Now that longtime rivals Apple and Google have already introduced their flagships, it's time to compare both devices. The goal is simple: find out which of the two titans, iPhone X or Pixel 2 XL, is better.
The video above provides a detailed comparison of both smartphones – if you are better at visual perception and have nothing against the English language, you should definitely watch this. The main comparison criteria include basic characteristics (display diagonal, battery capacity and other numbers), unique features (Face ID and Active Edge) and nuances of using both models in everyday life. All of this is compared in order to reveal all aspects and features of the anniversary iPhone and the second “pixel”.
Design
One can argue for a long time about whether the design of iPhone X is awesome or ugly, but the fact remains: for the first time since the release of iPhone 6 Apple has made major changes in the appearance iPhone. The main change is OLED – the Super Retina HD display, which occupies almost the entire front panel of the device. For this, however, I had to sacrifice the Home button and the Touch ID scanner.
Today it is one of the closest smartphones to the title of bezelless: the only remaining fragment of the bezel around the display is a small notch that houses components like a camera and a 3D scanner. At the same time, the rear panel differs from iPhone 7 Plus in only two things: a different arrangement of the main camera modules (vertical instead of horizontal) and the presence of a glass panel over the metal cover.
In general, the design of iPhone X looks interesting, although the opinion of users about the notch even after the release of the smartphone remains ambiguous. However, if this is the only thing holding you back from buying, then you can hide it using a simple application from App Store.
The design Google of the Pixel 2 XL, on the other hand, is largely a repeat of last year's Pixel XL – including a two-tone back and large bezels at the top and bottom of the device. In general, Google supported the trend of conditionally frameless flagships, but their solution still looks more prosaic than that of iPhone.
Price
Both models have a fairly high price tag. In the case of iPhone X, this is a boggling $ 999 for a minimal modification with 64GB of internal memory. At the same time, the Pixel 2 XL starts at $ 849, which is significantly less. As a result, the difference in prices of new products is about $ 150. In Russia, the prices for the minimum modifications are 79,990 rubles for iPhone X and 66,800 rubles for the Pixel 2 XL with the same 64 GB of memory. Thus, the difference when buying in official stores will be about 13 thousand – and far from in favor of the iPhone.
Display
The Pixel 2 XL is equipped with a 6 “display, while the iPhone X is slightly smaller: 5.8”. In general, the screen size differs slightly between them. Although in both cases OLED – panels are used, the display iPhone X is an order of magnitude higher in quality. Owners of the Pixel 2 XL have been plagued by serious display issues that have been in the headlines in many mobile media outlets for weeks.
Some of these problems include pixel burnout at the bottom of the display. Although in Google, in response to user complaints, they say that this is normal practice for OLED – panels, it is rather sad to buy a flagship smartphone and find burned out dots on the screen in a couple of weeks.
Another problem that Google does not consider as such – a change in the display color at an angle, according to the company, is quite normal for OLED. However, it is not clear why this appears to varying degrees and in different tones on different devices.
iPhone X is also not sinless – remember at least stories with a freezing display or a green stripe on the screen – but at least Apple will recognize and fix these problems in the near future.
CPU
iPhone X was equipped with the latest processor Apple A11 Bionic, while in Pixel 2 XL, like most Android – flagships of 2017, Qualcomm Snapdragon 835. In benchmarks, the iPhone shows a better result than the Pixel 2 XL, but in everyday use the difference in performance is almost negligible. However, under heavy load iPhone X does much better than “pixel”.
For example, iPhone X took 42 seconds to transcode a 2-minute video to 4K using the Adobe Clips app. The Pixel 2 (they have the same processors as the Pixel 2 XL, so the result applies to both models) coped with the same task in 2 minutes 55 seconds – that is, 3 times longer. In terms of benchmark data, according to Geekbench, iPhone X scores 10,357 points, while the Pixel 2 XL only scores 6,316 points. In both cases, we are talking about a multi-core test.
Camera
Objectively speaking, the cameras of both flagships are good, but both have their own specific features. In daylight, more beautiful photos can be taken with iPhone X, which conveys more natural tones – especially when it comes to people's faces. In addition, iPhone X has the advantage of 2x optical zoom without loss of quality thanks to its two camera modules. The Pixel 2 XL has digital zoom, and quality loss is inevitable.
However, in low light conditions, the best result is shown by a smartphone from Google. For example, when shooting in a semi-dark restaurant iPhone, X darkened the person's face, but at the same time made the burning candle too bright and overexposed. The Pixel 2 XL, on the other hand, made the face stand out and made the candle details stand out enough.
Images are clickable.
Luckily for selfie lovers, both cameras have an advanced portrait mode on the main and front cameras. iPhone X produces beautiful bokeh, while the Pixel 2 XL pleases with slightly higher photo quality. In general, it is extremely difficult to name a winner for this item: it is worth choosing based on your taste preferences and needs when shooting.
Battery
iPhone X, although it has the largest battery in the lineup, still loses to the Pixel 2 XL in terms of autonomy. To be more precise, in the mode of continuous web surfing via LTE, the “pixel” lasted for 12 hours and 9 minutes, while the iPhone lasted only 10 hours and 49 minutes. The difference, of course, can hardly be called huge, but sometimes an hour of battery life can be crucial.
Unique features
Both devices support biometric user identification, however iPhone X definitely offers more innovative technology. We are talking, of course, about Face ID.
However, in everyday use, as practice shows, the usual fingerprint scanner is more convenient than face scanning. The fact is that in order to trigger the scanner in Pixel 2 XL, it is enough to bring your finger to the scanner. In the case of Face ID, you need to wait until the scanner “recognizes” the user, and then swipe across the screen. As a result, it takes longer due to the additional swipe.
Animoji emoticons are cute and easy to use, but they hide years of development behind them. They even set a whole trend – the so-called Animoji karaoke. Also in iPhone X there is support for wireless charging (any chargers with Qi-standard are suitable), and the glass back panel improves signal transmission. This allows you to use the Lightning headphone port while your smartphone is charging (unless you gave up and switched to wireless headsets after iPhone 7, of course).
The Pixel 2 XL's main selling point is Google Assistant – this voice assistant is considered smarter and more useful than Siri. In addition, it can be activated by simply squeezing the smartphone in your hand thanks to special sensors built into the side frames of the device.
Outcome
Pixel 2 XL offers a display with a larger diagonal and clarity, a more reliable voice assistant and better battery life at a significantly lower price (13 thousand rubles cheaper than an iPhone). Its camera is also impressive in low-light conditions, with an order of magnitude greater detail and auto exposure than iPhone X. However, the display itself is a problem area for the Pixel 2 XL with its fading pixels and color distortion when viewed from an angle.
iPhone X, while costing more than a “pixel,” offers a better OLED display, fresh non-trivial design, and better performance. Also one of its advantages is support for wireless charging. The camera, while losing out to the Pixel 2 XL when shooting without enough light, features 2x optical zoom and more natural-looking portraits from both the main and front cameras.
One way or another, both models are really worthy of attention, so you should choose based on which qualities of a smartphone are more important to you – and what your budget is.