Why I am returning my Google Pixel 2 XL
Disclaimer: This is my personal experience with the device. The opinions expressed in this article are mine only. I am not affiliated with any companies mentioned here.
I am a tech enthusiast and huge fan of Google and their products. I have Google ‘Home’, ‘TV’, ‘Wear’ and obviously phone. I’ve been using Nexus line for quiet some time — Nexus S, Galaxy Nexus, Nexus 4, 5, 6P. I’ve always felt lack of better camera until 6P came along. It was slow, but it took amazing pictures. For my next phone I opted for OnePlus 3 & 5 instead of Pixel for the huge price difference.
When Pixel 2 was announced, I was super excited 😁 hoping the camera would be better than Pixel which had already excelled in that department of it’s time. So, I’ve ordered my pixel the day it came out. The shipment came 3 weeks later in Canada.
In the mean time I’ve been seeing all these amazing reviews by YouTube vloggers and news agencies. I’ve also seen some incredible sample pictures posted by Googlers. Being a photo lover, this made me even more excited.
Finally the day has come, I got my pixel at my doorstep, it’s Christmas time 🎄🎁! I quickly unwrapped it and did a clean start instead of porting my apps from my previous phone.
NOTE: This is kinda comparison between OnePlus 5 (OP5) and Pixel 2 XL, simply because I have OP5 as my current device prior to getting Pixel 2 XL.
As soon I got it setup I started testing its camera. Unfortunately, it wasn’t giving me the results I saw online 😞. So, I thought let’s give it a run for few days, but over the next few days, it disappointed me even more. Here are few of the experiences I’ve encountered:
📸 Camera: The camera quality was not a significant improvement. It seemed like nexus 6P quality (I don’t have the 6P to compare with). Compared to my current OnePlus 5, the quality was not drastically improved. Sure, it does preserve lot of detail compared to OP5 on HDR+ but I feel like I am not getting the result I saw in the sample pictures. Here are some sample pictures taken with both OP5 and Pixel 2 XL.
🏃 Performance: The camera cold start still took time, about ~0.2 seconds. It’s long considering it houses Qualcomm 835. OP5 seems faster than the Pixel in this regard.
🍪 Android Oreo: The OS is buggy on touch, it does not work sometimes.
🕵️ Nexus Imprint: The fingerprint sensor is worse than 6P, it does not recognize the input more than 15% of time. Which is annoying 😟.
📶 LTE: The LTE speed is inconsistent. I get random result. On OnePlus 5 I got 58 Mbps, HTC One M9 I get 56 Mbps and on the Pixel 2 XL I get 80 Mbps. But if I repeat the test for Pixel, the value goes under 40 Mbps or even under 20 Mbps. I will take consistency over speed.
🗼 WiFi: I’ve also noticed sometimes WiFi speed is also bit slow compared to other devices, but it’s not as noticeable.
All these small factors made me decide to return the Pixel. I would still keep the device if the image quality were as good as it was demoed. But unfortunately I didn’t feel like it has become that much better to justify double the price compared to OnePlus 5 ($730 CAD vs $1320 CAD) 💸.
I’ll definitely be in the look out for the Pixel 3!
Ps. I still love 💕 Google products ✌️
