64 ANDROID ADVISOR • ISSUE 45FEATURE
Even though the Pixel 2 and 2 XL are manufactured
by HTC and LG, respectively, the ‘G’ logo on the back
is there to remind us that it’s Google through and
through. As Mario Queiroz recalled at the October
event: “We set out to design a phone ourselves
because we believed we could make the smartphone
experience better.” Simply put, the Pixel phones are
about Google first, Android second.
When Google launched the original Pixel, it loaded
it with features no other phones had: Google Assistant,
Daydream support, a killer camera experience, years
of updates. It would take months for the best features
to trickle down to the rest of the Android universe,
offering but a small taste of what it’s like to use
Google’s vision for what Android should be.
A year later, Google’s doubling down on all of it.The best of Google built in
On the surface, Google is still playing nice with its
biggest Android partners. There’s a promise from
Google that Samsung, HTC, LG, and others will release
an Android 8 Oreo update before the end of this year,
not next. Then there’s Project Treble, which aims
to take much of the heavy lifting away from future
Android updates.
Google’s message with the Pixel 2, though, is that
you can do better. Google is no longer content to sit
on the sidelines while manufacturers sell millions of
phones based on bastardized versions of its Android
vision. Its billion-dollar purchase of HTC’s smartphone
team proves that point. It’s basically saying, “You can
get a watered-down Android experience with the Note