Review: Google Pixel 6
A new dawn has arrived for Google’s own-brand Pixel phones and with the 2021 models receiving a design and hardware overhaul, they aim to be the firm’s most exciting flagships to date.
The regular Pixel 6 on test here is on sale now and starts at a more than reasonable £599, arriving with new cameras, Android 12 and Google’s own Tensor processor. There’s a lot of good stuff that’s gone into this phone, but the design is more divisive than any other Pixel and may well result in many fans going elsewhere.
DESIGN
Gone, it seems, are the days of the standard Pixel being one of the most compact and easy-to-handle phones on the market. There’s no two ways about it, the Pixel 6 is chunky and this is despite being the smaller option.
I should probably address the elephant in the room first, meaning that there Camera Bar – a camera bump so large it warranted its own name, although I’m not sure Google drawing attention to it like this is the best strategy.
Personally, I don’t mind the look of it, and the fact it goes across the entire width of the phone does at least avoid the wobbly table effect when on a flat surface. Still, the thing is huge and not even the official case can smooth it out.
Even without the Camera Bar, the Pixel 6 is 8.9mm thick, although it feels like more despite the rounded frame. Worse is the weight of 207g, a whopping 56g more than the Pixel 5, so this phone feels like a brick and the camera bump makes it somewhat top‑heavy and unbalanced.
If you don’t mind a phone on the hefty side, then the Pixel 6 does at least feel premium despite its mid-range price. There’s Gorilla Glass Victus on the front and Gorilla Glass 6 on the back, sandwiching an aluminium
