FEBRUARY 2020 • TECH ADVISOR 49In this image of a rainbow-tinted knife, the Pixel 4 (left) mutes
the colours of both the floor and the blade, while the iPhone
11 (centre) and Pixel 3 XL (right) handle them properlymarrying a 16Mp telephoto lens with the 12.2Mp
standard wide lens.
And perhaps Google was right all along. Since
previous Pixels have been able to achieve such
incredible results with just one lens, the addition of a
second lens brings expected rather than exceptional
results. Maybe it’s because of the pressure Google
has put on the rest of the industry, but the Pixel 4 XL’s
camera improvements are largely incremental and
not nearly as impressive as previous models. New
features such as astral photography mode and dual
exposure are fun to experiment with, but ultimately
won’t be used all that often, and live HDR is more
overdue than revolutionary.
That’s not to say it doesn’t take great pics. But so
did the Pixel 3. And so do the Galaxy S10 and the
iPhone 11. In some tests, the Pixel 4 XL bested itsFEBRUARY 2020 • TECH ADVISOR 49In this image of a rainbow-tinted knife, the Pixel 4 (left) mutes
the colours of both the floor and the blade, while the iPhone
11 (centre) and Pixel 3 XL (right) handle them properly
marrying a 16Mp telephoto lens with the 12.2Mp
standard wide lens.
And perhaps Google was right all along. Since
previous Pixels have been able to achieve such
incredible results with just one lens, the addition of a
second lens brings expected rather than exceptional
results.Maybeit’sbecauseofthepressureGoogle
hasput on the rest of the industry, but the Pixel 4 XL’s
camera improvements are largely incremental and
notnearlyasimpressiveaspreviousmodels.New
featuressuch as astral photography mode and dual
exposure are fun to experiment with, but ultimately
won’t be used all that often, and live HDR is more
overdue than revolutionary.
That’s not to say it doesn’t take great pics. But so
did the Pixel 3. And so do the Galaxy S10 and the
iPhone 11. In some tests, the Pixel 4 XL bested its