After five days of usage, three things stand out about the Google Pixel XL. They are the camera, the Google Assistant, and the live Earth wallpaper. The Pixel could have been plagued with the offset of not having the flashy design and hardware or software additions that its competitors have. My Note 4 has a stylus called the S Pen that I have fallen in love with in the past few years. The gimmicks of the Notes and Motorolas are not found on the Pixel, like the iPhone. But unlike the iPhone, the Pixel boasts a whole new gimmick, automation to an extreme extent, and a special Google treatment like no other phone has ever gotten. In the end, I am more than impressed.
Live Blue Earth Wallpaper
I will start by the first impression that shocked me the most, and that I have fallen in love with. Also, it's one that not many reviewers have mentioned. Google teamed up with B-Design studios to create "live" wallpapers, wallpapers that move and change with time. My favorite of these live wallpapers is called the blue Earth. Inspired by the Apollo 17 shot of Earth, it tracks your GPS location and shows where you are on Earth. I thought it only did this, but it doesn't – it shades the Earth depending on the time of day, and the shading is accurate to your current day. When the sun sets for you, your phone shows the blue Earth having a sunset in your area, and your city's lights turning on. They even took it a step further, and have real time clouds loaded every couple of hours. It's incredible and one of my favorite features. The B-Design wallpapers are not exclusive to Pixel (there is an APK out there for them), but they are specially designed for Pixel's GPU to minimize battery usage, and so far it does not use very much battery at all. Let's hope it stays that way because I really love this wallpaper.
The Camera
The Camera on the Pixel XL boasts a 12.3 MP rear and an 8 MP front facing. The front facing camera alone is good enough. For me, taking pictures is not a good comparison for smartphones today. The picture quality and sharpness are almost all equal, with saturation and focus being the aspects that differ. For me, it's the low light video quality, and the Pixel XL more than impressed me. For years I have desired a low light video camera. My DSLR Nikon D5100 could not deliver and my Note 4 could not deliver, but the Pixel XL, somehow, does a fantastic job indoors. More than that, its stabilization systems are phenomenal. I was more than impressed. Pixel uploads your photos directly to Google Photos, which can be accessed on multiple devices. The caveat is that the download speeds on videos are ridiculously slow, so if you want to use the Pixel XL for Youtube videos, the camera will get the job done, but you will need to download directly from the phone. Google Photos is simply too slow.
Here is a low light photo sample. The video quality in the same conditions is not this good, but not far off, which is impressive compared to my DSLR and Note 4, whose video and picture quality in low light differ greatly.
The Google Assistant
I honestly did not think I would use this feature that often. I thought it would go the ways of Siri and Google Now, but I am now thinking otherwise. The Assistant provides automation everywhere – in maps, where all I had to say was "okay google, no highways" and it changed my route; in the morning, when it gives me the morning briefing and a little bit of news. Google also included no button on the bottom of the phone, which I am used to with the Note 4. This makes the phone really awkward to open. You either enter your pin or lift the phone up to open it. Or, you say "okay Google" and the phone recognizes your voice and unlocks itself. This not only provides an easier way to unlock your phone, but it got me more used to saying "okay google" in person and using the assistant quite often. Possibly the lack of inclusion of a front button, but having voice detection and voice unlock, was to give assistant some momentum, and it worked. I love the assistant, but it is only day five. Let's see if I still use it in five months. I also play airplane simulators, and flying alone can be difficult. Pixel has actually been a great copilot, opening my charts for me, and calculating my turns for me. I use it more than I expected.
