Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL: After too many rumors and speculations, Google's answer to the iPhone 8 and iPhone X is here.
Officially meet the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL.
The smaller Pixel 2 looks a lot like its predecessor, with a 5-inch OLED display that's now flanked by stereo speakers — a feature that results in the removal of the headphone jack. It's made by HTC (which Google recently acquired), and comes in black, white, and "some kind of blue." And yes, it still has giant bezels, let's face it.
The Pixel 2 XL brings a more dramatic change. It's almost the same size as its predecessor, but it has a 6-inch display instead of 5.5 inches, thanks to smaller rounded bezels at the top and bottom. Its aspect ratio is 2:1, or 18:9. It comes in "just black" and a neat panda-like black and white, which has an orange power button (why not). Fans of blue will be disappointed to hear that the color is exclusive to the smaller device.
Both models feature a metal design with a small glass bezel on the back, which this time has an even smaller footprint than in recent years. They look quite stylish, especially the XL 2.
The basic specifications are typical of 2017 and are almost identical except for their resolution and battery size:
Snapdragon 835 (not the Snapdragon 836 that rumors wanted)
4GB RAM
64GB and 128GB storage
1920×1080 display on the Pixel 2
2,880 x 1,440 resolution on the Pixel 2 XL (538 ppi)
Stereo speakers
2,700 mAh battery on the Pixel 2, 3,520 mAh on the XL
Active Edge compression sides
No microSD card slot (ouch!)
No headphone jack (hmm)
Fast charging (up to 7 hours in 15 minutes)
The “Active Edge” feature isn’t exactly unique. It was on the HTC U11 and let you squeeze the sides to launch shortcuts. Google introduced the feature to automatically launch the camera by saying ‘take a selfie.’
The company introduced its new Lens feature that is built into the camera, and is capable of automatically detecting objects in an image.
Speaking of the camera, Google says the Pixel once again has the highest camera score on DxO at 98, beating the iPhone 8 and Note 8.
What's particularly impressive is that Google managed to create a portrait mode with just one camera. It had previously tried this with an app of its own, which had a "Lens Blur" feature, but it was very clumsy to the point of being useless.
The new portrait mode uses dual-pixel technology in the camera sensor to create the effect using some machine learning analysis. Google says its machine learning is so advanced that it can also work on the front-facing camera, without the need for a huge sensor cluster on the front like the iPhone X.
Prices now: The smaller Pixel will cost between $649 and $749 for 64GB and 128GB, while the larger one will be $849/949. As a promotion, Google is also offering a free Google Home Mini with every Pixel purchase.
