2

GPS with A-GPS, GLONASS

Fingerprint scanner

NFC

Gyro Sensor

USB-C

Android 7.1 Nougat

2770mAh Li-Ion battery with Quick Charge