Google Pixel 3 XL has a setting to completely hide notch in screen

The Google Pixel 3 XL has a setting in the developer options to hide the notch on the screen in its entirety. Unlike other smartphones with this option, Google does not use the screen space around the notch at all.

The setting can be found in the Developer Options on the Pixel 3 XL, claims tech journalist Joshua Topolsky. When that option is switched on, Android does not use that screen space anymore, which makes it look like a Pixel 2 XL, according to photos of Mishaal Rahman the editor-in-chief of XDA-Developers.

With that, Google depends on how other manufacturers of Android devices interpret that setting. If you set up with many other phones to conceal the notch, you will see that the software does not run through wallpapers and colored bars in apps around the notch, but icons from the status bar do appear in that screen space. The status icons are at the normal place at the top of the Pixel 3 XL but below the notch.

According to Google, the big notch is because people who choose a larger phone often want the maximum screen space. There are two front cameras in the notch, the usual sensors for, for example, automatic adjustment of the screen brightness and a speaker. The notch is deeper than other smartphones.

Google presented the Pixel 3 XL Tuesday together with the smaller Pixel 3, which has no notch.