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Google Pixel 2 XL Review – Stock Android and Great Camera for the Win

I was late on getting a Google Pixel 2 XL. When Verizon sent one over for me to check out for a bit, I was hype and skeptical at the same time. I heard great things about the camera and horrible things about the screen. The Galaxy Note8 from Samsung was my daily driver at the time, and you know Samsung comes through when it comes to their displays. As the usual goes, check out the specs and how my time is with the Pixel 2 XL after a couple of months. I used it during the holiday season and at CES 2018.

Google Pixel 2 / Pixel 2 XL Specs

Display: 5 inch (1920 x1080) AMOLED | 441 ppi / 6 inch (2880x 1440) pOLED | 538 ppi (Pixel 2 XL)
Cameras: 12.2 Mp rear-facing camera / 8 megapixel front-facing camera
Processor / RAM: Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 / 4GB RAM
Memory: 64GB / 128 GB Internal Memory (no expansion slot)
Battery: 2,700 mah nonremovable / 3,520 mah (Pixel 2 XL)
Connectivity: Bluetooth 5 / Wi-Fi / Nano SIM / USB-C / fast charging /
OS: Android Nougat 8.0
Features: Water-resistant IP67 rating | no headphone jack

Design and Build

As you know there are two versions of the Pixel 2. It looks similar to the original Pixel You have the volume buttons on the right border and the power button right above them. Above the 5.2 inch display you have the 8 megapixel front camera. On the back you have the 12 megapixel camera (single lens). And in the top middle, of you have the fingerprint scanner. You won’t find a headphone jack or micro SD card slot.

Experience

By the time I got the phone, I already heard of all the screen problems. The dull colors were killer. Especially since I was coming from a Galaxy Note8, which has an incredible display. It was a bit annoying so I downloaded an app that helped balance the colors. When the update came for the display, the experience was a lot better since I was able to look at the phone without cringing. The colorshift was only noticeable when you looked for it.

Android 8.0 runs like a dream. No lag whatsoever. You can also use the HTC-Squeeze feature to activate Google Assistant. I don’t use it much, so I changed the pressure sensitivity so I’d stop accidentally activating the assistant. The fingerprint scanner works quick and is in a good position. The all-black model I am reviewing has a bit of a textured back. It’s not as slippery as it looks. I still use a case on it.

Features
Camera

I could NOT wait to try out the camera. I loved the camera on the original Pixel. And I heard the Pixel 2 XL did Portrait Mode very well, with a single lens, at that! Taking pictures of random things is my favorite part of reviewing a phone. I enjoy just snapping away. The Pixel 2 XL camera is the main selling point. It just gets the job done. When cameras shoot awesome pictures in auto mode, that’s a huge deal for me. I share more pictures on my personal Instagram and Google+ pages.

Portrait Mode works 95% percent of the time. Sometimes it blurs out my earrings or my ponytail, but when it works, it just works well. Portrait Mode is the reason a couple of my friends are sold on the Pixel 2. Of course, you have to see the pics to get the idea of portrait mode. I LOVE IT!

Now Playing

It’s one of my fave features that has spoiled me. With Now Playing, Google is always listening to music and identifies it. It may not sound like a big deal, but I use it more than I thought. Of course not everyone is into the “always listening” permissions you have to allow from Google.

Pricing and Availability

The Pixel 2 XL had a pretty hefty price tag at release. It didn’t’ fall in line with the Nexus line or even the original Pixel. Now at Verizon you can get BOGO Pixel 2 deal, or trade in your current phone for a credit. If you pay off the phone in 24 months, it will run you $35.41 per month, or you can pay the full $849.99 price. You can find out more at Verizonwireless.com.

As for Verizon’s wireless service, they may be pricier at times than the other major carriers in the United States, but they have great coverage. I spent a lot of time in Atlanta, Georgia, Las Vegas, Nevada and of course, New York City, and the coverage was great all around. This is not all talk. Verizon has the receipts! RootMetrics ranked Verizon’s network #1 in the nation for the ninth time in a row. You can learn more about that HERE

Battery Life

Yes, battery life depends on use. My use is was pretty heavy in December and January. Google came through with the battery life on the 2 XL. With the holidays and then CES 2018, I used the phone heavily day in and day out. I had many good 10+ hour days. I’d say one of my tricks is to never have the brightness up more than half way up. I usually made it down to 9 pm with 15%.

Overall

You can’t lose with the Pixel 2 XL. If you can do without the headphone jack and expanded storage, you will love the simplicity and quickness that is Pure Android 8.0. If you’re coming to Android, you’ll enjoy how smooth the Pixel 2 XL works. The great camera and smooth UI make for a great user experience. If you need the headphone jack and expandable storage you have the option of the Galaxy S8 or Galaxy S8+ from Samsung.

THIS REVIEW IS MADE POSSIBLE BY MY AFFILIATION WITH TECHWELIKE. YOU WILL SEE MANY OF MY REVIEWS THERE AS WELL.

Honor View 10 Smartphone Review

The mid-range phone category is no longer filled only with only ugly, slow, cheap phones. For the half the price of many flagships, you can get a midrange phone with some killer features. But you can also sacrifice some key features when choosing to go midrange. I am checking out the Honor View10 midrange phone in this review

Honor View 10 Specs:

Display: 5.99 inch (2160 x 1080) AMOLED | 403 ppi

Cameras: 12 mp rear camera | 20 mp monochrome rear camera / 13 megapixel front-facing camera

Processor / RAM: Kirin 970 / 6GB RAM

Memory: 128 GB Internal Memory (with expansion slot)

Battery: 3,730 mah nonremovable

Connectivity: Bluetooth 4.2 / Wi-Fi / Nano SIM / USB-C

OS: Android Nougat 8.0 with EMUI 8.0

Features: Fingerprint Scanner / dual cameras /

Design and Build

I first saw the View 10 back in January at CES 2018. Honor has been in the lower/ mid-range phone game for a while. The Honor View10 however tries to be a higher mid-range phone. It feels nice and heavy in hand. You find the power button and below the volume rocker on the right side. The fingerprint scanner is located in the front of the phone, below the screen. On the bottom border you have the headphone jack next to the usb-c charging port. The back has two cameras. The electric blue color is nice without being too flashy.

Experience

I love that the View10 comes with a screen protector already on it. It also comes with a case. One it’s set up you can use it confidently, knowing it’s protected. The camera bumps are a little too out for my liking, but I’m just nitpicking there. The View 10 isn’t waterproof, which is a very popular feature to remove. It hasn’t affected me. That may be a deal-breaker for some clumsy folks, or those that love using their phones everywhere. The bezels are thin. It doesn’t look luxurious, but it doesn’t look cheap either. The phone itself is thin also. You have better grip with teh case on.

The View 10 has the 18:9 aspect ratio many flagship devices have been rocking the last couple of years. The display looks fine to me, especially at this price. You can adjust the color temperature of the screen to your liking. It’s one of my favorite features Honor phones have.

The aluminum back feels solid, but like it can get scuffed. Slap on a case on it asap. It still has a headphone jack, which I think many people still want. Not everyone has jumped on the wireless headphones trend yet.

As for software, EMUI 8.0 is a bit colorful. You have to go into the settings to tweak to the usual Android settings, such as an app drawer and the vertical app scrolling. My device came with an app drawer already. I am not a fan of having the drawers laid out like that. The phone runs smoothly overall, even with multiple apps open and running in the background.

Features

Camera

The View10 has two rear cameras. A 20 mp monochrome camera and a 16mp RGB camera. I use the phone mostly to take the black and white pictures with the monochrome lens. It does it very well. With the camera you need a lot of lighting to get good shots. Without OIS, you have to hold the camera super steady to get a clear picture. The pictures come out with a natural tone.
The selfie camera blurs the face a little when taking pictures indoors. It’s not the sharpest shooter out there.

Fingerprint Scanner

I’ve gotten so used to the fingerprint scanner in the back of the phone, I feel like I am going backward having it in the front of the phone again. It works very, very fast though.

Translator

View 10 has it’s own translator. You can talk to the phone or type your phrase and it translates almost instantly.

Battery

I am all for phones having a battery larger than 3,000 mAh. The View 10’s 3,750 mA battery does a good job of getting through the day. As expected, if I am outdoors with the phone on high brightness, the battery dies quicker. If you leave it off the charger for several hours, the percentage doesn’t go down too much either.

Pricing and Availability

You can get the View10 in black or white. The price is usually around $500. But there are some bundle deals that allow you to get some headphones and / or an activity tracker along with the phone. You can check those out at hihonor.com

Overall

You won’t regret getting the Honor View 10 at $500. It has most of the flagship features you are looking for. If no water resistance is not a deal-breaker for you. You get a lot of storage with a great-performing processor. Lots of wins in features and for your pockets.

THIS REVIEW IS MADE POSSIBLE BY MY AFFILIATION WITH TECHWELIKE. YOU WILL SEE MANY OF MY REVIEWS THERE AS WELL.

BlackBerry Key2 Review

With the BlackBerry Key2, TCL hopes to bring the world of physical keyboards and flagship Android features together to maximize productivity. I enjoyed using the phone for the last couple of weeks but I can’t make it my daily driver. Learn 5 things about the BlackBerry Key2 and why it’s a solid phone but why I can’t carry it without another phone around.

BlackBerry Key2 Specs:

Display: 4.5 inch (1620 x 1080) IPS LCD | 434 ppi
Cameras: 12 mp f /1.8 rear camera | 12 mp f/ 2.6 camera /
8 megapixel front-facing camera
Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 / 6GB RAM
Memory: 64GB / 128 GB Internal Memory (with expansion slot)
Battery: 3,500 mah nonremovable | QuickCharge 3.0
Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.0 / Wi-Fi / Nano SIM / USB-C 3.0 /
OS: Android Oreo 8.1
Features: headphone jack | Physical keyboard | Speed Key |

Design

The touch-up TCL and BlackBerry Mobile gave the BB Key2 was needed. They KeyOne was a nice start to the screen above 4 row physical QWERTY keyboard model. The sleek rectangular design on the Key2 gives it the sophisticated business look. With the 4.5 inch screen right above the physical keyboard, the Key 2 fits nicely in hand. The Key 2 has a headphone jack on the top, a USB-c charging port at the bottom. The textured back has two 12 megapixel cameras. The right side of the Key2 has volume rocker at the top followed by the power key and the convenience key under. The power button is textured to help distinguish between the keys. Blackberry reps told me how typing on this keyboard would be a lot more comfortable since it’s modeled after the keys on the Blackberry Bold 9900.

Experience

Keyboard

As with everyone covering this phone, they will talk about the major feature that makes it stand out from other phones, the physical keyboard. It is a big difference for daily use. Does it help you get more done? Are you more accurate with a physical keyboard? Of course, your mileage may vary based on experience but for me, it was both things. It took me a bit to get back into the crazy tapping on the keyboard. I wasn’t used to it as fast I wanted to be and my fear of letting the phone fall slowed me down as well. The Key2 is Gorilla Glass 3, not sure how strong it is to withstand multiple falls. I dropped the phone twice though, and it’s still intact.
You can still program keys as shortcut keys to apps or contacts, just like the KEYone. For example, you can program the “i” key to open Instagram. On the Key2 you can program two shortcuts to each key. You have a long press shortcut and a short press shortcut.

Speed Key:

The speed key, which is located on bottom right of the keyboard (looks like the blackberry logo), allows you to switch to any other app (programmed with a shortcut key), no matter what app you’re in. Just hold down the shortcut key and click the key for the shortcut or app you want. That’s a pretty cool way of jumping from app to app and even jumping to apps that weren’t even open. It’s probably my favorite feature on the Key2.
What’s great is that you’re not stuck with the physical keyboard of the Key 2. You can use gestures to help you type. With gestures, once you start typing a word, if it comes up as one of the 3 words the keyboard predicts, just swipe up (under the word) and it will be inserted into the text.
There’s onscreen keyboard as well. As you can imagine, it’s a bit uncomfortable to use, since it’s above the physical keyboard. That means you have about 2.5 inches of the screen left.

Camera

The Key2 joined the dual camera club and it was almost for nothing. It’s incredible how hit or miss the cameras are on the phone. Sometimes it takes ok pictures and it can even do an ok job at Portrait Mode style pictures. But you just don’t know when it will miss. Even some pics that were taken with lots of natural light did not come out well. That’s why I can’t carry just the Key2, I need to have a phone with a decent camera. I know it’s not the major focus of the phone, but it could have been a little better. I take pictures of nearly everything, and I can’t risk not getting a good shot.
Security This is what BlackBerry is known for and it continues on with the Key 2. DTEK app on BlackBerry alerts you about apps using parts of your phone (microphone or camera). The Locker app allows you to hide apps and files away.

Battery

This is where the KeyTwo shines! You can get a lot of use from this phone with just one charge. I added all the social media accounts and 4 email addresses to the phone and got nearly 2 days of use on moderate days. On very busy days, I got a little over a full day of battery life. You can attribute that to having a screen that’s less than 5 inches and not quad HD. If battery life is the main factor for you when shopping for a new phone, the Key2 will impress you.

Pricing and Availability

The Key2 goes on sale July 13th for $650. It’s available in silver or black. I have been using it with T-Mobile SIM and it has been working well. You can pre-order / buy it on amazon.com and bestbuy.com. I’ll be sure to update if there are any deals or sales when it’s officially launched.

Verdict

There’s definitely a target market for BlackBerry. A lot (read most) of smartphone users have gotten used to typing on a screen. The learning curve of typing on a keyboard will be too annoying for some to go back, even if it means more security and higher productivity. BlackBerry lovers and even those who are willing to give BlackBerry another chance will definitely enjoy the Key2, as it gives a solid performance in all departments.

THIS REVIEW IS MADE POSSIBLE BY MY AFFILIATION WITH TECHWELIKE. YOU WILL SEE MANY OF MY REVIEWS THERE AS WELL.

Damson Headspace Bluetooth Active Noise Cancelling Headphones Review

Headphones are my favorite tech accessories. I change them based on weather, portability and style. I am back with another pair of headphones to review. I am checking out the Damson Headspace Noise Canceling headphones.

Design

These headphones look great for the most part. I am a fan of the sleek brushed aluminum look. In certain cases, it matches my laptop. The black leather band finishes the high-end look. They have an good overall feel to them. You feel the weight of the materials. Definitely not cheaply made. The ear-cups are round and they fully cover my ears.
You’ll find most of the controls on the right ear cup. You have the power button, volume, playback controls on the outside of the right ear-cup. They are labeled in white markings. I do wish the labels were a bit smaller or done in a greyish tone to make it even more sleek. The left ear-cup houses the micro-USB charging port The noise-cancelling button.

Experience and Features

Comfort

The Damson Headspace are a bit on the heavy side. When trying to rock them all day, I needed a break after a couple of hours. Not a surprise, given the materials. The padding on the ear-cups are the right combination of firm and squishy, making them breathable for long periods of use. The headband doesn’t have much padding. It makes for a good fit but not much comfort when going for long-term use. I didn’t get too uncomfortable when wearing them with some of my glasses. But when using thick, plastic frames, the cups must be adjusted in time. When not in use, the cups fold out to place them flatly around your neck. They also fold to fit precisely inside the carrying case.

Sound and Connectivity

Setting up the Damson Headspace headphones, is simple. It’s like setting up most bluetooth devices; turn it on into pairing mode, and see the list of bluetooth devices on your phone, and pair.

The music sounds better to me when the noise isolation is off. The beats are way more vivid. At loud volumes most songs don’t experience distortion. Strangely enough, the Jackson’s Five’s “ABC” had a bit more thump than the Headspace could handle. One of my favorite songs to test, “Fly Away” has a great balance of natural sound with good bass on the beat.
This is where the Headspace headphones shine. They are loud! In New York, I commute mostly by train. While being on the train and waiting for the train there is a lot of noise. Some way more intrusive than others so I don’t always have the noise cancelling on. It does a good job of noise cancelling. When I had the NC on when traveling, I barely heard anything. The ear-cups do a good job of noise isolation to begin with. You don’t get the same level of noise-cancellation that headphones on a higher price range have. But for the price range, it’s great. You don’t hear the hissing noise, most headphones get when you turn noise-cancellation on. They barely bleed out either, which is a major win in my book. I use my headphones around lots of people, and while I want to enjoy my music, I don’t want to be a bother to anyone.

The Headspace are great, but there is something that slightly annoys me about them. It beeps every time you put the volume up or down. It’s not a one-time action beep, it’s every time you go up in volume. Let’s say you bring up in volume from 35% percent up to 95% percent, you will hear constant beeping along the way. If you’re jamming out to a song and “the best part” is coming up and you want to crank up the volume, the music will be drowned out by the beeping of the volume. That’s something that has always been very noticeable to me, but won’t be a deal-breaker for many.
I also recommend using the carrying case. I got a couple of scuffs on an ear-cup when I forgot my carrying case.

Battery Life

After days of testing the Headspace headphones in different environments, I found the battery life to be consistent. I prefer to not have to charge my headphones often since I am always on the go. I ended up charging the Headspace headphones twice a week. They would last 11-14 hours between charges. I’d use them from 2-4 hours a day most of the time, and that’s with the volume at 70% or more.

Pricing and Availability

The Damson Headspace Noise-cancelling headphones have a $150 price tag. You can get them on Amazon.com. The package brings the headphones, a microUSB charging cable, 3.5mm cable, and a carrying case.

Verdict

Pricing on the Damson Headspace is good. Great battery life, lasting build quality, and good sound is definitely worth the $150 price point. They look great and provide you with a nice listening experience. I’d recommend these to someone who takes public transportation often, or needs headphones to work and wants to drown out all of the noise but don’t want to go over the $200 mark.