The Pixel 3 was the last Google phone I actually enjoyed holding

With the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro on the horizon — and looking very exciting to boot — I thought it may be time to wax poetic about one of my favourite Google phones, the great Pixel 3.

Well, mostly great. I’ll be honest, the Pixel 3 was far from a perfect device. Admittedly, most Pixels are flawed smartphones. But the Pixel 3 also stands out to me as being the last truly small Google flagship. With the 2021 Pixels shaping up to be massive, 6-inch+ phones, I find myself longing for a revamped, modern version of the Pixel 3.

Rumour has it the Pixel 5a will drop at the end of August with a 6.4-inch display (although it won’t come to Canada). Likewise, Google confirmed the incoming Pixel 6 will sport a 6.4-inch display, while the 6 Pro will come with a 6.7-inch display. Most people are likely happy about these sizes; big screens seem to be popular, after all.

The Pixel 3 just feels right in my hand

To be fair, I don’t have anything against big screens. It was only recently that I began to prefer smaller sizes. For pretty much as long as I’ve been into phones, I’ve preferred larger screen sizes. But back in the early 2010s, it was easy to ask for something bigger when most phone screens maxed out at 4- or 5-inches.

I generally stuck with Nexus and Pixel phones, beyond a brief stint with the OnePlus One back when it came out in 2014. 2015’s Nexus 6P — of which the Pixel 6 bears an uncanny resemblance to — felt positively massive to me with its 5.7-inch screen, as did the Pixel 2 XL’s 6-inch display in 2017. While I enjoyed using both those phones, I noticed that I preferred the feel of the smaller 2016 Pixel to both of them. The only reason I got the 2 XL was because I didn’t like how the Pixel 2 bezels looked.

Here we go again. pic.twitter.com/5FEkcFW1de

— Osiride (@0s1ride) May 14, 2021

In 2018, I started working at MobileSyrup, which brought the opportunity to try a ton of different smartphones from different manufacturers. I broke away from my Nexus-Pixel mainstay to try phones from Samsung, Motorola, OnePlus and even Apple. It didn’t take long for me to realize I truly disliked big phones. And when I got to try the Pixel 3, I knew it was the perfect size.

The move to bezel-less displays meant bigger screens in smaller phones

The Pixel 3’s matte back helps avoid the fingerprint smudges that plague glossy phones

Here’s the thing I’ve come to realize — I like large screens, but not large phones. The Nexus 6P I mentioned earlier had a 5.7-inch screen, which is only a little larger than the Pixel 3’s 5.5-inch display and technically smaller than the recent Pixel 4a’s 5.81-inch screen. The big difference between the giant Nexus and the tiny Pixels? The bezels. For me, the ideal screen size sits in the mid to upper 5-inch territory, where it’s just big enough to be functional without being so big as to make it difficult to use with one hand (assuming you have rather small hands like myself).

However, the Pixel 3 does more than just offer the right screen size. It’s the correct width too. At 68.2mm wide, the Pixel 3 is quite thin. It also helps that the Pixel 3 measures just 7.9mm thick. All in, the phone feels very svelte and slim in my hand, which I absolutely love, but still offers a large and quite useable amount of screen.

Sure, the Pixel 4a is very, very close at 69.4mm wide and 8.2mm thick. It’s a close runner-up to the Pixel 3 in terms of hand-feel and is honestly one of my favourite phones to use. Unfortunately, the 4a just doesn’t quite fit into my typical day-to-day use like the Pixel 3 does, and it lacks some premium flourishes I really like (for example, wireless charging).

The Pixel 4 is also fairly close with its 68.8mm width, but it’s not quite as thin at 8.2mm. What’s worse, I have the glossy black model which, frankly, feels disgusting in my hand — I cannot stand using the Pixel 4 without a case. I can’t speak to the Pixel 5 since I haven’t held one, but at 70.4mm wide, I can’t imagine I’d like it. Every other phone I’ve held that’s 70mm or wider hasn’t matched up to the Pixel 3.

All this is to say that, excited as I am for the Pixel 6, I am almost certain I won’t enjoy holding it. At least, not nearly as much as I enjoy holding the Pixel 3. It just feels right in my hand in a way that no other phone — Pixel or otherwise — has matched.

I’d love it if Google released a Pixel 6 Mini (or Micro, or Nano, or whatever other synonym you want) that matched the Pixel 3 dimensions. I’d buy it in a heartbeat. But it won’t happen — Google’s Pixels typically sell great, and even Apple couldn’t move the iPhone 12 mini well — but one can dream.