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We have the Google Pixel XL in the house. While it isn't exactly our normal fare around Chrome Unboxed, this device bears the Pixel name and is seemingly right in the midst of everything Google is up to right now.
For those reasons, we decided to get our hands on it, unbox and review it.
Don't worry, Chrome Unboxed is and will always remain a Chrome OS channel. We aren't reviewing any other Android devices any time soon.
But with this one, we couldn't help ourselves!
As always, you can keep up with us over at chromeunboxed.com.
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[Music]
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hey folks Robby pay with chrome unbox
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coming at you today with something a
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little bit different an unboxing of the
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Google pixel XL now we know it's not a
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Chromebook it's not a Chromebase or
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Chrome OS device of any sort but it does
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bear the pixel name and it seems to be
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at the center of all the things that
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Google is doing from a hardware and
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software standpoint so we wanted to get
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our hands on it unbox it and review it
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give you our opinions of it so if you're
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considering buying this device you can
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make an informed decision all right so
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first off the packaging is very nice
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it's very well done granted the Nexus 6
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um was also a a very well packaged and
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the Nexus 6p as well we're both very
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well packaged so um this is not a
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surprise but it is very clean very nice
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we see on the outside Google Assistant
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uh Google Cast ad dream VR the Google
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assistant is built in out of the box and
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it's the only device right right now
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that has that feature um and it's the
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only Daydream ready uh VR phone at this
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point in time as well nothing across the
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back here just the g g here and pixel
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phone by
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Google so we're going to slide this open
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full
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disclosure I have at least taken a
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little bit of a look uh at the device
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already I wanted to kind of be ready for
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this unboxing um I haven't unboxed a
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phone on camera before I've had a lot of
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cell phones and I've unboxed tons of
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Chromebooks and Chromebook uh OS devices
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but I've never unboxed uh a cell phone
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so I wanted to have a little bit of a
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heads up here but packaged it right back
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up the way it comes so that you can kind
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of see it is wrapped in plastic here but
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we're going to set him off to the side
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for just
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now see what comes in here some get
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started SIM
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tray
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um meet your assistant more music so
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there's probably some free music deals
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uh than just a card that says thanks
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so we get quite a few cables here we get
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the USB C to usba a so that would be for
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data transfer that kind of thing on your
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device uh if you want to plug it into a
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Chromebook or Windows machine or Mac uh
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interestingly enough Google is clearly
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going at uh converted users and so you
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can actually hook this guy into here and
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go USBC to USBC uh to move stuff from an
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older device
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um so that's kind of neat and they
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provide
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upon boot up there's actually a a guide
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that steps you through all that kind of
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stuff and over in this compartment here
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this block is about the same size as the
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one the 6p came with um nothing really
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that interesting going on it's USBC and
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this is a ctoc cable nice and long as
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well which is good um interestingly
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enough they claim that you can I haven't
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tested this yet you can you can charge
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you get 7 hours worth of charge in 15
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minutes so that's the type of Quick
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Charge we're dealing
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with set this
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aside and here we have it guys going to
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get you up close and personal
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here uh it feels really good uh first
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blush the the slightly chamfered edges
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here uh make it very uh non-slippery
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which is kind of nice you guys have seen
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a lot of this stuff and and other
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reviews and leaked photos and all that
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kind of stuff beforehand but we have the
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glass top here fingerprint sensor uh
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12.3 megapixel shooter here laser
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autofocus uh no camera hump which is
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nice um and I saw around the internet
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quite a bit there was a slight wedging
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um to the device that allowed for a zero
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camera hump but and I know it's there
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it's really hard to perceive in person
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so if that was something that you
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thought uh might be bothersome don't be
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don't be bothered by it at all you can't
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barely tell it's actually there uh you
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got your usual uh array of sensors
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across the front you have a single
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speaker across the bottom that's go
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around so no front-facing speakers we'll
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talk about that in just a second you do
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have a headphone jack which is awesome
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it's crazy to think that that's a
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feature um and then a power and volume
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so nothing really out of the ordinary
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from a port standpoint Point USBC here
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this is actually a microphone Jack here
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so when you play audio you'll just hear
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uh music out of that speaker so we got
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it all booted up I will say this device
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boots faster than most Android phones
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I've ever used um 10 15 seconds
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something like that which is really
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quick and I want to show you how
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quickly I try to hold it to where you
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can kind of see where my finger is how
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quickly the fingerprint sensor works as
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well so touch and
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on one more time touch on so it's almost
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instant uh which is good cuz the the
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basic crop of uh Android I phones out
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right now all can do that pretty
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instantaneously so it's nice to see uh
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the pixel uh hold hold its own there
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pixel launcher leaked out a little while
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ago so you guys are familiar with that
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probably as well but instead of there
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being a button to actually launch apps
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um you just swipe up from the tray
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anywhere and you get right to that which
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is kind of cool uh it gives you an extra
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spot down here to drop another app and
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or folder we have Google Now over here
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just like we did before you have your
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search right there as you did before
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it's just not a bar anymore it's
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replaced by the date uh but other than
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that really I mean we're we're seeing a
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pretty similar um launcher setup your
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notifications just like they were in 7.0
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are pretty similar you get a couple
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different light flourishes so on your
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brightness um there's some color um
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that's a little bit different from stock
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Android but other than that we're
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looking at the same stuff here um
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settings menu all the same now you do
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have a support over here where you can
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do uh 247 support I will do this for the
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review at some point
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um and I'll I'll attempt to do uh chat
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and I'm assuming it's only for uh
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certain times a day probably when the
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chat people are available over on the
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west coast it is 5:43 in the morning so
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I doubt there's anyone there ready to
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talk to me about my pixel um you do have
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the swipe in menu again this is still
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Android so they're not doing a ton of
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different stuff here just a few little
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flourishes for um for the pixel
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specifically so let's talk about a
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couple of the other design choices
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Google made and kind of wrap this thing
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up
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um one the the feel of the phone overall
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um it feels really sturdy and at the
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risk of maybe making a few people a
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little bit upset there's there's a
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certain thing uh a certain feel and
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build quality when I pick up an iPhone
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for instance um and to to some extent
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when I pick up a like a Galaxy S7 or
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something like that but really more of
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an iPhone uh where it just has this
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incredibly sturdy build um and it just
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feels really premium that's kind of
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what's going on with the pixel that's
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not to say my Nexus 6 doesn't feel great
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but there's just something a bit um more
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premium feeling about this I don't know
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exactly what it is but it really does
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feel good in the hand it's a little
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understated and maybe kind of boring for
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some and there's not a lot going on but
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overall the build quality is very good
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um and it and it feels really nice now
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some of the interesting decisions that
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Google mate on this device are to
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include um chins on both sides bezel on
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both sides that are the same size and so
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part of that could have been just for
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symmetry um there are people thinking
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hey this is recycled HTC stuff and HTC
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puts a button down here so that's why
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that's there I I don't know um and
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honestly having the phone in my hand it
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it hasn't bothered me yet I do wish that
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they would have just put front-facing
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speakers so if you're going to have it
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there why not use it um and so that may
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be a point of contention for some people
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not sure
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um the other interesting choice is now
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we have a rear are a downward firing
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[Music]
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speaker volume wise and kind of
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quality-wise
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um it's not that different actually when
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I'm holding the device next to my Nexus
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6p um there's not a whole lot of
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difference the only other thing I want
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to talk about is the ridiculous
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brightness of this screen now up until
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this point every time that I've had a
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phone my wife always has whatever Galaxy
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is out at the time so she has the Galaxy
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uh
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the Galaxy S7 Edge and so it honestly
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has had the best display I've ever seen
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as far as being able to get bright and
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keep white white and not have a kind of
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a yellowish Hue to it uh when I cranked
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the brightness up on this thing it blew
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her uh Galaxy S7 Edge out um in
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comparison and it's not doing so right
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now we got a lot of lighting coming down
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here um but when I pulled just a Google
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search up is really what I
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want that's just white um and you can
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just see it's it's blowing the picture
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out a little bit here um it is
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incredibly bright I haven't gotten it
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Outdoors yet obviously I haven't been
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out in the sun yet but I assume it's
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going to uh perform incredibly well it
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actually uh went sit next to the Galaxy
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S7 made the S7 edges screen actually
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look a little bit yellowish the whites
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are so white and it is still AMOLED so
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you're still getting all the poppy
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colors the amazing viewing angles I mean
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you can tell like you never really get
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an off angle view with this thing um so
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the screen
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well done from what I've seen online so
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far the steady Cam and just the camera
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in general with its quick shot HDR
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always on kind of stuff seems pretty
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awesome and pretty legit here's one last
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thing I'm going to say in this unboxing
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and one of the things that I'm going to
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keep in mind as I review this device it
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is expensive it starts at 650 for the 32
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gig 5 in version when you go up to the
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uh 5.5 in version I can't remember the
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base price on it I can tell you that the
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the one with 128 gigs in it uh at the
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larger size get you close to $900 and if
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you add on Nexus protect or whatever
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they're calling it for this uh which I
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would assume that you would for a device
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that's expensive you're getting up to
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after taxes and everything just over
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$1,000 for a phone um and while I know
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that that's normal for iPhone users and
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that's not a big deal maybe um for us
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Nexus users that's a pretty big deal and
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so that's going to weigh pretty heavily
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for me in my review so I don't want to
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make any bones about the fact that it's
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expensive it needs to live up to that
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and I want to give it the chance to I
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want to keep an open mind and and if it
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if it wins me over then it will make for
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a pretty cool review uh sitting just
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just opposed to this unboxing where I'm
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a little hesitant with it right now
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because of its price tag if you like
10:43
this video give it a thumbs up uh hit
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subscribe down below sorry down below
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and uh until next time guys we'll see
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[Music]
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you a