Google Pixel 2 XL: A Visual Catastrophe

[Inkz]

6 hours ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

 

 

Finally, Google's colour calibration seems to have been a bit too inspired by Fallout 3

 

 

Lol, I and many others love F3, but I feel like it is universally agreed that that grey/ green cast on everything was a little overbearing.

 

On topic: This is why I don't buy new phones at launch, I swear there is always a major issue like this. I was actually considering saving up to get a 2 XL (I love my headphone jack, but I am on Google Fi), I am glad I decided to wait to see for reviews and/or controversies.

[vanished]

Just now, Inkz said:

Lol, I and many others love F3, but I feel like it is universally agreed that that grey/ green cast on everything was a little overbearing. [...]

The first time I played it, I legitimately thought it had messed with my colour calibration after returning to desktop because everything looked purple.  I eventually came to the realization it was just because the parts of my eye that send the "green" signal had become fatigued and so everything looked purple (the opposite of green)

[Dabombinable]

How did they manage to source screens so badly botched?

[Maxxtraxx]

6 hours ago, Max_Settings said:

Thee Pixel 2 was already a deal breaker with no dual lens camera and not a good enough bezelless design. This screen also a deal breaker, and since the Pixel 2 also has no headphone jack, I don't feel bad at all about getting an iPhone X.

I'm not a phone snob/trendy individual soooo.... The things that interest me most are:

 

1: Camera: It seems that everyone agrees that the camera is crazy good, with great video stabilization.

2: Size: I have medium large hands and my current Nexus 5X is as big as my hand is comfortable with for single handed use and as big as I want for a mobile device, IMO over 5 inches is silly for on the go use.

3:Screen: over 1080 resolution in a 5 inch screen is crazy overkill... 400+ ppi... bragging rights and spec wars for the sake of only those 2 things when we get to and go beyond that.

4: Good speakers, stereo being a plus, for both speaker phone calls, for music/podcasts in my pocket while working, occasional video/youtube.

5: i do wish it had a headphone jack... not everyone has everything they own being bluetooth capable... 2 of my 3 cars have no bluetooth only aux input.

 

What i don't care about:

Bezels: so.... having no bezels so that your fingers are in the way of the screen while holding the device, makes no sense to me. IMO Sacrifices sense for looks.

 

6 hours ago, Max_Settings said:

TBH they are more or less the same phone with just a different shell and a few less internal pieces than the V30.

There is ZERO evidence available for the statement made here, in fact Google just announced that the Pixel 2/2XL has is own separate custom designed camera image processor, that looks to be very impressive from specs that is not yet enabled on the devices. Go look at the ifixit articles on the v30 and pixel 2XL maybe?

 

6 hours ago, Max_Settings said:

For zoom and the effects. Plus it is just part of the design of phones now, like the bezelless design, a lot of phones are going to that, if you don't have it, it looks dated IMO.

If you need pictures better than what the pixel 2 produces... which are phenomenal, maybe a camera is in order? Same thoughts on the bezelless trend/fashion as above.

 

5 hours ago, Sniperfox47 said:

The things in the Verge article are more than a little overstated.

 

The blueshift is because of the polarizer (so you can use it with your glasses) and is waaaaaaaay less noticable in the final product than in the preview units (review units and Verizon demos).

 

The rainbow artifacts at obscure angles I haven't seen verified elsewhere but could also be due to the polarizer.

 

The faded and less warm colours are because it's an HDR panel calibrated for the sRGB space. A number of reviewers, including one the Verge article mentions, have specifically said it looks pretty much like what you'd expect from a professional monitor, rather than a phone. And no, it's nowhere near as green as that picture makes it out to be >.>

 

The hazing is an issue, but you have to specifically look for it, is hard to spot with any ambient lighting, and only happens at really low screen brightnesses. It looks to be an issue with voltage control in the panel matrix, and is due to LG's pOLED panel.

 

Not defending them, the polarizer was a dumb idea, the calibration was dumb on a consumer device and "Vivid mode" is nowhere near intense enough -it's just a 10% bump in colour intensity-, and they should have made different compromises on their panel even if pOLED gives them more flexibility. Just saying there are legitimate reasons for a lot of this, and for most of these things, most people would have to be explicitly looking for to even notice.

 

You mean like how the 6 had constant storage performance issues due to forced encryption with no hardware acceleration and pretty much locked up while doing updates?

 

Or how the Nexus 4 couldn't handle OTG because it switched to host mode but didn't output any power?

 

Or how the Nexus 7s (both versions) would frequently fail to charge back up if you let the battery run too low, unless you held a specific button combo while plugging it in to force the chipset to reboot?

 

Nexus 5 was the only Nexus device that wasn't *very clearly* a developer device. Pixel has gone too far the opposite direction I fear, as being *very clearly* a mass consumer device.

All the high quality, well informed and thoughtful things stated above just about sum up this discussion. Thank you for your thoughtful, informational and well constructed post.

[flibberdipper]

And here I am on a super cheap LG phone with a super cheap 720p IPS display that has no issues... AND A HEADPHONE JACK. 

 

1 hour ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

The first time I played it, I legitimately thought it had messed with my colour calibration after returning to desktop because everything looked purple.  I eventually came to the realization it was just because the parts of my eye that send the "green" signal had become fatigued and so everything looked purple (the opposite of green)

So glad I'm not the only one that's had that happen. First time I played Fallout 3 was for about 6 hours straight and everything had a purple cast to it for well over an hour.

[vanished]

1 minute ago, tmcclelland455 said:

So glad I'm not the only one that's had that happen. First time I played Fallout 3 was for about 6 hours straight and everything had a purple cast to it for well over an hour.

Yeah you'll notice the same problem if you're inside and you look out a window at the blue sky for a bit, that part of your vision (aside from being generally darker now due to the intense brightness) will seem red for a while.  The fact that a game causes that effect is proof that they went way to hardcore on the colouring lol.  It's not opinion anymore at that point, it's literally a physical, measurable effect.

[ElZamo92]

I don’t like Android AT ALL, so this is just confirmation to my bias.

[flibberdipper]

8 minutes ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

Yeah you'll notice the same problem if you're inside and you look out a window at the blue sky for a bit, that part of your vision (aside from being generally darker now due to the intense brightness) will seem red for a while.  The fact that a game causes that effect is proof that they went way to hardcore on the colouring lol.  It's not opinion anymore at that point, it's literally a physical, measurable effect.

See that's some weird thing my glasses do looking outside. When I was helping my dad build our porch I had lots of time to look at the sky but some weird Transitions-lenses shit happens and it's not really much of a problem.

 

Though for that matter, when I play Fallout 4 with a neutral color setup, everything turns slightly green.

[vanished]

3 minutes ago, ElZamo92 said:

I don’t like Android AT ALL, so this is just confirmation to my bias.

Well to be fair, this isn't android's fault at all, or really related to it in any way.

[S w a t s o n]

1 hour ago, ElZamo92 said:

I don’t like Android AT ALL, so this is just confirmation to my bias.

But Samsung will be making the iPhone X screens, and they make Android phones, so I guess the IPhone X is ruined. :^ )

[Paranoid Kami]

Glad this is not on the regular Pixel 2's screen.

[mrchow19910319]

Did google say this is because the sRGB setting is on by default? 

 

 

 

[porina]

Watching with interest as one of the Pixel 2 models is likely to be my next phone. I will say, I found the Samsung S6 display to be annoying. Colours look fake and over-saturated. I'm not sure if they just turned saturation up to 11, or if they had an uncalibrated mapping of srgb to wide gamut display. Realistic settings for sure will lack that pop, and I suspect that is the majority of the complaint. The others are minor issues that don't sound likely to make a difference in real world usage. Sure, easy enough to say better if they weren't there, but nothing is perfect and you just have to go with what works best for you.

[elfensky]

Honestly, I'm still getting the Pixel (cuz, well, I already paid for the pre-order) but worst case I'll just return it to it fixed/refunded.

Then again, I'm primarily getting it for the software and camera, not the looks. That and the unlimited storage for pictures/video.

[DocSwag]

2 hours ago, AceTakerV8 said:

LG Can. Just Google. (Look at their TV's, they're hella' good.)

*smartphone display

 

This display in the XL is made by LG. It's the same one used in the V30.

 

LG has historically had issues making decent OLED screens for smartphone. It looks like they still haven't fixed it.

[vanished]

So after watching Linus's review of these new Pixels, you'll all be happy to know he made no mention of the screen looking bad, and in shots that showed it next to other phones known to be good, it did look slightly different but not bad in any way that I would point out.  I did notice one shot that seemed to confirm the "white icons going green" effect though, but it was mild.

[Unhelpful]

22 hours ago, iamdarkyoshi said:

 

Honestly it's hard to call the iPhone a joke. It's one of the only options on the market for a premium phone with some hint of longevity. I've always been pretty much a die-hard Android fan, but it's getting harder and harder to defend to people who want to actually keep their phones and have them remain somewhat relevant.

 

It seems like the Pixel 2 is a complete downgrade from my Pixel.

[Commodus]

26 minutes ago, JoeyDM said:

Honestly it's hard to call the iPhone a joke. It's one of the only options on the market for a premium phone with some hint of longevity. I've always been pretty much a die-hard Android fan, but it's getting harder and harder to defend to people who want to actually keep their phones and have them remain somewhat relevant.

 

It seems like the Pixel 2 is a complete downgrade from my Pixel.

I wouldn't say it's a downgrade, just some questionable choices given what people expected in the past.  They're faster, and they pack better cameras, more base storage and water resistance.  The 2 XL's display size will definitely be appreciated, even if the current options mean the display isn't as vivid as you'd expect coming from other phones.

 

As it stands, I do agree on longevity.  Google Play Services does keep some phones relevant beyond their last OS update, but still -- it seems wrong that even Google stops delivering OS upgrades after two years where Apple can offer them for four or sometimes five years.

[Unhelpful]

12 minutes ago, Commodus said:

I wouldn't say it's a downgrade, just some questionable choices given what people expected in the past.  They're faster, and they pack better cameras, more base storage and water resistance.  The 2 XL's display size will definitely be appreciated, even if the current options mean the display isn't as vivid as you'd expect coming from other phones.

 

As it stands, I do agree on longevity.  Google Play Services does keep some phones relevant beyond their last OS update, but still -- it seems wrong that even Google stops delivering OS upgrades after two years where Apple can offer them for four or sometimes five years.

I suppose I just see the display as the single most important non-base-functionality asset of a smartphone. And for the price it really isn't excusable.

[DocSwag]

16 hours ago, AceTakerV8 said:

But also, what would I know? I own a V20, so... TN panel I believe. I only know that they make good TV's, and that they've added the technology to their phones.

Nah not TN, actually IPS  

 

I don't think there have been any TN panels in smartphones for ages  

[chrisholland03]

I find The Verge continues their shtick of  Apple "good" everybody else "not as good".  Which is well and good as long as you know that's the angle they're going to take.  With that filter, if you ever see them give a compliment, you know it's even better than what they're giving credit for.

 

I haven't experienced the Pixel 2 XL, but my Pixel 2 has none of the display issues.  The loss of headphone jack wasn't a deal breaker - I mean, if it had one, great, but I use my bluetooth earbuds all the time.  Overall (on day 3 - for what it's worth) I'm finding it to be an functionally excellent phone.  Aesthetically it's nothing to look at.  

[vorticalbox]

On ‎19‎/‎10‎/‎2017 at 5:59 PM, Ryan_Vickers said:

I was thinking about this and I guess they see it as a design choice rather than a flaw.  For example, if you buy that 240 Hz gaming TN, you expect it will have terrible viewing angles, so that wouldn't be a basis on which you could call it defective.  I guess this is the same.  If it really was a defect I can see them recalling it, or just catching it before people found out, but they seem to have chosen to install this display, so that's just how it is.

my Lumia 950 has basically no colour shift until you look at it from horizontal which is has a slight green to orange gradient.

 

 

 

[vanished]

6 minutes ago, vorticalbox said:

my Lumia 950 has basically no colour shift until you look at it from horizontal which is has a slight green to orange gradient.

 

 

 

I have a Lumia 650 and by the time it's shallow enough of an angle that I think the colours might be going off, it's hard to actually tell if it's real or my imagination since it's such a ridiculous angle it's sort of a non-issue.

[LAwLz]

Another day, another reason why you should ignore the "mainstream tech media" and instead focus on outlets which actually knows what they are talking about and knows how to properly test things.

[LinusTech]

On 2017-10-20 at 8:33 AM, Ryan_Vickers said:

So after watching Linus's review of these new Pixels, you'll all be happy to know he made no mention of the screen looking bad, and in shots that showed it next to other phones known to be good, it did look slightly different but not bad in any way that I would point out.  I did notice one shot that seemed to confirm the "white icons going green" effect though, but it was mild.

I also immediately set my phones to sRGB mode or whatever is closest. 

 

Oversaturated looks “good” to the untrained eye - and to me it actually looks pretty good on the lock screen with really vibrant icons and stuff. 

 

But as soon as I fire up a video I’m like “aww hella naw!”

 

So thats might be why the pixel 2 screens look quite similar side by side with my other phones.