Google has just launched its 2016 smartphones.  The Nexus moniker has gone and the new models are Pixel-branded, just like the company's top-end Chromebooks and tablet.  The Pixel and Pixel XL are made by HTC, though only the Google logo appears on the device, and pretty much only differ in terms of screen size and resolution as well battery capacity.  The smaller Pixel sports a 5" 1080p AMOLED display and a 2,770mAh battery, while the XL variant comes with a 5.5" QHD-screen and a 3,450mAh battery. 

In the camera department the specifications have not changed much from last year's Nexus devices.  A 1/2.3" 12MP sensor with 1.55µm pixel size is paired with an F2.0 aperture.  There is no optical image stabilization but Google has added a new gyroscope-based video stabilization system that reads gyro data 200 times a second for smoother panning and shake-free handheld recording.  The camera can record 4K video, and in stills mode Google's excellent HDR+ mode is on by default, using an image stacking approach to reduce noise and capture better detail.  In addition Pixel owners can store unlimited full-size images in Google's cloud service. 

Check out the photography-specific features of the Google Pixel from the announcement. 

Both phones come with Google's brand new Android 7.0 Nougat operating system and are powered by Qualcomm's latest top-end chipset Snapdragon 821.  4GB of RAM can be combined with either 32 or 128 GB of local storage and a fingerprint reader on the back provides extra security.  The Pixel phones will be available in Quite Black, Very Silver, and Really Blue color options.  Pricing starts at $649 for the standard Pixel.  In the US the devices will be exclusive to carrier Verizon, with pre-orders starting today. 

Comments

Too expensive again since the Nexus 6.  One could get an ASUS UX305 laptop with aluminum construction and 256 GB storage, 8 GB RAM for less.  As a laptop, it includes a more expensive and faster CPU versus the smartphone. 

I guess it's a matter of taste, but my eyes are looking at a bit thick phone with an ugly devided glass-metal back.  I hope Google did their marketing research, because buyers of high end phones are very much design and aesthatics aware.  That's something Apple proved a long time ago and many Android phone makers, like Samsung, understood that well.  And then asking premium prices ..... I have my doubts.  Aside from that, no sd cards is a deal breaker for me anyhow ... Sorry Google, you lost me ...

I love the non-sense about "gyroscope-based video stabilization" and the fact so many are believing this hype.  iPhone and Galaxy S/Note have this feature for a while and in fact, iPhone 7, Note 7 and LG V20 all have OIS + EIS for video. 

Google is just trying to spin no OIS as something new instead of calling it EIS

Looks interesting to me.  My son in law works for Google and said employees seem excited about this new device.  Time will tell, but as a photographer who loves good quality images, this looks very nice. 

Does this video stabilization also apply to 4k video?Which one of the 2 pixels can record longer in 4k video (given the same screen brigtness the difference will be battery and screen resolution)?  BTW scaling 4k to 1080p to show on screen just need to skip 1 evey 2 pixels - should be easier (less cpu/gpu intensive) than 4k to 2k. 

They're bragging about getting the highest DxO Mark score yet and they show a graph stating that the second best smartphone is the iPhone 7 with a score of 86.  Well, they conveniently forgot about the Samsung Galaxy Edge S7, HTC 10 and Sony Xperia X with a score of 88...

While, yes, it IS true that the Pixel is the smartphone with the highest ranking, it's not by that much. 

It would be wise to only compare against Nexus/Pixel and a rival OS/system cameraphone. 

Pitting your own against your _other_ own (other androids) will make a lot of manufacturers extremely uncomfortable.  Especially some, who have tried their hand at building an alternative OS for just such a day. 

Having no SD is really lame.- If you travel abroad, you know how expensive data roaming can be.- You can be in a country / region with no reliable data connection.- I want to be able to use my 200 Gb Micro-SD in my phone. 

the cost & size of a micro sd data port slot is negligible, its removal is to force a certain behavior on the user of a device.  its no accident that both google & apple force this diminished user experience on customersstreaming is to be the new normal for the corporate overseers who want you tethered to a pay for play paradigm & a constant buying of content to stream on phones that fill up their entire memory within a few months of purchase i for one vote with my wallet & will never buy any device that removes this choice for the user several smartphone makers have removed the sd slot in the past and brought it back in the next phone..another doa issue is the loss of audio jack, which is a slap in the face of every music listener in the world.. the dongle nightmare & double dongles required in certain instances is a shameful spit in the face of loyal usersonly the most brainwashed will defend these fascist like mandates from device makers ruling over the user experence

HTC copied iPhone 5's design for One M7 and was sued and become a licensee of Apple.  For every HTC phone sold they pay Apple $7 IIRC.  Its one reason why HTC's new design language starting with A9 looks so different than the earlier M9 and so iPhone like. 

I would love to see the gyroscope image stabilization on all smartphones.  I'm guessing Google finally opened up the API for faster read from the gyroscopes making VR and stuff like this possible without needing an external gyroscope device like the Gear VR. 

Apple have had gyroscopic image stabilisation since the iPhone 4S (since 2011), the iPhone 6+ went further adding OIS which also works with the gyros and accelerometers.  I think HTC and Samsung use gyros also. 

In reading numerous Android forums there SEEMS to be a lot of hate towards these new phones.  Many think this is Google wanting to be Apple.  Price is insane.  Some have posted Canadian prices are $1,100.  Who in their right mind would pay that for a phone with no SD card?  I'm wondering if this will turn out to be a bad move for Google pricing this way.  I bet OnePlus is happy! 

I've had the Nexus 4 and 5 and loved them...won't be getting the new Google phones, the price/value proposition is not there for me in the least. 

Google Pixel actually costs exactly the same as the Apple counterparts for the same storage.  That's pretty absurd given the competition for Android devices.  There's only one place to get iOS devices, so they can gouge a little. 

I feel pretty good about the OnePlus 3 and Axon 7 I recently bought.  Nearly identical hardware for half the price of the Pixel XL.  Axon 7 even supports Daydream and has a 2 year warranty. 

I was with you guys, but then I checked out the Project Fi service plan (which is only available with Google's phones) and right off the bat I'd be saving over $300/year over T-Mobile while getting better network coverage (the main drawback I've had with T-Mobile).  So I figure this way the phone pays for itself in a couple years.  With this service plan there really is no other high-end phone that can compete on price/value. 

@GodSpeaks, do you live in the US?  With T-Mobile I paid $40/month for unlimited everything (but slower data after 5GB), and now pay $50/month which includes service in Canada.  The Project Fi service will be between $20-$30/month based on my current data usage, but more expensive when visiting Canada, i.e. $0.20/minute for calls not using a wifi connection, but with free texting, and mobile data is the same as the US.  Also calls from US to Canada are free. 

Mobile data on Project Fi is $10/GB, so it's not as good for people who use a lot of mobile data, but I get most of my data on wifi so it's not an issue for me.  Also, the whole point of Project Fi is that it seamlessly transitions to wifi whenever it can and has a large network of wifi hotspots in place. 

I know lots of people here who pay upwards of $70/month.  And these rates are actually much better than my brother in Canada pays.  He was looking into visiting the US to sign up for the $50 plan I have so he could use it in Canada. 

I will never say having flexibility is a bad thing, but the user experience of having internal storage is so much better.  I can see why so many companies are dropping it.  I get 800MB/s on internal flash on my OP3. 

The storage inside modern smartphones are essentially SSD's and are thus are an order of magnitude faster than regular SD-cards. ( that is until smartphones start supporting UFS-cards instead - then we'd have the best of both worlds)

128GB is plenty for most - and you do have storage options (cloud/USB) if you need more. 

@Rajeshb: I am somewhat confused as to what this means.  Google Photos allows storage of photos up to 16 MP.  This camera is 12 MP.  Thus by extension Google Photos already offers this service for all similar phones. 

Furthermore, while Google Photos—if that is what they use—is storing photos in "full resolution", it nevertheless reprocesses the JPEGs you upload and reduces their quality to save space.  While it will make a life or death difference with a phone camera, it seems like a bit of a non-advantage really. 

Having no SD is really lame.- If you travel abroad, you know how expensive data roaming can be.- You can be in a country / region with no reliable data connection.- I want to be able to use my 200 Gb Micro-SD in my phone. 

@Rajeshb, Too bad free storage doesn't come with data.  In most part of the Worlds, wifi data is throttled and limited, let alone mobile data.  For heavy media users, one has to turn of media backup to conserve data and we know how irritating the damn phone auto-update and backup whenever its' connected to a struggled wifi, a slow one and would turn everything down for hours. 

"and they have a gyroscopic software-based stabilization that appears to be best-in-class."  If this is true, will we see Nikon, Canon, etc, eliminate IS lenses and move to gyroscopic methods?  I think not....

I'm thinking this "rebrand" will be tough.  Nexus phones were budget with nice features aimed at the android geek crowd.  That crowd is totally different than the Apple crowd, who, like it or not, will pay anything to get an Apple.  The android crowd won't just to get a Google Phone, whatever its is called.  Google is taking a lot of heat in Android forums...very interesting. 

Ludicrious pricing in Europe. ( 750 Euro+ for the small base model).  3 Weeks waiting trying to order it right after the event. Key Note that looks like Apple's. AI functionality all other androids are boundto get eventually. I found this show overall depressing.  I'll pass.  Thanks. 

It seems that the camera is exactly the same one as in the Nexus 5x/6p, but with PDAF and better processor.  So a little bit disappointed, a dual camera would have been really nice or HDR+ raw files or shutter speed control. So it's no real improvement over the Nexus, but it delivers still the best smartphone image quality due to HDR+. 

@tkbslc: I think so, too.  Imx378 has nearly the same number as Imx377, this might indicate that there is not much new.  Until now we only know 2 improvements over the Imx377: PDAF and base iso = 50 instead of 60

My impression is that there are nearly no cameras with jpg's that look as good as from the Nexus with HDR+ when you photograph landscapes with the sky (in terms of colors and dynamic range).  Many cameras even don't have a usable handheld HDR mode.  I have the impression that the dynamic range of HDR+ can compete with DSLRs (JPG and not full frame). 

So the image stabilization is digital or what?What mean ''gyroscope-based video stabilization'', i think this is optical no digital, and i have read in other news its optical and is really something new and special. 

So, here they tell its not optical which is wrong?  and second yes, its something special because this gyroscopic stabilizer is something new for a cellphone and give new flexibility for both pictures and video with very good panning and shake-free handheld recording. 

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