I’ve struggled with re-visiting the Pixel 4XL.

There’s an intangible quality to every phone that can’t quite be expressed by spec sheets and benchmarks. I can TELL you about the phone, and that still won’t properly convey how I FEEL about the phone.

With the Pixel 5 in limbo, it’s important to check back in with a phone that was pretty heavily panned by critics. For all my personal preferences on beastly hardware and mobile content creation, the Pixel 4XL is still the phone I have the hardest time taking my SIM card out of when I need to move on to a new review device.

There’s just something about the Pixel…

One of the more frustrating trends resurfacing this year is something I call “The Chipset Cheapskate” ©™®℠.

That individual we know who will happily sacrifice nearly any other feature on a phone to pay the absolute least for a top of the line processor. If enough Chipset Cheapskates are loud enough, they can color the conversation for mainstream phones.

In AndroidLand, with growing divides between reviewers, enthusiasts, and general consumers, the conversation surrounding “value” has never been more out of whack. Reviewers focus on a lowest estimation of what “Average Consumers” do on their phones, while flipping thousand-dollar devices weekly. Enthusiasts completely discount software, optimization, and complimentary features, only grading benchmarks and speed runs as “worth it”.

The problem with a Pixel? It’s not built that way.

Alphabet/Google isn’t ONE thing.

It’s not an organism with one brain. It’s a loosely cobbled together collection of teams. Without any real insight as to how Google is structured, I think it’s fair to assume the Pixel team at Google isn’t offered the same resources to make a phone as the Galaxy Team gets at Samsung. If internal groups at Google seem to agree on anything, it’s that Google is a software company. A software company that happens to make some hardware which shows off that software.

It’s pretty easy to see how the Pixel fits into that kind of strategy. It’s a showcase for the bleeding edge software features coming out of Google R&D.

I think it’s a bad look when techies discount software. It’s not intangible. Software is not “free”. Updates are one of the primary complaints of the Android ecosystem. Being able to crib a Pixel camera APK, and install it on another phone, does not make that phone “basically a Pixel”.

For all of Google’s faults, and previous missteps, the Pixel 4 is becoming an example of what Google MIGHT be able to do with some focus and consistency.

Manufactured in smaller numbers, working within a competitive price window (which undercut the iPhone), beholden to Qualcomm for the chipset, and with a higher consumer expectation for regular software maintenance. I would argue that Google is living up to their marketing better than at any previous point in the company’s hardware history.

“But Juan! Other brands can include all of these other hardware features, and include basically the same software, AND do that at similar prices!”

“Basically the same” is not “the same”.

We techies have a conveniently short memory.

We consistently forget to celebrate and credit companies that give us popular features first. High refresh screens, wide angle cameras, and fast charging are must-have features now, but they were “gimmicks” on handsets from less popular manufacturers in years past.

Software is no different.

Launching any new feature first comes with a price tag. Eventually those new tricks filter out to the rest of the Android ecosystem, and shortly after we can expect Apple to “invent” that new feature on the iPhone. Hardware or software, we should expect to pay a premium to get any feature first.

This is what makes the Pixel so difficult to quantify.

One example where the phone is often criticized, Pixels lack a wide-angle camera. We understand that component impacts the cost of a phone. It’s something tangible.

How should we judge the value of system-wide, on-device, speech to text transcription? We can write off Live Caption as some niche feature, but the underlying software processing has significant implications for numerous applications, and it’s been slow to filter out across the Android landscape.

Even after recent improvements to iOS 13, the Pixel 4 is still able to outpace an iPhone SE in offline speech to text, not just for speed, but also accuracy.

It’s the “feel” of all those software bits working together that makes the Pixel so compelling. More than just a snappy UI, it feels more integrated than just skin-deep aesthetics.

The Pixel Feature Drops add to the fresh feel.

For the purchase price, the Pixel 4 is evolving better over time than any other phone I’ve owned. Since launch, the list of updates is formidable, and paves the way for other manufacturers to piggyback on a solid ecosystem of software services.

• Pixels ushered in Portrait Blur in Google Photos
• Call Screen improved robocall and spam detection (a part of the screening using the improved Live Caption)
• Pixels launched face tracking, portrait blur, and better support for high refresh displays in Duo video calls
• A later feature drop added AR effects to Duo
• Pixels launched on-device computing for Maps, refining location quality
• Personal Safety can detect car crashes and enable voice commands to quickly call emergency services
• Safety Check will follow up with you after a set period of time, alerting your emergency contacts if you don’t respond
• The power button controls have been expanded to include emergency lockdown and contacts, airline ticketing, and payment options
• The recorder app can be fully controlled through voice actions, and transcriptions saved directly to Google Docs
• The Clock app got new bedtime features including calming sounds to help you stay asleep, and these features tie into dark mode and screen tint automation controls
• Adaptive battery more accurately tracks your app behavior over time to predict battery usage

This is a supremely difficult idea to convey in a video review the week a phone launches.

Compared against my iPhone XS, the Pixel 4XL feels almost like an organism growing and maturing. My iPhone has received numerous updates, but I can’t get the new camera UI found on my iPhone SE, and the “feel” of force pressing was devalued for Apple to cut costs on the iPhone 11.

Over the same period of time, my iPhone XS feels like “less”, and my Pixel feels like “more”.

For all the complaining about specs and speed, the Pixel 4XL remains one of the most powerful mobile imaging platforms I’ve ever used.

In 4K video editing and rendering tests, it’s consistently slightly faster than OnePlus 8’s. On the same app, it’s capable of besting Apple’s A13 in the iPhone SE for complex video project rendering. No company seems to understand image manipulation better than Google. Even Qualcomm couldn’t brute force a win on the Snapdragon 865.

A review is insufficient if you cry “specs matter”, but ignore how the phone trounces more expensive competing options.

For all the bellyaching about 4K 60fps video recording, not much noise was made when that feature was activated on Filmic Pro. I personally think it’s a mistake to omit 4K/60 from Pixel camera app, but it’s available if you need it.

The camera continues to be an absolute joy to show off.

Newer hardware is capable of some exciting improvements to mobile photography, but Google isn’t playing the same game as Apple, Samsung, or LG. They’re not calling the Pixel a “Pro Cinematography” solution. As Apple has added features to the iOS camera app, the iPhone has gotten more complicated and more difficult to use.

Google has streamlined the Pixel app fantastically well.

I personally miss having options for more manual control, but that’s not the point of the phone. If I need that, I’ll install another app (and I have). Google’s mission is to make the most directly consumer usable camera on the market, and in that regard, they’ve succeeded.

Reviewers shouldn’t be allowed to claim “average consumers don’t dig through specs and settings”, and then complain when a phone might not have niche ultra-premium content creation modes. Even Apple offloads many of the “pro” features of their Pro products to third party developers. I don’t think the Pixel should be held to a different standard.

Wrapping up the phone, it’s all the little intangible differences I can talk about, but can’t really show on camera. The way gestures react on the Pixel 4XL is just plain DIFFERENT than my OnePluses.

On a OnePlus 8, it just seems to consistently take three swipes to exit an app in landscape. The back swipe on a Pixel 4XL is easier to consistently hit in apps that have a lot of side panels thanks to the flat display.

I do not like face unlock in an era where I leave the house wearing a face mask, but against my iPhone, I greatly prefer HOW the Pixel wakes up AS I’m reaching for it. If I want mobile apps and services to feel ubiquitous, those organic  touches matter, even if Soli Radar was a bit over-sold as the future of gadget interactions.

“But Juan I saw someone intentionally try to break the phone, and even though it didn’t fail, the Pixel snapped at the corners!”

Don’t try to intentionally break your phone. Buy a good case. I’d say the Pixel is in better shape here than a phone like the iPhone 6.

“But Juan, launch week reviews said the battery life was garbage!”

The Pixel 4 is a decent daily driver small phone. A smaller device is likely used in briefer interactions than a larger multimedia device. See also the iPhone SE.

The Pixel 4XL has been a much better-behaved phone for more aggressive use after the updates to Adaptive Battery. Factoring in the larger display at 90Hz, and the Soli Radar wake state, the XL is a comparative performer mAh to mAh against modern phones with more power-hungry chipsets and screens. The phone is easy to push for two days of moderate use if you toggle the eye candy and radar.

The only longer-term concern I have with the phone is the lack of 5G. I detailed my issues with suburban reception and coverage in my OnePlus 8 review. If there’s anything which feels like it hasn’t evolved as well, and this isn’t necessarily Google’s fault, but 5G is becoming a bigger draw for me personally. Your mileage WILL vary.

Chewing through my notes on revisiting the phone, there’s no way to write up a long-term examination which doesn’t feel somewhat apologetic.

If you’re familiar with another brand, especially a popular Android performer, the Pixel 4 will feel a little alien. I just do not use it the same way I use a Samsung, LG, or even a OnePlus. Trying to explain those differences isn’t excusing the phone’s shortcomings, but celebrating what makes it different.

It’s such lazy gadget commentary to cherry pick a couple of compromises and then complain about the price not being “worth it”. That means either a reviewer was completely ignorant to what the phone did well, or they went out of their way to select another phone as an implied “winner”.

There are no winners and losers.

No one should be claiming any one phone is the right fit for everyone, but that also means we should be allowing room for a phone like the Pixel 4 to compete.

Looking back at my original finished review for the Pixel 4XL, I’m happy with what I decided to showcase. It’s one of my crankiest rants on the state of gadget reviewing, but as it relates to the phone, I think it’s still on point.

The Pixel 4XL is still a damn fine phone, because it’s a little different.