Google is a newcomer of sorts in the smartphone market. It has set the bar higher still with all launch of Pixel 2 on 4th October 2017. Google is has made innovative and consistent upgradations to its second generation devices.
Mario Queiroz, VP of product management at Google said, “We believe in questioning the status quo” According to him Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL are the best amalgamations of software, hardware, and AI. Google’s strategy is to make hardware work with Machine Learning.
Let’s discuss what is new in Pixel 2 and Pixel XL 2.
Hardware
Google Pixel 2 (5-inch screen) and Pixel 2 XL (6-inch screen) will be made available on 19th October 2017. Pixel 2 is manufactured by HTC and the Pixel 2 XL is manufactured by LG.
Pixel 2 is power packed with OLED screens, 4GB of RAM, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor, 12-megapixel and 8-megapixel rear cameras and selfie cameras. The speakers on the phones are pretty good and are loud without much distortion. Just like iPhone, Pixel 2 is also missing the 3.5 mm jack. Moreover, the device is splash resistant.
With the new feature, Always ON, You can set the screens to always-on mode, which means, if it is enabled, it will continuously show time and notification icons on a black background.
The Pixel 2 with 64 GB can be yours at $649 and Pixel 2 XL at $849. To get 128 GB version, you need to pay $100 more for either model.
Software
The latest and exciting feature added is the way you can wake your Google Assistant. All you need to do is, squeeze your Pixel 2 in your palm and boom Google Assistant is at your service. You can choose to set the Squeeze sensitivity as well. Mario Queiroz said, “What we tried to do with Active Edge was not make it a gimmick, how could it perform a useful function.” A quick squeeze will do the job.
The Home screen is new too, Google search bar is now at the bottom of the screen, as a part of the dock. Google has taken care of minor things to make the device more user-friendly such as your wallpaper, if it’s dark, notification shade and the app launcher will switch to a dark mode to match it automatically.
Google also announced the Pixel 2 is the first device to support Google Lens. Google Lens is provided in the Photo app and Google Assistant, which will help you identify the real world object through the camera and lets you search it on the web. For now, it is limited to identify set objects like books, movie poster, and landmark.
With Lens icon, it is easy to capture the information, let’s say, you are walking down a street and look at a flyer and wanted to get the email address on it, so instead of writing it down, point your camera and it will give you options to send an email and more.
With Pixel, you will be the first to get all the updates and OS upgrade and now switching to Pixel is easier than ever as it takes merely 10 minutes to move your stuff.
Design And Screen
Unlike Samsung and Apple X, Google Pixel is not flashy and bezel-less but it has all the right things on it. Pixel 2 with a 5-inch screen, square of corners, neon power buttons, has 1920*1080 screen resolution and Pixel 2 XL with a 6-inch screen, glass shade of white one is black which gives a stormtrooper vibe and has 2880*1440 screen resolution. The Screen supports 18/9 QHD plus resolution with over 4.1 million pixels. The screen is integrated with a circular polarizer which lets you enjoy the screen while wearing sunglasses. Moreover, the displays are optimized for VR.
Pixel 2 and 2 XL has all Aluminum body with premium hybrid coding giving it a sleek and clean profile. It has Soft sculpted back with distinct sidebands. The visor is a made of sturdy, gently colored glass and the transitions seamlessly to the metal body.
In addition to this, it has a cool colorful power button to give a playful look and instead of bezel-less front, it has a bezel, to supports stereo speakers. The front-facing speakers are accurately tuned to maintain the equilibrium among of volume, frequency response, and clarity.
The Pixel 2 is available in three cool colors, Kinda blue, Just Black, and Clearly White and Pixel 2 XL has just two options for colors, Just Black and Stylish Simple Black and White.
Camera
Last but not the least, Camera, a great deal of improvement can be seen as Machine learning has been implemented to make it better. Both Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XP have 12 MP with F1.8 aperture camera with optical stabilization. Mario Queiroz, a VP of product management at Google,
Many hardware changes were made for the best camera features such as dual-pixel sensor which means every single pixel is made of two smaller ones, advanced phase detection for focus and more.
Just like Apple, everyone is trying to get Portrait mode to their device, most of them have imitated the dual camera thing as well but Google Pixel chose not to give dual cameras for different modes, it assembled the features of both in one instead. Moreover, you can also take a selfie in portrait mode.
With Pixel 2, it is fun to give a shot to low-light photography by clicking multiple shots in auto HDR mode with OIS. Optical Image Stabilization(OIS) can be used to stabilize the camera which allows the shutter to stay open for a bit longer for better low-light pictures.Google’s main approach is to take a couple of shots use its algorithm jam on all that data to combine them into a single image for a better quality picture.
For video stabilization, the Pixel 2’s camera uses optical and electronic stabilization with machine learning to reduce the blurry and shaky effect in video recordings.
Now with Pixel 2, you can also record a short clip with every photo, just like Apple’s Live Photos. To make it better, it uses Machine Learning here as well. The phone analyzes the beginning and end of each three-second motion photo on its own and tries to bob the clipping to make better-looking loops.
With all this, Pixel 2 has also introduced Augmented Reality Stickers such as official collections based on Stranger Things and Star Wars and more.In AR Stickers, the character stickers that you choose can interact with each other. Moreover, you can record these little clips and share them with your friends, along with watching it in real time.
Look like the claims by the company of Pixel 2 phones’ cameras being specifically optimized and calibrated for high-quality augmented reality turns out to be true.
With all these new features and specifications, Google Pixel 2 is all set to dazzle the world. Unlike, S8 and iPhone X, it is not all that fancy and flashy, Pixel 2’s approach is pragmatic instead. Whether it is the Assistant, the Camera or the home screen, everything includes machine learning, which in turn makes them work better and smarter.
It seems that Google’s strategy is not getting the sales number up but they want to outsmart the counterparts with better quality, technology and functionality.