Google Pixel 6 review: exceptional value for money

Let’s start by noting that this Pixel 6 does not come with its charging block which is rather annoying, because if you do not have a 30 W charger, you will have to buy one to get the full potential of the device, but we will come back to this later. On the other hand, there are USB-C headphones since the device does not have a jack. This will probably be the last time that a hands-free kit will be present since it is no longer mandatory in France. IP68 certified, the Pixel 6 is a bit heavy and bulky compared to the Pixel 5 and Pixel 4a. Has Google decided to do away with compact smartphones?

A design that will not please everyone

On the design side, there are good and bad. If we like the photo island on the back which takes up the entire width (which prevents the device from being “wobbly” placed on a table), the front face is less worked with not very discreet borders. We are entitled to Gorilla Glass 6 protection on the back with the fingerprints that go with it and the latest Gorilla Victus on the front. The handy Pixel 5 fingerprint reader on the back is found on the front behind the screen. The latter is not the most reactive that we have known, but we can improve it by recording twice each finger that we want to use.

The device, which is eSIM compatible, does not offer a physical slot for a second nano-SIM: annoying if you have to travel to a country that does not offer an eSIM plan. There is also no microSD slot which can be annoying since in France, there is no model with 256 GB of storage. You will have to settle for 128 GB: this is a parameter to be taken into account for videographers.
With its 649 €, the device finds itself in front of the very good Xiaomi 11T Pro and Asus Zenfone 8 for example.

An A- screen and a V12 under the hood

The screen is not the strong point of the beast even if we are at the top of the basket. While the Pixel 6 Pro offers a 6.7-inch (17 cm) curved panel, this Pixel 6 features a 6.4-inch (16.2 cm) 2400 x 1080 pixel OLED flat screen with adaptive 90 Hz refresh. The surface is not very sensitive, but this can be remedied in the options. The adaptive brightness is also finicky, but we hope that a patch will correct the problem. It is possible to choose its colorimetry from three complete presets (Natural, Enhanced, or Adaptive), even if we would have preferred to have a few more variations or a choice “by hand”. In the long run this screen is still very pleasant even if it does not compete with that of the Xiaomi 11T Pro, the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra or the OnePlus 9 Pro.

On the performance side, Google has dropped Qualcomm and its Snapdragon chips to design its own SoC: the Google Tensor. Very powerful, the latter is cut out for AI and machine learning with 2 Cortex-X1 cores that dislocate instead of just one in the Snapdragon 888. In the end, the Google Pixel 6 is one of the most powerful smartphones of the moment. . If it doesn’t really show in AnTuTu, SoC score under 3DMark is 2028 against 1793 and 1494 for the Exynos 2100 and the Snapdragon 888.

The other side of the coin is that the device heats up a little when it is very busy. It’s not disturbing either, but it does have an impact on the battery…

Photo: the return of the king!

Google Pixel devices have carved a reputation for themselves in the field of photography and this 6th iteration is no exception to the rule. The main lens is a nice 50 megapixel with an f/1.85 aperture. By day, the shots are beautiful with many details. Google has chosen a natural rendering that contrasts with Samsung or Xiaomi devices. It’s excellent, even when the light is scarce. Without flash indoors with difficult subjects (like, randomly, children), the Google Photo application even manages to take several burst shots to choose afterwards a better photo than the one chosen by the AI. . This is also the case on older Pixels, but it’s a golden feature.

Night shots are excellent. The atmosphere is very well rendered with very limited digital noise. The artificial light experiences some unsightly artifacts from time to time, but it’s very high level. Sometimes it’s even too good. Explanation: we happened to take photos at dawn which did not really reflect the atmosphere of the moment, but which on the contrary displayed a “daylight” rendering. Not bad in absolute terms and almost magical… The Pixel 6 does not include an optical zoom like its big brother the Pixel 6 Pro: you will have to settle for a digital zoom x2. On the other hand, the second lens is a 12 MP ultra-wide-angle (f/2.2 aperture and 114° viewing angle).

In good light conditions, this module does the job well with controlled distortion and correct sharpness at the periphery. The sharpness isn’t bad either, but what’s surprising is the quality at night. When other devices collapse, the Pixel 6 still offers very good shots with little noise and decent sharpness provided you have a light source in the field.

For selfies, the Pixel 6 has an 8 MP f/2 front sensor with optional x1.4 or x1.2 zoom in portrait mode. No surprise, it works very well even in difficult light conditions.

As far as video is concerned, the Pixel 6 (logically) ignores 8K to offer a very good 4K 60 fps mode with optical stabilization. This stabilization is adjustable since it is possible to set it according to what you want to do: pan, large movements or zoom. Note that the ultra wide-angle mode also has a stabilization mode. The Accelerated (up to x120) and Slow motion modes are at the top, as is the audio zoom which allows you to emphasize the voice of a subject when you zoom in on it while reducing surrounding noise.

The photo part wouldn’t be complete if we didn’t talk about the capabilities of the Google app. In addition to the classic Panorama and Photo Sphere modes, the app offers a Motion mode with a long exposure (Bulb) which allows you to take a fixed decor with movement such as lines of light from car headlights for example. With a little practice, we manage to have a very nice result. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the Panoramic mode with movement which offers to focus on a moving subject with a blurred background to give a speed effect. It is very difficult to have a convincing result, but it remains a nice option.

But the mode that made people talk about it is the Magic Eraser. This is more of a function of the Photo app but it is inseparable from the Google Pixel (like the Hidden Folder function).

The latter allows you to erase unwanted elements from a photo such as passers-by, a parked car, a trash can, your mother-in-law… So it works very well for a publication on a social network, but it is better not to look at too close, because you can sometimes see blocks of pixels. To hide an element, it passes and it is once again almost magical. We let you be the judge…

Average battery life and slow charging

The Pixel 6 has a 4600 mAh battery that holds a charge well, but watch your gauge when the SoC Tensor wakes up! In video capture, in game or when a greedy application is used, the two Cortex-X1 clocked at 2.98 GHz will pump well on the battery. Not easy in this case to give you a topo on autonomy. If you are used to using your smartphone for multimedia, you will find it a bit short. Be careful, it will last a long day, even by abusing the photo mode or Netflix. On the other hand, the charge is long. Compatible with 30W chargers, we took 1h40 to go from 4% to 100% with a 25W charger. The Pixel 6 is light years away from the Xiaomi 11T Pro. Please note that it refuses to charge on older 5W chargers or USB ports in some cars.

An Android 12 that struggles to convince…

Let’s take a quick look at Android 12. If Google promises 5 years of maintenance for security patches and 3 years of system updates (which is not the case with the obsolete Pixel 3), the experience user is not free from faults: derailed light sensor, capricious USB and Bluetooth connection, multitasking which has trouble working, the Pixel 6 accumulates small problems almost 4 months after its release and despite updates. We have also made a small article that lists the various bugs encountered. Not enough to cross out the immense qualities of the smartphone, but enough to make you think at the time of a possible purchase. Ha yes and if the irremovable search bar on the home screen annoys you, we have made a video to show you a solution that is 100% working.

Our Verdict:

The Pixel 6 is one of the best “photophones” on the market and one of the most powerful for a very attractive price. This is not enough to make it a perfect smartphone since its charging is not very fast and the user experience is handicapped by a few small bugs (pending a fix?). The screen is not bad without being a strong point and the look of the device will not please everyone, but when you look at all the parameters, it is one of the best quality / price ratios of the moment without any doubt.

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