Still Competes With Apple And Samsung’s Latest

Google’s Pixel 5 was always going to be the underdog in a year of powerful rivals. But after two Pixel feature drops and a couple of price cuts, is the search company’s flagship smartphone still worth it over more accomplished competition from Apple, Samsung and others?

One of the most striking things about going back to the Pixel 5, from Samsung’s Galaxy S21 Ultra, is the size difference. Samsung’s AMOLED, 120Hz display technology demands a large 6.8-inch canvas to do its best boasting, but the Pixel 5’s simple FHD, 90Hz display isn’t as fancy. The downgrade is clear, but the actual size of the Google device is refreshing. 

The 6.8-inch S21 Ultra can be unwieldy and I like to live life on the edge by not using a case, so there’s always that element of risk. The Pixel 5 is more accepting of one-handed use. It disappears into your pocket rather than making it look like your pocket has been vacuumed sealed around your phone. The smaller profile and design also means a lighter, less injury prone device. The matte aluminium finish, which is my favorite smartphone coating to touch, isn’t going to shatter if you drop it.

You already knew all of this, of course. The phone’s hardware hasn’t changed since launch. What has changed since last October is what the phone can do. Google’s feature drop program, that updates Pixel phones with new abilities quarterly, has delivered some interesting new skills. Owners can now answer calls with Assistant, share their screen in Google Duo (this is wildly useful), save images in a locked folder in Google Photos and there’s a new ability to create long-exposure night sky videos. 

The phone’s two feature drops—one in December and another in March—haven’t delivered the exciting updates of previous drops, but they’re at least consistent. The Pixel 4 got both call screening and the ability to tweak focus in already taken images. The good news is that all of this is available on the Pixel 5. 

This is the point: The Pixel 5 will get better over time. The handset continually improves, not just with bug fixes and tweaks but with entirely new skills that are often genuinely impressive. At some point in the Pixel 4’s life cycle, Assistant received the ability to automatically answer phone calls on your behalf, whilst providing you with a real-time transcript of what is being said. That is a feature most manufacturers would build an advertising campaign around, but for the Pixel 4 it just landed one day with a blog post.

This is the value of Pixel phones that isn’t offered elsewhere thanks to Google’s seemingly endless production of AI things.  It’s also shared across other Google devices like its Chromebook range, which can now play AAA video games, support media editing and other process heavy tasks—years after release—thanks to software updates. 

That software and AI prowess has powered the company’s camera output since the first Pixel phone. Google is a master of computational photography. So much so that it hasn’t fundamentally changed its camera hardware since the Pixel 2, instead just improving image processing to compete with rivals. It was a gambit that worked well until the S21 Ultra came out.

Side-by-side, a Pixel 5 shot competes with, and bests, most top-range Android phones and Apple’s iPhone 12 in day and night photography. Also, the phone’s ability to eek out every ray of light in a darkened environment, with three year old tech, is seriously impressive.  

But things start to fall apart in more advanced shooting modes. The iPhone 12’s video output, which supports Dolby Vision HDR video recording at 30fps, is far superior the Pixel phone, and it improved tremendously on the iPhone 13. Similarly, the S21 Ultra’s telephoto capabilities are mind boggling, take a look at my review here. Both the Apple and Samsung phones also capture authentic-looking depth of field images.

Where the Pixel 5 does stand out is battery life. The low-fi display and less intensive Snapdragon 765G processor make this the longest lasting phone I’ve used in years. The recent feature drop also added adaptive connectivity, which only uses the most power draining connections when necessary to save battery. There’s also a new adaptive charging that delays battery degradation. Battery life remains outstanding and one of the key reasons to buy the phone. Two days is still a possibility with conservative use, whilst 1.5 days is easily achieved. 

It’s not uncommon for mid-range Android phones to have outstanding battery life. But Google has borrowed those budget principles and spliced them with unique, high-end features. The result is good. Yes, it’s marginally slower than a top specification device like the S21 Ultra, but it’s also much cheaper. The compromises are small in comparison to the price difference.

There are some good alternative deals out there too. Samsung’s Galaxy S20 FE has good camera technology and a nice OLED, 120Hz display, powerful Snapdragon 865 processor and a triple camera setup for $599—check out that deal here. Although it’s worth noting that a not insignificant amount of users have complained about the touchscreen not working properly. The OnePlus 8, a similarly impressive phone thanks to its paired back OS and triple camera setup, is the cheapest of them all at $464, which is a genuine steal—check out that deal here.

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