Articles about Pixel XL

The Pixel and Pixel XL are among the best flagship smartphones that you can buy today. And, since they're rapidly approaching their one-year anniversary, they are now offered with some serious discounts direct from Google, making them an even more attractive proposition in the high-end market.

Google is offering the Pixel and Pixel XL with discounts of up to $200 on its online store, and, to sweeten the deal even further, you can also grab a VR headset for free.

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If you look at the flagships the media loves to talk about, you may be inclined to believe that the Pixel and Pixel XL are two of the most popular high-end smartphones today. It is easy to think that when you have so many major outlets comparing them to the Apple iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus and the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ like they're in the same league somehow or as attractive to consumers.

In reality though, Pixel and Pixel XL sales are abysmal. How do we know that? Well, for one, you do not see Google showing up as a leading vendor in any of the quarterly reports issued by IDC and Gartner, and, second, Google itself has confirmed their niche appeal. This is another great example why you shouldn't put an equals sign between mindshare and market share -- especially when it comes to Google-branded devices.

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If you do not fancy the Apple iPhone 7 Plus or the new Samsung Galaxy S8+, Google still has a very attractive option for fans of bigger smartphones -- the Pixel XL. It has a premium build, fast internals, an amazing camera, and software support straight from the search giant itself.

Making the Pixel XL an even more interesting option is the fact that Google is now offering a free case with the purchase of its larger Android 7.1-powered smartphone. Here's what you need to know.

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Apple traditionally enjoys very strong iPhone sales after it launches new smartphones. And this is certainly true of the three months ending November 2016, when the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus topped the sales charts in US and helped iOS close in on Android in Great Britain.

In US, it is actually an all-iPhone podium, with the iPhone 6s joining the newer models in the top three, according to a new Kantar Worldpanel ComTech report. Apple saw its share rise to 43.5 percent, while Google's Android dropped to 55.3 percent of the market.

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Google has just announced that a developer preview of Android 7.1 Nougat will be released before the end of the month. At the Pixel and Pixel XL launch, it was revealed that these two new handset would be running this version of Android, but a developer preview was pencilled in for some time before the end of the year.

The release schedule seems to have been sped up slightly, and this is something that will please developers and end users alike. Google promises dev that "we’ll give you access to this update so you can start getting your apps ready". Among the changes are new APIs (API level 25), and -- of course -- it's Google's own handsets that are in line to get the update first.

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The newly announced Pixel and Pixel XL caused great interest at the beginning of the week. Described by the company as being "the first phone made by Google inside and out" (even though we know that HTC is involved) you would expect that Android updates would be coming courtesy of Google itself.

If you thought that, you'd be wrong. Possibly. It depends where you buy your Pixel from. Buy it from Google, and Google will indeed be responsible for the update process. Buy it from Verizon -- Google's exclusive US partner -- and Verizon will be the one handling system updates, creating something of a two-tier system.

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Now that Google has its own line of smartphones developed completely in-house, you may be wondering what sort of impact will it have on the beloved Nexus brand? The Pixel and Pixel XL are not direct replacements for the Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P, targeting shoppers in the premium segment. Could there be something just around the corner to fill in the gaps?

Traditionally speaking, the Nexus brand has featured at least one affordable smartphone in the line -- last year, it was the Nexus 5X -- so it would make sense for Google to launch something similar. However, if we are to believe Android head Hiroshi Lockheimer, you should not get your hopes up.

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It may have been one of the worst kept secrets in tech launches, but today Google officially took the wraps off its Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones. In terms of hardware it could be argued that there is nothing too spectacular here, but even if you ignore the (still very impressive) hardware side of things there are two features that directly take on Apple: Google Assistant to compete with Siri, and unlimited full-resolution photo backup.

Unlike Google's previous Nexus range, the Pixel handsets carry no other branding -- these are the first phones designed and built inside and out by Google and Google alone. We already knew just about everything about the two handsets -- which neatly compete with the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, but now everything, and more, has been confirmed.

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Google, as you’ll no doubt be aware by now, is hosting a major hardware event today where it will be taking the wraps off, among other things, its new Pixel phones.

The "Made by Google" event will showcase the next generation of Google created hardware, and start today at 12PM ET/5PM BST / 9AM PT.

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Google is on the verge of launching the Pixel and Pixel XL, but no launch would be complete without its share of leaks. This time around the slipup comes courtesy of UK retailer Carphone Warehouse which posted details of Google's upcoming phones, complete with photos and full specs.

The same mistake was made by Canada's Bell, effectively confirming the specifications which thus far have only been rumors. The listings not only reveal what we can expect in terms of hardware, but also show that Google is going to offer free, unlimited photo backups at full resolution for Pixel owners.

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