Google Pixel review: Bland, pricey, but still the best Android phone

Google’s getting into the hardware game (again) with the pricey Pixel and Pixel XL. But has it done enough to tempt people to switch to Android? (video link)

Welcome to the age of Google Hardware. Apparently tired of letting third-party Android OEMs serve as the stewards of Android handsets, Google has become a hardware company. (Again).

Earlier this year Google, launched a hardware division with former Motorola President Rick Osterloh at the helm. With the high-ranking title of “Senior Vice President,” Osterloh doesn’t oversee a side project—his group is on even footing with Android, Search, YouTube, and Ads. The hardware group is so powerful inside Google that it was able to merge Nexus, Pixel, Chromecast, OnHub, ATAP, and Glass into a single business unit. The group’s coming out party was October 4, 2016, where it announced Google Home, Google Wifi, a 4K Chromecast, the Daydream VR headset, and the pair of phones we’re looking at today: the Google Pixel and Google Pixel XL.

The arrival of the Pixel phones marks the apparent death of the Nexus line; Google says that it has “no plans” for future Nexus devices. With the new branding comes a change in strategy, too. The Pixel brand is about making devices that are 100 percent Google, so despite Google’s position as the developer of Android, get ready for Google-designed hardware combined with exclusive Google software.

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Source: Ars Technica – Google Pixel review: Bland, pricey, but still the best Android phone