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The photos are dreamy…
I’ll start with the feature that made me fall in love with this device. It’s no secret that the Pixel 2 XL’s photographic capabilities are at the industry’s highest level, but this smartphone has entirely changed my photography habits.
I certainly don’t want to compare the quality of a photo sensor in a smartphone with that of a professional camera, because they’re still worlds apart. But this smartphone produces images of an incredible quality.
Whether it’s thanks to a superior sensor, the use of computational photography, Pixel Visual Core processing, HDR+ technology or some strange voodoo ritual, I don’t care. Every single shot produced by this smartphone should be seen and every single image captured by this camera should live on and shouldn’t be deleted. I’m so at ease when I take photos, I can’t compare it to any other smartphone nowadays (and remember I have an iPhone X in my other pocket). I’ll explain in greater detail with a practical example.
Think about every time you have a special evening with friends or participate in some particular event. Now think about what usually happens during these moments when you’re ready to take a picture: you pull out your smartphone, open the camera, take a picture and then put your smartphone in your pocket, right? No, that’ll never work. Because every time you take a picture, you have to check whether it’s in focus, that the phone hasn’t been moved and that it came out correctly. You’ll have to delete it and take another one. That simply doesn’t happen with the Pixel 2 XL. You can take the picture and forget it.
Of course, it’s not that everyone else is suffering so horribly, but after having this smartphone for this long I’ve lost the habit of re-checking photos after I take them. I wouldn’t trade this luxury for any other feature in the world. I took some of the most beautiful photos of my entire life with the Pixel 2 XL. Plus there’s unlimited store space on Google Photos in original quality for images and videos. Google, however, doesn’t let you enter a ‘manual’ or ‘pro’ mode.
… but look at them on another device
Unfortunately, this is the case. The quality of the display management casts shadow on this device that otherwise has been almost perfect. And I’m not talking about the display quality, only about its management.
There’s nothing wrong with the display of the Pixel 2 XL. The panels are the same as those mounted on the LG V30, but the final results are completely different. The LG V30 would have been the perfect smartphone for me if only the camera didn’t produce mediocre shots (at least from what I saw after a few days of testing), but as always I’m searching for something else.
But to return to the Pixel 2 XL display, I don’t find it bad at all. I was recently able to closely compare it with the iPhone X OLED panel, which overall is one of the most pleasant I’ve ever seen. I noticed that the colors of the two smartphones were very close to one another when they’re compared in terms of content. The colors on the Pixel 2 XL are only slightly less saturated in a direct comparison when using the boosted color profile. When using the saturated profile, they’re only slightly too saturated and some nuances are lost, especially in the orange/red part of the spectrum. In any case the calibration is good, but there is still something lost.
I’ve continued to compare the same content on both smartphones for a while and I’ve come to the conclusion that what’s wrong is not directly in the colors. The display of the Pixel 2 XL lacks contrast, which is quite ridiculous for an OLED display. It’s true, the blacks are absolute, but the whites don’t shine and are almost always tending slightly to gray. It’s like having an Instagram filter active 24 hours a day and it’s annoying if you have a second smartphone that you can use to compare. Obviously if you use the Pixel as your only smartphone you won’t notice it at all.
It really gets on my nerves that this flat ‘color profile’ disappears completely when you observe content in HDR. In these cases, the Google Pixel 2 XL’s display really shines with brilliant but natural colors that are worthy of the brand. It’s a pity that 99% of the content that counts for most users (including me) is not in HDR and above all that there are thousands of other things to do on a smartphone, including watching videos.
The software shows its power…
We’ve said it a million times, first for Nexus and now for Pixels: software has always been the strength of Google smartphones. In addition, this year Google decided to dare to equip its smartphones with some exclusive elements.
Some elements of the interface are slightly and imperceptibly retouched to provide something special that isn’t found on other smartphones. Some areas of the operating system (such as the notification area, lock screen and shutdown menu) have a light hue in the background. The color of the background depends on the wallpaper you’re using. The launcher, for example, has a dark mode when you set a background with mostly black tones.
The device moves between screens very sleekly, switches from one application to another in the blink of an eye and you’ll never notice the Pixel slowing down, even under the weight of heavier tasks. And that’s a relief. The same goes for the camera: thanks to the fact that the software is protected by Google, you can use your smartphone with more ease. Opening heavy documents, quickly scrolling through photos and videos, switching between apps to copy content or respond to messages becomes a pleasure.
The Pixel 2 XL becomes a magic tool that gives you everything you want.
I think that this is the best way to summarize what you feel using the Pixel 2 XL in your daily life: the smartphone becomes a magic tool that gives you everything you want. It even transcends being a smartphone. This is a sensation that you only feel in the Android world once you have a Pixel.
Google is aiming for an experience in which what counts are the services and not the means by which they’re reached. It also achieved this with Google Home, but not exclusively. The only other smartphone that does this at the moment is Apple’s iPhone (any recent version). And in this way you could call the Pixel 2 XL is Google’s iPhone Plus, which isn’t necessarily a good thing in all respects.
…as well as a major weakness
Every year I tried to get my hands on the latest Google smartphone right away because every year I wanted to immediately try the latest version of Android. For many years this made the first weeks with the device a pleasure.
There’s a curiosity about the new features, in addition to the pleasure of using such a fast new smartphone. But after a few months the only thing left is boredom.
Google smartphones simply work, do whatever you need and do it well. Do you need an application to edit documents? There’s an app for that and the Pixel runs it perfectly. Need to read news? Open the store and you’ll find thousands of applications to perform this function. Internet browsing? Fast and smooth. The photos? Very good and you won’t have to mess around with the settings. Customization? There are beautiful animated backgrounds.
You can say the same things about Apple. I realized this only by talking about the Pixel 2 XL with some friends. All the things that are usually associated with the iPhone are also true for the Pixel as well.
Google has turned its smartphone into an iPhone as Android is finally ‘proofed’ to users with little experience. Anyone who takes a Pixel into their hands is able to use it easily and smoothly, but this is at the expense of the freedom of the most discerning users. True, there are launchers, mods, ROMs and those who have more of them get to see more of the benefits. But if you just use the device as it comes out of the box you’ll end up bored in a few months. This is a feeling that I used to associate only with iPhone.
Most recently, I’ve been always using stock exclusively from Android, and I’ve started to appreciate the software additions made by some manufacturers to the most popular mobile operating system in the world. Using smartphones with skins at least seems like a nice ‘change of air’.
Conclusions
I wanted to focus on these few elements because I think they deserved to be explained in greater detail and have left everything else for the conclusion. Once I got over my excitement for the new smartphone and the latest Android version, the Pixel 2 XL left me with contrasting feelings.
The battery has proven to be more than sufficient for my daily use and it charges quickly enough. The performance makes it a true flagship and the manufacturing is really solid, although it’s all really subjective when it comes to aesthetics. The fingerprint reader is quick, well positioned and squeezing the edges to activate Google Assistant is more useful than I ever thought it would be.
The device is able to perform its tasks in an exemplary way, and despite the fact that the price is not quite for everyone, it’s a smartphone that I’ve recommended and will continue to recommend. Sometimes, reflecting on it, I think there is nothing that prevents me from changing phones and switching to any other flagship on the market, and that does somewhat sadden and disappoint me.
But then I open Google Photos and think about the camera. This year Google has really set the bar high with its photographic elements and I can’t help but realize that being able to shoot great photos carries enormous weight in my selection of a person device.
I don’t view myself as a photographer, but I take great pleasure in capturing moments of my life and I want to do it in the best possible way. If you then consider which smartphone camera is the best on the market and that you’re holding it in your hand, the Google Pixel 2 XL can be forgiven for any other shortcoming.
If I stop to think about it, that feeling of boredom that sometimes accompanies having this smartphone is actually the peace of mind that comes when everything is working flawlessly.
You never have to think about how many apps are opened for fear of slowing down the device, you do not have to continuously check the battery out of fear that it’s draining. You won’t go crazy with late notifications or accounts that don’t synchronize with each other, and you’ll never have to ask yourself if the latest apps in the Play Store are working properly.
I unconsciously take these things for granted in everyday use. Usually you notice things don’t work properly and have to change your smartphone use accordingly to get around the problem. You don’t realize when your smartphone is excelling because you don’t have a reason to stop and think about it.
For these reasons it is impossible for me to remove the SIM card from its casing and abandon this boring machine that builds lasting memories. Every flagship is able to open Facebook, send an email and surf the internet without a problem. But there’s no smartphone other than the Pixel 2 XL that I’d like to have with me when it really matters.
How do you feel about the Pixel 2 XL? Are there ways it could improve or do you also find it’s the best device on the market? Tell us what you think in the comments.
A lot of shortcomings have been reported, especially about the display. As there were: Issues with OLED burn-ins, grainyness, washed out colours due to unchabgeable calibration and some minor bugs. While the latter are not important resp. in a kind expectable and fixable, there should have been some words about general display quality.
You’ve obviously never owned a Pixel or you wouldn’t have made such an idiotic comment. It’s hands down the best smartphone on any OS on the market.
Did he touch a nerve? So much so you had to make a personal attack? Those are reasonable since it’s been reported and what you say is anecdotal evidence
I can only assume you have not used the phone. As a Note 8 user trying out the Pixel 2 XL, I can say the screen "issues" have been largely exaggerated. The camera quality is amazing and the rest of the phone is as smooth as it gets.
As a Pixel 2 XL owner, the screen isn’t good. I an live with the blue shift (present on mine). The white balance of the note 8 is easier on the eyes (warmer or maybe true white) where as the Pixel 2 XL looks more cold blue-white. The smearing of blacks when scrolling is horrendous when the screen is dim or when night mode is active. My best guess was the dull color calibration was to reduce the smearing. The original color calibration looks a little weird in icons, but is okay. Saturated looks the closest when comparing photos I took using the phone to real life. Boosted just looks silly and doesn’t suit the display imo. My recommendation is go for the smaller Pixel 2 or wait for the Pixel 3 XL. That being said, 8 hours battery life is amazing compared to the 4.5 max of my old (bootloop-slaughtered) 5X.
Yeah dude, you clearly don’t know what you’re talking about. And you obviously don’t own a Pixel 2 XL. Burn-in isn’t happening to mine, grainyness exists slightly if I look for it, color calibration is changeable in settings, and I’m not sure what bugs you’re talking about.
Google actually patched to reduce max brightness due to burn-in. There were several reports of problems in the first month. Burn-in, prior to the patch could be shown in *less than* 24 hours (static image) using max brightness. A report came out a while ago that Note 8 gets burn in around 18 hours and the iPhone X was 24 hours. Google shifted the position of the buttons in the navbar when updating to Oreo which showed some terrible burn in for some 1st gen Pixels.
Most of the time, I use mine at 40% adaptive (mostly for extra battery and at night anything higher is too bright), so I hope to avoid anything noticible for years. My friend on the other hand… Has his note 8 set to static high brightness. I’m expecting him to see burn in before I do.
*I’ve seen claims of uneven screen wear in as little as 6 hours pre-patch on the Pixel 2 XL.
So if it isn’t happening to you it’s not happening? What kind of logic is that?
Píxel 2xl Is the shit, too much hate online for Google
I’ve owned the Pixel 2 XL since it came.out. I’ve never had such an amazing user experience in any other phone! No bugs, bulletproof software, always reliable, never slows down, no hiccups, amazing battery, great sound, it just works 100% of the time!
Maybe the design would’ve been better, but isn’t a deal breaker once you experience this amazing phone!
The camera! OMG!! Nothing comes closer to be honest.
I was talking to my wife about it since she’s always been a Samsung phone fan. She can’t wait for the Pixel 3 XL to come out. I just don’t know if I’m upgrading phone this year since the Pixel 2 XL is this amazing!
I kinda understand the "boring" meaning of the article. It just doesn’t give you any issues at all! It saves you money by not already thinking which phone you’re getting next. It’s just not necessary to get another phone in the next couple of years when you own one of these babies! ?
By boring he means it’s featureless.
It’s both 😛
I love my Pixel 2 but I would like to personalize it a little more. For example I would like to use active edge for something other than Google assistant, or perhaps the volume buttons to control other functions, or using your own music as a ringtone. There are so many things that Google can add to the Pixel 2, instead of trying to find apps or mods. If it isn’t already in the Options menu or the App store then I’m not going to fiddle with it.
You can use your own music or 3rd party clips for ringtones. Check out zedge on the play store.
I downloaded an app to clip my music. I tried strictly using my songs as ringtones but my pixel 2 would end up playing a regular ringtone.
Yeah, the photos are unbelievable. I too, remember having to take 2 or 3 photos to make sure that at least one turned out okay on the older Android phones that I was using. No more! The photos are so good that I’ve found myself taking a lot more of them. It’s just so easy!
Pro Tip: Learn how to use the grid lines to improve your composition. The Pixel 2 has both the "Rule of Thirds" and "The Golden Ratio" grid lines. You will be amazed at how easy it is once you start paying attention to composition. YouTube has plenty of videos to explain the process of composition using both types of grid lines.
I’m using Google’s Android devices since I moved away from Nokia almost 10 years now. I loved all of those and I have my pixel XL 2 a few months now and I really love it. I think that this is the best Google phone that they made yet. The photos are incredible. I personally would recommend this phone and if someone never experienced android on a google phone, they should try, because it’s a whole new world.
I’m not a fan of the pixals I use the s8+. But the camera on my plus is very good. The pixal camera is definitely the best I’ve ever seen. And I do believe to give credit when due. The pixals are the best!
I recently switched from a S8+ to a Pixel 2 XL because the S8+ was lagging. I love the camera on the Pixel but it seems to be slowing down really quickly and I’m getting a bit bored with it. The S8+ had a fabulous display and felt so premium that I’m considering switching back.