To make the decision easier, we\u2019ve broken down three of the best and worst qualities of the new Pixel and Pixel 2 Xl, to make that cost-benefit analysis more clear.<\/p>\n PIXEL 2 AND PIXEL 2 XL HAVE THE SAME STELLAR CAMERA<\/strong><\/p>\n Don\u2019t just take Google\u2019s word for it \u2014 the Pixel 2\u2019s camera really does stand out, more so than last year\u2019s model it appears.\u00a0The Verge<\/em>\u2019s Dieter Bohn went hands-on\u00a0with the Pixel phones prior to the reveal event and came away impressed. \u201cIf Google can consistently produce similar results to what I’ve already seen, it has made a big leap over last year’s Pixel camera, and stands a strong chance of contending with the dual-lens \/ camera bump system on the iPhone 8 (and presumably the iPhone X),\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n The best part, however, is that you don\u2019t have to choose which camera to get. Like last year\u2019s models, the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL have the same single-lens setup. Google decided to only differentiate its pricier XL version with a larger screen and bigger battery. The company also put a lot of the same photo tricks you get with the dual-camera iPhone 8 Plus \/ iPhone X. That means you get the background blurring bokeh effect on both the front-facing and rear-facing camera on the Pixel 2 phones, without needing the price bump inherent in adding a new component.<\/p>\n GOOGLE LENS, AR STICKERS, AND ASSISTANT SQUEEZE ARE PROMISING<\/strong><\/p>\n The promise of a Google-made phone has always been more in the software than the hardware. Beyond the stock Android you get with a Pixel device, Google this time around is also packing in some powerful artificial intelligence and augmented reality features that will hopefully keep its smartphones competitive with the iPhone and ARKit, and to a lesser extent Samsung and Bixby.<\/p>\n On the new Pixels, you\u2019ll get Google Lens, the\u00a0company\u2019s new on-demand object recognition tool, built in. The Pixel 2 is the first phone to fully support the platform, and Google says it will for now work with a handful of useful-sounding categories like books, movie posters, business cards, and landmarks. Google is also positioning its ARCore framework similarly to Apple\u2019s ARKit, and it showed some new AR stickers \u2014 including\u00a0life-sized, cartoony versions of\u00a0Stranger Things\u00a0<\/em>characters\u00a0\u2014 to hammer the point home.<\/p>\n Perhaps the strangest, but also most promising, new feature in this category is\u00a0Google\u2019s new Assistant squeeze activation, in which you apply gentle pressure to the sides of the phone to automatically activate Google\u2019s voice-based AI companion. Telling users to squeeze their consumer electronics is a bit odd, but in practice, it sounds like an intuitive way to activate the Assistant, which Google hopes will become one of Android\u2019s most useful and powerful software differentiator. Plus, with the giant Pixel 2 XL, activating Assistant with a squeeze will work great without needing to reach your thumb over.<\/p>\n ALWAYS-ON DISPLAY AND MICROPHONE<\/strong><\/p>\n Always-on displays were a big thing just a few years ago, during the original Moto X era, but seemed to fall out of favor with consumers out of battery life concerns. Now, with more AI-assisted smarts built into our phones, Google is bringing the always-on display back with its Pixel 2 devices, with one neat twist.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Source:\u00a0theverge.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Weighing the benefits against the cost and drawbacks of Google\u2019s new Pixel phones Google on Wednesday took the wraps off its\u00a0new Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL phones, the sequels to the first-ever Google-designed Android handsets. Both devices look sharp, minimal, and sport what the company says is one of ...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":68859,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4548],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology-en"],"acf":false,"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cdn.vox-cdn.com\/thumbor\/XnFbaR3n09VHNtkOgV1qaQH6ruY=\/1200x0\/filters:no_upscale()\/cdn.vox-cdn.com\/uploads\/chorus_asset\/file\/9378989\/jbareham_170922_2006_0447.jpg\")
<\/span><\/span>Photo by James Bareham \/ The Verge<\/cite><\/span><\/figure>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cdn.vox-cdn.com\/thumbor\/etLSnOo1l_9BhkUgnQ3aRRRZPxM=\/1200x0\/filters:no_upscale()\/cdn.vox-cdn.com\/uploads\/chorus_asset\/file\/9378935\/jbareham_170922_2006_0076.jpg\")
<\/span><\/span>Photo by James Bareham \/ The Verge<\/p>\n