Google's Pixel doesn't top the Android world -- but it comes close

Google has taken itself down a very promising road with its new Pixel phone line, offering a level of polish and power that makes it very competitive with the market's top phones. I admit that I was a bit underwhelmed by the Pixel's first appearance, which came at a Google launch event earlier this month. Google's Nexus line of phones had always appealed well to the niche Android superfan audience, and on paper it did not seem that the 750 Pixel would really offer that much more. Yet my mind changed after the company sent me a Pixel XL to review. The Pixel XL proved to be an elegant, capable and -- best of all -- useful phone.