Google Pixel 6 – 5G Android Phone - Unlocked Smartphone with Wide and Ultrawide Lens - 128GB - Sorta Seafoam

Product Information

One thing to note, Google has partnered with iFixit to help make repairs for the Pixel 6 and older Pixel phones a lot easier. Google Pixel 6 review: Display Google's new Calling Assistance features for 1-800 numbers—which includes a hold time estimate called Wait Time, and another feature called Direct My Call, which displays automated prompts on the display—were hit or miss. We tested the features with nearly a dozen different companies and it worked about two-thirds of the time. Two Cameras, Many Possibilities The camera bar has a 50MP primary sensor and a 12MP ultrawide lens The increased weight and less cutesy design help to create the more mature aesthetic Google is apparently aiming for with the Pixel 6, helping it look and feel like a real premium contender.

The most valuable implementation is an interpreter feature that lets the Google Assistant listen to and translate spoken text — it will handle German and Japanese on the Pixel 6 itself, and you can access 48 other languages if you have an online connection. The interpreter feature probably works best when you're traveling overseas and talking to native language speakers — I tried the feature with my wife who speaks a little German, and while it generally worked, I think her accent and pronunciation baffled the assistant at times. The new chip also allows Google to offer at least five years of software support from launch for the phones for the first time – a year longer than Samsung and behind only Apple and Fairphone in the smartphone industry. The cameras on the Pixel 6 are as good as ever, and the new editing tools bring some welcome features. That said, I think the iPhone 13 takes better pictures for the most part, particularly in low lighting, where past Pixels have previously excelled. Tensor seems like a welcome addition to the Pixel lineup as well, though the true value of its machine learning expertise is only going to fully reveal itself over time. Much of the focus around the Pixel 6 release has been on Tensor, the Google-built system-on-chip that powers many of the machine learning capabilities that highlight the new phones. It's Tensor, for example, that's helping power some of those photo-enhancing capabilities we just discussed. But silicon also drives performance, and one of the big questions surrounding Tensor has been how it will compare to the Snapdragon 888 chipset that powers the leading Android devices.

The Google Pixel 6 delivers the best Android experience for the money with superb cameras, a unique design and Android 12

So how does Tensor compete with the competition? Looking at the comparison, single-core speeds are matched with the Snapdragon 888 and Exynos 2100, but Qualcomm and Samsung’s top-end mobile chipsets both outperform Google’s in regards to multi-core processing. The Apple A15 Bionic found inside the iPhone 13 is still top dog in both metrics. Google's reveal of the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro put a particular spotlight on Google's new system-on-chip, named Tensor. Going in-house moves Google away from the Qualcomm chips that have powered its previous devices, and Google says the chip brings with it notable improvements to speech recognition and photography. Playing a graphically demanding game like PUBG Mobile on the Pixel 6, graphics looked sharp and response times were good, even if my aim wasn't. Selected other games however offer Pixel 6-specific optimizations via the Game Dashboard. This lets you choose whether you want the best graphics available, or want to preserve your battery life instead.

What about raw speeds? In the Geekbench 5 single- and multicore CPU tests, the Pixel 6 Pro scored 1,039 and 2,926 respectively, which brings it roughly in line with Google’s performance improvement claims. It’s not quite a match for the Galaxy S21’s Exynos 2100 processor, however, and the iPhone 13’s A15 Bionic chipset still takes the top spot, but where it counts the Pixel 6 Pro is as speedy as you’d ever need it to be. There’s also a 12MP ultra-wide sensor with a 1.25μm pixel width and an f/2.2 aperture. The lens has a 114-degree field of view. Google uses computational photography in conjunction with improved lens elements to minimize distortion. Photos with the Pixel 6 are crisp, with excellent depth of field Along the phone's camera bar, the Pixel 6 Pro has three cameras: a 50-megapixel wide lens, 12-megapixel ultrawide lens and 48-megapixel telephoto lens. The standard Pixel 6 won't have the telephoto lens, but houses the 50-megapixel wide and 12-megapixel ultrawide lens. Of course, general performance is only half the issue when it comes to Google Tensor; the other half is the lightning-fast AI processing for Google Assistant and other Pixel features. Google claimed that the extra on-device AI oomph from Google Tensor would allow it to instantly do complex operations like instantly transcribing and translating videos or having words appear on the screen the moment you say them with Google Assistant voice typing on Gboard. Moving on to the actual display itself, we have a 6.4-inch OLED touchscreen with a 90Hz refresh rate and 1080p resolution. I'm fine with the resolution and the refresh rate on the 6 — I'm not a 120Hz snob, and 2K resolution would just mean more pixels to render, and more battery wasted lighting them — but you'll notice the 500Hz max brightness if you're outside in full, unadulterated sun. Once you're in any sort of shade, cloud cover, or the sun is nearing sunset, the screen looks great, and it always looks good indoors. If you're going to be outside with this phone for prolonged periods every day, you might need to look elsewhere for screens in the 900-1000-nit range like the Galaxy S21.

Two Cameras, Many Possibilities

Whether that matters is another question: like the Samsung phones mentioned above, the Pixel 6 breezes through browsing, watching media, and other tasks, without a hitch. Those scores are also notably higher than that of the Google Pixel 5, which, with its Snapdragon 765G chipset, got a Geekbench 5 score of 1600.

Nevertheless, we kept the Pixel 6 in the official Google case throughout testing, and while it doesn’t add much weight, it did make the already generously-sized phone feel bigger – which might be alarming for those who like smaller handsets.Part of the goal is to show the very best that Google can offer," Osterloh said in an interview with CNET's Rich Nieva. "There is a big segment of the market that wants the latest, and we love building technology. So we're going to try to appeal to that part of the market, too." New Tensor chips powers machine learning features; overall performance is a step behind the Snapdragon 888 It isn’t just the hardware that’s seen a significant overhaul. The Pixel 6 also comes with Android 12, which brings with it a radically updated look and feel, courtesy of Google’s new “Material You” design language. The Google Assistant offers several Tensor-powered features including calling assistants and voice-powered detection The Pixel 6 is the best phone Google's ever made. But that doesn't mean it's necessarily ready to supplant flagships from Apple and Samsung among the best phones you can buy.