Table of Contents
Introduction
It’s been more than a month now since I first got my hands on the Google Pixel 6. In that span of time we’ve seen a lot of discussions on the pixel 6 and the 6 pro. I love this phone and you have to admit that it’s not a perfect smartphone. As with any other mobile device it has its pros and cons. Let’s take a look one month later. The pixel 6 represents the next step in the evolutionary timeline of google smartphones. It’s got a ton of upgrades from previous pixel phones and showcases some of Google’s best hardware design. As I mentioned earlier no smartphone is perfect but this begs the question of
What does the Google Pixel 6 manage to do right?
I think that one of the main strengths of the pixel 6 lies in its cameras. In fact I’ve been using the camera daily ever since I got it. For a ton of different situations google has shown that they are capable of giving us great camera performance on their smartphones. The upgraded 50 megapixel sensor on the pixel 6 is a tell-tale sign that this phone was made to deliver great photos like its predecessors. It’s a great point and shoot camera if you’re after that occasional photo for social media or just simply recording live events.
If you do want to get a bit more creative google has added a wide range of functions on the camera which include portrait mode night sight astro photography. Newer features like long exposure and action pan for a lot of casual mobile photographers. The pixel 6 will serve you nicely we actually have a video where we feature camera samples from this phone. So you can head on over there for more photography action so another area where I think the pixel 6XL is with battery performance.
My Experience with Google Pixel 6
In the several weeks that I’ve been using the phone its 4600 mah battery has adapted to my usage and I’ve gotten some good screen on time and endurance. Typical day for me consists of using my phone at 100 battery from 8 or 9 in the morning until 9 or 10 pm. Of course if I’m on my laptop for most of the day the phone tends to last longer. Power users might need to charge a bit more often though as stuff like heavy duty apps and gaming tend to use up more of the battery which brings us to our next topic.
Performance Aspects
Let’s move on to performance and the new google tensor chip. After using the phone for quite some time it’s clear that the tensor chip definitely offers performance upgrades most obviously when comparing it to last year’s pixel. Using the pixel 6 feels very fluid especially when you add in the 8GB of RAM and the 90 Hz IPS display. There’s barely any lag when navigating around the user interface which was something I’ve noticed when I first used the phone. Thankfully it remains true to this day, apps and games load quicker and it’s pretty clear that google did their homework when working on their new SoC.
While it’s not a gaming dedicated smartphone, it can run graphically heavy games nonetheless and in general there has been smooth performance overall. Google Pixel 6 launched with android 12 and along with this new update google introduced some new software features which I’ve used pretty often.
One of the feature is voice to text feature and it makes replying to messages pretty convenient. The accuracy rate is good but of course there are times when it doesn’t register every single word I say but I’d like to think that part of this is due to my accent.
Now someone who plays a lot of games on this device I found the game dashboard to be handy especially with the built-in screen recorder. It’s a feature that’s been available on competing android brands and to see google finally incorporate this one into a dedicated game dashboard is a great addition.
Some Negatives on Google Pixel 6
Now that we’ve talked about what the pixel 6 is great at let’s move on to the less exciting aspects of the smartphone for one there are still some software bugs which are present in android 12. For example certain apps like YouTube studio occasionally crash or force close when loading of course. This is not going to be a major issue for most people because not everyone uses YouTube studio but for content creators like myself who regularly use the app it’s obviously in need of a fix.
I also seem to be getting problems with my notifications now it doesn’t happen very often. Once in a while my notifications will appear blank on my home screen or lock screen and sometimes it’ll even be a few hours late. Now the problem seems to go away on its own but this kind of inconsistency is something that shouldn’t happen on a flagship smartphone.
Video quality is likewise another area that needs improvement for all its master you have still photos. The pixel 6 has a bit of catching up to do when it comes to how the phone handles videos shot on this camera. There’s obviously been improvement compared to last year’s pixels that much is pretty clear and video stabilization is on point. But when compared to videos on devices like the iPhone 13 pro the pixel 6 could use a bit more improvement.
Google Pixel 6 Video Capabilities
Don’t get me wrong I will gladly film a video on this phone and features like slow motion and cinematic pan add for some fun variations. But given the 50 megapixel shooter on the back in Google’s mastery of mobile photography. I think it’s only fair that we expect a bit more from this device alright so after spending a lot of time with it. I’m still happy to use the pixel 6 as my main device. I’ve mostly moved over to Google’s own brand of android since the pixel 3a and to be able to continue this experience on a much more powerful device is certainly a nice experience. On the other hand, there are still some software bugs that google needs to straighten out.
Final Thoughts on Google Pixel 6
As its a first premium device from Google using their own Tensor chipset, we have to wait and see how it performs over time. Also how Google updates the hardware usage using their software updates. Android 12 is impressive but of course there’s still room for more optimization which hopefully we can get in future software updates. Overall though Google Pixel 6 a solid device for my needs and as far as flagship smartphones go I like this one very much.
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