[nervousrhino]

So I've just (literally a few hours ago) bought myself a Pixel 2 XL. A few days ago I couldn't decide between the iPhone X and the Pixel 2 XL, ended up going for the iPhone due to ecosystem. However ever since, I haven't been able to stop thinking about,

1) How I'd paid £1200 for a phone which seemed crazy to me.

2) The Pixel.

So today I picked up the Pixel. I still have my iPhone for the time being but I'm pretty sure it's getting returned soon. A couple of initial thoughts:

The screen is not on the same level as the iPhone X, but it's nowhere near as bad as made out. Considering before the few days with my X, I had only experienced LCD displays, I still love this Pixel screen, and I'm glad it's bigger than the iPhone's.

Boy am I going to love this notification system!

The camera, I thought it was too close to call, but having just taken photos with both cameras, the extra quality of the Pixel is evident.

Always on display! May seem like a small thing, but I've been an iPhone user ever since the 5s so I've never experienced this either.

Google assistant is going to be a lot of fun.

A native swipe keyboard!

Now for some help/advice I'd really appreciate:

1) The screen. Personally I find it great, however some people have issues so I took a picture of it here, I'd be gratefully if someone could tell me it's all good!

2) Battery life - any tips right at the start to make it even more amazing?

3) Apps - I'm pleasantly surprised at the amount of apps copied over from my iPhone however I'm going to need replacements for:

Apollo (reddit client)

Airmail (email client)

Apple Health (preferably which syncs with Nokia scales and MyFitnessPal).

Fantastical (calendar client)

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

4) The camera. So I tested the camera on my sister and we agreed the quality on the Pixel was better, but it looked better on the iPhone in terms of colours. When I take photos on my Pixel for instagram etc, would I need to edit them to suit better displays, or would the same pictures simply just look better on the better displays? If that makes sense!

5) Portrait mode on the selfie camera - in 'portrait mode', I cannot seem to reverse the camera. Does it not exist on the front facing camera?

6) I use Apple pay almost daily for things like shopping, etc. What is the best equivalent here?

7) Any case recommendations? I'm eyeing up one of the Google fabric cases but I'm not sure how protective they are?

8) Any other tips in general that I should be doing at the start? In terms of settings tweaks, app downloads, etc.

Thanks so much if you take the time to go through all those questions. I'm looking forward to being part of the Pixel community! If anyone wants, I can post some more detailed impressions soon. But as of right now, my impression is that I can't believe I've switched from the iPhone X to the Pixel 2 XL...WHILST making profit!

[Joltcola1234]

enjoy your new Pixel! this is a great phone. I can't speak to the iPhone as ive never owned one. some things I've done with my phone.

I liked the saturated color profile. some people don't like it because it looks less natural, but I love the bright colors. I don't much care for natural color on my phone, I'd rather have them bright and vibrant.

you shouldn't have to do much in terms of the battery, it's already quite good. the always on display will effect it a bit though, I don't generally use it on this phone. as always screen brightness mostly has the biggest impact on battery under normal circumstances.

for email and Reddit...I just use Gmail and the Reddit app, though I spend very little time on Reddit.

portrait mode exists on both cameras just flip to the front camera first then turn portrait mode on.

you shouldn't need to edit any photos you take for different displays.

your screen is likely fine, if your happy with it, all good. you may notice some black smeer in low brightness, or a small amount of blue tint when viewing at an angle. these are common complaints about the screen.

Google pay would be your equivalent to apply pay. I don't use it much though so not an expert.

I don't like cases personally, so I can't give much of a recommendation there. I would only use the most minimal of cases that would only provide the most minor protection so it doesn't take away from the look of the phone. I personally don't like the fabric cases from Google.

I prefer the much more open nature of the Android ecosystem, you can kind of tinker with things and do what you want. I recently swapped to the Android P beta which adds some new cool features to the phone, but does also add some bugs with certain apps.

[PowrDroid]

2) Battery life - any tips right at the start to make it even more amazing?

Keep screen brightness low.

Turn on Adaptive Brightness during the day; set screen brightness to as low as you can stand at night. I use 15% screen brightness at night.

To accomplish Adaptive Brightness:
1. <squeeze sides of phone> Say: "Turn on adaptive brightness."

Or

2. Swipe down from top of screen. Tap gear icon. Tap Display. Tap Adaptive Brightness.

To set screen brightness:
1. <squeeze sides of phone> Say: "Set brightness to 15%" (or 10%, or 20%, etc.)

Or

2. Swipe down from top of screen. Tap gear icon. Tap Display. Tap brightness level. Adjust slider to set brightness.

[andrew_ackley]

Turn the location accuracy to better saving instead of high accuracy. That's the best thing you can do to make the battery better.

[GSDer]

2. Swipe down from top of screen. Tap gear icon. Tap Display. Tap brightness level. Adjust slider to set brightness.

Why not just: swipe down from top of screen (brings up Notification shade); swipe down again (shows Brightness slider)?

[Luke18]

Where is this again in settings? I'm running andoid P beta....if that matters. Thanks

Turn the location accuracy to better saving instead of high accuracy. That's the best thing you can do to make the battery better.

[Kizzy Catwoman]

So I've just (literally a few hours ago) bought myself a Pixel 2 XL. A few days ago I couldn't decide between the iPhone X and the Pixel 2 XL, ended up going for the iPhone due to ecosystem. However ever since, I haven't been able to stop thinking about,

1) How I'd paid £1200 for a phone which seemed crazy to me.

2) The Pixel.

So today I picked up the Pixel. I still have my iPhone for the time being but I'm pretty sure it's getting returned soon. A couple of initial thoughts:

The screen is not on the same level as the iPhone X, but it's nowhere near as bad as made out. Considering before the few days with my X, I had only experienced LCD displays, I still love this Pixel screen, and I'm glad it's bigger than the iPhone's.

Boy am I going to love this notification system!

The camera, I thought it was too close to call, but having just taken photos with both cameras, the extra quality of the Pixel is evident.

Always on display! May seem like a small thing, but I've been an iPhone user ever since the 5s so I've never experienced this either.

Google assistant is going to be a lot of fun.

A native swipe keyboard!

Now for some help/advice I'd really appreciate:

1) The screen. Personally I find it great, however some people have issues so I took a picture of it here, I'd be gratefully if someone could tell me it's all good!

2) Battery life - any tips right at the start to make it even more amazing?

3) Apps - I'm pleasantly surprised at the amount of apps copied over from my iPhone however I'm going to need replacements for:

Apollo (reddit client)

Airmail (email client)

Apple Health (preferably which syncs with Nokia scales and MyFitnessPal).

Fantastical (calendar client)

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

4) The camera. So I tested the camera on my sister and we agreed the quality on the Pixel was better, but it looked better on the iPhone in terms of colours. When I take photos on my Pixel for instagram etc, would I need to edit them to suit better displays, or would the same pictures simply just look better on the better displays? If that makes sense!

5) Portrait mode on the selfie camera - in 'portrait mode', I cannot seem to reverse the camera. Does it not exist on the front facing camera?

6) I use Apple pay almost daily for things like shopping, etc. What is the best equivalent here?

7) Any case recommendations? I'm eyeing up one of the Google fabric cases but I'm not sure how protective they are?

8) Any other tips in general that I should be doing at the start? In terms of settings tweaks, app downloads, etc.

Thanks so much if you take the time to go through all those questions. I'm looking forward to being part of the Pixel community! If anyone wants, I can post some more detailed impressions soon. But as of right now, my impression is that I can't believe I've switched from the iPhone X to the Pixel 2 XL...WHILST making profit!

Apps:

Nine is best equivalent I have found for Airmail (though I prefer Spark on ios and Mac) https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...inefolders.hd3

Digical is a good alternative to Fantastical (although I like native google calendar app) https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...bites.calendar

There isn't a direct replacement for Apple Health but I did install Samsung Health app the other day and it has integration with several health apps. https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...id.app.shealth

As for cases, I bought the Live Case with a photo from Google. It was the tough case but I found it too large for my hand to be comfortable. Other people found the size ok. I am now using a Spigen Slim Fit and it has been just perfect for me. https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B07...cUvbUpU6242913

If you enable developer options ( by going into settings, system, about phone, build number and clicking on build number 7 times) you can change the window animation scale to .5, the Transition animation scale to .5 and the Animator Transition Scale to .5 as these settings speed up the phone.

[anon(10000748)]

I've used Sol calendar and the bluemail app. They were both pretty good. Digical was also very good as well, however I ultimately have ended up using the Google calendar and gmail so far.

As far as cases I really like the rhinoshield crashguard case.

There is the Google fit app, it does integrationwith my fitness pal but not sure about Nokia scales.

So far I'd recommend Google pay, it's pretty seamless. Haven't had any issues with it not being taken anywhere that accepts phones for payment.


I currently have an iPhone x for my personal and the pixel 2 XL for my personal phone.

[NMCynthia]

I have a white Pixel 2, and I got the clear Speck case that can protect the phone from an eight foot drop, and it's NOT a huge ugly case. Since I don't have money to throw away, I want to protect my phone as much as possible, yet I hate those ugly, Otter Box (and similar) cases. Granted, there are people with jobs that would necessitate such cases, but I don't have one! Got a good glass screen protector, too.

[Joltcola1234]

Where is this again in settings? I'm running andoid P beta....if that matters. Thanks

There currently isn't an option to use battery saving mode with location in Android P.

[Kizzy Catwoman]

There is the Google fit app, it does integrationwith my fitness pal but not sure about Nokia scales.

It doesn't integrate with Nokia scales.

[Luke18]

Thank you

There currently isn't an option to use battery saving mode with location in Android P.

[PowrDroid]

Why not just: swipe down from top of screen (brings up Notification shade); swipe down again (shows Brightness slider)?

D'oh! I've been using the squeeze actions for this function for so long I forgot the double swipe method was available. Nice catch.

[Itsa_Me_Mario]

Congratulations on your new phone!

Nine is great for email, so is just using Gmail.
The official Reddit app is pretty decent, I'd just recommend that.
Google calendar for calendar.

[Rukbat]

You're going to get enough suggestions to last a lifetime.

The camera

The Pixel 2/2 XL is the camera every other phone compares itself to. Some even ccome close, but none exceeds it, especially when it comes to dynamic range (range of light to dark in a single shot). You can see things in the shadow and the lights don't wash out half the picture.

1) The screen. Personally I find it great, however some people have issues so I took a picture of it here

You can't post pictures until you've made 10 meaningful posts. (Just to stop dirve-by advertisers.)

2) Battery life - any tips right at the start to make it even more amazing?

Charge only to 70%. Charge when it's down to 30%. (Charging at 40% is even better.)

Apollo (reddit client)

Lots of reddit apps.

Airmail (email client)

Lots of (actually too many) email apps - also at the Play store.

Fantastical (calendar client)

It comes with a calendar that links to your Google calendar. Or, if you want something more like a daily planner, Jorte. Or if you need to share a calendar with the family, Cozi.

4) The camera. So I tested the camera on my sister and we agreed the quality on the Pixel was better, but it looked better on the iPhone in terms of colours. When I take photos on my Pixel for instagram etc, would I need to edit them to suit better displays, or would the same pictures simply just look better on the better displays? If that makes sense!

The XL had a screen burn-in problem, so the colors aren't as intense (saturated) as they could be. The pictures are as saturated as what you're taking a picture of. No editing needed.

5) Portrait mode on the selfie camera - in 'portrait mode', I cannot seem to reverse the camera. Does it not exist on the front facing camera?

It doesn't show n the screen, but if you take a picture it shows on the picture. (Using the front camera you usually don't have a close subject and a far background, so it's not as evident. Take a selfie with some trees a distance away, behind you.)

6) I use Apple pay almost daily for things like shopping, etc. What is the best equivalent here?

Probably Android Pay, although I don't use it. (The Walmart app does all I need, because, at the age of almost 76, I don't go out much.)

7) Any case recommendations? I'm eyeing up one of the Google fabric cases but I'm not sure how protective they are?

Any case that advertises the drop test. The Beetle is supposed to be good. I've always used the Otterbox Defender for all my phones. (And after having one slammed into a wall screen-first, I'm convinced. Not even a scuff mark on the wall.)

8) Any other tips in general that I should be doing at the start? In terms of settings tweaks, app downloads, etc.

That depends on your interests. Star Walk? Facebook (although I wopuldn't put such a poorly-written app on anything I own)? What I consider essential, you might not be interested in. (If you're at all interested in how the GPS is working, GPS Status & Toolbox. If you want to do anything like programming for the phone, IFTTT or, if you really want to get into it, Tasker.) It's really up to you.

Oh, one thing. If you're using the same phone number, take it off iMessage, or you'll never get a text n the Pixel. And, for the time, SMS isn't like iMessage. Sending a picture is limited in size, and anything over 'tiny' gets compressed. But RCS (Rich Communication Services) is inching its way in, and once it's fully in (maybe a year or two), Apple will be wishing they could call it theirs. [Direct-client-to-client messaging and pictures, if it's fully implemented - no carrier or server needed.])

[Mike Dee]

@nervousrhino

How you liking it so far?

[nervousrhino]

@nervousrhino

How you liking it so far?

Thanks for all the really helpful advice d
everyone.

My iPhone is going back today, I absolutely love this Pixel. It feels like MY phone, and whilst the X is a stunning device, I wouldn't trade my Pixel 2 XL for the world. I've also bought a Google Home to further immerse myself into the ecosystem

[Mike Dee]

Thanks for all the really helpful advice d
everyone.

My iPhone is going back today, I absolutely love this Pixel. It feels like MY phone, and whilst the X is a stunning device, I wouldn't trade my Pixel 2 XL for the world. I've also bought a Google Home to further immerse myself into the ecosystem

Great to hear

[Kizzy Catwoman]

Thanks for all the really helpful advice d
everyone.

My iPhone is going back today, I absolutely love this Pixel. It feels like MY phone, and whilst the X is a stunning device, I wouldn't trade my Pixel 2 XL for the world. I've also bought a Google Home to further immerse myself into the ecosystem

Am glad you are happy with your choice.

[PowrDroid]

My iPhone is going back today, I absolutely love this Pixel. It feels like MY phone, and whilst the X is a stunning device, I wouldn't trade my Pixel 2 XL for the world. I've also bought a Google Home to further immerse myself into the ecosystem

Cyberman (intoning): "You shall become like us. You shall be like us!"

[NMCynthia]

^^THIS!^^

[TheDonJ77]

Thanks for all the really helpful advice d
everyone.

My iPhone is going back today, I absolutely love this Pixel. It feels like MY phone, and whilst the X is a stunning device, I wouldn't trade my Pixel 2 XL for the world. I've also bought a Google Home to further immerse myself into the ecosystem

Smart decision. The P2XL is an awesome device with stellar battery and an awesome camera. Throw in Google Assistant and it's a done deal

[Joltcola1234]

Charge only to 70%. Charge when it's down to 30%. (Charging at 40% is even better.

I don't know how anyone could possibly follow this advice. You are limiting yourself to only using 30% of the charge on your battery. This doesn't seem even remotely practical to me. The extra longevity you get from the life of your battery isn't worth the inconvenience of monitoring the battery like this. My battery was still above 70% after 10 hours off charge today 😂.

[Mike Dee]

I don't know how anyone could possibly follow this advice. You are limiting yourself to only using 30% of the charge on your battery. This doesn't seem even remotely practical to me. The extra longevity you get from the life of your battery isn't worth the inconvenience of monitoring the battery like this. My battery was still above 70% after 10 hours off charge today 😂.

Agreed....to each his own, but life's too short for me to worry about battery longevity. About the only thing I do is try to avoid a total discharge which in my mind is a real battery killer.

[LeoRex]

Agreed....to each his own, but life's too short for me to worry about battery longevity. About the only thing I do is try to avoid a total discharge which in my mind is a real battery killer.

I'm one of the first people who will come into a thread to touch upon good charging practices, but kind of agree here. Yes, limiting your charge widow to something like 40-80% will absolutely maximize the life span of the battery...

But...

You're basically turning this into a phone that'll give you a couple of hours of use...

And I don't take think it's all that necessary in the case of the 2 XL. In the early marketing of the phone, Google ran an ad campaign with questions people have about their phone.. one of them, one that really stood out, was 'Why does my battery not last as long as it once did?'. That got my attention. Told me that Google was looking to address battery degradation... And there is really only to ways to do that a) lower the peak charge capacity of the cell or b) use a more conservative charging profile.

Quick background here... I had a 6P, and that phone had a pretty aggressive charge profile, it stayed steep and landed at a pretty high voltage. That speed and capacity came at a price. After about 15 months, I lost about 15% of it's capacity. Anyone who left that thing on the charger overnight, something I never ever do (bad, very bad!), They probably lost twice that.

So Google learned some lessons here... The Pixel 2 begins to step down the charge speed fairly early, and come to a very soft landing. You'll see complaints about the charging speed, but I kind of scoff at those... That speed (or lack thereof) isn't an oversight, it's a conscious decision by Google to put as less stress as possible on the battery as it charges fully.

So I happily charge to 100%, secure in the notion that I'll not send this battery to an early grave. About 7 months in, my battery is still at full capacity (actually 101%, mine came higher than 3520 out of the box). I'll be curious where I'll be a year from now (I want two years), but I'm guessing I'll be in pretty good shape and, unlike my 6P, I won't be looking to get a battery replacement.