When Google unveiled the weird look and key features of the Pixel 6 over the hugely unsuitable medium of Twitter last month, the company said more information would be coming in fall — or spring in the southern hemisphere.
It turns out that promise was correct, but not the way Google intended. The Carphone Warehouse, Britain’s suspiciously dated sounding highstreet smartphone seller, published (and then swiftly unpublished, presumably after Google’s PRs hit the roof) a couple of promotional pages revealing almost all of the key details about both the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro. The links point to cached versions on the Way Back Machine, so you can read all about it yourself, but here’s a potted summary of the key points.
The most interesting change is in the camera department, with Google moving away from the 12MP sensor it used in its past few Pixel handsets to a 50MP lens. This apparently lets in “150% more light” than the Pixel 5, which should really help even the most amateurish photographer make something Instagram worthy.
This main sensor is accompanied by a 12MP ultra-wide lens and, exclusively on the Pro model, a 48MP telephoto lens for long-distance snaps. That’ll have a 4x optical zoom, and will be capable of up to 20x zoom via the Super Res Zoom function (sorry for the overuse of the ‘z’ word — someone should really come up with a suitable simile.)
The software will also help photographers, with the promotional literature highlighting something called “Magic Eraser” for taking out people and things you don’t want in your snaps, and another feature called “Face Unblur” which should be pretty self explanatory.
While the Pro literature mentions a LTPO screen capable of dynamically switching from 120Hz refresh rates down to 10Hz for smoothness without serious battery drain, the regular model just mentions a “Smooth Display”, which likely means 90Hz, given that’s what even the recent budget Pixel 5A had.
On the subject of battery drain, it looks like Google has finally licked the battery life problem — figuratively speaking. The listings mention “all-day battery life”, with the Pro page going a step further and adding that it “allocates power to the apps you use most to last beyond 24 hours even on 5G.”
Both will charge wirelessly, and there’s a new and improved Pixel Stand to take advantage. It’s apparently “twice as powerful” as the current model, and will offer wireless charging speeds of 21W for the standard Pixel 6, and up to 23W for the Pixel 6 Pro.
Finally, it looks like Google is making a big, bold offer on long-term support. The Pixel 6 will get a promised five years of security updates, taking it all the way up to 2026. Which is pretty impressive, given the Pixel 11 will presumably be sat on store shelves by that point.
What few details we don’t know about the Pixel 6 should be revealed soon. Google has a launch event scheduled for October 19, with a start time of 10am PT. Unfortunately, that translates as 6am in Auckland, so you’re probably best off just reading about the announcements here on The Bit.
