As expected, Google has unveiled the much awaited Google Pixel 2 XL which is the successor to last year’s Pixel XL. As the name suggests, the Pixel 2 XL is larger than the Pixel 2, however, apart from certain differences, both the Pixel smartphones come with identical hardware under the hood.
The Google Pixel 2 XL comes with Qualcomm’s latest and greatest Snapdragon 835 flagship SoC under the hood which is paired with 4 GB RAM and backed by Adreno 540 GPU. It sports a 6-inch pOLED always-on display that has a resolution of 2880 x 1440 pixels and an aspect ratio of 18:9. Well, this gives the Google Pixel 2 XL a bezel-less look, making the top and bottom bezels smaller as compared to last year’s Pixel XL. The screen also has rounded corners now, similar to what we have seen on the LG G6 and LG V30.
Another design change with the Pixel this year is that Google has ditched the 3.5 mm headphone jack, and instead, is offering front-facing stereo speakers, similar to what we have seen on the Nexus 6P. The phone boasts aluminium uni-body construction while also coming with IP67 dust and water resistance that was missing from last year’s Pixel smartphones.
Moreover, the Google Pixel 2 XL also comes with Active Edge that lets you squeeze the phone to trigger Google Assistant easily. Does this sound familiar to you? Well, obviously it does, because we have already seen similar technology on the HTC U11 which is called Edge Sense.
Talking about the photography department, the Google Pixel 2 XL comes with an 8 MP camera on the front and a 12.2 MP single camera at the back. Both these cameras are capable of taking photos with Bokeh Effect, and, Google says that the rear camera is optimized for AR and can do rendering at 60 frames/second of AR objects.
Like last year’s Pixel, this year’s Pixel smartphones also come with unlimited original quality online storage for both photos and videos which means you don’t have to worry about running out of space online. Speaking of storage space, the Google Pixel 2 XL is offered in two storage options – 64 GB and 128 GB. There’s no option to expand the storage via microSD card though.
Moreover, as one would expect, the Google Pixel 2 XL runs Android 8.0 Oreo out of the box, and, Google is promising minimum three years of OS and security updates on both the Pixel smartphones that were announced today. Speaking of the software, the Pixel Launcher has been redesigned a bit and both the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL will be the first phones to get Google Lens.
That said, the Google Pixel 2 XL is offered in two colors – Just Black and Black & White – and, it ships with a 3520 mAh battery which Google says can provide up to 7 hours of backup with 15 minutes of charging.
Google Pixel 2 XL Specifications
- CPU: 2.35 GHz Snapdragon 835 octa-core processor
- RAM: 4 GB LPDDR4x
- GPU: Adreno 540
- Operating System: Android 8.0 Oreo
- Display: 6-inch QHD+ (2880 x 1440 pixels) pOLED Always-on Display with 18:9 aspect ratio, 3D Corning Gorilla Glass 5, 100% DCI-P3 coverage, 100000:1 super contrast ratio and full 24-bit depth or 16.77 million colors
- Rear Camera: 12.2 MP with laser auto-focus, dual pixel PDAF, OIS, EIS, f/1.8 aperture, 1.4 μm pixel size, 720p video recording at 30/60/240 fps, 1080p video recording at 30/60/120 fps, 4K video recording at 30 fps, Portrait Mode and LED flash
- Front Camera: 8 MP with f/2.4 aperture, 1.4 μm pixel size, Portrait Mode, 480p/720p/1080p video recording at 30 fps
- Internal Storage: 64/128 GB with unlimited online storage of original quality photos and videos
- SIM: Single Nano-SIM (with eSIM support)
- Connectivity: 4G VoLTE, GPS, Bluetooth 5.0 + LE, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac 2×2 MIMO, NFC, USB Type-C 3.1 Gen 1
- Other: Fingerprint Scanner at the back, Google Lens, IP67 dust and water resistance, Front-facing Stereo Speakers
- Colors: Just Black, Black & White
- Battery: 3520 mAh
Google Pixel 2 XL Price and Availability
- Price of 64 GB storage variant: $849 (₹73,000 in India)
- Price of 128 GB storage variant: $949 (₹82,000 in India)
- Availability: Available for pre-orders starting today in Australia, Canada, Germany, India, UK and the US
