Google Pixel no match for iPhone 7, but...
It sure sounds strange but is true. Google is a company that dominates the smartphone market but it doesn't do so with its own phone.
It relies on companies like Samsung and HTC, which use its operating system Android.
Last week, however, all this changed. Google finally launched its first "Google engineered, Google designed" phones called Pixel and Pixel XL.
According to Google, these are high-end, totally premium Android smartphones - Google's answer to the iPhone.
But are they? The Pixel and Pixel XL sure look good. They have got hardware which really puts them in the top category.
The camera in these phones, in particular, seems very impressive. And they use Android Nougat 7.1 which, with features like Google's Smart Assistant, is incredibly smart.
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| iPhone 7 line-up. (Photo credit: macrumours.com) |
For the last couple of years, Android has taken a lead over iPhone's iOS operating system and although Apple has inched back closer with iOS 10, overall Android is still better and smarter software for a phone.
But as impressive as this combination of high-end hardware and cool Android sounds, the Pixel and Pixel XL seemingly fall a little short of the high standard set by the iPhone.
The design of the Pixel phones, despite the metal and glass body, seems dated and boring. They also seem to lack the cohesiveness that an iPhone or a Samsung Galaxy phone show.
That half glass cover on the rear looks tacky alongside the brushed aluminium. Then there is the bezel, the space around the screen.
There is just too much wasted space. But a bigger issue than the design is some of the missing features.
The Pixel and Pixel XL look like a more premium take on Google's already existing Nexus phones, and not entirely phones that can be called no-compromise products.
Despite the steep price - Rs 57,000 in India - Pixel phones lack features like waterproof body or stereo speakers that premium phones nowadays have.
These, however, are still early days. With the Pixel, the big news is not the phones but the fact that finally Google is committed to be an iPhone competitor.
And while this year's Pixels may look somewhat out of league compared to other high-end phones, at least on paper and in terms of perception, next year you can expect greater things from their updated versions.
(Courtesy of Mail Today.)