Google Pixel 4 XL vs OnePlus 7T Pro: Purest forms of Android!

Both Google and OnePlus launched their latest flagship phones in 2019. The Pixel 4 XL is Google’s latest and greatest phone this year. Whereas, OnePlus 7t Pro is deemed as the phone to get if you want the most value for money in 2019. Both the phones are more similar than different simply based on that 90Hz display, software updates and an extremely clean user interface.

However, both the phones have their own benefits while missing out on some crucial features available amongst other Smartphone manufacturers in 2019. This comparison seems more obvious, but these phones are not available in a few important smartphone markets. For instance, the Google Pixel 4XL is not available in India, and the OnePlus 7T Pro is not available in U.S or Australia.

Here is an overview of the advantages of one phone over the other

Google Pixel 4 XL

• Amazing camera for still shots and portraits.
• Stock Android experience.
• Unlimited high-quality Google cloud storage.
• Wireless charging.
• Extremely fast face unlock.
• Google’s use of Radar interesting and has some potential.

OnePlus 7T Pro

• Excellent value for your money.
• Great display.
• Ultra-wide lens.
• Ability to shoot videos in 4K.
• Bigger battery that is needed for 90 Hz refresh rate.
• 30W Warp fast charge technology is way faster than Google’s charging technology.

1) Display

This is one of the most common similarities between the two phones because of that one key feature; 90 Hz refresh rate. The 90 Hz refresh rate on both the phones makes them feel so much faster and smoother as the display is technically refreshing 90 times every second. However, the 90 Hz refresh rate on the Pixel 4 is adaptive and will change based on the app or if the Radar detects that you are not looking at the phone. This helps the phone save some battery. However, there was an issue with the phone dropping to 60 Hz when the screen is below 75% brightness which can be solved with a software update. The OnePlus 7t Pro has a standard 90 Hz display across all apps and brightness levels, but you can change it to 60 Hz manually (the option to only manually alter is better).

OnePlus 7T Pro has an amazing 6.6-inch display with a resolution of 3120 x 1440, which comes out to 516 pixels per inch. It doesn’t have a bezel, notch, cutout or anything on the screen as the company opted for a pop-up camera in this years ‘Pro’ models. The Pixel 4 XL has a slightly smaller display size at 6.3-inch with a resolution of 1440p OLED screen. However, it has a massive bezel on top because of all the sensors (more on that later) and the front-facing camera. Both the phones have an amazing resolution on their displays, but it will definitely be more enjoyable to consume video content on the OnePlus 7t Pro because of the all-screen display.

A major drawback of the Pixel phones since their inception is the horrible brightness levels, especially in direct sunlight. The phone doesn’t get bright enough for direct sunlight usage, and it does cause a lot of annoyance. The brightness on the OnePlus is much better than the Pixel but it still not the brightest displays in the market (compared to the more expensive Galaxy Note 10+ or iPhone 11 Pro).

Key takeaway: The OnePlus 7t Pro does have a better display, in my opinion. It does have a 90 Hz refresh rate that stays on all the time, no bezel on top, slightly better resolution, and more importantly, it gets brighter in direct sunlight. The Pixel 4 XL has a magnificent display with an amazing resolution showing crisp and vibrant colours.

Display winner: OnePlus 7t Pro

2) Battery and Charging

The battery is an essential component of any smartphone in 2019, and the tech community should be happy that smartphone companies are finally competing in this regard as well. In the battery department, OnePlus absolutely crushes the Pixel, especially when it comes to charging speed. The OnePlus 7T Pro has a 4085 mAh battery capacity as opposed to the 3700 mAh battery on the Pixel 4 XL. However, the OnePlus does have a slightly larger screen. Neither of the phones has an extraordinary battery life, especially for the 90 Hz refresh rate. Still, the OnePlus does have a better battery compared to the Pixel 4 XL even in real day tests.

When it comes to charging speeds, the Google Pixel 4 XL has the same charging technology since the original Pixel in 2016. On the other hand, the OnePlus 7t Pro has the 30W warp charger which charges the phone from 0-70% (approximately) in 30 minutes which is definitely one of the fastest in the market in 2019. Google hasn’t made any advancements in charging for a really long time, especially when you compare it to its competing companies like Samsung, OnePlus or even Apple.

One major advantage that the Pixel 4 XL has over the OnePlus 7t Pro is the ability to wireless charge. OnePlus still hasn’t included wireless charging for any of their phones till date and their entire focus has been towards developing a fast wired charging. This might be a deal-breaker for some, but honestly, if a phone charges as fast as the OnePlus, you don’t need wireless charging.

Key takeaway: While both the phones don’t have the best battery in the smartphone market in 2019, the OnePlus 7t Pro definitely has the edge over the Pixel 4 XL. With a bigger battery and much faster charging, the OnePlus 7t Pro is the clear winner in this area. However, Pixel 4 XL does have a smaller screen with a smaller battery, and if you want wireless charging, you have to go with the Pixel 4 XL.

Battery winner: OnePlus 7t Pro
Charging winner: OnePlus 7t Pro

3) Performance

The two phones have very similar features when it comes to performance. Both have Android 10 right out of the box, and these two phones are probably two of the most reliable Android phones in terms of regular software updates (along with the “great Essential” phone). The Pixel 4 XL has Google’s stock Android skin, and the OnePlus 7t Pro has its own oxygen OS skin running on Android 10. Both the skins are very similar, and like every Android phone, you can customise them based on your preference.

However, the OnePlus 7t Pro does come with Qualcomm’s latest snapdragon 855+ chipset that is slightly faster than the snapdragon 855 chip on the Pixel 4. In real life, a general consumer will not be able to make out the difference between the two chipsets in regular day to day activities.

The OnePlus 7t Pro consists of an 8GB RAM as opposed to the 6GB RAM on the Pixel 4. Last years Pixel 3 had major issues in RAM management, and Google finally learnt from their past mistakes and decided to upgrade to a higher 6 GB RAM slightly. This slight differences in the chipset and RAM might be a reason for the OnePlus being a better overall performer. A significant drawback for the Pixel 4 XL is that it maxes out at 128 GB of internal storage, even in 2019, and it starts at 64 GB. The OnePlus 7t Pro includes 256 GB baseline and maximum storage which is more than sufficient on a smartphone. However, both phones don’t include external storage options. In the past, Google used to offer free original quality unlimited Google cloud storage for all photos and videos and this year they removed that benefit as well. Good job, Google…

Key takeaway: The pair of phones have very similar specs in terms of performance, but the OnePlus 7t Pro does have better RAM and higher internal storage. Neither one of the phones aimed to be the storage king of 2019, but at the very least, you get higher baseline storage on OnePlus 7t Pro.

Performance winner: OnePlus 7t Pro

4) Camera

The camera is one area where everyone would expect the Pixel 4 XL to dominate completely. But, in 2019, is that really true? While the Pixel 4 XL clearly has better quality photos with the primary camera and the selfie camera, the OnePlus 7t Pro has a the ultra-wide lens along with the ability to take macro shots. The ultra-wide lens has been a trend in smartphone cameras in 2019, and a lot of budget phones have this lens, and even iPhone 11 has it. If an ultra-wide lens is a key decision criterion, then don’t bother looking at the Pixel 4 because it doesn’t have it.

Nevertheless, the Pixel 4 XL has a great camera (full review here) with an amazing dynamic range and the ‘Pixel-like’ photos. It is definitely in the top 3 smartphones in 2019 as well, but only for taking pictures and portraits. The OnePlus 7t Pro has a 48 MP primary camera, 16 MP ultra-wide lens and an 8 MP telephoto. Pixel 4 XL has a 12.2 MP primary lens and a 16 MP telephoto camera. Google did include something called astrophotography to the Pixel 4 XL that lets you take phenomenal night sky photos. However, this is based on pure software, and these updates might roll out to other phones next year. Google also included Live HDR that lets you see how the picture will come out even before taking the photo. It also contains dual exposure that enables you to adjust the brightness and shadows before taking a shot; this is something that no other phone in the market is capable of doing. The front-facing camera on the Pixel is the clear winner as Google’s computational photography is merely exceptional. The photos are better than most of the other phones in the market, in my opinion. OnePlus 7t Pro has a 16 MP front-facing camera. While this might seem impressive, the tech world is moving towards software-based photos (look at Apple, Samsung, Huawei and Google) as opposed to pure hardware. OnePlus 7t Pro doesn’t have a bad camera by any means; it’s just that it doesn’t have a camera that can be compared to some of the other top-tier phones.

When it comes to video, OnePlus does have the edge over the Pixel 4 XL as it can take 4K videos and the Pixel can only do 1080p. Google has one of the best cameras for photos, but, surprisingly, has a comparatively bad camera for taking videos. Google has made strides and has set the bar year-on-year for taking photos, but they haven’t focused on improving videos in any of their flagship models, especially when compared to some of its competition.

Key takeaway: If you want a phone that takes amazing photos and portraits, then you just can’t go wrong with the Pixel 4 XL. You simply have to point and shoot with the Pixel, and the software takes care of the rest. However, if you want to enjoy the ultra-wide lens and have the ability to shoot 4K videos, then the OnePlus 7t Pro seems like the better option. Overall, I would lean towards the Pixel even though it doesn’t have the ultra-wide lens. It does take better photos, and it just gets better with time thanks to Google’s machine learning and AI. 

Camera winner: Google Pixel 4 XL (Maybe?)

5) Design

In my opinion, the design of Pixel 4 is better than the OnePlus mainly because of the matte glass finish along with the various colour combinations. ‘Clearly white’ and ‘oh so orange’ colours have the matte finish, and the ‘just black’ model has a glossy finish for some reason (probably because scratches are easily visble). On the other hand, OnePlus 7t Pro has a matte back on the back of the phone, however, it is not glass. If someone is familiar with the OnePlus phones, they will not find a significant difference as it feels very similar to their recent phones. There is almost no difference between the OnePlus 7 Pro and the latest OnePlus 7t Pro except a small change in the layout of the camera. Also, it only comes in one ‘Haze’ blue’ colour as opposed to the 3 sets of colours on the Pixel 4 XL.

Conversely, OnePlus 7t Pro easily looks better from the front with a no-notch/bezel/cutout screen as they implemented a pop-up selfie camera. Google does have a significantly larger bezel that looks outdated compared to most phones in the market. However, it is noticeably better than the ugly notch on its predecessor, Pixel 3 XL.

Key takeaway: OnePlus 7t Pro does have a better overall design with a beautiful all-screen display in the front and a matte finish on the back. The Pixel 4 XL, on the other hand, has an enormous bezel because of the radar and the camera. To be fair, Google never wanted to win the battle of the best screen to body ratio as their entire focus is on useful/gimmicky software integration with the hardware. If someone is buying the Pixel 4 XL, they are buying it for the fantastic camera or the stock Android experience and definitely not the design.

Design winner: Tie

6) Special features

Google Pixel 4 XL has a unique feature this year. Google installed a radar as part of its Project Soli that helps users navigate through songs by changing them with a simple swipe above the phone. It also allows you to mute alarms just by swiping over the phone and reduces the volume of a phone call if it detects your hand reaching for the phone. The APK is open for developers to incorporate it into other apps, and the actual use for this might be seen in the next 6 months if not, this feature might actually be a disappointing failure (hope not). However, one of the best use of the Radar is the extremely fast face unlock. Since the phone can detect when a person is reaching for the phone and also sense picking up the device, it already starts booting up all the required sensors for face unlock. This process takes the user straight into the home screen just by looking at the phone. The Radar in the phone makes this the fastest face unlock in the market, beating iPhone 11 pro max.

A unique feature on the OnePlus 7t Pro, comes in the camera as it allows you to take macro shots that OnePlus claims will let you capture usable images of things that are 2.5cm away. This feature seems to be working really well, but I can’t find a lot of use cases as if now. However, the Pixel 4 XL does include astrophotography that lets you take gorgeous pictures of the night sky based on Google’s exceptional computational photography. The OnePlus 7t Pro also comes in a limited edition McLaren version that looks strikingly good with slightly better features.

Key takeaway: Both these phones are not meant to have extraordinarily unique features as they focus on a clean and simple user interface and OS. However, Pixel 4 does have slightly more special features, and it does use the Radar to unlock the phone really fast, mute alarms or change tracks as if now but let’s see where that technology goes.

Special features winner: Google Pixel 4 XL

7) Price

It is hard to compare the prices of these two phones as they are available in limited and different countries. However, in the UK, OnePlus 7t Pro costs 699 pounds for 256 GB storage and 8 GB RAM and the Pixel 4 XL costs 830 pounds for only 64 GB storage and 6GB RAM. That is a massive difference in the price between the two considering the storage capacity. However, the Pixel 4 XL does have a better camera, consists of wireless charging, IP 68 certification and is Google’s own hardware. But the OnePlus 7t Pro has an amazing display, ultra-wide lens, the ability to shoot in 4K resolution, bigger battery and a much faster charger.

Key takeaway: OnePlus 7t Pro definitely has better value overall as it comes with a lot more useful and essential features in a 2019 smartphone compared to the Pixel 4 XL. However, the main selling point of the Pixel is the stock android experience and the ability to take amazing still photos. OnePlus 7t Pro and Pixel 4 XL provide fast and reliable software updates, and that shouldn’t be a concern in purchasing either one of the phones.

Price winner: OnePlus 7t Pro

Overall, both phones offer their own unique features. Google Pixel 4 XL includes a better camera, stock Android experience and wireless charging. However, the OnePlus 7t Pro is a lot more versatile in most of the areas with faster charging, bigger battery and a wonderful display. Oxygen OS is also very intuitive and is very similar to Google’s stock Android experience. If I had to pick a phone, I would probably go for the OnePlus 7t Pro.