Google Unveils Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL With No Headphone Jack (venturebeat.com)

From a report: Google product chief Mario Queiroz today unveiled two new Android 8.1 Oreo smartphones at the company's annual hardware event: the Pixel 2 and the Pixel 2 XL. The smaller Pixel 2 sports a 5-inch, 1080p display, with a 16:9 aspect ratio that was until this year the standard on Android flagships. The larger Pixel 2 XL, meanwhile, has a 6-inch, QHD+ display in an 18:9 aspect ratio, in line with 2017's flagship smartphones. The Pixel 2 thus still has a large bezel while the Pixel XL 2 has a noticeably reduced bezel profile, although certainly not the smallest we've seen. As always, smartphone size also dictates battery capacity: 2700 mAh for the Pixel 2 and 3520 mAh for the Pixel 2 XL. Here's the rundown: Snapdragon 835 chipset, 4GB of RAM, either 64GB or 128GB of storage, an 8-megapixel front-facing camera, a 12-megapixel rear camera, front stereo speakers, a fingerprint scanner on the back, a USB-C port on the bottom, and no headphone jack. "Use your existing analog headphones with the included adapter," Queiroz said. [...] The HTC-manufactured Pixel 2 will be available in Just Black, Clearly White, and Kinda Blue on October 19. The LG-manufactured Pixel 2 XL will ship in Just Black and Black & White on November 15. The Pixel 2 will be available for $649 (64GB) and $749 (128GB) while the Pixel 2 XL will come in $849 (64GB) and $949 (128GB) flavors.

Comments

Bye

[OverlordQ]

Fi-licia.

"You dont need SD cards, put it all in the cloud! Oh by the way, data is $10/GB"

Re:Bye

[zenbi]

Did anyone else notice the microphone is always on and listening? On a phone. Without a disable switch.

Speaking of audio, the Pixel 2s have a music recognition feature that is always on, Google’s director of product management Sabrina Ellis revealed. Whenever music is playing nearby and the second-generation Pixel recognizes the song, it will automatically show the artist and title on your lock screen.

The obvious next step is to display an ad to "purchase" the song in the Play store. Or maybe just go ahead and charge you anyway if you don't a have sufficient license to the song. Be careful what you say near a Pixel phone. If the phone can continually listen for songs, it could also continually listen for key words and phrases.

It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were in any public place or within range of a telescreen. The smallest thing could give you away. A nervous tic, an unconscious look of anxiety, a habit of muttering to yourself – anything that carried with it the suggestion of abnormality, of having something to hide. In any case, to wear an improper expression on your face (to look incredulous when a victory was announced, for example) was itself a punishable offense. There was even a word for it in Newspeak: facecrime, it was called.

You are a slow learner, Winston.

Re:Cue the Android fanboy apologists

[LynnwoodRooster]

I still love Android. Of course, I use Samsung and they still have headphone jacks. No need for me to ever consider a Pixel 2. See, that's the advantage of Android - actual CHOICE about features, not just "which color and what size" like you get with Apple! If choice is confusing to you, then by all means live with an Apple product, but if you want to actually have a choice from dozens of manufacturers of a few hundred models - Android works nicely.

Re:Definition of Courage

[lukpac]

As I've said before, it did take Courage take take on all the initial Nerd Rage generated by removing an ancient obsolete port that the Nerd Hipsters all love and want to keep forever.

Even when we are beings of pure energy they will manifest a physical ear and one audio jack specifically so they can use a wired headset and feel superior.

It has nothing to do with "nerd rage" and everything to do with usability. I have multiple pairs of headphones that I often use (work, office, bedroom, etc), plus I regularly plug my phone into various line-level inputs. The lack of a 1/8" jack means I would either have to 1) always carry a dongle around with my phone or 2) keep a dongle with every device I *might* connect to.

Audio exists outside the realm of cell phones, and analog audio isn't going anywhere. Removal of built-in analog out on phones is a definite hindrance.