The Pixel 2 is slated for release a few months down the line; and from information currently available, its makers are going all out in their efforts to ensure the handset is able to hold on to its own amidst a rejuvenated competition.
According to rumors currently doing the rounds, there is going to be three Pixel variants this time. Also as is the usual Google tradition, names of fish are used as codenames for devices under development. Accordingly, the three upcoming Pixel variant are being referred to as Walleye, Muskie, and Taimen.
The Taimen has also recently been spotted at the benchmarking site Geekbench. And the numbers revealed are impressive too. The Taimen returned scores of 1804 on a single core and 6284 in multi-core mode. Those compare favorably with the corresponding figures for Galaxy S8 which had a single core score of 1929 and multi-core score of 6084.
Further, specifications of the Taimen reveal an octa-core Qualcomm processor rated at 1.9 GHz mated to a 4 GB RAM. Perhaps it would be safe to assume it is the Snapdragon 835 chip that is being referred to here. This, unless Qualcomm comes up with a Snapdragon 836 chip for Google, similar to the Snapdragon 821 that was used in the first gen Pixel. That said, there is no information about a Snapdragon 826 in the making.
So while butter smooth performance of the Pixel 2 is almost there for the taking, which again matches its flagship status, here are the other aspects expected of the Pixel 2 range. Those include an improved camera though new insights into this claim there might not be a huge improvement in the hardware.
Google instead could be more inclined to improve things on the software front. The first gen Pixel was already highly acclaimed for its camera and anything better than that will surely be welcome. However, while the Pixel featured a single 12-megapixel primary camera, it remains to be seen if there is going to be a dual lens camera this time as is the industry trend.
Google is also expected to make the Pixel 2 IP68 certified for water and dust proofing. The same was sorely missed on the Pixel when the common trend has been to offer IP68 levels of protection on the flagship handsets. Needless to say, all the Pixel 2 variants will run Android O that is rumored to be named Android Oreo.
Also, while there is going to be three variants of the Pixel 2, those are believed to differ in terms of their battery and display size. So, all the three Pixel variants will essentially have the same internal build-up.
In this respect, the Walleye will be smallest and would replace the Pixel. Up next is the Muskies that would slot in the same segment as the Pixel XL. However, the Taimen would be in a league of its own and could be positioned as a phablet, perhaps as a counter to the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Note 8.
