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Google Pixel 3 XL fully leaked ahead of October 9 Launch Event

A Hong Kong retail shop is selling the new phone ahead of its official launch.

October 8, 2018 1:00 PM

While information on Google’s new Pixel 3 smartphones has been steadily leaking out for months ahead of the official launch event on October 9, an electronics shop in Hong Kong has ensured that those leaks turned into a full-blown flood after they began selling the new Pixel 3 XL model a few days earlier than Google would have liked. The team over at Engadget had a correspondent on the ground who managed to snag one of the new phones and posted a video to Youtube offering an unofficial unboxing and first impression.

The video confirms most of the pre-release leaks and gives an incredibly clear look at the much-discussed notch at the top of the display. Apple opened the floodgates for this design travesty last year with the launch of the iPhone X, offering a solution to a problem that no one was actually concerned about. Because their decisions often drive the mobile market, Apple’s notch was expected to appear on competitors devices this year and that prediction holds true.

The Pixel 3 phones will ship with Google’s newest OS, Android 9.0 Pie. The Engadget video also offers a glimpse of the final shipping version of the OS on retail hardware. While anyone who was seriously following the rumor mill on the Pixel 3 now knows everything they could possibly want about the phone, we expect that Google may still have one or two surprises left for their hardware event in New York CIty on October 9 at 11AM ET.

Chris Jarrard

Contributing Tech Editor

Chris Jarrard likes playing games, crankin' tunes, and looking for fights on obscure online message boards. He understands that breakfast food is the only true food. Don't @ him.

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October 8, 2018 1:00 PM

Chris Jarrard posted a new article, Google Pixel 3 XL fully leaked ahead of October 9 Launch Event
- daggot
  
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  October 8, 2018 3:35 PM
  
  I totally don't get why the notch is so great. I guess because Apple needed to another thing to make the next phone different? What was the problem that was solved that no one cared about? The article mentions it, but doesn't talk about it.
  - Zek
    
     reply
    October 8, 2018 3:50 PM
    
    Not sure what you mean, nobody thinks the notch is great. It's the bigger screen covering the whole surface of the phone that's great - the notch is a compromise to still have a facecam. The alternative is a mechanical camera that pops out of the top of the phone or something like that, which I'm sure has tradeoffs but maybe everyone will get there eventually.
    - bolneze
      
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      October 9, 2018 6:07 AM
      
      Yeah but what sucks is when there's a notch and they still don't use the rest of the front face
  - boarder2
    
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    October 8, 2018 3:59 PM
    
    Notches aren't great but if you just consider them "bonus" screen space then they seem pretty fine to me. I don't have a phone with a notch, but I don't really understand the hate either as long as it doesn't block content and everything is built to be aware that it exists.