Pixel 2 XL...45 day review, what i don't like

[Pixelfan56]

i love the device but here are some pet peeves

1- why does the top speaker have little volume and bottom speaker have almost all the volume, not really stereo effect, i only really hear the bottom speaker

2-why did google go backwards in charging time? This phone takes longer to charge than predecessor??

3-oreo 8.1 is hurting my battery life, dont know why

4- not overly impressed with the video quality, its good but not great

5-the volume still isnt loud, not like some other phones

i hate the gmail app, conversation mode cannot be switched to off! (side rant)

i dont care about wireless charging

so thats not much, the phone kicks ***

 

[bluetroll]

you forgot the blue shift. it's bad.

 

[Pixelfan56]

Not quite troll

 

[Mike Dee]

you forgot the blue shift. it's bad.

It's easy...if it bother you....buy something else.

 

[Mike Dee]

i love the device but here are some pet peeves

1- why does the top speaker have little volume and bottom speaker have almost all the volume, not really stereo effect, i only really hear the bottom speaker

2-why did google go backwards in charging time? This phone takes longer to charge than predecessor??

3-oreo 8.1 is hurting my battery life, dont know why

4- not overly impressed with the video quality, its good but not great

5-the volume still isnt loud, not like some other phones

i hate the gmail app, conversation mode cannot be switched to off! (side rant)

i dont care about wireless charging

so thats not much, the phone kicks ***

I believe the too speaker was adjusted to a lower volume deliberately at some point to solve an issue, but I can't remember what or why.

The charging time was slowed down to preserve battery life because of issues with battery life on the 6P.

 

[I Can Be Your Hero]

i love the device but here are some pet peeves

1- why does the top speaker have little volume and bottom speaker have almost all the volume, not really stereo effect, i only really hear the bottom speaker

2-why did google go backwards in charging time? This phone takes longer to charge than predecessor??

3-oreo 8.1 is hurting my battery life, dont know why

4- not overly impressed with the video quality, its good but not great

5-the volume still isnt loud, not like some other phones

i hate the gmail app, conversation mode cannot be switched to off! (side rant)

i dont care about wireless charging

so thats not much, the phone kicks ***

1. Agree the volume from the speakers should be equal. Mine are pretty close, but the top you can tell is softer than the bottom. Not sure if this can be fixed down the track or if the top speaker is just weaker.

2. I think it's to increase overall longevity of the battery. Google got burned with the Nexus 6P batteries degrading very quickly requiring a lot of repairs/replacements. The hotter batteries get while charging, the faster they degrade, so looks like Google is being conservative here.

3. My battery life seems to be the same. Though I think I read that the battery percentage indicator will no longer stay at 100% for an unusually long time now and will lower appropriately.

4. After the 8.1 sound update, I think video is superb. The stabilisation is insane and haven't seen a phone with better video stabilising.

5. Yeah the volume can get decently loud, but not extremely loud like the iPhone can. Agree I'd like to see this get improved.

I love Gmail and love the conversation style. Always have. You can change it on the desktop, but for mobile, maybe a different email client will change it for you.

My minor gripes with the phone:

1. I don't think the phone looks or feels as nice as it's competitors - the Galaxy S8+, Note 8, LG V30, iPhone X etc. I think Google really need to improve the look and feel of their device - it's a high end, expensive product, it should look like one. Hopefully getting all those HTC employees means the Pixel 3 will be something that looks spectacular.

2. I think a 6" screen is just too big for me. I'd like a 5.5" screen option, maybe the smaller phone move up to 5.5" and the larger one stay at 6".

Other than that really, I think the phone is superb. I like the screen, despite all the discussion around it. Never really had a problem with it.

 

[sixty_four]

2. I think a 6" screen is just too big for me. I'd like a 5.5" screen option, maybe the smaller phone move up to 5.5" and the larger one stay at 6".

No. Just no. The smaller one is almost...ALMOST...perfectly sized, IMO. I wish it were a touch smaller. Either a slightly smaller screen or slightly smaller bezels would be what I'd like to see.

Please leave the way cooler Pixel 2 guys out of your "big & tall" discussions.

 

[anon(10092459)]

No. Just no. The smaller one is almost...ALMOST...perfectly sized, IMO. I wish it were a touch smaller. Either a slightly smaller screen or slightly smaller bezels would be what I'd like to see.

Please leave the way cooler Pixel 2 guys out of your "big & tall" discussions.

+1 and Indeed!

 

[Pixelfan56]

1. Agree the volume from the speakers should be equal. Mine are pretty close, but the top you can tell is softer than the bottom. Not sure if this can be fixed down the track or if the top speaker is just weaker.

2. I think it's to increase overall longevity of the battery. Google got burned with the Nexus 6P batteries degrading very quickly requiring a lot of repairs/replacements. The hotter batteries get while charging, the faster they degrade, so looks like Google is being conservative here.

3. My battery life seems to be the same. Though I think I read that the battery percentage indicator will no longer stay at 100% for an unusually long time now and will lower appropriately.

4. After the 8.1 sound update, I think video is superb. The stabilisation is insane and haven't seen a phone with better video stabilising.

5. Yeah the volume can get decently loud, but not extremely loud like the iPhone can. Agree I'd like to see this get improved.

I love Gmail and love the conversation style. Always have. You can change it on the desktop, but for mobile, maybe a different email client will change it for you.

My minor gripes with the phone:

1. I don't think the phone looks or feels as nice as it's competitors - the Galaxy S8+, Note 8, LG V30, iPhone X etc. I think Google really need to improve the look and feel of their device - it's a high end, expensive product, it should look like one. Hopefully getting all those HTC employees means the Pixel 3 will be something that looks spectacular.

2. I think a 6" screen is just too big for me. I'd like a 5.5" screen option, maybe the smaller phone move up to 5.5" and the larger one stay at 6".

Other than that really, I think the phone is superb. I like the screen, despite all the discussion around it. Never really had a problem with it.

What video setting do you use

1080p 30fps
1080p 60 fps
4k 30fps

?

 

[anon(5630457)]

you forgot the blue shift. it's bad.

I thought the blue shift was bad, but then I actually looked at one. My S8 Active has the same amount of blue shift as the Pixel 2 XL.

 

[Vega007]

Seems in many of the phones that utilize dual speaker sound, the top speaker is tuned to be not as loud. That has been my experience with them anyhow.

 

[libra89]

I have the smaller Pixel 2 and I agree on the sound. I thought that my phone was broken since this was the case.

 

[I Can Be Your Hero]

No. Just no. The smaller one is almost...ALMOST...perfectly sized, IMO. I wish it were a touch smaller. Either a slightly smaller screen or slightly smaller bezels would be what I'd like to see.

Please leave the way cooler Pixel 2 guys out of your "big & tall" discussions.

Yeah maybe.

It's just that 6" is just a touch too large for me, 5" is a little small. 5.5" is great for me.

 

[idiotekniques]

I thought the blue shift was bad, but then I actually looked at one. My S8 Active has the same amount of blue shift as the Pixel 2 XL.

I stopped at a best buy today just to look at as many other OLED screens I could to compare to the Pixel 2 XL I have. The vast majority of phones have almost no shift at all of any color, just some slight darkening.

Now in day to day usage my blue shift doesn't bother me, but it does bother me that my screen does that knowing that all the other big oled screen phones out there don't do it on any scale near mine. lol. it's frustrating!

 

[Mooncatt]

2. I think it's to increase overall longevity of the battery. Google got burned with the Nexus 6P batteries degrading very quickly requiring a lot of repairs/replacements. The hotter batteries get while charging, the faster they degrade, so looks like Google is being conservative here.

I'm not so sure this is Google's doing. If I'm not mistaken, the Pixel was made by HTC and the Pixel 2 is made by LG.

In my experience, my HTC One M8 quick charged all the time. My LG G4 and now V20 both severely throttle charging performance if the phone even THINKS about getting warm, and will not not give full charging current any time the screen is on.

So my guess is the slower charging performance is in part due to differences between manufacturer designs. The 2 XL also has a larger battery than the original Pixel. So unless the charging current is increased, it would naturally take longer to charge.

 

[anon(5630457)]

I stopped at a best buy today just to look at as many other OLED screens I could to compare to the Pixel 2 XL I have. The vast majority of phones have almost no shift at all of any color, just some slight darkening.

Now in day to day usage my blue shift doesn't bother me, but it does bother me that my screen does that knowing that all the other big oled screen phones out there don't do it on any scale near mine. lol. it's frustrating!

I'm not sure what you're looking at but my Pixel 2 XL's screen has minimal blue shift. I'm not sure if you read my post that you quoted, but I also said my Samsung Galaxy S8 Active had blue shifting.

 

[idiotekniques]

I'm not sure what you're looking at but my Pixel 2 XL's screen has minimal blue shift. I'm not sure if you read my post that you quoted, but I also said my Samsung Galaxy S8 Active had blue shifting.

I'm not sure how I can explain it any clearer. I went to a store with lots of OLED screen cellphones and compared them to my pixel 2 xl and the pixel 2 xl screen that was on display. Those two Pixel 2 XL's exhibited far more of a color shift than anything else out on the floor. I also took a look at a couple Pixel 2 XL's at a Verizon store the other week, they too had the same significant blue shift that the other two Pixel 2 XL's I've seen have.

You may have one with a less than average blue shift, but while that may be true, it's also subjective. My sisters Galaxy S7 has a noticeable blue shift, just not as pronounced as my pixel 2 xl.

 

[Mike Dee]

I'm not so sure this is Google's doing. If I'm not mistaken, the Pixel was made by HTC and the Pixel 2 is made by LG.

In my experience, my HTC One M8 quick charged all the time. My LG G4 and now V20 both severely throttle charging performance if the phone even THINKS about getting warm, and will not not give full charging current any time the screen is on.

So my guess is the slower charging performance is in part due to differences between manufacturer designs. The 2 XL also has a larger battery than the original Pixel. So unless the charging current is increased, it would naturally take longer to charge.

I believe this was documented somewhere. If I find it, I will let you know. I'm referring to Google throttling the charge rate the last 15 or 20 percent.

 

[Mike Dee]

1. Agree the volume from the speakers should be equal. Mine are pretty close, but the top you can tell is softer than the bottom. Not sure if this can be fixed down the track or if the top speaker is just weaker.

2. I think it's to increase overall longevity of the battery. Google got burned with the Nexus 6P batteries degrading very quickly requiring a lot of repairs/replacements. The hotter batteries get while charging, the faster they degrade, so looks like Google is being conservative here.

3. My battery life seems to be the same. Though I think I read that the battery percentage indicator will no longer stay at 100% for an unusually long time now and will lower appropriately.

4. After the 8.1 sound update, I think video is superb. The stabilisation is insane and haven't seen a phone with better video stabilising.

5. Yeah the volume can get decently loud, but not extremely loud like the iPhone can. Agree I'd like to see this get improved.

I love Gmail and love the conversation style. Always have. You can change it on the desktop, but for mobile, maybe a different email client will change it for you.

My minor gripes with the phone:

1. I don't think the phone looks or feels as nice as it's competitors - the Galaxy S8+, Note 8, LG V30, iPhone X etc. I think Google really need to improve the look and feel of their device - it's a high end, expensive product, it should look like one. Hopefully getting all those HTC employees means the Pixel 3 will be something that looks spectacular.

2. I think a 6" screen is just too big for me. I'd like a 5.5" screen option, maybe the smaller phone move up to 5.5" and the larger one stay at 6".

Other than that really, I think the phone is superb. I like the screen, despite all the discussion around it. Never really had a problem with it.

As I stated earlier....if my memory serves me correctly they delibertly lowered the volume on the upper speaker but I just don't remember why.

 

[Mike Dee]

I stopped at a best buy today just to look at as many other OLED screens I could to compare to the Pixel 2 XL I have. The vast majority of phones have almost no shift at all of any color, just some slight darkening.

Now in day to day usage my blue shift doesn't bother me, but it does bother me that my screen does that knowing that all the other big oled screen phones out there don't do it on any scale near mine. lol. it's frustrating!

My experience trying the same thing you did is that I noticed shift on the phones I tried but a different color. For example the Note 8 had a green shift...actually more pronounced around the edges. Phones with LCDs like the V20 just get darker.