**The Pixel 2 XL: A Review**

Whether this is going to bother you again is going to depend on your individual use case and what you want to use, but personally I'd still much rather that they'd included the headphone jack like you'll find on something like the SA and then the 1 + 5 t.

Performance is where this phone really shines in the usability Department and of course in the camera. This uses the latest version of Android as you'd expect for a pixel phone, and you've got a few nifty things as well like an always listening speaker that can identify songs which is actually surprisingly accurate and does work off line.

**Always Listening Speaker**

You've got a squeeze to activate the Google assistant feature which sounds great but I don't really actually see myself using it that often. But maybe that's just because I use the Google home speakers, it's all about just the way it feels because from the moment I got this in my hand and started scrolling around it's so easy to describe just how fluid this phone the long and short of it though is that between the Snapdragon 83 5 processor, the 4 gigabytes of RAM and the software itself everything I threw at this phone it has handled it with ease and it always felt super slick and super stable not sure exactly how it all works but it really does.

**The Camera**

But what actually has impressed me the most about this phone is actually the camera because the photos it takes are truly breathtaking. The reason for this is because pretty much every photo it takes will be HDR, this is on by default, it does this so quickly that it just feels like you're taking a normal photo and the results are so good as they're really striking. The perfect balance between expanding the dynamic range but without looking sort of not very tasteful anymore.

**Portrait Mode**

I think the thing really that actually has impressed me the most about this phone is actually the camera because the photos it takes are truly breathtaking and the reason for this is because pretty much every photo it takes will be HDR, this is on by default, it does this so quickly that it just feels like you're taking a normal photo. The results are so good as they're really striking the perfect balance between expanding the dynamic range but without looking sort of not very tasteful anymore.

**Night Mode**

And then there's night mode which leaves us on to portrait mode because you see this photo right here, this is probably the first photo I've ever taken on a phone that has really made me stop and sort of question what's possible on a smartphone camera. Not saying it can't be improved because I'm sure we'll see better cameras come out next year but I really think that this thing is going to do you justice no matter where you take it.

**Water Resistance**

The pixel 2 XL also now has a level of water resistance which means if someone Chuck's you in a swimming pool with your phone in your pocket you should survive, but it's also got incredibly good battery life. Now to be clear I don't always use my phone that much and I work from home so if I'm not doing much I'll finish the day with around about 60 55 percent battery life, but that's not really very impressive to anyone.

**Battery Life**

What is impressive is the days that I go into London I do a daily commute and I'm pretty much listening to Bluetooth headphones the entire day and I've never had to worry about this phone dying ever, I mean to be clear this isn't going to last you two days but I think it would be a very rare occasion that this wouldn't actually last you the entire day. If you did want to charge up the phone then it supports the latest quick charge tech as well so Google claim you get 7 hours and 15 minutes whether that's quite accurate I'm not entirely convinced but the point being that this is a very very battery life friendly phone which if is something it's gonna affect you and you want that has excellent battery life then you've got to give it to the pixel.

**Conclusion**

So to conclude then the pixel definitely isn't perfect for one, it's very expensive, it goes things like a headphone jack wireless charging, and of course that expandable storage, and while the screen is definitely improved it's still not as good as something like an iPhone 10 or a Galaxy s8 on paper. Then perhaps it's not the best choice but it's not about what it is on paper it's about what it actually is like to use and for me and my lifestyle the pixel excels is the best Android phone I've ever used and as long as you can look past those flaws I actually don't think you're going to be disappointed whatsoever.

**Final Thoughts**

If you have enjoyed this video let me know hit me up in the comment section down below and hit the like button if you've enjoyed it subscribe as I say for more videos just like this. And a massive thank you once again to Google for actually getting me this phone, which was sent over free of charge so thanks guys for that.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enthis is the pixel to excel and it's been on the market now for a month I've had mine for around about four weeks but there's been so much press around this thing some has been very positive some has been not quite so positive at all so where does this leave us well rather than do a review after around about a week or so I really wanted to use this as my daily driver for a long period of time and now that I've done that does this thing really stack up with the best and is it a smartphone you should be buying well that will all be answered here the pixel - then it's a six inch smartphone that uses the 18 by 9 aspect ratio for a sleek modern looking design the bezels are definitely slim but they're not as slim as something like the Samsung Galaxy s8 plus and that phone just has an overall fit and finish that I think does look and feel a lot better than the pixel to excel but having said that there's definitely a big positive to the pixels design and that's the fact that you get your stereo speakers on the phone itself as opposed to having that one lonely speaker that you get at the bottom of the s8 but I think it's the screen that's obviously gonna be the main talking point for most people and there's been three things really that have been pointed out about the device and only really I would say one and a half of them to me anyway have been an issue the one that hasn't really cropped up for me and I have tried looking for it is screen burnin that's not to say it's never gonna happen because there's an OLED panel and this sort of thing while it can be avoided a little bit I don't think it can be avoided entirely but there is definitely a blue color shift to the screen there's no way around that I will say that it definitely seems to me to be a lot worse when the devices first turned on from cold but actually after you having used it for a few weeks it isn't really something I ever notice at all but it definitely is there and it's definitely something that rivals from the likes of Samsung and of course the iPhone 10 don't really seem to suffer from this at all and thus they have a better screen as a result the other thing and the issue that sort of half an issue is to do with the screen saturation and just the way the screen looks out of the box it definitely does look a bit flat once again no way around that but Google have now patched a extra saturation mode that boost the colors to the point where actually it really is to my liking because it's a lot better than it was before but it's not quite so saturated as Samsung's but the main thing really is that it's kind of a non-issue in some ways because it's all about color gamut and color space and while this probably doesn't sound that interesting essentially what you need to know is that a lot of phones don't actually display p3 properly they use this boost everything up and sort of hope for the best whereas what Google were trying to do is use the new version of Android or EO to properly display native p3 applications on the display properly giving you a more true to life the look while still having better saturation levels but unfortunately what's happened is that most applications don't support p3 which is what made everything sort of look a little bit flat so this problem will improve over time but at the moment is definitely the Google phone that is suffering unless you do activate that saturation mode that soar brings it more back to normal levels but basically what this space no pun intended the back of the device uses a two-tone finish that is classic pixel you've got glass for the top third and then aluminium for the bottom two-thirds I like the design but there's no wireless charging which I know it's not gonna affect a lot of people but it's something I'd like to see on my smartphone as I do feel we're moving towards a wireless future where you can go to any location put your phone down and it will just start charging the fingerprint sensor though is definitely a saving grace for me as it just works so so well the main problem I have with the overall design though is actually the fact that there is no headphone jack and no expandable storage so no SD cards for storing all of those songs and no headphone jack for you know headphones I have since swapped to wireless headphones which to be fair definitely have some solid advantages but running on the train with dead headphones is never very fun and while you definitely can use the adapter it's still not ideal whether this is going to bother you again is going to depend on your individual use case and what you want to use but personally I'd still much rather that they'd included the headphone jack like you'll find on something like the SA and then the 1 + 5 t I think we probably should talk about performance though because this is where this phone really shines in the usability Department and of course in the camera so this uses the latest version of Android as you'd expect for a pixel phone and you've got a few nifty things as well like an always listening speaker that can identify songs which is actually surprisingly accurate and does work off line you've got a squeeze to activate the Google assistant feature which sounds great but I don't really actually see myself using it that often but maybe that's just because I use the Google home speakers but it's all about just the way it feels because from the moment I got this in my hand and started scrolling around it's so so difficult to describe just how fluid this phone the long and short of it though is that between the Snapdragon 83 5 processor the 4 gigabytes of RAM and the software itself everything I threw at this phone it has handled it with ease and it always felt super slick and super stable not sure exactly how it all works but it really does but I think the thing really that actually has impressed me the most about this phone is actually the camera because the photos it takes are truly breathtaking and the reason for this is because pretty much every photo it takes will be HDR this is on by default it does this so quickly that it just feels like you're taking a normal photo and the results are so good as they're really striking the perfect balance between expanding the dynamic range but without looking sort of not very tasteful anymore and that night he leaves us on to portrait mode because you see this photo right here this is probably the first photo I've ever taken on a phone that has really made me stop and sort of question what's possible on a smartphone camera not saying it can't be improved because I'm sure we'll see better cameras come out next year but I really think that this thing is going to do you justice no matter where you take it the pixel 2 XL also now has a level of water resistance which means if someone Chuck's you in a swimming pool with your phone in your pocket you should survive but it's also got incredibly good battery life now to be clear I don't always use my phone that much and I work from home so if I'm not doing much I'll finish the day with around about 60 55 percent battery life but that's not really very impressive to anyone what is impressive is the days that I go into London I do a daily commute and I'm pretty much listening to Bluetooth headphones the entire day and I've never had to worry about this phone dying ever I mean to be clear this isn't going to last you two days but I think it would be a very rare occasion that this wouldn't actually last you the entire day and if you did want to charge up the phone then it supports the latest quick charge tech as well so Google claim you get 7 hours and 15 minutes whether that's quite accurate I'm not entirely convinced but the point being that this is a very very battery life friendly phone which if is something it's gonna affect you and you want that has excellent battery life then you've got to give it to the pixel it does a fantastic job so to conclude then the pixel definitely isn't perfect for one it's very expensive it for goes things like a headphone jack wireless charging and of course that expandable storage and while the screen is definitely improved it's still not as good as something like an iPhone 10 or a Galaxy s8 on paper then perhaps it's not the best choice but it's not about what it is on paper it's about what it actually is like to use and for me and my lifestyle the pixel to excel is the best Android phone I've ever used and as long as you can look past those flaws I actually don't think you're going to be disappointed whatsoever if you have enjoyed this video let me know hit me up in the comment section down below and hit the like button if you've enjoyed it subscribe as I say for more videos just like this and of course a massive thank you once again to Google for actually getting me this review unit it's much appreciated let me know what videos you want me to cover next more phones something different and I'll catch you in the next onethis is the pixel to excel and it's been on the market now for a month I've had mine for around about four weeks but there's been so much press around this thing some has been very positive some has been not quite so positive at all so where does this leave us well rather than do a review after around about a week or so I really wanted to use this as my daily driver for a long period of time and now that I've done that does this thing really stack up with the best and is it a smartphone you should be buying well that will all be answered here the pixel - then it's a six inch smartphone that uses the 18 by 9 aspect ratio for a sleek modern looking design the bezels are definitely slim but they're not as slim as something like the Samsung Galaxy s8 plus and that phone just has an overall fit and finish that I think does look and feel a lot better than the pixel to excel but having said that there's definitely a big positive to the pixels design and that's the fact that you get your stereo speakers on the phone itself as opposed to having that one lonely speaker that you get at the bottom of the s8 but I think it's the screen that's obviously gonna be the main talking point for most people and there's been three things really that have been pointed out about the device and only really I would say one and a half of them to me anyway have been an issue the one that hasn't really cropped up for me and I have tried looking for it is screen burnin that's not to say it's never gonna happen because there's an OLED panel and this sort of thing while it can be avoided a little bit I don't think it can be avoided entirely but there is definitely a blue color shift to the screen there's no way around that I will say that it definitely seems to me to be a lot worse when the devices first turned on from cold but actually after you having used it for a few weeks it isn't really something I ever notice at all but it definitely is there and it's definitely something that rivals from the likes of Samsung and of course the iPhone 10 don't really seem to suffer from this at all and thus they have a better screen as a result the other thing and the issue that sort of half an issue is to do with the screen saturation and just the way the screen looks out of the box it definitely does look a bit flat once again no way around that but Google have now patched a extra saturation mode that boost the colors to the point where actually it really is to my liking because it's a lot better than it was before but it's not quite so saturated as Samsung's but the main thing really is that it's kind of a non-issue in some ways because it's all about color gamut and color space and while this probably doesn't sound that interesting essentially what you need to know is that a lot of phones don't actually display p3 properly they use this boost everything up and sort of hope for the best whereas what Google were trying to do is use the new version of Android or EO to properly display native p3 applications on the display properly giving you a more true to life the look while still having better saturation levels but unfortunately what's happened is that most applications don't support p3 which is what made everything sort of look a little bit flat so this problem will improve over time but at the moment is definitely the Google phone that is suffering unless you do activate that saturation mode that soar brings it more back to normal levels but basically what this space no pun intended the back of the device uses a two-tone finish that is classic pixel you've got glass for the top third and then aluminium for the bottom two-thirds I like the design but there's no wireless charging which I know it's not gonna affect a lot of people but it's something I'd like to see on my smartphone as I do feel we're moving towards a wireless future where you can go to any location put your phone down and it will just start charging the fingerprint sensor though is definitely a saving grace for me as it just works so so well the main problem I have with the overall design though is actually the fact that there is no headphone jack and no expandable storage so no SD cards for storing all of those songs and no headphone jack for you know headphones I have since swapped to wireless headphones which to be fair definitely have some solid advantages but running on the train with dead headphones is never very fun and while you definitely can use the adapter it's still not ideal whether this is going to bother you again is going to depend on your individual use case and what you want to use but personally I'd still much rather that they'd included the headphone jack like you'll find on something like the SA and then the 1 + 5 t I think we probably should talk about performance though because this is where this phone really shines in the usability Department and of course in the camera so this uses the latest version of Android as you'd expect for a pixel phone and you've got a few nifty things as well like an always listening speaker that can identify songs which is actually surprisingly accurate and does work off line you've got a squeeze to activate the Google assistant feature which sounds great but I don't really actually see myself using it that often but maybe that's just because I use the Google home speakers but it's all about just the way it feels because from the moment I got this in my hand and started scrolling around it's so so difficult to describe just how fluid this phone the long and short of it though is that between the Snapdragon 83 5 processor the 4 gigabytes of RAM and the software itself everything I threw at this phone it has handled it with ease and it always felt super slick and super stable not sure exactly how it all works but it really does but I think the thing really that actually has impressed me the most about this phone is actually the camera because the photos it takes are truly breathtaking and the reason for this is because pretty much every photo it takes will be HDR this is on by default it does this so quickly that it just feels like you're taking a normal photo and the results are so good as they're really striking the perfect balance between expanding the dynamic range but without looking sort of not very tasteful anymore and that night he leaves us on to portrait mode because you see this photo right here this is probably the first photo I've ever taken on a phone that has really made me stop and sort of question what's possible on a smartphone camera not saying it can't be improved because I'm sure we'll see better cameras come out next year but I really think that this thing is going to do you justice no matter where you take it the pixel 2 XL also now has a level of water resistance which means if someone Chuck's you in a swimming pool with your phone in your pocket you should survive but it's also got incredibly good battery life now to be clear I don't always use my phone that much and I work from home so if I'm not doing much I'll finish the day with around about 60 55 percent battery life but that's not really very impressive to anyone what is impressive is the days that I go into London I do a daily commute and I'm pretty much listening to Bluetooth headphones the entire day and I've never had to worry about this phone dying ever I mean to be clear this isn't going to last you two days but I think it would be a very rare occasion that this wouldn't actually last you the entire day and if you did want to charge up the phone then it supports the latest quick charge tech as well so Google claim you get 7 hours and 15 minutes whether that's quite accurate I'm not entirely convinced but the point being that this is a very very battery life friendly phone which if is something it's gonna affect you and you want that has excellent battery life then you've got to give it to the pixel it does a fantastic job so to conclude then the pixel definitely isn't perfect for one it's very expensive it for goes things like a headphone jack wireless charging and of course that expandable storage and while the screen is definitely improved it's still not as good as something like an iPhone 10 or a Galaxy s8 on paper then perhaps it's not the best choice but it's not about what it is on paper it's about what it actually is like to use and for me and my lifestyle the pixel to excel is the best Android phone I've ever used and as long as you can look past those flaws I actually don't think you're going to be disappointed whatsoever if you have enjoyed this video let me know hit me up in the comment section down below and hit the like button if you've enjoyed it subscribe as I say for more videos just like this and of course a massive thank you once again to Google for actually getting me this review unit it's much appreciated let me know what videos you want me to cover next more phones something different and I'll catch you in the next one\n"