14 DAY TRIAL // The new Google Pixel 2 XL is already in the hands of a few users, and the initial reviews are over the top, but there seems to be a small problem with the display which is not as good as people hoped.
Users have started to notice, on Reddit and XDA, that the quality of the display for Google Pixel 2 XL is not great, and there is no clear reason as to why. People have been talking about the LG-made phones, and various comparisons with the older model have been made. None of them are flattering.
What’s even more troubling is that the new OLED displays that are being used in the new generation seem to look a little bit worse than the first version of the Pixel. Things are even worse when comparing Pixel 2 XL with Samsung S8 Plus.
Pixel 2 XL is not the only one affected
You might have noticed that the regular Pixel 2 is not even mentioned, and that’s because it’s not made by the same company. Google Pixel 2 is built by HTC and nothing notably wrong has been noted by the users with its display. With an exception that is. Russel Holly from Android Central posted an image on Twitter that shows that the regular Pixel 2 is not safe from criticism.
There are numerous reasons why the display doesn’t show the colors as vibrant as we would expect, and they can be either hardware or software. If the problem is a hardware one, then Google and LG don’t really have recourse.
On the other hand, if the color issues mentioned by the community have a software component, we might see some updates that will try to fix them.
As Artem Russakovskii from Android Police revealed on Twitter, it looks like the option sRGB for displays is locked to On, and it can’t be changed. On the other hand, on last year’s Pixel seems to look better, which is weird, to say the least.
It remains to be seen how the problem will be tackled by Google, and the company already had a statement for The Verge, but it’s unlikely that anything will be done unless a lot of people complain.
"We designed the Pixel display to have a more natural and accurate rendition of colors this year, but we know some people prefer more vivid colors, so we've added an option to boost colors by 10% for a more saturated display. We're always looking at people's responses to Pixel, and we will look at adding more color options through a software update if we see a lot of feedback."
It's all about the quality of the OLED display
A good and fair comparison is with Samsung S8 that also uses an OLED screen. Either that company has some secret that's not sharing with the rest of the world, or LG is really bad at making displays.
A similar problem can be found in the V30 flagship from LG. Muted colors, a blueshift, and an uneven distribution of black have plagued this phone since launch. Even with all the praise surrounding the V30 model, the quality of the display is still an issue.
It's easy to draw parallels between V30 and Pixel 2 XL because they are both made by the same company, and they both have the same P-OLED technology. Jeff Springer already covered this in a comprehensive video that you can watch below.
