– (energetic drum beat) – So at long last afterleaks and pre-announcements, and announcements, andbillboards, and TV ads, I guess we’re at the final moment, the launch of the Pixel6 and the Pixel 6 Pro. And I got them right here in my hands. Can you even stinkin’ believe it? (laughs) If you’ve been followingPixel phones for a while, then you might knowthat even the best ones, they haven’t been among thebest smartphone flagships and these phones, they’resupposed to change all that.So let’s start with theimportant numbers here.
Pricing. 599 for the Pixel 6,899 for the Pixel 6 Pro. And that’s with 128 Gigs of storage too. So they’re a little lessexpensive than comparable iPhones, Samsungs, or even One Plus phones, which is a bit of a Pixeltheme that continues even though these are meantto be high-end phones. Now, this is a hands-on andthe rules of the hands-on are that I can tell you about the hardware and I can show you my homescreen, but that’s about it.
That could be a bad sign, but I think that Googleis going for that whole like live tech event, hands-on thing. Anyway, those are the rulesthat they set for everybody. So let’s talk about hardware. And with that, a little ASMRof these very clicky buttons. (button clicking) Buttons are important.
(chuckles) Now, despite the pricedifferences, these two phones, they actually share a lot. So both phones, they have Google’s new custom Tensor Processor. And Google says it’s competitive with Qualcomm Snapdragon 888. That’s a big deal. And it’s all centered aroundGoogle’s AI-boosting TPU that promises to improvephotos and videos, text-to-speech, search, the list goes on.
We’ll really have to see how that goes in our full review andwhen we’re really testing these phones. So stay tuned for our fullreview coming very soon. Both Pixels also have a50 megapixel main camera that uses pixel binning tocombine four pixels into one, to make a 12.5, that’s 50 divided by four, 12.5 megapixel image.
And that sensor, yo, that sensor’s huge! One over 1.3 one inches. And that’s bigger than theiPhone 13 Pro’s main sensor if you’re keeping count, but the pixel pitch is slightlysmaller at 1.2 microns.
And then the main lens,it has an F1.85 aperture. Both have a 12 megapixelultra-wide at F2.2. Both have fixed focusedhole punch selfie cameras on the front.
Both have stereo speakers, both can capture 4k video atup to 60 frames per second, and slow-mo at 240, 1080.They also share the same Google software. It’s a version of Android 12 that got a few extra Google specific things that are powered by thatTensor AI processor, including faster translationsand a magic eraser feature that lets you get rid of unwanted stuff in the background of photos. I’m actually pretty excitedto test that one out and a few other things. They also have optical fingerprintsensors under the screen, wireless charging, and areverse wireless charging for accessories, like the Pixel Buds.
Love that feature so much and Google is calling it Battery Share. Now, both also support Wi-Fi6E, Bluetooth 5.2, and NFC. They have five years ofpromised update supports, which is the longestGoogle has ever offered a Pixel and longer than basically any other Android phone you can buy.And Google is going to beselling plastic clip-on cases that work around the camerabumps and add some grip, but they don’t feel nearly asnice as those old fabric cases that Pixel phones have.
Though, they might age abit better than those did, which aged incredibly poorly. But anyway, they lastly alsoshare a design sensibility. So that’s Gorilla GlassVictus on the front and two-tone glass on the back. But let’s talk about this camera bar. It’s a very ala GalaxyS10 if you asked me, but like on steroids.
All camera bumps are silly and I think we’ve just gotten used tolike seeing them over here. So I’m not really too bothered by this. The only thing is thatit’s absolutely massive. I think the benefit though, is that since it spans thewhole back of the phone, it means that your phonewill sit on a table a lot more evenly.I also think I would get like really used to this camera bump because if I own this, it would always be ina case which would kind of like, fill in the gap betweenthe bump (finger tapping) on the back of the phone.
But I also think the waythat this is executed shows that even though this is Google 6 Pixel, it kind of feels like it’s first or second try making a true flagship. For example, the curves from the sides, they don’t even blendin with the camera bump, which is weird. And in general, wellfit and finish are good. There are just a few places where it seems like things aren’t truly seamless. Like you can literally feel the seams, especially on the regular Pixel 6, which hold on, holdon, hold on, full-stop.
Dieter thinks we shouldbe calling it the Pick 6 and the Pick 6 Pro. I’m not completely sold on this. I can’t say that I love it. So uh, comment down below. Okay, so let’s now talkabout the differences between these phones.
What does an extra $300 actually get you? Well, the Pro has a slightly bigger screen with a higher refresh rate,more RAM up to 512 Gigabytes of storage, and the screenis curved on the edges, the bezel’s invisible on thesides and smaller on the top. Curved screens have reallyfallen out of fashion lately, which is a huge bummer to me because I’m a huge curved screen fan, which I think is part of thereason I haven’t upgraded from the S10.But anyway, here, I haveto say that you can see a shadow on the edges whenyou’re looking at it at an angle. And we have to spend more time with these to see if there’s any palm-resting issues or, you know, touch sensitivity issues on the edge of the screen as well.
So stay tuned for ourreview for more on that. The Pro also has a fourX-folded telephoto zoom. It’s right here. It’s inthe middle of the bar. It looks pretty bad-assand the regular doesn’t.
And the Pro selfie camera isa little higher resolution. It’s a little bit bigger in size. And it has a little widerfield of view as well. Now the Pro has a mmWave 5G. The regular does not, except on Verizon where it’ll cost you ahundred dollars more.
The 6 Pro also has a ultra-wideband chip, and the Pro is shinier like shiny edges, unlike the matte edges on the regular. And lastly, the Pro comes in more professional color options. I think the regular colorsare a little bit more fun. And honestly this like,white and green is so dope. Now this is a question forthe review, but you know, I’m not entirely convinced that the Pro is worth the extra money.
A lot of that is gonna depend on how well the telephoto camera performs and that slightly larger battery. And side note, this phone does support30-Watt fast charging, but it does not comewith a brick in a box. So hopefully you have your own by now. Overall, these do feellike different Pixels than what we’ve seen in the past.They aren’t the mid-rangePixel 5 that we got last year and they don’t really looklike the Pixel 4 either.
But at the same time, there’s just something kind ofgeneric about these designs. I don’t know. They feel very Samsung Sor something we might get from TCL or Oppo for that matter. They’re also both large. Like the regular Pixel isnearly as big as the Pro.
For someone who has smallhands and small pockets, y’all better be porn went out for me. These things are more likethe iPhone 13 Pro Max size than anything else. And Google is not giving us a small and large choice like it did in the past.(exhales) Just give me small phones, please, please. All right.
So that’s thePixel 6 and the Pixel 6 Pro. We’re gonna be putting these to the test over the next few days. We’re pushing their performance, we’re testing their battery life, and I’m taking so many photos and videos. So let us know if you haveany questions down below and Pick 6, Pick 6 Pro,Pixel 6, Pixel 6 Pro, Team Becker, Team Dieter on that one. Team Becker.
(laughs) Also buds, Dieter got to sit down with Google CEO, Sundar Pichai, and the Hardware Chief,Rick Osterloh last week. And he talked to them onThe Verge cast podcast, which is up right now. So you wanna listen tothat, to help understand a little bit more about these phones than just reading off theirspecs and showing the hardware. All right. That’s all.
We’ll see you soon buds..
Read More: Google Pixel 6 and 6 Pro: I held both. Here’s what you need to know.