The hole is not too big so you won’t notice it in general usage, but it’s a design departure from the last flagship Pixel. The Google Pixel 5 has a 6-inch, flat 90Hz OLED display that’s interrupted only by a hole-punch camera cutout on the top left. It’s still one of the best I’ve used in any smartphone, but it’s just something to note. Speaking of comparisons to past Pixels-the haptic feedback engine is still powerful, but I’ll admit it’s not quite as sharp as the one on the Pixel 4a. It’s not that it’s weak, it’s that it now feels about as clicky as any other smartphone’s power button. The Pixel 5’s power button is not as clicky as the one on the Pixel 4a, which if I’m honest, is a little disappointing. There’s no brightly colored power button this time around-it’s just a straight metal power button, though it can shine a bit in the right lighting. For what it’s worth, the sensor is extremely quick to react, and I have had zero issues with recognition. Accidental swipes haven’t been too much of an issue for me so far, though.
The fingerprint sensor is at the exact same level of indentation as on the Pixel 4a, meaning it could be easy to swipe against it accidentally depending on your usual finger placement. On the back is a slightly indented fingerprint sensor, along with the square camera module on the top left. This build makes the Pixel 5 feel like no other phone I’ve felt before, and it still feels sturdy. Unlike other aluminum phones, the Pixel 5 can wirelessly charge as well, thanks to a small cutout leaving space for a plastic bio-resin. The back is a textured rubber/cardboard kind of hybrid, which is why Google says that the Pixel 5 has a 100% recycled aluminum enclosure. The most stand-out design aspect is that the bezels on all sides of the screen are equal-there’s no “chin” of any kind. Google executed the rectangular-slab-with-a-square-camera-bump-and-hole-punch-cutout design remarkably well. The design of the Google Pixel 5 is basic for a 2020 flagship, but it’s far and away better than anything we’ve seen from previous Pixel devices.
The Pixel software alone is worth getting any Pixel phone, and having the latest Android 11 release on board is wonderful as well. Smartphones are more than the sum of their parts, and the software experience plays a huge role. Should it be compared to the flagships of other companies, too? Of course. It’s Google’s latest addition to its top-end smartphone line, which I say makes it the flagship. Regardless of the chipset, the Google Pixel 5 is a flagship. Despite being of a lower-tier, the Snapdragon 765G handles pretty much all of your day-to-day tasks with ease, and there was pretty much no indication that I was using a smartphone without the latest and greatest Qualcomm chipset throughout the course of this review. In a bid to keep costs low, I imagine this is why Google opted for the Snapdragon 765G instead.
Google has seen the runaway success of its “a” series thanks to their affordability, so I imagine that the Pixel 5 was also an attempt to capitalize on the potential boost in sales performance at a lower price. We’ve seen that there are practically no “ flagship killers” this year, and that’s down to the very basis of a flagship 2020 smartphone being more expensive than previous years. 5G is expensive, and the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 is expensive as well. Preamble – Is the Google Pixel 5 a flagship despite the Snapdragon 765G?īefore getting into all of the Pixel 5’s details, I wanted to talk about why I think Google has changed things up this year.
3 years of monthly Android security patch updates.Proximity sensor, ambient light sensor, accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, barometer Single nanoSIM card slot + integrated eSIM for 5G + 4G or 4G + 4G DSDS (dual SIM, dual standby).Pixel Imprint (capacitive rear fingerprint scanner) Primary: 12.2MP Sony IMX363, f/1.7, 1.4µm pixel size, Dual Pixel AF, Fused Video Stabilization (OIS + EIS), 77° FoV.18W fast charging via USB Power Delivery 2.0.6x (ARM Cortex-A55-based) Efficiency cores 1.8GHz.1x Kryo 475 (ARM Cortex-A76-based) Performance core 2.2GHz.