Google Gives Pixel 3 XL Users The Option To Hide The Notch

The new Google Pixel 3 XL (the larger of the two phone) comes with a notch and given that we’ve seen Google include support for notched designs ahead of the phone’s official unveiling, it wasn’t surprising to see it. Now just like with the iPhone X, there are some who say that the notch is barely noticeable after a while, but there are some who understandably hate it.

However the good news is that it looks like Google has anticipated that some users might dislike it and have added an option (via 9to5Google) to hide it. However as 9to5Google points out, this isn’t an obvious setting and that users would need to go digging around the developer options in order to find the toggle, meaning that Google probably doesn’t want everyone to disable it.

In the tweet below you can see 9to5Google’s Stephen Hall showing off what the Pixel 3 XL looks like without the notch. Basically the feature adds a black bar to the top and pushes down some of the information like carrier name, signal strength, battery, and etc. (the iPhone X also had a similar third-party app at launch). We’re not sure if this makes it look better since it actually makes the bezel look massive.

In any case it is an option for those who really hate the notch, although like we said, the end result doesn’t actually look better, but it’s something to think about if you are planning on getting the Pixel 3 XL. Alternatively the smaller Pixel 3 does not feature a notch so that could be worth your consideration as well.

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Notch on, notch off. Current Android P developer option, which isn't new. Not sure yet if the option Google has confirmed is this, or some kind of user-facing setting that will put time/date/notifs up there. pic.twitter.com/4cpebmUoYq

— Stephen Hall (@hallstephenj) October 10, 2018

Tyler Lee
Categories: Cellphones
Tags: Google, Google Pixel 3