Google Pixel 2 Preview – Kind of standard, but of good quality

The Pixel 2 and 2 XL even cost three tens more than last year’s Google smartphones, bringing them to 799 euros and 939 euros for the cheapest versions with 64GB of storage memory. You can of course expect a lot for that and we were able to get a first impression of how good these phones really are in London at the Google event.

Let’s get the facts straight first so you have an idea of ​​what we’re talking about.

Original housing

The appearance of the two new phones is striking. The rear of the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL is mostly metal, but they have a piece of glass at the top. The metal on the back has a light structure, so that you hardly see finger swipes and the phone stays well in the hands. We immediately noticed a light scratch in the coating that covers the metal back, so we are curious how scratch-resistant this part of the smartphone is.

Both phones have a USB-C port again and the button layout is the same, although there is no relief on the power button. The single speaker at the bottom has been replaced by stereo speakers that are below and above the screen and that is certainly an improvement.

Not unique, but nice, is that this year’s Pixels are waterproof according to the ip67 rating. Both Pixel 2 phones also have a fingerprint scanner on the back, which we think is a logical place. According to Google, the scanner is the fastest ever on a smartphone, so we tested that. It does indeed seem faster than the scanner on last year’s Pixel devices, but we dare to doubt whether it is faster than a OnePlus 5 or iPhone 8. A review will have to show exactly how that works. Yet it is simply very fast, like those on most smartphones in the higher price ranges.

So much for the agreements. Where the Pixel XL was actually simply a larger version of the Pixel, things are different now. The smaller Pixel 2, for example, has fairly standard-sized bezels, making it about the same relative screen size as last year’s Pixel. However, the Pixel 2 XL has somewhat smaller edges above and below the screen in relation to the total surface area; a bit like the Galaxy S8 and the LG V30. It is a bit strange that the bezels on the sides of the screen are very large. That is immediately noticeable when you hold the device in your hands and that could have been a bit more limited in our opinion.

Despite the 0.5″ larger screen, the Pixel 2 XL is only 3mm longer than last year’s version, which is nice. The Pixel 2 XL also has an elongated screen ratio of 18:9, so it’s not too wide Another difference between the two Pixel 2 phones is that the Pixel 2 has a flat screen, while the Pixel 2 XL’s screen is slightly curved, the curvature is subtle and not as noticeable as on a Galaxy S8.

We also noticed that the devices feel very light, although they are not lighter than the first two Pixel phones. The smaller Pixel 2 could initially be associated with a cheap device, because it is very light, has a flat screen and larger bezels than many high-end devices from 2017. We tried to bend the devices and they do not give much, so in terms of firmness it seems to be good. The overall build quality also seems okay. The buttons are firmly in the housing and are not too easy to press. Everything fits nicely and looks slick. The most striking thing about the design of the blue Pixel 2 and the black and white Pixel 2 XL is that the power buttons have striking colors. Whether you like that is a matter of taste, but it is something else.

Something that is also striking, but due to its absence, is the 3.5mm port, while Google made it a point last year that its devices did have this port. The company will have its reasons, but has not specifically stated them. With bezels this size, there should be easy space in the case, but we are not the designers of these phones. With the supplied adapter you can connect your own headphones via USB-C, but a 3.5mm port remains more practical.

Google has taken over part of HTC’s smartphone branch and that is reflected in some functions, such as the squeeze function. This works about the same as with the HTC U11. Normally you can squeeze the device to start Google Assistant, but you can also put your phone on silent with a squeeze when it rings. Motion Photos also seems to come straight from HTC’s portfolio. The feature causes the phone to record a few seconds of video around each photo, giving you a sense of what happened then. The Taiwanese manufacturer called that Zoe and integrated it into the One M7 smartphone in 2013; Apple copied it as Live Photos a few years later.

A single, but fine camera

There is no difference in functions between the Pixel 2 and the 2 XL and on the inside only the battery capacity is logically different. Both have a single camera and we would have liked to see that differently with devices in this price category. After all, a double camera undeniably adds something if you can opt for a larger angle of view or zoom in without significant loss of quality.

We were able to shoot some pictures with the phones and we were not disappointed. Of course, it is difficult to estimate the exact quality after a few photos and without comparison material at an event, but the photos have correct color reproduction and are sharp. We can therefore not wait to compare it with other high-end devices from 2017.

The Pixel 2’s camera is blazingly fast, and we didn’t catch any shutter lag. Focusing using laser and dual-pixel phase detection also works very smoothly. The camera, unlike last year’s Pixels, has optical image stabilization, and Google says it’s combining it with the electronic image stabilization for videos, which worked very well in the first Pixel smartphones. We deliberately recorded a video with vibration and the stabilization seemed to work well at first glance.

Like many competitors, Google now also has a portrait mode, which is somewhat striking, because such a mode normally uses the depth information of a dual camera setup to blur the background and make the subject sharp. Despite the single camera, the results were, in our opinion, not inferior to the portraits that other devices make, but we must of course test this more extensively. Because Google only needs one camera for portraits, the front camera can do it too. Below is an example of the rear camera mode, courtesy of our cameraman Mark, who willingly posed.