Google Pixel 2 64GB 5" 12MP SIM-Free Smartphone in Just Black

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Google clearly wants to push you toward Bluetooth, and it's pushing a new "fast pairing" technique that's supposed to make it easier to pair your Bluetooth headset. Right now, though, it only works with a handful of headsets: the Libratone QAdapt Over Ear, Google's own Pixel Buds, the Plantronics V8200, the Bose QuietComfort 35 II, and some headphones made by a company named AiAiAi. That said, I didn't have any trouble pairing the phone to my Plantronics Voyager UC headset. But the star of the show, clearly, is Google Assistant, Google's voice interface that's more conversational, flexible, and knowledgeable than Siri or Bixby. You can activate the Assistant in a bunch of different ways. You can turn on an option to have it recognize your voice even when the phone's screen is off, for example. I ended up using the squeeze sensor a lot. Introduced originally on HTC's U11, the sensor lets you squeeze the phone slightly below its midriff to launch the Assistant (but no other app). It even works when the phone is in a case. Selling your phone directly to another person takes more time, but can be more financially rewarding. It depends greatly on the market environment when you put your Pixel up for sale, though, which is in itself an ever-changing thing. The best time to sell your phone is generally before a new generation comes out, but since that’s not possible with Pixel 2, you’ll have a bit of competition. Still, there are plenty of people looking for inexpensive Pixel 2s following the Pixel 3 launch (especially the notch haters out there), so it shouldn’t be too hard to find an interested buyer. We tested the Pixel 2 against the Pixel 2 XL and the Samsung Galaxy Note 8/S8. They're all terrific in good light. In low light, we were surprised to see some differences between the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL models, given that they supposedly have the same camera. But we saw them: Every once in a while, the Pixel didn't judge colors in low light quite as well as its bigger counterpart. Maybe that was because of shifting light when we were taking our test photos, but it was enough to cement our decision in favor of the Pixel 2 XL.

Wi-Fi support is excellent, on par with the Samsung Galaxy phones. The Pixel 2 XL also has Bluetooth 5.0 and NFC. This isn't to say that the Pixel 2 is a bad phone. It's suffering from the same problem that the iPhone 8 is, which is being the lower-middle child in a crowded field of good choices. As it is, it's our fourth (or so) choice for a higher-end Android phone, which is more of a statement about the strength of the Android field than the weakness of the Pixel 2. If you're aching for a Pixel this year, go big. Also, like on the iPhone 8, Google absolutely insists that its augmented reality system works just fine with one camera. It showed off a few AR demos at a media event—the usual furniture-placement app, a game, and an app that adds 3D fictional characters to your photos—but it still feels like Google's ARCore is well behind Apple's ARKit in terms of developer support so far. Multimedia and Camera

Pixel 2

Google Lens has some promise; it's a feature that automatically recognizes text in photos or lets you look up books, albums, artwork, and locations in Google Photos. It worked easily on books I tried, but it's not a huge differentiator, and I kept forgetting it was there.

Update : Google Pixel 2 remains one of our favorite phone in 2018 – despite some technical issues of reliability at launch – for one reason: it has an amazing camera and starts at a normal smartphone price. And it has recently gotten even better thanks to Google awaking the Pixel Visual Core, the phone's co-processor dedicated to imaging, in the February software release. The Pixel only has a 2,700mAh battery, but Google's software has always been great at conserving power. We got 8 hours, 48 minutes of LTE streaming on our Pixel 2, which is terrific for a small phone like this. It doesn't quite measure up to the Pixel 2 XL (9 hours, 25 minutes), but of course, the XL has more room inside. The phone supports fast charging, but not wireless charging. Software and Performance Both Pixels are able to maintain slightly faster shutter speeds in low light than the Galaxy S8 does, which gives you more of a fighting chance against blur, and they don't do the hideous overprocessing that the LG V30 does. That makes them the best smartphone cameras out there right now. This becomes a question of sweet spots, and I just don't think the Pixel 2 is it. If you're just looking for a good, affordable Android phone, the OnePlus 5 is pretty great. If you're looking for the Pixel experience, the XL is superior. And I still love the body design of the Samsung Galaxy S8, the most elegantly built phone on the market.The LG G7 ThinQ uses for a button for Google Assistant, which at least leads to our favorite AI. But this squeezing function is better (and not as easy to accidentally press). Our only complaint is that Google won’t allow you to customize this squeezable feature to open up the camera or another app of your choice. The Pixel 2 also acquires a feature from the HTC U11 called EdgeSense. Squeezing the phone’s sides launches the Google Assistant, which in our experience has come in handy, and is way better than adding a dedicated AI button – Samsung uses such a button for its Bixby assistant, and we can’t stop accidentally pressing it on the Galaxy S8 and Note 8.