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
System Performance
One aspect Google Pixel devices have always excelled at is performance. With every generation, Google had opted to customise the BSP stack and improve on Qualcomm’s mechanisms to be able to extract as much performance out of the SoC as possible. In recent years these customisations haven’t been quite as evident as QC’s schedulers became more complex and also more mature. The Pixel 4 again makes use of Qualcomm’s scheduler mechanisms instead of Google’s own Android Common Kernel. The Pixel 4 also arrives with Android Q which is one of the very few devices in our testbench which comes with the new OS version.
We’re testing the Pixel 4 at three refresh rate settings: the default 60Hz mode, the automatic 90Hz mode, and the forced 90Hz mode. As with the OnePlus 7 Pro earlier in the year, we’re expecting to measure differences between the different display modes.
Starting off with the web browsing test, we’re seeing the Pixel 4 XL perform quite averagely. The odd thing here is that it’s showcasing worse performance and scaling than the Pixel 3 last year in all but the forced 90Hz mode. It’s also interesting to see how the forced 90Hz mode is able to post an advantage over the regular 90Hz mode even though the content of the benchmark doesn’t contain anything in particular that would have the automatic mode trigger to 60Hz.
In the video editing test, which isn’t all that significant in terms of its results, we do however see the differences between the 60 and 90Hz modes. Again, it’s odd to see the 60Hz mode perform that much worse than the Pixel 3 in this test, pointing out to more conservative scaling of the little CPU cores.
In the Writing test which is the most important sub-test of PCMark and has heavier workloads, we see the Pixel 4 perform very well and is in line with the better Snapdragon 855 devices out there.
The Photo Editing scores of the Pixel 4 are also top notch and the best Snapdragon 855 device we have at hand.
The data manipulation test is another odd one that I can’t really explain it performs better on the forced 90Hz mode over than the automatic 90Hz mode.
Finally, the Pixel 4 ends up high in the ranks in PCMark, really only trailing the Mate 30 Pro.
In the web benchmarks, the Pixel 4 performs quite average to actually quite bad, compared to what we’ve seen from other S855 phones. I’m really not sure why the degradation takes place, I’ll have to investigate this more once I have another S855 with Android Q.
Performance Conclusion
Overall, performance of the Pixel 4 is excellent, as expected. The big talking point here isn’t really the SoC or Google’s software, but rather the 90Hz screen of the phone. It really augments the experienced performance of the phone, making it stand out above other 60Hz phones this year.
That being said, unlike last year, I can’t say that the Pixel 4 is amongst the snappiest devices this year as that title was already taken by the new Huawei Mate 30 Pro with the newer generation Kirin 990. Unfortunately for Google, performance of the Pixel 4 will be a rather short-lived selling point as I expect the competition (which don’t already have the feature) to catch up with high refresh screens, and also surpass the Pixel as the new generation Snapdragon SoCs are just a month away from launch.
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Jonahtrav - Friday, November 8, 2019 - link
has a pixel 3 a user I was excited to see the pixel 4 come out but I usually wait for all the reviews and then decide and have you seen the jerry-rigged video where he test the durability of the pixel 4 and it fails miserably with cracking in four areasOliseo - Sunday, November 10, 2019 - link
Yeah, it's for halfwits.edzieba - Friday, November 8, 2019 - link
Coming from a Pixel 2XL, it ticks all the boxes for me. Performance (in terms of responsiveness rather than sustained benchmarks) is great, 90Hz display is a nice step up, the return of Qi charging means battery life is a nonissue for me (Put it down on the desk, and oh, it's charged when I go to pick it up again), and Soli has thus far been generally useful in a subtle way (activation on reach, and quieting alarms and rings before contact, rather than hand-waving demos). Camera is Good Enough for the few times I take photos. I miss the fingerprint reader for the notification swipe gesture, but it also means I can unlock and authenticate payments (pattern/code unlock is no good here) quickly without taking my gloves off - or even taking the phone out of the mount - to pay for fuel which is a nice convenience.Then there are the alternatives. Iphones are right out, ain't nobody got time to deal with Apple's ecosystem. Samsung (and most others) get the boot due to their glacial update rate and/or OS-fiddling. And as this is by definition a device intended to be network connected continuously, it's either updated or it's PWNed. Out of the manufacturers who are vaguely on the ball when it comes to consistent, reliable and timely updates and don't go messing with the core OS that leaves basically Nokia, Essential, and Sony. Essential seem to be dead for all intents and purposes, Sony still haven't gotten Qi implemented, and Nokia lock their bootloaders (and are still on Android 9).
edzieba - Friday, November 8, 2019 - link
Biggest thing I'm missing is an up/down motion gesture for scrolling recipes with dirty hands.Andrei Frumusanu - Friday, November 8, 2019 - link
> Samsung (and most others) get the boot due to their glacial update rate and/or OS-fiddling. And as this is by definition a device intended to be network connected continuously, it's either updated or it's PWNed.My S10 is on the November security patch since a couple of days. The Pixel 4 XL is still on the October one. People need to get their facts right.
thestryker - Friday, November 8, 2019 - link
I could be wrong, but I believe the point he was getting at is over device lifetime. This is the predominant reason I'm still using my Droid Turbo. Outside of Essential and Google the device makers for android bail on their device OS updates relatively rapidly (ex: Pixel 2 running 10, Galaxy S8 running 9). Samsung seems good about security updates as old devices do get those albeit at lower cadence, but that doesn't mean the devices get OS support.Android in general is a nightmare when it comes to OS support, but the alternative is Apple, so that's a non starter for me. In general it'd be nice if Google did the work to square away OS updates so they could be device independent, but there is no pressure on anyone to do this it seems.
imaheadcase - Friday, November 8, 2019 - link
What does security update have to do with what he said? Andrei security updates are pushed on pixel phones in normal updates as well so its tied into regular autoupdates anyways now.His point is valid, OS specific UI can totally ruin a phone experience, especially when upgrading is not a must have thing for you. Samsung is notorious for not pushing updates, or even down right lying about updating. Look at Tablet line they have..they still sell tablets and make them WITHOUT updates of any kind, despite them constantly saying after a couple years they will unlock them for users.
I have the Pixel 3 and love it, i won't be going to Pixel 4 (want fingerprint unlock). I might consider it for home use if price drops way low.
Andrei Frumusanu - Friday, November 8, 2019 - link
> What does security update have to do with what he said?Because he specifically brought up security concerns?
Sigil224 - Saturday, November 9, 2019 - link
Would an article on this be possible?I’m currently on an iPhone Xs but have been looking at Androids as a change but have had doubts over some of them because of concerns over update cadence due to anecdotal evidence (Samsung, normally) but if that’s not right then that changes things a bit.
Oliseo - Sunday, November 10, 2019 - link
You'll get three years MAX from the BEST android phone OEM (including Google) and that's from the Launch date.Prepare to junk it after 4 years at the latest (and that's a year with no OS upgrade).
And these are BEST CASE SCENERIOS.
Pick the wrong phone and it will be junk soon as you buy it.