Display

Google was very careful when picking the display of the Pixel XL - yes, a 5.5" diagonal is an industry standard, but the resolution and type of display were chosen to benefit its VR effort Daydream.

QHD resolution makes for a sharp 534ppi pixel density. VR is unforgiving when it comes to pixel density, even though outside this viewing case we find 1080p to be enough.

There is a "Display size" setting that changes the scale of the UI, something we're normally used to seeing in heavily customized ROMs. You can adjust it to your eyesight - if it's good, the high pixel density allows for small, dense text. Or you can take it easy and bump up the scale to make things readable (there's a separate setting for font size).

The Pixel XL uses an AMOLED display, specifically a low-persistence display. There is an option called "low motion blur" in the settings and it is specifically for Daydream. You can turn it off entirely, but not enable it for normal operation - it achieves the high frame rate required for VR (and removes ghosting) but is too demanding for regular phone use.

Display test 100% brightness Black, cd/m2 White, cd/m2 Contrast ratio Google Pixel XL 0 432 ∞ Samsung Galaxy S7 max auto 0.00 563 ∞ Samsung Galaxy S7 edge 0.00 392 ∞ Apple iPhone 7 Plus 0.41 573 1398 Apple iPhone 7 Plus (max auto) 0.50 681 1362 LG V20 0.43 475 1097 LG V20 Max auto 0.59 628 1064 ZTE Axon 7 0.00 352 ∞ OnePlus 3 0.00 433 ∞ Huawei P9 Plus 0.00 400 ∞

The 5.5" screen is reasonably bright - 430nits at maximum - but lacks the boost some AMOLEDs do in Auto mode and very bright conditions.

This could have affected its best-case sunlight legibility, but the truth is that the Pixel XL screen is one of the best we have tested under a bright light.

Sunlight contrast ratio

Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+

4.615

Samsung Galaxy S7 edge

4.439

OnePlus 3

4.424

Samsung Galaxy S7

4.376

HTC One A9

4.274

Samsung Galaxy Note7

4.247

Samsung Galaxy A3

4.241

Google Pixel XL

4.164

ZTE Axon 7

4.154

Samsung Galaxy S6 edge

4.124

Samsung Galaxy Note5

4.09

Huawei Nexus 6P

4.019

OnePlus X

3.983

Vivo Xplay5 Elite

3.983

Oppo R7s

3.964

Apple iPhone 7

3.964

Huawei P9 Plus

3.956

Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016)

3.918

Samsung Galaxy C5

3.911

Samsung Galaxy C7

3.896

Samsung Galaxy A5

3.895

Samsung Galaxy J7 outdoor

3.879

Samsung Galaxy J2 outdoor

3.873

Samsung Galaxy A8

3.859

Samsung Galaxy A9 (2016)

3.817

Motorola Moto X (2014)

3.816

Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) outdoor mode

3.802

Xiaomi Redmi Pro

3.798

LG V20 Max auto

3.798

Sony Xperia XZ

3.795

Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016)

3.789

Apple iPhone 6s

3.783

Meizu Pro 5

3.781

Microsoft Lumia 650

3.772

Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016)

3.756

Oppo F1 Plus

3.709

Vivo X5Pro

3.706

Sony Xperia X Compact

3.694

Apple iPhone SE

3.681

Samsung Galaxy A7

3.679

Meizu PRO 6

3.659

BlackBerry Priv

3.645

Apple iPhone 7 Plus

3.588

Apple iPhone 6s Plus

3.53

Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016)

3.523

Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016) outdoor mode

3.523

Acer Jade Primo

3.521

Microsoft Lumia 950

3.512

Oppo R7 Plus

3.499

nubia Z11

3.466

Samsung Galaxy J7

3.422

Meizu MX5

3.416

LG V20

3.402

Oppo R7

3.32

Xiaomi Mi 5s

3.276

Samsung Galaxy J2

3.235

Sony Xperia X Performance

3.234

Motorola Moto X Play

3.222

Huawei P9

3.195

Lenovo Vibe Shot

3.113

Motorola Moto X Force

3.105

LG Nexus 5X

3.092

Huawei Mate S

3.073

Microsoft Lumia 640 XL

3.065

Sony Xperia X

2.989

Samsung Galaxy Note

2.97

Huawei Mate 8

2.949

Xiaomi Redmi 3S

2.913

Sony Xperia XA Ultra

2.906

LG G5

2.905

HTC One S

2.901

Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus

2.884

Sony Xperia Z5

2.876

Microsoft Lumia 550

2.851

Xiaomi Redmi 3 Pro

2.803

Sony Xperia Z5 compact

2.784

LG V10

2.744

Xiaomi Redmi 3

2.735

Sony Xperia M5

2.69

Huawei P9 Lite

2.679

Vivo V3Max

2.659

Xiaomi Mi 4i

2.641

Sony Xperia XA

2.609

Xiaomi Mi 4c

2.574

LeEco Le Max 2

2.567

Microsoft Lumia 640

2.563

Lenovo Moto G4

2.544

Oppo F1

2.528

Sony Xperia Z5 Premium

2.525

Huawei Honor 7 Lite / Honor 5c

2.506

Sony Xperia M4 Aqua

2.503

Oppo F1s

2.481

Motorola Moto G

2.477

Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus

2.473

Huawei G8

2.471

Huawei nova

2.467

Sony Xperia Z

2.462

Lenovo Vibe K5

2.459

Huawei Honor 7

2.406

Sony Xperia E5

2.386

ZUK Z1 by Lenovo

2.382

HTC 10

2.378

Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016)

2.378

Huawei nova plus

2.329

HTC One E9+

2.305

Alcatel One Touch Hero

2.272

Apple iPhone 4S

2.269

Lenovo Vibe K4 Note

2.254

Sony Xperia C5 Ultra

2.253

Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (MediaTek)

2.249

Sony Xperia C4 Dual

2.235

Xiaomi Mi Note

2.234

Motorola Moto G (2014)

2.233

LG Nexus 5

2.228

Huawei P8

2.196

Huawei Honor 6

2.169

Xiaomi Redmi Note 2

2.166

OnePlus Two

2.165

HTC One X

2.158

Xiaomi Redmi Note 4

2.145

LG Aka

2.145

Archos 50 Diamond

2.134

Xiaomi Redmi Note

2.119

Xiaomi Mi 4S

2.095

Acer Liquid X2

2.084

Huawei P8lite

2.078

Moto G 3rd gen max manual

2.026

Xiaomi Mi Max

1.996

Sony Xperia E4g

1.972

OnePlus One

1.961

Meizu m3 note

1.923

BlackBerry Leap

1.892

Meizu m2 note

1.892

HTC Butterfly

1.873

ZTE Nubia Z9 mini

1.759

Sony Xperia U

1.758

Asus Zenfone Selfie

1.68

Motorola Moto E (2nd Gen)

1.675

ZTE Nubia Z9

1.659

Jolla Jolla

1.605

Motorola Moto E

1.545

Sony Xperia M

1.473

Xiaomi Redmi 2

1.311

HTC Desire C

1.3

Sony Xperia C

1.283

Meizu MX

1.221

Sony Xperia E

1.215

The color accuracy is fairly average - nothing like the accurate Nexus 5X screen or even the HTC 10, which scored pretty well in sRGB mode. The Pixel XL lacks any color screen modes besides the night-time blue light filter, so you are essentially stuck in the Vivid mode of the HTC 10.

For reference, the Pixel XL screen posted an average deltaE of 5.4 and a maximum of 13, compared to HTC 10's avg 2.9/max 5.8 and iPhone 7 Plus' avg 1.3/max 4.

After some digging, we found an sRGB option hidden in the Developer settings. Enabling it dropped the average deltaE to a very good 2.6 and the maximum to 4.7. That makes it better than the HTC 10, though still far from iPhone's accuracy.

Color accuracy is only part of the equation - the color gamut (the number of possible colors) is another. Apple already dove into that market with Wide color gamut displays on the iPad Pro and now iPhone 7 Plus. Samsung has been sticking closely to sRGB and even introduced HDR on the Galaxy Note7 (while that model failed, it's almost certain that the Galaxy S8 will have an HDR screen too).

Connectivity

The Google Pixel XL uses the latest commercially available modem, the Snapdragon X12, and it supports LTE Cat. 11 - that's 600/75Mbps (limited to Cat. 9 450/50Mbps on some carriers).

For supreme audio quality there's Ultra HD Voice, which works either over VoLTE or Wi-Fi (side note: if you use Google's Project Fi carrier, Wi-Fi calling will be a common occurrence). You need carrier support for this, of course, but Qualcomm says it is more resilient towards spotty connectivity than regular HD Voice.

Also, the Qualcomm Fluence Pro technology is used for the noise cancellation. Interestingly, it uses two microphones for the handset and three mics when you use the loudspeaker (as you can imagine, the Pixel XL has three mics).

The rest of the wireless connectivity holds no surprises - fast Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac (2x2 MIMO), Bluetooth 4.2 (with A2DP and LE), A-GPS with GLONASS and NFC. The latter is used for the Android Pay service, secured by the fingerprint reader, the Pixel Imprint.

Wired connectivity has USB Type-C running at USB 3.0 speeds, but no TV out functionality. Oh, and let's not forget the headphone jack on top! With USB Type-C supporting analog audio, it wasn't a given that Google will keep the old-school port.

Battery

The Google Pixel XL packs a 3,450mAh battery - not bad for a 5.5" phone. The Nexus devices never had a reputation for great battery life, perhaps the Pixels can turn things around.

The USB Type-C port supports fast charging - Google says that in just 15 minutes of charging, the phone will have 7 hours of "mixed use". In our measurement, the supplied charger charged the battery from 0 to 46% in just 30 minutes.

The charger uses the USB Power Delivery standard (instead of QuickCharge and the like), which is rated at 18W. If you try using a Quick Charge 2.0 or 3.0 charger with the Pixel XL, it would default to 5V/2A charging current, which is not bad either.

Google has fit a fairly large battery and with the latest iteration of the battery-saving Doze feature, it managed to squeeze a 78 hour Endurance rating out of it. This beats the iPhone 7 Plus (which, to be fair, has a smaller battery), but isn't as good as Galaxy S7 edge's 98 hours (well, 67 hours if you want to use the Always on screen).

The Pixel XL lived up to its promised 32 hours of talk time and even over-delivered slightly. It didn't last the promised 14 hours of Wi-Fi browsing, though - we only measured about 9 and a half hours. That's hours behind both the iPhone 7 Plus and Galaxy S7 edge. The video playback got closer to the official 14 hour mark, but not that close. For comparison, the S7 edge lasted 20 hours of playing video.

The battery testing procedure is described in detail in case you're interested in the nitty-gritties. You can also check out our complete battery test table, where you can see how all of the smartphones we've tested will compare under your own typical use.