Google is looking to devour the competition with its new iteration of the Pixel—hopefully there will be enough to go around once it ships.
The Google Pixel 2 improves its rave review-collecting camera, and doing so by going against the tide of the smartphone trend and back to single lens. The 12.2 MP main camera has an aperture of f/1.8 and a dual-pixel sensor, taking clear photos even in low light scenarios. The front camera is an 8 MP shooter with f/2.4 aperture. Videos are much better too, thanks to a combination of optical and electronic image stabilization.
The camera is so good that it has been rated by DxOMark with a 98. As if that’s not enough, Google utilized machine learning and computational photography to take even better photos and videos—just because it can.
Google promises that the camera will constantly improve, giving way to Pixel exclusive content such as AR stickers. And, as an added bonus to those who would buy the Pixel, Google is once again giving owners unlimited photo and video cloud storage.
Artificial intelligence is a big thing for the Pixel 2. The Google Assistant is fully integrated into the phone, allowing users to manage more apps and settings with voice commands. The developers also added the Active Edge feature which accesses Assistant with a physical squeeze on the phone.
Owners of the smartphone will also get the chance to experience the Google Lens, combining Google’s technologies in computer vision, machine learning and the company’s search engine’s Knowledge Graph. This will allow users to simply use the app to take footage of anything and be able to look them up.
The Pixel 2 runs on Qualcomm Snapdragon 835, has 4 GB of RAM and either 64 GB or 128 GB of storage. It runs on the latest Android 8.0 Oreo operating system.
The regular Pixel 2 has a cinematic, full HD 5-inch display with a range of more than 16 million colors and a 100000:1 contrast ratio. It also gets a 2700 mAh battery life with fast charging, guaranteeing up to 7 hours of battery life with just 15 minutes of charging.
The Pixel 2 XL has a larger, QHD+ 6-inch pOLED display with the same range of colors and contrast ratio as the Pixel 2. It has a 3520 mAh battery that also guarantees 7 hours of juice on 15 minutes of charge.
Both phones are built with an aluminum unibody with hybrid coating and Corning Gorilla Glass 5, IP67-rated water and dust resistant.
The Pixel 2 comes with a built-in security module to improve lock screen protection against malware and hardware attacks, and continuously running Google Play Protect. Google also promises up to three years of security updates.
The Google Pixel 2 costs USD 649 for the 64 GB model, while the 128 GB variant costs USD 749. The Pixel 2 XL is priced slightly higher at USD 849 for the 64 GB model while the 128 GB model costs USD 949.