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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LiverpoolFC5903 - Wednesday, November 13, 2019 - link
Please do not regurgitate unfounded "views" as a fact. The 'new' Nokia has a significant number of people from the 'old' Nokia and is 100% Finnish. This allegation of being a chinese shell is laughable. If you are referring to Nokia phones being manufactured in China, ahem, even Iphones are manufactured in China. As are hundreds of other brands...Spunjji - Monday, November 11, 2019 - link
Pretty sure their bigger problem was being tied to a Microsoft OS.milkywayer - Friday, November 8, 2019 - link
The battery is so terrible that I have the 90hz feature and the hand gesture thingy turned off on my 4XL. Frankly some Google execs need to be in jail for bundling such a terrible battery with a $1000 phone. It should be a crime in 2019 for what they offer for the price tag. Since Ive left Apple, they probably caught the lazy fewks at Google off guard. What a year! APPLE bundling a bigger battery and improved battery life than any one else.s.yu - Friday, November 8, 2019 - link
*Gasp*A LIVE user!
milkywayer - Friday, November 8, 2019 - link
Not sure what you're attempting but if you're gonna post a comment, stick to the topic. There's already enough meaningless spam to go around in the internet.s.yu - Saturday, November 9, 2019 - link
What I mean is somebody reading Anandtech actually buys this crap. The specs and pricing alone should be ample deterrent.milkywayer - Saturday, November 9, 2019 - link
I was going to cancel my ore order. I got mine for $300 off by chance so I took it. I think it's every bit worth the $650ish incl tax i paid for the XL. Googles problem is they are pricing these as iPhones but have cut so many features. I'm sure with the ass kicking they've received now for the pixel 4 at least next year the pixel will have a bigger battery. :Ds.yu - Sunday, November 10, 2019 - link
If $650 inc. tax also covers warranty then...I suppose it's still up for consideration, just not for many here who don't want to put too much personal data on clouds because of the puny storage.Spunjji - Monday, November 11, 2019 - link
At that price it's a reasonable phone. Marginally worse hardware than the competition, better software support.Shame they actually don't sell it for that, otherwise I'd consider buying one!
chrnochime - Tuesday, November 12, 2019 - link
They will just mess up something else next year. They just can't compete at this price level with the seemingly half-baked products they release.