Google Pixel 3 & Pixel 3XL Announced With Better Photo Features & Bigger Screen But No Dual Rear Camera

Google has announced the Pixel 3 and PIxel 3 XL and with the new smartphone releases come a whole host of new camera features, dual front-facing cameras but just a single lens on the rear. 

Up first is a feature called 'Top Shot' that uses AI to help you capture a better photo. When you take a motion photo, it captures alternate shots in HDR+, then recommends the best one - even if it’s not exactly when you hit the shutter. As a result, you're more likely to capture an image when everyone is smiling, their eyes are open etc. 

Group Selfie, as the name suggests, makes it easier to capture group shots you also want to be in while Photo Booth mode uses AI to recognise when you're smiling or pulling a funny expression so the phone snaps the shot without you having to press the shutter button. 

As you'd expect from a Pixel smartphone, when you take photos in Portrait Mode, you can change the blurriness of the background, or change the part of the picture in focus, after the fact. Google Photos can also make the subject of your photo pop by leaving them in colour, while changing the background to black and white.

Other interesting camera features include Night Sight for better low light photos and Super Res Zoom which Google says will produce better images when you're using the full length of the built-in zoom (we'll find out when we put the new smartphone to the test). Motion Auto Focus helps keep subjects sharp and if you enjoy capturing selfie videos, you no longer have to worry about shake as the front-facing camera has video stabilisation. 

For those who like to have a bit of fun with their photography, stickers and captions can be added to shots. 

As for the actual camera specs, the rear 12.2MP dual-pixel lens has an f/1.8 aperture, optical/electronic IS and a field of view of 76-degrees. Surprisingly, Google is still bucking the dual, or indeed, triple rear camera trend it seems but weirdly, the front camera has an 8MP f/2.2 wide-angle and f/1.8 telephoto lens with a field of view of 107-degrees and 75-degrees, respectively, so you can get more people in your group selfies. Both the front and rear camera capture 1080p and 720p video but the rear camera offers more frame rates and also shoots in 4K. The front facing camera does have a 480p options, though. 

The 2915mAH battery can give you 7 hours of use from just a 15-minute charge and the AI-powered Adaptive Battery function built into the Pixel 3 prioritises battery power for your most important apps to make your phone last longer, too.

Inside the aluminium frame (with a hybrid coating) you'll find the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor and 4GB of RAM. 

Pixel 3 is IP68 water- and dust-resistant and runs Android 9 Pie as well as Google Assistant.

Size-wise, the XL has a 6.3" screen and measures 158mmx76.7mm and the smaller PIxel 3 has a 5.5" display and measures 145.6x68.2mm.

Both the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL will be available in the UK from November with prices starting at £739 for the PIxel 3 and going up to £869 for the XL version. 

The Google PIxel 2 impressed us with its photo-taking capabilities so we're looking forward to putting the Google PIxel 3 through its paces.