Google Pixel 6 review

17 November 2021


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It's interesting to know that this year's Pixel's digital zoom is really just a digital zoom and doesn't offer any resolution advantage over the regular 1x shot unlike in previous generations. Judging from the way it renders the hope patterns on the balcony and hotel shots compared to other phones with higher resolution sensors (such as Xperia XZ3), I'm guessing that these images have a roughly 17-19MP resolution. So the regular shots look incredibly crisp and intricate textures such as grass are rendered very nicely, but zooming in before taking picture will straight up give you a clearly-upscaled-looking image that looks a hair better than a simple crop of a 1x shot (thanks to Raisr).

Again, noise reduction algorithms continue to pose a problem for the Pixel 6 series and so far they are the biggest gripe people seem to have about its camera performance. Darker colours and shadows regions tend to have a weird "painted" look and in many cases details don't even look that much better than on Pixel 5 despite having substantially superior hardware. It's quite disappointing, as it's so goddamn clear that this should be quite easily fixable through software updates.

    bad everywhere, not worth for that price ($600).

      • j
      • jsdeveloper1024
      • Dky
      • 19 Nov 2021

      Anonymous, 18 Nov 2021please gsmarena. add battery test without high refresh r... moreThey actually did for the web browsing test. It is mentioned below the battery comparison section - just above the Charging speed section.
      The Pixel 6 clocked 14:23h at 60Hz, and 12:37h at 90Hz.
      14 and a half hours of Wi-Fi web browsing is quite good!

        Haplo, 18 Nov 2021I disagree. I mean its cool that Pixel 6 is cheaper. But ev... moreAlso, DO NOT get Oneplus 9 Pro. It will probably even get Marques' bust of the year. The battery life being awful, cameras not even that good (off color tuning especially since we had hasselblad expectations). You'd be better off getting the Oneplus 8 Pro, which is way better value.

          Haplo, 18 Nov 2021I disagree. I mean its cool that Pixel 6 is cheaper. But ev... moreNope. At the same price, S21 has equivalent or even better features than Pixel 6. Ok So, S21 has 120Hz and Snapdragon 888 compared to 90Hz and 870 performance. Battery life and charging speed is surprisingly comparable in both in reality, despite the specs. Even the design on S21 (subjective, but) is less polarising with small bezels and rounded corners. Really the only thing you could say is the Pixel's camera is better, and to that, I say S21 is not falling behind very far. In the camera comparison, I actually preferred most of the photos from S21.

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            • Shiny Dave
            • mpm
            • 19 Nov 2021

            RandyRiffin, 19 Nov 2021Wdym, A52s has better camera bump than all other Samsung ph... moreThe lenses show up as a bunch of holes, which some people can find genuinely distressing.

            S20 FE puts them all hidden in a dark glass block, ditto the Pixel 6.

              Amin, 18 Nov 202113 pro camera looks so bad now compared to the pixel 6. Con... moreNope. iPhone 13 Pro camera is not worse than Pixel 6. Even iPhone 13 was almost the same as the Pixel 6. And 13 Pro also has a telephoto.

                Anonymous, 18 Nov 2021please gsmarena. add battery test without high refresh r... moreThey said battery life with 60Hz is better at 14:23, but the thing is if every phone ran browsing test at 60Hz, then Poco F3 and Nord CE would be 18 hrs.

                  gorpalm, 18 Nov 2021Delightful phone to own and use. Swapped from a S20fe 5g an... moreHow's the app multitasking? Is it faster than Samsung UI? Also is the fingerprint sensor fast? What about the glass back?

                    Shiny Dave, 18 Nov 2021Indeed, and there are some carrier deals that come in legit... moreWdym, A52s has better camera bump than all other Samsung phones. Just see, it blends into the rest of the back, you don't see that with the S20 FE or S21.

                      GrahamD, 18 Nov 2021Just another boring phone with average battery life.Well... there are PLENTY of phones with outstanding battery life, GSMArena even has a whole page for them. Do check it out.

                        • ?
                        • Anonymous
                        • gBV
                        • 18 Nov 2021

                        Anonymous, 18 Nov 2021I have the 6 Pro and luminance noise reduction as well as c... moreI want to add that Apple's daylight noise reduction is terrible, too. So, the iPhone camera is not the benchmark.

                          • ?
                          • Anonymous
                          • gBV
                          • 18 Nov 2021

                          I have the 6 Pro and luminance noise reduction as well as color noise reduction are occasionally extremely aggressive and can produce worse looking results than previous Google phones. Sometimes, the issue is even present in the raw file, but in most cases the raw files help and the raw files really show how unnecessary the jpg noise reduction is. It's very strange because previous Google phones like the Nexus 5x could take great daylight photos without aggressive noise reduction, that's not always the case with the 6 Pro.

                            Precisely. GSMA had been too kind towards Apple. Pixel 6 photos destroy the iPhone 13 photos hands down. Actually the iPhone 12 or 13 photos are identical and they don't compete with other flagships either.

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                              • Amin
                              • uvg
                              • 18 Nov 2021

                              13 pro camera looks so bad now compared to the pixel 6. Condolences to those who paid over $1000 only to get beaten by a $599 device.

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                                • Warner
                                • uvg
                                • 18 Nov 2021

                                Over 20 hours of local video playback is amazing ! Better than iphone and galaxy ! The other call time and browsing time depends on many things.

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                                  • Mir
                                  • ki$
                                  • 18 Nov 2021

                                  Well .. I call it poor battery life.

                                    • ?
                                    • Anonymous
                                    • LES
                                    • 18 Nov 2021

                                    please gsmarena.

                                    add battery test without high refresh rate enabled..

                                    i turn it off.

                                      So the Pixel 6 Pro, despite having an LTPO screen and a much larger battery, has a lower battery endurance rating than the Pixel 6? It seems like I'm in no hurry to get into the high refresh rate bandwagon other than mobile gaming.

                                        Delightful phone to own and use. Swapped from a S20fe 5g and you notice the relative heft of this one. Not missing the zoom - 2x digital zoom is enough, or I walk closer lol. Living in UK so 5g coverage is terribly patchy - even in central London. Instead switch Off 5g and apparently it saves battery - Even w it on, if I'm really spanking the phone all day there's still 25-30% juice in it - If it's been a lighter day (just social media and a couple of phone calls) it'll finish on 45-50% at bedtime.

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