Bezels be gone – and give us a squeeze while you’re at it.
This is it. The phone every true blue Google fan has been waiting for.
The Pixel 2 might be impressive, but bezels are so 2016, man. The Pixel 2 XL ditches ’em, and looks all the better for it.
That’s not all that has changed, of course. Beyond the snazzy new design, Google has crammed the second-generation Pixel with cutting-edge hardware, an even smarter AI assistant, and one of (if not the) best cameras you’ll find on a smartphone. Anywhere.
In fact, it might just be the whole package. After spending time with one at Google’s reveal event, I certainly walked away impressed. Here’s why.
If the vanilla Pixel 2 feels like more of the same, the XL treads a different path, thanks to that eye-catching screen. It won’t look out of place next to a Galaxy S8, LG V30 or Apple iPhone X, so should still feel fresh well into 2018.
Flip it over and you’ll see Google’s now familiar split rear panel: the top section is still made from glass, while the rest of the phone sticks with aluminum, but the glass is much smaller now. It sits above the fingerprint sensor, which Google reckons is the fastest you’ll find on any smartphone. Unfortunately I didn’t get the chance to test that theory.
To simply call the XL a metal phone would be unfair. It has been given an additional treatment that adds texture and really makes it feel like a premium piece of kit. I’m a big fan. Not so sold on the contrasting power button, but that’s just me.
There’s a USB-C charging port at the bottom, but no headphone jack – Google has ditched it, so it’s the dongle life from here on, or a switch to Bluetooth headphones. You do get IP67 water and dust resistance, though, which is a massive step up from last year’s Pixel phones.
The other new addition? Active Edge, Google’s version of the HTC U11’s Edge Sense. Basically, you squeeze the sides of the phone to wake up Google Assistant, rather than shout a key phrase or tap onscreen. It works like you’d expect, but I’m still not sure if it’s a game-changer or a gimmick.
I thought the whole idea behind the 18:9 aspect ratio, skinny screen bezel thing was to give you a big display without the big phone body to match – but someone appears to have forgotten to tell Google that. The XL is huge, on account of the stereo speakers above and below the 6in OLED display. (Actually, it’s only 3mm larger than the 2016 Pixel XL – it just feels bigger on account of the screen taking up so much space.)
Don’t get me wrong, the screen is beautiful: a QHD+ resolution, p-OLED panel with exceptional contrast and impeccable detail. Maybe not quite as vibrant as Samsung’s OLED phones, but still pretty impressive. That might be down the polarising filter that means you’ll be able to read the screen perfectly when you’ve got sunglasses on – handy if you live in sunnier climes than we do here in rain-soaked London.
There are still noticeable bezels at the sides. Samsung has spoiled us with the S8’s curved Infinity Display, and this doesn’t have quite the same wow factor.
An OLED panel means Daydream View support, though, so you’re sorted if you’re keen on virtual reality, and the wider colour space really helps your photos and videos pop off the screen. No word from Google if it supports HDR playback, but seeing how it found a way to make the original Pixel phones play HDR videos through YouTube, it’s not out of the question.
Unfortunately, Google’s demo area wasn’t the best place to test those stereo speakers – think a rock concert mosh pit, only everyone’s got a DSLR camera. Judging sound quality will have to wait until a full review.
The original Pixel and Pixel XL set the bar for smartphone cameras last year, and it’s looking like Google is going to do the same again in 2017. It might only have a 12MP sensor, but the Pixel 2 XL seems capable of some truly terrific photos.
It has a wide f/1.8 aperture, both optical and electronic image stabilisation on-board, and both dual-pixel PDAF and laser-assisted focusing – a potent combination anywhere, but with Google’s mighty image processing algorithms, the results need to be seen to be believed. In a dark hall filled with awkward overhead lighting, it took crisp, clear shots with amazing amounts of detail and surprisingly little noise. Focusing was incredibly quick, too.
This is possible because the phone doesn’t just take one photo – it takes a whole bunch, then stitches them together. There’s enough data here for three second “motion photos”, adding movement to your snaps. It sounds just like Apple’s Live Photos, but Google reckons it uses algorithms to only animate certain parts of each shot – which should mean higher quality clips. Dynamic range has been expanded from last year, too, so it’ll cope better with different lighting scenarios, and Google has even found a way to add a bokeh-blurring portrait mode, without needing two camera sensors. The effect worked just as well as a twin-camera setup in the example shots I saw, but I’ll want to test it in person before giving a final verdict.
Finally, video uses both optical and electronic image stabilisation simultaneously, for even smoother handheld footage – although you’re limited to 4K at 30fps.
Basically, it should be the best smartphone camera around. I can’t wait to see how it stacks up to the Galaxy S8 and Apple iPhone 8 Plus.
Google’s Pixel launcher doesn’t to anything too drastic to Android 8.0 Oreo – it simply shifts the Google search bar down towards the bottom of the screen to make room for an omnipresent reminder widget, pulling info from your email, calendar and weather apps to keep you updated with your schedule.
There are a few unique additions, like the always-on display. This pops the time, date and any active notifications onscreen, even when the screen is in standby, so they’re available at a glance. It’s also here that Google’s machine learning focus starts to shine, detecting what music you’re listening to and displaying it at the bottom of the screen, Shazam-style, only without drawing data from the cloud. Quite why it couldn’t just read the ID3 tag, though, I’m not quite sure.
It sounds like simple stuff, maybe, but with a Snapdragon 835 and 4GB of RAM underneath, there’s no way the Pixel 2 XL was going to feel anything other than super fast. Apps open in the blink of an eye, multitasking works flawlessly, and the Google Assistant springs to life whenever you call on it.
This power helps with augmented reality, too. Google Lens isn’t quite ready for prime time just yet, but it’ll be arriving in beta form on the XL.
