Pixel 4 reportedly had 4K/60fps recording, Google pulled it before launch

Google’s latest flagships, the Pixel 4 and 4 XL, have been available for a day and are already surrounded by controversy.

From odd limits with the 90Hz display to battery life issues, the Pixel 4 has some problems. Adding to the pile, XDA Developers’ Mishaal Rahman tweeted details about the removal of 4K video recording at 60fps.

According to Rahman, the Pixel 4 originally had the feature. However, references uncovered from Google’s Git repository — a virtual storage space for project code — reveal that Google pulled 4K at 60fps before release.

Oh boy, this one will stir some controversy…Google had enabled 4k@60fps video recording for the Pixel 4, but pulled it before release.

Merge: https://t.co/zgbw9ldRDj

Revert: https://t.co/8mlhKIjJWp

Thanks @Shad0wKn1ght93

— Mishaal Rahman (@MishaalRahman) October 24, 2019

Because of this, the Pixel 4 caps out at 4K, 30fps recordings. Most flagships released this year, including the iPhone 11 Pro, Samsung’s Galaxy S10 line and others, all support 4K, 60fps recordings.

Google previously said that it didn’t include 4K at 60fps due to storage, as the feature would use up to 500MB of storage each minute. Considering the base Pixel 4 model offers 64GB of storage, 4K, 60fps recordings would chew up a lot of space rather quickly.

One could make the argument that Google should have included more storage. Still, it’s also worth noting that both Apple and Samsung use the HEVC codec, which significantly reduces the size of video files without affecting quality.

There may be other factors here too. 4K at 60fps could have been too high a drain on battery life, or it could have increased the device’s temperature too much. Or maybe Google wasn’t happy with the performance of 4K at 60fps.

Regardless, if you want the Pixel 4, you’ll have to settle for either 4K at 30fps or 1080p at 60fps.

Source: @MishaalRahman Via: Android Authority