The Google Pixel 4 XL Review: Stuck In The Past In 2019
by Andrei Frumusanu on November 8, 2019 11:30 AM EST- Posted in
- Mobile
- Smartphones
- Pixel 4
- Pixel 4 XL
GPU Performance
3D and GPU performance of the Pixel 4, much like all other devices this year with the same Snapdragon 855 chipset, will only be able to differentiate itself from the pack if it has any kind of special heat dissipation or extremely lax thermal throttling designs. We’re not expecting any big surprises here, and do hope the Pixel 4 XL is able to fare competitively.
Starting off with the 3DMark Physics test, which is actually a CPU benchmark within a temperature constrained test scenario, we see the Pixel 4 XL fall in line with the middle of the pack of Snapdragon 855 devices in terms of the sustained performance scores. It’s interesting to see the peak performance standing out and being ahead by a measurable margin against other S855 devices. I’m not too sure why this would be other than maybe Google having extra optimisations in the scheduling of the workload, or maybe even DVFS behaviour of the CPUs, as the actual workload performance shouldn’t change based on any other external factors such as drivers or software.
In the graphics workload, things are GPU bound and that’s the main limiting factor for the performance scores. Here the Pixel 4 XL again falls around the middle of the pack amongst other S855 devices.
This ranking is continued on over all the GFXBench tests as the Pixel 4 XL does adequately but still remains below medium amongst our Snapdragon 855 devices. A peculiarity we’re seeing in the benchmarks is that the peak performance of the Pixel 4 XL is a few percentages lower than that on other S855 phones. Again, I have no proper explanation for this other that it may be some regression in Qualcomm’s GPU drivers, or that maybe Google is being more relaxed on other DVFS behaviour such as on the memory controllers.
Again, whilst this performance isn’t outright bad, we have to keep in mind the pricing of the phone and its very late release date in the year. The contrast to Apple’s iPhone 11s here in the charts is pretty absurd, as it’s able to showcase scores essentially twice as fast as what the Pixel 4 XL can achieve.
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oRAirwolf - Saturday, November 9, 2019 - link
I have mostly used Google Nexus and pixel phones since the original Nexus one. I switched from the pixel 3 xl to the OnePlus 7 pro 12/256 because of the price, 90hz display, battery, pop up camera, and screen to body ratio. I honestly don't miss Google phones at all at this point. Looking at the pixel 4, I feel like Google is once again playing catch-up instead of innovating. It doesn't seem like it would be too hard to turn things around and start releasing amazing, innovative phones. Yet somehow, they release another "me too" snooze fest that is overpriced and underwhelming. I don't want them to stop making hardware, but they seriously need to have a look at what OnePlus, Xiaomi, and Huawei are doing for so much less and re evaluate their entire phone business.Lau_Tech - Friday, November 8, 2019 - link
Whatever considerations google is having while making the Pixels, they sure don't involve the customers.yu - Saturday, November 9, 2019 - link
I don't even think they intend for these to sell, it looks like a pet project of sorts. Why buy HTC's Pixel division only to release these disappointments?guachi - Friday, November 8, 2019 - link
I can tell phone designers have run out of ideas when they started adding more cameras to their phones. I guess manufacturers have to come up with something to pretend to justify the prices of phones.$1000 for a phone is just crazy.
Teckk - Friday, November 8, 2019 - link
I don't like wearing watches and I just check the phone's lock screen for time. I don't want to unlock while doing that. And while getting the phone out of the pocket, if I want it unlocked, fingerprint gets it unlocked before your face ID. I hope not everyone removes fingerprint sensor.Jruffer - Saturday, November 9, 2019 - link
I just put my pixel 4xl in the mail back to Google. This is the first time I have ever sent something back as it was that bad. No one is talking about how the NFC doesn't work in the new phone or that the missing fingerprint scanner makes all your apps go back to pins/passwords. I agree the battery is terrible and the time to load simple apps is an issue. All in all I wasn't going to give Google 1000 dollars of my money for a horrible phone. Going back to my pixel 2xlSanX - Saturday, November 9, 2019 - link
And imagine in just 2 years this a grand dollar "miracle" of circa 2017 is obsolete and not supported anymore like not supported long ago are all those Nexuses. Microsoft and Intel with their PCs working for decades have to learn how to sell planned obsolescenceSanX - Saturday, November 9, 2019 - link
To add the Swiss army knife or pepper spray would be more useful. Bet women would more appreciate back panel as mirror than useless radar. That would be real innovation. And sell that for $2000 that's a total duper-innivation, all better specced with twice the RAM and storage yet only $169 phones on Ali Express will die from jealousyTpoking - Saturday, November 9, 2019 - link
Phones like this and literally anything outside the Iphone 11 pro have me waiting. Still rocking my HTC U11 I got to make taking photos easier once I got a desk job before I went on a trip. I used a LG g flex gen1 before that for its durability when I was a installer for towers on roofs. I really like "gimmick" FEATURE phones they just always fade away because people just want name swag and the same no trick Brick in mass. Glad to see apple is still "innovating" upgrading on more than just the performance front.eastcoast_pete - Saturday, November 9, 2019 - link
Thanks Andrei, your review about sums it up! Amazing how Google continues to have a reverse Midas touch when it comes to hardware. It's almost like they don't want to threaten their major Android licensees by resolutely keeping the price/performance ratio solidly below theirs. Google might want to take a look at Microsoft's Surface lineup, which actually leads the Windows field in some areas like 2-in-1s.