Pre-orders for Google’s new Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones kicked off on Flipkart and Croma’s online store earlier this month. Prices for the smartphones start from Rs 57,000 and go up to Rs 76,000 for the top-end variant. Flipkart is currently offering various deals for buyers, including exchange offers, no cost EMI and cashback offers for card users. But if you are among those who prefer getting some hands-on time with a phone before buying it, there’s some good news. Google India has announced that both the Pixel smartphones will be available at stores from October 25.
Google revealed the date on its Twitter account with a tweet that read, “The future is exciting. And by future we mean 3 days from now. #Pixel will start reaching stores on 25th October #madebygoogle.”
Google had revealed that along with online partners, the new Pixel smartphones will also be available via offline retail chains like Reliance Digital, Vijay Sales, Croma and Jumbo among others. For those wondering, recent reports have claimed that Google has tied up with HTC (the manufacturer of the Pixel smartphones) to provide after-sales service for the Pixel smartphones in India.
The timing of the launch couldn’t have been any better for Google, as the last week before Diwali is when festive shopping fever is at its all-time high. With Apple’s iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus not widely available in India, and the failure of Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7, Google’s new smartphones are seen as the only other competitor at the premium mobile segment.
Google Pixel, Pixel XL specifications and features
The Google Pixel sports a 5-inch full HD (1080p) AMOLED display, while the Google Pixel XL sports a 5.5-inch QHD AMOLED display. Both displays have a 2.5D curved glass on top and are protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 4. The Pixel sports a 2,770mAh battery that is said to be good enough for 26 hours of talktime, and up to 19 days on standby mode, while the Pixel XL sports a 3,450mAh battery that is said to be good enough for 32 hours of talktime and up to 23 days on standby mode. Apart from the difference in size and battery, both devices come with the same set of specifications and features.
Under the hood is Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 821 quad-core processor paired with 4GB of RAM. On the photography front, the smartphones are equipped with a 12.3-megapixel rear snapper with f/2.0 aperture, 1.55μm pixels, PDAF and laser auto-focus. The rear camera also supports 4K video recording. Up front, there is an 8-megapixel fixed-focus selfie camera with f/2.4 aperture and 1.4µm pixels.
The smartphones also feature a fingerprint scanner placed at the back, and IP53 certification that makes them resistant to water and dust to an extent. Connectivity options include 4G LTE support, USB Type-C port for charging and data transfer, Bluetooth 4.2, GPS, Wi-Fi 802.11ac and NFC.
The Google Pixel sports a 5-inch full HD (1080p) AMOLED display, while the Google Pixel XL sports a 5.5-inch QHD AMOLED display. Both displays have a 2.5D curved glass on top and are protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 4. The Pixel sports a 2,770mAh battery that is said to be good enough for 26 hours of talktime, and up to 19 days on standby mode, while the Pixel XL sports a 3,450mAh battery that is said to be good enough for 32 hours of talktime and up to 23 days on standby mode. Apart from the difference in size and battery, both devices come with the same set of specifications and features.
Under the hood is Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 821 quad-core processor paired with 4GB of RAM. On the photography front, the smartphones are equipped with a 12.3-megapixel rear snapper with f/2.0 aperture, 1.55μm pixels, PDAF and laser auto-focus. The rear camera also supports 4K video recording. Up front, there is an 8-megapixel fixed-focus selfie camera with f/2.4 aperture and 1.4µm pixels.
The smartphones also feature a fingerprint scanner placed at the back, and IP53 certification that makes them resistant to water and dust to an extent. Connectivity options include 4G LTE support, USB Type-C port for charging and data transfer, Bluetooth 4.2, GPS, Wi-Fi 802.11ac and NFC.
On the software front, both smartphones run on Android Nougat 7.1 out-of-the-box wrapped under the Pixel UI. One of the highlights of the new smartphones is the built-in Google Assistant, which is the company’s take on Siri and Alexa. It is more capable than Google Now, and is more contextually aware about what’s happening on your smartphone. One can simply converse with the AI and ask questions like weather, distance from one place to the other, or route from source to destination, and more.
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