You know I have a weakness for Pixel phones by Google. Their main pull is the clean and stock Android OS unlike the usual customized Android OS by other manufacturers which usually suck. In the past year, I’ve got to use both Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL smartphones and unfortunately I had to let go of both phones for a couple of reasons.
First I got myself the slightly larger version of the Pixel, the Pixel 2 XL. Black and white chassis aka the Panda Pixel with an orange accent on the power button. I have always liked to make my second phone aside from the iPhone a Google Pixel or at least an Android One phone. As I said, stock Android is best Android. The Pixel 2 XL as always comes with USB C fast charging. There’s no wireless charging yet for this model and the screen still sports a sizeable bezel at the top and the bottom. At the back of the metal chassis is a fingerprint scanner and that’s about it.
My second Pixel phone for last year was the Pixel 2, the smaller brother of the Pixel 2 XL. There’s not much difference between this one and the latter except for the screen and battery size. It still has a solitary camera and the same two tone back cover.
Needless to say, this Pixel phone gets the latest Android updates earliest compared to other Android phones. The screen is alright, no Amoled or anything spectacular. Just okayish I guess. Performance-wise, you can run PUBG Mobile at high setting although the rounded corner require you to adjust the menu icons accordingly. Like its predecessor, the main pull for a Pixel phone is its camera. Photos taken are sharp and crisp and the night mode photos is only second to newer Pixel or iPhone models.
So why did I sold off both my Pixels in a year? First of all, I was itching to get my hand on a brand new iPhone model. My last iPhone, the iPhone 8 Plus felt outdated compared to the X and the XS of today (at that time). I had to let go of the XL to be able to afford a brand new iPhone XR. The Pixel 2 on the other hand is a fine phone. It’s small enough to fit in your pocket so I can bring it along for runs without even noticing it’s there. However like my old first gen Pixel phone, the battery life was abysmal to say the least. My secondhand Pixel 2 wouldn’t last past 3PM every day on a single charge. This battery drain anxiety sucks even for your second phone. I couldn’t use it as GPS navigation for long without leaving it on charge most of the time. Hence the main reason I sold off the Pixel 2 phone.
Will I consider getting a Pixel phone again in the future? For the moment, not so much. For one thing a brand new Pixel phone cost as much as a brand new entry level iPhone. And a second hand one especially an older model almost always has sucky battery life. For now I’m using a cheap Xiaomi Android One phone with mediocre specs and below average camera. But that’s okay because it’s the stock Android OS that counts.
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