First Impressions: The Pixel 3 & 3 XL Are Amazing, But Can They Overcome Their High Price Tags?

At the Made By Google event in New York City yesterday, Google launched a whole host of new devices, foremost among which were the new Pixel 3 lineup. Our very own Jayesh Shinde had a chance to get his hands on the new devices, so here are his first reactions.

Images courtesy: Jayesh Shinde

1) The Pixel 3 and Pixel 3XL's new ¡®Not Pink¡¯ and ¡®Definitely White¡¯ colours are really pleasing to the eye. The devices feature lots of rounded edges and curved surfaces; all round a design that looks and feels premium. Google has maintained the All Black look from last year, but we¡¯re so disappointed to see the Black-n-White Panda look discontinued.

2) Contrary to rumours, the Pixel 3 in fact has a notch-less design, which makes its display bezels appear much larger than phones we¡¯ve grown accustomed to seeing. This isn't an issue on the Pixel 3XL, though, which has a notched at the top, albeit a little deeper than usual.

3) Both phones feel slimmer and lighter than last year's devices. The menu buttons have also been removed in favour of the gesture navigation brought to Android 9.0 Pie.

Also Read: Pixel Stand, Google Home Hub, Pixel Slate: All The Devices Launched At The Made By Google Event

4) As far as imaging goes, photos on default setting, in broad daylight, from the Pixel 3XL look spectacular. Take a look. Of course, because of space constraints here, you can click this link for the full resolution images

Jayesh Shinde

5) Google's still sticking with a single lens rear camera on the back, where every major flagship now has least at two camera lenses for superior photos. Product manager Brian Rakowski says Google's computational photography algorithms, aided by the new Google Visual Core image processing chip, compensate for the lack of a second lens -- well and beyond! It¡¯s clear in features Google talked about yesterday, from Top Shot, to Night Sight, and so much more.

6) There¡¯s sadly still no dual-SIM on either the Pixel 3 or the Pixel 3XL. The company does indicate some markets will have e-SIM functionality, but there¡¯s no guarantee India will be one of them. Apparently Google believes for the price segment the Pixel 3 is targeted at, dual SIM isn't a big deal. That might become a problem as the Pixel 3 takes on the iPhone XS.

7) Dual down-firing speakers on both the devices are loud as heck, as we watched and listened to a couple of quick YouTube videos and songs. It¡¯ll take a little more testing to really get a feel of the range and clarity of the device, but good volume is always a plus.

8) In the limited time spent with the device, it appears that the Google Pixel 3 and Pixel 3XL seem to have overcome screen colour shift issue that plagued last year¡¯s Pixel 2 & Pixel 2XL. Phew! Finger crossed they don¡¯t follow the premium device trend and have some other glitch on launch day.

9) Last year's Google Pixel 2 series didn't do great in the video capture department, despite being awesome in capturing stills. This issue seems to have been fully resolved on the Pixel 3 & Pixel 3 XL. Video seems smooth and crisp, at least on Full HD resolution, and a number of nifty features like ¡®Motion Autofocus¡¯ should help nudge things along the scale too.

10) At Rs 71,000, the Pixel 3 definitely isn't cheap. And the Pixel 3XL is obviously more expensive, starting at Rs 83,000. Both phones are more expensive than last year, but then again so are the devices of its biggest competitors. The question then remains whether the Pixel has more bang for buck than other premium devices, and they might just have a shot at proving that. How all of this will sink or launch the Pixel 3¡¯s fortunes remains to be seen.