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TECHNOLOGY A23
Wednesday 19 October
Google’s Pixel phone: Not much new, but still a standoutÂ
ANICK JESDANUN similar to the iPhone’s 3D
Touch. The Pixel also offers
AP Technology Writer “Night Light,†a feature that
tints your screen amber by
NEW YORK (AP) — Google’s filtering out blue light that
might keep you up at night.
ambitious new smart- Apple calls it Night Shift.
Pixel owners get unlim-
phone, the Pixel, doesn’t ited storage of photos at
original resolution, though
offer a lot that’s new. Yet that’s a little like offering
Google search for free.
it’s still one of the best out Google Photos already of-
fers unlimited storage at up
there. to 16 megapixels; the Pix-
el’s camera is 12 megapix-
Google achieves that by els. The free offer will make
a difference for those who
pulling together the best take video in ultra-sharp
“4k†resolution, but the
features from Apple, Sam- default setting is lower, at
1080p, which is already free
sung and other phone at Google Photos.
___
makers and offering them WHAT’S MISSING
The Pixel will be OK if you
at prices comparable to spray it with water, but
don’t drop it in the pool.
iPhones — starting at about You also can’t expand its
storage with a memory
$650 for the regular, 5-inch card, as you can with the
S7 and Note 7 — though
model and $770 for the 5.5- for $100 more, the Pixel’s 32
gigabytes of storage qua-
inch “XL†edition. Both ver- druples to 128 gigabytes,
and the free online storage
sions go on sale Thursday should take care of your
photos and videos. The
through Verizon, Best Buy battery isn’t removable,
though that’s true for most
and Google’s online store. phones these days.
Those looking for a Note
I tested the Pixel XL mod- 7 replacement will find
the Pixel missing a stylus. If
el; the regular version has you’re an iPhone user, you’ll
have to brace yourself
identical features except for the switch to Android,
which would entail buy-
for its smaller display and ing new apps and learning
new ways to navigate.
battery — still enough for ___
MAKING THE SWITCH
13 hours of internet use, ac- Google tries to make it
easy to switch. The phone
cording to Google. With ei- This Sunday, Oct. 16, 2016, photo taken with Google’s Pixel XL smartphone shows a reservoir at comes with a transfer ca-
New York’s Central Park. ble, and the set-up process
ther, you get an excellent walks you through trans-
Associated Press ferring photos, music and
camera and a strong voice video, as long as it’s not en-
crypted (so scratch iTunes
assistant that promises to video, the Pixel’s stabiliza- with no front flash or control through your Gmail ac- video). But apps won’t
tion technology compen- over the focus. But it’s fine count for flight reservations switch over from iPhones;
get smarter — all without sates for shaky hands and in good light and at typical and remind you when to you need to buy them
other movement, match- distances for selfies. head to the airport. It will again.q
the bloat common with ing what the iPhone and ___ analyze your daily com-
Galaxy phones can do. THE ASSISTANT mute and warn of delays.
other Android phones. The Pixel borrows a quick- Google’s voice assistant, Assistant waits for you to
launch feature from Sam- simply known as Google ask.
The Pixel isn’t quite an sung phones. Just double Assistant, will seem familiar Assistant holds up well com-
tap the power button to to those who have used pared with Siri and Alexa,
iPhone replacement, start the camera, even if Apple’s Siri or Amazon’s Al- but for more, swipe from
the phone is locked. To exa features. left to right to get the old
as Google wants you to be- switch between the front Google’s version goes fur- Google Now back. Google
and rear cameras, just dou- ther in offering daily up- says Assistant will eventually
lieve ; hardware is just part ble twist the phone like a dates such as weather and get the Google Now func-
door knob — a feature Mo- news, though plenty of tionality.
of what makes an iPhone torola, which Google once apps already offer similar ___
owned, has long offered. capabilities through notifi- OTHER FEATURES
an iPhone. But it might Low-light images taken cations. Google is also bet- If you need help, you can
with the Pixel in three mu- ter at remembering prefer- reach Google’s customer
serve up a strong chal- seums aren’t as crisp as ences — say, if you prefer support and enable screen
those from the iPhone 7 temperatures in Celsius — sharing reminiscent of Ama-
lenge to Samsung, espe- and Samsung’s Galaxy S7 and at integrating with its zon’s Mayday help feature.
(which has the same cam- own services, such as Trans- And the Pixel will work with
cially as people look for al- era as the Note 7). But dif- late and Photos. Google’s upcoming Day-
ferences are small, and the But Assistant doesn’t yet dream View virtual-reality
ternatives to the fire-prone Pixel does better than typi- sync with a similar Assis- headset, much as Samsung
cal smartphones. Where tant in Google’s Allo chat phones have Samsung’s
Galaxy Note 7 . the Pixel falls short is in ex- app and upcoming Home Gear VR.
treme close-ups, such as speaker. And it isn’t as pro- Long-pressing an app icon
___ shooting a flower petal or active as the Google Now brings up a menu of short-
a small bug; photos were assistant already built into cuts, such as getting direc-
THE CAMERA typically blurry. The Pixel’s Android phones. Google tions to home or launch-
selfie camera is also inferior, Now, for instance, will look ing the selfie camera. It’s
The Pixel’s image qual-
ity is superb — though pur-
ists may quibble. Colors in
some shots look too strong
and clean to me, thanks to
software processing intend-
ed to reduce distortion and
improve detail (something
all phones do to some ex-
tent).
But automation pays off in
another way: The Pixel will
automatically combine
successive shots into an an-
imated “GIF†file, offering a
fun way to share a toddler’s
steps or a dog jumping. For
