Newsletter
Leading up to the announcement of Google’s new Pixel smartphones, it was rumored that they would be rated IP53 for water and dust resistance. Google didn’t mention that during the keynote at their event yesterday, and it was not listed on the spec sheet for either phone. But Google has confirmed that the two smartphones are indeed IP53 rated. Now this means that they can take a little bit of water, but it’s not a good idea to go swimming or showering with these phones.
The “3” in IP53 stands for the protection against water, and it is only rated at a spray of water. Meaning that if you are outside in the rain, you should be fine. Otherwise, be careful around water. The “5” stands for the dust resistance, which will mostly protect these two devices, but it’s not completely prevented from dust. It’s a bit unfortunate that Google did indeed leave waterproofing out of their new smartphones, especially when the main smartphone they are targeting – the iPhone – added it this year. Interestingly enough, the HTC 10 is also IP53 rated, and HTC is the company that made the Pixel devices for Google. Even though Google still hasn’t announced that publicly.
The Google Pixel and Pixel XL are up for pre-order right now over on Verizon’s website and the Google Store – if you’re located in the US. They are the first smartphones made by Google “inside and out”. This is a change from the Nexus program, which only featured the software being made by Google, with the hardware mostly being their partner’s doing. The Pixel and Pixel XL also both sport relatively the same specs. There’s a Snapdragon 821 inside powering the show with 4GB of RAM and the choice of either 32GB or 128GB of internal storage. Both also sport 12-megapixel cameras around back along with a rear fingerprint scanner. Where things differ are in the battery and displays. The Pixel sports a 5-inch 1080p display and 2770mAh battery with the Pixel XL having a 5.5-inch QHD display and a 3450mAh battery inside. These two smartphones do work on all four US carriers – as well as Republic Wireless.