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Over the weekend, Android Central Executive Editor Alex Dobie noticed some screen burn-in (or what is in the best case scenario, image retention) on his Pixel 2 XL review unit. Not long after that, Google told the site it was "actively investigating" reports of screen issues with the larger Pixel's POLED display. Whether it's a widespread issue or not, a critical but thorough evaluation of the big Pixel's screen at Ars Technica was enough to put me off buying the LG-produced device (although somehow it was still labeled "the best Android phone you can buy" in that review), and I opted for the smaller HTC-made Pixel 2. An aside: five days in, I'm pretty happy with it.

Edit: Android Central has posted a YouTube video that isn't super thorough, but does say that after a half hour of full-screen video playback, you can still see the Android software buttons persisting. So that doesn't look good for Google.

But it seems that this wasn't the only QA issue at Google. Some users have complained that their Pixel 2 devices excrete a high-pitched whine and some audible ticking. Most of those users say that Google instructed them to return the devices, but at least one claims they were told by Google support that a software update is coming to fix it. Not sure how that would work. At any rate, turning off NFC apparently takes care of the ticking but the whine is not affected by disabling core system features like something that supports Android Pay.

And lastly, it seems at least one buyer got a device that failed QA for cosmetic damage. Great job, Google.

I seem to have dodged a bullet by skipping the Pixel 2 XL and winding up with a regular-sized unit that doesn't have any of the audible flaws reported.

Last year, the Pixel and Pixel XL faced supply issues until at least March. The Google Home Mini is no longer touch sensitive. It seems for the last year or so, Google has had a hard time cracking the hardware business. Given all of this, what was I thinking buy buying a Pixel 2?

Long time lurker (literally about a decade), finally decided to register.

I've been reading the reports over the past few days and I'm quite torn. I keep looking at my Pixel 2 XL order that is supposed to ship today and wondering if I should just cancel it. I'm a big fan of my gen 1 Pixel, looks aside, and I was pretty excited for the follow-up. Seeing all of the reports that are coming out is really making me think twice about it, though. I've basically resigned to letting it ship, even if I have to return it.

derFunkenstein wrote:

Given all of this, what was I thinking buy buying a Pixel 2?

Something along the lines of, "I'm a techno-nerd. They're all holding it wrong. It'll work fine in my hands!"

How does image persistence/burn-in make it through QA? Which Google exec decided to ship with this condition known?

Guess the Nexus 6P goes another year.

There's no excuse for this in a flagship phone, especially not in that price range.

There are also reports of a blue tint to the display of the XL when you view it at an angle.

enixenigma wrote:

Long time lurker (literally about a decade), finally decided to register.

I've been reading the reports over the past few days and I'm quite torn. I keep looking at my Pixel 2 XL order that is supposed to ship today and wondering if I should just cancel it. I'm a big fan of my gen 1 Pixel, looks aside, and I was pretty excited for the follow-up. Seeing all of the reports that are coming out is really making me think twice about it, though. I've basically resigned to letting it ship, even if I have to return it.

Just cancel. You already have a better phone, because it doesn't suffer from burn in and has a headphone jack.

MOSFET wrote:

derFunkenstein wrote:

Given all of this, what was I thinking buy buying a Pixel 2?

Something along the lines of, "I'm a techno-nerd. They're all holding it wrong. It'll work fine in my hands!"

Nope, none of that. As I said in the OP, I canceled my preorder of the Pixel 2 XL over display concerns, so I dodged a bullet. I think it was more of a "Maybe Google and HTC got their collective stuff together this go-around and made more phones" combined with "the promise of updates direct from Google for longer than I'll reasonably use the device" were a 1-2 combo I couldn't ignore.

enixenigma first of all, welcome to TR, and secondofly I agree with NTMBK that you should cancel the order if it's not too late. This seems to be something that *will* affect you at some point, not a question of "if". I had reservations even when I preordered because I knew it was made by LG. At the first sign of trouble (in the Ars review) I pulled the plug and switched phones.

That various reviews of the Pixel 2 vanilla are hilarious. "Miles and miles of bezel, the ugly look of a year-old phone", I think was the best quote. What drugs are these people on? I'd like some of that.

Saying that the Pixel 2 is trash because of the 1080p screen that doesn't reach all corners of the phone is literally insane. It's 68% screen, that's more than fine.

That durability video makes the Pixel 2 look like a failure in every possible way. Let's recap:

It's very easy to bend indeed.
It's neither dustproof nor waterproof.
Even though it's metal, it's covered in painted plastic that chips and scratches easily
Even though it's plastic to the touch there's no wireless charging because it's metal.
No SDcard slot was expected but no headphone jack was not.
1080p screen is fine for normal use, but a disasterous resolution for VR
The fingerprint sensor fails if it is scratched.

Add the QC issues and OLED screen burn (like my SGS2 did) and you have a lemon to avoid at any cost, let alone the high fees that Google are wanting to scalp you for.

That's pretty bad, _Chrispy. My only comment is that the Pixel 2 XL had the bad screen, the Pixel 2, for all of its other faults, doesn't have burn-in/uses a different OLED screen IIRC.

The first Pixel is a great phone. A used copy is what I'm going for whenever my 5X finally goes to the Silicon valley (see what I did there?).

Chrispy_ wrote:

No SDcard slot was expected but no headphone jack was not.

While I agree with most of your other points, even if tons of other phones share those characteristics, this is simply not true. There was near certainty for months that there wasn't going to be a headphone jack on either phone.

But yeah, this whole process is a complete **** show. Google STILL hasn't learned supply chain and logistics to sell phones. There are multiple issues with each model they put out. It's really quite amazing how badly this launch has been botched.

Having said all that, I'm gonna rock my OG Pixel XL with a smile on my face.

Vhalidictes wrote:

That's pretty bad, _Chrispy. My only comment is that the Pixel 2 XL had the bad screen, the Pixel 2, for all of its other faults, doesn't have burn-in/uses a different OLED screen IIRC.

It does. The baby Pixel 2 has a Samsung sourced OLED screen. Apple broke the cycle this time for Google stealing all the extra production. LG desperately needs to fix their OLED phone screens and freakin' quick because they are a complete joke right now.

DancinJack wrote:

It does. The baby Pixel 2 has a Samsung sourced OLED screen. Apple broke the cycle this time for Google stealing all the extra production. LG desperately needs to fix their OLED phone screens and freakin' quick because they are a complete joke right now.

They will, and Apple is footing the bill. Everyone will win, but I'll be shocked and amazed if LG can make anything that doesn't just die prematurely.

Vhalidictes wrote:

That various reviews of the Pixel 2 vanilla are hilarious. "Miles and miles of bezel, the ugly look of a year-old phone", I think was the best quote. What drugs are these people on? I'd like some of that.

Saying that the Pixel 2 is trash because of the 1080p screen that doesn't reach all corners of the phone is literally insane. It's 68% screen, that's more than fine.

Absolutely. I put the Pixel and iPhone 6S Plus side-by-side and the 6S Plus has taller bezels.

What these dip **** reviewers forget is that if you shrink the bezels you shrink the whole phone and there's less room for battery, because we all know that nothing else is getting yanked out.

derFunkenstein wrote:

enixenigma first of all, welcome to TR, and secondofly I agree with NTMBK that you should cancel the order if it's not too late. This seems to be something that *will* affect you at some point, not a question of "if". I had reservations even when I preordered because I knew it was made by LG. At the first sign of trouble (in the Ars review) I pulled the plug and switched phones.

Thanks for the kind welcome. Yeah, I ended up canceling the order. Looking at the mountain of evidence that the XL is a dud, I decided that it would be better to just save the money. I'll revisit in the unlikely event that Google does a hardware revision. Otherwise I will be rocking my OG Pixel for a while longer.

DancinJack wrote:

But yeah, this whole process is a complete **** show. Google STILL hasn't learned supply chain and logistics to sell phones. There are multiple issues with each model they put out. It's really quite amazing how badly this launch has been botched..

Google never learns because they can't be bothered. They have no vision for Android besides collecting datamining revenue while happily watching the rest of the industry doing almost all the heavy lifting for then, even if both said partners HTC and LG's phone division are both lifeless husks by this point.

strangerguy wrote:

Google never learns because they can't be bothered. They have no vision for Android besides collecting datamining revenue while happily watching the rest of the industry doing almost all the heavy lifting for then, even if both said partners HTC and LG's phone division are both lifeless husks by this point.

I honestly don't think that is the case. They just paid A BILLION dollars to work with 2000 HTC employees to build their own hardware. I just don't think they get it yet, and they also don't have any manufacturing/supply chain of their own. Relying on HTC and LG designs and manufacturing surely hasn't been the best experience thus far. Hopefully this investment will solve some of the pains we've experienced thus far as consumers.

Besides, it's not like some of these issues only exist because of Google. These LG OLED panels suck on the V30 too. LG has issues with very nearly every one of their phones in some way. HTC has actually made decent handsets even though they haven't sold that well lately.

I don't doubt that Google loves all the data and ads they have from Android, but I don't really accept your premise that they care only about that.

derFunkenstein wrote:

DancinJack wrote:

It does. The baby Pixel 2 has a Samsung sourced OLED screen. Apple broke the cycle this time for Google stealing all the extra production. LG desperately needs to fix their OLED phone screens and freakin' quick because they are a complete joke right now.

They will, and Apple is footing the bill.

Apple is footing the bill because these OLED production lines will be exclusively devoted to iPhone screens.

derFunkenstein wrote:

Vhalidictes wrote:

That various reviews of the Pixel 2 vanilla are hilarious. "Miles and miles of bezel, the ugly look of a year-old phone", I think was the best quote. What drugs are these people on? I'd like some of that.

Saying that the Pixel 2 is trash because of the 1080p screen that doesn't reach all corners of the phone is literally insane. It's 68% screen, that's more than fine.

Absolutely. I put the Pixel and iPhone 6S Plus side-by-side and the 6S Plus has taller bezels.

Large bezels are the new headphone jack. Like it or not big bezels are now a sign of outdated tech.

DancinJack wrote:

It does. The baby Pixel 2 has a Samsung sourced OLED screen. Apple broke the cycle this time for Google stealing all the extra production. LG desperately needs to fix their OLED phone screens and freakin' quick because they are a complete joke right now.

It's an even worse joke than people think. LG has made fine phones before; I own some of them from the 2013 era. That's a bad thing, because it means that LG has actually regressed in ability to make phone displays.

End User wrote:

Large bezels are the new headphone jack. Like it or not big bezels are now a sign of outdated tech.

It will fix itself eventually. Around the turn of the century the new thing was tiny phones, the smaller the better, usability be damned. This is more of the same. It's just a fad.

As soon as people start to realize that the phone needs somewhere to hold it / put speakers, the "all screen" thing will go away. We just have to suffer through it.

It will be pretty funny when the new "now with bezels!" iPhone comes out though, I'll laugh.

End User wrote:

derFunkenstein wrote:

They will, and Apple is footing the bill.

Apple is footing the bill because these OLED production lines will be exclusively devoted to iPhone screens.

Yes, but to think that LG isn't going to learn something that can be applied broadly but won't be desired by other customers is foolish. Apple is going to spend the money to finance LG learning how to do it "right" and then everyone is going to want that same panel. Those lines might be Apple-specific, but there will be others. And I won't really care because it's very hard to trust LG. Doesn't matter if they're making a Pixel 2 XL or an iPhone display.

I could only compare the 6S iPhones because it's what I have here, but it's not like the iPhone 8 has smaller bezels. The display dimensions haven't changed, and neither have the phone dimensions. So Apple is pimping outdated tech!

Vhalidictes wrote:

It will be pretty funny when the new "now with bezels!" iPhone comes out though, I'll laugh.

Agreed that bezels/non-bezels will be a fashion statement and a fad, but the iPhone X is already pretty bezel-heavy for an "edge-to-edge" display. By actually changing what gesture does what between the iPhone 8 and iPhone X, I'm even more convinced that post-Steve Jobs Apple has no idea what it's doing. It's yet another thing that Jobs would have had a conniption to prevent.

Bought a 1st gen Pixel a couple weeks before the 2 launched.

Don't really feel the need for any more phone, even without these issues. Mostly because I finally wised up and corrected the #1 reason why I usually need to upgrade- I got the 128 GB version. Must be getting old, bleeding edge phones just don't excite me any more. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

derFunkenstein wrote:

End User wrote:

derFunkenstein wrote:

They will, and Apple is footing the bill.

Apple is footing the bill because these OLED production lines will be exclusively devoted to iPhone screens.

Yes, but to think that LG isn't going to learn something that can be applied broadly but won't be desired by other customers is foolish. Apple is going to spend the money to finance LG learning how to do it "right" and then everyone is going to want that same panel. Those lines might be Apple-specific, but there will be others.

I wonder if there are any IP restrictions wrapped up in that Apple deal with LG.

derFunkenstein wrote:

I could only compare the 6S iPhones because it's what I have here, but it's not like the iPhone 8 has smaller bezels. The display dimensions haven't changed, and neither have the phone dimensions. So Apple is pimping outdated tech!

Of course they are. If they had full production capacity for the iPhone X there would be no iPhone 8.

derFunkenstein wrote:

iPhone X is already pretty bezel-heavy for an "edge-to-edge" display.

Absolutely. Both the bezels and the notch will disappear in the not too distant future and Apple will brag about it to your absolute frustration.

derFunkenstein wrote:

By actually changing what gesture does what between the iPhone 8 and iPhone X, I'm even more convinced that post-Steve Jobs Apple has no idea what it's doing. It's yet another thing that Jobs would have had a conniption to prevent.

Hogwash. Apple has a history of introducing device specific features under Jobs. iOS 5, developed when Jobs was Apple's CEO, introduced multitasking gestures that were only available on the iPad.

As I said before, the only reason we have the iPhone 8 is because of iPhone X production limitations. The iPhone 8 is a legacy product. It is obsolete.

End User wrote:

The iPhone 8 is a legacy product. It is obsolete.

Interesting. By what metric?

End User wrote:

Large bezels are the new headphone jack. Like it or not big bezels are now a sign of outdated tech.

I love my bezels and headphone jack. I write about them in my diary every night.

The Egg wrote:

End User wrote:

The iPhone 8 is a legacy product. It is obsolete.

Interesting. By what metric?

By the same metric my 15mo son uses: he saw something shiny.

The Egg wrote:

End User wrote:

The iPhone 8 is a legacy product. It is obsolete.

Interesting. By what metric?

Its replacement will go on sale this Friday.

ludi wrote:

The Egg wrote:

End User wrote:

The iPhone 8 is a legacy product. It is obsolete.

Interesting. By what metric?

By the same metric my 15mo son uses: he saw something shiny.

He'll go far. I hope you give him a plump allowance.

You know the best thing about Usenet? I could tell my newsreader to ignore posts quoting people I'd killfiled. Good times.

Now XDA et al. are finding that some Pixel 2 phones are failing to flash OTA updates and factory images... particularly the non-XL.

Oh joy!

DancinJack wrote:

Vhalidictes wrote:

That's pretty bad, _Chrispy. My only comment is that the Pixel 2 XL had the bad screen, the Pixel 2, for all of its other faults, doesn't have burn-in/uses a different OLED screen IIRC.

It does. The baby Pixel 2 has a Samsung sourced OLED screen. Apple broke the cycle this time for Google stealing all the extra production. LG desperately needs to fix their OLED phone screens and freakin' quick because they are a complete joke right now.

My Nexus 5 from LG had screen issues (discolouration) and the 5X I used for a while looked awfully washed out and low quality in a side-by-side comparison against my old Nexus 5 and the Moto X OLED.

LG do indeed need to get their **** together.