I have to admit I have yet to play with Android 7.0 Nougat, so I was really excited to see the Google Pixel XL arrive for testing. Particularly since it’s the flagship of the series that killed the Nexus. The device gets unboxed below and it’s the very first Android 7.1 model that arrives at GSMDome. It’s priced at a hefty $759 and comes in 32 GB or 128 GB storage versions.
The box is rather simple and minimalistic, typical Google and inside we find a charger, SIM pin, manual, USB OTG adapter, USB Type C to Type A cable and USB Type C to Type C cable. No headphones and no microSD card slot on the phone, just like the Nexus handsets. First impression? This is a big phone, truly big, even for a 5.5 incher, although reading the specs on paper you wouldn’t say, at 8.2 mm thickness and 168 grams weight.
It’s made by HTC out of a block of aluminum and also includes a trademark glass window at the back, the upper third. There’s a 5.5 inch AMOLED Quad HD screen upfront with a 2.5D Gorilla Glass 4 panel. Inside we find a Snapdragon 821 processor, 4 GB of RAM and at the back there’s a 12.3 megapixel camera with laser focus, PDAF and dual tone flash.
Selfies are taken with an 8 MP cam and there’s a fingerprint scanner at the back, plus USB Type C port. Finally, the battery is rather generous at 3450 mAh and we expect great things from it. It’s a solid feeling phone, rather pricey and massive, but Nougat simply stuns on it, with the most fluid UI I’ve seen. We’ll be back with a full review soon.
In the meantime you can purchase the handset here.
