With the Pixel 5, Google is making a statement: The 5G smartphone offers reasonable hardware at a reasonable price. Double camera and software are top notch, the rest of the good standard. In addition, Google presents the Pixel 4a 5G, a new speaker and an improved Chromecast.
Google could hit a nerve with this: Instead of throwing more upgraded smartphones onto the market for much too high prices, the company decided to simply release sensible devices at its big autumn event. The Pixel 5 and Pixel 4a 5G could be exactly what many users want: compact, durable devices with good, but not excessive hardware at a fair price. There is also an always up-to-date operating system that remains up-to-date for at least four years. And the devices already come with Android 11.
Compact and light
The Google Pixel 5 has a six-inch OLED display with a sharp pixel density of 432 ppi. It offers a refresh rate of 90 Hertz (Hz) and is protected by Gorilla Glass 6. In contrast to its predecessors, the screen fills almost the entire front. In return, Google has done without the sensors for 3D face recognition and the ultimately useless radar chip.
Instead, like many androids, the front camera now takes photos through a small hole in the display and the Pixel 5 has a fingerprint sensor on the back. This is not very sensational, but face recognition is not so sexy in times of the corona masquerade and quite a few users find a sensor on the back even more practical.
The smartphone is very compact thanks to the relatively small display with narrow bezels. Nevertheless, Google has installed stereo speakers again. The low weight of 151 grams is pleasant. Not so nice: A jack socket is missing. Google didn't skimp on the seals, the Pixel 5 is protected against dust and water according to IP68.
Lots of RAM
The inner workings of the Pixel 5 are upper middle class, which doesn't promise any benchmark records, but otherwise leaves little to be missed. The device is powered by Qualcomm's 5G chip Snapdragon 765G. It is economical to use, but powerful enough to handle all tasks smoothly. The generous 8 gigabytes (GB) of RAM that the processor can access are more important than fat muscles. The once again non-expandable flash memory is large enough at 128 GB.
The Pixel 4 is not a real endurance runner, the successor promises to last longer with a battery that holds 4080 mAh. The smartphone can be charged inductively, but also serves as a wireless filling station for other devices, such as the Pixel Buds 2.
Two cameras have to be enough
When it comes to camera equipment, Google has always focused on quality over quantity. The Pixel 5 only has two clicks. The main camera has a 12.2 megapixel sensor with an aperture of f / 1.7 and is optically stabilized. It records videos in Full HD resolution at up to 240 frames per second (FPS), and 4K recordings at 30 or 60 FPS. There is also a super wide-angle camera with 16 megapixels and an aperture of f / 2.2. The front camera has a resolution of 8 megapixels, the aperture is f / 2.0.
Experience with previous Pixel smartphones shows that Google's cameras are among the best every year. This is mainly due to the software, into which the company incorporates a lot of its AI competence. New features for videos include a cinema effect mode and portraits in night mode.
The Pixel 5 comes on October 15 in black or mint green for 613.15 euros. The price is reasonable, but not really cheap. If you want to spend less, you can also use the Pixel 4a, which Google introduced a few weeks ago but is only now selling. It only costs 340 euros, but it was convincing in the test.
Cheaper alternative: Pixel 4a 5G
The also new Pixel 4a 5G offers perhaps the best price-performance ratio. It has the same chip and camera equipment as the Pixel 5, but like the simple Pixel 4a, it is not waterproof and cannot be charged inductively. It has a 6.2-inch display with 413 ppi, but does not offer a refresh rate higher than 60 Hz.
Like the simple 4a, the 5G variant has a plastic housing with a jack socket, 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of flash memory. Its battery has a significantly higher capacity of 3885 mAh and the device has stereo speakers. The Pixel 4a 5G will be available from November for 486.40 euros.
In addition, Google has presented an improved 4K Chromecast with integrated Google TV plus remote control (68.23 euros) and the compact Wi-Fi speaker Nest Audio (97.47 euros).
. (tagsToTranslate) Technology (t) Google (t) Smartphones (t) Android