How does the Google Pixel XL stack up against the Apple iPhone 7 Plus on three main metrics? Read on.
Note that this is not a comprehensive review of all the features on both phones. I will do a comprehensive long-term review later. And for the record (iPhone fans please note), I think both phones are excellent and are two of the best smartphones on the planet.
Intelligent Personal Assistant: Google Personal Assistant vs. Siri: The Google Pixel is the first Android phone to use Google Assistant. But Siri continues to get better too. Overall, I found the Pixel XL better at answering the kinds of questions I ask. For example, when I asked what a popular aria in the opera Carmen is, Google provided a concise, informative answer (about Habanera). Siri simply generated a bunch of search results. And when I asked what the pure electric "battery range" of the Chevrolet Volt is, Google provided the pertinent data, while Siri generated only links about the Volt. And Google Assistant was better at answering questions about differences between competing technologies (e.g., OLED vs. LCD).
And Google Assistant is the hands-down winner on contextual questions, which means you can ask follow-up questions ("Who is the prime minister of Israel? And how old is he? And who is his wife?").
That said, Google Assistant and Siri were often tied on relatively straightforward questions (weather, stock quotes etc.). And both provided the same responses to questions like, "How much rain has Los Angeles had in 2016?"
Winner: Pixel XL.
UX (user experience): Admittedly, this is a bit murky but it's one of the reasons I still favor the iPhone. The iPhone and iOS make for a stable/tight platform with all the apps you would ever need. The problem is, these days you could say almost the same thing about the Google Pixel and Android. The Pixel XL, in fact, is eerily like iOS for the core experience with a core set of apps.
But here's what tips the balance in favor of the iPhone for me: that stability, tightness, and depth of apps extends to ancillary devices like the Apple Watch. (That said, I think I'm one of a very small minority of reviewers who believes the Apple Watch is indispensable, i.e., I wear it all of the time.) So, the iPhone 7 Plus combined with the Apple Watch 2 is a keeper, i.e., it makes it very hard to separate myself from the iPhone/iOS for a long period of time. And it's what keeps me a loyal iPhone user.
Winner: iPhone 7 Plus.
Camera: I've been taking lots of photos with both phones over the past few weeks and it's not an easy call. But I've also had input from a long-time amateur photographer, whose advise I'm leaning (heavily) on.
The preponderance of professional reviews I've read favor the Google Pixel. (Digital Photography Review cites the Pixel XL's excellent HDR+ mode, the image detail, and fast/accurate AF, among other things.) And the photographer I've been consulting with has said more or less the same thing in blind tests (see below for the additional photos I took). That said, I would be perfectly happy with either camera (speaking strictly for myself).
Winner: Pixel XL. Contrary to my initial impressions of the two cameras (I initially favored the iPhone 7 Plus), I'm now going to give it to the Pixel XL with the asterisk that, one, it lacks the dual lens and optical zoom of the iPhone 7 Plus and, two, many photos were a toss-up.
