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iPhone X Vs. Google Pixel 2 XL Review: OLED Display Champ After Two Weeks Is...

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Pixel 2 XL has a big 6-inch display with minimal bezels.

Credit: Google

After two weeks with the iPhone X and Pixel 2 XL I have a better idea about their respective strengths and weaknesses. The OLED displays in particular (this review focuses on the displays).

As stated in a first-take review of the two phones' OLED displays, the Pixel 2 XL's display is made by LG Display -- a newcomer to the smartphone OLED (organic light-emitting diode) display business. Apple is using Samsung OLED displays for the X's Super Retina HD display. 

Credit: Apple

iPhone X (Winner):

One of the best things about Apple is that you can almost always count on it to get the hardware right. And they nailed their first OLED iPhone*. That's pretty amazing considering the volumes (easily in the tens of millions) expected for the iPhone X.

Color reproduction: Apple has done a very good job at balancing color "saturation" and realism (as seen by the naked eye) compared to other OLED phones I use. And My iPhone X OLED has none of the problems so far certain users have cited (here) and even Apple has discussed (here). 

I would note that colors appear differently to the naked eye compared to LCD iPhones. If you obsess about displays, you may not favor the slightly yellowish tint you see on the X's OLED. When I looked at the same images on the iPhone 8 and iPhone 7 Plus (which use LCDs), in some cases, I liked the images rendered on the iPhone 8/7 Plus better than the X. But my guess is that no one will notice (or care).

Size: a more important difference is display size compared to the iPhone 7 Plus or iPhone 8 Plus. The 5.8-inch iPhone X is simply a taller (4.7-inch) iPhone 8. In other words, the 5.5-inch display on the iPhone 8 Plus is a wider screen and may feel bigger to some (it does to me).

Face ID: isn't yet a slam dunk for me. Yes, it pretty much works all of the time and is very smooth. But, as I've said before, Face ID often requires that you pick up the phone to ID your face. Sometimes it's easier to reach over and tap the Touch ID on the iPhone 8 (which I'm also using).

Google Pixel 2 XL:

Saturated/boosted/natural colors update: I have a less favorable opinion of the Pixel 2 XL's (6-inch) display after week two. That's even after I finally got the November 5 display update with the "saturated, natural, boosted" switches. (Verizon is slow at rolling out updates to some subscribers...I was in the very last batch). The "saturated" setting is garish and unusable (imo). The "boosted" setting is best but not really different than before. The upshot is, you're not going to solve a fundamental hardware issue with a software patch.

Fundamental issue: And that fundamental hardware issue is subdued colors (to the naked eye) and a noticeable blue bias/blue shift, as I've pointed out before. I've discussed display issues with Google and they make a good case for rendering colors realistically on the Pixel 2 XL. But, personally, I favor the OLED on my 1st gen Pixel XL and the Pixel 2 (which both use Samsung OLEDs). In fact, I will probably switch to the smaller Pixel 2.

Lisa Gade at MobileTechReview was so unimpressed with the Pixel 2 XL's display (at the 1 minute mark in her YouTube review) that she refused to review one. And instead does a review of the smaller Pixel 2. She echoes my sentiment: with a starting price of $850, it's hard to justify the price with the less-than-impressive display.

What I will say in favor of the Pixel 2 XL's display is that most consumers won't care. In other words, the display isn't so bad that the average consumer would notice. The conversation I had with a salesperson at a Verizon corporate store was likely very typical. I mentioned the display issues with the Pixel 2 XL. The salesperson had a Pixel 2 as his business phone (issued to him by Verizon) but wanted the larger XL "because I like phones with big screens." His sentiment was probably typical of many consumers.

*See DisplayMate Technologies review of the iPhone X display

Credit: Brooke Crothers