Out of the Loop - It's Been Awhile

[Morty2264]

Welcome back, Jeremiah! Glad you are doing well! I'll be buying the Pixel 2 in the next week or two - I'm really looking forward to using the camera!

 

[andrew_ackley]

I switch all the freaking time and this is the phone that finally got me from the note 8.

 

[alodar101]

<snicker> for years I was known as the guy who had the latest if the greatest. Since I got this 2xl, that has stopped. Absilutely no temptation... For the first time ever.. Phone peace!!

 

[anon(1733)]

<snicker> for years I was known as the guy who had the latest if the greatest. Since I got this 2xl, that has stopped. Absilutely no temptation... For the first time ever.. Phone peace!!

That's what I am hoping for also. I bought the pixel 2 last week and sent it back as I didn't like the panda color. Then got the essential phone and the signal is not good on it for me although I love the hardware. I have my black pixel 2 xl coming today. I have high hopes. But I also had high hopes for every phone I've had. Lol. I would eventually like to stop switching so much.

 

[Morty2264]

That's what I am hoping for also. I bought the pixel 2 last week and sent it back as I didn't like the panda color. Then got the essential phone and the signal is not good on it for me although I love the hardware. I have my black pixel 2 xl coming today. I have high hopes. But I also had high hopes for every phone I've had. Lol. I would eventually like to stop switching so much.

Yes, phone peace would be excellent! Please let us know how you like your black 2XL!

 

[Eggmundo]

I switch all the freaking time and this is the phone that finally got me from the note 8.

"Finally" as if the Note 8 has been out for years

 

[anon(1733)]

Yes, phone peace would be excellent! Please let us know how you like your black 2XL!

Will do. But It will be hard. New phone day is like a holiday for me.

 

[dtibodo]

What's up?! I'll be switching phone soon. The company I work for asked us to choose between the Pixel 2 and 2XL... I'm really undecided on which one I should get. I currently own a Nexus 6P, which served me pretty good, even though I recently started to have some shut down/battery problems. I've only had Google phone since the Nexus S (Nexus 5 and 6P) and really like the "pure Android" experience!

Right now I'm switching with a Nexus 5x and 6P and I have to say I do love the fact that the 5x is smaller and fits right in my pocket easily and is also very easy to use with one hand. On the other hand, I also like the larger 6P screen and the ease of use of the keyboard and other features.

I've read/watched A LOT of reviews and I'm still undecided on which one to get. The smaller Pixel 2 with it's larger bezels or the larger 2XL with the blue shift "problem".

Any thoughts/suggestions/recommendations?

 

[LeoRex]

Don't fret the blue thing.. it's really only question of bigger vs smaller...

 

[TheDonJ77]

I agree, the big bad blue tint is really not that bad at all. I have a slight blue hue when I turn the phone but I don't look at it from the sides, I view it from the front so no issue there. If you don't have a problem with a slightly larger phone, I say get the XL2, Go big or go home! Lol

 

[Jaycemiskel]

Definitely go for the XL.

So I ended up getting a Pixel 2 XL about a month and a half ago. I used it until the S9 came out and now it's sitting in a drawer. I miss it sometimes, but there's just so many Samsung features I had gotten used to. It was definitely more smooth than my S8, but my S9 has been on par with it so far. I'll probably pull it back out every now and then when updates come out though.

 

[anon(1733)]

Definitely go for the XL.

So I ended up getting a Pixel 2 XL about a month and a half ago. I used it until the S9 came out and now it's sitting in a drawer. I miss it sometimes, but there's just so many Samsung features I had gotten used to. It was definitely more smooth than my S8, but my S9 has been on par with it so far. I'll probably pull it back out every now and then when updates come out though.

I did the opposite. I had the note 8 and skipped the pixel when it launched. Then I got a slew of other phones including the iPhones 8 and X then the note 8 again and s9 plus. Now I have the pixel 2 xl. As of now I am enjoying the vanilla experience and the speed of the device. But I swap all the time.

I will say I had zero problems with the s9 plus. Great device. I prefer the flat screen though.

 

[B. Diddy]

Good to see you back around, Jeremiah! Love my 2 XL -- the only thing I can't seem to do with it is take a bad picture with the camera. I've since gotten my wife on a 1st gen Pixel XL and my parents on a 1st gen Pixel, so we are now the Family Pixel!

 

[MooMooPrincess]

It's been awhile since I've been around. How is everyone doing? Has any of the regulars ditched this phone? How are the pictures coming out? Anyone having issues with the latest updates?

Welcome back, not really a regular but I picked up a s9+, and am on pixel #8 and she's doing ok for now. My pixel is on P so it's a lil buggy

 

[Jeremiah Bonds]

Good to see you back around, Jeremiah! Love my 2 XL -- the only thing I can't seem to do with it is take a bad picture with the camera. I've since gotten my wife on a 1st gen Pixel XL and my parents on a 1st gen Pixel, so we are now the Family Pixel!

Awesome!!!

 

[Joltcola1234]

I just got my Pixel 2 XL this week, so I'm a little late to the party. I upgraded from an LG G5, so it's a pretty significant jump for me. Phone has been amazing in the short time I've had it, been spending time tinkering with settings.

I love the "saturated" color setting. I'm not one of those people that really cares for natural looking colors on my phone (I worry about this enough on my TV ), I think the extra vibrant colors that just pop look great. Makes the display look so much attractive. Yes, looks a little unnatural of course, but like I said...I don't feel the need to faithfully reproduce natural color with my phone.

The only thing I don't really love with the phone is the adaptive brightness. The brightness slider combined with the adaptive brightness is confusing. With adaptive brightness turned on, there's no difference in brightness from 0% to 29% when you move the slider. When the phone brightness adjusts to the ambient light, I don't notice the slider move at all, the brightness just changes without any indication of what the setting is. I don't really like this, I thought it worked much better on my ol' G5. The lowest brightness setting with adaptive (when you are in a dark room) feels overly bright. I've left my slider @ 37% and turned adaptive on for now. Not sure if having the slider at any particular number even means anything with adaptive on...but that's where I'm at.

Anyways, everything else is awesome, look the camera especially. Google lens just kind of blew my mind the first time I used it on a photo of my dog and it was able to pick out the breed accurately!

 

[GSDer]

The only thing I don't really love with the phone is the adaptive brightness.

I was unimpressed with adaptive brightness: under what appeared to me to be unchanging brightness levels I'd constantly notice changes in the brightness of the display. I finally got tired of the flickering (for lack of a better term) and turned it off. Instead I've been using Velis Auto Brightness https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.velis.auto.brightness which seems to do a better job of avoiding the flickering. It's also very customizable and allows you to adjust the brightness curve to your preferences. YMMV.

 

[neil74]

Definitely go for the XL.

So I ended up getting a Pixel 2 XL about a month and a half ago. I used it until the S9 came out and now it's sitting in a drawer. I miss it sometimes, but there's just so many Samsung features I had gotten used to. It was definitely more smooth than my S8, but my S9 has been on par with it so far. I'll probably pull it back out every now and then when updates come out though.

I am the same, P2XL currently sitting in the draw. Having an SD and not having to worry at all about space is nice. People may say that 128gb is enough and it probably is but if you load up all of your music, some videos and then want to use it as your camera for photos and videos on a holiday then I'm not sure it is big enough to be comfortable. I also think there is something odd about the 2XL's bezels kind of in the middle, in short I think it is bigger than it needs to be for a 6" phone and for example the difference to the V30 which has the same screen is noticeable and imo significant. The 2XL is certainly function over form.

I too am only keeping it around for when P turns up but that may be a waste of time as the window between P launching and the Pixel 3 will probably be quite short anyway.

What I will say is the 2XL is way smoother and quicker than the S9 for general navigation and use. The extra horsepower of the 845/exynos is not enough when you factor in Samsung's bloat an just inefficient OS. The 2XL and 835 just fly

I was unimpressed with adaptive brightness: under what appeared to me to be unchanging brightness levels I'd constantly notice changes in the brightness of the display. YMMV.

Thought this was just me, the auto brightness on the 2XL is quite jarring.

 

[Joltcola1234]

Does anyone know if the manual brightness slider has any effect on the adaptive brightness settings?

I feel like if I move the brightness slider to 0% with adaptive turned on, when I'm in a fully dark space the screen gets darker then if I have the brightness slider at say, 50%.

Maybe this is just me? Not sure. Since the adaptive brightness adjusting doesn't actually move the slider at all, I'm not sure what I like it set at. Of course if having adaptive turned on is just completely separate from the slider I suppose it doesn't matter.

 

[Theot]

Well, I've had my Pixel 2 for three days. Still getting used to it but enjoying it more and more by the hour. Have a couple minor gripes with the launcher but otherwise really no issues. Would have liked the bigger screen of the 2 XL but between the extra $200 and the size I'm pretty happy with the regular Pixel 2.

Finding a case has been a pain in the *** though. Wanted something with a little color and most of anything good is black. Screen protectors kind of suck too.