Mingis on Tech: Pondering the Pixel 2 (as an iPhone alternative)
- 18 October, 2017 03:01
For high-end smartphone buyers – whether you prefer Google's Android or Apple's iOS – this may well be the best of times. The iPhone 8 is out, the X arrives in just a few weeks, and the latest device from Google, the Pixel 2, is available now.
What's an Android-curious iPhone user to do?
Adam Patrick Murray/IDG Pixel 2 XL: Google's marriage of hardware to software to machine-learning.
With that question in mind, Computerworld Executive Editor Ken Mingis (a long time Apple dude) and tech reviewer Dan Rosenbaum – he also leans Apple – take a look at the Pixel 2 XL. Rosenbaum has been using it for a few days and finds it quite the delight.
The important thing to remember, at least from an enterprise perspective, is that the Pixel 2 comes with Android 8.0, Oreo, meaning it has the latest updates and security fixes from Google. And that will be the case in the months ahead, since Google devices don't have to wait for carriers to roll out fixes and OS updates – sometimes months after they've been released.
Aside from that, Rosenbaum says, the Pixel 2 plays well with Oreo, and even its design is a plus. While not as sexy as the latest from Samsung, the Pixel 2 has a brushed aluminum back that seems less likely to slip out of your hand, a luscious OLED display, top-end camera setup, and a speedy 8-core Snapdragon 635.
That combination of features and the price – the larger Pixel 2 with 128GB of storage tops out at $949 – is almost enough to tempt an iPhone user into making a switch.
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