Pixel 2. I'm so impressed!

[1901Madison]

Would you call the Samsung a Lexus and the Pixel a Subaru?

I've had a similar experience- Pixel 2 has been killer in efficiency, battery life, and I actually prefer the more accurate color of the screen.

One of the best aspects of the Pixel 2 is the standby battery. When it's not being used, it barely uses any battery.

 

[wckesq]

Wasn't going to get a Pixel 2 since I thought my Pixel 1 was just fine, but with the hidden AI chip and knowing that I would eventually get one anyway, bought one this last weekend. As expected, an incremental upgrade without 8.10 and the improvements that will come, but it is a great phone. No issues here whatsoever.

 

[sixty_four]

Would you call the Samsung a Lexus and the Pixel a Subaru?

I've had a similar experience- Pixel 2 has been killer in efficiency, battery life, and I actually prefer the more accurate color of the screen.

Samsung:



Pixel 2:

 

[vzwuser76]

Samsung:

View attachment 272212

Pixel 2:

View attachment 272213

I think you nailed the comparison, although I think it applies even more to the software than the hardware. I actually really like Samsung hardware, looks wise. They can make very elegant looking devices. But IMHO, it's like a house with an elegant looking exterior, but the inside is loaded to the rafters with a lot of stuff that may or may not be useful, and the interior designer decided to go with a slightly cartoonish vibe that clashes with the elegant exterior.

 

[Jeremiah Bonds]

One of the best aspects of the Pixel 2 is the standby battery. When it's not being used, it barely uses any battery.

Just like the LG phones.. that always impressed me about LG.

 

[dennis246]

One of the best aspects of the Pixel 2 is the standby battery. When it's not being used, it barely uses any battery.

HTC has baked this capability into their phones for the past several years, data actually gets turned off when not being used (until data is incoming). Combine that with a very efficient processor and you have pretty good battery life.

 

[neil74]

Maybe it is just Samsung that is poor in this regard?

I too found the LG G6 very good for standby, the Op5 was decent and I believe updates have improved it further (I sold mine) and the Pixel 2 is again excellent, even more so given the size of the battery.

 

[neil74]

HTC has baked this capability into their phones for the past several years, data actually gets turned off when not being used (until data is incoming). Combine that with a very efficient processor and you have pretty good battery life.

Interesting, have never tried a HTC. This is also never something that reviewers to focus on, they just seem more bothered with how they do running a looping video for 5 hours!

 

[jimbo1mcm]

I heard the Pixel 2 also has sRGB tuning. Might look a lot better with P3. Come on Google, wake up.

 

[ScottsoNJ]

I think this is more realistic Samsung



Pixel 2XL

 

[sixty_four]

I think you nailed the comparison, although I think it applies even more to the software than the hardware. I actually really like Samsung hardware, looks wise. They can make very elegant looking devices. But IMHO, it's like a house with an elegant looking exterior, but the inside is loaded to the rafters with a lot of stuff that may or may not be useful, and the interior designer decided to go with a slightly cartoonish vibe that clashes with the elegant exterior.

I couldn't agree more and that's the comparison I was going for. Samsung's software experience is an odd, overly-colorful half-baked kid's mode.

 

[sixty_four]

I think this is more realistic Samsung
View attachment 272260


Pixel 2XL
View attachment 272261

Ouch. Both of these Civics are pretty garish with the Type-R being more gaudy. But I guess I can get behind this as the Pixel 2 XL does look a little wonky.

 

[Morty2264]

So happy for you, OP! So, you have the smaller Pixel 2? What is the battery life like?

 

[LeoRex]

Let's try to avoid turning this fully into another Pixel v Sammy thread please?

 

[scgf]

Yes, I have the smaller Pixel 2. I have been using the phone since 7am this morning and it's now 3.45pm. I've been out cycling, listening to podcasts, made some calls, used the browser a bit and the battery is showing 85%. Absolutely no problems going a full day without charging. Seems at least as good as my Samsung Galaxy S8 was if not better.

 

[Morty2264]

Yes, I have the smaller Pixel 2. I have been using the phone since 7am this morning and it's now 3.45pm. I've been out cycling, listening to podcasts, made some calls, used the browser a bit and the battery is showing 85%. Absolutely no problems going a full day without charging. Seems at least as good as my Samsung Galaxy S8 was if not better.

So glad the battery is performing well! Admittedly, the lower mAh frightens me off but if it performs well, especially with the newer processor, maybe that's something to consider. Thanks again!

 

[scgf]

The Snapdragon 835 (and the Samsung Exynos equivalent) is what makes the difference. It really sips that power.

 

[vzwuser76]

Yes, I have the smaller Pixel 2. I have been using the phone since 7am this morning and it's now 3.45pm. I've been out cycling, listening to podcasts, made some calls, used the browser a bit and the battery is showing 85%. Absolutely no problems going a full day without charging. Seems at least as good as my Samsung Galaxy S8 was if not better.

Here's my findings from yesterday. I had to go to a city I travel to frequently which has a lot of low signal areas on the way. Normally I just pass through them so I'm only in them for a few minutes as I'm driving through. But yesterday I had to spend around 2 hours in that low signal area on the way to the city. I spent about an hour of that time surfing the web and making some calls. Where my OG Pixel had issues keeping connected to data or dropping calls, you wouldn't have noticed on this newer Pixel. It was like I'm at home on WiFi. After visiting the aforementioned city and coming home, I had 68% remaining, whereas on my old Pixel, I would have around 40% left, and as I said before, I normally don't spend any significant time in that low signal area. I finally put it on the charger 7hrs later, adding another 3hrs of SOT and it still had 29% battery remaining.

I have to say, so far the battery alone was worth the upgrade. It's almost like I can't kill the battery on this thing. The camera is also an upgrade, and the speakers, while not glaringly louder, are better in that I don't have to worry about covering them when using the phone in landscape orientation, which I did a lot to the point it was noticeably annoying. I also noticed something after MKBHD's review, I am using Assistant more now because of the squeeze to activate feature. I figured it would be a gimmick that would be cool for a second and then forgotten about, but it actually is useful. It would be nice if they could expand it, adding more gestures to it, like different actions based on how hard you squeeze or multiple squeezes. And the fact that it's still easy to manage is great as well.

All in all, this was worth the price of admission IMHO, bezels be damned!

 

[anon(10274434)]

@vzwuser76 - great info thank you for posting

 

[vzwuser76]

@vzwuser76 - great info thank you for posting

So far today I'm on my home WiFi exclusively. 6hrs off the charger, 2hrs 5mins SOT, about an hour of calls, and 75% battery remaining.