**** The Official Google Pixel 2/Pixel 2 XL Thread ****

[AndyCr15]

he’s just pointing out that you need to be weary of it splitting.

Yeah, I get that. Not great.

Same with the coating - it’s a layer over the metal, but he’s just explaining how easy it is to scuff/wear off.

But he spends most of the video on this point it felt, which to me isn't even a point. He spends about 4 minutes of an 8 minute video scratching at the phone and announces during this that the video is sponsored by dBrand... interesting.

Oh, he also had a moan about a term one manufacturerer used claiming it to be Android's philosophy or something along those lines. Again, not saying he's totally wrong, it actually more annoys me when people think 'Droid' was equal to 'Android/Google'. Wasn't it Motorola's branding of their Android phones?

 

[V_R]

To be fair, most of the phone reviewers on YT are sponsored by Dbrand!

 

[GMac11]

You could try installing the pixel launcher on it, that may go some way into making it less samsung

I fully intend to! I had the original Pixel launcher installed on my S6 Edge+ before I moved to the pixel itself and it seemed to work pretty well.

I don't use a lot of apps from day to day so that might help with any lag issues. Even on my 32gb XL I still have 19gb of free space!

I'm really not liking the idea of the Bixby button though. I know it can be disabled but that means there's a completely obsolete button on a phone that's supposed to be as sleek as possible. I've no intention of every using Bixby as being with the Pixel for the last year I'm very much used to Google Assistant.

 

[MrRockliffe]

Yeah, I get that. Not great.



But he spends most of the video on this point it felt, which to me isn't even a point. He spends about 4 minutes of an 8 minute video scratching at the phone and announces during this that the video is sponsored by dBrand... interesting.

Oh, he also had a moan about a term one manufacturerer used claiming it to be Android's philosophy or something along those lines. Again, not saying he's totally wrong, it actually more annoys me when people think 'Droid' was equal to 'Android/Google'. Wasn't it Motorola's branding of their Android phones?

I think he's just a little disappointed - as he said this is google saying ‘hey, this is what an android phone should be like’, and it’s just not great build quality. It’s good, but not great.

As he said, just say it’s plastic instead of metal with a coating. Because you’re not touching the metal, and it’s misleading to people that like the durability of a metal body.

 

[chanjy]

Sorry for suggesting a temporary solution to help you out. I'll be quiet in the future...

I wouldn't want you to stop posting mate you have posted some really good stuff in the last few days especially

But really they need to fix it with software within the next 12 days or I will have to return it within my 14 day window. Nobody can say whether it's temporary or not as far as I can tell, and not working as intended with car audio is not acceptable for a 2017 flagship.

 

[Quinnaay]

Massive shame how this thread has just turned into flaws and complaints. Sort it out Google, looks like they've really made a balls up this time and overpriced it massively.

 

[funguST]

That bend test wasn't as bad as I was expecting. I suspected that with HR squeezable frame it would completely break (see his htc u11 bend).

I prefer the coated/plastic feel (love how the Nexus 5x feels). Will watch that video with sound later.

My alternative ATM would be the LG g6, although I really want to like the pixel.

 

[chanjy]

Love the phone otherwise, the bluetooth audio was a shock and a kick in the nuts. Let's hope that security patch they issued that fixed it for many people will be rolled out to Pixel 2 users soon.

I'm still on Android 8.0.0 Security patch level 5 September 2017, and no OTA updates available to me, but there's been an October update for older phones.

 

[james.miller]

As I've said before the 'washed out' colours are not my concern, the grain/blue tint are. I've said before I always switch my phones to sRGB straight away. I have my S7E on basic because I prefer it to Samsungs over saturated default.

You prefer under saturation? That's what washed out is. Again, Samsungs presets are calibrated for 0 lux - complete darkness. In anything other than 0 lux, you are seeing a reduction in coverage of the colour space it's calibrated for. in moderate light, basic mode is down from 101% coverage of sRGB to ~86% on the GS8 (S7E will be very similar i just CBA to pull the figures from the DisplayMate review).

You are kidding yourself if you think you're looking at a more accurate representation in other other than complete darkness.

At 500 lux, which corresponds to typical office lighting, the measured on-screen Color Gamut for the Basic screen mode falls to 86%. At 1,000 lux, which corresponds to very bright indoor lighting or outdoor daylight with an overcast sky, the measured on-screen Color Gamut falls to 75%, and at 2,000 lux the measured on-screen Color Gamut falls to 58%. This loss of color saturation and wash out in Ambient Light is well known to all display users.


The way to improve the display color accuracy and performance in Ambient Light is to start with a larger Color Gamut, like the Adaptive Display screen mode, which is shown on the right in this Figure compared to the Basic screen mode on the left. At 1,000 lux the Adaptive Display screen mode provides a much better match to the sRGB / Rec.709 Color Gamut than the Basic screen mode. The Adaptive Display screen mode also provides a good match to the DCI-P3 Color Gamut at 500 lux. So the Adaptive Display screen mode provides more accurate on-screen colors in moderate to high Ambient Lighting than the other calibrated Screen Modes, which are designed and calibrated for Low Ambient Light. Applying Dynamic Color Management based on the current Ambient Light lux level in the future will able to further improve color accuracy over a wide range of Ambient Light levels, which we discuss further in the Conclusion.

 

[sesevans]

I fully intend to! I had the original Pixel launcher installed on my S6 Edge+ before I moved to the pixel itself and it seemed to work pretty well.

I don't use a lot of apps from day to day so that might help with any lag issues. Even on my 32gb XL I still have 19gb of free space!

I'm really not liking the idea of the Bixby button though. I know it can be disabled but that means there's a completely obsolete button on a phone that's supposed to be as sleek as possible. I've no intention of every using Bixby as being with the Pixel for the last year I'm very much used to Google Assistant.

Try as hard as it might, my impression of Samsung remains as a premier hardware company and follower and jump on the latest bandwagon software company. Most of their offering is bloatware.

The Bixby button illustrates this point well. They started off attempting to compete with Google Assistant, making massive promises only to then restrict their solution to South Korea due to language translation issues. Then they rolled out Bixby late and joined the me-too category.

Samsung generates the kinds of profit margins it does from its hardware business....memory chips, display screens, etc. It generates huge volumes of phones sold. It relies on Google software expertise to make their Android phones work. Google skills at AI are world leading and Samsung is simply too far behind to make an impact.

I was pleased to see that they have recently agreed to adopt Google's ARCore technology for Artificial Reality apps on Android devices rather than try to reinvent the wheel here too. Imagine another button next to Bixby for AR created by Samsung? The world dodged a bullet on that idea.

 

[chanjy]

You prefer under saturation? That's what washed out is. Again, Samsungs presets are calibrated for 0 lux - complete darkness. In anything other than 0 lux, you are seeing a reduction in coverage of the colour space it's calibrated for. in moderate light, basic mode is down from 101% coverage of sRGB to ~86% on the GS8 (S7E will be very similar i just CBA to pull the figures from the DisplayMate review).

You are kidding yourself if you think you're looking at a more accurate representation in other other than complete darkness.

Really interesting that, thanks!

Hasn't realised all the calibration was essentially done and tested in darkness before, not really something they advertise on reviews etc.

The Pixel 2 did look less washed out than the XL when I compared them in an EE store.

 

[Cleisthenes]

I was never realistically going to upgrade from my Pixel to the newer one, unless there was something revolutionary. It does seem like an iterative update but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

I've only had my Pixel 7 months and still love it as much as the day I got it, I couldn't ask for much other than slightly smaller bezels. It's such a fluid experience that I don't think I'll ever be able to go back to a non stock android experience.

 

[jonneymendoza]

Ok this is a huge bummer for me.

There is no pro photo mode on the pixel 2 ie you cant adjust manual exposure using iso, shutter speed and appature.

I tried downloading a different camera app and it still the same. i can only adjust ISO.

on my One Plus 5 i can most definetly shoot in pro mode.

Huge shock on the pixel 2 which was supposed to be its main selling point?

 

[james.miller]

Really interesting that, thanks!

Hasn't realised all the calibration was essentially done and tested in darkness before, not really something they advertise on reviews etc.

The Pixel 2 did look less washed out than the XL when I compared them in an EE store.

It does make sense, it's just not something that has occurred to me until recently. When the displays are calibrated for a colour space, external factors are not considered and light, any kind of external light, will cause washout. How much varies from display to display and of course how much light makes a big difference. My phone is telling me that the light level in this office is around 700 lux. Bog standard overhead light panels, nothing fancy. That's not going to totally accurate of course but that's a good chuck higher than the 500nit observations that DisplayMate made, so already Basic mode would be some way off of what it should really look like and photo mode would be closer to the mark.

Maybe Samsung should look at altering the saturation based on the light level so that a mode starts off calibrated at 0 lux and saturation gets boosted the bright the ambient light level is.

also maybe reviews should start looking at screen performance in different light conditions beyond the standard 'can i still read the screen in direct sunlight' tests.

 

[Cleisthenes]

Ok this is a huge bummer for me.

There is no pro photo mode on the pixel 2 ie you cant adjust manual exposure using iso, shutter speed and appature.

I tried downloading a different camera app and it still the same. i can only adjust ISO.

on my One Plus 5 i can most definetly shoot in pro mode.

Huge shock on the pixel 2 which was supposed to be its main selling point?

The big selling point of the Pixel is how good a point and shoot camera it is. Just using auto hdr gives incredible results straight away. I used to use the 'pro mode' on my Xperia Z3 back in the day because auto was terrible but have never felt the need on my Pixel. It does it seem odd if Google are limiting other apps from providing customisation though.

 

[jonneymendoza]

The big selling point of the Pixel is how good a point and shoot camera it is. Just using auto hdr gives incredible results straight away. I used to use the 'pro mode' on my Xperia Z3 back in the day because auto was terrible but have never felt the need on my Pixel. It does it seem odd if Google are limiting other apps from providing customisation though.

No matter how good hdr and portait mode may be, It can never replace having the ability to do long exposure. a shame as i like doing long exposure work

 

[Cleisthenes]

No matter how good hdr and portait mode may be, It can never replace having the ability to do long exposure. a shame as i like doing long exposure work

If you're wanting to do long exposures I'd have thought a 'proper' camera would do you some good. It is only a phone at the end of the day, the sensors can only be so good.

 

[jonneymendoza]

If you're wanting to do long exposures I'd have thought a 'proper' camera would do you some good. It is only a phone at the end of the day, the sensors can only be so good.

i do have one but doesnt harm the pixel 2 if it can do long exposure shooting

 

[Cleisthenes]

i do have one but doesnt harm the pixel 2 if it can do long exposure shooting

You're not wrong, the best camera is the one you have on you as they say!

 

[MrRockliffe]

Love the phone otherwise, the bluetooth audio was a shock and a kick in the nuts. Let's hope that security patch they issued that fixed it for many people will be rolled out to Pixel 2 users soon.

I'm still on Android 8.0.0 Security patch level 5 September 2017, and no OTA updates available to me, but there's been an October update for older phones.

There’s no excuse for Bluetooth problems, especially since they’ve removed the headphone jack now

If you’re going to remove it, make damn sure Bluetooth is spot on