Google Pixel 4 does away with Pixel 3’s wobbly notch in favour of forehead bezel

Google Pixel smartphones aren’t known much for their looks. The latest Pixel 4 tries to change that with a new design and trendy square camera module. It also doesn’t have the Pixel 3’s ugly notch.

Google Pixel 4 doesn’t have a notch but why (Google)

Google's Pixel 4 doesn't look anything like the last three iterations of Pixel phones. The redesigned Pixel 4 phone does away with dual tone glass build, the top portion has glossy finish whereas the lower are has matte finish. The fingerprint sensor module is also gone. Another big difference is the front - a thick bezel on the top has replaced the Pixel 3's wobbly notch.

The top bezel, which may seem dated now, houses a bunch of sensors including a Facial Unlock, quite similar to Apple's Face ID. Unlike several other Android players, Apple's boat-shaped notch doesn't just house the front camera. It has following sensors - infrared camera, flood illuminator, proximity sensor, ambient light sensor, speaker, microphone, 7-megapixel front camera, and a dot projector.

Google's new Pixel 4 also houses the same number of sensors. The early preview given by Google, however, revealed larger modules - face unlock IR camera, 8-megapixel front facing camera, ambient light/proximity sensor, audio port, soli radar chip, face unlock dot projector, face unlock IR camera, face unlock illuminator.

Google claims the sensors help make Face Unlock much faster and add air gesture features. For instance, Soli motion sensing radar sensor helps face unlock activate when the user holds the phone and unlocks the moment it recognises the face. Users can also unlock Pixel 4 when the phone is held upside. Google said that the Face Unlock is so fast that it had to add a feature to show lockscreen before unlocking and make the process a bit slower for naked eye.

The motion sensing chip also allows Google to provide air gesture features. For instance, users can skip songs by just waving their hands or snooze alarms. Google plans to add more functionalities to Pixel 4 with future updates.