66 PCWorld DECEMBER 2019REVIEWS GOOGLE PIXEL 4 XL
major feature on a thousand-dollar phone.
Elsewhere, the Pixel 4 serves as a
showcase for Android 10’s newest features,
most notably dark mode and gesture
navigation. Pixel users will be somewhat
familiar with Android’s gestures, but it’s a bit
different here, with the pill and back buttons
replaced with an iOS-style action bar. It’s a
little clunky and not nearly as intuitive as it is
on the iPhone, particularly when it comes to
the back gesture. You’re supposed to be able
to swipe from the left or right edge to go back
a screen, but sometimes menus get in the
way. All in all, it still needs work. Dark mode,
on the other hand, is far more refined, with
nearly every Google app and system screen
supporting it.
But my favorite feature is Live Caption.
When it’s turned on, any video from any
source will automatically
transcribe captions based
on what’s playing, and it’s
surprisingly spot on most of
the time. The same goes
for the excellent new
Recorder app, which will
record and transcribe the
words it hears. Neither is
perfect, but they’re both
incredibly useful and sure
to improve quickly thanks
to a healthy dose of
machine learning and AI
smarts. I assume both ofthese features will eventually be available on
other Pixel and Android phones, but for now
they’re exclusive to the Pixel 4.PERFORMANCE: A GOOD
DISPLAY, OK EVERYTHING
ELSE
Strip away the new features, and the Pixel 4 XL
trails its peer a bit on the spec sheet, with the
RAM, storage, and battery all on the skimpy side:
Display: 6.3-inch QHD+ OLED, 537ppi
Processor: Snapdragon 855
RAM: 6GB
Storage: 64GB/128GB
Battery: 3,700mAh
The Pixel 4 is plenty fast (though I found
the Settings app hung a second or two before
loading), but a phone launching so late in
2019 really should be using the 855+ chip.Google finally
delivered an excellent
smartphone screen
in the Pixel 4 XL, even
if the 90Hz Smooth
Display isn’t all that.