Why the best Google Pixel phone could come in 2022 - adamstright

This time last twelvemonth I wrote a editorial titled, "If you got a Pixel 4 for Christmas, you should credibly yield it." I didn't want to write it. Always since the Pixel launched in 2016, I've rooted for Google's phone to succeed. Atomic number 102 other company is in such a post to bring an iPhone-like grade of hardware/software integration and an undergo best on any other Android phone.

Unluckily Google ne'er quite nailed it. The pieces were all thither—flagship mainframe, tremendous camera, rhythmical Android updates—but the design ever left practically to be desired, the features were gimmicky, and the battery was merely good-enough. On the Picture element 4, the compromises became too much to bear.

Michael Simon

Past Pixel phones ne'er had the right formula.

But things might live look up. In 2020 Google switched up its strategy with the Pixel 4a and 5, and the results were shockingly good. For one, the design was wondrous, with a light frame, small bezels, and a rough-textured not-glass back. But the more interesting moves were at heart the phone: Google opted for the midrange Snapdragon 765G rather than the 865, and the Pel didn't lose a step. It still feels speedy, still delivers the purest Android experience, and still takes better photos than phones costing hundreds of dollars more. It also opens awake the Pel to a New Worl of possibilities.

Lour-end, higher-class

The Pixel power have been just a lambency in Google's eye when Android One launched back in 2014, but the two projects are switch off from the very cloth. The vision of Mechanical man Unity was to bring a unclouded Android feel to lower oddment phones that were often filled with bloatware. The Pixel phones are in essence high-end Android Single phones. Even with better components and displays, the focal point—and selling indicate—is on software.

Michael Simon Zelotes/IDG

The Pixel 5 lost its glass in back but kept receiving set charging.

That software emphasis, however, is largely wherefore the archean Pixel phones failed to make much of an impact. The designs didn't match the high cost, especially when compared to similarly priced handsets from Apple and Samsung. That's why the Pel 3a and 4a have fared better in terms of sales: The lower prices rightful make more sense.

With the Pixel 4a, 4a 5G, and 5, Google is creating a better balance between the hardware people want and the computer software they need. With Android Unmatched, Google was "working closely with phone and silicon chip makers… to soma phones that are not just great to use, but also low-priced," a mantra that has found its style into the 2020 Pixel lineup. It's more than just a lower price point or slower chip. For what seems like the first time in a Google phone, the Picture element 5 is phone built solely to leverage the power of Android without worrying close to high-ending parts and graduate-priced competitors.

The Pel 6 could take it straight further. The lineup this year was a little confusing with the $499 Pixel 4a 5G and $699 Pixel 5, particularly because the 4a 5G had a bigger screen than the 5. Google has a lot more room to grow now that it has effected the Pixel as a mid-set out device.

It starts with the processor. While Qualcomm has yet to announce the successor to the 765G that powers the Pixel 4a and 5, there have been rumors that Google is on the job on its own processor. Axios reported earlier this class that "Google received its first temporary versions of the Saratoga chip" and could be ready by next year. Axios reports that the chip will "include hardware optimized for Google's machine-learning technology," with split up of the chip centralised on "improving the performance and always-on capabilities of Google Assistant."

Qualcomm

We'rhenium already pretty sure that the Pixel 6 won't be powered by the Snapdragon 888—but it mightiness not have a Qualcomm chip the least bit.

If Google were trying to compete with Qualcomm's quick Snapdragon 888 I'd be skeptical. But with the Android optimizations Google already brings to its phones, a bespoken chip designed solely for the Pel 6 could bring an go through akin to what Apple delivers with the iPhone. This could be just what the Pixel 6 necessarily to leap out in 2021.

A camera that can't make up topped

If there's one area where the Pixel has ever excelled, it's the camera. While other phone makers consume added ternion and four lenses to raise the photo-taking experience, Google has done just about of its put to work on the processing side. Things like Night Sight, Large Res Zoom, and Living HDR+ right for a lack of stylish computer hardware.

Michael Simon/IDG

The television camera has always been the Pixel's prizewinning feature.

The last ii Pixel phones have make something of an innovation bulwark. Piece the Picture element 5 hush up takes some of the best photos for a smartphone at whatsoever price, there ISN't much it rear arrange that the Pixel 4a can't also do for hundreds less. Granted, the Pixel 5 has an ultrawide lens, but the overall Pixel camera experience seems primed for a breakthrough in 2021.

Google has already verified that it doesn't motivation high-end spectacles to deliver a premium camera experience, and the Pixel 6 would be the perfect way to drive that home. Simple changes like the addition of a telephotograph lens or a punter sensor on the main camera would go a unsound way toward cementing the Pixel as the prime smartphone camera. As Google has rested on its honor a bit, other phones have closed the gap with night mode and portrait way enhancements. A jump in camera performance in 2021, peculiarly at a lower price point in time, would help it reform the crown.

Leveraging the Mechanical man advantage

Finally, there's Android itself. With timely updates, period of time feature drops, and exclusive and "Pixel-first" features, Google has positioned the Picture element as the utmost Android experience at all terms point. The relationship is only exit to get tighter with Android 12.

Michael Simon/IDG

The Pixel 5 (left) could bring the same graduate-end experience that you get on an iPhone.

Parenthesis from features and optimizations, I'm expecting Google to push the Pixel's guaranteed Android updates from three to four or straight-grained five years. After Samsung upped its promise to deuce-ac days in 2020, and Qualcomm announced that it will be supporting four years of updates with the 888 processor, the Pixel needs to laid itself apart from the compact. Old age of timely updates is one of the Pel's strongest points. An iPhone-like level of guaranteed updates would seduce it the unprecedented title-holder.

Google's 2020 Pixel moves were definitely surprising, but I preceptor't think information technology means Google is giving abreast its handset as an influencer in the Android universe. Rather the different: With few changes in 2021, the Pixel could finally get the headphone it was always meant to be.

Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/393862/why-2021-could-finally-be-the-year-of-the-google-pixel.html

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