Google Pixel 2

Itmayappear simpleon theoutside, saysAmyDavies,
but underneath, theGooglePixel 2 hidesapowerful
smartphone camera that’s worthy of your attention

The quality of a
smartphone’s camera
is often the prime
consideration when it
comes to choosing which one to
buy. For many, they do a fine job of
capturing your everyday memories,
holidays and family pictures.
However, they’re also becoming
increasingly important to serious
photographers - after all, the best
camera is the one you have with
you. The original Pixel, launched
in 2016, was an impressive
performer, and enough of a
contender to take on the might
of the ubiquitous iPhone.
The Pixel 2 was launched at the
end of 2017, with two variations to
choose from. There’s the smaller
Pixel 2, with a 5in AMOLED
screen, or the larger Pixel 2 XL,
with a 6in pOLED screen. Again,
as a point of difference from other
brands, the camera set-up is the
same no matter which size you
plump for – so you get a 12.2MP
rear camera. A new feature for
the Pixel 2 is the use of Gorilla
Glass for the screen, making it
more scratch-resistant than its
predecessor, as well as promising
better colour accuracy. Other
upgrades include a faster
processor, a faster fingerprint
sensor, and IP67 dust
and waterproofing.
The camera, which at the
time of the Pixel 2’s release
was lauded as the best ever
camera phone by DxOMark, with
an unprecedented score of 98,
sees some incremental upgrades,
thanks to a combination of
software and hardware
improvements. The Pixel 2
has since been beaten by theSamsung S9+(99), Huawei P20
(102) and Huawei P20 Pro (109),
but remains one point ahead of its
biggest rival, the iPhone X (97).
There’s a faster lens (f/1.8,
compared with the f/2 of the
original Pixel), the addition of
optical image stabilisation, while
the front camera has seen its
resolution increase to 8MP (from
seven). The really interesting
feature however is Google’s
‘Portrait Mode’, which requires just
a single lens to work as it uses
dual-pixel technology - see
‘Portrait Mode’ overleaf.