Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsUnspectacular but solid
Reviewed in the United States on December 12, 2019
When the new Pixel 4 was released I took a look at my two-year-old Pixel 2 and wondered if I really needed to upgrade, given what a great phone it had been, and still is. Giving in to a bit of retail therapy is easy, so I did.
It's an expensive business getting a Pixel phone in this country (New Zealand) since it's a buy from Amazon in the US, shipping to the other end of the world, paying GST (our sales tax) converted to NZ dollars added up to $1,550.
Was it worth it? Let's take a look.
** Edit: After nearly a year, I just love this phone, absolutely rock-solid even with over a hundred apps installed, I'm revising from 4 to 5 stars **
I've owned a lot of android phones and had the Pixel 4 for a few months now and it's performed pretty much flawlessly, both the software and the hardware - as I expected it would. I really like Google's own implementation of their Android O/S - it's clean and just works. There are some UI annoyances that I'll come to later. Other makes (Huawei, Samsung) all seem to be clogged up with unnecessary and buggy extra apps and take years to get Android updates through. I get Google's updates within days of release and I've never had a bad one.
In their attempt to regain a handful of pixels from the bottom of the screen, Google have removed the Home and Back on-screen buttons and replaced them with gestures. This has or will probably occur on other makes of phone as Android 10 rolls out. The new gesture needs a swipe from the bottom edge (home) or from either side (back), and I pretty much hate it. ** Edit: You can turn that off and now I like it **
If you miss the edge (it's tricky if you have a case with a raised edge) then you end up swiping the app off to somewhere unwanted. If you get a bit close to the edge when you're scrolling within an app, you suddenly go home or back. It doesn't happen to me very often but when it does happen it's infuriating. Hint: When buying a case, look for one with a low profile on the screen side - though that won't protect the screen quite as well.
As for other features, I'm not so sure there's a lot to say. The main one is the face recognition lock which I've turned on and also the "Keep phone unlocked while I'm looking at it" option. I like that one, it saves the phone going black when I'm taking my time reading, or something. It's also nice to just pick up the phone and look at it, it's so natural, quick and easy. People seem unduly worried about the security of this feature, I'm not sure why except maybe for the unlock while you're asleep. If someone is in a position to do that, then they are also in a position to do many awful things to me and additionally, the banking and other vulnerable stuff on my phone has a further level of security.
The screen is up to par, and the glass is nice not picking up oily finger goop like all my others did after a while. I've given up on screen protectors, my phones are pretty safe being mostly in my pocket, and I like the feel of the screen. Feels like a solid build to me without being too heavy, though it's heavier than the Pixel 2 and has quite a bit more screen, mostly in the length.
People seem to rave about the camera and I agree it's good, but so was the Pixel 2 so the step up doesn't seem huge to me - but then I'm no camera buff. The Pixel 2 was a bit better at close-ups which I do a lot of when working with electronics. The Pixel 4 can be zoomed up to 8x but can't focus closer than about 120mm which limits its use as a macro camera. The P2 was good down to about 60mm. (4.7" and 2.4")
Sound is surprisingly good watching a video. There's nothing at the bass end but that's to be expected in such a small body. The volume is good and the sound spread is wide though perhaps a bit overdone. I'm not in a cathedral. I regularly use speakerphone and also Sennheiser Bluetooth headphones, and they perform very well on both phone calls and music. Bluetooth, WiFi, and 4G connectivity all seem solid.
Battery life is marginal, my only real complaint about the hardware. An overnight charge to 100% would all be gone by 7pm if I wasn't quite careful. To counter this I bought a charger for the car so I can give it a commute-time top-up and things are better now. Wireless charging is cool and Qi chargers all seem to work fine. Makes charging in the car a breeze with a charger built into the holder. Wireless charging is not fast, about 0.9 amps, compared to a fast charger which charges at nearly 3 amps (~1 hr full charge time) but it turns the phone into a hotplate and could affect battery life.
I recently bought a Samsung Galaxy Active 2 Smartwatch (SM-R810) and paired it up easily with the Pixel via Bluetooth, but with a fair amount of convoluted messing about with the Samsung apps got it all working reasonably well though it's a bit crazy and somewhat buggy. I sure wish Samsung would produce practical software like Google does. I did a review on the watch too.
So was it worth it? Probably not, but mostly because my old Pixel 2 was such a nice reliable workhorse that has never slowed down even with 150 or so apps. Every other phone I ever owned has slowly ground to a standstill. I use quite a lot of apps.
Am I glad I bought it? For sure, but I just can't part with the Pixel 2 so now that one's a spare.
