so the diminutive yet desirable google pixel 5 goes on sale tomorrow for 599 quid making it by far the most expensive of google’s 2020 pixel phone lineup and yet on the flip side it’s still a couple hundred quid cheaper than previous pixel flagships so for the same cache as usual you could buy yourself the most premium pixel as well as a create a vodka to see yourself through the impending lockdown slash apocalypse now i’ve had my sim lovingly slotted inside of the pixel 5 for the previous week and here’s what i think in my full in-depth google pixel 5 review and for more on the latest greatest tech please do poke subscribe and ding that notifications bell cheers now first up even a full week on i still get a wonderful bubbly feel and deep in my belly whenever i pluck the pixel 5 for my pocket at 6 inches exactly it’s absolutely perfect fit for the hand while still giving you plenty of screen space to work with seriously why or why is every other smartphone these days big enough to be technically classed as a tablet small and easy to fondle that’s the way forwards on the flip side though i’m already very bored of that just black design which looks rather plain and unremarkable it’s something you’d expect from a budget phone except even budget phones these days often have a flare-tastic arse that glitters and shines and yeah you can grab the pixel 5 in sort of sage if you want something a bit more lively but i’m calling it right now that color is probably going to be quite hard to get a hold of and it stirs up mixed opinions anyway certainly
no replacement for the likes of the really blue original pixel a big selection of bright and poppy color choices like those offered by samsung’s s20 fan edition would be effin marvellous still when i first unboxed the pixel 5 i was a little bit unsure about that weird sort of cardboardy style texture on the back end but to be honest after just a do2 i stopped even noticing it and that aluminium surface seems very fit for purpose as well no scratches or scuffs to speak of even after a full week of general abuse and that goes for the gorilla glass 6 screen as well and that’s just as well because you don’t get a condom case or a pre-installed screen protector here meanwhile the ipx8 water resistance means that the pixel 5 can get pleasantly moist and still continue functioning now one of the very best bits of the pixel smartphones is undoubtedly that fresh stock version of android 11 with guaranteed updates for three full years and let’s face it the way everything’s going right now in three years time will probably all be enslaved by mutant space crabs and our only form of communication will be scrolling messages to each other on the walls of our underground prisons in our own excrement and while android 11 doesn’t seem vastly different on the surface you’ll find plenty of lovely little tweaks when you start to use the pixel 5.
notifications are organized in a smarter fashion which pleases at the twitchy ocd part of me immensely while the updated media controls make it easy to skip from music to podcasts to audiobooks or to switch your output device and google pay works perfectly on the pixel 5 and as usual it’s just a long press of the power button away where you can now fast access your most useful google home smart devices that way too in fact during my first week with the pixel 5 i didn’t notice any weird glitchy bugs or any randomness whatsoever in android 11 which is both deeply surprising and also pleasantly refreshing compared with my experiences with most other smartphones especially those bloody iphones sadly however there is only space for a single sim card inside of the pixel 5 there’s no dual sim support although you do get e sim support as a form of compensation and there’s no micro sd memory card expandability for that 128 gigs of built-in storage now sure that six inch oled screen isn’t as ridiculously big as many rivals so no it’s not quite like having a tv stashed in your pocket but i was happy enough watching movies and shows on the pixel 5 all day long dinky camera orifice aside it’s a great viewing experience that contrast is incredible with super deep blacks and bright crisp whites when you’re watching itch george’s on the likes of netflix colors bleed out beautifully and with the option to boost vibrancy if you prefer and because the screen
is that little bit smaller those full hd plus images are sharp as a sushi knife and unlike the other google pixel phones of 2020 you get a proper full on 90hz refresh rate as well so swishing your way through android 11 just feels beautifully smooth as for the audio i had no issues with bluetooth streaming to speakers and headphones and that’s probably just as well because unlike the other pixel phones from 2020 there is no bloody headphone jack here sound quality was thankfully strong but seriously google what is up with that the lack of jack has me seriously considering the pixel 4 a5g as an alternative for pure convenience and while yes technically you do get a stereo speaker setup here on the pixel 5 that top speaker packs about as much force as an earthworm’s anal blast now one of the main reasons that the pixel 5 is significantly cheaper than last year’s pixel 4 and the other pixel flagships that came before that is the choice of chipset namely the snapdragon 765g rather than qualcomm’s big daddy snapdragon 865 and yes it’s not quite as powerful and not quite as feature packed either but the 765g is perfectly capable of coping with absolutely everything you throw its way propped up nicely by the eight gigs of onboard ram and yeah that
comfortably extends to the gaming as well you can absolutely tear through those pesky school kids on pubg or call of duty with detail settings bumped all the way up and those spangly graphical effects switched on there’s no stutters no crap out just 100 super fluid violence beautiful sadly there’s no wi-fi 6 support built into the pixel 5 but i did find that my wi-fi connection remains strong and stable at all times you do have that built-in 5g connectivity at least for a bit of future-proofing and another area where the pixel 5 impressed me thank the baby jesus was the battery life you get a cell with just over 4 000 milliamp capacity crammed in here which seems a little measly compared with most other flagship phones but my god is it enough in the mornings i’ve found that i’ve managed to check my messages and stream the best part of an album before that bloody percentage battery counter even starts to tick down and i’ve definitely tried to murder the pixel 5 with extended lunch break netflix sessions and lots of heavy metal music streaming and all kinds of other shenanigans and while camera use does tend to burn the battery a bit faster than other activities i still found that every single evening i was going to bed with a bit of juice left in the pixel 5.
and that is with the 90 hertz display mode active the always on display turned on all of that good stuff so very much not like last year’s disastrous pixel 4. sadly the 18 watt charging speed is about as impressively quick as the queuing experience in my local post office but you do at least get full wireless charging support with the pixel 5 as well as a spot of reverse wireless charging and then last up for this review there’s that 12.2 megapixel dual pixel camera sensor with optical image stabilization built in and that’s joined here by a 16 megapixel ultra wide angle lens for those funky pullback snaps it’s once again the same setup as found in the pixel 4a 5g and again here in the pixel 5 it’s so good that it definitely makes my pp go boing boing boing like all pixel phones it’s a case of point and shoot and nine times out of ten at least you’ll get great looking results photos are packed with intricate detail in good lighting and even in quite ambient lighting you’ll still get bright results with accurate colors the pixel 5 boasts a similar dual brightness control for high contrast scenes and this once again works well while your serious low light shots also look impressively natural once you employ that night sight mode basically the pixel 5 can heal great looking shots no matter where or when you’re trying to shoot them and all with bugger all effort and that is why the pixel 5 is still one of the best camera phones around in 2020 especially at this kind of price point
and that ultra wide angle lens is perfectly respectable too capturing a different viewpoint without bulking that natural color reproduction likewise i’ve got no complaints with a portrait mode you don’t get the same extensive range of filters and controls like you do on other phones but the results here are usually bang on at least where crazy hair doesn’t ruin the overall effect and that’s even when shooting against quite a bright background there’s still no kind of pro modes here on the pixel 5 for manually controlling those camera settings but if all you want is ease of use just point and shoot then job done for your home movies you can shoot 4k video at either 30 or 60 frames per second and those visuals are similar to what you get with still image capture you can expect realistic looking colors and enough sharp detail when you’re watching back on a monitor or tv audio is picked up loud and clear from all directions as well for an enjoyable viewing experience and also slapped on the front of the pixel 5 is an 8 megapixel selfie camera which may sound a bit crap but i still found it
captured my face in far too much detail although damn do those eyebrows look luscious google’s portrait mode works as well here as it did for the back end where you can also make liberal use of that nightsight feature although this usually made me look like a cross between a serial killer and a vampire and that right there is my review of the pixel 5 and i definitely enjoyed using it as my full-time smartphone unlike last year’s pixel 4 flagship but the question is even if you’re dead set on getting a pixel smartphone is there enough packed into the pixel 5 to warrant an upgrade over the pixel 4 or 5g or even just the standard pixel 4a you’ve got the wireless charging you’ve got the water resistance and you’ve got that slick 90 hertz display as well but don’t forget you also lose the headphone jack and it is quite a bit more cash so i’ve got to say as much as i love that faster display i would go with one of the cheaper pixels unless you just got lots of cash lying around so that’s what i think but what do you think be great to hear your thoughts on the pixel 5 and the whole pixel range down in the comments below please do poke subscribe ding that notifications bell and have yourselves a lovely rest of the week cheers everyone love you
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