Google Launches Pixel 3 & Pixel 3 XL Smartphones for $799 and Up

Google just hosted a Made by Google hardware event, where they announced several products, and it’s always interesting to check out what they come up with. In this post, I’ll check out Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL premium smartphone from the company, and see if they implemented any significant “innovations”.

Google Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL specifications:

• SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 octa-core processor with 4x Gold cores (Cortex A75 based) @ up to 2.50 GHz, 4x Silver cores (Cortex-A55 based) up to 1.60 GHz, Adreno 630 GPU, Pixel Visual Core, and Titan security chip
• System Memory – 4GB LPDDR4x
• Storage – 64GB or 128GB UFS storage
• Display
  • Pixel 3 – 5.5″ FHD+ (2160×1080) flexible? always-on OLED display with Corning Gorilla Glass 5
  • Pixel 3 XL – 6.3″  QHD+ (2960 x 1440) always-on OLED display with Corning Gorilla Glass 5
• Cameras
  • Rear camera – 12.2MP dual-pixel camera with auto-focus, OIS. Video up to 4K @ 30 fps, 720p @ 240 fps (slow motion)
  • Front-facing cameras – 8MP wide-angle and normal FoV cameras. Video up to 1080p30
• Audio – Dual front-firing stereo spekers, 3 microphones, noise suppression
• Cellular Connectivity
  • World-wide network/carrier compatibility with
    • GSM/EDGE: Quad-band (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
    • CDMA EVDO Rev A: BC0/BC1/BC10
    • WCDMA: W1/W2
    • FDD-LTE: Bands 1/2/3/4/5/7/8/12/13/17/18/19/20/25/
      26/28/29/32/66/71
    • TD-LTE: Bands 38/39/40/41/42/46
  • Supports up to CAT 16 (1Gbps DL / 75Mbps UL), 5x DL CA, 4×4 MIMO, LAA, 256-QAM DL and 64-QAM UL depending on carrier support
  • eSIM (in some markets), single Nano SIM socket
• Other Wireless Connectivity
  • Wi-Fi 2.4GHz + 5.0GHz 802.11a/b/g/n/ac (WiFi 5)
  • Bluetooth 5.0 + LE
  • NFC
  • Google Cast
  • Location – GPS, GLONASS, Galileo
• USB – 1x USB type-C 3.1 Gen 1 port
• Sensors – Active Edge, back-mounted Pixel Imprint fingerprint sensor for fast unlocking, proximity / ambient light sensor, accelerometer / gyrometer, magnetometer, barometer, Android Sensor Hub, advanced x-axis haptics for sharper/defined response
• Battery
  • Pixel 3 – 2,915 mAh battery
  • Pixel 3 XL – 3,430 mAh battery
• Dimensions & weight
  • Pixel 3 – 145.6 x 68.2 x 7.9 mm | 148 grams
  • Pixel 3 XL – 158.0 x 76.7 x 7.9 mm | 184 grams
• IP Rating – IPX8 dust and water protection under IEC standard 60529. Charger and accessories are not water resistant.

The phones are basically identical except for the display size, and battery capacity. Both run the latest Android 9 Pie operating systems with Google Assistant, Google Daydream support, as well as 3 years of OS and security updates. The smartphones support Qi wireless charging, come with a   18W/2A USB type C charger, as well as a Quick Switch Adapter, a USB-C to USB-C cable, Pixel USB-C earbuds, a USB-C to 3.5mm headphone adapter, a SIM tool and a Quick Start Guide.

Google’s blog post about the launch focuses on camera improvements, unlimited storage for photos and videos, and applications and features leveraging artificial intelligence capability of the devices like Google Lens, Google Duplex, Gmail’s Smart Compose that suggests phrases in your emails, or Google Assistant.

Google Pixel 3 and 3 XL are available for pre-order now starting at $799 and $899 respectively, in a limited number of countries namely Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, India, Ireland, Italy, Singapore, Spain, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. You’ll find the pre-order links on Google Store.

If you are interested in the full hardware event, I’ve embedded the video recording (2-hour) below. (Note: It really starts at around the 21:20 mark)

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