The Google Pixel 2 XL | Does the Greatest Pixel stand up in 2021?! By Technically Speaking

The, Google Pixel 2 XL was the greatest Google Pixel device that has ever been made. What's up everybody, this is Scott. Welcome back to another video in my last video, you all said in the comments that I should make another retro style, video about the pixel 2 XL in 2021. Now I want to talk a little about the history a little about why I believe it's the best pixel device- that's ever been made and give my thoughts on how it would stand up in today's smartphone arena. Before I jump into the video. Let me be very clear because I cannot say this enough: I'm talking specifically about the pixel 2 XL, not the regular size, pixel 2, because, honestly, that was really not an overwhelmingly great phone.

The smaller pixel 2 was blah pretty much all around with questionable battery life in a very meh design from HTC, but the pixel 2 XL, that was an amazing phone from lg and instantly, became my favorite all-time pixel hands down the black and white version of the pixel 2 XL became known as the panda edition and every other white phone on android gets compared to it. Still to this very day, at least in my brain. None of them can touch the champ. None of those android devices that come out in white today can touch the panda edition 2xl, because that little orange accent button on the side, the power button. It was the device that you just wanted to rock with no case at all, and it started my love affair with all clear-backed cases, because you did not want to hide the goodness.

That was the panda from those that were completely around you, and we're going to talk about this in another video. But when the successor to the pixel 2 XL came out, I immediately knew that the pixel 3 XL was automatically super jealous of all the love that the pixel 2 XL got from everybody else. It was openly weeping about the fact that the pixel 2 XL was loved that much more compared to the pixel 3. So the pixel 3 had some hurt feelings when it came out. The pixel 2 XL came out on October, 4th 2017, just 365 days later after the original OG pixel XL, and just as recently as december 2020 just a little ago, it got its last software update from Google moving it to android 11.

, now still housing that little larger of a chin and a forehead that we've all come to know and love out of a pixel device. It still was smaller than that of the older sibling. The pixel XL in terms of the chin and forehead pixel 2 XL had gorilla glass, 5 with a glass and an aluminum frame, and back now that same pixel 2 XL was ip67 dust and water resistant with a six-inch PO LED display. Now people loved and hated the display- I personally love the display, but that's that's a kind of personal flavor, I suppose came with android 8 out of the box and now has that support all the way up to android 11, and it just received that in december 2020. And it came in a 64 and 128 varieties of terms of storage and 4 gigabytes of ram and a snapdragon 835 chipsets.

Now this is a device that can still to this very day stand up against some other phones, even those that have come out years longer than that of the pixel 2 XL. Now this was the first pixel that didn't have a headphone jack which was blasphemy. I tell you, so how dare google take something away from the nexus line, the line that was for the people and by the people? However, it did have stereo speakers and honestly, those speakers do sound a little better than some newer pixels and those shall remain nameless. Honestly, looking back in 2017, it was just a matter of time before the manufacturers got rid of the headphone jack, but people still kind of crushed google a little more than other smartphone manufacturers, but it is what it is. The cameras which became the thing that the pixels were the most known for and still are pretty much known for it to this very day, still only had one lens on the pixel 2 XL, and it ran circles around many of the phones at the time and honestly, still some of the ones that are out there today.

The fact that google said hold my lens when all the other companies were putting dual and triple lenses, just shows you how dedicated google was to the software experience and dumping those resources rather than into the hardware, but into the computational photography. Now, that's something that's going to help them kind of close the gap at the top to this very day, which still puts them at the top and is arguably the best point-and-shoot smartphone camera on the market still to this very day for the pixel 2 XL. This was because of the thing that first came out on the pixel 2 XL, which was that pixel visual core, which I'm not going to get into technical. To be honest with you, it helps with co-processing some work related to the computational photography, rather than just strictly relying on the 835 chipset. Basically, you snap a picture in the HDR plus on the pixel 2 XL processed it five times faster than just using the regular old chipset.

The pixel 2 XL was a market improvement over the great pixel 1 XL, and it really set the stage for the art of the possible and all the future years of the pixel brand. However, that did not come cheap in 2017, and I got to be honest with you. Looking back at these prices, I was still shocked to this very day at what it was the pixel 2 XL, the 64 gig version was a whopping 849 and 949 dollars for the 128 gig version. Look that was not small potatoes in 2017, and I would argue that still not small potatoes in 2021 to put that into perspective. Right now, the Google Pixel 5 costs a full 250 less now, with the same level of storage that 128 google was trying to play with the big boys in 2017 and the pixel 2 XL was a device that could more than hold its own weight in comparison to that of apple and Samsung at the time.

Honestly, this is a device that can still run well to this day in 2021 the chipset's still pretty good. I mean it's not the greatest the highest end of the line and that dedicated visual core can still produce some incredible shots with just the single lens and while it might be a little slow in comparison to today's phones, it's still great for somebody, that's on a budget and still wants something nice from Google now granted you're not going to be getting any more of the software updates, you're going to get those security patches and things like that, and you're still able to get android 11, which is a great OS for the device. And honestly, you can pick one up on swap pa right now, right before filming this video, I checked to see what a good one on swap pa would go for, and it goes for about 99 bucks, which is crazy good now. Does that mean I'm going to go out and buy that over the 350 Pixel 4a? No, but the pixel 2 XL for a hundred bucks? That's a pretty dynamite price in 2021. Now, with all that being said, did you have a pixel 2 XL, or did you want one and if you had one, was it your favorite pixel device of all time? I'd definitely love to know.

Please leave a comment below and let me know if the pixel 2 XL, the panda edition especially, was a fan favorite of yours as well. So that's it. That's all I have thanks for watching and, as always as share subscribe, thumbs up, leave a comment below, and we will see you next time. You.

Source : Technically Speaking