I have owned several Samsung phones throughout the years and am currently using a Note 5. I have been less than happy with Samsung's Touchwiz as it does bog the device down quite often so a Pure version of Android on a high end device sounds enticing. With a quick visit to the Verizon store to check out the "new" tech I expected to be at least a little blown away with the quality and snappiness of a non-skinned version of Android. I also expected the camera to vastly superior to that of my Note 5. Unfortunately the Pixel 2 did not impress.
The camera seemed worse than my Note 5, especially in portrait mode. This feature has my interest piqued the most as I'm a dad and would like to get those cute shots of my little one. I took several portrait shots in the store and my daughters' face was so blurred it didn't even look like her.
The screen didn't seem too bad considering all the fuss about it recently and the blue hue when tilted was noticeable but it wasn't a deal breaker.
The overall feel of the device seemed really cheap to me. The weight was too light to feel like it contained any quality materials and the curved screen edges felt odd compared to my Note.
Maybe I'm just not liking the current trend of smartphone design with the curved screens and mostly metal chassis but I wont be buying a Pixel 2 XL or any other device this upgrade cycle (even as my work will pay for any phone I want). It almost seems as if Smartphone innovation has peaked and these new devices really aren't any better than the devices we have been using for the past 2-3 years.
The camera seemed worse than my Note 5, especially in portrait mode. This feature has my interest piqued the most as I'm a dad and would like to get those cute shots of my little one. I took several portrait shots in the store and my daughters' face was so blurred it didn't even look like her.
The screen didn't seem too bad considering all the fuss about it recently and the blue hue when tilted was noticeable but it wasn't a deal breaker.
The overall feel of the device seemed really cheap to me. The weight was too light to feel like it contained any quality materials and the curved screen edges felt odd compared to my Note.
Maybe I'm just not liking the current trend of smartphone design with the curved screens and mostly metal chassis but I wont be buying a Pixel 2 XL or any other device this upgrade cycle (even as my work will pay for any phone I want). It almost seems as if Smartphone innovation has peaked and these new devices really aren't any better than the devices we have been using for the past 2-3 years.