Google’s Pixel 5 is made of recycled ideas concerned more with price and everyday utility than tech novelties

In 2010, Google released its first smartphone, the Nexus One built by HTC Corp., which was intended not as a multimillion-unit-selling iPhone rival but as a modest example of what a good Android phone could and should be. A decade later with the Pixel 5, designed by the HTC team that Google since acquired, the Alphabet Inc. unit seems to be returning to its original philosophy.

The Pixel 5 is an assembly of established technologies topped off with 5G wireless connectivity and an important reduction in price to $699. Bowing out of the premium-tier race with Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. after four Pixel generations, Google also did away with its XL model and refocused on the strengths of its devices: good cameras, utilitarian design and reliable software updates.