28 ms·

Google Pixel 2 and 2 XL announced

346 points by plessthanpt05 9y ago

Grazester 9y ago
Its DX0 score is 98
- MBCook 9y ago
  Which is meaningless. They have declared themselves the standard but that number doesn’t actually measure anything. I mean the fact they sell cameras alone means they’re not unbiased. https://daringfireball.net/linked/2017/09/22/dxo-ratings-are-horseshit https://daringfireball.net/linked/2017/09/22/dxo-ratings-are... Wait for real camera reviews.
  - endorphone 9y ago
    John Gruber's stance on DXO is utterly meaningless, and it's farcical that you seriously cite it. Measuring the technical capabilities of an imaging device is patently obvious and justifiable. From dynamic range to optical and electronic resolution, noise at different light levels, etc. You can question their methodology, but saying that it "doesn't measure anything" is nonsense, and citing a guy who laughably claims that you can't measure the "art" is uproarious. Gruber has less than zero legitimacy in this discussion, and his sole motivating intention is defend Apple in all facets.
    - oflannabhra 9y ago
      Gruber's conclusion is correct, even though his reasoning is not. DxO scores are crap, because they do not adequately control scenes in their comparisons. Most DSLR reviews have a consistent scene that pushes the envelope of what a sensor can capture, and all cameras are benchmarked against that scene. Here's an example: https://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikon-d7500-review-speed-and-capability/8 https://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikon-d7500-review-speed-an...
      - endorphone 9y ago
        I agree entirely -- their methodology is sloppy and what they do have is poorly documented. I certainly don't hold their scores supreme or canonical. Complaining that it can be done with more rigor and consistency, and with more objective openness, is valid. Gruber's hand-wavy art complaint is not.
    - PascLeRasc 9y ago
      Did you read that blog post? He was criticizing DXO for giving the iPhone 8 the highest score ever, not defending Apple. How do you objectively measure bokeh effects? And if you're so defensive of DXO, can you explain why their photo subscores range from 51-89 but that adds up to a 96?
      - jimmies 9y ago
        Should we run it through a machine learning algorithm to see how the hell any of the "component" score adds up to a 96 overall score? And why only those components, but not others? I want my dog nose filter score in too. Snake oil is what that number is.
      - endorphone 9y ago
        Gruber had previously shat on DXO when the iPhone was bested by the Pixel. He took this opportunity to say "Oh btw the iPhone is now best...but it's still horseshit look at how unbiased I am". And I'm not "defensive" of DXO scores any more than I'm defensive of dpreview. DXO analyzes a variety of real world technical capabilities of imaging systems -- most certainly in an imperfect way and needing more rigor -- but to call it "horseshit", or to ridiculously claim that it measures nothing, is specious.
    - MBCook 9y ago
      > Measuring the technical capabilities of an imaging device is patently obvious and justifiable. From dynamic range to optical and electronic resolution, noise at different light levels, etc. I agree completely. DPreview and other sites do that. > but saying that it "doesn't measure anything" is nonsense Then please tell me what that one final number measures. How do they get to it? It doesn’t seem objective at all. Other camera review sites give a bunch of objective measurements then a subjective opinion about how the camera related to others. DXO wants you to think their arbitrary number is scientifically rigorous. > and citing a guy who laughably claims that you can't measure the "art" is uproarious. Are you claiming you can measure art? That’s what DXO seems to do. Having a single number final score means that if camera A had a higher score than B then it must take objectively better pictures. Or we have to admit their score is subjective. > Gruber has less than zero legitimacy in this discussion Why? > and his sole motivating intention is defend Apple in all facets. He’s complaining that the iPhone had the highest score ever. If you were right he would be writing about how DXO said it was the best camera ever, not that DXO is a sham. If you can’t look past Gruber’s byline I imagine there are other articles online about DXO and their questionable practices. I’ve seen others before, this was the first Google turned up.
      - endorphone 9y ago
        "Why?" Because Gruber is a biased individual whose professional existence is to pander to a narrow crowd. He has nothing broadly interesting to say about cross-cutting concerns. "He’s complaining that the iPhone had the highest score ever." He previously dismissed DXO when the iPhone was beat. Now he wants to simultaneously crow about the iPhone taking the victory while claiming that he totally doesn't care about it anyways. People buy this teenager level nonsense? "Are you claiming you can measure art?" This is absurd. DXO is a broad, generalist, imperfect measure of imaging devices, and paradoxically there is broad agreement that the devices that do really well generally are capable of the best photos. But you can take a great photo with a pinhole camera, from an artistic perspective. Does this make a pinhole camera the best? That is nonsensical. Don't believe DXO. Don't believe Consumer Reports. Don't believe metacritic or star reviews or RT or whatever. But to claim it measures nothing, or to cite some biased player, is not credible.
  - Grazester 9y ago
    It might be meaningless but given the Pixel/Google's recent push with image based ai I would not be dismissive of the phone's camera prowess
    - MBCook 9y ago
      I don’t doubt the camera is good. The dual pixel thing sounds a little iffy to me in that I wonder if it can really duplicate the portrait mode of the iPhone. I’ll be very interested to see REAL reviews. DXO’s numbers mean as much as a five star system. They’re not quantitative but want to be treated like they are.
- jimmies 9y ago
  I own a Pixel but this DxO stuff is really dodgy. In the portrait pic of the girl, the difference between the Pixel 2 [1] and the iPhone 8 [2] is night and day, with the Pixel 2 looking like shit. She so pale, and the fake bokeh looks like a 5 year old smearing all over, it's simply not pleasant to look at. And the whole push on adding the fake bokeh """scores""" to justify changing the scores so every fucking newly released device gets the highest score is stupid. Thanks for scoring the bokeh, if I had really wanted bokeh, I would have pulled out my bulky mirrorless camera. I bet when a new phone comes out and they pay the DxO guy enough, they will add a dog nose filter score to make the new camera score the highest. 1: A https://cdn.dxomark.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/ref1_Bokeh-Indoor_GooglePixel2-e1506967768712.jpg https://cdn.dxomark.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/ref1_Boke... B https://cdn.dxomark.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/ref2_Lowlight_GooglePixel2.jpg https://cdn.dxomark.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/ref2_Lowl... 2: A https://cdn.dxomark.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/ref1_Bokeh-Indoor_ip8Plus.jpg https://cdn.dxomark.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/ref1_Boke... B https://cdn.dxomark.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/ref2_Lowlight_ip8Plus-e1506980596843.jpg https://cdn.dxomark.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/ref2_Lowl...
  - deanCommie 9y ago
    Uhhhhhhhhhhh are you serious? The iPhone 8 results look SO much better...
    - jimmies 9y ago
      Exactly, the iPhone 8 pictures look so much better. You don't have to quantify shit to realize this.
  - monort 9y ago
    It's post-processing, not the quality of the sensor, photo from iPhone have warmer color balance. If you compare the right eyebrow, you will see that [1] have more details, than [2]
    - jimmies 9y ago
      That might be true, but I'd say if they say their expertise is to have artificial intelligence, then by that I'd like to have the picture that is the most pleasant to look at. By that benchmark, and I can confidently say that 1 is definitely not more pleasant to look at than 2. Remember, the picture is always a depiction of what our eyes see, and that our eyes see is only a part of the reality. My eyes don't see bokehs. My eyes don't focus the same way the camera does. My eyes don't see in 3500K or 6500K or whatever the hell that is. My eyes don't care how many strands of hair there are in her eyebrows and how detailed they are. My eyes don't see in black and white, either. Yet those are what you see in pictures. Focusing on the little detail "accuracy" and forget what it really matters at the end is dangerous.
earlybike 9y ago
Guess it’s for many a minor thing but why can’t the phone just be symmetric (top and bottom bezel have the same height)?
- pinouchon 9y ago
  The Xiaomi mi mix did exactly that.
- mattnewton 9y ago
  The top of the phone’s bezel contains a camera, and the bottom doesn’t. Why do you want a larger chin with wasted space? The pixel 1’s chin always bothered me for that reason.
  - earlybike 9y ago
    Either you make a phone clearly asymmetric (eg new iPhone X) or clearly symmetric. The new Pixel tries to have a symmetric design but fails slighlty (top and bottom bezel have similar heights and form language but are still asymmetric).
  - oedenfield 9y ago
    I kind of like the chin on the Pixel 1 because I know I have another option to grab the phone without touching the touchscreen.
- kllrnohj 9y ago
  They sure look symmetric in the pictures, though?
codq 9y ago
As an audio engineer, the headphone jack removal trend is an absolute travesty in an industry that utilizes AUX IN audio capabilities night after night. I'm often using iPods or other local-music devices to pump sound into concert venues between acts. Taking away 1/8" audio standards in favor of USB-C or Lightning non-standardized ports causes chaos when needing to fill in music in a pinch. In my industry, I simply cannot live without a standard audio port, which absolutely no one was clamoring to discard. If my 1st generation Pixel were to break today, I'd buy another 1st generation Pixel.
- whipoodle 9y ago
  Yes, I've hated this change ever since I got my last iPhone. It's a pain and doesn't actually improve anything. I bought a bunch of those little dongles because I always lose them.
  - zippergz 9y ago
    I've also had some break. They are apparently pretty flimsy.
- legohead 9y ago
  I love my Pixel, but they just lost me as a customer for this reason. I'm not totally against removing the headphone jack, but it's not time yet -- the transition has been done poorly.
  - Washuu 9y ago
    Yep. All that was needed to get me to switch from my current iPhone 6/iOS was a current Google branded Android phone with a headphone jack. Now there is no reason for me to switch if I am going to be stuck buying a bunch of adapters.
  - gambiting 9y ago
    Yep, after being really impressed with the Pixel I knew Pixel 2 was going to be my next phone. Not anymore. Lack of the headphone jack is an absolute no-go for me.
Lon7 9y ago
I really really hope they have fixed their supply issues this time around. I live in the 4th largest city in North America and I was unable to get a Pixel within a reasonable amount of time.
- TaylorAlexander 9y ago
  Same. I waited for weeks for the Pixel to be in stock last year. I finally bought an iPhone 7 Plus after being all android since the T-Mobile G1. I love it, and it shipped in like 24 hours! I was blown away that google couldn’t provide a phone to those that wanted it. (Note: I wanted to max out storage and I wanted the XL. There was stock on models with the least storage.) I really hope they can keep these in stock.
Kevin_S 9y ago
Seems pretty nice. I may consider the Pixel 2 XL over the IPhone X in a few months, but will definitely need to see some reviews of both first. The removal of the headphone jack is devastating. I listen to music nearly every waking moment, so I am unsure about moving to Bluetooth whenever I use headphones.
- threeseed 9y ago
  It comes with a 3.5mm dongle in the box. Just do what everyone else does and leave it attached to your headphones.
  - WillPostForFood 9y ago
    How do you leave it attached when you plug it into your laptop and how do you listen while you charge? Great that it works for you, but having another dongle that you can lose, and have to attach and remove throughout the day is a real pain for others.
post_break 9y ago
It looks great, I hope Google can keep up the shipments. I really like the white and black XL, and the orange button really reminds me of Dieter Rams calculator from Braun.
limeblack 9y ago
Does anyone know how consistent the squeeze feature is on phones that have already implemented such?
- oedenfield 9y ago
  At least with latest Android OS you can replace the Assistant with other options/apps.
mastax 9y ago
An LG G6 for $350 more†. + Software updates + Camera software (probably) + Squeezing - Dual camera Did I miss anything? †Yes it's unfair to compare speculated launch price to current store price but that's the decision I'm making right now.
- kllrnohj 9y ago
  Snapdragon 835 instead of 821, 64GB base instead of 32GB, OLED w/ always-on display instead of IPS
  - mastax 9y ago
    Good points. I had assumed base storage would be 32GB for all time, that recent phones would use the same processor, and that LGs OLED investments had trickled down to their own devices. Times, they are a changing.
- bitmapbrother 9y ago
  >Did I miss anything? 3 years of OS and Security updates. The LG will be lucky to get 1. Unlimited full resolution photo and movie backups.
seltzered_ 9y ago
Motion photos - if I'm understanding correctly this is basically "motion stills"[1] integrated into the main camera app. It takes three seconds of video, but no photo with it like in live photos. [1]: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.motionstills https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.and...
Akujin 9y ago
I currently have a Nexus 6P. It was the flagship before the Pixel series. I use Bluetooth headphones daily on my commute using the Philly subway system (SEPTA). In center city and around suburban station I experience sound cutting in and out all the time on two different wireless bluetooth headphones. It seems to work just fine in my apartment when I don't need it but is never reliable when there's a ton of other signals around. I can't stand the current state of the industry. New phones cost more but offer little in terms of value. They also look like trash. Who actually thought it was a good idea to make a flag ship phone have a two tone plastic case? I'll be sticking to my aluminum cased 6P for a while. I'm also likely to get it again when this one finally dies. There's absolutely nothing that makes me want a Samsung or a Google branded Android phone right now.
- thanksgiving 9y ago
  What headphones do you have? I've found that your experience varies wildly depending on your headset. Can you try a different set of Bluetooth headphones and report back?
  - Akujin 9y ago
    One of each of these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06Y2YYS2L/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06Y2YYS2L/ref=oh_aui_deta... https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AWIPITS/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AWIPITS/ref=oh_aui_deta... They work just fine at the gym, at home, and at work but when in a crowded public space the cutting in/out is consistent.
- endorphone 9y ago
  I had every Nexus through to the 6P, and then moved to a Galaxy S8. With the Pixel Google has been overcome with profound me-tooism trying to ape every choice of Apple. It's humorous that the new iPhone offers wireless charging. Coincidentally I just caught their cringe-inducing intro of the new Google Clips that captures live photos. Groan.
  - 9y ago
vthallam 9y ago
Looks great for $849. The camera is amazing with a 98 Dxo score. Also, the free unlimited Photo and Video storage is a great deal. Only conern is the inventory, they make 100 pieces and do marketing for a million, I don't understand the logic, smh.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
deep_concern 9y ago
The only reason to remove the headphone jack is to sell more dongles and wireless headphones. That's it. Consumers are not asking for it for the aesthetics. It doesn't make the phone much thinner. It doesn't make the phone easier to manufacture.
- stephengillie 9y ago
  After finding cheap Bluetooth headsets on Amazon last about as long as a pair of earbuds, and have no cord, I don't see a problem. I'm very rough on physical devices, and will go through 4-6 pair of earbuds a year. Because these do not physically connect to the device, they take an order of magnitude less wear, and thus last longer.
  - limeblack 9y ago
    I have the same problem of "going through earbuds." I'm not an engineer but I believe it has has to do with feedback when unplugging and plugging in the headphones. I have both a Nexus and an iPhone and have noticed that the new lightning headphones last longer then the same Apple branded earbuds.
  - monocasa 9y ago
    The Bluetooth Advanced Audio Distribution Profile doesn't have a standard for loseless audio, which means that you end up crappilly re-encoding the audio to send it to the headphones. The reference codec (SBC) is particularly crappy. Shipping MP3 or AAC over Bluetooth is not mandatory and may or may not work depending on the sender and receiver.
  - mavrc 9y ago
    Ok, fine. The oldest pair of headphones that I own that work is older than my usage of the Internet. The oldest pair of headphones I own that I still use regularly I bought for college - and that was a long time ago. Assuming that everyone treats their equipment as though it's disposable is frustrating to me. Some of us use our gear for a very long time, and in the case of something as mundane as a 3.5" jack, expect to be able to.
notatoad 9y ago
$649/$849 it looks like a nice phone, but i have a hard time understanding how it's 5-7x better than my xiaomi.
- addicted 9y ago
  Well, for a device that is basically the primary device for the vast majority of people to conduct their lives, that are expected to have useful lives of about 2 years, i.e. ~750 days, $400-$500 more may absolutely be worth even a slight improvement, as long as you can afford it.
  - com2kid 9y ago
    > $400-$500 more may absolutely be worth even a slight improvement, as long as you can afford it. The problem is, the Nexus series showed us that Google can release a high quality phone at 1/2 the price of the rest of the market, and keep it updated and running fast for years. There is obviously more money in selling phones at market rate.
    - hocuspocus 9y ago
      The problem lies with the definition of market rate. I cannot justify spending €300 more than a S8+. I've had many Nexus devices and always felt like I was getting a discount in exchange for being a beta tester. Then Google raised their pricing to match the iPhone's, yet I don't see much improvement in quality control (both hardware and software) or in operations (they're still incapable of a worldwide launch or proper stock management, despite volumes that are a fraction of their competitors'). I don't even understand how the Pixel 1 was fairly successful in the US (subsidized phones and project Fi maybe?)
    - riku_iki 9y ago
      Nexus phones were probably subsidized to promote Android ecosystem.
      - com2kid 9y ago
warrenmiller 9y ago
No wireless charging?
- stephengillie 9y ago
  Wireless charging can't provide enough amps to actually charge newer Google devices. Nexus phones had them through the 5/7, but lost them with the 5x/6p. My Nexus 5 wall charger can't even push enough amps to charge my Nexus 5x. Edit: Does the new iPhone use the same wireless chargers as older phones? Can you use it with those Ikea lamps with wireless charging? Or does it use a different/less lossy transmission method?
  - ocdtrekkie 9y ago
    The new iPhones would like to file a disagreement with you. Sure, it's slower than a quick charger, but in a lot of cases you don't need a quick charge.
  - irrational 9y ago
    Wait, then how is Apple able to use wireless charging for the new iPhone 8s and X?
  - wvenable 9y ago
    I wirelessly fast-charge my Samsung S7; I'm not sure where you got the idea that it doesn't work.
    - chrisper 9y ago
      Is your phone getting super hot while wireless charging?
      - xyzzy_plugh 9y ago
        Not any hotter than my Nexus 5 did. It gets about as hot wirelessly charging as wired.
      - 9y ago
AcerbicZero 9y ago
I picked up the Pixel on release, but I've been disappointed by the quality of the product overall. The screen scratches easily , battery life is mediocre, and the changes to android recently have not been positive. I've had the device replaced once by Google, which was a painless process, but the new one scratches just as easily as the old, and loves to reboot on occasion. Interestly enough, I started a new job right around the time I got my Pixel, and work provided me a brand new iPhone 7, so I've been able to compare them side by side for a year now, in nearly identical usage. I've been on the android bandwagon for a long time now, but the iPhone 7 is hands down the better hardware. The Pixel has been replaced once ~6 months ago, and spent most of its life in a soft shell case, but it has not handled general wear and tear well. The iPhone 7 has been blatantly abused (work phone, don't care) but still looks brand new. iOS leaves a lot to be desired, but with all of android's missteps the difference isn't as drastic as it used to be.
- gxs 9y ago
  I recently switched from Android phones to an iPhone in July of this year. This after having used android since the G1 (first android phone). I think your sentiments are the most fair and realistic I've come across in a while (FYI for others reading). The gap isn't as big as it used to be software wise, but the hardware is still better by a big margin. iOS has also been a little more stable, less app crashes, random reboots, etc. The only thing I'd add is that the apple stores have been surprisingly helpful and have added more to the experience than I would have thought. Go in, try everything, get brought up to speed real quick by friendly staff, and they seem to always be conveniently located (for me at least). All in all the experience has been better and I haven't missed Android's famous flexibility.
lopespm 9y ago
Honest question: for those of you who own a mobile device without a headphone jack, do you find it to be an encuberment? Personally I still find it a bit hostile to not have the jack available, since often times I find myself charging the phone and using the headphones (when watching videos for example), so having an adapter dongle for such a frequent task seems counterintuitive to me. I believe that if a device is correctly designed, then it should serve most of its usecases without the aid of an extra adapter. These should be reserved for edge cases. Moreover, I use headphones for a good part on my day and I am not sold on the idea of having a wireless device next to my brain for such an extended amount of time. Sure, we are already exposed to a good number of electromagnetic radiations, but this one I might want to pass. Not to mention the need to charge yet another device.
- selectout 9y ago
  (personal antidote) I had 3 pairs of headphones I primarily used pre-removal of the headphone jack. 2 bluetooth (working out and @work) and the third was a nice pair for at home listening. I have no problems with a dongle always connected to my nice pair, and have actually found myself using bluetooth more often regardless of Aux port availability.
- bhups 9y ago
  I have the iPhone 7. I've been using Bluetooth headphones since about 2014 (started with the JayBirds, but use the AirPods now). I use my headphones pretty much all day. Not once have I noticed the absence of the headphone jack, nor have I felt the need for it.
- DopamineHigh 9y ago
  On a iPhone 7+. nope, AirPods are so amazing and convenient I cannot go back to a wired set.
- birdmanjeremy 9y ago
  Yes. It sucks.
- deep_concern 9y ago
  My friend with an iPhone was unable to play his music through the speakers in my car because he forgot his adapter. We had to use a cup to amplify the speakers. Even if he had remembered his dongle, if he'd needed to charge his phone it'd need to be a splitter dongle. We'd had no problems playing music in the car for the past decade.
JosephLark 9y ago
Edit up top: The identification is done on-device. The Verge article didn't mention this. > And this year’s Pixel will take advantage of the phone’s always-on microphones to listen for music (not just the phrase “OK Google”) and display what you’re listening to on the screen, even if it’s something on the radio. This sounds creepy. So now when excessive microphone data is seen to be going out to the cloud, they can just say "Oh, the phone thought there was music playing and was trying to identify it. Simple misunderstanding, nothing nefarious!".
- dmayle 9y ago
  Except it doesn't send any data to the cloud. They mentioned that explicitly. There's an on-phone database of songs that it is matching against.
  - JosephLark 9y ago
    > They mentioned that explicitly Okay? The submitted article certainly didn't mention that. The Anadtech live blog does indeed state "01:05PM EDT - On device machine learning. Local music identificat (sic)"
  - raverbashing 9y ago
    I wonder how much space this takes on the device. How many signatures does it keep and how often is this updated
    - thebooktocome 9y ago
      It's not very significant. Basically it stores some distances between peaks in each song's spectrogram which can then be further compressed. Even supporting a database of millions of songs would be possible.
      - NathanCH 9y ago
        Spotify has 30 million songs. Even if it takes up a small amount of space, it's basically a non-feature.
irrational 9y ago
I'm very disappointed they didn't drop the price of the 1st generation Pixels more. There was a 1 day sale on the Pixels earlier this year (that included a free Google Home device) that was much lower than what they have dropped them to today. My wife's Nexus 5 recently died. I had hoped to get her the 1st generation Pixel to replace it, but I'll probably get her the iPhone SE instead.
grrrtttt 9y ago
Oh dear. And I'm already seeing stock issues also. Pre-orders for the 2 XL in B&W just went "out of stock".
Tossrock 9y ago
Is that a broken link in a major Google product release blog post? Gasp! Screenshot for posterity: https://i.imgur.com/r7TpRQY.png https://i.imgur.com/r7TpRQY.png
gordon_freeman 9y ago
Thanks but no thanks. I love my Nexus 6P a lot (still)!
- sudarshan_sar 9y ago
  Same boat. It's still a fantastic phone and meets all the demands and then some! The the only reason to switch might be the battery life. Still not a serious enough issue to switch, yet.
- user-on1 9y ago
  u should b super lucky they are still alive, mine just crapped out and kept showing the image of the people who screwed it and then died.
syntaxing 9y ago
I really wish they would reintroduce the Nexus series. The money felt worth it for the phone. Not sure if I can say the same for the Pixel series.
- iMark 9y ago
  What’s in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.
  - jm_l 9y ago
    Pixel's goal is to be an iPhone competitor. This is reflected in its pricing and product design. Nexus was for Android enthusiasts who wanted the stock experience. I think in their own words it was "meant to showcase the best of Android."
- sorenjan 9y ago
  Plus Nexus was available to buy. I've had several Nexus phones, but Google doesn't want to sell Pixel phones in my country.
duxup 9y ago
I wish Google would do a mid range Pixel, or call it something else if they want, just something like a follow up to the 5x.
- humblebee 9y ago
  I think this is what the Moto X4 is. https://www.blog.google/products/project-fi/project-fi-welcomes-android-one-moto-x4/ https://www.blog.google/products/project-fi/project-fi-welco...
  - kuschku 9y ago
    The Moto X4 won’t get Android Preview Releases, and is therefore useless for developers. I’m a student, but I also develop apps. Even with the emulator, there are still bugs you can only find on real devices. So now every time a new Android version comes out, I’ll either end up with a month where my apps are broken and I’m slowly working on fixing them (so ~10% of the time the app is unusable), or I have to shell out north of $900 just to get the cheapest still supported Pixel in Germany.
    - xyzzy_plugh 9y ago
      This is a good perspective I hadn't considered. Additionally, my largest concern with no mid-range device supporting preview releases is that the mid-range phone experience is going to decline rapidly (slow downs, resource bloat) until the only viable equivalent experience to what we have now is on a $1000+ phone. When phones were sub $500, I could get a new one every two years pretty reasonably. Or if I didn't like my phone, it wasn't a huge hit to upgrade early. But now I'm paying more than 2x what I paid when I started using Android phones. At that price point, Apple starts to look real good.
  - eloisant 9y ago
    Does it get updates as fast as a Nexus/Pixel?
    - 9y ago
noncoml 9y ago
Why would anyone pay money to buy a phone from an advertising company?
- the_common_man 9y ago
  Yeah, I feel Google should re-invent itself and make some bold decisions to move out of it's ad business. They seem very capable of making excellent products. Will their shareholders be up in arms if they got out slowly from this add business? Google Apps, Android, Pixel etc are really excellent products.
  - SapphireSun 9y ago
    Never gonna happen. Google can do the things it does because it holds monopoly pricing in internet advertising. The freedom from competition and massive capitalization is what allows it to invest in blue sky projects.
  - KZeillmann 9y ago
    Why on earth would they want to get out of the ad business?
jordache 9y ago
how can an adjacent pixel be used to calculate depth map. Are they telling me the sensor and their algorithm is that sensitive to generate none binary depth info from adjacent pixels?
MattyRad 9y ago
I bought a Pixel when it came out, switching from the Nexus 5 primarily because Project Fi was an easy, cheap way to get off my parent's cell-phone plan and gain some personal independence. It was about time for a new phone anyway. I wish I had just stuck with the Nexus 5... it was a fantastic phone. Wireless charging (which I personally found to be the most useful feature), excellent dimensions, excellent price, and the notification light was bright. The case was made of some sort of rubberized plastic, so it could withstand a real beating. Squeezable sides and marginally improved specs aren't enough for me to consider upgrading, and at this point, as an Android fan since the Nexus 4, I would strongly considering making the switch the iPhone.
- chrisper 9y ago
  Are you planning to already switch phones again? I have a pixel as well and feel like it will still last some time.
  - bmelton 9y ago
    The Pixel is so solid, and still plenty fast enough for me that I honestly can't imagine upgrading until there's something I need that doesn't support it.
  - MattyRad 9y ago
    The Pixel is by no means a bad phone, it's just been an exercise in disappointment the whole way. So I'm not actively planning to switch phones, I'm just lamenting that I don't get the same utility out of the Pixel that I was getting out of my Nexus 5. Also being on Project Fi locks me into a certain set of phones, switching would be an expensive endeavor.
- olavgg 9y ago
  I have the Nexus 5, great phone! But it no longer gets updated. And with the Blueborne security issue this annoys the heck out of me. With iPhone I can at least expect 5 years lifetime with updates.
  - 9y ago
user-on1 9y ago
the rounded corners on the pixel 2 xl just looks ugly... dont u guys think... Also the huge bezels in pixel 2... seems like these announcements just boil down to nothing... at least those headphones could have been individual device without a need for pixel or if it needs to be paired then at least it should have been around $50 it is basically just a total waste of time, it was fun to listen to those new music in the event though...
royal_ts 9y ago
The € price is ridiculously higher than the $ price. The smaller pixel costs 799€ which includes 19% of taxes (in Germany), the 649$ does not contain taxes. Still that's a difference of 150€ on top of my hat. There's also a fee which manufactures have to pay (GEMA which collects money for artists and so on). Guess they also include that Google Home Mini in this price which is kinda dumb. Not going to buy with such a huge price bump
- dustinmr 9y ago
  If that includes 19% taxes, than its a €30 or 4% difference on the pretax pricing. Not very big really. Especially, if there's other fees they pay to sell the product in your territory.
  - Matthias247 9y ago
    How did you calculate that? Without taxes it’s 671€, which is 789$. So the difference is 190$
  - vetinari 9y ago
    I don't know how you came to 30 EUR difference. 649 USD = 552 EUR 552 * 1.2 (20% VAT) = 662 799 - 662 = 137 The difference is 137 EUR (161 USD). That's quite a coin.
- Matthias247 9y ago
  It‘s worse than the iPhone (699$ vs 799€), but unfortunately it’s just the continuation of the trend. Over the last years electronics steadily got more expensive in Europe compared to US. Before that is was often 1$ == 1€, which was not that far off after taxes. However another thing to consider in pricing ist that android phone prices will fall pretty quickly over the year anyway, up to about 50%. We’ll see how it will be for the Pixel2
  - royal_ts 9y ago
    The Pixels price at least in the Google store has been pretty steady afaik. A buddy of mine one thing to consider for this price bump is the CE certificate which companies have to get for their devices. Still weird that Samsung and other don't seem to have these problems.
lepouet 9y ago
I'm french, i would like Google to take my money.
mullingitover 9y ago
I witnessed my girlfriend's Nexus 6p support experience with Google and it was not pretty. I would never buy a Google phone after that. The phone, just barely out of warranty, goes into a bootloop and becomes a paperweight. Google helpfully shrugs the problem off on Huawei, and Huawei will of course not support the product since it's out of warranty. There is no repair option. I tried Android early on, had similarly unacceptable support experiences, and whenever I'm tempted to dip my toes back in the water I'm reminded of how bad things are with cases like this. In the case of the Nexus 6p it's Google's flagship product and it's a worthless paperweight 13 months after purchase.
- stu2010 9y ago
  I had a Nexus 5X die within the warranty period, and had a similar experience. LG's support was utterly awful, it took them 3 weeks to replace the phone. They originally told me I could get a replacement 5X, then they told me I could get a T-Mobile G5 and what they eventually sent me was an AT&T specific G5 that required digging into config menus before it would connect to T-mobile LTE.
  - kowdermeister 9y ago
    Big company support have lots of moving parts. My girlfriend's Nexus 5x also died this week. Local LG branch (Budapest) replaced the motherboard within a day. She basically got a new phone for free.
- notheguyouthink 9y ago
  > I witnessed my girlfriend's Nexus 6p support experience with Google and it was not pretty. I would never buy a Google phone after that. The phone, just barely out of warranty, goes into a bootloop and becomes a paperweight. Google helpfully shrugs the problem off on Huawei, and Huawei will of course not support the product since it's out of warranty. There is no repair option. Something similar happened to my wife with her Nexus5X. Google shipped an update that bricked a ton of 5X phones, and Google stopped responding to her Customer Service emails. We've been Nexus (specifically pure Nexus) users since the first Google phone. I own a G1, still in my closet. I own all of them (well, at least one of each generation). I own a Pixel XL as well. I'm done with Google, for this, and other reasons.
bfrog 9y ago
No headphone jack, twice as much as my nexus 5x. You lost me and my family as a customer for both phones and service.
p-funk 9y ago
I was really looking forward to this phone. Lack of headphone jack = instant dealbreaker.
TsomArp 9y ago
I bought a second-hand Pixel on Ebay. The seller sent it complete with boxes, manual, etc. After 6 months it received an OTA and now is a 600 dollars paperweight. They tell me that since the phone, which is not reported stolen, is assigned to another account they cannot do anything about it. I have contacted the seller but she won't respond. Be aware of this.
- kilroy123 9y ago
  Have you tried sideloading an update manually? It's really easy and quick to do. https://developers.google.com/android/ota https://developers.google.com/android/ota
  - TsomArp 9y ago
    I will try it. I tried to get into download mode and recovery, and no luck.
Multicomp 9y ago
I wonder if Nexus 6 users would move to the Pixel XL2? I love that it has stereo front-facing speakers with the full 6 inch screen, but as Darth Shamu said: "I find your lack of a headphone jack disturbing"
seaghost 9y ago
There is no privacy with those devices.
niuzeta 9y ago
> Though there is some bad news this year: the headphone jack is gone. Expected, but it still stings. I guess I'll look elsewhere for my replacement for trusty Nexus 5X. Speaking of which, how's Pixel?
- junnan 9y ago
  Great software and camera. But having seen pixel 2 xl, I find the bezel on my pixel really intolerable.
  - niuzeta 9y ago
    I don't really mind bezel; it's the lack of headphone jack that I take exception on.
newuser1441 9y ago
I'm abandoning my iPhone, iPad, Mac laptop. I'm getting all the new google stuff except that weird camera.
bhuga 9y ago
My pixel hardware has been a disappointment. The vibrator actually broke off from the phone and it now just makes a rattling noise as it bounces around inside the phone. The screen scratches easily. Bluetooth pops and crackles. I couldn't have imagined buying a second pixel, so removing the saving grace, the headphone jack, almost seems gratuitous.
- slavik81 9y ago
  > The screen scratches easily. This is an understatement. After I got a few scratches on my Galaxy S4 from putting my phone in my pocket with keys, I made sure I would never make that mistake again. I was extra-cautious with my Pixel, but after less than a year of ownership it's is already the most scratched-up phone I've ever had.
AdmiralAsshat 9y ago
There's a reason that Samsung still leads the pack in sales, and it's not solely due to marketing: they keep the stuff people want. People want a headphone jack, they held onto the headphone jack. People want SD card slots, they keep SD card slots. I held off on getting a GS8 about two months ago when Amazon had a great deal on them going because I was in the process of moving, and I wanted to wait to see what else was coming out. Even though the S8 is lagging behind on updates, it still seems to be the best option. The HTC 11, Pixel 2, and Essential phone have all disappointed. Waiting on the reviews for how the Sony Xperia XZ1 compact fares, because I wouldn't mind a smaller phone.
- pier25 9y ago
  I like Samsung's hardware, but I still can't stand their TouchWiz UI. I don't understand why manufacturers simply don't offer a stock Android variant.
  - AdmiralAsshat 9y ago
    They did, they were called "Google Play Editions".[0] No one bought them, because they were released at a time when people still paid subsidized phone prices and upgraded their phones every two years for $200. So when they were asked to pay $600 upfront, the vast majority had sticker shock. [0]https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/07/review-the-samsung-galaxy-s-4-google-play-edition-is-great-for-now/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/07/review-the-samsung-g...
  - willtim 9y ago
    TouchWiz is better than stock android now. It has lots of additional useful features, especially in the areas of split screen and power saving.
    - fernandotakai 9y ago
      agreed 100%. it was not good before, but now? i prefer it.
    - pier25 9y ago
martin1975 9y ago
Thanks Google. Even with your $400 trade in refund, I think I'll stick with my original Google Pixel XL and forego marginal improvements and no 3.5mm jack on the phone itself. Forget your USB-C->3.5mm plugin... it's a pathetic attempt to move us away from wired to wireless headphones which never will work as well as 3.5 mm headsets/buds. In fact, if you don't shape up in a year or so by the time I will upgrade, I'm probably going back to Moto, or getting a Samsung...
- Spooks 9y ago
  I think wireless will eventually work as well, but that future is not now (or close to it). This would have to improve first: Sound quality, battery life (both for the phone, as bluetooth needs to be on, and headphone) and price
  - martin1975 9y ago
    When they make bluetooth earbuds that have same quality sound as Etymotic ER4's, I'll switch then... the likelihood of that happening is virtually nil. reply
make3 9y ago
the smaller one looks like a stictly worse oneplus5
nickjj 9y ago
Be careful with the unlimited video storage deal because it's not really unlimited video? It's unlimited until 2020[0] and then I'm guessing you'll have to pay for it afterwards, and after a few years of taking videos without caring about space, you're probably going to rack up a massive bill or have to spend a ton of time cherry picking what you want to save. Their plan is pretty smart tho. Most people will be like "screw it, I'll just buy another phone to avoid spending that just to keep my videos". [0]: https://i.imgur.com/M5LYvrH.png https://i.imgur.com/M5LYvrH.png (read the fine print)
- mscrivo 9y ago
  That's insidious if that's the case. I (and probably) many others took it to mean that photos taken through that date would enjoy unlimited storage permanently, not that they would start charging after that date. Would be nice if we could get some clarification.
  - Orangeair 9y ago
    Parent comment is correct. From footnote #2 from here: https://store.google.com/us/product/pixel_2 https://store.google.com/us/product/pixel_2 > Free, unlimited original-quality storage for photos and videos taken with Pixel through the end of 2020, and free, unlimited high-quality storage for photos taken with Pixel afterwards.
    - mscrivo 9y ago
      That's still not clear. It doesn't say they will start charging for original quality shots taken before 2020. To me it just seems like if you want to keep storing original quality shots taken AFTER 2020, then you will have to pay for that going forward.
      - plexicle 9y ago
        Assuming it's just like all of their other storage promotions have been over the last several years. If you are over your free cap when the promotion ends, you don't lose access to anything, you just can't add anything new.
c0smic 9y ago
When they mentioned the headphone jack being removed, I thought it was a joke. I have a 6S now and was considering getting the Pixel, in part because of the headphone jack and also for the more "open" ecosystem of Android (and things not proprietary-Apple). But now it's basically the same, so there's less motivation for me there. I just think Google could've swooped in and gotten the people who still appreciate headphone jacks. Interesting round of new devices this year around, I wonder what the consensus is on who did it better, Google or Apple?
- macandcheese 9y ago
  Pretty much have to stick to iPhone 6S for the rest of my life... So disappointing to see possibly THE ONLY universal port - the 3.5mm aux - be removed from devices before our eyes. I wonder what the adoption rate on Bluetooth / Lightning / USBC headphones is. Can't imagine more than 5% or so.
  - culturestate 9y ago
    Bluetooth headphone sales passed wired headphone sales last year, even before the iPhone 7 was announced [1]. I have to believe it’s only gone up from there. 1. https://qz.com/745108/wireless-headphone-sales-just-hit-a-tipping-point/ https://qz.com/745108/wireless-headphone-sales-just-hit-a-ti...
izzydata 9y ago
I love my Nexus 5X, but the high end phone market has no appeal to me. I don't need a phone that can do 5% more and cost 150% more. I'm not sure why anyone needs a phone like this really. Perhaps the Nexus 5X is only good because it is basically an LG G phone.
pier25 9y ago
I'd love to buy a Pixel phone (1 or 2) but Google doesn't sell where I live just South of the border.
Decabytes 9y ago
Is there a way to remove the auto-scanning and microphone listening features? I have an Iphone so I don't know. Every phone does this now I know. It just seems weird that it is brought up so non-chalantly in the article. Like I guess we are just okay with this now.
- anderber 9y ago
  On the original Pixel there is, I assume it would be the case with the new one.
hitekker 9y ago
The pixel 2 was made by HTC and pixel 2xl was made by LG. Two manufacturers for what should be the same phone. There are no words.
jacquesc 9y ago
Dropped my Pixel 1 in a toilet. Glad the Pixel 2 is water proof. Preordered!
dirtylowprofile 9y ago
Android Nougat still 17.8% on the market. I've been developing Android apps since 2011, and Android development is getting worse. The support I have to deal with goes back to Android 4.4 which is like 4-5 years ago. And the phones in the market here in Asia are still mostly on 6.0. I am no longer getting excited for Android releases anymore.
beams_of_light 9y ago
How could they neglect wireless charging and the headphone jack?
Abishek_Muthian 9y ago
In my experience with Nexus (4&6P), it always had microphone issues (person on the other side not being able hear you for first few minutes); since I always used Bluetooth headset for calls; I didn’t bother much. But I’ve seen some good support cases from Google for nexus, my friend exchanged his nexus 4 after a year out of warranty by sending to US though; it was not bought from Google in India. I hope the support would be better for Pixel series of devices now that they own the manufacturer responsibility.
mastazi 9y ago
Very underwhelming. The camera solution they adopted is technologically inferior to the (much more common) dual wide/tele lens solution, since the former offers only some of the advantages of the latter (e.g. bokeh: yes, 2X optical zoom: no). And they gave that guy who retrofitted a headphone jack in the iPhone 7 a reason to come out with a new video.
jraedisch 9y ago
I am an Android user but it seems to me that it gets more and more invasive. Everytime I go somewhere it wants me to take photos and just now it advertised some Play Store movie. Search asks for location access on almost every search. To get rid of the search bar I need to install third party software. When I buy a premium phone I want the phone to work for me and not the other way around. The notification bar should only be used for stuff that I want to be notified about - not ads or cheap tries to get me working for free. In the future I sometimes imagine two classes of devices: one controls the lives of their owners and one helps their owners to control their lives. What does Android want?
- threatofrain 9y ago
  And Google makes it so hard to disable the new Google Feed for Android, but so distractingly easy to accidentally press. Their settings experience is still a mess.
- bdcravens 9y ago
  I have an iPhone as my primary phone, and a secondary Pixel XL. The Pixel XL uses a separate Gmail account, used nowhere else. I've added no "Places" to Google maps. I love how it tells me how many minutes my drive to work is (which I'm okay with that on my iPhone, since I explicitly set that info in Google Maps on that account)
- noncoml 9y ago
  > one controls the lives of their owners and one helps their owners to control their lives. What does Android want? I think you answered your own question in the first paragraph. Don’t give google any data, other than maybe your searches. Instead of working for google, let google work for you. Only searches and in a different tab container.
- cup-of-tea 9y ago
  Android wants to make money for Google. It sounds like what you want is a pocket-sized computer that can make telephone calls. Shouldn't be so difficult, right? But maybe it would be twice the price if you want to pay with money and not your data.
fnl 9y ago
This phone is as expensive as the latest iOS phones, at least ball-park wise. Yet, Google only supports its hardware for two years, while Apple does so for four, at least (still too little, but at least twice as good). I am using a "bricked" Nexus 5 right now and need to update because I get no more updates. No more Google phones for me, unless they cost half or less than the current iPhones.
CharlesDodgson 9y ago
Bit of a side conversation here, but is anyone else jaded that the only real options are iOS and Android?
fnwx17 9y ago
As creepy as the increased invasion of privacy on the Google phones, the most disturbing is the Google Clips camera. That's literally how the movie "The Circle" started (although it's a pretty bad movie).
kpxxx3 9y ago
Ha. $950 for 128GB and no headphone jack. Personally I don't miss the jack too bad (sorry to all those that care). But, this thing is basically more expensive than the iPhone 8 Plus for half the storage. I guess they are competing with the X. Good luck with that. I don't see how this can do that. The processor even in the iPhone 8 trounces all the Android shit. And it's not like it matters that much because 3rd party software (large titles) often perform so much better on iOS (for a wide variety of reasons, not all of them fair). I was yet another one screwed by the Nexus 6p battery debacle, and for $600, no it was not a "budget" phone. It was clearly marketed as Google's first attempt to dip their toes into being a serious handset manufacturer (a Pixel dry-run). The Pixel XL has/had problems too with memory storage, and then of course the whole continuing problem with uneven power management and battery life in real world use cases. Android still hasn't gotten it's shit together and the Pixel 2 is still not ready to compete with Apple. Maybe I'll come back when Google has proven they are serious about doing things right.
lenkite 9y ago
Buy OnePlus phones instead of expensive crap. OnePlus is cheap, reliable and replaceable.

346 points by plessthanpt05 9y ago

Grazester 9y ago

Its DX0 score is 98

MBCook 9y ago
Which is meaningless. They have declared themselves the standard but that number doesn’t actually measure anything. I mean the fact they sell cameras alone means they’re not unbiased. https://daringfireball.net/linked/2017/09/22/dxo-ratings-are-horseshit https://daringfireball.net/linked/2017/09/22/dxo-ratings-are... Wait for real camera reviews.
- endorphone 9y ago
  John Gruber's stance on DXO is utterly meaningless, and it's farcical that you seriously cite it. Measuring the technical capabilities of an imaging device is patently obvious and justifiable. From dynamic range to optical and electronic resolution, noise at different light levels, etc. You can question their methodology, but saying that it "doesn't measure anything" is nonsense, and citing a guy who laughably claims that you can't measure the "art" is uproarious. Gruber has less than zero legitimacy in this discussion, and his sole motivating intention is defend Apple in all facets.
  - oflannabhra 9y ago
    Gruber's conclusion is correct, even though his reasoning is not. DxO scores are crap, because they do not adequately control scenes in their comparisons. Most DSLR reviews have a consistent scene that pushes the envelope of what a sensor can capture, and all cameras are benchmarked against that scene. Here's an example: https://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikon-d7500-review-speed-and-capability/8 https://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikon-d7500-review-speed-an...
    - endorphone 9y ago
      I agree entirely -- their methodology is sloppy and what they do have is poorly documented. I certainly don't hold their scores supreme or canonical. Complaining that it can be done with more rigor and consistency, and with more objective openness, is valid. Gruber's hand-wavy art complaint is not.
  - PascLeRasc 9y ago
    Did you read that blog post? He was criticizing DXO for giving the iPhone 8 the highest score ever, not defending Apple. How do you objectively measure bokeh effects? And if you're so defensive of DXO, can you explain why their photo subscores range from 51-89 but that adds up to a 96?
    - jimmies 9y ago
      Should we run it through a machine learning algorithm to see how the hell any of the "component" score adds up to a 96 overall score? And why only those components, but not others? I want my dog nose filter score in too. Snake oil is what that number is.
    - endorphone 9y ago
      Gruber had previously shat on DXO when the iPhone was bested by the Pixel. He took this opportunity to say "Oh btw the iPhone is now best...but it's still horseshit look at how unbiased I am". And I'm not "defensive" of DXO scores any more than I'm defensive of dpreview. DXO analyzes a variety of real world technical capabilities of imaging systems -- most certainly in an imperfect way and needing more rigor -- but to call it "horseshit", or to ridiculously claim that it measures nothing, is specious.
  - MBCook 9y ago
    > Measuring the technical capabilities of an imaging device is patently obvious and justifiable. From dynamic range to optical and electronic resolution, noise at different light levels, etc. I agree completely. DPreview and other sites do that. > but saying that it "doesn't measure anything" is nonsense Then please tell me what that one final number measures. How do they get to it? It doesn’t seem objective at all. Other camera review sites give a bunch of objective measurements then a subjective opinion about how the camera related to others. DXO wants you to think their arbitrary number is scientifically rigorous. > and citing a guy who laughably claims that you can't measure the "art" is uproarious. Are you claiming you can measure art? That’s what DXO seems to do. Having a single number final score means that if camera A had a higher score than B then it must take objectively better pictures. Or we have to admit their score is subjective. > Gruber has less than zero legitimacy in this discussion Why? > and his sole motivating intention is defend Apple in all facets. He’s complaining that the iPhone had the highest score ever. If you were right he would be writing about how DXO said it was the best camera ever, not that DXO is a sham. If you can’t look past Gruber’s byline I imagine there are other articles online about DXO and their questionable practices. I’ve seen others before, this was the first Google turned up.
    - endorphone 9y ago
      "Why?" Because Gruber is a biased individual whose professional existence is to pander to a narrow crowd. He has nothing broadly interesting to say about cross-cutting concerns. "He’s complaining that the iPhone had the highest score ever." He previously dismissed DXO when the iPhone was beat. Now he wants to simultaneously crow about the iPhone taking the victory while claiming that he totally doesn't care about it anyways. People buy this teenager level nonsense? "Are you claiming you can measure art?" This is absurd. DXO is a broad, generalist, imperfect measure of imaging devices, and paradoxically there is broad agreement that the devices that do really well generally are capable of the best photos. But you can take a great photo with a pinhole camera, from an artistic perspective. Does this make a pinhole camera the best? That is nonsensical. Don't believe DXO. Don't believe Consumer Reports. Don't believe metacritic or star reviews or RT or whatever. But to claim it measures nothing, or to cite some biased player, is not credible.
- Grazester 9y ago
  It might be meaningless but given the Pixel/Google's recent push with image based ai I would not be dismissive of the phone's camera prowess
  - MBCook 9y ago
    I don’t doubt the camera is good. The dual pixel thing sounds a little iffy to me in that I wonder if it can really duplicate the portrait mode of the iPhone. I’ll be very interested to see REAL reviews. DXO’s numbers mean as much as a five star system. They’re not quantitative but want to be treated like they are.
jimmies 9y ago
I own a Pixel but this DxO stuff is really dodgy. In the portrait pic of the girl, the difference between the Pixel 2 [1] and the iPhone 8 [2] is night and day, with the Pixel 2 looking like shit. She so pale, and the fake bokeh looks like a 5 year old smearing all over, it's simply not pleasant to look at. And the whole push on adding the fake bokeh """scores""" to justify changing the scores so every fucking newly released device gets the highest score is stupid. Thanks for scoring the bokeh, if I had really wanted bokeh, I would have pulled out my bulky mirrorless camera. I bet when a new phone comes out and they pay the DxO guy enough, they will add a dog nose filter score to make the new camera score the highest. 1: A https://cdn.dxomark.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/ref1_Bokeh-Indoor_GooglePixel2-e1506967768712.jpg https://cdn.dxomark.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/ref1_Boke... B https://cdn.dxomark.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/ref2_Lowlight_GooglePixel2.jpg https://cdn.dxomark.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/ref2_Lowl... 2: A https://cdn.dxomark.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/ref1_Bokeh-Indoor_ip8Plus.jpg https://cdn.dxomark.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/ref1_Boke... B https://cdn.dxomark.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/ref2_Lowlight_ip8Plus-e1506980596843.jpg https://cdn.dxomark.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/ref2_Lowl...
- deanCommie 9y ago
  Uhhhhhhhhhhh are you serious? The iPhone 8 results look SO much better...
  - jimmies 9y ago
    Exactly, the iPhone 8 pictures look so much better. You don't have to quantify shit to realize this.
- monort 9y ago
  It's post-processing, not the quality of the sensor, photo from iPhone have warmer color balance. If you compare the right eyebrow, you will see that [1] have more details, than [2]
  - jimmies 9y ago
    That might be true, but I'd say if they say their expertise is to have artificial intelligence, then by that I'd like to have the picture that is the most pleasant to look at. By that benchmark, and I can confidently say that 1 is definitely not more pleasant to look at than 2. Remember, the picture is always a depiction of what our eyes see, and that our eyes see is only a part of the reality. My eyes don't see bokehs. My eyes don't focus the same way the camera does. My eyes don't see in 3500K or 6500K or whatever the hell that is. My eyes don't care how many strands of hair there are in her eyebrows and how detailed they are. My eyes don't see in black and white, either. Yet those are what you see in pictures. Focusing on the little detail "accuracy" and forget what it really matters at the end is dangerous.

earlybike 9y ago

Guess it’s for many a minor thing but why can’t the phone just be symmetric (top and bottom bezel have the same height)?

pinouchon 9y ago
The Xiaomi mi mix did exactly that.
mattnewton 9y ago
The top of the phone’s bezel contains a camera, and the bottom doesn’t. Why do you want a larger chin with wasted space? The pixel 1’s chin always bothered me for that reason.
- earlybike 9y ago
  Either you make a phone clearly asymmetric (eg new iPhone X) or clearly symmetric. The new Pixel tries to have a symmetric design but fails slighlty (top and bottom bezel have similar heights and form language but are still asymmetric).
- oedenfield 9y ago
  I kind of like the chin on the Pixel 1 because I know I have another option to grab the phone without touching the touchscreen.
kllrnohj 9y ago
They sure look symmetric in the pictures, though?

codq 9y ago

As an audio engineer, the headphone jack removal trend is an absolute travesty in an industry that utilizes AUX IN audio capabilities night after night. I'm often using iPods or other local-music devices to pump sound into concert venues between acts. Taking away 1/8" audio standards in favor of USB-C or Lightning non-standardized ports causes chaos when needing to fill in music in a pinch. In my industry, I simply cannot live without a standard audio port, which absolutely no one was clamoring to discard. If my 1st generation Pixel were to break today, I'd buy another 1st generation Pixel.

whipoodle 9y ago
Yes, I've hated this change ever since I got my last iPhone. It's a pain and doesn't actually improve anything. I bought a bunch of those little dongles because I always lose them.
- zippergz 9y ago
  I've also had some break. They are apparently pretty flimsy.
legohead 9y ago
I love my Pixel, but they just lost me as a customer for this reason. I'm not totally against removing the headphone jack, but it's not time yet -- the transition has been done poorly.
- Washuu 9y ago
  Yep. All that was needed to get me to switch from my current iPhone 6/iOS was a current Google branded Android phone with a headphone jack. Now there is no reason for me to switch if I am going to be stuck buying a bunch of adapters.
- gambiting 9y ago
  Yep, after being really impressed with the Pixel I knew Pixel 2 was going to be my next phone. Not anymore. Lack of the headphone jack is an absolute no-go for me.

Lon7 9y ago

I really really hope they have fixed their supply issues this time around. I live in the 4th largest city in North America and I was unable to get a Pixel within a reasonable amount of time.

TaylorAlexander 9y ago
Same. I waited for weeks for the Pixel to be in stock last year. I finally bought an iPhone 7 Plus after being all android since the T-Mobile G1. I love it, and it shipped in like 24 hours! I was blown away that google couldn’t provide a phone to those that wanted it. (Note: I wanted to max out storage and I wanted the XL. There was stock on models with the least storage.) I really hope they can keep these in stock.

Kevin_S 9y ago

Seems pretty nice. I may consider the Pixel 2 XL over the IPhone X in a few months, but will definitely need to see some reviews of both first. The removal of the headphone jack is devastating. I listen to music nearly every waking moment, so I am unsure about moving to Bluetooth whenever I use headphones.

threeseed 9y ago
It comes with a 3.5mm dongle in the box. Just do what everyone else does and leave it attached to your headphones.
- WillPostForFood 9y ago
  How do you leave it attached when you plug it into your laptop and how do you listen while you charge? Great that it works for you, but having another dongle that you can lose, and have to attach and remove throughout the day is a real pain for others.

post_break 9y ago

It looks great, I hope Google can keep up the shipments. I really like the white and black XL, and the orange button really reminds me of Dieter Rams calculator from Braun.

limeblack 9y ago

Does anyone know how consistent the squeeze feature is on phones that have already implemented such?

oedenfield 9y ago
At least with latest Android OS you can replace the Assistant with other options/apps.

mastax 9y ago

An LG G6 for $350 more†. + Software updates + Camera software (probably) + Squeezing - Dual camera Did I miss anything? †Yes it's unfair to compare speculated launch price to current store price but that's the decision I'm making right now.

kllrnohj 9y ago
Snapdragon 835 instead of 821, 64GB base instead of 32GB, OLED w/ always-on display instead of IPS
- mastax 9y ago
  Good points. I had assumed base storage would be 32GB for all time, that recent phones would use the same processor, and that LGs OLED investments had trickled down to their own devices. Times, they are a changing.
bitmapbrother 9y ago
>Did I miss anything? 3 years of OS and Security updates. The LG will be lucky to get 1. Unlimited full resolution photo and movie backups.

seltzered_ 9y ago

Motion photos - if I'm understanding correctly this is basically "motion stills"[1] integrated into the main camera app. It takes three seconds of video, but no photo with it like in live photos. [1]: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.motionstills https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.and...

Akujin 9y ago

I currently have a Nexus 6P. It was the flagship before the Pixel series. I use Bluetooth headphones daily on my commute using the Philly subway system (SEPTA). In center city and around suburban station I experience sound cutting in and out all the time on two different wireless bluetooth headphones. It seems to work just fine in my apartment when I don't need it but is never reliable when there's a ton of other signals around. I can't stand the current state of the industry. New phones cost more but offer little in terms of value. They also look like trash. Who actually thought it was a good idea to make a flag ship phone have a two tone plastic case? I'll be sticking to my aluminum cased 6P for a while. I'm also likely to get it again when this one finally dies. There's absolutely nothing that makes me want a Samsung or a Google branded Android phone right now.

thanksgiving 9y ago
What headphones do you have? I've found that your experience varies wildly depending on your headset. Can you try a different set of Bluetooth headphones and report back?
- Akujin 9y ago
  One of each of these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06Y2YYS2L/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06Y2YYS2L/ref=oh_aui_deta... https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AWIPITS/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AWIPITS/ref=oh_aui_deta... They work just fine at the gym, at home, and at work but when in a crowded public space the cutting in/out is consistent.
endorphone 9y ago
I had every Nexus through to the 6P, and then moved to a Galaxy S8. With the Pixel Google has been overcome with profound me-tooism trying to ape every choice of Apple. It's humorous that the new iPhone offers wireless charging. Coincidentally I just caught their cringe-inducing intro of the new Google Clips that captures live photos. Groan.
- 9y ago

vthallam 9y ago

Looks great for $849. The camera is amazing with a 98 Dxo score. Also, the free unlimited Photo and Video storage is a great deal. Only conern is the inventory, they make 100 pieces and do marketing for a million, I don't understand the logic, smh.

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]

deep_concern 9y ago

The only reason to remove the headphone jack is to sell more dongles and wireless headphones. That's it. Consumers are not asking for it for the aesthetics. It doesn't make the phone much thinner. It doesn't make the phone easier to manufacture.

stephengillie 9y ago
After finding cheap Bluetooth headsets on Amazon last about as long as a pair of earbuds, and have no cord, I don't see a problem. I'm very rough on physical devices, and will go through 4-6 pair of earbuds a year. Because these do not physically connect to the device, they take an order of magnitude less wear, and thus last longer.
- limeblack 9y ago
  I have the same problem of "going through earbuds." I'm not an engineer but I believe it has has to do with feedback when unplugging and plugging in the headphones. I have both a Nexus and an iPhone and have noticed that the new lightning headphones last longer then the same Apple branded earbuds.
- monocasa 9y ago
  The Bluetooth Advanced Audio Distribution Profile doesn't have a standard for loseless audio, which means that you end up crappilly re-encoding the audio to send it to the headphones. The reference codec (SBC) is particularly crappy. Shipping MP3 or AAC over Bluetooth is not mandatory and may or may not work depending on the sender and receiver.
- mavrc 9y ago
  Ok, fine. The oldest pair of headphones that I own that work is older than my usage of the Internet. The oldest pair of headphones I own that I still use regularly I bought for college - and that was a long time ago. Assuming that everyone treats their equipment as though it's disposable is frustrating to me. Some of us use our gear for a very long time, and in the case of something as mundane as a 3.5" jack, expect to be able to.

notatoad 9y ago

$649/$849 it looks like a nice phone, but i have a hard time understanding how it's 5-7x better than my xiaomi.

addicted 9y ago
Well, for a device that is basically the primary device for the vast majority of people to conduct their lives, that are expected to have useful lives of about 2 years, i.e. ~750 days, $400-$500 more may absolutely be worth even a slight improvement, as long as you can afford it.
- com2kid 9y ago
  > $400-$500 more may absolutely be worth even a slight improvement, as long as you can afford it. The problem is, the Nexus series showed us that Google can release a high quality phone at 1/2 the price of the rest of the market, and keep it updated and running fast for years. There is obviously more money in selling phones at market rate.
  - hocuspocus 9y ago
    The problem lies with the definition of market rate. I cannot justify spending €300 more than a S8+. I've had many Nexus devices and always felt like I was getting a discount in exchange for being a beta tester. Then Google raised their pricing to match the iPhone's, yet I don't see much improvement in quality control (both hardware and software) or in operations (they're still incapable of a worldwide launch or proper stock management, despite volumes that are a fraction of their competitors'). I don't even understand how the Pixel 1 was fairly successful in the US (subsidized phones and project Fi maybe?)
  - riku_iki 9y ago
    Nexus phones were probably subsidized to promote Android ecosystem.
    - com2kid 9y ago

warrenmiller 9y ago

No wireless charging?

stephengillie 9y ago
Wireless charging can't provide enough amps to actually charge newer Google devices. Nexus phones had them through the 5/7, but lost them with the 5x/6p. My Nexus 5 wall charger can't even push enough amps to charge my Nexus 5x. Edit: Does the new iPhone use the same wireless chargers as older phones? Can you use it with those Ikea lamps with wireless charging? Or does it use a different/less lossy transmission method?
- ocdtrekkie 9y ago
  The new iPhones would like to file a disagreement with you. Sure, it's slower than a quick charger, but in a lot of cases you don't need a quick charge.
- irrational 9y ago
  Wait, then how is Apple able to use wireless charging for the new iPhone 8s and X?
- wvenable 9y ago
  I wirelessly fast-charge my Samsung S7; I'm not sure where you got the idea that it doesn't work.
  - chrisper 9y ago
    Is your phone getting super hot while wireless charging?
    - xyzzy_plugh 9y ago
      Not any hotter than my Nexus 5 did. It gets about as hot wirelessly charging as wired.
    - 9y ago

AcerbicZero 9y ago

I picked up the Pixel on release, but I've been disappointed by the quality of the product overall. The screen scratches easily , battery life is mediocre, and the changes to android recently have not been positive. I've had the device replaced once by Google, which was a painless process, but the new one scratches just as easily as the old, and loves to reboot on occasion. Interestly enough, I started a new job right around the time I got my Pixel, and work provided me a brand new iPhone 7, so I've been able to compare them side by side for a year now, in nearly identical usage. I've been on the android bandwagon for a long time now, but the iPhone 7 is hands down the better hardware. The Pixel has been replaced once ~6 months ago, and spent most of its life in a soft shell case, but it has not handled general wear and tear well. The iPhone 7 has been blatantly abused (work phone, don't care) but still looks brand new. iOS leaves a lot to be desired, but with all of android's missteps the difference isn't as drastic as it used to be.

gxs 9y ago
I recently switched from Android phones to an iPhone in July of this year. This after having used android since the G1 (first android phone). I think your sentiments are the most fair and realistic I've come across in a while (FYI for others reading). The gap isn't as big as it used to be software wise, but the hardware is still better by a big margin. iOS has also been a little more stable, less app crashes, random reboots, etc. The only thing I'd add is that the apple stores have been surprisingly helpful and have added more to the experience than I would have thought. Go in, try everything, get brought up to speed real quick by friendly staff, and they seem to always be conveniently located (for me at least). All in all the experience has been better and I haven't missed Android's famous flexibility.

lopespm 9y ago

Honest question: for those of you who own a mobile device without a headphone jack, do you find it to be an encuberment? Personally I still find it a bit hostile to not have the jack available, since often times I find myself charging the phone and using the headphones (when watching videos for example), so having an adapter dongle for such a frequent task seems counterintuitive to me. I believe that if a device is correctly designed, then it should serve most of its usecases without the aid of an extra adapter. These should be reserved for edge cases. Moreover, I use headphones for a good part on my day and I am not sold on the idea of having a wireless device next to my brain for such an extended amount of time. Sure, we are already exposed to a good number of electromagnetic radiations, but this one I might want to pass. Not to mention the need to charge yet another device.

selectout 9y ago
(personal antidote) I had 3 pairs of headphones I primarily used pre-removal of the headphone jack. 2 bluetooth (working out and @work) and the third was a nice pair for at home listening. I have no problems with a dongle always connected to my nice pair, and have actually found myself using bluetooth more often regardless of Aux port availability.
bhups 9y ago
I have the iPhone 7. I've been using Bluetooth headphones since about 2014 (started with the JayBirds, but use the AirPods now). I use my headphones pretty much all day. Not once have I noticed the absence of the headphone jack, nor have I felt the need for it.
DopamineHigh 9y ago
On a iPhone 7+. nope, AirPods are so amazing and convenient I cannot go back to a wired set.
birdmanjeremy 9y ago
Yes. It sucks.
deep_concern 9y ago
My friend with an iPhone was unable to play his music through the speakers in my car because he forgot his adapter. We had to use a cup to amplify the speakers. Even if he had remembered his dongle, if he'd needed to charge his phone it'd need to be a splitter dongle. We'd had no problems playing music in the car for the past decade.

JosephLark 9y ago

Edit up top: The identification is done on-device. The Verge article didn't mention this. > And this year’s Pixel will take advantage of the phone’s always-on microphones to listen for music (not just the phrase “OK Google”) and display what you’re listening to on the screen, even if it’s something on the radio. This sounds creepy. So now when excessive microphone data is seen to be going out to the cloud, they can just say "Oh, the phone thought there was music playing and was trying to identify it. Simple misunderstanding, nothing nefarious!".

dmayle 9y ago
Except it doesn't send any data to the cloud. They mentioned that explicitly. There's an on-phone database of songs that it is matching against.
- JosephLark 9y ago
  > They mentioned that explicitly Okay? The submitted article certainly didn't mention that. The Anadtech live blog does indeed state "01:05PM EDT - On device machine learning. Local music identificat (sic)"
- raverbashing 9y ago
  I wonder how much space this takes on the device. How many signatures does it keep and how often is this updated
  - thebooktocome 9y ago
    It's not very significant. Basically it stores some distances between peaks in each song's spectrogram which can then be further compressed. Even supporting a database of millions of songs would be possible.
    - NathanCH 9y ago
      Spotify has 30 million songs. Even if it takes up a small amount of space, it's basically a non-feature.

irrational 9y ago

I'm very disappointed they didn't drop the price of the 1st generation Pixels more. There was a 1 day sale on the Pixels earlier this year (that included a free Google Home device) that was much lower than what they have dropped them to today. My wife's Nexus 5 recently died. I had hoped to get her the 1st generation Pixel to replace it, but I'll probably get her the iPhone SE instead.

grrrtttt 9y ago

Oh dear. And I'm already seeing stock issues also. Pre-orders for the 2 XL in B&W just went "out of stock".

Tossrock 9y ago

Is that a broken link in a major Google product release blog post? Gasp! Screenshot for posterity: https://i.imgur.com/r7TpRQY.png https://i.imgur.com/r7TpRQY.png

gordon_freeman 9y ago

Thanks but no thanks. I love my Nexus 6P a lot (still)!

sudarshan_sar 9y ago
Same boat. It's still a fantastic phone and meets all the demands and then some! The the only reason to switch might be the battery life. Still not a serious enough issue to switch, yet.
user-on1 9y ago
u should b super lucky they are still alive, mine just crapped out and kept showing the image of the people who screwed it and then died.

syntaxing 9y ago

I really wish they would reintroduce the Nexus series. The money felt worth it for the phone. Not sure if I can say the same for the Pixel series.

iMark 9y ago
What’s in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.
- jm_l 9y ago
  Pixel's goal is to be an iPhone competitor. This is reflected in its pricing and product design. Nexus was for Android enthusiasts who wanted the stock experience. I think in their own words it was "meant to showcase the best of Android."
sorenjan 9y ago
Plus Nexus was available to buy. I've had several Nexus phones, but Google doesn't want to sell Pixel phones in my country.

duxup 9y ago

I wish Google would do a mid range Pixel, or call it something else if they want, just something like a follow up to the 5x.

humblebee 9y ago
I think this is what the Moto X4 is. https://www.blog.google/products/project-fi/project-fi-welcomes-android-one-moto-x4/ https://www.blog.google/products/project-fi/project-fi-welco...
- kuschku 9y ago
  The Moto X4 won’t get Android Preview Releases, and is therefore useless for developers. I’m a student, but I also develop apps. Even with the emulator, there are still bugs you can only find on real devices. So now every time a new Android version comes out, I’ll either end up with a month where my apps are broken and I’m slowly working on fixing them (so ~10% of the time the app is unusable), or I have to shell out north of $900 just to get the cheapest still supported Pixel in Germany.
  - xyzzy_plugh 9y ago
    This is a good perspective I hadn't considered. Additionally, my largest concern with no mid-range device supporting preview releases is that the mid-range phone experience is going to decline rapidly (slow downs, resource bloat) until the only viable equivalent experience to what we have now is on a $1000+ phone. When phones were sub $500, I could get a new one every two years pretty reasonably. Or if I didn't like my phone, it wasn't a huge hit to upgrade early. But now I'm paying more than 2x what I paid when I started using Android phones. At that price point, Apple starts to look real good.
- eloisant 9y ago
  Does it get updates as fast as a Nexus/Pixel?
  - 9y ago

noncoml 9y ago

Why would anyone pay money to buy a phone from an advertising company?

the_common_man 9y ago
Yeah, I feel Google should re-invent itself and make some bold decisions to move out of it's ad business. They seem very capable of making excellent products. Will their shareholders be up in arms if they got out slowly from this add business? Google Apps, Android, Pixel etc are really excellent products.
- SapphireSun 9y ago
  Never gonna happen. Google can do the things it does because it holds monopoly pricing in internet advertising. The freedom from competition and massive capitalization is what allows it to invest in blue sky projects.
- KZeillmann 9y ago
  Why on earth would they want to get out of the ad business?

jordache 9y ago

how can an adjacent pixel be used to calculate depth map. Are they telling me the sensor and their algorithm is that sensitive to generate none binary depth info from adjacent pixels?

MattyRad 9y ago

I bought a Pixel when it came out, switching from the Nexus 5 primarily because Project Fi was an easy, cheap way to get off my parent's cell-phone plan and gain some personal independence. It was about time for a new phone anyway. I wish I had just stuck with the Nexus 5... it was a fantastic phone. Wireless charging (which I personally found to be the most useful feature), excellent dimensions, excellent price, and the notification light was bright. The case was made of some sort of rubberized plastic, so it could withstand a real beating. Squeezable sides and marginally improved specs aren't enough for me to consider upgrading, and at this point, as an Android fan since the Nexus 4, I would strongly considering making the switch the iPhone.

chrisper 9y ago
Are you planning to already switch phones again? I have a pixel as well and feel like it will still last some time.
- bmelton 9y ago
  The Pixel is so solid, and still plenty fast enough for me that I honestly can't imagine upgrading until there's something I need that doesn't support it.
- MattyRad 9y ago
  The Pixel is by no means a bad phone, it's just been an exercise in disappointment the whole way. So I'm not actively planning to switch phones, I'm just lamenting that I don't get the same utility out of the Pixel that I was getting out of my Nexus 5. Also being on Project Fi locks me into a certain set of phones, switching would be an expensive endeavor.
olavgg 9y ago
I have the Nexus 5, great phone! But it no longer gets updated. And with the Blueborne security issue this annoys the heck out of me. With iPhone I can at least expect 5 years lifetime with updates.
- 9y ago

user-on1 9y ago

the rounded corners on the pixel 2 xl just looks ugly... dont u guys think... Also the huge bezels in pixel 2... seems like these announcements just boil down to nothing... at least those headphones could have been individual device without a need for pixel or if it needs to be paired then at least it should have been around $50 it is basically just a total waste of time, it was fun to listen to those new music in the event though...

royal_ts 9y ago

The € price is ridiculously higher than the $ price. The smaller pixel costs 799€ which includes 19% of taxes (in Germany), the 649$ does not contain taxes. Still that's a difference of 150€ on top of my hat. There's also a fee which manufactures have to pay (GEMA which collects money for artists and so on). Guess they also include that Google Home Mini in this price which is kinda dumb. Not going to buy with such a huge price bump

dustinmr 9y ago
If that includes 19% taxes, than its a €30 or 4% difference on the pretax pricing. Not very big really. Especially, if there's other fees they pay to sell the product in your territory.
- Matthias247 9y ago
  How did you calculate that? Without taxes it’s 671€, which is 789$. So the difference is 190$
- vetinari 9y ago
  I don't know how you came to 30 EUR difference. 649 USD = 552 EUR 552 * 1.2 (20% VAT) = 662 799 - 662 = 137 The difference is 137 EUR (161 USD). That's quite a coin.
Matthias247 9y ago
It‘s worse than the iPhone (699$ vs 799€), but unfortunately it’s just the continuation of the trend. Over the last years electronics steadily got more expensive in Europe compared to US. Before that is was often 1$ == 1€, which was not that far off after taxes. However another thing to consider in pricing ist that android phone prices will fall pretty quickly over the year anyway, up to about 50%. We’ll see how it will be for the Pixel2
- royal_ts 9y ago
  The Pixels price at least in the Google store has been pretty steady afaik. A buddy of mine one thing to consider for this price bump is the CE certificate which companies have to get for their devices. Still weird that Samsung and other don't seem to have these problems.

lepouet 9y ago

I'm french, i would like Google to take my money.

mullingitover 9y ago

I witnessed my girlfriend's Nexus 6p support experience with Google and it was not pretty. I would never buy a Google phone after that. The phone, just barely out of warranty, goes into a bootloop and becomes a paperweight. Google helpfully shrugs the problem off on Huawei, and Huawei will of course not support the product since it's out of warranty. There is no repair option. I tried Android early on, had similarly unacceptable support experiences, and whenever I'm tempted to dip my toes back in the water I'm reminded of how bad things are with cases like this. In the case of the Nexus 6p it's Google's flagship product and it's a worthless paperweight 13 months after purchase.

stu2010 9y ago
I had a Nexus 5X die within the warranty period, and had a similar experience. LG's support was utterly awful, it took them 3 weeks to replace the phone. They originally told me I could get a replacement 5X, then they told me I could get a T-Mobile G5 and what they eventually sent me was an AT&T specific G5 that required digging into config menus before it would connect to T-mobile LTE.
- kowdermeister 9y ago
  Big company support have lots of moving parts. My girlfriend's Nexus 5x also died this week. Local LG branch (Budapest) replaced the motherboard within a day. She basically got a new phone for free.
notheguyouthink 9y ago
> I witnessed my girlfriend's Nexus 6p support experience with Google and it was not pretty. I would never buy a Google phone after that. The phone, just barely out of warranty, goes into a bootloop and becomes a paperweight. Google helpfully shrugs the problem off on Huawei, and Huawei will of course not support the product since it's out of warranty. There is no repair option. Something similar happened to my wife with her Nexus5X. Google shipped an update that bricked a ton of 5X phones, and Google stopped responding to her Customer Service emails. We've been Nexus (specifically pure Nexus) users since the first Google phone. I own a G1, still in my closet. I own all of them (well, at least one of each generation). I own a Pixel XL as well. I'm done with Google, for this, and other reasons.

bfrog 9y ago

No headphone jack, twice as much as my nexus 5x. You lost me and my family as a customer for both phones and service.

p-funk 9y ago

I was really looking forward to this phone. Lack of headphone jack = instant dealbreaker.

TsomArp 9y ago

I bought a second-hand Pixel on Ebay. The seller sent it complete with boxes, manual, etc. After 6 months it received an OTA and now is a 600 dollars paperweight. They tell me that since the phone, which is not reported stolen, is assigned to another account they cannot do anything about it. I have contacted the seller but she won't respond. Be aware of this.

kilroy123 9y ago
Have you tried sideloading an update manually? It's really easy and quick to do. https://developers.google.com/android/ota https://developers.google.com/android/ota
- TsomArp 9y ago
  I will try it. I tried to get into download mode and recovery, and no luck.

Multicomp 9y ago

I wonder if Nexus 6 users would move to the Pixel XL2? I love that it has stereo front-facing speakers with the full 6 inch screen, but as Darth Shamu said: "I find your lack of a headphone jack disturbing"

seaghost 9y ago

There is no privacy with those devices.

niuzeta 9y ago

> Though there is some bad news this year: the headphone jack is gone. Expected, but it still stings. I guess I'll look elsewhere for my replacement for trusty Nexus 5X. Speaking of which, how's Pixel?

junnan 9y ago
Great software and camera. But having seen pixel 2 xl, I find the bezel on my pixel really intolerable.
- niuzeta 9y ago
  I don't really mind bezel; it's the lack of headphone jack that I take exception on.

newuser1441 9y ago

I'm abandoning my iPhone, iPad, Mac laptop. I'm getting all the new google stuff except that weird camera.

bhuga 9y ago

My pixel hardware has been a disappointment. The vibrator actually broke off from the phone and it now just makes a rattling noise as it bounces around inside the phone. The screen scratches easily. Bluetooth pops and crackles. I couldn't have imagined buying a second pixel, so removing the saving grace, the headphone jack, almost seems gratuitous.

slavik81 9y ago
> The screen scratches easily. This is an understatement. After I got a few scratches on my Galaxy S4 from putting my phone in my pocket with keys, I made sure I would never make that mistake again. I was extra-cautious with my Pixel, but after less than a year of ownership it's is already the most scratched-up phone I've ever had.

AdmiralAsshat 9y ago

There's a reason that Samsung still leads the pack in sales, and it's not solely due to marketing: they keep the stuff people want. People want a headphone jack, they held onto the headphone jack. People want SD card slots, they keep SD card slots. I held off on getting a GS8 about two months ago when Amazon had a great deal on them going because I was in the process of moving, and I wanted to wait to see what else was coming out. Even though the S8 is lagging behind on updates, it still seems to be the best option. The HTC 11, Pixel 2, and Essential phone have all disappointed. Waiting on the reviews for how the Sony Xperia XZ1 compact fares, because I wouldn't mind a smaller phone.

pier25 9y ago
I like Samsung's hardware, but I still can't stand their TouchWiz UI. I don't understand why manufacturers simply don't offer a stock Android variant.
- AdmiralAsshat 9y ago
  They did, they were called "Google Play Editions".[0] No one bought them, because they were released at a time when people still paid subsidized phone prices and upgraded their phones every two years for $200. So when they were asked to pay $600 upfront, the vast majority had sticker shock. [0]https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/07/review-the-samsung-galaxy-s-4-google-play-edition-is-great-for-now/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/07/review-the-samsung-g...
- willtim 9y ago
  TouchWiz is better than stock android now. It has lots of additional useful features, especially in the areas of split screen and power saving.
  - fernandotakai 9y ago
    agreed 100%. it was not good before, but now? i prefer it.
  - pier25 9y ago

martin1975 9y ago

Thanks Google. Even with your $400 trade in refund, I think I'll stick with my original Google Pixel XL and forego marginal improvements and no 3.5mm jack on the phone itself. Forget your USB-C->3.5mm plugin... it's a pathetic attempt to move us away from wired to wireless headphones which never will work as well as 3.5 mm headsets/buds. In fact, if you don't shape up in a year or so by the time I will upgrade, I'm probably going back to Moto, or getting a Samsung...

Spooks 9y ago
I think wireless will eventually work as well, but that future is not now (or close to it). This would have to improve first: Sound quality, battery life (both for the phone, as bluetooth needs to be on, and headphone) and price
- martin1975 9y ago
  When they make bluetooth earbuds that have same quality sound as Etymotic ER4's, I'll switch then... the likelihood of that happening is virtually nil. reply

make3 9y ago

the smaller one looks like a stictly worse oneplus5

nickjj 9y ago

Be careful with the unlimited video storage deal because it's not really unlimited video? It's unlimited until 2020[0] and then I'm guessing you'll have to pay for it afterwards, and after a few years of taking videos without caring about space, you're probably going to rack up a massive bill or have to spend a ton of time cherry picking what you want to save. Their plan is pretty smart tho. Most people will be like "screw it, I'll just buy another phone to avoid spending that just to keep my videos". [0]: https://i.imgur.com/M5LYvrH.png https://i.imgur.com/M5LYvrH.png (read the fine print)

mscrivo 9y ago
That's insidious if that's the case. I (and probably) many others took it to mean that photos taken through that date would enjoy unlimited storage permanently, not that they would start charging after that date. Would be nice if we could get some clarification.
- Orangeair 9y ago
  Parent comment is correct. From footnote #2 from here: https://store.google.com/us/product/pixel_2 https://store.google.com/us/product/pixel_2 > Free, unlimited original-quality storage for photos and videos taken with Pixel through the end of 2020, and free, unlimited high-quality storage for photos taken with Pixel afterwards.
  - mscrivo 9y ago
    That's still not clear. It doesn't say they will start charging for original quality shots taken before 2020. To me it just seems like if you want to keep storing original quality shots taken AFTER 2020, then you will have to pay for that going forward.
    - plexicle 9y ago
      Assuming it's just like all of their other storage promotions have been over the last several years. If you are over your free cap when the promotion ends, you don't lose access to anything, you just can't add anything new.

c0smic 9y ago

When they mentioned the headphone jack being removed, I thought it was a joke. I have a 6S now and was considering getting the Pixel, in part because of the headphone jack and also for the more "open" ecosystem of Android (and things not proprietary-Apple). But now it's basically the same, so there's less motivation for me there. I just think Google could've swooped in and gotten the people who still appreciate headphone jacks. Interesting round of new devices this year around, I wonder what the consensus is on who did it better, Google or Apple?

macandcheese 9y ago
Pretty much have to stick to iPhone 6S for the rest of my life... So disappointing to see possibly THE ONLY universal port - the 3.5mm aux - be removed from devices before our eyes. I wonder what the adoption rate on Bluetooth / Lightning / USBC headphones is. Can't imagine more than 5% or so.
- culturestate 9y ago
  Bluetooth headphone sales passed wired headphone sales last year, even before the iPhone 7 was announced [1]. I have to believe it’s only gone up from there. 1. https://qz.com/745108/wireless-headphone-sales-just-hit-a-tipping-point/ https://qz.com/745108/wireless-headphone-sales-just-hit-a-ti...

izzydata 9y ago

I love my Nexus 5X, but the high end phone market has no appeal to me. I don't need a phone that can do 5% more and cost 150% more. I'm not sure why anyone needs a phone like this really. Perhaps the Nexus 5X is only good because it is basically an LG G phone.

pier25 9y ago

I'd love to buy a Pixel phone (1 or 2) but Google doesn't sell where I live just South of the border.

Decabytes 9y ago

Is there a way to remove the auto-scanning and microphone listening features? I have an Iphone so I don't know. Every phone does this now I know. It just seems weird that it is brought up so non-chalantly in the article. Like I guess we are just okay with this now.

anderber 9y ago
On the original Pixel there is, I assume it would be the case with the new one.

hitekker 9y ago

The pixel 2 was made by HTC and pixel 2xl was made by LG. Two manufacturers for what should be the same phone. There are no words.

jacquesc 9y ago

Dropped my Pixel 1 in a toilet. Glad the Pixel 2 is water proof. Preordered!

dirtylowprofile 9y ago

Android Nougat still 17.8% on the market. I've been developing Android apps since 2011, and Android development is getting worse. The support I have to deal with goes back to Android 4.4 which is like 4-5 years ago. And the phones in the market here in Asia are still mostly on 6.0. I am no longer getting excited for Android releases anymore.

beams_of_light 9y ago

How could they neglect wireless charging and the headphone jack?

Abishek_Muthian 9y ago

In my experience with Nexus (4&6P), it always had microphone issues (person on the other side not being able hear you for first few minutes); since I always used Bluetooth headset for calls; I didn’t bother much. But I’ve seen some good support cases from Google for nexus, my friend exchanged his nexus 4 after a year out of warranty by sending to US though; it was not bought from Google in India. I hope the support would be better for Pixel series of devices now that they own the manufacturer responsibility.

mastazi 9y ago

Very underwhelming. The camera solution they adopted is technologically inferior to the (much more common) dual wide/tele lens solution, since the former offers only some of the advantages of the latter (e.g. bokeh: yes, 2X optical zoom: no). And they gave that guy who retrofitted a headphone jack in the iPhone 7 a reason to come out with a new video.

jraedisch 9y ago

I am an Android user but it seems to me that it gets more and more invasive. Everytime I go somewhere it wants me to take photos and just now it advertised some Play Store movie. Search asks for location access on almost every search. To get rid of the search bar I need to install third party software. When I buy a premium phone I want the phone to work for me and not the other way around. The notification bar should only be used for stuff that I want to be notified about - not ads or cheap tries to get me working for free. In the future I sometimes imagine two classes of devices: one controls the lives of their owners and one helps their owners to control their lives. What does Android want?

threatofrain 9y ago
And Google makes it so hard to disable the new Google Feed for Android, but so distractingly easy to accidentally press. Their settings experience is still a mess.
bdcravens 9y ago
I have an iPhone as my primary phone, and a secondary Pixel XL. The Pixel XL uses a separate Gmail account, used nowhere else. I've added no "Places" to Google maps. I love how it tells me how many minutes my drive to work is (which I'm okay with that on my iPhone, since I explicitly set that info in Google Maps on that account)
noncoml 9y ago
> one controls the lives of their owners and one helps their owners to control their lives. What does Android want? I think you answered your own question in the first paragraph. Don’t give google any data, other than maybe your searches. Instead of working for google, let google work for you. Only searches and in a different tab container.
cup-of-tea 9y ago
Android wants to make money for Google. It sounds like what you want is a pocket-sized computer that can make telephone calls. Shouldn't be so difficult, right? But maybe it would be twice the price if you want to pay with money and not your data.

fnl 9y ago

This phone is as expensive as the latest iOS phones, at least ball-park wise. Yet, Google only supports its hardware for two years, while Apple does so for four, at least (still too little, but at least twice as good). I am using a "bricked" Nexus 5 right now and need to update because I get no more updates. No more Google phones for me, unless they cost half or less than the current iPhones.

CharlesDodgson 9y ago

Bit of a side conversation here, but is anyone else jaded that the only real options are iOS and Android?

fnwx17 9y ago

As creepy as the increased invasion of privacy on the Google phones, the most disturbing is the Google Clips camera. That's literally how the movie "The Circle" started (although it's a pretty bad movie).

kpxxx3 9y ago

Ha. $950 for 128GB and no headphone jack. Personally I don't miss the jack too bad (sorry to all those that care). But, this thing is basically more expensive than the iPhone 8 Plus for half the storage. I guess they are competing with the X. Good luck with that. I don't see how this can do that. The processor even in the iPhone 8 trounces all the Android shit. And it's not like it matters that much because 3rd party software (large titles) often perform so much better on iOS (for a wide variety of reasons, not all of them fair). I was yet another one screwed by the Nexus 6p battery debacle, and for $600, no it was not a "budget" phone. It was clearly marketed as Google's first attempt to dip their toes into being a serious handset manufacturer (a Pixel dry-run). The Pixel XL has/had problems too with memory storage, and then of course the whole continuing problem with uneven power management and battery life in real world use cases. Android still hasn't gotten it's shit together and the Pixel 2 is still not ready to compete with Apple. Maybe I'll come back when Google has proven they are serious about doing things right.

lenkite 9y ago

Buy OnePlus phones instead of expensive crap. OnePlus is cheap, reliable and replaceable.