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The processor is paired with 8GB of RAM, and the Pixel 5 breezes through tasks from browsing the web to gaming and playing media. We didn’t experience any egregious slowdown, although after playing a few rounds of Call of Duty: Mobile, we did see some animations hitch (not mid-game, thankfully). One of the Pixel 5’s biggest improvements over its predecessor is its 4,080mAh battery – in our casual testing it comfortably lasted into a second day, while we found the Pixel 4, with its 2,800mAh battery, hit single digits in the early evening.
The benchmarks are another story: with a Geekbench 5 score of 1617, the Pixel 5's specs perform worse than the comparably-priced Samsung Galaxy S20 Fan Edition (2928), which is powered by a Snapdragon 865 chipset. This isn't exactly surprising, but it does indicate speed – and given the Google Pixel 4a 5G scored a roughly similar 1614, we have further support that the Google Pixel 5 doesn't perform much better than its cheaper counterpart. Our specialist in-store Partners can help you to get set up on your new device right away. We can help with anything from transferring personal data from your old device to setting up any essential features.Photography buffs might be disappointed to learn that the primary camera remains unchanged yet again. Google is using the same 12.2MP (f/1.7) Sony IMX363 sensor that’s served its Pixel phones for the last few years, although this time around the 2x telephoto lens from the Pixel 4 has been replaced with a 16MP (f/2.2) ultra-wide unit. Google’s strategy here befuddles me to no end, though that’s a discussion for another day. The more pressing concern is what all that means for the Pixel 5’s performance, and I’m happy to report that at least this phone doesn’t feel as slow as some will worry it is. The shots we took with the Pixel 5 during our testing time were a mixed bag. Focusing was an issue with subjects that were close to us, or in motion. Our best photos were taken in full daylight – they looked crisp and had a lovely color palette – but low-light images had the same, or a bit more, noise than comparable photos taken with other flagship phones. Given the Pixel series' strong emphasis on night photography, this was a little surprising. Along with the Titan M chip, the Pixel 5 has a finger print scanner to provide additional protection for your personal information, without adding any inconvenience – one touch and away you go.
The Pixel 5 also comes with double the base storage at 128GB, has an extra 2GB of RAM (8GB) and uses a larger 4,080mAh battery, with 18W wireless charging support. Speaking of which, the Pixel 5’s battery life is much improved. Lasting 22hrs 54mins in our video rundown test, the Pixel 5 rubs shoulders with the longest-lasting smartphones on the market, with a huge stamina boost of 89% over last year’s Pixel 4 (12hrs 7mins).
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It’s a similar story when the light begins to fade, too. I much prefer the Pixel 5’s low-light “Night Sight” images, which do a mighty fine job at brightening up shots without noticeably altering the colours; in contrast, the iPhone 11’s nighttime indoor pictures looked overly warm. To Google’s credit, the company has bumped up the RAM in this device to 8GB, which is more than the Pixel 4 had at its disposal. (It's also more than the 6GB of memory inside the Pixel 4a 5G.) And the 90Hz display certainly promotes the illusion of speed with every tap and scroll, even if the hardware under the surface is decidedly more pedestrian. The phone does capture accurate colors in low light, though – compared to images taken on the iPhone 11 Pro Max, for instance, which can exhibit a yellow tint, the Pixel 5 captures the correct hues. Its ultra-wide lens also creates a lot less distortion at the edges than images captured with similar lenses on other phones. Personally, we don’t miss Soli, though we do miss what it could have become as a uniquely Google experience. But while some cutting-edge tech has been culled, it’s not a complete regression: the Pixel 5 has wireless charging, a 90Hz refresh rate display, and 5G, while its 4,000mAh battery is a lot bigger, and subsequently lasts far longer, than the 2,800mAh battery in the Pixel 4. Before we move on from the camera section entirely, we should note that Google has punched up its video recording arsenal with the Pixel 5’s release by offering a range of electronic stabilization modes. There’s standard stabilization, which seeks to dull tremors caused by shaky hands, as well as modes targeted for shooting subjects at far distances, another for active or fast-moving subjects, and yet another for slow-motion, panning shots.
The metal itself has a matte-like finish that makes it feel a bit more like polycarbonate than the typical aluminum frames. Its texture feels interesting but not exactly appealing, though one thing is for sure: it allowed us to get a more solid grip on the phone. For devices with incredibly short lifespans, my expectation would be some respect from manufacturers in pricing at disposable costs. This is sort of the case for the 4a, but I want the water resistant, all metal case and wireless charging even at that price. Since the Google Pixel 5's launch, a number of genuinely affordable smartphones have come out with better Geekbench 5 scores, which doesn't reflect well on this phone. RAM (Random Access Memory) is different to the permanent storage provided by hard disk drives (HDD), solid state drives (SSD) or memory cards in your equipment. RAM is used by your device to temporarily store data to carry out everyday operations. The more RAM your machine has, the faster you can expect it to open and run programs.Likewise, if you want to maximize battery life as much as possible with the Pixel 5, you can opt for 60Hz instead of 90Hz. Running the test this way, we saw an improvement of about 30 minutes.
Proximity Sensor, Gyroscope Sensor, Accelerometer (G-Sensor), Magnetometer, Barometer, Fingerprint Sensor The Google Tensor G2 chipset is also a new addition to the Pixel 7 family, which might not be quite as good as the A16 Bionic chipset of Apple’s new devices, but will make the Pixel phones faster, smarter and safer to use. Ultimately, the Pixel 5 is a mixed bag, with some curious omissions in an otherwise solid phone. It’s designed to hit a sweet spot for a certain kind of consumer who’s willing to forego some flagship features to get a finely-tuned photo experience, and it does that – but it’s something that other phones, like the Google Pixel 4a 5G, which has virtually identical photo capability, offer at a notably lower price. As always, though, the Pixel’s camera changes mostly come from the software side of things. Google’s excellent Night Sight shooting mode is now available in Portrait; a “Cinematic Pan” stabilisation mode has been added and the new Portrait Light feature allows you to artificially drop lighting into your image after the fact. This second iteration Google's own-brand silicon helps super-charge the Pixel 7's excellent smart assistant integration and also enables some super handy computational photography features like Magic Eraser and Photo Unblur. Couple this with improved speech recognition and translation abilities and both the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro are both easily some of the best phones you can buy right now.B1, B2, B3, B4, B5, B7, B8, B12, B13, B14, B17, B18, B19, B20, B25, B26, B28, B29, B30, B32, B38, B39, B40, B41, B66, B71 But this being a Google phone, the Pixel 5’s software story is about more than simply having the latest version of Android. Google has once again gifted its own phones with some really clever features that make the most out of its expertise in artificial intelligence, like Hold For Me. My concern is that the price point is ridiculous. My Pixel 2 works great, if not for the problems below 54% where trying to use that great camera means instant shut down. Or how even playing Spotify or Stitcher below 30% does the same.
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