Google Pixel 2 in 2020: Love & Hate By Alex Hong

Hey there, Alex here. If I had to pick my favourite Pixel, it would probably be this, the Google Pixel 2. When it first came out, it was such a big upgrade over the original Pixel in terms of hardware and features. In particular features like water resistance, and stereo speakers. It had the best camera you could get on a phone at that point in time, and the software experience was great. Sure, it wasn’t the most modern looking with its thick bezels, and they removed the headphone jack, but it was one of the best compact Android phones that you could buy back then, which is why I loved it.

Anyway, now that the Pixel 2 can be found at really low prices, and I recently picked up a blue version which I think is the best looking colour, I thought I would do a quick video about the phone again to see how it’s holding up. I’ve been using it for the past week or so, and it’s a bit of a love hate relationship. Like I mentioned above, the camera performs really well, and actually holds up well against newer Pixel devices. In terms of how easy it is to capture great looking images, I think it is probably still better than a lot of newer devices. It’s not as flexible of course since it only has a single rear camera, but it’s still a really enjoyable camera to use.

Software wise, it’s running the latest version of android, and I think the speed and responsiveness of the device is still decent. It’s still getting monthly security patches, it still has unlimited original resolution uploads till the beginning of 2021, and you can even get the Android 11 Developer Preview on it if you really want to. So this part of the device is still great. What hasn’t aged as well, is its hardware. Starting from the outside, a 16:9 screen just isn’t as enjoyable to use compared to a taller one that lets you see more vertical content, not to mention that the display itself is not the brightest, so outdoor visibility is just average.

The stereo speakers are nice to have, but sounds bad by today’s standards. So if multimedia consumption is important to you, the Pixel 2 will probably disappoint. But it’s probably still not as disappointing as how bad the battery life has become. Being an older phone with a small battery, it probably goes through more charging cycles, which means more wear and tear. At this point, if I game a little on the phone and use it a little more, I can get it to last me maybe half a day.

The only way to get it to last a full day, is with very light usage. So I think for most people, this is going to be a deal breaker. Oh, as a side note, this is also the reason why I think the Pixel 4 is not going to age well. Anyway, if you’re still thinking about getting one, there are some other things to take note of. Recently there have been reports of camera issues, and it’s still uncertain if it’s a hardware or software issue.

Both of my units are still working fine so far. Another thing is that I’m seeing a lot of refurbished Pixel 2 in the market these days, and as far as I know, the bootloader cannot be unlocked on those devices, and this is something that I’ve personally encountered on 2 seperate units. I’m not sure what causes that, but if that’s important to you, just make sure you check the phone before you buy it. Overall, I still think it’s a nice phone to use, and I don’t even mind some of its shortcomings since they are so cheap these days. But the battery life is just not great at all.

If it were like 50% better, it would probably still be a phone that I could recommend to folks looking for a cheap smartphone with good software experience and can still take great looking photos. Which is why my personal recommendation now is to just go for the bigger Pixel 2 XL if you can, or the Pixel 3 or 3a would be good options too if you want something more pocketable. Anyway, no matter how it is like to use now, I’ve had really fond memories of the Pixel 2, and it will always have a special place in my heart, which is not something I can say about other Pixel devices. Thanks for watching this video, and I know it’s really tough out there right now. So hope you guys stay safe, and hopefully things will get better soon.

Thanks again, and see you guys on the next one.

Source : Alex Hong