British retailer puts a lot of info about Google Pixel and Pixel XL online

A British retailer has put the listings online for the Pixel and Pixel XL, the smartphones that search giant Google will most likely present on Tuesday. In addition to specs and photos, they also show what Google wants to distinguish the phones with.

The British retailer shows the slides with which Google touts the Pixel and Pixel XL. This includes functions such as a built-in version of Assistant, the Google Now successor that until now could only be found in chat app Allo and speaker Google Home. The search giant seems to want to use its digital assistant as a distinguishing point for the Pixel phones. Calling up Assistant is done by shouting ‘Ok Google’ or long pressing the Home button.

In addition, buyers of the Pixel phones get unlimited storage of full-size photos and videos. Until now, this has not been possible with Google Photos. Either Google limits the resolution for unlimited storage, or the full-resolution storage in a paid version is limited. In addition, with Smart Storage, Google Photos should prevent the phone’s storage from filling up by only keeping thumbnails.

Google also claims that the fast charging function on the phones after charging for fifteen minutes provides enough battery charge to call for seven hours. Given the stated claims about battery life, that would ensure a 21 to 27 percent full battery in fifteen minutes. The battery of the Pixel is 2770mAH, that of the Pixel XL is 3450mAh.

According to the listing, both phones have OLED screens, with the smaller supporting a full HD resolution and the larger QHD. Both run on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 821-soc, with a RAM of 4GB. For storage, you can choose between 32GB and 128GB. The specs mention a slot for microSD cards, but given the marketing about never-filling storage and Google’s distaste for memory cards in smartphones in recent years, that seems to be a mistake. The devices run Android 7.1.

The Pixel XL is indeed a larger version of the Pixel: the bezels are almost equal in absolute terms. The phones are left around 3.2cm at the top and bottom, and around 7.2mm at the sides. This means that the bezels are almost the same size as those of the Nexus 5X and 6P last year.

Much is now known about the devices with the listing. Things that are missing from the information from the British retailer are the release date and the price. Rumors have it that they will be high, up to 699 euros for the cheapest variant. Google will hold its own hardware event on Tuesday, where it will likely showcase the Pixel phones.