Google's Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones are up for pre-orders on Flipkart and Croma. Here's a lowdown on the available variants, and various offers.
Google’s new Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones went up for pre-orders at midnight in India. Both devices are listed on Flipkart with a bunch of offers, as well as, Croma’s online store. Prices for the smartphones start from Rs 57,000, and deliveries are expected to commence at the end of this month around October 26 according to the checkout page on Flipkart. Google has launched Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones in two variants each. The 32GB Pixel is priced at Rs 57,000, while the 128GB variant is priced at Rs 66,000. Prices for the Pixel XL, on the other hand, start from Rs 67,000 for the 32GB variant and go up to Rs 76,000 for the 128GB variant. As far as color choices are concerned, buyers can opt from either Quite Black or Very Silver. With pre-orders having kicked off, let’s take a look at where all you can buy a particular variant and what deals are on offer.
Google Pixel, Pixel XL deals
At midnight, pre-orders for the Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones kicked off on Flipkart. But surprisingly, out of eight variants, only three are on offer on the e-commerce site. At the time of filing this story, only the 32GB Pixel (Quite Black), 128GB Pixel (Quite Black) and the 128GB Pixel XL (Quite Black) are listed on Flipkart.
Flipkart is offering a bunch of deals for buyers like zero-cost EMIs and exchange offers. It has tied up with banks like Axis, Citibank, HDFC and ICICI to offer ‘No Cost EMIs’ for up to tenures of 18 months. EMIs start from as low as Rs 3,167 per month. Additionally, Flipkart is also offering exchange bonus of up to Rs 27,000 on both smartphones. Apple’s iPhone 6s Plus however is the only device that could fetch you Rs 27,000 thereby bringing the price of the Pixel or Pixel XL down to Rs 30,000 and Rs 49,000 respectively. Mind you, the exchange bonus is different for each model and smartphone brand.
Interestingly, Croma’s online retail store has all the eight models listed. The smartphones are available with home delivery option, and Croma promises deliveries in 7-10 working days. There is currently no option for a store pick-up. Though there are no Flipkart-like offers, buyers using Citibank or HDFC credit cards are entitled to EMI offers with tenures of three, six, nine and 12 months. Beware, these are regular EMI offers and buyers will have to pay interest on the EMI.
On paper, buying either of the Pixel smartphones from Flipkart does make a lot more sense, courtesy of the various offers. But you are restricted to only three models, which is a tad disappointing. Though Croma doesn’t offer any deals, it is currently the only option if you are looking to buy the base model of the Pixel XL, though we are hearing it will also come to Flipkart soon.
Once the smartphones go on sale later this month, Google has promised that the Pixel and Pixel XL will be available at other retail chains like Reliance Digital, Vijay Sales, and Jumbo among others. ALSO READ: Google ties up with HTC to provide after-sales service for Pixel, Pixel XL smartphones in India: Report
Google Pixel, Pixel XL specifications
The Google Pixel sports a 5-inch 1080p display, while the Google Pixel XL sports a 5.5-inch QHD display. Both AMOLED displays have a 2.5D curved glass on top, and are protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 4. Apart from size, the smartphones are differentiated on the basis of their battery — the Pixel sports a 2,770mAh battery, and the Pixel XL sports a 3,450mAh battery. The rest of the specifications and features remain the same. ALSO READ: Google Pixel, Google Pixel XL hands-on: The real Google phone is here!
Both smartphones are powered by a Snapdragon 821 quad-core processor paired with 4GB of RAM. They are equipped with a 12.3-megapixel rear snapper with PDAF, laser auto-focus, and 4K video recording support. Up front, there is an 8-megapixel fixed-focus selfie camera. The smartphones also feature a fingerprint scanner placed at the back, and IP53 certification that makes them resistant to water and dust. Connectivity options include 4G LTE support, USB Type-C port for charging and data transfer, Bluetooth 4.2, GPS, Wi-Fi 802.11ac and NFC.
On the software front, both smartphones run on Android Nougat 7.1 out-of-the-box wrapped under the Pixel UI. Among the highlights of the new smartphones is the built-in Google Assistant. It is not only more capable than Google Now, but also more contextually aware about what’s happening on your smartphone. One can simply converse with the AI and ask questions like weather, distance from one place to the other, or route from source to destination, and more.