AustinIllini
Well-known member
Question, did you get rid of your pixel 2 XL? What did you think about the size diff? Reason I ask is I had the 2 XL on preorder, went to Verizon to check it out and hated the blue shift and screen quality. Also hated the size, thought it was overly large and the phone itself felt junky...very light weight and had no substance to it.
I really wanted to try android again and I'd only go back on a pixel device, was considering the pixel 2 but thought I was going back in time to chunky bezels.
My burn in got really bad. You could see the whole home button on the screen. So, because I was out of the return period, I called Google customer service and requested a replacement. The replacement was, of course, granted. The device came in a brand new box, so I went ahead and sold it online. I wind up coming out about $80 short after sale.
Observations about the Pixel 2 XL
- Android Oreo is definitely as good if not better than iOS 11 (at least for the month I had it, not sure about long term usage)
- The battery life is incredible. It's better than any iPhone I have ever used. Truly remarkable
- Some of the features Android make me think "Why doesn't Apple have this yet?". The live wallpaper with the earth which updates for weather and time of day is pretty unbelievable.
- The Pixel 2 XL hardware is fine from a build standpoint. It's not great, it's probably not $800+ great. It's just fine.
- The services on Android as Google intended are top notch. Google Assistant runs circles around Siri, but I can get GA on iPhone, so that wasn't a must-have on Pixel
- Google Lens is useless
- The camera is INCREDIBLE. While it can't do 2x zoom and doesn't do stage lighting, the traditional photos are better than iPhone X's by the slightest of margins
- The blue shift is a mess. If you rotate the screen at all you get a big flash of blue. If you wake up in the morning and don't have Night Light (Android's Night mode), you're greeted by an almost painful blue screen.
- The burn in is real and I'm not convinced any amount of software can fix it. The internet experts seem to have gone quiet on the burn-in front, but I can tell you I'm not going to try another Pixel 2 XL
- The ambient light sensor is either trash OR the software doesn't know what to do with the screen in low light. The screen can never decide how bright to be. I know for a number of people this isn't a big deal as they set the screen to manual brightness, but I don't so it's super disappointing
Conclusion: Pixel 2 XL is the best Android experience from a software and services standpoint. However, the hardware falls well short of the device's high price tag .
Hope this helps. I was as disappointed as can be.