Pixel 11 Hands-On: AI Fails to Deliver, Price Hikes Keep Coming
To be honest, as a long-time user who got started with Google phones since the Pixel 2, I'm finding the company more and more incomprehensible.
Less than 10 hours before the Made by Google event kicks off, Google surprisingly lifted the embargo on all hands-on previews of its new products, exposing every single detail of the entire Pixel 11 series.
Image | YouTube @MKBHD
More importantly, this move by Google also fully laid bare the pricing of the Pixel 11 series — unfortunately, authoritative media outlets don't seem to be buying it.
Too Long; Didn't Read (TL;DR)
Consistent with previous leaks, the Pixel 11 series still has four familiar models: Pixel 11, Pixel 11 Pro, Pixel 11 Pro XL and Pixel 11 Pro Fold.
Image | Tom's Guide
Perhaps finally catching up with Apple's design choices from last year, Google has abandoned the long-standing 128GB base storage tradition, and the entire Pixel 11 series now starts at 256GB.
The base model Pixel 11 comes in four color options: Frost, Hibiscus, Pistachio and Obsidian.
Image | YouTube @9to5Google
Apart from the eye-catching color options, the Pixel 11 only offers two storage configurations: 12+256 and 12+512, with the 12+256GB base model priced at 899 USD (roughly 6050 CNY).
The Pixel 11 Pro and Pro XL are available in four colorways: Canyon, Olive, Fog and Obsidian.
The body continues the design of frosted glass back cover + polished metal midframe:
Image | YouTube @9to5Google
The two models have adjusted their specifications, offering three combinations: 12+256, 16+512 and 16+1TB.
The starting prices of Pixel 11 Pro and Pro XL are 1099 USD and 1299 USD respectively (roughly 7400 CNY and 8700 CNY).
The large foldable Pixel 11 Pro Fold only has two color options just like previous generations: Olive and Obsidian, with 16GB RAM as standard, but its starting price has also reached 1899 USD (roughly 12800 CNY):
Image | YouTube @MKBHD
There is also the Pixel Watch 5 equipped with the brand new Qualcomm W5 Gen2 processor, with starting prices of 399 USD and 429 USD for the two different case sizes respectively:
Image | Gizmodo
There is also Google's first-party tracker Google Tag, which finally joins the FindHub network, priced at 29 USD for a single unit and 99 USD for a 4-pack set:
Image | Android Authority
It is what it is
Unsurprisingly, when facing this year's price tags, even Marques Brownlee, who has reviewed thousands of phones, could barely hold back, and repeatedly mentioned one sentence in his hands-on video:
Forget it, it is what it is.
This disappointment of course refers to the fact that the Pixel 11 series is nominally a new generation upgrade, but none of its specifications, user experience and flagship features have any outstanding improvements that can widen the gap compared with the 10 series or even the 9 series.
Image | YouTube @MKBHD
In other words, the Pixel 11 series is just a half-generation upgrade compared to the Pixel 10 series, but its average starting price has risen by more than 100 USD.
This sentiment is shared by many media outlets that participated in the pre-launch hands-on event.
Damien Wilde from 9to5Google also commented in his hands-on video:
Without trade-in discounts, the Pixel 11 is very hard to recommend at launch.
This is because even though the base storage has been upgraded to 256GB, the starting price of the base model Pixel 11 has also directly increased by 100 USD, while other hardware improvements are barely noticeable.
Image | YouTube @9to5Google
What's worse, do you remember the much-discussed "breathing light renaissance" Pixel Glow before the launch event? This feature does exist, and its official name is HiLight:
Image | YouTube @MKBHD
However, for this most anticipated new feature, which could have become a highly customizable fun feature on par with the Action Button, Google only implemented two functions for it —
Showing Gemini conversation status, and indicating incoming calls.
Image | YouTube @MKBHD
Yes, that's all. It's not even a full notification indicator light.
Although HiLight supports a full color spectrum in hardware, Google has not added any custom color selection function at all: the Gemini conversation indicator uses a fixed blue-white gradient, and the incoming call notification only has very few preset colors:
Image | Android Authority
No wonder Marques Brownlee was almost amused to exasperation when describing this part.
And this half-broken status indicator light is even exclusive to the Pro series. The position that looks similar on the standard Pixel 11 is just a normal flash —
It's obvious that Google really has no more new tricks up its sleeve.
Image | Android Authority
Of course it's not entirely true that the Pixel 11 series has no improvements at all, Google has made some progress in some basic hardware aspects.
For example, the base model Pixel 11 is equipped with a new 48-megapixel main camera sensor, the wireless charging speed has been upgraded to 25W, and the camera bump has been significantly reduced:
Image | YouTube @9to5Google
The Pixel 11 Pro and Pro XL are equipped with the new Super Actua display, with a full-screen HDR peak brightness of 2400 nits, and the 5% small window peak brightness can reach up to 3600 nits.
As for the most expensive Pixel 11 Pro Fold, its perceptible improvements are the least obvious —
Apart from a 1mm reduction in thickness and a glass fiber back panel, its main selling points are still the HiLight light, and the world's only foldable phone with IP6X dust resistance rating.
Image | CNET
Unfortunately, the crease performance of the Pixel 11 Pro Fold has not been improved at all.
While Samsung has started to greatly reduce the crease of its foldable phones, the Pixel 11 Pro Fold has suddenly fallen to the bottom of the pack, making its starting price of nearly 1900 USD extremely hard to justify.
But on the bright side, the Pixel 11 series is still the only mainstream phone that supports built-in Qi2.2 magnetic attraction, so magnetic charging works without a case.
Image | YouTube @MKBHD
Can Gemini Intelligence save the day?
Compared with the disappointing hardware, the Gemini Intelligence features of the Pixel 11 series have received relatively positive reviews from foreign media during hands-on tests.
