BY MITCHELL PUDELSKI

With the release of its new phone, Google’s plan became clear: to show their expertise in hardware and software.

Nexus devices, which Google also makes, are mostly for developers, while the Pixel is aimed at consumer markets. The phone is represented as the best-of-the-best Android device and the top smartphone that can be produced.

Their work is obstructed by a factor that was under Google’s control: the price.The price of a phone can have a very large impact on how it is seen by the public. Expensive phones are thought to be better quality, while cheap phones are thought to be made less durable with worse software and hardware. Google matched their prices to Apple’s iPhone 7, making the Pixel $649 and the Pixel XL $769. “At that price, why not just get an iPhone?” asked Alex Koeberle, 12.

When asked about his thoughts on the phone,  AJ Rady, 11, said “The camera is gorgeous and the phone looks sleek. I am excited about a google exclusive phone with 7.1 Nougat right out of the box.”

The Google Pixel features a 12.3 MP camera on the back and an 8 MP camera on the front, which are both higher quality than the 12 MP camera on the front of the iPhone 7 and the 7 MP camera on the back. The software loaded on the Pixel is Nougat 7.1, a version of Android software that is comparable to Windows, with the ability to have multiple apps onscreen at the same time.