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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Andrei Frumusanu - Monday, November 11, 2019 - link
We don't have the Note10's and we'd have to buy them to review; I don't feel the phones have any major differentiating factors over the S10 to be that much worth it.SirKronan - Thursday, November 14, 2019 - link
Andrei, thanks for your response! I was afraid of that. Would you be willing to do a review if I could arrange for a loaner to be sent to you?ithehappy - Sunday, November 10, 2019 - link
So far all the reviews I have seen has showed that the loudspeaker loudness (or maybe even quality) of the Pixel 4 is better than the iPhone 11, this review says on the contrary! Also those reviews showed the Pixel 4 performing better for day to day tasks (like app opening etc.) faster than the iPhone 11.Was the reviewer here let down even from before reviewing the device or something? Astrophotography mode was not even tested! If the iPhone 11 had that feature would you cite the pretty nonsense reason of poor weather to skip that part? I don't think so. Not sure what went here.
In any case, Google could have done so many things right with this phone. But they chose not to. Withdrawing the original quality upload was one of the terrible decisions, so was the terrible battery capacity on the Pixel 4 non-XL model. There is no doubt for 2019-2020 the iPhone 11 is a much better choice than the Pixel 4, but this review has some unnecessary and uncalled negative bias towards the Pixel 4.
Andrei Frumusanu - Monday, November 11, 2019 - link
> So far all the reviews I have seen has showed that the loudspeaker loudness (or maybe even quality) of the Pixel 4 is better than the iPhone 11Loudness isn't an issue, the P4 gets very loud. Quality is on par to lesser than the i11.
> you cite the pretty nonsense reason of poor weather to skip that part? I don't think so. Not sure what went here.
I'm not sure what exactly you expected want me to do here, take pictures of clouds?
ithehappy - Monday, November 11, 2019 - link
I expected you, the reviewer, to use that mode. It's not only for taking photos of clouds is it now? It's just something which lets the shutter open for much longer time compared to Night Sight even which would have led to some astonishing shots no doubt.PenGunn - Sunday, November 10, 2019 - link
Just bought a Huawei Mate 20 Pro from Virgin in BC Canada. I'm getting good at this phone change negotiation and got a smoking deal.Stunning phone. For some reason, here, Google crap works fine.
raju516 - Monday, November 11, 2019 - link
Andrei,U said many vendors have displays calibrated better than Google . Can you name one vendor and the phone model other than Apple?
Thanks
Andrei Frumusanu - Monday, November 11, 2019 - link
Samsung, OnePlus and Huawei on some devices.peevee - Monday, November 11, 2019 - link
HOW have they managed to make Pixel 4XL work slower than Pixel 3? Wow, have Google lost ALL of its good and even decent engineers?yetanotherhuman - Tuesday, November 12, 2019 - link
I'm dissatisfied with basically all the new phones on the market. Bleh.