Google Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL review By Engadget

The new pixel ? in pixel to Excel are finally here, and there is a lot going on in these two phones. After all, they pack some major improvements to the pixel formula and are among the first devices out there to highlight. What's new and notable in Android 8 Oreo, given how well-received its predecessors were, the pressure was on to somehow further the pixel Lyons reputation for Android excellence. Well, Google did just that. Mostly, let's start with the design. Remember when Google basically made two identical pixels last year, yeah, that's not a thing anymore.

These smaller pixels, who features a five-inch AMOLED screen, while the pixel to Excel has a six inch. PIO LED panel that stretches across almost all the phones face. Having two disparate designs means one will inevitably look better than the other and, let's just face it. The XL is definitely the better-looking phone. The smaller XL has big bezels above and below the screen that looked pretty bad, but at least they're not just empty space.

They contain the phone's dual front-facing speakers. The XL has those two, it just kinds them better. Obviously, not everyone is a fan of bezel this phone designs, but the smaller pixel just looks a little dated by comparison. Actually, let's take a moment to dig into those screens a little more, despite running at 1080p, I, actually kind of prefer the smaller pixels display its colors are just a little more vivid out of the box. The Excel screen me a while features, colors that are a little more drab, because Google wanted to display tuned to look more natural.

That's not a deal-breaker for me, especially since the screens wide color gamut support means certain apps will be able to produce punchy or visuals, but it's definitely something to keep in mind. Less pleasant is the blue tint that appears on the screen. When you look at it from an angle, since your phone is gonna, be smack in front of your face. Most of the time it'll be a non-issue for some people still I just cannot unsee it anyway. Both versions of the pixel share the stuff that really matters.

They both have impeccably well-built glass and metal bodies, although no one could blame you for mistaking. This code is aluminum for really sturdy plastic. They also both share a Qualcomm Snapdragon, 835, chipset and 4 gigabytes of RAM, and when you combine that with Android Oreos performance enhancements under the hood, we're left with two of the most effortlessly quick smartphones you'll find out there. What else did you expect? The pixels also have either 64 or 128 gigabytes of storage and IOM ip67 water resistance, pressure-sensitive sides and more oh, the flip side is that both phones also share one lousy trait. Neither of them have headphone jacks.

The most obvious difference. Aside from the looks, are the batteries the smaller pixel two packs an unrelenting, a power battery which was still more than enough to get me through a full day and then some the pixel to excels, larger thirty-five hundred and twenty William hour battery is much better, though it routinely lasted for at least a day and a half of nearly constant use and I could have easily gotten two days out of it. Had I actually bothered to put the phone down for a while? Really, though, what makes a pixel is the software, the pixel ? and Excel both run Android, 8.0, Oreo, and I'm working on a full review. So let's just stick to the high level stuff. For now, Android now looks a little clearer than before, thanks to a little of plastic surgery, just check this streamlined Settings app.

If you don't believe me, Oreos notifications have been revamped too, which gives you greater control over what notifications can get your attention and how they're displayed in the redesigned notification shade, as also have notification dots to let you know when something new is rolled in, but there's no anxiety-inducing number here most Oreos the biggest changes are totally under the hood, though you can't see project treble, for instance, but it's meant to make Android updates faster and easier to release by keeping androids core framework separate from all the stuff device makers like to layer on top of it. I'll dig into this stuff more in our Oreo review, but for now just know this is the most complete polished, accessible version of Android yet and of course, pixel ownership. Nets you a few specific perks. The pixel launcher is by far my favorite Android interface, and it's been redesigned with the Handy new at-a-glance widget, where the search bar used to be it shows you the traffic nearby and what's next in your calendar, in addition to the date and time, and it's already saved my hide a few times so to Google I say. Thank you.

Meanwhile, the search bar is now at the bottom of the screen, making it easier to access with your thumb. You can also activate Google Assistant by squeezing the size of your phone, which is especially nice. If you don't want to awkwardly mutter, okay Google to it in public I, just wish we could remap it to do other things like say: launch the camera. Your pixels will always be listening for music too. If you want the tube, that is when the phone's identify what's playing around them.

The results appear at the bottom of you always on display and a quick Doubleday offers more information by a Google Assistant- it's undeniably handy, but it does also feel a little weird for a phone to just be constantly listening to you good thing it's off by default. For now, the camera app is also where you'll run into Google Lens the image recognition tool the company and asked earlier this year, it's still firmly in beta, but it's conceptually very simple, once you've snapped a photo of something lens will attempt to figure out what it is and offer you additional information about it. It's still pretty rough around the edges at this point, but it was surprisingly good at identifying folks landmarks and offering more info about them. Speaking of the camera, the pixel to and pixel 2xl aren't excellent photographic partners when ambient lighting is good. Colors came through with vibrancy and very good dynamic range in detail.

It does help that the shot HDR+ by default, though, and Google's image processing, is seriously impressive. Locking onto a subject was nearly instantaneous too. There were only a handful of times when I preferred an iPhone or a note, 8 shot over a pixel photo. The pixels are also very good in low-light to offering up photos with really Pleasant colors and less blur than I expected problem. Is the pixel sensors aren't quite as good as Samsung's when it comes to eradicating background noise.

It does, however, have the edge and keeping colors nice to look at, despite not having a dual camera. The pixels' portrait mode is very good at differentiating between what's in the foreground and what's not that goes for selfies too, since the pixels don't need additional hardware to produce the portrait effect. Selfie portraits using the 8 megapixel front-facing camera look excellent. It does also help that the pixels cameras use a retouching feature to lightly clean up your faces. A lot of work has gone into making the pixels two of the best no-nonsense smartphone cameras out there, but for some people it might be too simple.

There's no pro mode from manual control, but I'm honestly, not too worried about it. The pixels produced photos that are consistently good enough to make such advanced controls. Mostly unnecessary all told, while some of its competitors are more affected in certain situations, the pixels photographic package is complete enough. That I've started to use it as my main mobile camera. It's just that good.

Now, I hate saying things like this is the best phone out there period, because it's just not true for a lot of people that said I can safely say, be pixel, 2 and pixel.2 XL are the best Android phones, I've used all year, and I've used a lot of them while I don't agree with all of Google's choices. These phones prove how potent and powerful Android can feel with the right kind of hardware.

Source : Engadget