Google took to the official Pixel owners forums last night to address the numerous complaints that have been popping up about the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL. Most of these center around the uncompetitive LG-made OLED display that was fitted to the Pixel 2 XL (and not the Pixel 2), but there have also been complaints about strange ticks coming from the speakers of both models. The end result of the complaints (and news articles) is that every Pixel 2 and 2 XL will come with a two-year warranty, and Google will push out some software updates to alleviate some of the other Pixel problems.
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Two-week-old Pixel 2 XL displays are already showing burn-in
LG is far behind Samsung when it comes to producing quality OLED panels for smartphones, but for some reason Google still chose to slap an inferior component onto its flagship smartphone. Here are the most common complaints we've seen out there as a result:
The display is grainy or "dirty" looking at low brightness.
It experiences image burn-in after just a few weeks.
There's a blue shift to the display when looked at off-angle.
The colors are "dull." (This one is more of a personal preference.)
Mario Queiroz, Google Hardware's VP of product management, said on the Pixel forums that while he thinks the Pixel 2 XL display is "beautiful," Google is taking some steps to address some of these issues.
For the display burn-in, Queiroz says Google's investigation found that "the Pixel 2 XL display shows that its decay characteristics are similar to OLED panels used in comparable products" and that "the differential aging is in line with that of other premium smartphones and should not affect the normal, day-to-day user experience of the Pixel 2 XL."
Regardless of how quickly the Pixel 2 XL display gets image burn-in, the Android 8.1 Developer Preview takes some steps to mitigate burn-in in the bottom navigation bar. The buttons now dim after about two seconds, and the bar turns white on some screens, like the system settings. The Android navigation bar is nearly always on the screen and was the primary item shown in the early burn-in reports. Android 8.1 won't come to Pixel 2 owners until its final release in December.
In a follow-up post to the announcement, Seang Chau, a VP of engineering at Google, revealed that a coming update would "reduce the maximum brightness of the Pixel 2 XL by a virtually imperceptible 50 cd/m2 (nits), thereby significantly reducing load on the screen with an almost undetectable change in the observed brightness."