Mitlov's Pixel 2 XL review

So after a lot of debate, I went and got a Pixel 2 XL. Got a 128 gb black model from Verizon. I've had it for a few days and am ready to offer some initial thoughts, and answer any questions people may have.

So how's the screen?

This was the biggest controversy when it was new. The plus side: any issues with graininess or uneven lighting are simply not present on my unit. Likewise, the colors, when the screen is set to "saturated," are perfectly punchy and attractive to my eyes, and I'm used to Samsung devices. (They're not quite as vibrant as your typical stock Samsung-overboosted colors, but still vibrant).

There IS very pronounced off-center blue shift. However, this is not nearly as much of an issue as you'd think from watching video reviews. Why? Because there's no blue tint when looking straight on, and when I'm watching media, it's always straight-on. Whereas video reviews almost always show the screen from off-axis.

How about the ergonomics?

Perhaps one of the best, and least mentioned, aspects of the phone. The matte aluminum case is grippy and solid feeling. No need for a case to keep if from slipping away from you! And the flat sides give you a far more secure hold than the thinner sides of my S7 Edge did. It's a heavy phone, but in a reassuring, solid-brick sort of way, kind of like Nokias of yore.

The fingerprint sensor is well placed (no camera smudges) and works very, very well. Far fewer false negatives than my Galaxy S7 Edge fingerprint sensor.

My Galaxy S3 went in a case because it felt slimy. My Moto X 2014 went without because it was excellent ergonomically. My S7 Edge went in a case because it felt slippery, and the bezels were so thin I'd accidentally trigger the screen. This, like the Moto X 2014, feels like it was actually intended to be used without a case, so that's what I'm doing.

Let's talk about audio.

The good news is the stereo front-facing speakers are good. Not brilliant, but good, and respectably loud. These used to be common on Android flagships, and I think they should make a comeback. They don't add too much in the way of top and bottom bezels, but add a lot of utility if you ever need to show a friend a video or something like that.

The bad news. Yes, after all the "still has a headphone jack" jabs with the Pixel 1, they removed it on the Pixel 2, and for no valid reason. And they don't include USB-C headphones in the box. And it turns out that USB-C headphones aren't even really a thing yet, unless you want to pay $150. So buy a couple extra dongles. And to add insult to injury, a dongle that includes both USB-C and 3.5mm audio simultaneously is still listed on Google's page as "coming soon" many months after the phone launched, and similar devices on Amazon all seem to get two-star reviews.

Thankfully, Google's own USB-C-to-3.5mm dongle is $9 and gives you good audio quality. I'm just buying one for every device I frequently plug in. It's a thumb in the eye. But not a deal-breaker for me.

Camera?

OH MY GOD. This is the phone's selling point. Front-facing and rear-facing are both incredible. The ability to get truly incredible photos by just pointing and shooting in auto-everything settings cannot be overstated for people like me who use their phone as their primary camera. The dynamic range for outside scenery shots is just ridiculously well done.

Portrait mode also works very, very well in my experience. I thought it was a gimmick until I tried it with my boys and, in the first couple attempts, got stuff I'd be willing to frame and put on the walls.

Gimmicks?

Squeezing the phone to launch Google Assistant? It's a gimmick, but it's not a bad one, and if you don't want to use it, deactivate it and you'll never know it's there. Interestingly, Google is getting zero heat over the fact that you can't remap this function to a different app besides Google Assistant. Compare with the heat Samsung is getting over the non-remappable Bixby button. Just sayin'.

There is no equivalent to the iPhone X's Animoji or the S9's AR Emoji. I'm quite okay with that omission.

Exclusive live wallpapers may be a gimmick, but they're actually really well done here. Most previews focused on the aerial photos with tiny details in movement (hot air balloons drifting over Monument Valley, cars driving down a road in a Hawaiian mountainous forest, etc). But my favorite is "marvelous marble," where an extremely detailed planet earth rotates and moves in the background, including some rotations caused by flipping between homescreens, and the lit side/unlit side of the planet is based upon the actual time of day, and which side is facing you is based on where you are in the world.

Performance.

I have to eat crow because I've often pooh-poohed people who say vanilla Android is so much faster and smoother than skinned, based upon the severe intermittent lag issues my Nexus 9 has always had, and the relatively good experiences I've had with my S3 and S7 Edge. But this thing, based upon my first week with it, genuinely is game-changing for me. It's so incredibly smooth and buttery, a dramatic step up from my S7 Edge (which I didn't consider problematic) and even a step up from my iPad 5.

I don't run benchmarks because they're silly and irrelevant for real-world use. But in terms of real-world use, this thing is FAST.

 

@Mitlov congratulations on your new toy! Hope it brings you exclusively fun and joy. (=

 

Battery life seems very good so far. Standby time is unusually good for an Android phone. I'll lose 3% over the course of eight hours overnight (with always-on display off).

I also want to emphasize what a value this phone is right now. I got my 128 gb model for $650, when competitive Apple and Samsung flagships go for over $900. This phone is a little harder to justify when priced directly against something with wireless charging...but when it's 2/3rds the price, it's a bit of a no-brainer.

 

S8 is like 500 Euros over here (and Plus is around 580). Obviously they have less space, but you can add more with microSD card (64GB is like what these days, 20 Euros?)
And yes, I am comparing it with older Sammy phone because P2XL is 2017 phone, and comparing with S9 wouldn't be fair. The other one is correct, though. Apple stuff always costs more

 

I care a lot about cameras, and the Pixel's camera stands toe-to-toe with the S9's (ie, portrait mode). I personally don't care about SOC performance, so the fact that the Pixel 2 has an 835 isn't the deciding factor for me. If course, your mileage may differ.

 

Well, give it the same amount of time P2XL had and see what price S9 will have. If you want to be completely fair...

 

But I was buying today, not six months from now, and since I wanted a top-tier camera, my choices were a Galaxy S9, an iPhone 8/X, or a Pixel 2.

 

Yes, of course. That's fine, I get that.
But you were still saying "hey, the phone which came out like two weeks ago is more expensive than the phone which came out out half a year ago."
Again, not a fair comparison...

 

It would be unfair if I was trying to say that Google is, in general, inherently better at offering good value than Apple or Samsung. It's totally fair when I'm buying a phone in April 2018 and talking what specific models on the market right now offer the better value right now. My intent was the latter, not the former.

 

Are you using LTE for voice and data?

 

Another bonus is you have access to Project Fi should you want it.

 

I would assume so for data but not voice? I dunno, I'm using it how it came out of the box from Verizon, and there is LTE coverage in my area.

 

Hey tell me how you managed to use LTE for data only like iPhones?

 

I literally said I don’t know what it’s using, and it’s just on factory settings. Diving into those settings, it looks like Wi-Fi calling is off, “advanced calling” (“use LTC services to improve voice and other communications” is on. Don’t know if that answers what you’re asking.

 

Most of the time you'll be on LTE voice and data mode aka 4G/LTE/3G auto mode

 

Mitlov, if you live in a place where your LTE is shoddy, switch on wifi calling....much better.

 

@Vasudev what's bad about using LTE for calls (VoLTE)?

 

Kills battery faster than you can count your fingers if you're on low coverage area like I do. Even 3G signal is low.

 

Are there any practical downsides to enabling WiFi calling? Would call quality degrade if I walk out of range of the wifi mid-call?

 

Yes think of it as skype callingon wifi. Its best to carry a MiFi device if you enable Wifi calling.

 

Ugh, thanks but no thanks. I'd much rather prioritize call quality over battery life. I appreciate the heads-up.

 

Update: Marques Brownlee hit the nail on the head. The camera is amazing, but there are real issues with lag and stutters. I'm not sad I got it because I rely on the camera a lot. But between smoothness just six months in being comparable to a 2-year old Samsung, and me really missing the headphone jack and wireless charging, Google isn't doing much to convince me to not go back to Samsung when I'm done with this phone.

 

Huh, so what was all this talk about smooth and lagless experience due to no bloat and stuff...

 

I think the UFS storage needs to be trimmed weekly.

 

New trick it's doing: once every couple days, it loses the ability to recognize that headphones have been plugged into the USB-C port and insists on playing music through the speakers. A reboot fixes it. This is NEVER a problem I had with a 3.5mm headphone jack on ANY device. Not sure if it's because the connection isn't as solid and it gets halfway-unplugged and then has trouble recognizing it after that, or if it's purely software. Regardless, reason 3,584 why it's nice to have a dedicated headphone jack.

On the plus side, we recently took a trip to a fishing village on the west coast of British Columbia, and the shots I got are breathtaking. Amazing portrait-mode photos of people, amazing landscape photography. People who aren't phone people, where I'm not specifically talking about the phone and just showing photos of the vacation, have commented that some of the landscape photos I got are worthy of framing. I'm not willing to post any pictures that show my family, but here's one landscape shot, purely taken as a quick point-and-shoot image.

Spoiler

 

Cool. the detail in the rock in the forground is good! I have been spoiled by my Fuji cameras and the 1020. Now, taking photos with my iPhone is crappy. they are all pretty well lackluster. That one you posted came out great!

 

Google has FINALLY released wired USB-C headphones for the Pixel line. I got some and they're superb. By far the best audio quality I've ever had at this price point ($30), and they're not prone to falling out.

They also have a dedicated button that activates Google Assistant if you're into that sort of thing (I'm not).

 

That's really good!