Since the first Google Pixel came out, I’ve been lucky enough to be gifted one every year to test out for myself by Google (#GiftedByGoogle), so getting my hands on the Pixel 4 was something I was looking forward to. I’ve always been an advocate for the Pixel’s camera, but there were several other reasons why I loved having a Pixel (detailed blog post on the reasons here). Now that I’ve gotten the upgrade from the 3XL, I wanted to share my first impressions of the Pixel 4. While my review isn’t going to be particularly detailed with specs and hardware information, I still thought it would be helpful to share my perspective as I’ve been a Pixel user for years. (All photos are taken on the Pixel 4 with some edited, others unedited - still playing around and finding out what I like!)
Another great camera. Honestly, there’s not much to say unless I want to get into what’s been physically upgraded - the Pixel has always had the superior back-facing camera in comparison to the iPhone in my opinion. I did a little test shoot outside and I saw what I expected: super-sharp images, great detail in low-light, and a decent zoom with the new telephoto lens. I’ve read about the online outrage over the Pixel 4 not having an ultra-wide lens, but I personally find the Pixel 4 to already shoot very wide in general (though I take a lot of photos of people and things rather than landscapes, so that may be the cause for my opinion). As for portrait mode, I’ve never really been into using that feature on any phone as I prefer the look of my DSLR for that “blurred out background“ look, but the test photo I took did look pretty natural after I adjusted the blur a bit. The front-facing camera though - I haven’t been a huge fan since the 3 came out. The ultra-HDR does weird warp-y things to my face and can look super generated in certain angles. The astrophotography feature is not something I’ve tried out yet (there’s not really an opportunity for me to use it very often where I live), but I do want to play around with it when I get the chance. So yes, another great camera! Is it a vast difference from the Pixel 3 though? Not that I can really see. I think I’ll have to test it out a bit longer to really determine the differences.
The screen display is immaculate. In comparison to the LCD screen on my iPhone 11, the Pixel 4’s OLED screen is the clear winner. The display is sharper and more vibrant - Raleigh’s told me multiple times how much he prefers watching videos and playing games on this screen.
No more fingerprint sensor, notch or navigation buttons on the bottom of the screen. While I don’t miss the notch present on the Pixel 3XL, I do find myself looking for the navigation options that used to act as home and back buttons at the bottom of the screen. Those “buttons“ have been replaced by gestures that I don’t find particularly intuitive or efficient in comparison. The home button on the Pixel 3 used to allow you to navigate to the home screen or prompt you to close apps upon swiping up, while the Pixel 4 has no home button and swiping up brings up your app cards (you have to slowly drag your finger up to see the close app option). Swiping right and left from the edge of the screen is supposed to navigate backwards, but is tricky to use when swiping is required for apps. It definitely takes some getting used to if you’re used to the previous interface. As for the missing fingerprint sensor, Face Unlock is admittedly faster (I just pick up my phone and it’s already unlocked), but I’m not too confident in the security of that feature.
Motion Sense and Soli chip - I am confusion. Supposedly the Soli chip in the Pixel 4 is meant to track your real-time motion like a mini radar device so that you’ll be able to interact with your phone without having to touch it. Right now it’s only available to use for a few apps (like Spotify and Alarm Clock), but… I’ve tried and I can’t get it to work. I can’t swipe left, right, down - whatever - this feature hasn’t worked for me so far.
Battery life… or should I say battery death? Alright, so I read a bunch of articles before I received my Pixel 4 about how terrible the battery life was, but nothing could prepare me for how quick this phone dies. If I’m scrolling through Instagram for 30 minutes starting at a full charge, I’ll probably be down to 85% by the time I’ve stalked just a few IG stories. If I continue to waste time on IG, pin hair colors I’ll never have on Pinterest, watch room makeovers on YouTube, all while blasting my favorite playlists on Spotify, I’ll have to recharge at least twice throughout the day. A quick one hour test shoot outside while constantly using the camera took my full charge down to 60%, so the Pixel 4’s battery life definitely won’t last if you plan on using it to document the details of your entire day. As for fast charging, going from 0-50% seems pretty fast, but after that, the charge seems to be much slower. When I saw the battery at 10% and plugged it in the other day, the prompt told me it would take 1 hour and 50 minutes to get to full charge.
Final thoughts - I’m a little disappointed with this version. I’ve been a big fan of the Google Pixel for years, but this year I ended up buying an iPhone XS (then trading it in for an iPhone 11) since I was frustrated with not being able to take a decent selfie without my face being squished or stretched by the HDR+ setting on the Pixel 3 (I don’t recall ever having this issue on the Pixel 1 or 2) and continuously having app issues (apps not made for Android, apps not being updated/calibrated for Android, or just weird glitches that I couldn’t explain or understand). Lastly, I had forgotten how much I missed having AirDrop, FaceTime and iMessage (I used to get the most confusing and out of order texts from iPhone users on my Pixel(s)). Seriously, I’m not sure how I lived without those features! All in all, I think I may be back to being an iPhone user for the most part. I may just give this Pixel 4 to my husband since he cracked his screen a month ago (I offered him my Pixel 3XL, but I think he was secretly waiting to swipe the Pixel 4 from me). Since he’s more tech-savvy than me, I’m going to have him test for a bit and maybe I’'ll post an update if I have any other thoughts!
xx Audrie