Google Pixel 4 review

Wide and tele, ultra wide missing

Google has been stubbornly fitting a single cam on the back of its Pixel amidts the recent multi-cam craze that the past couple of years have been but has finally given in and equipped the Pixel 4 with a telephoto next to the regular cam. What is still missing is the ultra wide-angle module.

The setup of the Pixel 4 is identical to that of the 4 XL - alongside an optically stabilized 12.2MP main camera with large 1.4-micron pixels, and f/1.7 aperture is a 16MP telephoto camera (also stabilized) with 1.0-micron pixels and an f/2.4 aperture lens. Technically, the two lenses don't have a 2x ratio in their focal lengths (28mm and 45mm equivalents, if you go by the FoV angles Google specifies vs. 27mm and 43mm if you trust the EXIF data) but since the tele starts off with 16MP and produces 12MP images, they just about pull off the 2x zoom.

There is, of course, Google's Super Res Zoom, which the company claimed was good enough on its own on the Pixel 3, negating the need for a telephoto back then. Also, both cameras benefit from Google's HDR+ algorithms for improving image quality.

The industry has already moved past dual cameras and are already established with triple cameras, including the latest iPhone 11 Pro. So Google's decision to go with a telephoto camera instead of an ultra-wide - which many makers have been adding to the mix - raised many eyebrows. This depends on personal preference, and the kinds of environments people tend to shoot, but Google believes that the average consumer is more likely to take zoomed photos over ultra-widened snapshots. We are not going to take a side here in favor of one type of camera or the other, but we'd just say that many manufacturers are happy to provide all three without the need for compromise.

Having said all that, while the Pixel 4 XL is indeed underequipped compared to its all-out flagship competitors, the small Pixel 4 is in a bit of a different position. Going by the assumption that it competes against the iPhone 11 and the Galaxy S10e, the most affordable high-end offers from the two main rivals, the Pixel 4 offers a different setup, not an inferior one. End of philosophical musings.

Google has introduced a few new features on the Pixel's camera this generation. The first is Live HDR+, which aims to show you what your final image is going to look like in the viewfinder before you've taken the shot and the phone has finished processing it.

Before that, especially in more demanding situations, the live viewfinder was only really used to compose your shots, then you'd only see the resulting HDR+ photo in the camera roll. We're glad to see this change implemented as it makes a huge difference in the picture-taking process.

Another new feature is dual exposure controls - baked right into the camera UI. Now you can manually adjust the shadows and highlights as you are composing a shot, useful if you want to get a more artistic photo like the silhouette of a person against a bright background. Or you know, if you want to alleviate to some extent the Pixel's slight tendency towards dark shadows and brighten them up a bit.

Since Google doesn't offer full manual controls on the Pixel, this is a welcome feature. It combines well with Live HDR+, so you see the photo's exposure before you hit capture.

Apart from improvements in Night Sight and portrait mode - thanks to the second camera, "learning-based automatic white balance" is available in all shooting modes where it was previously only used in Night Sight.

The camera interface is mostly unchanged from the Pixel 3. You can swipe between shooting modes, and the most important ones are easily accessible: Night Sight, Portrait, Camera, Video, and a More tab containing Panorama, Photo Sphere, Slow Motion, Time Lapse, Playground, and Lens.

To make the viewfinder less cluttered, Google put the flash, timer, and Motion settings in a drawer, opposite the shutter button. It's an extra step to reach the Flash settings, but Google did mention at its presentation that it hopes you never need to use the Flash. Still, the drawer makes it easier to focus on the viewfinder.

Even with the drawer open, you can still hit the shutter key, so you don't miss the shot. Hitting the shutter does hide the drawer so you can keep snapping away.

Viewfinder • Drawer • More modes • Settings

Daylight image quality

We found daylight image quality out of the main camera of the Pixel 4 to be a slight improvement over the previous generation mostly due to marginally better noise handling. The Pixel 4 still takes recognizably 'Pixel' photos with wide dynamic range, particularly in the highlights - that's where HDR+ prioritizes its efforts. If you want to liven up the dark-ish shadows, the sliders we mentioned in the software section are the way to go.

Camera samples, main camera

Color rendition is generally spot-on, which means the Pixel takes slightly cooler and not quite as saturated photos as, say, a Galaxy. Again, that's the Pixel 'look.'

Camera samples, main camera

The telephoto camera does take '2x' shots even though its lens' focal length isn't strictly '2x' - the coverage matches the 50-ish millimeter equivalent of the iPhone and Galaxy's 2x teles. Telephoto shots come out with slightly warmer color reproduction and are missing some of that finest micro contrast when you zoom in up close. That's mostly nitpicking, however, and we really like the Pixel 4's 2x shots - dynamic range is nice and wide, and the detail is there too.

Camera samples, telephoto camera

Low-light

Low light photos out of the Pixel 4 are already great without going into Night Sight, unless it's too dark when it doesn't expose brightly enough. They do end up a little noisy, more so than what you'd get out of a Samsung phone. Additionally, on occasion, you may get blurry shots if it's too dark and the phone isn't comfortable with the ISO needed to get a fast enough shutter speed.

Low-light samples: Photo mode • Night Sight

Night Sight does make a considerable difference in a lot of ways. It recovers highlights somewhat, but more importantly, lifts the shadows in a more dramatic way, particularly in dark settings. Indoor shots with a lot of colorful lights specifically benefit immensely from Night Sight.

Another characteristic Night Sight trait that Google's kept is the overall bleaching of photos with certain warm light sources - the second pair of photos below is a prime example.

Low-light samples: Photo mode • Night Sight

Unlike competitors, if the Pixel 4 is set at '2x', it's using the actual tele camera, and that's that - there's no light threshold below which it'll switch to a zoomed-in view from the main one. Zoom shots in low light are okay - not spectacular, but not bad either. They are noisy, but no more than ordinary, and they're reasonably well detailed, plus colors are preserved nicely. Night Sight takes away some of the saturation of warmly-lit scenes but does make for overall superior images.

Low-light samples, telephoto camera: Photo mode • Night Sight

We got zero clear nights in our time with the Pixel 4 (barely any sun during the day as well), so no astro shots here. You can have a look at our Pixel 4 XL review for a few starry sky samples.

Once you're done with the real world samples, head over to our Photo compare tool to see how the Google Pixel 4 stacks up against the competition.

Google Pixel 4 against the Galaxy S10 and the iPhone 11 in our Photo compare tool

Portraits

Portraits are nothing short of amazing coming out of the Pixel 4. Subject isolation is very proficient, and the algorithms do an excellent job of blurring areas both behind and in front of the subject, just as a real camera would.

Portrait samples

The processing works just as well on non-human subjects letting you isolate and bring the viewer's attention to just the thing you want in the frame.

Portrait samples, non-human subjects

Mind you, the Pixel 4 has two main zoom levels it can take portraits in. The 1x gives you a moderately zoomed-in the image compared to the main cam's usual perspective, same as the Pixel 3 did, while the 1.3x matches the FoV of the telephoto cam but still uses the main module. Either mode outputs 12MP shots as if there's no trickery going on. The 1.3x magnification mode has a particularly upscaled look to it, though still reasonably detailed. The 1x shots are better in per-pixel detail. Aside from keeping a comfortable distance away from your subject, we're not seeing the point behind this 1.3x mode.

8MP Selfie camera

Google's been doing a weird back and forth with its selfie cams and after fitting a couple on last year's Pixels, it's back down to one on the Pixel 4. Only now, there's a ToF module too to help with depth mapping. The actual camera is an 8MP unit with an f/2.0 aperture lens that sadly doesn't have autofocus - another step back from the AF-ing primary selfie cam of yesteryear.

The PIxel 4 may only have a single cam on the front, but it offers a wider than most field of view - the 90 degrees correspond to about a 22mm equivalent, placing it in between last year's 28mm and 19mm snappers. It's marginally wider than the iPhone 11's 23mm unit and more noticeably so than the 26mm module of the current Galaxies.

Selfies have nice colors and wide dynamic range. Detail is good too, but it's just that we've been spoiled by higher pixel-count selfies and these are merely okay.

Selfie samples

That's about what we can say of the Pixel 4's selfie portraits. They do come in with a slight crop, like the ones from the main cam, but google has somehow managed to mess up the processing/depth mapping and we often got imperfections along the border between subject and background.

Selfie portrait samples

Video

Admittedly, not many of us around here record video at 4K in 60fps, so the fact that the Pixel 4 is missing that mode isn't hurting us, personally. That said, if every other high-end phone can do 4K60, the Pixel 4 should as well. The phone does have the rest of the important modes covered - 4K at 30fps and 1080p at both 30 and 60fps, and it does so with both cameras. Electronic video stabilization is available across the board too.

Video quality out of the main cam in 4K is quite good. The Pixel 4 captures a lot of detail, though there's also a fair bit of noise in the footage. We are noticing some excessive sharpening halos around high-contrast details - it's not a very natural look. Colors are on point, however. 1080p footage has essentially the same properties, be it in 30fps or 60fps, with perhaps a touch less noise in 30fps.

The telephoto camera's 4K footage is slightly softer, like its photos, and is also a little warmer and more saturated than what you'd get out of the main module. The processing is quite different too, and... we're inclined to like the telephoto's laid back approach to sharpening better. 1080p is okay too, the 60fps mode noticeably softer and less detailed than 30fps.

What the Pixel 4 excels at is stabilization. There's no discernible difference in its greatness regardless of mode when you're shooting with the main cam - it'll iron out walking induced shake, and it starts and stops just right when you're panning. Meanwhile, the telephoto will stay planted in the direction you're pointing it at, though it does have slightly weird behavior at the beginning and end of a pan.

Here's a glimpse of how Google Pixel 4 compares to rivals in our Video compare tool. Head over there for the complete picture.

Google Pixel 4 against the Galaxy S10 and the iPhone 11 in our Video compare tool