Pixel 4 XL: our verdict after a month

The latest high-end smartphone from Google was not spared by critics when it was released, despite real innovations. Although some criticisms are justified, our extended test allowed us to discover the many qualities of the Pixel 4 XL that we must not bury too quickly.

Each launch of a flagship smartphone gives rise to a wave of test reports that play side by side in our news feeds to deliver their verdict as soon and as quickly as possible. Thus, the commercial destiny of a mobile is often sealed during the first 24 hours of its release, a bit like that of a film in the cinema. 

If we often say that the first impression is always the right one, judging the qualities of a smartphone after having tested it only a few days, or even a few hours for some, runs the risk of hasty and incomplete conclusions. This is the impression we had regarding the Pixel4.

On both sides of the Atlantic, a lot of critics were quick to take down the latest mobile from Google for its design deemed to be tasteless and its disappointing autonomy . It is hardly for some if the excellence of the camera and the facial recognition system of unprecedented efficiency on Android mobiles have found favor with their eyes .

This is why we preferred to spend more time testing the new Pixel, in this case a Pixel 4 XL, before delivering our verdict. This smartphone is not free from reproaches, but it is certainly not the failure that some see in it. 

And what we can say at the outset is that after more than a month of using it daily to phone, surf, play, chat, watch streaming videos and especially to take great photos, we don’t particularly want to part with it. Futura having already presented you with the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL when they were released, we will focus here on the criticisms that have been made of it and the qualities that we find in it.