These are exciting times for any smartphone lover anywhere in the world. For no sooner had Samsung officially revealed the Galaxy Note 8 here comes report of Google launching the second generation Pixel and Pixel XL handsets on October 5. That the report comes from the usually reliable Evan Blass is the further reason this is not to be taken lightly.
As for the device, we already know quite a bit about the two phones thanks to the almost incessant stream of leaks and speculation that we have had so far. The Blass tweet though revealed the new Pixels will be powered by the Snapdragon 836 chipset.
The latter bit will no doubt allow the Pixel 2 and Pixel XL 2 stand apart from the rest of the 2017 Android flagships, though only by a small margin. Most of the current crop of high-end Android devices has the Snapdragon 835 at their core. The new Snapdragon 836 chip will surely be better though only marginally at best.
Worth mentioning, Google had sort of a similar strategy at work with its first gen Pixel phones. Launched in October 2016, the Pixel came powered by Snapdragon 821 when most other flagships sported SD 820. While the incorporation of a more powerful chip showcases their intention to offer something different, the thing is it’s not going to be by much.
Another interesting aspect with the new Pixel phones is that they are being made by two manufacturers – HTC and LG even though both will have the exact same specifications on-board. That likely will be a 4 GB RAM and 64 GB of storage along with 5-inch and 6-inch OLED panels for the Pixel 2 and Pixel XL 2 respectively. Running the entire show will be of course the latest Android Oreo.
Google Pixel 2 XL leaked, reveal single rear cam and ‘Full Vision’ front display
Also, with HTC being in the fray, it is hardly surprising the new Pixel will also benefit from the ‘squeezable sides’ technology that first debuted with the HTC U11. Google is also tipped to launch a new Google Assistant powered headphones, perhaps the sort of which we have already seen with the Apple AirPods. The exact working of such is still a topic of speculation though.
Meanwhile, a new tiny Google Home version along with a new Chromebook will also likely be part of Google October hardware event.
