[Google Pixel 5 Guides, News, & Discussion] iceman4357:
Wanted to post my feedback about the Pixel 5. I have read plenty of reviews, but wanted to give my opinion as a regular customer. I have owned every Pixel device since the OG. I currently have the 5 and the 4XL and wanted to give my opinion about the two.

Size- Coming from the 4XL the 5 feels like a toy. Its much lighter weight and smaller physically. I will have to get used to it and I think it will be a positive thing. The body/screen ratio is much better than the 4XL. Yes the 5 is smaller but the actual screen isn't too much smaller. The 4XL is much heavier in the hand, I forgot my Pixel 5 was in my pocket a few times because its lighter weight.

Built materials- I love the Pixel 5 for what they did with the recycled aluminum. My 4XL was very slippery and a fingerprint magnet by comparison. The 5 is all around superior in my opinion.

Fingerprint sensor- I am honestly extremely excited that Google brought this back. They never should have removed it for Face unlock. Face unlock didnt work vey well and with a lot of people wearing face masks its a pain. The fingerprint sensor feels like my Pixel 2XL did. Extremely fast and accurate and I love that I can use it to access the pull down menu. One of the primary reasons I got this phone.

Screen- The 5 has a brighter(nits) screen over the 4XL. This can be a good thing in sunlight outdoors. At 50% or above, I feel that the colors are more washed out on the 5 compared to my 4XL however. I have both set in Adaptive. I don't mind the hole punch.

5G/Signal- I don't have it in my area. I didn't yet get a "new" SIM card to see if it makes a difference. I have the same signal strength as my 4XL.

Camera- I think we can assume its the same as the Pixel 4. I don't really care for the wide angle and prefer the 2x optical zoom, but this is just a personal thing with I take photos of the kids.

Performance- I use this phone for work(call and emails) and a lot of photos. I do not game on a phone. To me I can tell slightly on start up that its slower than my 4XL and that the photos seem to take slightly longer to process. I don't think its an issue at all though. The phone is very fluid and fast still.

Battery- For once I think Google figured it out. Between the processor and the large battery, I can tell this phone will be significantly better than my 4XL that suffered drain issues like many.

Speaker quality- This is my largest gripe by far. Relative to my 4XL the speakers in the 5 are terrible, I don't care how anyone tried to spin it. I adjusted the earpiece to be louder in Accessibility to help balance them out, which did help for balance. Side by side there is a huge difference in mid range and bass compared to the 4XL. The 5 sounds hollow and tinny especially at higher volumes.

Earpiece calls- Similar to above this is a really big miss having the speaker under the screen. It makes people sound like they are talking in a can. At high call volumes the earpiece quality sounds terrible. I usually have to adjust the volume down at least 2 clicks from max volume just so I don't get frustrated with the phone.

Squeeze for Assistant- Just noticed that the Pixel 5 does not have the squeeze for Google assistant. Not a big deal to me, but was used to it on the 4XL.

Overall I would say that the Pixel 5 is a side-grade instead of an upgrade of my 4XL. There are a lot of concessions Google took with this phone, which helps the cost. I can live with all of them, but the speaker and earpiece is a big miss for me. I am going to use the phone for a few days to determine if I am going to keep it. I am leaning toward yes, but the earpiece quality alone is a big deal to me since I use it for work. Typically 5+ hours on the phone daily and the quality drives me nuts.

If there is anything specific you want to know just ask and I can comment or test.