Google Pixel 5 ( 5G Phone ) Review, Price, Specs
Google Pixel 5 is a 5G Phone. Google Pixel 5 is best for Camera, Gaming, Battery life
The Google Pixel 5 loses out on some of its predecessor's more advanced features to keep costs down, and the result is a streamlined phone with great camera software and a clean Android interface. But without some of those premium perks, like the telephoto lenses that appear in other handsets at similar price levels, the Pixel 5 struggles to differentiate itself from the competition. It's a good handset at a consumer-pleasing price - but the same holds for other 2020 phones.
Pros
- Excellent cameras
- Long battery life
- Unlimited Storage Space
- Approved for C-band connectivity
- Top-notch software experience
Cons
- Lackluster audio quality
- No telephoto camera
- Middling night photography
Google Pixel 5 Review
The Google Pixel 5 represents a change in strategy for the tech giant: The phone doesn't have quite the specs and features to compete with top-tier flagship devices but is instead a more measured handset that costs less.
Compared to the Samsung Galaxy S21s of the world, the Pixel 5 focuses on what Pixel phones do best: giving users a great, simplified camera experience and a very clean Android interface. It's a deal that the Google Pixel 5a continues with, and given the similarities between the phones (and that both will get Android 12 later this year), the only thing the Pixel 5 has over its cheaper sibling, is, a smaller size and more refined metal back.
If you want a more flagship Pixel phone, you can wait for the Google Pixel 6 - Google has officially revealed the design and confirmed that it will pack the company's first in-house SoC, Tensor chipset, and suggested that its price would be comparable to other top tier phones. While we're excited about that phone, it still means that if you want a more modestly designed phone at a lower price that still rocks the latest Android version, the Google Pixel 5 is a nice, simplified phone option. Is.
'Simplified' could apply to the entire phone, in fact: it has an all-in-one body that folds around from the back, and what's metal, so you won't have to worry about it shattering. Google has also gone back to a physical fingerprint sensor on the back of the phone, which is far easier to find without looking than an in-screen scanner. And with the purest version of Android 11 onboard, there are no bloatware or operating system complications.
Simplified can also mean scarcity, though, and Google has cut some corners in designing the Pixel 5 to lower prices to the level of more affordable flagships like the Samsung Galaxy S20 Fan Edition and OnePlus 9.
In most ways, that's fine, but a few compromises keep it from feeling like an economical slam-dunk. The Pixel 5's chipset doesn't quite match up with the processors of the new S20 FE or OnePlus handsets, and its two cameras lack serious zoom capability.
But it's the uniqueness we also missed: Fans of the Google Pixel 4's Soli depth sensor, which enables in-air gestures, will be sad to see it go away. In a rare move for a phone maker, Google abandoned the technology rather than replicated it; LG did the same thing when it dropped its own depth sensor, which was introduced on the LG V8 when it brought the LG V8.
Personally, we don't remember Soli, though we don't remember what it could have been as a typical Google experience. But it's not a complete regression when some cutting-edge technology has been eliminated: The Pixel 5 has wireless charging, a 90Hz refresh rate display, and 5G, while its 4,000mAh battery is much bigger, and the latter has more Lasts for time. The Pixel 4 packs a 2,800mAh battery.
Ultimately, the Pixel 5 is a mixed bag, with some curious omissions in an otherwise solid phone. It's designed to hit a sweet spot for a certain type of consumer who's willing to sacrifice a few key features to get a finely-tuned photo experience, and it does -- but This is something that other phones, such as the Google Pixel 4a 5G, offer virtually identical photo capability, especially at a lower price.
But the Google Pixel 5 offers something that most other flagships don't: it looks like it's one of the smallest phones on the market, despite having such a small 6-inch OLED display, and it's comfortable with one. Can be used hand. However, with the imminent arrival of the iPhone 12 mini, it is set to face some serious competition in the 'mini flagship' space.
Google Pixel 5 Specs
Processor: Check Now
Camera: Check Now
RAM: Check Now
Storage: Check Now
Battery: Check Now
Google Pixel 5 Price & Release date
| Image | Product | Feature | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
Top Pick  | Google Pixel 5 - 5G Android Phone | Google Pixel 5 - 5G Android Phone - Water Resistant - Unlocked Smartphone with Night Sight and Ultrawide Lens - Just Black | Check On Amazon |
 | Google Pixel 5 128GB + 8GB RAM - 6 inch Android 5G Phone | Google Pixel 5 128GB + 8GB RAM - 6 inches Android 5G Phone, Water Resistant (IPX8) - GSM Unlocked Smartphone (Just Black) - UK Version | Check On Amazon |
 | Google Pixel 4a with 5G - Android Phone | Google Pixel 4a with 5G - Android Phone - New Unlocked Smartphone with Night Sight and Ultrawide Lens - Just Black | Check On Amazon |
Google Pixel 5 was released on October 15 in the US, UK, and Australia.
The Google Pixel 5 costs $699 / £599 / AU$999, and comes in only one configuration, with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. It is available in two colors: Just Black and Greenish Sorta Sage.
It comes in cheaper than the Pixel 4, which started at $799 / £669 / AU$1,049; However, as we mentioned, that cost does come with a few compromises.
The Pixel 5's price puts it at the lower end of the flagship price range, with the Pixel 4a 5G the next option down, at a mid-range price of $499 / £499 / AU$799 - although given almost identical specs (the Snapdragon 765G), 6GB of RAM, 128GB of storage) and cameras, the 4a 5G has a lot of overlap with the Pixel 5, despite its lower cost.
Google Pixel 5 Design
The Google Pixel 5 is the first phone with a metal back in a while – the industry switched to glass to enable better signal transmission (and wireless charging). The metal wraps around for an all-in-one body that's still rare today, and we expect this design to be far more resilient to damage, be it breakages or more serious drops.
The metal itself has a matte-like finish that makes it feel a bit more like polycarbonate than the typical aluminum frame. Its texture looks interesting but not exactly flashy, though one thing is certain: it allowed us to have a more solid grip on the phone.
This is important because, as mentioned earlier, this phone feels small: despite having a 6-inch display, the all-in-one metal body and minimal bezel mean the phone feels more compact – and 8mm While thick, this is also one of the thinnest phones in the market.
Not every aspect of the smaller format is perfectly designed: The metal lock button and volume rocker on the right side of the phone barely protrude from the phone's body and have more resistance than you'd expect, making them a little harder to press. . . This is a change from the larger and raised plastic buttons on the Pixel 4 and Google Pixel 4a (as well as the 4a 5G), which are far easier to manipulate. This is a strange but remarkable critique; These days, we rarely complain about buttons.
So if the frame is metal, how does wireless charging work? It turns out that Google is clever, and drilled a small hole in the backplate above the charging coil, then covered it with resin and painted that, as discovered by Daniel Bader of Android Central.
There's a square camera block on the back of the phone that's almost identical to the Pixel 4, though the flash has moved from the top of the array to the bottom. The fingerprint sensor sits top-center on the back in a circular divot; It's not as accurate as we'd like, and it sometimes takes a few tries to register our prints, although it's easy enough to find without looking.
There's a SIM tray on the left, though there's no microSD slot to expand the storage, sadly. There is a USB-C port at the bottom of the phone, with a speaker on the right. Unfortunately, the speaker audio quality that we praised a lot on the Pixel 4 is less well-rounded on the Pixel 5, which leans toward the crackling sound.
Google Pixel 5 Display
The 6-inch Full HD Plus (2340 x 1080) display is a sharp and bright screen, with minimal bezels and a punch-hole to house the front-facing camera. That means a far better screen-to-body ratio than the Pixel 4, which had a solid black bar across the top of its display - but since that bar had various sensors, including the Soli depth sensor, that enabled features like in-air Used to do Gesture controls, having more screen real estate here is a bittersweet advantage.
The display retains the 90Hz refresh rate that Google rolled out with the Pixel 4, and it's equally smooth here. While it drains the battery at a faster rate to keep it running (you can switch back to 60Hz in Settings), the effect is worth it without the stutter you'll experience at 60Hz when you're browsing the Internet or your app library and lower screen.
Google Pixel 5 Camera
The Google Pixel 5 has a pair of rear cameras, and you'd be forgiven for thinking they're identical to the Pixel 4's cameras, as the new phone inherits the old handset's glass-covered camera block. It has the same 12.2MP main shooter, but the Pixel 5 swaps out its predecessor's 2x optical telephoto lens for a 16MP ultra-wide lens.
While the ultra-wide lens means the Pixel 5 is left without decent zoom capabilities, we'd much prefer the option of squeezing more people, or more than one scene, into the frame, though the 107-degree field of view isn't quite. As wide as some of the 120-plus-degree ultra-wide lenses on other phones. But, in comparison shots, the Pixel 4's 2x optical zoom camera didn't perform any better than the digital zoom on the Pixel 5. The second score for the usefulness of the ultra-wide.
The shots we took with the Pixel 5 during our testing time were a mixed bag. It was an issue to focus on subjects that were close to us, or in motion. Our best photos were taken in full daylight - they looked crisp and had a lovely color palette - but low-light images had the same, or slightly more noise, than comparable photos taken with other flagship phones. Given the Pixel series' emphasis on night photography, this was a bit surprising.
The phone captures accurate colors in low light, though – compared to images taken on the iPhone 11 Pro Max, for example, which can display a yellow tint, the Pixel 5 captures true colors. Its ultra-wide lens produces far less distortion at the edges than images captured with similar lenses on other phones.
The Pixel 5 really gets into its editing software: Pop open an image and click the three 'Levels' buttons and you'll find a plethora of editing toggles, which have been rearranged into a more user-friendly interface. Pixel 4. There are also new software tricks like Portrait Light, which simulates a fill light to brighten faces and subjects at particular angles – if you want to add dramatic lighting or highlight parts of your subject after taking a shot. Useful if you want.
As is typical for the Pixel line of phones, the Pixel 5 relies on its software to produce dynamic shots with great color and is even interesting to treat photos after they've been taken. Also introduces new methods; However, it doesn't pick up on medium low-light shots.
Google Pixel 5 Specs and Performance
The Pixel 5's specs are one of the many areas where Google has compromised, which is likely to result in cost savings. The Snapdragon 765G chipset powering the Snapdragon 865 isn't as top tier as the flagship Android phones of 2020, for example, the Samsung Galaxy S20 lineup or the Snapdragon 865 Plus in the new OnePlus 8T, but it does quite well.
The processor is paired with 8GB of RAM, and the Pixel 5 runs through tasks ranging from browsing the web to gaming and playing media. We didn't experience any slowdowns, though after playing a few rounds of Call of Duty: Mobile, we did notice some animation glitches (thankfully not mid-game).
Benchmarks are another story: With a Geekbench 5 score of 1617, the Pixel 5's specs outperform the comparably priced Samsung Galaxy S20 Fan Edition (2928), which is powered by the Snapdragon 865 chipset. That's not exactly surprising, but it indicates speed - and the Google Pixel 4a 5G scored roughly the same 1614, further supporting us that the Google Pixel 5 doesn't perform much better than its cheaper counterpart.
Since the launch of the Google Pixel 5, many affordable smartphones have come out with better Geekbench 5 scores, which does not reflect well on this phone.
The Pixel 5 packs 128GB of storage in its only configuration, and like its predecessor you can't expand it via micro SD. This is frustrating and means you'll have to opt for a cloud solution if you want more storage.
The Pixel 5 runs Android 11 out of the box, benefiting from new features including built-in screen recording, a conversations feature that aggregates all your messages from different apps in one place, and improved smart home controls.
Google Pixel 5 Battery life
One of the Pixel 5's biggest improvements over its predecessor is its 4,000mAh battery - it comfortably lasted a second day in our casual testing, while we saw the Pixel 4, with its 2,800mAh battery, hit the single digits in the evening did.
Battery life was a big complaint with the Pixel 4, and Google seems to have got the message. In addition to expanded capacity, the Pixel 5 also has a new software feature: Extreme Battery Saver. As you might guess, this is an enhanced version of the standard battery saver, which goes beyond turning on dark mode and stopping background activity to turn off Wi-Fi hot-spotting and other battery-draining activity – Importantly though, you can whitelist apps so that they can operate normally.
The Pixel 5 comes with an 18W fast charger in the box and supports Qi wireless charging. You can also use the phone to wirelessly reverse-charge other devices, and although we found it a bit difficult to continuously charge smaller devices (like wireless headphone cases), charging another phone is fairly easy.
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