Technology News - Google Hits Pixel Resellers with 'Digital Death Sentence'

Some of Google's unwitting users are learning a harsh lesson: If you violate the company's policies, it can abruptly cut you off from your Gmail account, online photos and other vital digital services.Several people who recently bought Google's new Pixel phone on behalf of a New Hampshire dealer are now suffering that punishment after the company detected their online purchases and judged they violated its terms of service. Those rules, outlined in a document that few people read closely , forbid the purchase of the Pixel for "commercial" resale. "There isn't an hour that doesn't go by that I don't think about the enormity of what Google has done to me," said one of the affected resellers, Shmuel Super of Brooklyn, New York. "This is like a digital death sentence." Sell Your Phone, Lose Your Account Super and his fellow resellers got into trouble for buying up to five Pixel phones from Google's online store and having them delivered to New Hampshire for resale. They received $5 for each phone. As of Sunday, some started finding themselves locked out of their Google accounts. In a Thursday statement, Google described the resale arrangement as a "scheme" devised by a dealer looking to sell the Pixels at marked-up prices in violation of its policies. Google declined to say how many people were affected by the account lockdown. DansDeals , a consumer-focused website that first reported Google's crackdown, concluded that more than 200 people had been blocked from their Google accounts after talking to the New Hampshire dealer behind the Pixel buying spree. The Associated Press was unsuccessful in its efforts to identify and interview the dealer. The crackdown may come as a surprise to the hundreds of millions of people who now routinely rely on Google, Facebook, Apple and other tech companies as the caretakers of their digital lives. Few of the people involved in this situation appear to have backed up their data outside of Google. Google said it plans to restore the accounts of customers who it believes were unaware of the rules, although the company didn't specify how long that might take. Living Without Google Once they figured out why they were being locked out, the exiled consumers realized how dependent they had become on Google as the custodian of their digital communications, records and other mementoes. Some said they couldn't retrieve confirmation numbers for upcoming flights or notices about an upcoming credit-card payment. Others couldn't fetch work documents or medical records. Some started getting phone calls from friends, family and colleagues wondering why they weren't responding to emails. Like two other people interviewed by the AP, Super said he had no idea that he was violating Google's policies when he bought the Pixels for the New Hampshire dealer. He can't believe Google would do something as extreme as locking him out of his account without warning, rather than just banning him from buying its phones in the future. "Google's slogan is 'Don't be evil,' but to me, there is nothing more evil that what Google has done here," Super said. Crime and Punishment Some of the Pixels purchased for resale were delivered before Google recognized the violations and meted out a punishment spelled out in a separate terms-of-service document . "We may suspend or stop providing our services to you if you do not comply with our terms or policies or if we are investigating suspected misconduct," Google warns in one section. Google doesn't give any advance notice before it shuts down an account, and doesn't make distinctions between minor and major violations. Affected users can appeal for reinstatement, though it's unclear how long that might take or what criteria Google uses in such cases. Apple also forbids online purchases of iPhones for resale, although its terms of service say only that the company reserves the right to cancel any order suspected of breaking the rule. Daniel Levy, who has been locked out from his Google account since Monday, said he has learned a hard lesson, though not necessarily the one the company intended. "They confiscated my property and shouldn't be trusted," said Levy, who lives in Lakewood, New Jersey. "I will never use their services again."

Technology News - Google Pixel XL Review: How Does Phablet Measure Up?

Star Rating: 4 stars

The 5.5in Google Pixel XL is the company’s first own-brand phablet, the bigger brother of the 5in Pixel. It’s Google inside and out, but is it better than Samsung or Apple’s efforts?

The 5in Pixel is a good smartphone, but it’s not the most inspired design. The 5.5in Pixel XL is essentially the Pixel put in the photocopier and magnified.

Right on the Limit

It’s no thicker, though: the wedge-shaped phablet is 7.3mm at the bottom and 8.6mm thick at the top. It weighs another 25g at 168g and it is 6.2mm wider and 10.9mm taller. Compared to the competition, the Pixel XL is about in the middle. The Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge is 7.7mm thick and weighs 157g, while Apple’s iPhone 7 Plus is 7.3mm thick and weighs 188g.

But the biggest difference for all these 5.5in phablets is the width. The Pixel XL is 75.7mm wide, which is a little narrower than the 77.9mm iPhone 7 Plus but much wider than the 72.6mm S7 Edge. Width is the biggest determinator of how easy a phablet will be to use with one hand without special adaptations for one-handed use. Where the iPhone 7 Plus is too wide, the Pixel XL is right on the limit.

Its flat edges and relatively small bezels either side of the 5.5in screen make it manageable with a not abnormal handspan of 23cm. But I suggest if you’re interested in buying one, visit a store to see if it’s comfortable to hold for.

The Pixel XL is well built, has a good balance in the hand, but is a bit bland in terms of design, with the only flourish the glass panel that covers a third of the back. It makes it a little easier to grip, but splits opinion as to whether it’s attractive. It grew on me after a week.

The display is very good. A 5.5in quad HD AMOLED with a pixel density of 534 pixels per inch. It’s crisp, colourful and bright -- bright enough to see in direct sunlight, in fact. It’s not quite as vibrant as Samsung’s Galaxy S displays, however, but it is more punchy than the LCDs on iPhones.

Specifications

* Screen: 5.5in quad HD AMOLED (534ppi)

* Processor: quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 821

* RAM: 4GB of RAM

* Storage: 32 or 128GB

* Operating system: Android 7.1 Nougat

* Camera: 12.3MP rear camera, 8MP front-facing camera

* Connectivity: LTE, Wi-Fi, NFC, Bluetooth 4.2, USB-C and GPS

* Dimensions: 154.7 x 75.7 x 7.3-8.6 mm

* Weight: 168g

* 26 hours or more between charges

The Pixel XL shares the same processor, RAM and storage as the Pixel, and performs just as well. It’s snappy, launching apps and switching between them without delay; capable of handling anything you might throw at it and is one of the first DayDream-ready smartphones.

The larger screen and increased pixel density do not seem to impact the performance of the device, or how hot it got under load. It ran cooler than most other modern high-end smartphones during general use, heating up slightly only when playing graphically intensive games such as Real Racing 3 and Asphalt 8.

One thing that is different is the Pixel XL’s battery life. Using the Pixel XL as my primary device, it lasted 26 hours between charges, managing three hours of app usage and browsing, hundreds of emails and push notifications, a couple of photos, five hours of music over Bluetooth headphones and quite a lot of Dan the Man during my one hour and 20-minute train commute to and from work. It means you’ll get through a day, a night out and the commute to work the next day, but you’ll have to charge it when you get there.

More conservative use and with the battery saving mode enabled below 20% charge will probably see most people at make it till they get home on the second day before needing a charge.

When it comes to charging the Pixel XL, zero to 100% takes about one hour 45 minutes. A half charge takes about 30 minutes, which makes it one of the faster charging smartphones. Android 7.1 Nougat

The Pixel Xl runs the latest version of Android 7.1 Nougat, just like its smaller sibling. A rundown of the new features introduced with Android 7.0 Nougat is available separately.

Google also added a few new things within 7.1 Nougat, including launcher shortcuts, a new-look launcher, Google Assistant and a built-in night mode.

The Pixel XL’s larger screen, however, makes some features more useful. The ability to have two apps side-by-side on one screen, called multi-window, is one such example. For apps that support it, holding the overview button places one app above the other, or side-by-side in landscape orientation, with a slider in the middle to change the split. It’s particularly useful if you’re having a conversation over text and need to look at a map or similar, and is much more useable on the larger 5.5in screen than the 5in Pixel.

On the whole it is the most polished and together Android experience currently available and will benefit from prompt software updates direct from Google that are not blocked or delayed by network providers for at least two years. Some other Android devices from the likes of Samsung and LG will receive relatively prompt security updates, but Android version updates take months to a year from the point of which Google releases them.

Fingerprint Scanner

The fingerprint scanner on the back of the Pixel XL is the same as the Pixel: fast, accurate and can now be used to bring down the notification shade with a swipe on the pad -- something other manufacturers including Huawei have been doing for a while.

The Pixel Imprint scanner is arguably the best in the business, but if you use your phone on a desk, you can’t activate it without picking it up, or falling back to your passcode or lock pattern.

Camera

On paper, the Pixel XL’s camera, like the Pixel, isn’t that much to write home about. It’s a 12.3-megapixel camera with a f/2.0 lens without optical image stabilization. The iPhone 7’s camera has 12-megapixel camera and an f/1.8 lens, while Samsung’s Galaxy S7 Edge has a 12-megapixel camera with an f/1.7 lens. The lower the f-number the faster the lens and, in theory, the more light it lets in.

But the Pixel has a software advantage, producing some of the best, most detailed and colorful photos available. Google’s HDR+ feature is particularly good, producing some of the best high dynamic range photos I’ve seen and without the image blur that can creep in with other systems.

It’s low-light performance is also excellent, while the Google Camera app does a great job of balancing features with simplicity at a touch of button. It lacks full manual control, however.

The 8-megapixel selfie camera is also very good, producing images with good depth and color, and a good balance of soft focus and detail.

Observations

* Audio quality through the headphones socket was good but not exceptional

* The Bluetooth broadcast strength to a set of headphones was stronger and less susceptible to interference than most other smartphones I have tested

* It only has one down-firing speaker on the bottom, which is easily blocked by hands when gaming, although slightly less so than the 5in Pixel simply because the Pixel XL is wider

* A notification LED is available, but not enabled by default

* Gif search is built into Google’s Keyboard for apps that support it such as SMS Messenger app

* Google Photos on the Pixel comes with free, unlimited full resolution photo and video backup, not just up to 16MP and 1080p video

Verdict

The Google Pixel XL is a very good phone. It’s camera is great, it’s snappy, has the latest version of Android and will get updates first, it’s powerful and lasts over a day between charges. Despite its size it’s also relatively easy to use one-handed and it’s well made.

The problem is it isn’t exceptional, it isn’t waterproof and it is expensive. It commands top dollar, but unlike competitors such as Samsung’s Galaxy S7 Edge does not provide much in the way of hardware innovation.

If I had to pick between the Pixel and Pixel XL, I think the XL is a better phone all round. You won’t be disappointed if you buy a Pixel XL, but there are equally good if not better smartphones available for considerably less than £719.

Pros: Android 7.1 Nougat, rapid updates, great camera, great screen, more than a day’s battery life, Google Assistant, great fingerprint scanner Cons: not waterproof, no expandable memory, no front-facing speakers, no wireless charging, expensive, not as easy to handle as some rivals

iPhone 7 Plus vs. Google Pixel XL

The Google Pixel XL excels at mobile phone photography, edging out Apple's iPhone 7 Plus With video, though, it's a different story.

My colleague Vanessa Hand Orellana and I spent hours chasing pigeons, children, dogs and sunsets to put the two cameras to the test. The Pixel XL had its moments, but on the whole, we agreed the iPhone 7 Plus captured better video.

Its biggest advantages were color, image stabilization, sharpness, contrast, low-light shooting and zoom, unsurprisingly given its second camera.

The Pixel XL, which offers the identical cameras and image processing as the Pixel, did lead the iPhone 7 Plus in some areas, though. Its autofocus was faster, and it sometimes kept a nice exposure when the iPhone went overboard with brightness. Google's phone handily beat the iPhone 7 Plus when it came to slow-motion video with sharper imagery, too.

When Apple debuted the first iPhone in 2007, it couldn't shoot video at all. That's unthinkable today even for a low-end phone. Good mobile video is crucial in the era of YouTube, Facebook and Snapchat. Even if you're not into sharing, video is key to chronicling our lives. So it behooves you to pay attention to video quality.

Don't consider this a final judgment. Much of Google's approach to photography and videography involves extensive image processing, including its excellent HDR+ technology used for photos. There's no HDR+ for video, but Google still could offer camera app software updates to address some Pixel shortcomings.

Here's a look at some of the details of our tests.

Image stabilization

The two phones take a very different approach to image stabilization, a critical aspect of video quality. The iPhone 7 Plus uses an optical approach that physically moves lens elements to counteract the camera motion caused by shaky hands or movement when you're walking. The Pixel XL uses digital stabilization, which uses motion sensors and image data to try to mathematically compensate for camera movement.

Each has its advantages when it comes to camera size, component costs and other factors, but we found the iPhone's approach generally resulted in a smoother, more human feel. The Pixel XL would try hard to stabilize a shot, but when it figured out you really had pointed the camera in a new direction, there would be an abrupt stop-and-start shift to the new perspective. This made video jerky. The iPhone wasn't as good at compensating for the bobbing perspective you'll often see in videos shot while walking, but it still looked more natural.

And likely because the Pixel XL relies on its processor for stabilization, it struggled when shooting video at 60 frames per second -- double the rate of ordinary 1080p video and thus double the number of pixels to process -- or when shooting higher-resolution 4K video at 30 frames per second.

iPhone 7 Plus videos at times were overexposed, a problem I've found in iPhone photos, too, where foreheads and cheeks in the sun are glaring white, orange or yellow. In dim conditions, details in shadowy areas often disappeared into the murk. The Pixel XL handled exposure better overall, though I preferred the iPhone 7 Plus with sunrises and sunsets that are a challenge for any camera today.

The Pixel XL gets a big demerit in one area of exposure, though. When I shot while walking, sometimes the exposure would pulse darker with each footfall. This happened in several videos.

Color

The iPhone generally selected more pleasing, warm tones. In good lighting conditions both cameras were reasonable, but I found the iPhone 7 Plus colors to be vibrant while still natural -- perhaps a result of the wider P3 color gamut it uses compared to the Pixel XL's more limited sRGB range of colors.

Sometimes skin tones with the Pixel XL video had a yellowish cast. I think of this as the "putty effect." Under warm-hued indoor light, the Pixel XL showed people as too orange. It could switch color settings rapidly, too, in one case switching back and forth distractingly between an orange and blue tint.

Sharpness

Here the iPhone won, perhaps a result of its six-element lens design or better image processing technology that creates the video from the raw image-sensor data. The Pixel XL was usually adequate, but with videos of subjects like city skylines and nature landscapes, the edges on the iPhone were crisp without appearing over sharpened.

The Pixel XL was sharper taking slow-motion video, though. We shot at 240 frames per second, a speedup factor of 8 compared to regular video. Both the Pixel XL and iPhone 7 Plus can only shoot at 720p resolution, which is fine but not as sharp as full high-definition video at 1080p.

Of course, if you want to zoom, the iPhone 7 Plus has dual cameras -- 28mm and 56mm equivalent focal lengths -- and the 2X setup is much better for portraits, kids who aren't in front of you, concerts and many other situations with distant subjects. But there's a big caveat: there's no optical image stabilization for the 56mm camera. Because of that, and a lens that doesn't let in as much light, the iPhone 7 Plus uses the wider-angle camera in dim conditions, making it just like a plain old single-camera iPhone 7.

Lens flare

Both cameras suffered from lens flare, the streaked and washed-out areas that result from shooting toward the sun or other bright light sources. The Pixel XL sometimes would produce a ring around the sun even when the sun was outside the frame -- the Pixel XL "halo effect" that Google hopes to easewith better processing at least in photos. The iPhone 7 Plus would wash out details nearer the sun and add a green ghost image of the sun diametrically across the frame from the sun. I was disappointed in both cameras, frankly, but the edge goes to the Pixel XL for better contrast and less haze when shooting directly toward the sun.

Autofocus

I enjoyed the Pixel XL's snappy autofocus, especially its ability to lock in more quickly on close-up subjects. It also did better locking focus during slo-mo shooting, where you're more likely to notice a longer wait.

Low-light conditions

I had high hopes for the Pixel XL, whose pixels are 60 percent larger than the iPhone 7 Plus' and therefore in principle are better able to shoot in dim conditions where photons are scarce. Instead, the iPhone gave the Pixel XL a drubbing. iPhone video suffered from the transient jittering of noise speckles, but the edges were sharp, and the noise was far less distracting than the Pixel's crude, smeary noise reduction. Both cameras struggled at times to catch focus, a common affliction in the dark. When shooting indoors, the iPhone again showed superior performance, though in smaller rooms, the Pixel XL's wider-angle field of view is a big advantage.

Front camera

The Pixel XL did a nice job exposing faces and keeping focus, but it sometimes struggled with backlit faces, choosing to silhouette me. Sometimes it underexposed even without silhouettes. I liked its sharpness better, but overall the iPhone did a better job with skin tones and showed a more lifelike degree of contrast.

4K video

For this higher-resolution format, the Pixel XL was nicely exposed, but the iPhone 7 Plus outdid it when it comes to sharpness. And why bother shooting 4K video if you're not paying attention to sharpness? Again, the iPhone's optical image stabilization was more natural. On the Pixel XL, I spotted some compression artifacts in even-toned areas, a blue sky and a red ceiling.

Overall, it's an iPhone victory for video. Perhaps we'll see a software update from Google that will help it catch up.