We were getting quite a bit of Google Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL leaks from past few months. Many people are having high expectations from this device as last year’s Pixel devices do performed excellent, especially in terms of camera and software experience. But there were some cons that people didn’t liked about those Pixel phones. Today we have answers to all of them, as the Mountain View company Google has officially unveiled the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL smartphones at Made by Google event in San Francisco. So, let’s see what are the changes in these second generation Pixels.
Google Pixel 2:
Let’s start with the smaller one i.e. Pixel 2. This phone sports the same 5” Full HD 1080p AMOLED display having 441ppi. It is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 octa core processor, and it is clocked at 2.45Ghz. It has the same 4GB of RAM (no 6GB this time as well) but the base variant now has 64GB of storage instead of last year’s 32GB, there’s a 128GB variant as well, and for graphical department the device has Adreno 540.
Talking about the camera which was the USP of last year’s Pixel, this Pixel 2 has a 12MP Rear Camera with f1.8 lens, both OIS and EIS (which will work simultaneously), PDAF, and Dual Tone LED flash. Though Google has decided to go for single camera instead of today’s trend i.e. Dual Camera Setup, with Google’s machine learning algorithms, this single camera can also take those bokeh shots (interesting !). Talking about the front camera it has 8MP sensor with 1.4µm pixel size and f2.4 lens. We can take those bokeh shots with front camera as well.
It packs a small 2700mAh battery but with fast charging support, the company says it will give upto 7 hours of charge in 15 minutes of charging. This Pixel 2 runs on latest Android 8.0 Oreo out of the box. Sadly the USB Type C Port has taken the place of 3.5mm headphone jack, but Google will pair a 3.5mm adaptor within the box.
Speaking about other connectivity options, it has Bluetooth 5.0 , USB Type C Port, WiFi, and NFC. Also there’s a new e-SIM option which is used for Google Fi and other network carriers which supports e-SIM. There’s still an option to add regular nano SIM card.
Coming to the build of this device, this Pixel 2 resembles the design of last year’s Pixel. That means there are not much difference between these two phones in terms of design. On the front it has the same thick bezels, but there are some noticeable changes on the back. The fingerprint sensor is placed on the back, again same as the predecessor.
But this year the Pixel 2 comes with IP67 certification for dust and water resistance. For screen protection is has Corning Gorilla Glass 5, on both front and the back part having glass. Rest of the body is made out of metal. Also this Pixel 2 will have Squeeze Gesture feature which we have seen in HTC U 11 this year, which indicates that this phone is manufactured by HTC. There are front facing stereo speakers as well for better sound.
Google Pixel 2 XL:
Now coming to the higher end model i.e. Pixel 2 XL, this has a huge 6” Quad HD+ P-OLED Display with 18:9 aspect ratio and 538ppi. It is powered by 2.45Ghz Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 octa core processor, along with Adreno 540 GPU. It also has the same 4GB of RAM (no 6GB this time as well) but the base variant now has 64GB of storage instead of last year’s 32GB, there’s a 128GB variant as well.
Moving to the camera which was the USP of last year’s Pixel XL, this Pixel 2 XL has a 12MP Rear Camera with f1.8 lens, both OIS and EIS (which will work simultaneously), PDAF, and Dual Tone LED flash. This single camera can also take those bokeh shots (interesting !). Talking about the front camera it has 8MP sensor with 1.4µm pixel size and f2.4 lens. We can take those bokeh shots with front camera as well.
The device is backed on a (slightly larger) 3520mAh battery with fast charging support. This Pixel 2 XL runs on latest Android 8.0 Oreo out of the box. Sadly the USB Type C Port has taken the place of 3.5mm headphone jack here as well, but Google will pair a 3.5mm adaptor within the box. Talking about other connectivity options, it has Bluetooth 5.0 , USB Type C Port, WiFi, and NFC. Also there’s a new e-SIM option which is used for Google Fi and other network carriers which supports e-SIM. There’s still an option to add regular nano SIM card.
Coming to the build of this Pixel 2 XL, the design has noticeably changed as compared to last year’s Pixel XL. This time is has the thin bezel design like LG G6, can’t say Galaxy S8/S8+ here because these Samsung devices has almost no bezels on the sides, but there are some bezels in the side as well.
The top & bottom bezels are a bit thicker as compare to sides, that’s due to the stereo speakers. The back hasn’t changed much, only some noticeable changes here & there. The fingerprint sensor is placed on the back, same as the predecessor. But this year the Pixel 2 XL comes with IP67 certification for dust and water resistance. For screen protection is has Corning Gorilla Glass 5, on both front and the back part having glass. Rest of the body is made out of metal. This Pixel 2 XL will also have Squeeze Gesture feature which we have seen in HTC U 11 this year, which indicates that this elder variant is also made by HTC.
Both the Pixel devices doesn’t support for microSD card, but don’t worry about the storage as it offers unlimited Photos and Videos cloud storage. And these two devices are the first one’s to support e-SIM for the Project-Fi users.
The Pixel 2 comes in Kinda Blue, Just Black, and Clearly White colour options. And the Pixel 2 XL comes in Just Black and Black&White colour options. Now let’s talk about pricing and availability of this phone:
- The Pixel 2 price starts at $650 (INR 42300).
- The Pixel 2 XL price starts at $850 (INR 55,300).
- Both phones are up for pre-order and will be available in countries like USA, UK, Canada, India, Australia and Germany, from November this year i.e. next month.
- Pre-orders in countries like Italy, Singapore, and Spain will start from later this year.
- New Google Home Mini will be available for free with both new Pixels for limited period in selected countries.
So that’s all the information we have as of now. Personally speaking both there phones looks quite interesting especially in Camera, software, and AI department. It would be interesting to see how will be the bokeh shots being captured with just single camera. But same as most of the flagships, both these phones also don’t look like a big upgrade over the predecessors. So what are your thoughts on these phones ? Do let us know in the comments below. Also stay tuned with us for more information.
You can read all the updates from the Made by Google event on our dedicated page.
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