Category: Google Pixel XL 2

When the Google Pixel 2 lineup was released a couple of weeks ago, the new phones, like the first generation, were announced to have free uploading of original quality photos to Google Photos.  For those not familiar with Google Photos, original quality photos normally count against your Google Drive quota (which is leveraged by Photos) but compressed, high quality photos, don’t count against it.  Normally for photos under 16MP high quality is a great option because it is pretty lossless.

After the release of the Pixel 2 phones, it was noticed that the original quality uploading for free ended in 2020.  It cause a lot of confusion:  What happens to my photos I’ve uploaded already?  Do they get deleted?  Do they get compressed?  Thanks to an APK tear down by the Android Police team, we have a clearer answer.

Thanks to a lot of happenings all at once, it is pretty much a lock that we are going to see Google’s new Pixel lineup on October 4th.  That will put the launch of the new Pixel 2 and Pixel XL 2 almost a year out from the current Pixel phones.

To start, there is now a new, albeit empty, website for the phones.  Literally, it’s empty.  It only asks the question “Thinking of changing phones?” and you can register your email address.  This is is very similar to what they did with the original Pixels last year.

Second, there were FCC approvals made for what is presumed to be the XL 2.  It is an LG build device and you can read all the gory details at the FCC site.  It’s not overly exciting but it confirms some of the rumors known about the phone.