Google Pixel 5 review – Android’s ‘It Just Works’ Moment

Flagship smartphones sailed over the €1,000 horizon a couple of years back. Samsung, Huawei and Apple have produced some incredible feats of engineering in that time but the average consumer only has need for so much power. Similarly, the average consumer only has need for a certain quality of photo and a certain quality of video. As remarked by John Reilly in his TheEffect.net review, Google Pixel 5 undermines the argument for smartphones with four-figure price tags. It does so by delivering just a bit more than an average consumer wants at an incredible €618 at time of review.

A Classic Look but a New Direction

The signature muted Pixel look is here. Our review unit’s ‘Just Black’ has bold but understated macro details that fit the series. The singular ‘G’ logo, simple fingerprint reader and rounded square lens arrangement ooze a quiet confidence from the package. The matted rear is plastic but doesn’t look cheap and gives it an extra ‘darkness’. Some will be disappointed that there is no classic ‘two-tone’ version. ‘Just Black’ and ‘Sorta Sage’ are the two options available.

The front is dominated by the OLED display with a tiny bezel. There is also a tiny lip where the rear meets the display. From front on, the lines frame the device beautifully.

It just works.

Matte Makes Right

The design seems conscious of the user’s desire to grip the device and otherwise manipulate it in the hand. It’s slim but not too slim at 8mm. The edges are rounded and sit in the hand. The choice of a muted, matte look adds to the feel of the phone as much as the look – you get a decent grip in the device.

The use of a dedicated fingerprint sensor on the rear will divide opinion. Some would prefer the high-tech feel of a slower screen-mounted sensor, others will love Pixel 5’s natural rear positioning and its almost instantaneous access. I would be in the latter camp.

Premium Display

The OLED display looks gorgeous as it pierces the muted black of our review device. The oversaturated colours that people like, the infinite contrast and cornea-damaging brightness of its panel are certainly of a flagship standard.

The display has a resolution of 1080×2340. Definitely sharp enough for its 6.0″ screen size. The refresh rate of 90Hz is a nice upgrade from the previous standard of 60. Flagships can run up to 120Hz nowadays but their highest refresh rates are limited to a small number of functions and the handsets are mostly still working at 90Hz.

Smooth Operating

Android phones come in three varieties usually – laden with bloatware, laden with premium bloatware or practically vanilla as god intended. Pixel 5 is a clean Android that feels at home on Google hardware. Android 11 is pre-installed so users can get familiar with the update immediately.

Most of the improvements of Android 11 are under the hood or barely noticeable quality-of-life changes but some stand out as marketable upgrades. Imaging HDR has been improved and AI-powered night shot can now be used with the selfie-cam. Your Pixel 5 can stay on hold for you then alert you when the operator is ready.

One feature that isn’t specifically designed for Pixel 5 may come handy. An extreme battery saver option is now available. It basically makes your smartphone a little dumb to squeeze a few extra hours from your device. Previous Pixels are the target of this upgrade since Pixel 5 has a large battery. But more on that later.

A Quiet Coup

We have already reviewed a device powered by the Snapdragon 765G. Nokia 8.3 5G fell short on build quality, visual artistry relative to its lineage and overall value but was as snappy as more expensive devices. The 7nm chipset provided “a buttery smooth experience” with a modest 6GB of RAM. Google Pixel 5 runs the same chipset but with 8GB of RAM and it’s similarly flawless.

Snapdragon 765G doesn’t feel like a revolution in your hands – it’s more like a quiet coup. No longer do consumers need to spend flagship money for something reliably swift. Add to that, the in-built 5G is more power efficient and, in other metrics, superior to separate modules.

Image Unconsciously

One of Google Pixel 5 review’s recurring themes is its ease of use with no loss of function. Everything is simplified and intuitive but still complete. The capture experience is the pinnacle of this concept. Over the years I have praised a few handsets for their ‘from the pocket’ photography – the common experience of whipping a phone out and taking a picture as quickly as possible. AI has slowly reduced the amount of work a human needs to do to take a great photo but outside of the ordinary scenes, some human input is usually necessary.

Pixel 5 almost eliminates tinkering. I took all manner of shots; close-ups, product shots, portraits, night shots (above) etc. but the AI recognised each quickly and the first shot was uniformly sufficient, if not perfect. Even the overall king of capture, Huawei P40 Pro, cannot match the shot selection and adjustment power of Google’s paradigm-bothering Pixel 5 camera AI.

It just works.

However, an optical telephoto zoom and the use of a dedicated depth sensor are two areas in which Pixel 5 is lacking. 3-5x optical zooms are becoming more common on flagships so it’s disappointing to see Google not try to keep up. A dedicated depth sensor would only improve performance in limited cases but those cases could be important to a given customer – why leave it out?

Hardware Holdover

Criticism has been levelled at Google for using more-or-less the same camera hardware in Pixel 5 as was seen in Pixel 4. In practice, the user capture experience of Pixel 5 is familiar but improved and the results are better (aside from Pixel 5’s lack of optical zoom). There are more features and a greater potential performance due to Pixel 5’s better use of computational power and enhanced AI capabilities.

The greatest example of this in video capture – Pixel 5 can do 4K@60, Pixel 4 can’t. Pixel 5 can capture 1080@240, Pixel 5 can’t. The aforementioned selfie night-mode is another show of what a CPU can do. There is more to capture than the sensor + lens and Pixel 5 proves it.

Hardware Makeover

Google Pixel devices have traditionally had poor battery lives. Even when they were competing at the premium end of the market, their smartphones carried relatively small batteries and their software was tasked with bleeding a usable run from a charge.

Pixel 4 was notorious for struggling to reach bedtime on day one. A 2,800mAh battery could could sustain the device for just about 16 hours with moderate use. By comparison, Huawei P40 Pro could make it to bed on day two with its nigh-on double battery capacity.

Google Pixel 5 finally delivers a large battery. Despite its slim size, Pixel 5 fits a 4,000mAh inside. The 6.0″ display is relatively small for a battery with such a capacity and as expected, it makes a huge difference. It won’t match the hulking batteries of premium plus devices but it does a day with plenty of change. You don’t start worrying at 50% as you did with previous Pixels. It competes well with other phones its size and price.

Fast-charging with the provided charger will fill Google Pixel 5 from 0-100% in around 95 minutes. A quick 30 minute blast will fill it to 40%. Some other brands’ versions of fast-chargers will take advantage of the device’s maximum speed. Strangely enough, some won’t work at all – Huawei and OPPO’s high-powered offerings yield no charge at all.

The Qi-enabled wireless charging is a modest-but-usable 12W so it beats a generic slow wired connection but barely so.

Yet another premium feature that Google Pixel 5 can boast is 5W reverse charging. It’s a neat feature that I just didn’t expect to migrate down the price ladder. Charging your wireless earbuds on the go or helping a friend out when the time comes will help doubters appreciate this tiny consideration.

Specifications

Probably the Best Phone of 2020

At €620, Google Pixel 5 represents the best bang-to-buck ratio of any device. The chipset lives up to its reputation as a game-changer. The camera offers supreme ease of capture and versatility. It comes with a battery life that competes. The overall balance is perfect and the everyday experience is faultless