Phones Google Pixel 2 / Google Pixel 2 XL

[co.ag.2005]

Bit of a nightmare. Checked carphonewarehouse again this morning and the Pixel 2's are all reduced again. Ha.

But it's still £200 more for a Pixel 2 (smaller) over the OG XL.

Anyway, I decided to go for the OG. Goes into store to pay for it and the lady behind the till said "£449 please". I said - it was 299 when I reserved it last night?! And it didn't have a sale or clearance banner on it?

She said it might have had a price reduction and gone back up and I checked the Argos app as I was stood there and low and behold it was 449!
Just as I was about to leave to go and begrudgingly buy a Pixel 2 from CPW, she said they have to honour the price you reserve at so £299 was indeed all I paid.
Well, £289 technically as I got a free £10 gift card for spending over £100.

Winner winner.

I have only just got it set up but my that screen is mighty fine. Coming from the poor LCD panel in the KEY2 I am in for a treat there.

Might go mad and try the Android P beta once I'm back from a Starbucks trip with a mate.

enjoy! Glad you were able to get it for the price you reserved it at!

 

[Aneres11]

enjoy! Glad you were able to get it for the price you reserved it at!

I am digging it a lot already.
I am really impressed with the screen. Shame that the 2XL ended up taking a bit of a dive after the one used in the OG is so good.

I also find it to be a pretty managable size - but only just about. It is still on the slightly 'too big' side for me, but I can cope with it.
Struggling typing on the keyboard for now, used to situating my thumbs really low for the BB keypad and I have a fairly big chin and on screen nav buttons below this VKB so it's taking a while.

Opted in for the P beta so just waiting for it to appear on my device.
It's amazing how well the phone holds up for almost 2 years old. Oreo runs so nicely on it.

 

[mackie8]

I am digging it a lot already.
I am really impressed with the screen. Shame that the 2XL ended up taking a bit of a dive after the one used in the OG is so good.

I also find it to be a pretty managable size - but only just about. It is still on the slightly 'too big' side for me, but I can cope with it.
Struggling typing on the keyboard for now, used to situating my thumbs really low for the BB keypad and I have a fairly big chin and on screen nav buttons below this VKB so it's taking a while.

Opted in for the P beta so just waiting for it to appear on my device.
It's amazing how well the phone holds up for almost 2 years old. Oreo runs so nicely on it.

Im also using my 2016 OG pixel XL.....
For 18months....
Its still fluid.... battery still awesome.
There is a slight burn in on the navigation bar....
Barely noticeable. Its still my fave camera.

The screen is a lot better than pixel 2XL....

 

[Aneres11]

I downloaded the Android P Beta earlier and have had chance to try and get to grips with it.

I like it, but I don't love it.
I think I prefer the 'old' gesture-less way to navigate around.

I'm also not sure how I feel about the new notification shade pull down icons. It looks a bit strange.
The settings menu I really like the look of - now it has a bit of colour on there.

I think my biggest gripe is the broken feel to swiping up into the app tray. A 'long' swipe up into the apps doesn't feel good at all, and often ends up with me going into the recently opened apps which I'd rather not have to see. I feel like there could have been another way for them to give you a gesture based route to your open apps.

I've resigned myself to the fact that it will take a double swipe to get to my apps, but I don't like it.

That aside, the rest of it is great. You wouldn't think it was in BETA. I know it's virtually ready for prime time now, but it's really impressive at how polished and snappy it is.

 

[epicrayban]

I downloaded the Android P Beta earlier and have had chance to try and get to grips with it.

I like it, but I don't love it.
I think I prefer the 'old' gesture-less way to navigate around.

I'm also not sure how I feel about the new notification shade pull down icons. It looks a bit strange.
The settings menu I really like the look of - now it has a bit of colour on there.

I think my biggest gripe is the broken feel to swiping up into the app tray. A 'long' swipe up into the apps doesn't feel good at all, and often ends up with me going into the recently opened apps which I'd rather not have to see. I feel like there could have been another way for them to give you a gesture based route to your open apps.

I've resigned myself to the fact that it will take a double swipe to get to my apps, but I don't like it.

That aside, the rest of it is great. You wouldn't think it was in BETA. I know it's virtually ready for prime time now, but it's really impressive at how polished and snappy it is.

I share similar sentiments in regards to Android P's interface. Google really mucked it all up, from the half-baked "gestures" to the clunky swipe-ups to get to the app drawer. I also agree the new design elements look odd.

A lot of what I'm seeing leading up to Android P and the Pixel 3 reveals have been confusing and disappointing. I dislike some of the direction Google is going in.

 

[Aneres11]

Just discovered an amazing launcher called 'Lean Launcher'.
It's basically the Pixel Launcher but with a lot more customisation. It allows you to get rid of that awful date and weather line at the top of the screen which the default launcher doesn't allow you to remove.

I am absolutely loving this phone haha. Who knew a 2 year old phone would be such a good buy even now.
And one thing I have just discovered which I am over the moon at...
Google FINALLY allowing you to stop album artwork from taking over your lock screen when listening to music.

They finally added a button in settings to turn it off. Yes yes yes. Prayers answered haha.

I just need to get the Pixel 2 camera on here now so I can get portrait mode added and I'm set.

 

[Bass]

@Aneres11 - can you direct me to the setting to disable to album artwork / lockscreen, please?

 

[tbayrgs]

For what it's worth, MKBHD, a well-known proponent of stock Android and more specifically Google's phones, no longer uses a Pixel for his daily driver.

I've always skewed heavily toward Google's own phone offerings, though admittedly I'm not sure why considering every year they almost always suffer from some pretty significant short-comings. I like stock Android and the prospects of using a smartphone that has been optimized by Google for their vision of Android. But if I step back and look at Pixel phones and try to take my personal bias out of it, they really aren't great phones. If it wasn't for the remarkable camera performance of the last two generations, they'd actually likely be considered quite lackluster at best.

If OnePlus could just get close to the camera of the Pixel, their devices might actually end up being the preferred 'stock' smartphone of Android tech nerd-dom.

 

[Aneres11]

@Aneres11 - can you direct me to the setting to disable to album artwork / lockscreen, please?

Sure just go into settings and scroll down and it's there.

https://i.imgur.com/bKnsr5b.png

 

[co.ag.2005]

For what it's worth, MKBHD, a well-known proponent of stock Android and more specifically Google's phones, no longer uses a Pixel for his daily driver.

I've always skewed heavily toward Google's own phone offerings, though admittedly I'm not sure why considering every year they almost always suffer from some pretty significant short-comings. I like stock Android and the prospects of using a smartphone that has been optimized by Google for their vision of Android. But if I step back and look at Pixel phones and try to take my personal bias out of it, they really aren't great phones. If it wasn't for the remarkable camera performance of the last two generations, they'd actually likely be considered quite lackluster at best.

If OnePlus could just get close to the camera of the Pixel, their devices might actually end up being the preferred 'stock' smartphone of Android tech nerd-dom.

I just watched that. While I sold my Pixel 2 XL months ago, I never experienced any slow down but my wife does complain about lag / slow downs on her P2XL from time to time. But the software experience and the fluidity / speed of Oxygen OS is why I'm using a OnePlus 6 as my daily driver. Not sure what else in the pipeline this year will have me wanting to switch. I will likely try out the Note 9, Pixel 3 XL, and new iPhones but based on previous iterations of those phones, I don't see myself switching to them full time.

 

[epicrayban]

Thank you, MKBHD:

I've argued that the Pixel "pure Android" software experience wasn't always perfect or lag-free. I argued this for ios' claims of perfection and smoothness, too. For years.

As for his preference of the OnePlus, wow. Have to say again, kudos to OnePlus. They made an outstanding option for Android users (and they did it while keeping the headphone jack and designing a better notch phone).

 

[Aneres11]

I watched a video on the gestures of the One Plus 6 and I was really impressed with the kind of thing that was on offer.

It's the kind of thing I wish was standard in Android P rather than the clunky attempt we've been given.

Having said that, it's not too surprising to me that MKBHD has decided to make a video saying he no longer uses a Pixel.
At the end of the day One Plus made a red and black phone. That means more to him than anything else it would seem.

 

[Shanghaichica]

I watched a video on the gestures of the One Plus 6 and I was really impressed with the kind of thing that was on offer.

It's the kind of thing I wish was standard in Android P rather than the clunky attempt we've been given.

Having said that, it's not too surprising to me that MKBHD has decided to make a video saying he no longer uses a Pixel.
At the end of the day One Plus made a red and black phone. That means more to him than anything else it would seem.

There's also a video of his that one plus used as an advert for the one plus 6 but he says he didn't know anything about it...

 

[Tig Bitties]

Thank you, MKBHD:

I've argued that the Pixel "pure Android" software experience wasn't always perfect or lag-free. I argued this for ios' claims of perfection and smoothness, too. For years.

As for his preference of the OnePlus, wow. Have to say again, kudos to OnePlus. They made an outstanding option for Android users (and they did it while keeping the headphone jack and designing a better notch phone).

Really sucks, the official granddaddy stock Android phone, built by Google themselves isn't smooth as butter, and a cheap Chinese phone is faster with the same hardware.

I recall owning the OnePlus One originally and it was amazingly smooth and a very good OS.

Hopefully Google can get their act together and make the Pixel 3 the top smoothest dog.

 

[Aneres11]

Really sucks, the official granddaddy stock Android phone, built by Google themselves isn't smooth as butter, and a cheap Chinese phone is faster with the same hardware.

I recall owning the OnePlus One originally and it was amazingly smooth and a very good OS.

Hopefully Google can get their act together and make the Pixel 3 the top smoothest dog.

I get what you're saying but lets not act like the Pixel is some sort of laggy slouch.

In day to day use, every single phone on the planet lags. I refuse to believe that the OnePlus 6 doesn't have at least one little flicker or stutter occasionally.
I had an S9 shortly after it was released and I'd only had it a day and noticed hiccups here and there.

It's never going to ruin your experience, it's just the way tech is. Often it can be app related and not actually phone related. Buggy apps are probably more common than buggy OS's. Unless it's a Windows Phone.

I'm sure the Pixel 3 will regain its crown. And look better than the One Plus 6 whilst doing so. (Normal3 - not the XL).

 

[Tig Bitties]

I am actually very happy with my Pixel 2 XL, it feels smooth to me, way better than my wife's LG G6, ( wow that phone sucks a year later. )

Stock Android is light, no bloatware, and performs very well for me. I love this phone. But yeah, all phones have some sort of microstutters here or there, thank God I don't own a Galaxy or LG phone anymore. I've always preferred Nexus phones over the popular Samsung or HTC phone, stock as generic and boring as it is, is just too smooth not to use in comparison

 

[co.ag.2005]

Android 9 Pie is out! go grab it on your Pixel

https://www.droid-life.com/2018/08/06/android-9-0-is-android-pie/

 

[TheBigKing]

Downloading it

 

[michael9891]

Just got the download, not sure if I should just stick with Oreo. Everything works just fine as it is.

 

[Tig Bitties]

I would like to start fresh on Android 9.0 Pie. With being stock not rooted or ROM'd, how to I run a clean fresh install of Pie now ?

I assume take the full update now, I'm currently on DP5, and then after I install the full new update, do a factory reset ?

 

[epicrayban]

Wait wut! Android P is rolling out to Pixel 2 devices? That was kind of sudden.

I got nothing. I thought Google said the "check for updates" now actually works...

 

[co.ag.2005]

I would like to start fresh on Android 9.0 Pie. With being stock not rooted or ROM'd, how to I run a clean fresh install of Pie now ?

I assume take the full update now, I'm currently on DP5, and then after I install the full new update, do a factory reset ?

yes, I'd personally take the update and then factory reset once it's done installing

 

[michael9891]

Curiosity got the better of me and just installed it. Doesn't seem massively different. From my short time with an iPhone X, gestures worked 10 times better on that.

 

[TheBigKing]

I updated and factory reset and yes x gestures are better than Android p

 

[epicrayban]

Android P impressions:

Wow, the "gestures" on P make no sense. It's too focused on app-switching. And while it's cool to slide the pill to the right to "alt-tab" between two apps, this was always available as a double-tap on the app-switcher button, which I think works faster. Alt-tab really didn't need to become a gesture.

Pulling up for the app drawer is terrible! It went from one swipe up to two swipe ups or a really awkward long-swipe up past half the screen. It's clunky and prone to going into the app-switcher window. To ensure you get it right, it requires stretching your thumb/hands further up with your swipe-up. Seriously, how did Google's designers think this was a good idea? It's terribly unintuitive.

This is the most half-baked and ill-thought of idea I've seen Google implement. It's not even a full fledge gesture system -- it's this mess of buttons and gestures. And as mentioned before, it doesn't even eliminate the lower bar to allow for more screen space. Google could have just updated the app switcher window from the old roller dex style to the new paginated one in P and been done. The gestures gain you virtually nothing, and breaks the app drawer. I went back to the buttons.

I'm still messing around with the rest of P, but is it me or did P get a ton uglier? The quick toggles are hideous and in general the notification pull-down UI is messy. Why is the upper bar black while the quick toggle space gray (in dark mode)? Why did they break the uniformity of the notification pull down + quick toggles in Android O? In fact, why do the Vibrate icon, Wifi icon, data icon, all drop into the quick toggles window? Why don't they stay in the notification bar (Edit: I know the answer to this now, it's for the notch!)? And why are the toggles now this blue theme? What is this, Honeycomb?

I also think they crowded the app drawer with those two large quick buttons that you can't customize. They just populate whatever they think you want to do. Uh, sorry Google AI, you're not that smart at predicting what I want to do. And now you've taken up two giant ugly buttons in my app drawer.

Is Google trying to make everything ugly?

Everything feels so half baked. Dark theme only darkens the quick toggles and the app drawer, but not the system UI, where everything is still white. If your theme is set to dark, notifications are white. Super inconsistent.


Honestly, Google is really going astray... I have no idea what they're doing.