If you were a bit excited by the leaked Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL screen protectors earlier this week, then this might have you a little more excited. I know it does here. A Twitter user with the handle @PhoneDesigner has created some 3D mockups using the leaked screen protector measurements, and I have to say that the results are quite pleasing on the eye:
Being some four to five months away from an announcement, there’s really not much to say about the current state of Pixel 3 affairs; there’s little doubt that the Notch is one of the more controversial design elements in the Pixel 3 XL (and, indeed, in many of 2017 and 2018’s smartphones) but it does allow Google to achieve something that’s seen as a bit of a gold standard at the moment – an 18:9 display ratio which makes for beautiful viewing. With rumours the Pixel 3 range (both devices, or maybe just the Pixel 3 XL as last year) will feature LG-made AMOLED panels, the rumour mill is definitely starting to come up to speed .. though it’s doing so quite early this year.
Will the final products look like these renders? Only time will tell, but that Pixel 3 XL look is pretty bold, and definitely distinctive. A dual rear camera seems almost certain (it’s unclear how Google could claim the Pixel 3 is a premium smartphone without one in 2018), but as yet, there’s no confirmation that it’s coming (or even that it might be) – it’s purely artistic licence on behalf of @PhoneDesigner for the time being.
What do you make of these renders?
I reckon the griping over notches will fade in the next few months and we’ll all move on with our lives just fine. I’m already over it. Hated it for about 5 minutes, then got used to it, and now I don’t have a problem with it.
In that sense I got used to the curved edges on my Note 8, its because overall the value proposition of that phone makes it bearable but I don’t stop hating that it distorts light,makes the stylus use for drawing and input harder, makes screen protectors nearly impossible, makes protective cases need to be bulkier to get the job done etc aesthetics always improve on phones and this will presumably be gone in time but I’d much prefer to have a broader array of front sensors, notification lights etc at the top of the phone inside a half cm bezel… Read more »
Like the rest of the comments on this post allude to… The notch is ugly… Why? Not only does it aesthetically look bad, it still has a chin… The whole point of the notch is to remove the bezel. If Google could move the bottom of the screen down to the speaker, and have a similar bezel up to the top, the appearance of the XL would improve heaps.
The normal Pixel looks fine IMO.
Well the notch kind of ruins the XL for me but then I can’t really see the need to replace my 2xl right now anyway. When you have a small bottom chin for a speaker then surely a small top chin makes more sense than a weird intrusion into the screen.
Waiting for this idiotic notch trend to die….
The notch needs to die a painful death. That thing is visually disgusting.
It’s weird the way some people get worked up over a notch that takes out a small area of screen, that’s usually unused anyway, and ignore the other google UI abominations that have been there, and unfixed, for years.
This year you are likely to have to accept the notch, unless you get a Vivo Apex. Next year it might well have gone again as everyone moves things under the screen.
The google UI screwups though are likely to remain.
I disagree. The notch isn’t an ideal UI experience. It’s phone makers rushing to have a screen with almost zero bezel. Using a bezel means we have less information up the top.
I can accept the notch, but not while leaving the bottom of the phone with a massive chin. It’s pointless. The whole point of the notch is to get as much screen as possible. Leaving a huge chin defeats this purpose.
You do realise the bottom chin holds the stereo speakers, just like they did with the pixel 2 xl?
If that’s the case, then the bottom chin is necessary, unless you are stating that they move speakers to the bottom of the phone like iPhone and Samsung?
Otherwise I do agree that the top notch is an unnecessary inclusion this year, but i do like that with Android P you can make sure there is a black stripe which hides the notch !
well the logical conclusion then (if its all about getting bezel size down and symmetrical) seems to be tohave a minimal bezel at both ends and pack it with every useful component that will fit whether its light sensors, barometers,extra cameras,speakers,notification lights or whatever.
I, for one, will never accept such a thing. I don’t care what size or shape it is, that thing is an unnecessary visual obstruction and sticks out like a sore thumb. I like my screens and monitors neat and tidy.
yeah I don’t know how its not just muddying up software compatibility and getting implemented poorly when you run old apps or apps from devs who don’t target it. by default apps are expecting rectangles of some description
Im rocking a white and black pixel 2 xl, best smartphone I’ve had, and I’ve pretty much had them all, iPhones included, other than a headphone jack missing I wouldn’t change a thing, on the pixel 2 xl, but the Notch design in these renders though is not something I like personally, unless it has a purpose, like housing sensors cameras etc, by the look of these renders alone I probably wouldn’t upgrade to the pixel 3 xl, if this is the design.
No no no. They look like iPhone X clones. Just no.