Erin Seils| Science and Technology Editor
Google’s 2nd phone is now available for purchase with the Pixel 2 being released on the 19th of October and the XL on the 15th of November.
Price
The Pixel 2 costs £629 with 64GB of storage, and £729 with 128GB. The Pixel 2 XL costs £799 with 64GB storage, and £899 for 128GB.
Of course Google had to show off their latest phone with a couple of adverts, in their usual witty way.
https://youtu.be/zpLVsR8cSFo
Design
Google has never claimed to produce the sleekest or best-looking phones but they have definitely listened to the people and decided to reduce the size of the glass shade on the back of the phone. The finger print sensor remains located in the same extremely accessible place on the back of the phone as it was in the previous Pixel model.
Both the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL have an IP67 rating meaning that you have no worries about using your phone in the rain or that it will break if you drop it in water but most people recommend that you don’t leave the phone underwater for a prolonged period of time.
The sound quality of the dual front facing speakers make up for the large bezels which are slightly more apparent on the smaller version of the phone.
Headphone Jack?
While Google made fun Apple for dropping the headphone jack last year they have now decided to drop it too. Unfortunately, the new phones don’t come with earphones included but Google does provide a dongle in the box so you can continue to use your old ones.
“The best smartphone camera in the world – again”
Being called the “pixel” the camera seems to be at the forefront of this phone. Google’s “More, more, more” AD even makes a not so subtle dig at Apple for having to add a sceond camera to their phones for portrait mode. This is certainly one of the smartest smartphones there are. Instead of using two cameras Google’s Pixel 2 uses something called “dual pixels” which splits each pixel in half to allow the phone to take photos which other phones need two lenses to do.
Unlike the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus both the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL come equipped with the same great camera.
While you don’t get the live preview of portrait mode like the latest iPhones provide the pixel 2 simply takes a few seconds to process and then gives you the option to choose whether you want to save the image with portrait on or off according to tech reviewer Marques Brownlee.
Reveiwer Safwan Ahmedmia uploaded a video to his YouTube channel SuperSaf TV, comparing the Pixel 2 XL camera with the iPhone 8 Plus, and showed that the Pixel seems to perform better overall – especially in low light.
Also, no need to worry about running out of storage ever again, so you can take as many photos as you like!
Rapid recharge – again?
Google claims that both the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL will fully recharge in just 15 mins. However many reviewers say that the phone actually takes at least an hour to fully charge but when fully charged it does last for around 7 hours.
Google Assistant – Squeeze!
While “squeezing” the phone for the Google Assistant does sound a little gimmicky, reviewer Marques Brownlee says that he has found himself using this feature a lot more often due to this method of quick and easy access. The Google Assistant also allows you to tyoe instead of talk to it which is very smart idea as Tech Radar recently asked “How often do you use Siri or Bixby? to which 79% of voters said “I’m not comfortable with it at all”.
Overall, both the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL seem like pretty good phones which could certainly compete with others available at the moment.
