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
Battery Life
Battery life of the Pixel 4 series was a concern from the very first moment we had confirmation about the phone having a 90Hz panel, yet doing nothing special or even regressing in terms of the battery capacity of the two models. I put the Pixel 4 XL through the paces in all three display modes, testing the battery life at 60Hz, 90Hz auto, and 90Hz forced refresh rates.
Unfortunately, as expected, the results aren’t too fantastic. The device that we should be comparing things to is the OnePlus 7 Pro – both devices feature 1440p 90Hz displays with the same SoC, it’s just that the Pixel 4 XL has a smaller battery at 3700mAh. While the Pixel 4 XL is lagging behind the OP7Pro, the interesting thing is that Google’s 90Hz seemingly uses less of a power hit than OnePlus’ implementation, degrading by 7.7% versus 8.7% when comparing full 90Hz versus 60Hz.
Given the results and the fact that Google dual-sources with LG, I very much doubt the Pixel 4 XL is taking advantage of Samsung’s newest more efficient OLED emitter generation which is said to be 15% more efficient.
In PCMark, the results are also average to bad. 60Hz to full 90Hz incurs a 12.3% penalty, which is again slightly less than the 13.6% of the OnePlus 7 Pro. Naturally we can’t come to a conclusion of saying Google’s 90Hz is more efficient, maybe OnePlus’ 60Hz power management is just better implemented.
Battery Life Conclusion - Average to meagre, still useable for the 4 XL
Overall, the Pixel 4 XL’s battery life isn’t very competitive. It’s amongst the worst results we’ve had for a 2019 device. I have to be accountable to myself here as whilst the phone has worse battery life than the OP7Pro, it’s not that much worse. Having said that the OP7Pro battery life was still completely useable, the Pixel 4 XL is also still very useable as it is. The problem again is that the Pixel came 6 months later, and in the face of a new iPhone generation which brought immense leaps in battery life, the Pixel 4 XL doesn’t seem to be that wise a purchase.
I really find it unfortunate that we weren’t able to test the battery life of the smaller Pixel 4. This model’s 2800mAh battery is 25% smaller and also comes with the wildcard of having an LG panel which historically have always been less power efficient. I can easily imagine that the battery life of that model is outright disastrous, and given coverage by other reviewers, it seem this would be an apt description of the situation.
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MaxUserName - Saturday, November 9, 2019 - link
You especially do not take pictures in very high-contrast scenes to hide the fact that the Google Camera does not work real HDR?swood15 - Saturday, November 9, 2019 - link
I was in the market for a new phone but wanted to wait for the Pixel 4 to drop before making a decision, ended up going with a OP7 Pro. Same SoC, 2x the RAM, 4x the storage, arguably a better implementation of the 90Hz display, larger battery, no forehead/notch, a respectable camera, and a clean OS for $50 cheaper than the cheapest Pixel 4?! Google needs to get serious.Bragabondio - Saturday, November 9, 2019 - link
Love Pixel devices as specs are not all. My feeling is that in the last few years phones are fast enough so specs in terms of pure speed are mostly meaningless unless you have some special case that I don have. Unlocked boot-loader, guaranteed fastest updates for 3 years and freedom to sideload apps is a big plus. Best camera on the market, IP68 dust and water resistance are also a must in my book and both Pixel 4 have them.I agree that the original price is to high ($799 for the regular version and $899 for the XL version) but with a recent $200 discount the new price is $599 for the regular version and $699 for the XL version making them much more reasonable buy.
I am personally skipping Pixel 4 as I plan to upgrade my Pixel 2 next year with Pixel 5.
Arbie - Saturday, November 9, 2019 - link
• No 3.5mm headphone jack.• No sale.
s.yu - Sunday, November 10, 2019 - link
I agree, not that the rest of this package would appeal to me if it even had the jack.For example:
• No 256GB+ storage.
• No sale.
Medstar1 - Sunday, November 10, 2019 - link
Interesting that the reviewer rigged Google for not introducing an ultra wide lens like their rivals; thus, ignoring the fact that LG introduced this feature several years ago.Andrei Frumusanu - Sunday, November 10, 2019 - link
What's your point? LG being first to the UWA doesn't change the fact that Google's the only vendor this year not having it.LG was first to it and I've always said it's a great addition to the camera experience, but it was Huawei in 2018 which popularised it as the UWA quality was far ahead of what LG was able to ever offer.
Oliseo - Sunday, November 10, 2019 - link
I would have said that the Pixels MAIN issue is the woefully short support timeframe from Google.3 years of support IS NOT ENOUGH for the price, regardless of anything else.
bengoey - Saturday, November 23, 2019 - link
Agree, my original 2016 Pixel won't have anymore updates from January 2020, so 3 years update only. If I bought an iPhone instead it will still have software update at least until the end of 2020, may be more. The camera of the Pixel however was better than iPhone at the time. Now iPhone 11 camera has improved and the video is better than the Pixel 4, if I am to upgrade I would buy the Iphone 11 , not the Pixel 4. To upgrade the memory to 128Gb will cost me £50 for the iphone 11 and £100 for the Pixel 4SirKronan - Sunday, November 10, 2019 - link
Yet another newly released phone with its full review complete, but still no word on the Note 10/10+ review?Is Anandtech not going to review the new Note phones after all? That would be a shame.