Google Just Launched The Pixel 2 And The Pixel 2 XL – This Is All You Need To Know !

By Srinivasareddy Chennareddy On Oct 4, 2017

Google just dropped the most awaited Smartphones of 2017 & with no surprise they’re calling them the Pixel 2 & Pixel 2 XL. The concept is quite like the last generation but, this time the Pixel 2 Series do come with some interesting feature bumps that we have desired right from the from generation of Pixel Smartphones. Let’s take then out one by one…

Google Pixel 2

The Google Pixel 2 carries a pretty similar looking design language from it’s predecessor & yes things are slightly redesigned with the complete extension of the Back Glass portion to the sides, redesigned Camera setup & the added front facing Stereo Speaker setup. The Display is again a 5 inch 16:9 1080P Amoled Panel. But, the real changes are on the inside.

So, the Pixel 2 has top notch specifications including,

A 5 inch Full HD Amoled Display that covers 95% of the DCI-P3 Color Gamut (2.5D CGG5 Protected)
A 10nm Octacore Snapdragon 835 (4 x 2.3Ghz + 4 x 1.9GHz)
An Adreno 540 GPU
4 Gigabytes Of LPDDR4X Memory
64 & 128 Gigabytes Storage Configurations
A 12.2 Megapixel Sensor on the back & and a lens aperture of f-1.8 (OIS Support)
An 8 Megapixel Sensor on the front & a lens aperture of f-2.4
Dual Front Firing Stereo Speakers
Bluetooth 5.0
Dual Band 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi
A 2700 mAh Battery
An Aluminium Alloy Unibody with IP67 Water & Dust Resistance

The specifications are definitely competing with all the current gen Android Flagships from the other big brands like Samsung & LG. But, the Design kinda sucks in 2017 and that’s probably done with a huge purpose & that’s the Pixel 2 XL. Actually, let’s come to Pixel 2 XL right now.

Google Pixel 2 XL

The Pixel 2 XL is the real star of the show here. It keeps all the things that the regular Pixel 2 has but, Google did some significant changes to the design & some useful additions to the feature list. So, the most significant upgrade in the Pixel 2 XL is definitely it’s Display. It’s an 18 : 9 Quad HD (2880 x 1440) Display that uses the pOLED technology you can find in the LG v30 as well. This Display also covers 100% of the DCI-P3 Color Gamut thats a significant boost over the 95% on the regular Pixel 2. So, on paper the Pixel 2 XL’s Display appears to be the best Display on any smartphone till date but, it’s still straight on evaluation before anyone can confirm that.

The other specifications are almost identical to the regular Pixel 2 but there are some differences in some segments. So, here are the specifications anyway,

A 6 inch Full HD pOLED Display that covers 100% of the DCI-P3 Color Gamut (3D CGG5 Protected)
A 10nm Octacore Snapdragon 835 (4 x 2.3Ghz + 4 x 1.9GHz)
An Adreno 540 GPU
4 Gigabytes Of LPDDR4X Memory
64 & 128 Gigabytes Storage Configurations
A 12.2 Megapixel Sensor on the back & and a lens aperture of f-1.8 (OIS Support)
An 8 Megapixel Sensor on the front & a lens aperture of f-2.4
Dual Front Firing Stereo Speakers
Bluetooth 5.0
Dual Band 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi
A 3520 mAh Battery
An Aluminium Alloy Unibody with IP67 Water & Dust Resistance

So in theory, there is a bigger Screen with a Higher Aspect Ratio, there is 3D Glass instead of 2.5D & there is also a Bigger Battery. But, that’s not all. You can actually squeeze the sides of device to activate the Google Assistant & Google calls it Active Edge. This is the same feature we saw on the HTC U11 & in the Pixel 2 XL it’s probably re-mappable but, that isn’t clear yet.

But, on the other hand, Google has followed the footsteps of Apple & removed the 3.5 mm Headphone Jack from both the Pixel 2 & Pixel 2 XL. So, you can now either use USC Type-C Headphones or plug in your regular headphones with an adapter. So, that’s pretty disappointing. Also, no wireless charging as well.

In the Software department, there are significant improvements this year. So, the Pixel 2 & Pixel 2 XL will ship with Android 8.0 Oreo out of the box. Being Google’s own devices, Google again promises minimum 3 Years of regular Software updates. But, there is a whole lot to the software of the Pixel 2 & Pixel 2 XL.

Google Assistant now has a better integration on these devices. It’s a little more accurate, a little more feature rich & a little more intelligent. But, the main highlight is something called the Google Lens that will be exclusive to the Pixel & Google has integrated Google Lens directly in the Camera. So, the user can do a lot with the Camera alongside taking photos. Google lens can scan certain things like email addresses from a paper & trigger the Assistant to send a mail to that email address. So, Google is using Machine Learning to make the Assistant & Google Lens work seamlessly together to evolve the user experience with the new Pixel line up.

The Camera on the Google Pixel 2 got a DXO Mark Rating Of 98. So, Google again claims that this is the best Camera on Any smartphone till date. That’s something we need to test out but, Google has implemented some cool capture modes including Live Photos & Portrait Mode on both the Front & the Rear Cameras. Google say that they use the Machine Learning capabilities to accurately produce a good portrait photograph out of the Pixel 2 Camera & that’s why they don’t need a secondary lens to do it.

The Pixel 2 & Pixel 2 XL are also the first devices to integrate Google’s ARCore in their software. With this AR becomes accessible to more & more people & it doesn’t require specialized hardware to support it like Tango. It again uses Machine Learning for ARCore but, accuracy is something that is uncertain as of now. I personally think that ARCore can’t be as accurate as Tango at least in it’s early stages. But, that’s also something to confirmed by a proper evaluation.

As far the pricing goes, the Pixel 2 will cost 649 USD for the 64 Gig Variant & 749 USD for the 128 Gig variant while the Pixel 2 XL will cost 849 USD for the 64 Gig & 949 USD for the 128 Gig variant and they’re available for pre-order right now. Also, you can choose from “Kinda Blue”, “Clearly White” & “Just Black” color options for the Pixel 2 and “Black & White” & “Just Black” color options for the Pixel 2 XL.

Pre-order Link (US) : Available on the Google Store

So, what do you think about the Pixel 2 & the Pixel 2 XL ? Are you planning to pick one up or you’re pretty disappointed with the devices ? Definitely let us know in the comments section right below this article !