Google Pixel 2 in 2021 Review - Almost Perfect! By Tech Spree

If it wasn't for this one drawback, the Google Pixel 2, would be the absolute perfect budget, android phone in 2021 even three years later. It still has flagship aspects about it like blazing fast performance and a pretty decent camera setup. But if you are considering buying one of these in 2021, there is one major thing to consider for some it'll be a huge dealbreaker, but for others it won't be relevant in the slightest, but if you can live with it, the value here is just too good to miss out on in this review, I'll, be covering the design display, battery life, performance and price of the Google Pixel 2 from a 2021 perspective, and if this one issue could deem it unsuitable for you, but as always before we get underway. Please make sure you like this video and subscribe to tech spree for a diverse selection of tech content, including reviews, comparisons and the occasional unboxing. I'd also like to give a shout-out to my dear friend Owen, for lending me, the phone featured in this video, and I will link his channel in the description so go and subscribe to him. As well now, this was the second flagship phone google released following the end of the nexus line in 2015.

, it was released in 2017 alongside its larger variant, the pixel 2 XL, and it followed up on the first generation pixel released a year earlier. It brought on all new design, better performance and a much improved camera system. Now, on paper, this phone is perfect in 2021 you still get pretty great performance, an excellent display and the camera setup still holds up really decently, but there is one aspect about it that stops it from being an excellent budget phone to buy used in 2021, which I'll get to in a bit. But for now the design of the pixel 2 is my personal favorite for the entire pixel line. The slab of glass at the top, along with the fingerprint scanner, feels very of the error, since this look was prominent around 2017 and 18.

, both on Google's smartphones and on their own branded Chromebook laptop that was released at around that time. This phone is quite clean and minimalist, and it's a real shame that the newer pixels don't look as good. The Google Pixel 2 comes in three colors, just black kinda, blue and clearly white and yes, those are the actual names given to the colors by google, and it's good to see that they put some creativity and uniqueness into this rather than just call them blue or white or black. Now I originally thought that the body of this phone was made from plastic, because that's how it feels- and I thought huh that's strange for a flagship to have even for 2017 but to my surprise, it's actually aluminum with a coat of matte paint that sort of gives it a plastic feel, and it feels a bit cheap in my opinion, even if it actually is aluminum. But there is a glass slab at the top housing, the camera and flash, which has a more premium nature to it than the plastic feeling paint below that.

There's a fingerprint scanner which I'm a huge fan of since your finger, just kind of falls into place with the scanner. As you pick up the phone- and this is the most convenient method of unlocking your phone I've ever seen- and I much prefer it to face ID on my iPhone. The sides appear pretty generic housing, the power and volume buttons, but there is one cool feature here that this phone introduced and that is squeeze for Google Assistant. The Google Assistant can be activated by squeezing the sides of the phone, and this is really handy since it's a lot faster and easier than saying. Ok, google, which is a bit of an awkward phrase to say the front of the phone, is quite an interesting layout.

We get the display, along with the enormous bezels at the top and bottom, and this definitely feels dated by 2021, but the two front-facing stereo speakers definitely make up for it. The sound quality isn't the best, but the speakers are facing directly at you, as the audio is played, so this amounts to an above average listening experience, and they sound particularly good if you're in landscape mode, since the audio is coming from both sides, creating a really immersive stereo sensation. One other benefit to having these huge bezels is that you can kind of rest your thumbs on them, while using the phone in landscape mode without accidentally touching the screen, if you're watching a video or something, but on the flip side you don't get nearly as much screen real estate as on more modern phones. Now the pixel 2 definitely feels big in the hand, and you might have some trouble fitting it into your pocket. But one-handed use isn't really a problem, since you can actually reach the top of the display quite easily, with your thumb, it's just that the bezels make the phone a lot larger and two-handed use is fine again, considering that you have the bezels to rest your thumbs on, but I'm a fan of small phones personally, so it's a little large for my liking.

Additionally, this phone is rather than a light to hold, so it won't feel bulky or unwieldy, and the sandy texture on the back makes it really easy to grip. Now the display is definitely a positive aspect about this phone. Since it's a 5-inch AMOLED 1080p display at 441 pixels per inch with a 16 by 9 aspect ratio. This panel is incredibly sharp and there's really nothing to say, apart from the fact that you won't have any issues with it. Even four years later, you can't see any pixels, plus it's OLED, which has many advantages over LCD, such as deeper blacks and a much better contrast ratio, meaning that the pixel 2's display is actually ahead in these areas and is sharper on, say the iPhone 11 and 10r.

The display also has an always-on setting, which can show information like the time and apps that you have notifications from at a glance now. The pixel 2 had one of the best camera setups for 2017 and still today in 2021, it holds up pretty decently. The singular rear camera is 12.2 megapixels with an aperture of 1.8 and is equipped with optical image stabilization. This shooter is still pretty good in today's world and is honestly fine to use objects are extremely clear and colors. Look amazing for low light shots.

You've got night sight which lets you see, subjects far clearer in a dark setting. It does a good enough job, and it really helps with situations like a concert or, as the title suggests at nighttime. New phones do much better low light jobs, but the pixel 2s is definitely usable. Portrait mode is also pretty good for 2017, and it works for people, pets and objects. Now it isn't perfect, considering that this technology has advanced quite significantly ever since, but there's not really much to complain about here, where it really or kind of shows.

Its age, however, is in the video recording which can be done in up to 4k at 30 frames per second or in HD at 30 or 60 frames per second. Now the video isn't horrible, but it feels a bit dated since it's a bit grainy at times, and the exposure needs a bit of work. The 4k is great to see, and it isn't the worst smartphone video out there, but I wouldn't want to use it as my main shooter. The selfie camera is alright. I mean what can I say: it's a flagship from 2017, so it's not going to be amazing, but it's still perfectly usable.

The image is still clear and hey. It does the job, so I'm not really going to knock it now. The pixel 2 is equipped with the snapdragon 835, chipset and 4 gigabytes of ram. This phone still performs amazingly after nearly four years, and it almost feels like a brand-new phone in this department. Thanks to the software optimization from Google opening light, apps like Instagram and YouTube is snappy, and it will go through most things you throw at it like a hot knife through butter.

As for gaming, I tested a few games like clash, royale and smash road, and they all ran at a solid 60 frames per second. So even four years later, this phone is a pleasure to use in terms of performance now, one area where the pixel 2 is kind of falling behind. As of now isn't the battery life, although each individual handset will vary depending on how much it was used. Battery life has probably degraded significantly on these phones, since most of them are a few years old. Now the battery life on the pixel 2 was pretty decent when it came out, but if you pick one up that has a degraded battery, it probably won't.

Last you, through a full day with moderate use. This one right here gets about four to five hours of on-screen time, which is pretty brutal. So if you have a pixel 2 with a degraded battery, it probably won't serve you very well, but if the battery is in good condition, it should be okay for moderate use. So how much does this phone cost to buy, and where can you find them? Well, you can find these phones used one bay or Gumtree for around a shockingly low 100 to 250. Now, obviously, this depends on the storage variation and what condition the phone is in plus you'll also want to be wary that the phone you're buying doesn't have a degraded battery because, as discussed earlier, if you have one with a bad battery, it's not pretty.

But you know this phone seems like a killer deal for what you're getting right. An excellent OLED display a really decent camera and lightning fast performance for just 100. This might seem like a no-brainer for anyone on a budget, but there is one thing: you'll probably want to know before buying a pixel 2 in 2021, and that is the fact that the software support for this phone has ended. The Google Pixel 2 runs up to the current android 11 software versions, but it received its last update in December last year, so from this time on, it won't receive things like new features that Google may introduce in the coming years and security patches, which means that in maybe two to three years its age will become a lot more obvious. It'll still do the same things it can do now in those coming years and right now, this phone's current version is still extremely capable and will cater to pretty much all your needs in an android smartphone.

It just won't be able to do anything new that future updates may bring now. Another thing to consider is that a lack of updates also means that the operating system's security won't be as good as it is now in a few years, so you will, in theory, be a little more susceptible to things like viruses than a phone, that is receiving, say, monthly security patches, but the actual chances of anything going wrong in this area are astronomically low, almost impossible really, and there are plenty of security measures that you can take to prevent this stuff from happening like being careful not to visit any websites that seem sketchy with all of this in mind. However, the vast majority of android phones only get around two to three years of support at best even flagships and some are least stuck on one version forever, meaning that they will never receive any kind of updates. So there are tons of android phones out there that are in the same position as the pixel 2 in terms of software. Support and tons of people use those phones every day without any worries, but it's honestly disappointing, because this phone could get updates for years to come without much compromise to the performance.

So my final verdict is that the Google Pixel 2 holds up pretty well in basically every aspect apart from software support in 2021, and if you don't mind the lack of software updates in the coming years, then this phone will be extremely solid, particularly if you're on a budget, and you will without a doubt be satisfied with it. If you go ahead and purchase one, but if you're someone who makes updates one of their top priorities when looking to buy an android phone, then this handset is not the one for you. So if you can look past that, then this phone is perfect for you in 2021, since it still performs incredibly fast, has a reliable camera system and still feels somewhat like a flagship. So why not jump in on this amazing value? Because in the big picture, you're really not sacrificing that much, and so that brings my Google Pixel 2 in 2021 review to an end. If you enjoyed this video, please make sure you hit subscribe for more reviews, comparisons and the occasional unboxing.

Thank you so much for watching, and I'll see you next time. You.

Source : Tech Spree