Google Pixel 5: A Competent And Compact Flagship With A Few Compromises

Google Pixel 5 marks a change of strategy for the search engine giant. Instead of making a premium handset, this time, Google scales down the specs and also the price tag.

Google Pixel 5 Price And Release Date

The phone will set you back $699 and Google Pixel 5 price in India is Rs. 51,490. There is only one configuration – 128GB of onboard storage and 8GB of RAM.

Google Pixel 5 Design

It has been a while since we last saw a phone with a metal back launched and Google Pixel 5 is the first in some time. Most other brands have switched to glass to enable wireless charging and better signal transmission.

While the matte finish of the metal back isn’t exactly appealing, it helps users have a more solid grip.

The volume rocker and lock button don’t protrude very much so they are hard to press. This is a drastic change compared to Pixel 4 and 4a with their protruding plastic buttons which are a lot easier to manipulate.

The square camera setup on Google Pixel 5 looks almost identical to that of Pixel 4. The fingerprint scanner is easy to find but it isn’t as accurate and quick as we would like it to. Sometimes it takes us a few attempts to sign in.

Unfortunately, there isn’t a microSD card slot to expand the storage, a real bummer if you aren’t satisfied with 128GB.

At the bottom of the phone, there is a USB-C port.

Google Pixel 5 Display

Google Pixel 5 features a Full HD Plus display measuring 6 inches. The panel is bright, surrounded by thin bezels, and has a hole-punch notch from which the front camera pokes.

Google retains the 90Hz refresh rate here and the scrolling experience is smooth. While it will take a toll on the battery life, 90Hz actually eliminates the stuttering you will see on screens with refresh rates lower than 60Hz.

Google Pixel 5 Camera

The phone’s camera setup looks similar to that of Pixel 4 and you will be forgiven if you think Google has changed nothing in the photography hardware.

Google Pixel 5 still has the 12.2MP primary shooter of Pixel 4 but the 2x optical telephoto lens has been replaced by a 16-megapixel ultra-wide camera.

The phone’s camera performance is a mixed bag. The phone struggled to focus if the subject is too close to it or was moving. In daylight, photos taken by the phone are crisp and vivid.

However, in low light, photos taken by the Google Pixel 5 have more noise than those of some other flagships. It does get the colors right though, in comparison with other premium phones like iPhone 11 Pro Max.

The phone’s ultra-wide camera also shows less distortion than other phones.

Google Pixel 5 excels with its camera app which provides a plethora of editing options. The toggles have been rearranged to be more user-friendly and Google has added some new tricks, including Portrait Light which brighten subjects and faces at particular angles.

Overall, the phone relies on its software to prove its worth as a camera phone. Unfortunately, this power isn’t enough to improve the phone’s low-light performance.

Google Pixel 5 Specs And Performance

To keep costs down, Google has to make some compromises with the phone’s specs.

Under the hood, Google Pixel 5 runs on a Snapdragon 765G processor, not a premium chipset like what OnePlus 8T or Samsung Galaxy S20 have but it does its job.

The chipset comes with 8GB of RAM, allowing it to handle tasks like web browsing and gaming with ease. There isn’t any major slowdown but in our tests, after a few Call of Duty rounds, there was a few moments of animation hitch.

Google Pixel 5 has only 128GB of storage so if you want more, there is no other way but to opt for a cloud storing solution.

The phone comes equipped with Android 11 out of the box.

Google Pixel 5 Battery Life

The Pixel 5 packs a 4,000mAh battery making it a two-day phone under moderate use.

Along with a much bigger battery, Google also tries to improve on the software front. Extreme Battery Saver is a more aggressive version of the usual Battery Saver. Basically, what it does is to enable Dark Mode, and pausing all power-consuming activities like Wi-Fi hot-spotting.

Google Pixel 5 has support for Qi wireless and 18W fast charging. It can also reverse charge other phones and smaller devices.

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