Google’s Pixel 11 Series Pairs A Little New Hardware With A Lot Of New Software

When I first picked up nan Pixel 11 Pro this week, it was clear to maine that this was 1 of those refinement years — astatine slightest erstwhile it comes to hardware. Aesthetically, nan phones are arsenic beautiful arsenic ever, pinch Google’s signature camera barroom and bright, colorful backing glass. There are mini updates, for illustration a azygous portion of solid covering nan camera barroom and nan all-new HiLight ambient LED connected nan Pros. But this year, nan Pixel is each astir value of life and package improvements.

After weeks of teasers, Google has yet formally announced nan Pixel 11, Pixel 11 Pro, Pixel 11 Pro XL, and Pixel 11 Pro Fold. The phones are each shipping adjacent week, connected August 20th, and Google is holding a splashy event nan evening of August 12th to show disconnected nan devices. Ahead of that, we had a chance to return a first look astatine everything that’s coming up.

Let’s commencement pinch nan bad news up front: All of these phones are $100 much costly than past year’s. Google has killed disconnected nan 128GB guidelines retention action this year, which intends nan Pixel 11 now starts astatine $899 for a 256GB model. All retention tiers still travel pinch 12GB of RAM, but nan higher introduction value is nary uncertainty driven by RAMageddon, which has been expanding costs crossed nan industry.

If you tin look past nan price, you’ll find a refined type of past year’s telephone that looks and feels a spot much premium. The camera barroom is now made of a singular portion of solid and is complete 40 percent thinner. If you usage it pinch 1 of Google’s cases, nan barroom will go wholly flush. (This gives you 3 different camera barroom thickness options connected nan Pixel statement now, which only get thicker nan much premium you go.)

The cameras person been upgraded, too. On nan Pixel 11, nan 48MP wide is quoted pinch 56 percent much ray gathering capacity from its caller 1/1.56-inch sensor, and nan 5x telephoto lens tin now digitally zoom up to 30x, which Google says is enabled by nan caller image awesome processor successful nan Tensor G6 chipset. And considering nan caller Tensor G6 spot is said to beryllium up to 20 percent much efficient, Google is quoting up to 30-plus hours of artillery life crossed nan lineup.

Perhaps nan astir absorbing update to maine is nan caller Camera Looks feature. You tin deliberation of this likewise to nan movie recipes connected Fujifilm cameras, presenting users pinch stylized presets that tin beryllium customized to their liking.

What makes Camera Looks truthful interesting, though, is alternatively of conscionable being a select connected apical of nan preprocessed Pixel photo, nan telephone will process nan photograph wholly otherwise astatine nan sensor level depending connected which settings you choose, perchance utilizing little framework stacking and sharpening to present nan photograph you really want. During my briefing astatine least, this really delivered. The Natural mode does an astonishing occupation of lowering nan sharpness and opposition and making nan photos look overmuch much existent to life, and I’m excited to return it for a due rotation later. If you want to study much astir this, cheque retired my dedicated article wherever I said pinch Pixel camera lead Isaac Reynolds.

Another caller characteristic wrong nan camera is Magic Capture. This is simply a camera mode alongside nan photograph and video modes that creates a benignant of hybrid mashup of nan two, wherever nan telephone will automatically prime retired short clips and images you tin share. During my hands-on clip this characteristic didn’t activity great, only giving maine 1 mini clip and 1 photograph from a astir 15-second recording, but I judge it’s meant for longer clips astatine things for illustration kids’ day parties. We’ll person to trial this successful nan section erstwhile we person much clip pinch nan device.

Google is besides adding a caller Creator Suite wrong nan camera, which gives you entree to devices for illustration societal media framing guides, reside enhancement, a teleprompter, and automatic files structures for video. I was amazed to spot this truthful profoundly integrated into nan camera itself, and it’s clear Google is going aft a caller assemblage and hoping to make nan Pixel nan champion telephone for mini creators.

The phones besides each characteristic Qi2.2 — an upgrade from Qi2 past year. Google says this offers 25 percent faster wireless charging of up to 25W, an upgrade from nan 15W max nan Pixel 10 offered. However, galore users reported seeing a maximum wireless complaint charge of only 5W pinch nan Pixel 10 erstwhile utilizing older chargers, truthful hopefully nan problem is fixed this year.

The Pixel 11 will travel successful purple, green, black, and an highly basking magenta.

The 11 Pro and Pro XL are wherever things get a small much absorbing this year. Like nan modular Pixel 11, they commencement astatine 256GB of retention and 12GB of RAM (down from 16GB past year), which starts astatine $1,099. If you’re a powerfulness user, you tin still get 16GB of RAM if you bargain nan 512GB aliases 1TB models.

You’re decidedly getting much pinch nan Pro models this year, though. The show connected nan Pixel 11 Pro gets up to a ace agleam 3,600 nits, which Google says is nan brightest show ever connected a smartphone. This isn’t a monolithic quality from nan 3,300-nit highest brightness from past year, but it’s thing for your money.

The main camera sensor connected nan Pixel 11 Pro has been improved, pinch a caller 50MP exemplary that Google says uses little powerfulness and should execute amended successful nan 1x-to-5x zoom range. There’s besides a caller 48MP telephoto lens pinch a larger 1/1.95-inch sensor that delivers a quoted 30 percent betterment successful ray sensitivity. And conscionable for illustration nan modular Pixel 11, nan 11 Pro has a further zoom range, now extending up to 120x, which Google says is enabled by nan ISP successful Tensor G6.

On nan Pro phones, Google has besides substantially sped up Night Sight, offering up to 4.5x faster low-light image capture, though Google tells maine connected mean it’s astir 3x faster than past year. This is still a beautiful important improvement, and Reynolds told maine nan thought was to optimize Night Sight for handheld capture. “You tin still seizure for up to 4 minutes if you want each nan light,” he tells me, “but it’s really optimized for those awkward moments wherever you person to show personification to clasp still for a small excessively long.”

The flashiest characteristic (pun intended) of nan caller Pro phones is nan HiLight feature. Pixel 11 Pro and Pro Fold phones now characteristic an RGB LED ringing wherever nan somesthesia sensor utilized to beryllium connected nan correct broadside of nan camera bar. When you’re talking to Gemini, nan LED will glow bluish arsenic it listens and responds to you. Separately, you tin group favourite contacts to glow erstwhile they telephone you done nan default Phone app aliases WhatsApp. Google is trading nan characteristic arsenic a measurement to beryllium much coming successful your mundane life, but it doesn’t consciousness peculiarly useful to maine yet considering its usage is truthful limited. Google says much functionality is coming successful nan future, but correct now, this doesn’t consciousness for illustration a logic to bargain nan phone.

The Pixel 11 Pro and Pro XL will travel successful olive, ray blue, and a striking orange-ish “canyon” color, each pinch glossy broadside rails. There’s besides a achromatic option, which this twelvemonth has matte broadside rails, dissimilar each nan different Pro devices.

Finally, there’s nan Pixel 11 Pro Fold. Google is calling it nan astir durable Pixel Fold yet, pinch a caller composite backmost worldly that Google says is astir intolerable to crack. This, alongside a thicker soul ultra-thin solid display, contributes to Google’s “3x much durable” declare compared to past year.

The soul bezels person besides been reduced, making it Google’s thinnest Fold bezels ever, and nan highest brightness matches nan Pixel 11 Pro astatine 3,600 nits. The 11 Pro Fold is besides inheriting nan caller 48MP main sensor from nan Pixel 11 for a quoted 56 percent improved ray sensitivity compared to past year, and it gets Qi2.2 for up to 20 percent faster wireless charging.

The 11 Pro Fold starts astatine 16GB of RAM modular pinch 256GB of storage, comes successful oliva and black, and starts astatine $1,899 — besides a $100 value jump complete past year.

Photography by David Imel / The Verge