Google Pixel

The Google Pixel XL versus the iPhone 7 Plus.

Price: $769 each

Speed:

The iPhone is twice as fast in single core mode, and about 50% faster in multi-core mode.

pixel XL – Geekbench Search – Geekbench Browser

iphone 7 Plus – Geekbench Search – Geekbench Browser

Display:

The iPhone 7’s display was rated virtually indistinguishable from perfect color representation by DisplayMate. The Pixel hasn’t been rated yet but it does not have software support for the DCI-P3 Wide Color gamut (which is what makes expensive TV screens great), so its not likely to be comparable. Plus HTC which made this phone isn’t known for making the best displays.

Camera:

The Pixel has a higher DXOMark rating than the iPhone 7, but DXOMark has not rated the iPhone 7 Plus yet. But despite the high marks given to the Pixel DXOMark noted that it, “didn’t perform as well as some of the other flagship phones, as it lost details in the shadows”. So take that rating with an appropriate dosage of sodium chloride. The Pixel has no Optical Image Stabilization – so you are unlikely to get great pics as easily as you would with an iPhone 7 Plus. The Pixel has no telephoto lens, no dual cameras and no Portrait mode which he 7 Plus has.

Sound:

The Google pixel has a headphone jack (unlike the actual first Google phone – the Tmobile G1 in 2008). The iPhone 7 Plus comes with an adapter to use your headphone jack. But the iPhone has stereo speakers built into the phone, which the Pixel does not. The iPhone has support for the W1 chip-based headphones like the upcoming AirPods and select Beats models. These headphones are a generation ahead of anything else in the market – they are far easier to pair and transfer from one device to another, they can sense when they are removed from your ear and stop playing automatically, offer touch controls to call Siri etc

New generation features:

The iPhone 7 Plus has haptic feedback that will be the basis for a new way to interact with your phone via touch and nudges over the entire body of the phone. It may or may not turn out to be great, but the Pixel does not have a haptic engine. 3D Touch is another feature which iPhone users love and that is seeing wider support with iOS 10 – the Google Pixel does not have this.

Continuity and support:

Google has abandoned many phones which were predecessors of the Pixel including the G1, the Droid, the Motos (which they sold), and the Nexus line – all phone brands and models that they heavily invested time, money and marketing power behind. Analysts expect they will sell 3–4 million of these phones in 2016 (versus 70–100 million iPhone 7s). So the iPhone 7 has a much wider community to support you – from actual other users you know, to user forums to developers to Apple support centers.